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The 2010 World Cup

You Yanks want games that don't need a winner to go to extra time or penalties if their is no winner? That and the fact that a lot of you can't accept that a team can win by only 1 goal or even draw 0-0 is what will keep you from enjoying the greatest game in the world. I remember a year or so ago when FIFA said they were thinking about considering having penalty shoot outs at the end of draws for an extra point, and another one they came up with a few month's ago was to scrap the offside rule altogether, all so that the USA wouod take more interest in the game. Thankfully the home nations (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Republic of Ireland) have an equal right of votes for any proposed changes to block FIFA from spoiling the beautiful game. If most of you in North America can't enjoy Football (Soccer) the way it is, then I'm more then happy for you to keep your American sports as your favoured sports. :) If Football (Soccer) is played with the right tempo with the right tactics and style of play then it is very very entertaining, more so then any other sport, if teams in North America learnt how to play it like that then I'm sure it would be very very popular. :)

Anyway, a very shocking and poor show by England today, but a good omen is that the USA drew with Italy in their first group game in 2006 and Italy went onto win the World Cup. :)
 
Why does there have to be a "winner" in the group matches? You get the point(s) over three matches and qualify to advance or don't.

Mad props to Onyewu. For a guy who hasn't played a full match in almost a year, he played so well today.

England, however, looked really crap. I cringed when I saw the starting XI announced.

No reason for either team to panic. The remaining two matches will be easier for both, certainly. While I never thought England was good enough to win the World Cup this time, I'm now doubting their ability to even win their first knockout match unless Capello wakes up and changes his tactics a bit.

Actually, the US played Italy in their second group match in 2006. They lost badly to the Czech Republic in their opening match.
 
yg17 said:
I don't think a game should end in a tie, it can just create problems later on down the road when determining home field advantage for the playoffs or a playoff spot itself. I think every game should end with a winner and a loser. Perhaps hockey should be changed to do a 20 minute overtime then a shootout, to reduce the possibility of a shootout, but I think a game should not end in a tie. With baseball, it's not as big of an issue, games rarely go beyond 11 or 12 innings. Games like the 20 inning marathon the Mets and Cardinals played earlier this season is a rare thing, so I say let them keep going until it's over.

This would be my first time watching a soccer, ahem, football game. I'm not really a fan (is it hockey season yet? :p), but I figured this game was a big deal and I had nothing better to do ;)
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The bigger problem in the NHL regular season is that one (or both) teams might have to charter to another city for a game the next night, so they don't want overtime to take too long.

Maybe I'm in the minority in growing up watching original six teams like the Bruins and Canadiens play defensive-oriented games and sometimes come up with 0-0 or 1-1 games (kind of like what's happened so far at the WC). They can be some of the most exciting games if you appreciate good defense and goaltending. The same can be said for a good pitcher's duel in baseball.
 
jzuena said:
The bigger problem in the NHL regular season is that one (or both) teams might have to charter to another city for a game the next night, so they don't want overtime to take too long.

Maybe I'm in the minority in growing up watching original six teams like the Bruins and Canadiens play defensive-oriented games and sometimes come up with 0-0 or 1-1 games (kind of like what's happened so far at the WC). They can be some of the most exciting games if you appreciate good defense and goaltending. The same can be said for a good pitcher's duel in baseball.
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Don't you want to have a definitive winner at seasons end, throw in a bunch of tie games just ads to the confusion. I still don't understand how the point system works.
 
Silencio said:
Why does there have to be a "winner" in the group matches? You get the point(s) over three matches and qualify to advance or don't.

Mad props to Onyewu. For a guy who hasn't played a full match in almost a year, he played so well today.

England, however, looked really crap. I cringed when I saw the starting XI announced.

No reason for either team to panic. The remaining two matches will be easier for both, certainly. While I never thought England was good enough to win the World Cup this time, I'm now doubting their ability to even win their first knockout match unless Capello wakes up and changes his tactics a bit.

Actually, the US played Italy in their second group match in 2006. They lost badly to the Czech Republic in their opening match.
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Onyewu did ok, I remember him playing for my team, Newcastle United a few years ago, he seemed decent but often got caught out by pace. England were really aweful compared to what they have been under Capello, but we have done that a few times under him and in following games he has managed to solve the problem. The next two games for each of the USA and England should be easy, but this is the World Cup, their is no easy games, though I would still put money on both of us progressing, so I'm hoping for a draw in tomorrows game.

As for that fact of USA vs Italy in 2006, I'm just going by miss information, still England failed to win their opening group game in 1966 when they won it, not that any of these facts have any bearing on the results.
 
MacNut said:
Don't you want to have a definitive winner at seasons end, throw in a bunch of tie games just ads to the confusion. I still don't understand how the point system works.
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It's easy, you get 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and no points for a loss. At the end of the season the final table is determined by who has the most points, if it's still level then it goes by goal difference. Goal difference is determined by adding a goal to your total amount of goals you score and taking one away for every goal your conceed. So for example if you score 5 goals but conceed 4 you will have a goal difference of 1.

Thats in football/Soccer though.
 
There's far too much 'non-football' talk going on.
Well, despite me winning a few £££ after predicting a draw, I do feel kind of robbed. I guess if Rob Green ever applies for US citizenship he's on a winner :)
 
Today was the first day I've watched a football match from start to finish since my AYSO days twenty years ago. I consciously went in with an open mind, and I must say I really enjoyed it - even the draw doesn't bother me.

Looking forward to more!
 
Fizzoid said:
There's far too much 'non-football' talk going on.
Well, despite me winning a few £££ after predicting a draw, I do feel kind of robbed. I guess if Rob Green ever applies for US citizenship he's on a winner :)
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I still don't get how Joe Hart didn't start. David James is far too clumsy, and Robert Green hasn't done anything for West Ham during the season that stands out, all of his surposed great saves have been over estimated. Even todays save at the near post was over estimated, I know as a goalkeeper myself that if you get beaten at your near post in the position that Green was in when he made the save then you really have made one hell of a f*ck up, infact he didn't even safe it comfortably.
I feel bad for Hart though now that he's going back to Man City to not get a game for a few years. Ben Foster has done good and got out of Man Utd so he can play more games and be a real choice for the England team. I was hoping that Hart would buy out his contract so that another club can pay him that fee to move to their club so that he can also keep up his chances of playing for England.
 
I think the reason Hart isn't in the frame is simply down to lack of experience in an England shirt
 
^^^^I am, shame Nani won't be playing. Plus am I the only one dying to see what a CR9 foul will be with the new ball?
 
I'm curious to see what kinds of performances Algeria and Slovenia put up tomorrow.

As for major contenders, so far France, England and Argentina have all had subdued openers. Lets see how Italy, Germany, Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands fare...
 
Fizzoid said:
I think the reason Hart isn't in the frame is simply down to lack of experience in an England shirt
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Hart's a fine young 'keeper and I think he can make the transition to international level — but for the finals of a major tournament more experience is needed, as you say.

He needs to be a regular feature in our Euro 2012 qualifiers. Make it happen, Capello.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
I'm curious to see what kinds of performances Algeria and Slovenia put up tomorrow.
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Slovenia is really underrated i suppose... after seeing greece ... they can easily play that 'good' ;)

Lord Blackadder said:
As for major contenders, so far France, England and Argentina have all had subdued openers. Lets see how Italy, Germany, Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands fare...
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with the exception on italy i'm looking forward to way better offensive teams
 
Right. It's the day after the match. The hangover is marinading nicely and I'm in a reflective mood.

Obviously, after listening to the post game phone-ins last night, England are (predictably) the worst team of all time, and Robert Green should be publicly crucified.

As I said yesterday, it was a performance that I sadly predicted, but it's better to improve with each game.

Positives: Glenn Johnson had a great game going forward. Steven Gerrard played well, and so did Heskey.

Negatives: Did Frank Lampard even play? I mean I could see someone who looked like him running around, but he didn't play like him. Defence = no pace (but we knew that anyway). SWP playing on the left and consistently, and obviously to everyone defending, cutting inside onto his right. Ledley King has leg knack and is out for the next game.

Anyway onwards and upwards... Today's games:

Algeria 0 - 2 Slovenia
Serbia 2-1 Ghana (looking forward to this one Serbia have some exciting young players)
Germany 1-1 Australia
 
Lord Blackadder said:
I'm curious to see what kinds of performances Algeria and Slovenia put up tomorrow.

As for major contenders, so far France, England and Argentina have all had subdued openers. Lets see how Italy, Germany, Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands fare...
Click to expand...

TBO I don't think either France or Argentina were expected to play well. Both these teams have played pretty poorly lately.

England were... alright... and if it were not for Green's howler, England would have gotten the expected result: a slight victory.

Germany might not play pretty football, but they will always be a good bet, I'm afraid.

Brazil will probably do well as most opponents always fear Brazil too much.

Spain, probably the best team in South Africa, hopefully can entertain us for a long time.

Us, the Dutch... yeah. We had a good run lately. If our star players (the complete offense) can do well, we'll be alright. But, if something goes wrong mentally we can loose to any team.
Somehow our players are so weak mentally. Usually we hear of problems within the squad sometime during the tournament. Too many large ego's in those small bodies.

Let's see how we do against Denmark. I wonder if one of my favourite players, Bendtner, will be playing against van Persie and the rest. :D
 
Fizzoid said:
Talk of a possible vuvuzela ban here
We can only hope!
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I read that too. Something doesn't quite add up though about Evra's comments.

"We can't sleep at night because of the vuvuzelas. People start playing them from 6am. We can't hear one another out on the pitch because of them."

I thought that there was uproar in France about the cost of the French Hotel? Isn't it supposed to be only approachable by boat, or private road...

Two words Patrice. Ear. Plugs.

Could it be that the French side are looking for an excuse as to their poor performance thus far? Surely not...
 
No sure if this has been mentioned yet, but in '66 and '90 - the two years England performed their best in the World Cup - we lost/drew our first group game. So chill out. It's not over yet!

So many anti-Rob Green facebook groups already though it's hilarious!
 
Fizzoid said:
How sad! While it was a bit of a howler, had our attackers been decent, and got us some more goals, it wouldn't have mattered
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"Hand Of Clod", "Stars and Tripe"... :D poor Green.
That ball was hit much harder than it looks and sadly Green didn't have time to get in the right position with his body behind the ball...
 
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