World Cup!!!

[pHoToN_gUrL]

Which country(countries) do you suppourt in FIFA-2006 World Cup?

Iran...cuz i'm persian...haha but they won't win

Which country you think will win it this time?

Brazil

[deltanova]

oki doke, so, me being aussi, i have some issues about soccer, i know that after beating japan with a glorious last 8 minutes, we go on to play croatia,(apologies for bad spelling) and Brazil, i know we wont beat Brazil, but if australia beats/draws with croatia, does that mean we may move into the second round?

[Royston]

if australia beats/draws with croatia, does that mean we may move into the second round?

 

If you win, then you're definitely going into the second round.

 

I support England, though I wasn't filled with too much confidence after the match with Paraguay, but England nearly always come up with a few surprises...we won, so it's all good.

 

As for winning the world cup...who knows. I'm not putting my money on anybody yet.

[5614]

Come on ENGLAND!

 

Although when England go out I'm supporting Brazil, because, well, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Carlos etc... legends!

[GutZ]

Is there something wrong with England? Seems like there is no faith. I remember when the teams to watch were Germany, England, Brazil, Italy, and Netherlands.

 

I remember hearing about people getting into bar fights over the sport in England, what happened, that was a beautiful thing.

[5614]

I think England can go a long way... and there's still a lot of good ol' english hooligans, but the FA was doing a lot to stop them. Read in the paper today that some English guy got arrested and sent back to england (he was in Germany).

[why?]

Germany vs. Poland. Beautiful match. Loved it. OMG the goals they tried which bounces of the post twice. Not once, twice, and then the ref called the offside and thats when he made it in.

But then in stoppage time, germany made a awesome goal.

too good to be true.

[5614]

Ye, but after two bounces off the crossbar the ref called offside, everyone had stopped playing when he scored...

 

The last 10mins Germany was playing like crazy, they really wanted that 91st min goal... still feel slightly sorry for the Polish people though, getting a red card and then losing like that.

[Cloud]

Considering Ballack (the big gun) was playing the result was pretty poor. I didn't watch it because of exam revision but a 0-0 game til stoppage time sounds pretty boring to me. I feel sorry for poland (held on til 90 minutes with just 10 men)

 

And don't get me started on Brazil. The way they played yesterday, I have hope for England again (but then again, there is the possibility that they took it easy).

 

You know that in a saudi game there's going to be goals. Its never 0-0. Either there is a complete thrash or some lucky one-off goal (like accidently running into the ball and scoring). I was surprised with a 2-2 draw. I anticipated tunisia to win. The best game of the day was obviously Spain, the last goal as good as Italy's first goal, both amazing.

[5614]

Gawd, Brazil yesterday... wake up! You're in the world cup! Entertain us! (and maybe we'll pay you a few million to do it too!)

[why?]

England Sucks

 

I mean did you see it worses Trinidad. 83rd minute first goal. I know trinidad is a good team but England is one of the worlds best teams. I expected much more than that. Oh and i believe Terry was good too. Did you see his save. I think if they had made that goal in.. possibly England would not have made any goal in.

But seriously.. england was much lower than I expected?

Anyone else's expectations shattered?

[abskebabs]

England Sucks

 

I mean did you see it worses Trinidad. 83rd minute first goal. I know trinidad is a good team but England is one of the worlds best teams. I expected much more than that. Oh and i believe Terry was good too. Did you see his save. I think if they had made that goal in.. possibly England would not have made any goal in.

But seriously.. england was much lower than I expected?

Anyone else's expectations shattered?

I think ppl's expectations have gone a little ott about England. I think they can win it too, but ppl were grossly underestimating T and T with predictins of scores like 3-0 and 5-0. I thought the scoreline would be more like 1-0, so I was pleasantly surprised with 2-0.

 

I think there needs to be a tactical change in midfield. We need to get Steven Gerrard out of the defensive midfielder position and allow someone like Michael Carrick to fill that role. This would allow Gerrard and Lampard to get forward where they're best.

 

I also agree about Terry, I think he was England's best player yesterday.

[Royston]

I think there needs to be a tactical change in midfield. We need to get Steven Gerrard out of the defensive midfielder position and allow someone like Michael Carrick to fill that role. This would allow Gerrard and Lampard to get forward where they're best.

 

I agree, though I thought their performance was very lackluster...they need to wake up a bit, Owen was a dissapointment IMO. I can't see Germany or Ecudaor being very put off by yestardays match.

 

Still, we won ! Which obviously means there's time to rethink their strategy, and think about picking up the pace a bit.

[Cloud]

Am I the only one who thought England played well. TandT were playing a very 'greek' game yesterday. At any one time, there were atleast 8 men in their half. They were all defense. No wonder England coudln't get through - and yet they did -plenty of times, in the first half. They played good.

 

The most dissapointing part was when 'the lanky robot' missed a virtually open goal. It was pathetic how he just tripped on the ball like that. Good thing he redeemed himself. I think the man of the match was a tie between Terry and Lennon.

[Jim]

....we call "nancy's body armour".

 

Pffft. *takes a chew of tobacco and injects himself with testosterone*

 

You've got it all wrong. That armor you talk about is used to hit people. Take a helmet to the gut and then come talk to me about Nancy's body armor. Not to take anything away from the athleticism of soccer (*cough*), but the hard surfaces only makes American football tougher.

 

Real football doesn't have this flitting back and forth trying to decide who is going to have the courage to hold the ball - "you take it, no, you take it, no, for god's sake you take .... there's A MAN RUNNING NEAR ME, EEK AND HE MIGHT TACKLE the ball from me!"

 

Get real. Tackle the ball??? We don't tackle balls. We tackle players! The object of a tackle isn't to get the ball. It's to put the other guy on his back unconscious. THEN you get the ball. Tackles are why real football players usually don't look like they could pose for GQ.

 

If you dare tackle too hard in soccer you may get sent to bed without supper by a man waiving a card. What do they tell their coach when the leave the field anyway? "I'm sorry, coach. I wasn't going to leave the field but he waived a card at me and it was red!. You know how the color red upsets me."

 

Watch a football game if you wonder why Americans are a bunch of war mongering cowboys. American football is about commitment and a straight forward clash of wills. Line line up in positions and stare and cuss at each other until the whistle signals violent collision. Sure, there might be a flea flicker or a hail mary but unless a game is all but lost there is very little flitting about. Go backwards? Unless you are from Stanford no self-respecting football player is going backwards on purpose.

 

A man gets the ball, runs as far as he can and then, when cornered, he lowers his head and punishes the guy trying to tackle him. That's football!

 

Nancy's body armor. Pfft. Double Pfft!

[Royston]

Nancy's body armor. Pfft. Double Pfft!

 

Bah ! Anyway, I think the comparison was to rugby...rugby players don't wear girly helmets and shoulder pads so big they're more at home in an epsiode of Dallas, it's a real mans sport, where the only protection is your brawn and your wits.

[Jim]

Bah ! Anyway, I think the comparison was to rugby...rugby players don't wear girly helmets and shoulder pads so big they're more at home in an epsiode of Dallas, it's a real mans sport, where the only protection is your brawn and your wits.

 

FWIW, the rate of injury in US Rugby is less than football and hocky. It is more similar to wrestling. *cough*.

 

Seriously, this may be because the better US athletes are in the other sports so the hits are harder. I also think that hard hits are more common in US football because of this armor.

 

Even more seriously, I wouldn't advocate for a youth sport on the basis that the sport is more dangerous. Not wearing a helmet in a true contact sport is idiotic. I've had a kid blow out his knee in football and would not allow him to risk his spinal cord.

[abskebabs]

Even more seriously, I wouldn't advocate for a youth sport on the basis that the sport is more dangerous. Not wearing a helmet in a true contact sport is idiotic.[/url'] I've had a kid blow out his knee in football and would not allow him to risk his spinal cord.

I doubt there's a much greater risk than in American football. Unless you go into a tackle like an idiot, not trying to get the person from below the waist height or below, then generally, your ok. Of course I'm no expert, I haven't played ruby in about 6-7 years(thank god too, I'm rubbish at it! ). Still I do remember that piece of advice from my PE teachers at school.

 

I may be wrong, but in American football it seems to me that tackles tend to be at chest height. How can you expect to knock someone down effectively when you try to tackle them at this height?

 

Anyway, getting back to the subject of the post, after watching Argentina today, I think I will eat up my words from a few days ago; they are the favourites to me now, not Brazil(unless they were just taking the piss in the first game).

[GutZ]

Don't forget American football (As much as I hate it) Has big guys in it. I am 220-225ibs 6'0" and I would be a small player. The big guys with 300 - 350 pounds running at you at full force then falling on you afterwords. If they didn't have that "Armor" People would probably die every week or so. Football players retired at like 30 -35, not because they want to but because they have too. I would say it's more dangerous then boxing or MMA (Mixed Martial Arts like; UFC;Pride;K1)

[ecoli]

meh... rugby's a lot tougher. contact is like football, but 99% less protection.

[Jim]

I may be wrong' date=' but in American football it seems to me that tackles tend to be at chest height. How can you expect to knock someone down effectively when you try to tackle them at this height?

[/quote']

 

I'm not an expert either although like almost all Okie boys I played in highschool .... wasn't really given a choice.... and one of my kids has played. The difference, probably, is that the pads allows a more direct collission. If you try to tackle someone waist level, they will run right through you. To tackle some one in full pads running straight on, you have to get down and explode through them.

 

Honestly, I've enjoyed the bit of the world cup I've watched and would be thrilled if none of my other kids played football. One kiddo blowing his knee is more than enough.

[Royston]

Even more seriously, I wouldn't advocate for a youth sport on the basis that the sport is more dangerous.

 

LOL, neither would I. That's not the argument though, Americans are *****'s.

[Sayonara]

A man gets the ball' date=' runs as far as he can and then, when cornered, he lowers his head and punishes the guy trying to [b']tackle [/b] him. That's football!

 

Nancy's body armor. Pfft. Double Pfft!

I'm sorry but my point stands.

 

You are not describing a game that could be called "football", you are describing a game that should be called "fondleballs".

[Jim]

LOL, neither would I. That's not the argument though, Americans are *****'s.

 

Hmmm. I perused a list of five letter words and I'm still not sure what compliment you were sending our way.

[Pangloss]

That US-Italy game today was really exciting. I had no idea soccer could be so interesting!

 

The Italians are a lot of fun to watch. If they win our division I think I'll "root" for them the rest of the way. No offense against our UK friends -- I'll root for you guys too.