mippio Escribi�:

and another thing!



why do the far east coutries supporters scream when their teams are playing football? i remmeber it was rife during japan/korea 2002 and watching the korea/toga game its exactly the same!



its not a pop concert!! offensive chants and deep throated cheering only please. tut tut.



;)

I noticed that last cup and last night too. I think it has to do with the amount of women that turn up to support those teams. It must be like 50% women supporters for Japan/Korea.

Just watched the Spain vs Ukraine game. Awesome display by the Spanish who are now imo up there with the best so far, the fourth goal pretty much summed them up. The Ukrainians didn't really have an answer, suffering from a poor performance by Shevchenko and the sending-off and penalty very harsh on them. The ref wouldn't have looked out of place in the level of football I watch (7 divisions below the Premiership) ;-) .



On a geekish note, I think its great (inside the stadiums) the number of flags of countries whose teams who've not qualified for the Finals - in the WC so far I've seen Azerbaijan, Chile, Scotland, Peru, Uruguay, Turkey, Venezuela, Israel and Panama - really proves the 'celebration of football tag'. Anyways I'm getting carried away...such a great event its been so far.

mc marsh Escribi�:

On a geekish note, I think its great (inside the stadiums) the number of flags of countries whose teams who've not qualified for the Finals - in the WC so far I've seen Azerbaijan, Chile, Scotland, Peru, Uruguay, Turkey, Venezuela, Israel and Panama - really proves the 'celebration of football tag'. Anyways I'm getting carried away...such a great event its been so far.

Yeah, I even saw french flags



I didn't watch Spain - Ukraine, but it looks like it was a great match.



I think I'll watch Germany vs Poland a little tonight, but that's all.

Tunisia 2 Saudi Arabia 2 - A real story to tell here!! Tunisia looked the better side in an average first half whilst the Saudis were negative. But then in the second they really found their feet and turned the match on its head with two well worked goals, one around 58 mins and the second on 83ish. But then in injury time Tunisia got out of jail, passed go and collected 200 camels with an equaliser. I think its gonna be a real dogfight for the second spot in Group H!

I was really hopeing Poland would just hold on!

Germany nearly went as ridiculous as France :( They almost did a 0-0 without the sun, with a red card for Poland in the end. That would have been worse than France - Switzerland...

Yeah it looked like the goal was never going to come for Germany!! Good game, atmosphere was electric. Looks pretty bleak now for the Poles which is a shame given their brave performance last night and brilliant support (Polska polska!! Still love those barmy Croatian fans).

This is the problem I have! I'm supporting Germany for ethnic reasons, but it's hard not to cheer on brave displays like that from the Poles. Exciting conclusion, well taken goal though. Didn't think they'd score after those two shots rocketed off the bar.

And I'm actually waking up early and getting my ass dressed to head down to our local England HQ downtown (Shannon's pub, yay!) to watch the England - Trinidad game at 10 AM with hundreds of other lunatics....



Don't know why.... $5 beer versus $1.50 beer at home..... Stupid friends luring me out of bed and off the couch......



And yes, I am going to be drinking in the morning...

heh



Half loaded. Very full (nachos + fish and chips). $6.50 pints. Grr.



Terrible game for the most part, but a good atmosphere and a very brave T&T performance.



Cheers England for finally getting the win and cheers to the Liverpool players for delivering it. I reckon Owen has just lost his starting spot after another dismal performance (though Crouch's volley attempt when in yards of space was ridiculously poor).



Now off to the beer store! Cheers!

Just watched the match - England did it eventually against T&T who deserve much more credit than the scoreline would suggest. The first half was pretty much a continuation of last Saturday's game, England relying on a crap long ball game and were rescued near half-time by John Terry's clearance. The second half was thankfully more positive and we looked much more like scoring.



T&T put in another battling performance, they're really shaping up to be the Greece of World Cup 06 - a motley bunch of players welded together by an experienced manager who chose a tactic and stuck to it. Maybe they won't qualify but they play with so much pride, great stuff.



Ecuador vs Costa Rica - Ecuador go through after a convincing 3-0 win over Costa Rica who (apart from a few individual moments) had little to offer. Disappointing with them after their spirited displays 4 years ago. Will be interesting to see Ecuador in the next round, great achievement for them.

Man, although they won the game, England played abso-f*ckin'-lutely horrible!!! It must've been the worst game I've seen yet at this World Championship.

Im gutted as im working so much at the moment meaning Im missing much of the competition!

http://ascii-wm.net/#



:D X-D

ahhh, back once again with the world cup action :P



slipvin, nah mate you are talking out of your un-football-educated arse im afraid. you clearly didnt see england v paraguay ;)



not the greatest performance from england, but to be fair breaking down a team with 11 men behind the ball is never going to be easy. for once sven got his subs right, lennon looked awesome, personally i thought rooney looked a bit off the pace, but theres plenty who disagree.



would agree with marsh, the first half was very frustrating, though i wouldnt put it as bad as the second half with paraguy. the second half was a lot better, we seemd to find our feet and got some nice neat passes in. we had SO much possession, it was just one of those days with lamps misfiring, owen being anonymous (again!!) and crouch guilty of a criminal miss.



what you have to remember is - this is the world cup - there are NO easy games! like gareth 'shudder' southgate said in the commentary 'any team that gets their organisation and tactics right can hold a lot of teams for a long time'.



the good thing about england is that they ALWAYS step up to the big occassion. i cant remember the last time we got beat by a 2 goal difference, let alone a one goal difference, at least in a competitive match.



so, my verdict - better than paraguay, still room for improvement. and michael owen needs to sort it out.



also re sweden v paraguay - thought paraguay looked pretty good, despite losing, which i think reflects much better on englands victory.

They played far too narrow in the first half, with both Becks and Cole coming far too centrally. Lennon was a breath of fresh air and should come on by the 60 minute mark in all matches now.



Owen was pants. Looked disinterested and off the pace, mostly. Lampard offers absolutely zero except for long-range shots (which are admittedly very good). Gerrard offers nothing except shots into Row Z as Sven has him playing. Crouch's volley miss was atrocious, but at least he made up for it.



Terry is golden.



That being said, they did it. And I was very happy to lead the pub in a round of "He's big, he's red, his feet stick out of the bed -- Peter Crouch!!!" X-D

yeh would def agree with that, no width and too many hopeful long boys in the direction of the gangly legged one.



also, i reckon part of the reason lamps and gerard where a bit quiet is that ferdinand and carraghr kept bypassing them with their long ball distribution. whats the point in having 3 of the best passers of the ball on the planet (becks, lamps, gerard) if the defence is just gonna hoof it up to timmy or cant-jump-wont-jump midget?



agree with terry, lad played a corker, that goal line clearance was awesome.



also joe coles still looking really good as well.



so - starting line up for sweden - i would play robinson, cole, ferdinand, , becks, lennon, carrick, gerrad, joe cole, rooney and sweden.



let gerard get forward with carrick for cover, have becks covering right back when neccessary (hes clearly in good fitness form right now) and use cole and lennon for width. goals galore!



;)

mippio Escribi�:

also, i reckon part of the reason lamps and gerard where a bit quiet is that ferdinand and carraghr kept bypassing them with their long ball distribution. whats the point in having 3 of the best passers of the ball on the planet (becks, lamps, gerard) if the defence is just gonna hoof it up to timmy or cant-jump-wont-jump midget?

so - starting line up for sweden - i would play robinson, cole, ferdinand, , becks, lennon, carrick, gerrad, joe cole, rooney and sweden.



let gerard get forward with carrick for cover, have becks covering right back when neccessary (hes clearly in good fitness form right now) and use cole and lennon for width. goals galore!



;)

I think that formation is good too, although I question the inclusion of Sweden and only two defenders. ;)



I noticed that when Gerrard was given the ball by the defenders, it was only when he came back to within 5 feet of Rio and almost took the ball from him. Of course, that means he's in no advanced position to actually -do- anything with the ball...... sheesh!



(I also like that formation you listed if England end up playing Brazil. I mean really, no right back is going to stop Ronaldinho anyway, just stick Becks there and maybe try to actually score. ;) )

Sweden vs Paraguay - decided by yet another late goal! Both teams looked capable of scoring although Sweden had a little more flair. Felt a bit for the Paraguayans, not nice going out so late in the game.

X-D



i did of course mean to include terry in my excitable list :P and crouch, though the whole of sweden up fron would be pretty cool ;)