*** Official World Cup 2010 Thread ***

[Tonky666]

guess i'll need to keep supporting ghana,they're representing the african continent not just a country...GL ghana but Argentina gonna take it down!! i specially bought a messi shirt today

 

[jbatesm]

Just as the team started to gain some interest. One of these days the US will turn their soccer program around. Maybe sooner than some may think.

 

[Worak]

Interesting games yesterday

- Uruguay beat South Korea because the South Korean defense failed to not only look at the ball but what happened in their backs (Sanchez was utterly alone for the first goal).

Ghana beat USA because the Ghanaean (sp ?) strikers + Boateng were all somewhat faster than the US defenders.

Great fighting spirit in the 2nd half though. :icon_salu

It has been said for years - the US are getting stronger but it's still some way to go.

Football (soccer) is becoming more and more popular by the youth...so we should see some more improvement the next years.

Now the US need a real league system with at least 3 league levels

- the MLS is no match to any European or South American league.

Todays games:

England - Germany is a must see classic ....

I'm hoping for a great game - the German defense is struggling (something new) whereas midfield and forwards aren't looking bad at all.

The English will have to keep the Germans away from their own goal though as the history of funny goalkeeping continues (green/james factor).

I think the Germans have more fighting spirit and might have a small edge (if Schweinsteiger can play) but it's a really close call.

Mexico - Argentina seems easy at first look but Argentina can lose to Mexico on a bad day, too.

 

[ItsMe]

The odds from the English bookies are:


Germany 31.75%
England 38.76%
The Draw 32.79%

Given the likelihood that there will be more bets on England because of english supporters this means it's probably too close to call. Hopefully, a good game in prospect.

 

[Tonky666]

but how can people bet on a draw? there HAS TO BE A WINNER in the top 16

 

[beardyian]

The bets usually cover the score after 90 mins

2-1 England........maybe

 

[woody19]

i so hope england beat them COME ON ENGLAND

 

[beardyian]

Just seen on Facebook -


Our father who leads our lions, Capello be you name,
Our time as come, let the trophy be won ..
In Africa as it once in Wembley,
Give us this day, a Rooney goal & forgive our performances,
As we forgive those who played that game for us,
And lead us (not) to the airport,
But deliver us from Germany,
For England is the kingdom...
We want glory forever and ever amen... come on England!!!

 

[ThunderPT]

Football (soccer) is becoming more and more popular by the youth...so we should see some more improvement the next years.

That's the first step, but I bet it'll still take a long time before kids playing football at every school break/recess becomes a reality. It is a reality here in Portugal and in most of the countries that have top teams.

Then, there must be good conditions for the development of the talent. In Europe and South America there are football teams every where with youth squads and all of them have good coaches, usually former players. Plus, there are official competitions so they get used to play competitively.

Finally, at the later stages of their development (17-20 years old) they need to start playing at the highest level possible and the MLS doesn't provide that. American players' best hope is to impress in some international youth tournament (like a Under-20 or Under-17 World Cup) and catch the attention of an European team that will sign him and keep developing him. The truth is the MLS is so weak, shining in it isn't any indication that a player will do well in Europe.

Freddy Adu is a great example, the guy was a huge american prospect, youngest guy ever to sign a professional contract in any sport in the US, everyone thought he'd be the best american football player ever. Benfica (one of the top 3 portuguese teams) bought him and he was a huuuuuuge disappointment. The portuguese league is only like 6th toughest in Europe and he couldn't cope with it. The following season Benfica loaned him to Monaco (french league). Again, he disappointed and Monaco decided not to buy him. This last season, Benfica loaned him to Belenenses. At that point, Belenenses was one of the worst teams in the portuguese league and even there he couldn't even become a starter. Even Belenenses didn't want him after half a season and in the second half he was loaned to Aris (Greek league).

Of course, not all americans fail miserably in Europe like Adu did (so far at least). But Adu was the one with the most raw talent and that talent wasn't "polished" in the US. Why? Because he didn't need to, he was good enough to tear it up in the MLS! Thus, he peaked there and when he came to Europe he clearly wasn't ready.

Jozy Altidore is an example of a young guy doing better, but even him came to Europe needing to improve. Bought buy Villarreal (one of top 6 spanish teams) at 19 yo, loaned to Xerez (second spanish division) in the first season for him to adapt to european, and particularly to spanish, football. In the second season, he was loaned to Hull City (Premier League) so he could get used to play against better opposition. After this two seasons of experience, maybe he's finally ready to play for Villarreal.

 

[ThunderPT]

Very entertaining game, one really bad call, should have been 2-2 at half time.

 

[woody19]

ye shud be 2 2 ffs lol

 

[woody19]

they need to get line tech pisses me off because off all the money in football and they still have not got any line tech grrrrrrrr

 

[Kenzie 96]

We have high school level competitions here wher the quality of officiating is higher. What a joke.

 

[woody19]

o well looks like england are going home 20mins left 4-1

 

[Pokertron3000]

Why the hell does Heskey come on :S not that it matters now but Crouch was so underused, Wanye Rooney has pretty much sucked all torunament, I wasnt even that upset when goal got disallowed I was upset with Rooney and his lack of heart when going for balls and some of the management of England.

 

[woody19]

england are just a joke l8ly, i agree they needed to get crouchy on more often he is a wiked player and they needed theo walcott in the team aswell

 

[ItsMe]

What a shower. World class players - oh my, world class jokers. Overpaid, overhyped, underachievers.

I hope Brazil win it now.

 

[soncheebs]

Bye Bye England! Thank god I bet on Germany, I knew there was no way those scumbags were pulling it out.

The only problem now is we gotta hear all the crying about the disallowed goal for the next 4 years...give it up you guys got slaughtered, bunch of underachieving bums! Rooney is just plain awful.

 

[beardyian]

Breaking news - several England players have been taken over by obvious spineless dribbles of pi#s who have never met each other before, let alone played football in their lives.

Terry, Lampard, Millner, Gerrard, Rooney, Cole all missing in action.

(note all the top money earners - coincidence?)

Pathetic, lame and downright embarrasing - they should be made to walk home at the minimum

 

[S93]

That's the first step, but I bet it'll still take a long time before kids playing football at every school break/recess becomes a reality. It is a reality here in Portugal and in most of the countries that have top teams.

Then, there must be good conditions for the development of the talent. In Europe and South America there are football teams every where with youth squads and all of them have good coaches, usually former players. Plus, there are official competitions so they get used to play competitively.

Finally, at the later stages of their development (17-20 years old) they need to start playing at the highest level possible and the MLS doesn't provide that. American players' best hope is to impress in some international youth tournament (like a Under-20 or Under-17 World Cup) and catch the attention of an European team that will sign him and keep developing him. The truth is the MLS is so weak, shining in it isn't any indication that a player will do well in Europe.

Freddy Adu is a great example, the guy was a huge american prospect, youngest guy ever to sign a professional contract in any sport in the US, everyone thought he'd be the best american football player ever. Benfica (one of the top 3 portuguese teams) bought him and he was a huuuuuuge disappointment. The portuguese league is only like 6th toughest in Europe and he couldn't cope with it. The following season Benfica loaned him to Monaco (french league). Again, he disappointed and Monaco decided not to buy him. This last season, Benfica loaned him to Belenenses. At that point, Belenenses was one of the worst teams in the portuguese league and even there he couldn't even become a starter. Even Belenenses didn't want him after half a season and in the second half he was loaned to Aris (Greek league).

Of course, not all americans fail miserably in Europe like Adu did (so far at least). But Adu was the one with the most raw talent and that talent wasn't "polished" in the US. Why? Because he didn't need to, he was good enough to tear it up in the MLS! Thus, he peaked there and when he came to Europe he clearly wasn't ready.

Jozy Altidore is an example of a young guy doing better, but even him came to Europe needing to improve. Bought buy Villarreal (one of top 6 spanish teams) at 19 yo, loaned to Xerez (second spanish division) in the first season for him to adapt to european, and particularly to spanish, football. In the second season, he was loaned to Hull City (Premier League) so he could get used to play against better opposition. After this two seasons of experience, maybe he's finally ready to play for Villarreal.

Good post.

For the US to really advance imo, they need to adopt a multi tier league system like the rest of the world.
Franchise play off systems are not meant for football.

The should also introtuce youth teams, High school and collegue teams are fine, but they will never produce the same talent as the youth acedemy´s of Ajax,Barcelona,Lyon,Ac Millan ect.

The fact that they use the franchise system also means there will never develope real rival teams in the MLS simply because of the geographical distances between the teams...

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

terry and upson are pure shite.

not that it was just their fault but they outshone the rest in terms of being completely awful and useless. terry's hilarious positioning combined with upson's inability to tackle and complete lack of strength and the fact that they're both as slow as snails (and for some reason despite being slow as hell they both pushed up and even hilariously tried the offside trap on a couple of occasions) means this was pretty inevitable.

gerrard is a greedy bastard. yes shoot from 40 yards and completely kill our momentum, that's a great idea!

rooney was useless but i think he's carrying some sort of injury so he gets a partial reprieve.

argentina will watch the video of the germany game and not be worried at all by them because they'll be too busy laughing at how crap we were.

 

[Gesshoo]

Yeah, I know that Terry, Rooney, Gerrard, etc. all played poorly, and I know that in the end Germany ran out comfortable winners, BUT - that can't excuse the fact that FIFA needs to come on into the 21st century.

1966, there was no goal-line technology so there's an excuse. 1996 WCQF a hand-ball changed the course of the game - not to take anything away from the 2nd goal which was brilliant.

Today, first German goal is about 1-2 yards offside when the ball is kicked. Should he have scored anyway - no, unless Terry, Upson and James all contrive to let it happen. But - the fact remains it was off-side.

Then Lampard's "goal" - so clearly a goal. Probably 2-2 at half-time - unless England gain even more momentum and maybe even score a 3rd - who knows? Most certainly, at 2-2 England are NOT chasing the came with 25 to go, committing too many many forward and getting caught on the break. The game changed the moment that goal wasn't given.

Then we have Argentina-Mexico. Tevez 2 yards off-side for the first - and crucial goal. USA had 2 good goals disallowed in 4 games.

How many more BS decisions from 3rd rate officials do we have to see before FIFA wakes up?

 

[Gesshoo]

That's the first step, but I bet it'll still take a long time before kids playing football at every school break/recess becomes a reality. It is a reality here in Portugal and in most of the countries that have top teams.

Then, there must be good conditions for the development of the talent. In Europe and South America there are football teams every where with youth squads and all of them have good coaches, usually former players. Plus, there are official competitions so they get used to play competitively.

Finally, at the later stages of their development (17-20 years old) they need to start playing at the highest level possible and the MLS doesn't provide that. American players' best hope is to impress in some international youth tournament (like a Under-20 or Under-17 World Cup) and catch the attention of an European team that will sign him and keep developing him. The truth is the MLS is so weak, shining in it isn't any indication that a player will do well in Europe.

Freddy Adu is a great example, the guy was a huge american prospect, youngest guy ever to sign a professional contract in any sport in the US, everyone thought he'd be the best american football player ever. Benfica (one of the top 3 portuguese teams) bought him and he was a huuuuuuge disappointment. The portuguese league is only like 6th toughest in Europe and he couldn't cope with it. The following season Benfica loaned him to Monaco (french league). Again, he disappointed and Monaco decided not to buy him. This last season, Benfica loaned him to Belenenses. At that point, Belenenses was one of the worst teams in the portuguese league and even there he couldn't even become a starter. Even Belenenses didn't want him after half a season and in the second half he was loaned to Aris (Greek league).

Of course, not all americans fail miserably in Europe like Adu did (so far at least). But Adu was the one with the most raw talent and that talent wasn't "polished" in the US. Why? Because he didn't need to, he was good enough to tear it up in the MLS! Thus, he peaked there and when he came to Europe he clearly wasn't ready.

Jozy Altidore is an example of a young guy doing better, but even him came to Europe needing to improve. Bought buy Villarreal (one of top 6 spanish teams) at 19 yo, loaned to Xerez (second spanish division) in the first season for him to adapt to european, and particularly to spanish, football. In the second season, he was loaned to Hull City (Premier League) so he could get used to play against better opposition. After this two seasons of experience, maybe he's finally ready to play for Villarreal.

Good post.

For the US to really advance imo, they need to adopt a multi tier league system like the rest of the world.
Franchise play off systems are not meant for football.

The should also introtuce youth teams, High school and collegue teams are fine, but they will never produce the same talent as the youth acedemy´s of Ajax,Barcelona,Lyon,Ac Millan ect.

The fact that they use the franchise system also means there will never develope real rival teams in the MLS simply because of the geographical distances between the teams...

Jurgen Klinsmann is one of the TV experts during the WC here on US TV. He made a good point about this today.

In the rest of the world, football has traditionally been a working-class sport - like basketball is in the US. A game played on the streets where skills are developed and honed, in the hope that you might make it one day and become a professional.

In the US, it is largely seen as a way to get a college scholarship.

 

[Worak]

Yeah, I know that Terry, Rooney, Gerrard, etc. all played poorly, and I know that in the end Germany ran out comfortable winners, BUT - that can't excuse the fact that FIFA needs to come on into the 21st century.

1966, there was no goal-line technology so there's an excuse. 1996 WCQF a hand-ball changed the course of the game - not to take anything away from the 2nd goal which was brilliant.

Today, first German goal is about 1-2 yards offside when the ball is kicked. Should he have scored anyway - no, unless Terry, Upson and James all contrive to let it happen. But - the fact remains it was off-side.

Then Lampard's "goal" - so clearly a goal. Probably 2-2 at half-time - unless England gain even more momentum and maybe even score a 3rd - who knows? Most certainly, at 2-2 England are NOT chasing the came with 25 to go, committing too many many forward and getting caught on the break. The game changed the moment that goal wasn't given.

Then we have Argentina-Mexico. Tevez 2 yards off-side for the first - and crucial goal. USA had 2 good goals disallowed in 4 games.

How many more BS decisions from 3rd rate officials do we have to see before FIFA wakes up?

Everything right exept the first german goal wasn't offside since the pass to Klose was a goal kick.

Laughable that the 2nd English goal wasn't given - the ball was well behind the line and everyone saw it (exept the refs).

On an added note - even before Tevez was offside he ripped the ball from the Mexican Keepers hands - a clear foul imo.

We really need a video umpire - that's for sure.

 

[S93]

Yeah it wasnt offiside since u cant be offside after a goalkick...