World Cup / Football / Soccer Discussion Thread

[justriiingo]

I'm sooooo looking forward to Germany vs Argentina. It's dejavu 2006... everyone wanted Germany to win but Argentina scored the first goal and the whole stadium became silent for a bit...

Also. I think FIFA should stick to not using video technology, because bad referee calls = fights = DRAMA; and who doesn't like a bit of scandal at the World Cup? That Argentinian offside goal was particularly interesting because the main referee saw that replay on the large screen and blatantly stuck to his assistant's decision. Using video technology would just suck the fun out of it; it would make the game clinical, staid, and just plain boring.

I'm not expecting anyone to agree with me on this.

P.S. Diving is an integral part of football culture. It's dirty but it can get the players what they want... sometimes.

[SakeIt2Me]

I agree with you. I don't want to see anymore technology on the field besides the broadcast cameras. But I do think they ought to put another official at each goal so I don't have to listen to non-footie-fan observers tell me my favourite game is antique-minded.
I want the game billion dollar players play to be as similar as possible to what they played in the slums as little children...of course, without the shards of glass on the gravel and all that.
I hate divers. My method of choosing favourite players is, if you dive, you're a pussy and I don't like you. STAND UP LIKE A MAN! So actually I think Iker Casillas is my fave right now. He's supposed to dive.

[Jonny]

I have a friend who is into "improvised theatre", ie plays without manuscripts. I've been thinking lately that two football teams made up 20 such actors would make one helluva game.

[justriiingo]

some of them footballers would make pretty good stuntmen.

anyway, JAPAN FOR THE WIN TOMORROW!!!

[Maou]

Heartache, heartbreak. Paraguay played dirty all game (red card obvious to everybody except the ref) and did not deserve to win.

[clakaz]

World Cup log:

Round of 16

Slovakia 1 x 2 Netherlands
Chile 0 x 3 Brazil
Japan 0 x 0 Paraguay (3x5 on penalty shootouts)
Spain 1 x 0 Portugal

Next Round

Netherlands x Brazil
Paraguay x Spain

Too bad for Japan. They actually had a very good chance.

Netherlands/Brazil and Argentina/Germany games will be earth shaking.

[MBF]

I'm surprised the English media didn't start picking on the German team again, because of that referee's wrong decision.

I'm just sick of Englishmen and Germans starting fights over football over and over again... with British newspaper calling the German team's new dark-colored football shirts "new nazi uniforms" and the German media reporting about how much "all Englishmen suck at penalty kicking"....


How the hell is that supposed to be good sportmanship???


....IMO some people seem to abuse those kind of international events as a lobby for their stereotypes and biased points of views, which is just upright disgraceful...

[justriiingo]

I'm heartbroken about that Japan-Paraguay match. But it's okay, cuz Paraguay are gonna have their asses kicked by Spain.

I think the finals is shaping up to be a Brazil vs Germany or Spain or even Argentina...

Anyway, this is required reading for those of you who would like to understand the culture of diving in football...

[Jonny]

The group play had a lot of "strong" teams losing (Spain, France, Italy).
Now in the tournament, all the remaining strong teams seem to keep going strong for real. Which is always boring to me, I'd like to see Ghana-Japan in the final.

[clakaz]

Netherlands 2 x 1 Brazil

In the end, a team (Brazil) full of histerical players that deserved to lose. Congrats to the oranges!