World Cup Thread

[Toro]

Spain put in the best performance of the tournament so far.

Entertaining match between the Saudis and Tunisia.

You have to feel bad for Poland, giving up the goal in injury time.

Both red cards were garbage today IMHO.

 

[Blackleaf]

Spain and Czech Republic have been the best European teams so far. France is the only big European nation to have not won their opening game. The French haven't scored a goal in the World Cup since 1998. In 2002, they went out at the Group Stage without scoring.
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Some scores.

Group A

Germany 1-0 Poland
Ecuador 3-0 Costa Rica

That has put Costa Rica and Poland out of the tournament.

Group A standings.

......................P...W...D...L...F...A...Pts
Ecuador............2....2...0....0...5...0....6
Germany...........2....2...0....0...5...2....6
Poland..............2...0....0....2...0...3....0
Costa Rica........2...0.....0.....2...2...7...0
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Group B

England 2-0 Trinidad and Tobago

.............P...W...D...L...F...A...Pts
England...2....2....0...0...3...0....6
Sweden...1....0....1...0...0...0....1
T&T........2....0....1...1...0...2....1
Paraguay..1....0....0...1...0...1....0

Tonight: Sweden VS Paraguay.

England have qualified for the Last 16 and will play either Germany or Ecuador. If Sweden and Paraguay draw in tonight's game, England will definitely finish top of the group even before we've played Sweden. If not, England will finish top if they beat Sweden in their next game.

 

[Blackleaf]

Sweden 1-0 Paraguay

Paraguay are out of the tournament.

Group B standings

......................P...W...D...L...F...A...Pts
England............2....2....0...0...3...0.....6
Sweden............2....1....1...0...1...0.....4
T&T................2.....0....1...1...0...2.....1
Paraguay..........2.....0....0...2...0...2.....0

Sweden haven't yet qualified for the Last 16, though. T&T can still qualify.

 

[fuflans]

Wow, somebody should tell the match commentator for the Sweden - Paraguay game on Sportsnet (some English guy) to take Spanish name pronunciation lessons.

Also, somebody should inform the Swedish players that mullets and random hair braids are not cool.

 

[Daz_Hockey]

personally, I find the swedes to be incredibly arrogent, they simply took for granted theyd beat Trinidad & Tobago, they didnt, they very nearly didnt beat Paraguay, now they expect to walk over England because they "never lose to them" ha, arrogence

 

[fuflans]

What I want to happen:
England 12 Sweden 0
T & T 6 Paraguay 0

Nothing against Paraguay, I just want Sweden out. I really do think they are arrogant. They assumed that they would win while dismissing non-European teams. At least England publically admitted that they would take T & T seriously.

 

[Daz_Hockey]

although fuflans, I think that had more to do with the fact that most of the T & T team play here, and just like Dwight Yorke, you dont tend to be a walkover if youve won the champions league with Man United, or like Neil "Shaka" Hislop, have played in the top flight of english football for more than 10 years, nah we knew they would be solid, I think we actually respected them a little too much, but they didnt disapoint, T & T gave their all.

Sweden really arent that great a team anyway, I think Paraguay or T & T deserve to go thru more than they do

 

[fuflans]

I know it was probably lip service, but it added a touch of class. I didn't see the Eng -T & T game today. How was it?

 

[Daz_Hockey]

England did really get going until the 70th minute, T & T got the best out of them while they were playing a 4-3-3 formation, dont get me wrong, like sweden, England had loads of chances and T & T had very little, but Michael Owen didnt look match fit, Peter Crouch, Frank Lampard and Steve Gerrard missed loads.

It wasnt until they brought on Wayne Rooney and Aaron Lennon the game started flowing, crouchie picked up yet another pitch perfect pass from Beckham to climb and score with his head, then in injury time Steven Gerrard scored a goal against Shaka Hislop virtually identical to wht he did to him in the FA cup final, screamer.

But overall, Dwight Yorke was amazing in the midfeild holding role, their lone striker was always a threat and their defence was resolute, England wer VERY relived by the result, not syaing that it was in any way flattering, but T &T always looked dangerous

 

[glossprincess]

Ohhhh poor Dwight Yorke with *that* injury! Ouchie! Haha! Amazing that he could go on with burning balls weighing him down!

T&T played incredibly well! It was an very evenly-matched game! But well done to England, they deserved some goals after missing so many shots!

 

[Daz_Hockey]

Re: RE: World Cup Thread

Ohhhh poor Dwight Yorke with *that* injury! Ouchie! Haha! Amazing that he could go on with burning balls weighing him down!

I remember playing football at College, when my frend Tim decided to "hoof" the ball upfeild from a goal kick, I dont know how he didnt notice, but my friend Martin was stood right in front of him and caught the ball in that very same spot.

he came in the next day......limping, with a slightly higher pitch voice and all he would say is the following:

"Tim's got a hell of a kick on him!!!" lol, I couldnt stop laughing

 

[Toro]

England have been utter crap.

They didn't look like they were going to score until they actually did. At least against Sweden, Hislop made save after spectacular save. He barely had to move for the first 80 minutes of the match against England. In fact, T&T came closest when Terry cleared off the line.

England have no movement. There is no fluidity. They are clueless 20 yards from goal, unless they are crossing or shooting. Sweden have been the best team in the group, except that their feet to turn to bricks once they enter the penalty area. And they have a crap manager who wasted the past two years playing 22 players in friendly games, and is playing crap tactics. What does Erickson make, £5-6 million a year? And for this garbage? What a joke. What a complete charlatan.

If England lose to Sweden - and they haven't beaten Sweden in 38 years - they'll play Germany and will lose because Germany is playing much better. If they win, they'll play Ecuador, then do their usual exit in the QFs to Holland, Argentina and Portugal.

Same old, same old.

 

[Blackleaf]

Re: RE: World Cup Thread

The Australians should stick to rugby and cricket. "Soccer" is not big in Oz. They need to concentrate on beating England in the Ashes in cricket in the winter. They are another team who'll not win the World Cup.

Australia beat England 3-1 in a friendly a year or two ago.

We beat them in the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final.

 

[Blackleaf]

German legend wants to avoid England
16th June 2006

Germany's head coach Jurgen Klinsmann.




Oliver Bierhoff is keen for Germany to avoid a clash with England in the second round of the World Cup.

Germany take on joint leaders Ecuador in their battle for Group A supremacy on Tuesday, with the losers likely to face an early meeting with Sven-Goran Eriksson's troops, who need only to draw against Sweden to win Group B.

The tournament hosts looked like the force of old in their first match, comfortably beating Costa Rica 4-2, but they could not score against Poland until injury-time, when Oliver Neuville slid home the game's only goal.

Yet Bierhoff is wary of a clash with their long-time rivals.

"I would prefer to play Sweden or Paraguay rather than England, who remain favourites to win Group B," said the team manager, who works alongside head coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

"But then again a big win early in the knock-out states could give us a major confidence booster for the remaining matches."

Bierhoff vowed to shift the full concentration to Tuesday4s meeting with in-form Ecuador. "We have put ourselves into a good position no matter what happens in the other group," he stated.

"We have to make sure we win our group and then take it from there."

While the three-time World Cup winners have rarely struggled against lesser sides, they have not beaten a top international opponent since October 2000 when they handed England a memorable 1-0 defeat in the last match at Wembley.

"There is a lot of talk about us not having beaten a big nation for such a long time," said Bierhoff.

"But we are convinced that we can defeat every team. Now that we have seen all teams that are in the tournament we are not scared of anyone."

The former international striker, whose golden goal won Germany the Euro 96 crown, hailed his country's typical virtues following the dramatic victory over Poland.

"The fact that we never gave up - not even after twice hitting the crossbar near the end - really showed the morale of the team," he stated.

"The German virtues are widely held in a negative esteem. They are often reduced to fighting, running and a strong physical composure. But these days we know this can only be the basis for everything."

dailymail.co.uk

 

[dekhqonbacha]

Mexico started very well, but the end was awful. Even with one extra man they couldn't score any goal

At the last 10 minutes they made lots of noticable mistakes.

 

[glossprincess]

Re: RE: World Cup Thread

The Australians should stick to rugby and cricket. "Soccer" is not big in Oz. They need to concentrate on beating England in the Ashes in cricket in the winter. They are another team who'll not win the World Cup.

Australia beat England 3-1 in a friendly a year or two ago.

We beat them in the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final.

Yeah but it was a fluke and thats why you guys wont let it go! We dominate in every sport we care about.....rugby, cricket, hockey (field), swimming etc etc. Unfortunately, we as a nation, dont care about football yet but we're getting there and one day we will shine at it!

Cant believe the Argentina vs Serbia & Montenegro game!!! 6-0!!! What a score!!!!

 

[Toro]

Too bad Ivory Coast has been eliminated.

Both Argentina and Holland are potential champions and they outplayed both sides.

 

[NewMontrealer]

seems you guys ignore Argentina ?? 8)

 

[Toro]

I don't think anyone's ignoring Argentina now.

 

[Daz_Hockey]

we're not ignoring Argentina, you can never do that, but Argentina is the same side that lost 2 - 0 recently to england, and the 6 nil, while impressive on paper really isnt, but I'll say this to whoever it was who thought england play badly, ok sure, they wernt up to their best, but it was still good enough to get 2 wins out of 2 (unlike sweden) and this torniment is about grinding out results, the only team I fear is Brazil, Germany rnt what they used to be, England are better, Argentina, I reckon we'd beat them, Portugal, I think we SHOULD beat them, Italy, getting on a bit, nope Brazil are the only team that worry me, and they havent been up to much either