FIFA World Cup Thread

[Havok]

Jesus christ... If you didn't say you were 17 already in this thread I would tell you to grow the fuck up and act your age.

[Bluewolf]

I know. It is unacceptable behaviour Havok. My word usage, my attitude, all of it, It is my fault this argument even happened in the first place. Again, I cannot apologise enough. I shouldn't be reacting like this at all.

[Minischoles]

Wow. 4-1? That is just... well, pathetic really. I thought England was supposed to be good? I mean, yeah, we lost, but at least we took it to overtime and played our hearts out. We are also a young team with almost no talent as compared to the rest of the world... didn't you guys invent the game?
What, did England stop for tea time or something or did Germany just beat them into submission like they always do? Too bad it wasn't a war, maybe we could have come and saved your asses... again. Oh well, I guess you can just keep clinging to glories past, your country is good at that.

Deluded morons (read most of the English media and 90% of the country) think England is good, but anyone who looks at them objectively realises that the team is absolutely fucking terrible, and has been for a very long time. It's full of world class players, that play like fucking sunday leaguers the moment they put on an England shirt. The Germany game just highlights what has been wrong through the whole qualification and group process - England as a team are a gigantic steaming pile of overpaid overpriced shit. Take Rooney for example - hailed in the media for weeks as the saviour of English football, who'd win us the world cup - and what does he do when he gets on the pitch? absolutely fuck all, wonders around like the thick fucking ogre he looks, getting pissy because the fans booed him and Capello doesn't let him go out and get pissed (yes that's true btw - the entire England team were complaining like little bitches that Capello made them stay at the hotel to train and rest rather than go out like it's a fucking Holiday).

That last line of yours is particularly funny, because one of the things the media here clings to is past glories - 'two world wars, one world cup' and a 5-1 win against Germany years ago. They fail to mention the times (most of them) were England performs like a Sunday league team.

[Big Phil]

I have a question for the English folks on this board... why is Wayne Rooney so good for Manchester united (34 goals in all appearances last year) and so shit awful for England? For that matter, why are English players in general pretty damned good in the EPL and so complete and utter shit when they play internationally?

[Edi]

Honestly a video replay wouldn't have happened then, but a system closer to Hockey where the goal posts know might work.

Video replay would absolutely ruin soccer; it's annoying but not destructive in American football because there are natural stoppages all the time, but in basketball, when it is used, it really disrupts the flow of the game... even more so than timeouts.

This solution, however, would be a fantastic, easy to implement, and most importantly, impartial solution... although I doubt it will be utilized any time soon.

How the fuck would a video replay ruin soccer? If you only video check goals and penalty spot calls, there is already a break in the game. If it's a situation like the goal that was not called for England and there is controversy, video ref immediately upon the next break in the game (foul, ball out of bounds or whatever) and it will not interrupt the flow of the game. If a replay is actually required, someone will kick the ball out of bounds to get that break.

If a goal is disallowed due to offside or whatever, it's treated as a normal offside. If a penalty spot call was in error, ball goes to the goalie and game resumes. No muss, no fuss and an improved situation all along.

In the current system, you're going to get a fucking town square meeting regardless when the players protest and things will drag out and the match will go to shit with all of the unnecessary bullshit.

[wautd]

You don't need video replay verification for everything, but goals and penalty shot calls should have it.

I agree completely. It's not like we get a goal or penalty every 5 minutes so the time-outs will be minimal.
If there's one thing worse than those godawful vuvuzela's, its some of the abysmal referees in this WC.

[charlemagne]

If there's one thing worse than those godawful vuvuzela's, its some of the abysmal referees in this WC.

Indeed. Maybe after that terrible start their new policy now is to just screw with every match so the tournament stays "fair"

Anyways, Germany did really good against England, yes England was pretty rubbish, but our team stayed calm, kept working and played some fantastic football. No one would've thought a couple of years ago that you'd see the German team playing that kind of fast, modern football. IMO this style wouldn't be possible with Ballack playing. It'll be amazing to see what that team can pull off once they get some more experience. I mean, look at Müller - he's fucking 20 years young!

[Zac Naloen]

I have a question for the English folks on this board... why is Wayne Rooney so good for Manchester united (34 goals in all appearances last year) and so shit awful for England? For that matter, why are English players in general pretty damned good in the EPL and so complete and utter shit when they play internationally?

In the premier league they are supported by players of superior technical skill that allows them to do play the more british athletic//powerful style without that ball technique and get away with it. Rooney doesn't need to do very much on the ball in premier league, he runs around a lot.. get passed the ball and shoots at goal. Whats more annoying about Rooney is that he's gone backwards since he was 16, he's not even the player he was then.

We just don't have enough technical quality across the team to compete on the world stage and by the time they reach international age it's too late. It's a scandal in our football academy system that we still pick for size and pace and not ability on the ball.

Which I why I'm not at all upset england are out, I was hoping we'd get a good game yesterday and we did... but some of my country men need to grow the fuck up and stop whining (and not just on here either) we were never good enough to get past this stage our performances in the groups showed that.

[weemadando]

[D.Turtle]

I like this one:

[Hillary]

I have a question for the English folks on this board... why is Wayne Rooney so good for Manchester united (34 goals in all appearances last year) and so shit awful for England? For that matter, why are English players in general pretty damned good in the EPL and so complete and utter shit when they play internationally?

In the premier league they are supported by players of superior technical skill that allows them to do play the more british athletic//powerful style without that ball technique and get away with it. Rooney doesn't need to do very much on the ball in premier league, he runs around a lot.. get passed the ball and shoots at goal. Whats more annoying about Rooney is that he's gone backwards since he was 16, he's not even the player he was then.

We just don't have enough technical quality across the team to compete on the world stage and by the time they reach international age it's too late. It's a scandal in our football academy system that we still pick for size and pace and not ability on the ball.

Which I why I'm not at all upset england are out, I was hoping we'd get a good game yesterday and we did... but some of my country men need to grow the fuck up and stop whining (and not just on here either) we were never good enough to get past this stage our performances in the groups showed that.

Completely spot on. To elaborate on the coaching issue, we stick 10 year old kids on full-size pitches playing 11 a side. They are simply not going to learn basic ball skills doing that. In most European countries, you are not allowed on a full-size pitch until you are much older.

Our players are less comfortable on the ball than North Korea's.

[Dalton]

I suspect you will be banned if Dalton sees this, Bluewolf. So do me a favour and change it, I know you did not mean it.

Too late, Thanas. Six month ban.

[Thanas]

If there's one thing worse than those godawful vuvuzela's, its some of the abysmal referees in this WC.

Indeed. Maybe after that terrible start their new policy now is to just screw with every match so the tournament stays "fair"

Anyways, Germany did really good against England, yes England was pretty rubbish, but our team stayed calm, kept working and played some fantastic football. No one would've thought a couple of years ago that you'd see the German team playing that kind of fast, modern football. IMO this style wouldn't be possible with Ballack playing. It'll be amazing to see what that team can pull off once they get some more experience. I mean, look at Müller - he's fucking 20 years young!

They are nearly all so young. Look at Özil - he is 21.

Or look at the rest. Imagine what these guys will do in four or eight years.

Müller and Özil might just be the best midfield attack combo we have since...well, since the 1974 Beckenbauer/Overath/Hoeneß.

[Rye]

I like this one:

Hahah!

In fairness to that potato-headed fuck Rooney, the main reason from what I saw as an "outside observer" was that he was constantly marked by at least two defenders at any point. It's a little much to say he's gone shit, he's probably just as dexterous with his feet, but the team was half-chaos most of the time. The charity football ITV had on before the world cup had better team dynamics.

[Thanas]

He was also up against Friedrich, who just nullified the English strikers.

see the first seconds for how easy he makes it look.


Edit: Guardian fan comments: So the Kaiser was right.

[Crown]

http://football365.com/john_nicholson/0 ... 01,00.html

How Ingerland Is Killing England...
Posted 28/06/10 10:45


The worst thing about an England tournament exit is the fall-out; the phone-ins with idiot fans, the tabloid hyperbole, the pundits with easy solutions and the inevitable sacking of the manager.

This is the noise of what I call Ingerland; the noise of people who expected too much based on nothing other than their own myriad delusions, false assumptions and insane expectations.

The more rational, perceptive voice of England fans gets drowned out in the all this bluster.

Ingerland fans are full of rubbish. To these people it is always the players who were not picked that would have provided the solution. If only Darren Bent had been selected, or Theo Walcott or whoever, they would have turned things around. One caller to 606 offers the argument that Liverpool won five trophies when Peter Crouch played for them as proof of why Crouch should have played from the start. He's totally sure. Pity that it's not true.

England fans know that just picking another couple of players who are inculcated into the same football culture, the same youth training, with the same attitude, will not help. England fans know a revolution from the grassroots upwards is what is required, not just shuffling the chairs on the deck of a Titanic.

But the bellicose howling of Ingerland is now in full flow with fans shouting about Capello being foreign. That's always the problem to Ingerland fans - "get 'Arry in" says one Ingerland blow-hard, "he's proper English".

Proper. English.

Ingerland doesn't like foreign. Indeed, to the Ingerland man, it's the foreigners who are to blame for pretty much everything.

England fans know this is spurious nonsense, not least because the results under English managers have been no better. Our best-ever run of form was under Sven. Ingerland has forgotten this and chooses only to remember the tabloid portrayal of him as a funny foreigner who was a loser.

England fans know that it's not the management that is the problem, it's everything else.

Another furious Ingerlander comes on and pulls out his killer analysis: "You need someone with a bit of passion." And he goes on to say, "I'm very nationalistic about my country," - comically unaware of the tautology. As yes, passion; that's what is always missing. Passion is the most over-used word in football.

England fans are all too aware that people who talk like this are part of the problem, not the solution. Passion, whatever that might mean and however it might manifest itself, is irrelevant without tactically flexibility, technique and mental strength. Just caring more doesn't help if you haven't the technique to pass the ball accurately under pressure.

But Ingerland isn't done yet: "They let down the whole country," he says.

England's more rational voices wonder how this could be the case when they have no track record of success in tournaments, indeed last 16 or eight or non-qualification is what has happened for 44 years with only one exception in 1990. So they're not letting anyone down, they are performing to par.

England fans know it's unfair to expect something which cannot be delivered and equally unfair to then berate those who were palpably unable to deliver it for their inadequacies. England's more rational fans wonder why so many Ingerlanders invest so much in these mere mortals to the extent that they seem to talk about them as if they know them personally; as though it's a member of their own family.

"Why can't they play like they do for their clubs?" wails another Ingerland caller, seemingly unaware of the difference between international football and club football. At their clubs they are in familiar surroundings, play 50% of their games in front of loyal supporters, they know how their team-mates play and those team-mates are often better than their England team-mates.

But crucially, above all that, they are playing quite poor sides half of the time. They play well against Wigan or Burnley and receive the unreasoned adulation of Ingerland fans for doing so, ignoring the fact that these players regularly make the same mistakes that they make in an England shirt but are punished by the opposition for it far less.

England fans know that this behaviour is totally over the top but their voices of caution are all too often painted by Ingerland as unpatriotic or simply stupid. Maybe we don't have enough passion?

The leap from club football to international tournament is clearly a vast gulf which time and again we cannot cross, not least because Ingerland fans heap pressure and expectation on the players to do so.

Another Ingerland fan drags out a favourite cliché calling them 'overpaid prima donnas' and wants the government to cut their wages, stunningly unaware that they are not public sector workers. He just seems to want to punish them; to hurt them.

England fans know that it matters not how much you're paid, if you're not able to play less rigid, inflexible football from an early age; if you can't control a ball with one touch, if you are caught out of position and are too slow to compete, you are going to end up losing. Making them poorer won't change that.

After every tournament failure we hear the full cry of Ingerland eagerly looking for scapegoats, wanting to wipe the past clean and start again, wanting a silver bullet to make it all better. The domination of Ingerland fans and the Ingerland press who feed them at times like this are all part of the England problem. Their bluster and ignorance puts up a smokescreen and obfuscates more rational, intelligent debate and thought.

I genuinely believe most England fans know what the basic problems are and how they might be solved in the long term, the trouble is it's the voices of Ingerland who all too often gear and drive the authorities' decisions. Ingerland says it is the carrier of the flame of Olde Albion. It is the only one who really cares and many in authority believe them or are too scared to take them on.

In short, Ingerland is killing England.

Pretty much sums it up, also for a little background; the FA promised to do a 'root and branch' investigation on England's failure to qualify for Euro08 ... the investigation was canned after the Wembley came in too expensive, great eh?

[Siege]

And while the English continue to collectively asky themselves "why", the Netherlands beat Slovakia 2-1. Next up: Brazil or Chile!

[Thanas]

^Brazil.

[Siege]

Oh dear...

[Tribun]

Can only comment now.

After watching Germany - England I have to say that England revealed itself to be almost shockingly weak. Sure, there was a phase of 20 minutes where they were actually making an efford, but the rest of the time they didn't manage to get much done.

It seems to be a trend that several UEFA nations have missed the opportunity to re-new their national teams, and now they're paying dearly for it. First of course is France, followed by Italy and then England. I hadn't expected Germany to outclass England so badly. Now the true test will be against Argentia. I really want the arrogant smile wiped off Maradonna's face.

As for Brazil... while they won, they showed themselves to be rather mediocre. They should be glad that it had been only Chile. The Netherlands will be a different matter....

[Big Phil]

As for Brazil... while they won, they showed themselves to be rather mediocre. They should be glad that it had been only Chile. The Netherlands will be a different matter....

It was, however, a very entertaining and offensive match. Given the scarcity of goals in this world cup so far, that's been a welcome change.

[Crown]

I have a question for the English folks on this board... why is Wayne Rooney so good for Manchester united (34 goals in all appearances last year) and so shit awful for England? For that matter, why are English players in general pretty damned good in the EPL and so complete and utter shit when they play internationally?

There are many reasons, and I'll cover a few of them but first let me say that this tournament hasn't been good for Rooney, Fergie crocked him against Bayern and he hasn't been fit since, having said that the fat granny-shagging-blue-nose-manc-twat is vastly over rated. No wonder Diego Milito is coming out in all the papers talking about how the entire Argentine team is pissing their pants laughing each time the English press compare him to Messi!

Reasons not to go on his 34 goals this season are;

1. He plays for Manchester United. It's a well proven fact that the Premier League is so 'enamored' by their rep that they get more favourable calls their way, and if they are chasing a game they get more time added on than any other team.
2. In fact so fucking unbelievable the level of capitulation at Old Toilet Old Trafford, one team didn't even fucking bother fielding their best starting eleven because 'they didn't think they would get anything out of the game anyway' (Mick McCarthy, I'm looking at you.
3. Those goals include penalties and free kicks (dead ball situations) which if you see point 1, you'll note they get a lot of.
4. The tactical 'nous' of Fergie is to play 4-5-1 with Rooney up front and two wingers who have had a (surprisingly) fantastic season. The Shrek bastard practically stands still and cross, after cross, after cross rebound in off him.
5. The second highest 'goal scorer' at Manchester United is 'Own Goal' ... okay, that didn't have a lot to do with anything, but I thought I'd throw it in.

So you have all that, and then you add to the fact that he's English, and well the press are desperate and need something to promote, and there you have it; hyped up bullshit. On a positive note; Nike have pulled the Rooney 'dare to dream add' and now we have Robinho!

For a true, world class striker look no further than Fernando Torres; 18 goals, in only 19 games this season. Can't beat that!

[Big Phil]

Those goals include penalties and free kicks (dead ball situations) which if you see point 1, you'll note they get a lot of.

I wondered how many of those goals were from dead balls and against teams like Hull City, Burnley, or Wigan.

[Lief]

No point going over the coulda, shoulda, woulda with the England vs Germany game, we lost, they won.

So, for the rest of the tournament, I will make a reasonably outlandish (though not totally improbable) prediction of a Spain vs Netherlands final.

[Hillary]

I support Liverpool

Sorry, Crown, I just shortened your piece

Rooney is undoubtedly a talented footballer, but at United he plays with much better players against much worse sides. To my mind, he didn't look anywhere near fit.