world cup anyone?

[Najdorf]

Maybe few americans know it, but this saturday at 19:00 GMT there will be Italy-Usa soccer match! Dont miss it if you can!

BTW, looks like Brazil this year isn't in perfect shape, eh Carlos? ;)

[Bachus]

Here's where I would normally post some inflammatory anti-Italy Go-USA rhetoric, but I just can't work up the motivation. Soccer. Bleh.

Go Miami Heat!

[Taxxodium]

Italy will win!!!

And the final will bet Italy vs Brazil or Italy vs Germany.

Viva la Forza Azzuri.

[sacha]

Germany will NOT reach the final! I can't stand them bragging about winning the WC for 4 years and that is what they would do.
Italy shouldn't reach the finals as well, actually they should drop out asap. I want my sleep at night and not honking Italy fans cruising the neighborhood all night. Same goes for Croatia and Spain. (Not that I have anything against these countries, I just hate the honking part that goes on all night after a victory of their teams...)

It'd be nice to see Switzerland reach the quarter finals or even survive into the next round...

[Cochrane]

I certainly want Germany to drop out as soon as possible. I figure that's the only way to get rid of all this madness here.

[socksy]

"And now on BBC 1, we have football. Followed by weeks upon football with more football - just to find out which country is better at football! Does no one else remember that we solved this argument four years ago?"

[PowerMacX]

Germany will NOT reach the final! I can't stand them bragging about winning the WC for 4 years and that is what they would do.
Italy shouldn't reach the finals as well, actually they should drop out asap. I want my sleep at night and not honking Italy fans cruising the neighborhood all night. Same goes for Croatia and Spain. (Not that I have anything against these countries, I just hate the honking part that goes on all night after a victory of their teams...)

Don't worry, Argentina will win this one :D - Next game: this Friday (http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/match/template.html?id=21&day=16&month=06&year=2006).

Disclaimer: I usually couldn't care less about football [soccer? "soccer"?!? stop that!], which is an odd thing for someone in this country to say, but World Cup games are the exception. One month every four years though... :p

[Bjoernke]

Switzerland into the quarters! It would be the biggest football happening for Switzerland since ever.

(As for the final, it's a small country, and they know their place, unlike the Germans, the French, the Italians, the Uruguayans , the English, the Brazilians and the Argentineans. (Which is also why they win the World Cup and Switzerland doesn't))

[sacha]

RIght, we know our place. Time for the rest of the world to know it as well. :ninja:

Well, there's one good thing about Switzerland playing in the WC. My boss just arranged for the meeting room to be transformed into a TV room ;) Nice two hours break from work.

[PowerMacX]

6.
0.
WOW! (http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/match/template.html?id=21&day=16&month=06&year=2006) :D

Classified for the second round, place your bets (http://www.readabet.com/index.php/home/article/9342)! ;)

[Carlos Camacho]

My 2 yen...

Good to see Ecuador doing well. I had thought that Costa Rica would have been in the top 2 in group A. Poland doesn't seem to do well in major games. (Except for beating the US in the last WC. ;) )

England hasn't impressed me. They bombarded T&T goal and got nothing for the longest time. The talent in the team is so high... though Crouch. He's a one dimensional striker (and that would be on the Y axis) So Rooney gets fit, but is one person enough to win the WC? Joe Cole is England's most interesting player to me right now. Lampert has a killer shoot but seems to be off target -- the the whole French team in 2002. ;)

T&T really deserve something, and it would have been great to see they go forward. Love seeing the peacefull Swedes fight amoungst themselves.

Argentina look really good. I think they are playing with the "feet of god." Holland I'm not so sure about.

Cote d'Ivoire were put in the wrong group, otherwise they would be 2nd in another group. Hopefully they won't be a one hit wonder and we will see they in more WCs to come. I must say that there hasn't been a breakout African team this year like in WCs before. Hmm..

I'd like to see Portugal go far, but most likely they won't. I was glad to see Angola get a point off of Mexico. Actually, they gave Portugal a pretty hard time. Did anyone notice that the Iranians players are no longer "forced" to all grow mustaches?

Now we get to the US. I was really bummed about that game. On one level, they showed so much progress in each WC they play in. (No longer just KICK THE BALL UP THE FIELD.) Frankly, the US tried to send balls to McBride who should have been knocking them down for Donovan to put away. But, that game plan didn't work.
Things don't look well for the US, and it goes to show you that FIFA/Coca-Cola World rankings are as worthwhile as many "marketing specs" computer companies put out. I can only see a tie game in USA vs Italy. But that would be a major task.

I'm gonna support Australia in this WC. Because my Everton boy Cahill is THE MAN. Yeah, I live in Japan, but I was quietly cheering the Aussies on. Brazil should consider benching Ronaldo. He isn't fit, and we have better options. But it takes a brave manager to do that, and we don't have such a man.

As South Korea progresses, it will be major salt in Japan's wounds since they live to one up each other. It will be good too because it will show that SK didn't do well JUST because of (a) bad refs (b) sea of red in the stands (c) playing on home turf in the last World Cup. (Actually, all those were true.)

France don't interest me, and I will say that they don't go too far. :D

Sacha, living between France and Italy, I can understand about the car honky. But if Switzerland does well, will all be silent? I hope they do, because it will be the greatest thing for them since they invented banking, Cocoa, and watches. :D

Spain seems always to implode in the big games. Could this be their year. I don't see why they can't get into the final 4 or 8.

Well, the only thing else I can say about this WC is that I am glad that the shirt makers didn't make all the same bland shirts like they did in the last WC. WTF! Nike had the same shirt for Brazil, US, Korea, etc. Ditto for Addidas. I also like how each country's FA emblem is much bigger. We can see all the stars on the Brasilian shirts that much better ;)

p.s. For truly great soccer/football you had to have seen me come in last week as a sub. And score with a powerful header from a set play to win the game! Yeeeeah baby.... And I'm still only 36 (July 4th)!

Cheers.

[Taxxodium]

Stupid Italians. Give me a break. They were doing so good at first but then, an own goal??? WTF!!!

They didn't deserve to win. I was never so disappointed in my life.

Let's hope they make to the next round, but I doubt it....

--- END RANT ---

[Najdorf]

Italy - USA wasn't a game, it was a battle... 3 guys sent out, blood, forbidden blows... Ultimately ended 1 - 1

[sacha]

I came home from a triple concert on that night and lots of Italy fans were scattered around the main station in Zürich. I couldn't help but make some fun of them... almost ended with me getting some close ups of italian fists ;)
Congrats to the US for the point they scored. Seemed well deserved from what I heard.

I so wish Togo will kick France's backside. It's definitely time they recruit some younger players...

Carlos: The French don't honk. (And why should they, anyway? It's not as if they know how to win this game :ninja: ) It's more like Italy, Spain, Portugal, Serbia, Croatia and maybe a few Brasilians who honk like there's no tomorrow. Mostly Italy and the Cosovo region though. That of course depends on the neighborhood. Where I live, there are quite a few of them.
And we're Swiss. We're modest. We cheer when our team doesn't lose :p When we win, well, check that Richter scale...

[Najdorf]

http://soccer.sportsnet.tsn.ca/images/stories/20060617/Mcbride_67618.jpg

That elbow foul was really unforgivable.

[socksy]

This reminds me of certain antics of my MP. http://youtube.com/watch?v=iWIUp19bBoA

[PowerMacX]

Yay! :D Argentina 2:1 Mexico
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060624/1/87sc.html

Mexico played a great game, nonetheless. Next match: quarter-finals with Germany :shock:

THANK YOU Maxi! (http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/photos/arg.html?aid=383330&d=1)

[Fenris]

...and we're out. Yay! With any luck, media can go back to reporting on reality-TV related news again.

[Zwilnik]

...and we're out. Yay! With any luck, media can go back to reporting on reality-TV related news again.

You lucky bar stewards.

Then again, can't be that long before our lot go.

[Taxxodium]

Argentina only won because their first goal was with a little help from a Mexican. Nevetheless, great game and so far the best that I've seen.

Let's hope Italy still manages to get to at least to the half finals.

[PowerMacX]

Haha! :D Sure*, but we** actually made 3 goals, the second one, at 90 minutes (in a play started by Messi (http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/photos/index.html?i=14&d=1)) was deemed invalid by a non-existant offside! C'mon, it was the kid's*** birthday! ;)

*Crespo *swears* he touched it last though, but yeah thank you Borgetti (http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/photos/index.html?aid=383052&d=1) too! :)
**As long as they keep winning, it's "we". If they lose, well, "they lose" :P
***He just turned 19 (!)

[funkboy]

Was the Netherlands/Portugal match the worst officiating in a world cup match *ever?* The man completely lost control, as the announcers said - he was just handing out cards because of the crowd noise I think, even if he didn't see the play. It was ridiculous.

[Zwilnik]

Was the Netherlands/Portugal match the worst officiating in a world cup match *ever?* The man completely lost control, as the announcers said - he was just handing out cards because of the crowd noise I think, even if he didn't see the play. It was ridiculous.

This World Cup's had some of the worst refereeing ever. There was even the English referee in a previous match who managed to give one player 3 yellow cards before he actually sent him off.

Some of the blatant dives and fouls that the refs have missed have made a major impact on the results too. They've got a 4th official but all he seems to do is argue with the coaches. They need to give him video replay and the power to overrule the ref like they do in rugby and cricket.

[Najdorf]

Netherlands - Portugal was awesome! 20 cards handed out! It's not that the ref made horrible mistakes, more he lacked the necessary charisma to keep the hot match cool.

[PowerMacX]

Thursday (http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/fifa/gen/fifa/20060629/i/92530411.jpg), before the game.
Friday (http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/fifa/gen/fifa/20060630/i/3147931843.jpg), after.

:( :( :(

[Taxxodium]

No pictures of the way Argentina behaved after the match? Almost starting a fight with the Germans and the others...

[PowerMacX]

Sure, that was bad (http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/5746996) but not unprovoked, considering the teasing from the Germans while the penalties where still being executed, and Bierhoff mocking at the end (details not mentioned in the article I link). Luckily it was all over in a couple of minutes.

Let's just hope this doesn't happen again in the Germany-Italy semifinals game, considering this (http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/5746872).

edit: found a pict (http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/pgStory?contentId=5746036&pageNumber=28)

[sacha]

That's no brawl. The reaction of the Turks when they lost against Switzerland was WAY more extreme :P
And now I have to hope Italy wins. Now this sucks. Shame on you, Argentina!

[PowerMacX]

Yeah, for the record I'm not defending them, it wasn't right.

On other news, both England and Brazil got eliminated this Saturday.

:sneaky:

No, I'm not happy about that, that would be mean...

See: ":("

That's me, sad.

(Ignore the quotes)

[Najdorf]

":cool:" = guy with the head cuffs

[Danlab]

France don't interest me, and I will say that they don't go too far. :D


:bored:..........

[PowerMacX]

First things first: Congrats both Italy & France! :)

And now, the surprise announcement...

YES! Argentina reached the finals!!! (http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/match/template.html?id=64&day=09&month=07&year=2006) :rolleyes:



:sneaky:

Well, he (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horacio_Elizondo) did... :p

[Najdorf]

he too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauro_Camoranesi

[PowerMacX]

Right, I forgot! Also (partially) him too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Trézéguet

(who, like Camoranesi, also plays in Juventus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juventus_F.C.))

--

Too bad Portugal lost today :(

[PowerMacX]

:sneaky:
Dan... David Trézéget (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Trezeguet) was born in France, ok? OK? :sneaky:

Najdorf, send the check to *******, ****** **** :p

--

Zidane's violent attack on Materazzi (http://www.canada.com/topics/sports/story.html?id=b3137f83-a737-46d5-af88-a43301aab4f0) was the worst way to end his career. Seriously, what was he thinking? :???: Sadly, stadium screens are forbidden from showing replays, so most of the stadium didn't catch it and Elizondo had to take the heat for red-carding one of France's figures. :\

edit: added link