World Cup 2010

[brownie]

Not to be too patriotic, but France is the winner in the WC worst team competition so far!

[neveronfriday]

Yawn.

Still the most boring World Cup I've ever seen.

What's the ratio of good vs. bad so far?

1:100?

It all sucked.

I'll drop the rest of this sorry display of ineptitude (has anyone ever counted the millions and trillions running around on the field(s)?) and enjoy the nice weather coming up here next week.

Edited June 18, 2010 by neveronfriday

[porcy62]

Not to be too patriotic, but France is the winner in the WC worst team competition so far!

Not to be too competitive, but Italy will get that prize...whatever Zidane or Materazzi could do at their homes.

Edited June 18, 2010 by porcy62

[J.A.W.]

On somewhat positive news, we have three groups who are now down to their last matche and no team has yet qualyfied or being eliminated

Not quite, Argentina have qualified yesterday because they won both their games and therefore can't be overtaken anymore by the two teams they beat, so they'll at least finish second - see rule d) above.

There is a chance of a 3 way tie with 3 teams with 6 points if Greece wins and Korea wins and goal differential being the first tiebreaker, there is a very slim chance that Argentina fails if they lose by something like 3 goals and Korea doing something similar to Nigeria.

Yep, you're right. I misinterpreted the rules and deleted my post - but not fast enough, it seems

[Jim R]

Sigh... the referees had been pretty good until today. The ref in the Germany-Serbia match must have thought it was 2006 again, with all those kneejerk yellows. The clown who did the U.S.-Slovenia match was in over his head. People will talk about the disallowed goal, but there were plenty of other blown calls (not carding Dempsey for the stupid elbow in the opening moments; giving Findley a yellow for playing the ball with his head; etc etc).

Slovenia and Algeria look to be the most polished, composed, competent teams in Group C, which makes all the "experts" look very foolish. Algeria deserve a lot of credit for the way they embarrassed the english today, just as Mexico deserved to be praised for the way they embarrassed France. I can't see the U.S. beating Algeria, especially if they begin yet another game half-asleep. Slovenia may very well send England home, too.

Question of the day... what is it with Serbia's defenders insisting on reaching out and playing the ball with their hands in open space, in front of 1,000,000,000 viewers?

Poor Podolski... talk about a nightmare of a game.

[B. Goren.]

After what we have seen from England, I'm afraid the 3 lions emblem should be changed to 3 rabbits.

>>>

Edited June 19, 2010 by B. Goren.

[brownie]

The trouble with Jabulani!

[thelbc]

The worlds biggest sport...........and they have a problem with the ...ball....!

Please let the missing North Koreans show up at the USA embassy.

[sidewinder]

Not to be too patriotic, but France is the winner in the WC worst team competition so far!

Not to be too competitive, but Italy will get that prize...whatever Zidane or Materazzi could do at their homes.

No - England are Spartacus

First vuvuzela accident of the tournament - a woman has ruptured her windpipe:

Horn From Hell

Edited June 19, 2010 by sidewinder

[brownie]

First vuvuzela accident of the tournament - a woman has ruptured her windpipe:

Horn From Hell

Saw that when I started reading the news today. It was my first laugh of the day

TheLBC posted this earlier:

Please let the missing North Koreans show up at the USA embassy.

From the Johannesburg Times:

'Lost' North Korean players 'found'

[brownie]

Tempers are rising in the French camp. Anelka is about to be expelled after he insulted coach Raymond Domenech during the Mexico-France game!

ESPN story

The story in today's L'Equipe, the national sports paper:

[mjazzg]

England were appalling. They lacked the slightest inkling of skill and huffed and puffed to no effect. Rooney looks out of sorts and our midfield non-existent. Unless Capello is strong enough to shake things up for Slovenia (who are better than Algeria) by bringing in Joe Cole, repositioning Gerrard, leaving Lennon on the pitch for 90 minutes then they will deservedly be heading home. At which point we may need to import some guillotine's for domestic use.

perhaps best summed up here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/

[sidewinder]

At which point we may need to import some guillotine's for domestic use.

Tower Hill or Tyburn can be brought back into action !

[neveronfriday]

And ... another 3-rd rate, regional league quality match.

Japan is actually the better team.

How utterly boring, unimaginative and ... horrible.

Lol

[J.A.W.]

Another dismal game. Japan deserved a draw.

First-round World Cup games are often a disaster to watch (it seems to be a tradition), but this time it's even worse... I wonder why.

[neveronfriday]

The 2nd half was about 5% better than the first.

I just couldn't figure out if the Dutch team was playing a "smart" game or if they were just ... bad.

[J.A.W.]

The 2nd half was about 5% better than the first.

I just couldn't figure out if the Dutch team was playing a "smart" game or if they were just ... bad.

Yep, the Dutch team were going for the points, using "a minimum of resources to get a maximum result". It's more or less how the German team were playing in many previous tournaments, ugly but effective

[Van Basten II]

No team seems to want to qualify, with more than half the game nobody is sure of a secound round slot and nobody is out of it either.

Things may change with the late game, a win by the Danes eliminates Cameroon and gives the Dutch a spot in the second round, a tie does the trick for them also but it keeps alive chances for the rest of the group.

[porcy62]

Not to be too patriotic, but France is the winner in the WC worst team competition so far!

Not to be too competitive, but Italy will get that prize...whatever Zidane or Materazzi could do at their homes.

No - England are Spartacus

[Van Basten II]

Anelka has been thrown out of the team, good riddance.

[Van Basten II]

Not pretty but nonetheless entertaining and eventful half of futbol between the Danes and Cameroon.

[Van Basten II]

And Cameroon has the dubious honor of being the first team eliminated of this competetion. So far African teams have yet to be inspired by playing on their own continent. Japan-Danemark will decide the other team that will go t the next round The Danes will need another win since a tie won't be enough.

[J.A.W.]

With the Cameroon v. Denmark result (1-2) the Netherlands advance to the last 16.

[Brad]

And Cameroon has the dubious honor of being the first team eliminated of this competetion. So far African teams have yet to be inspired by playing on their own continent. Japan-Danemark will decide the other team that will go t the next round The Danes will need another win since a tie won't be enough.

Are you sure about that? Right now there is no goal differential between Denmark and Japan. However, Denmark have scored more goals. So, if they tie, doesn't Denmark go through on that basis?

[J.A.W.]

And Cameroon has the dubious honor of being the first team eliminated of this competetion. So far African teams have yet to be inspired by playing on their own continent. Japan-Danemark will decide the other team that will go t the next round The Danes will need another win since a tie won't be enough.

Are you sure about that? Right now there is no goal differential between Denmark and Japan. However, Denmark have scored more goals. So, if they tie, doesn't Denmark go through on that basis?

Results so far:

Netherlands 2, Denmark 0

Japan 1, Cameroon 0

Netherlands 1, Japan 0

Cameroon 1, Denmark 2

Denmark's goal difference is -1 (2-3), while Japan's is 0 (1-1), so if they draw Japan will advance to the last 16 (rules, post #165)