FIFA World Cup Thread

[Crazedwraith]

Hey Sanchez, do you feel like making any more sweeping generalisations? Thanks.

Stil England made a very basic tactical error here; they scored less than the opposition. Just what were they thinking?

[Bluewolf]

Fuck you to the Limeys

OK can you really stop using that phrase? It's a little offensive.

[Thanas]

Hey Sanchez, do you feel like making any more sweeping generalisations? Thanks.

Stil England made a very basic tactical error here; they scored less than the opposition. Just what were they thinking?

Actually, they also failed to adapt to the quick raids down the flanks, which did them in.

That said, Lampart and Rooney were very impressive, these two worked their ass off. However, Cole was very effectively neutralized.

[Edi]

Speaking of diving (since I guess some people here think there should be points taken away for diving), that third German goal was the result of a blatant Wayne Rooney dive (what has that soulless ginger done in this World Cup? Remind me...) that would sorely disappoint the judges, that led to a German counterattack and a goal.

Oh, and there's goal #4 for the Krauts... fuck you England. Cling to those FIFA rankings as if it means something you boiled mean eating fuckers

What game were you watching? Rooney isn't known for diving, but even he is going to go down when he's got his full weight and momentum forward and picking up speed and someone steps on his foot, effectively nailing it to the pitch. The only direction you can go from there is down.

The fact that England fucked up and Müller scored from the aftermath is an entirely different issue.

[Coyote]

Bluewolf's snarkiness

How the fuck was I snarky. I just slapped down that constant trash talk from the US cock suckers.

It's called "teasing Bluewolf". In other words, having some fun with you, because you are getting all wrapped around the axle about stuff.

Homework assignment: look up the phrase "sense of humor".

[Kane Starkiller]

The best game of the World Cup so far. I always root for Germany if Croatia isn't in the contest but after the unrecognized goal by Lampard I said to myself I won't consider Germany to be the true victors unless they beat England at least 4-1 and lo and behold...
Here is something to make the resident english fans feel better though:

[Coyote]

I agree, England was robbed of that one goal, but they still would have been beat 2-4 even if it was given. Damn good, energetic match.

In all actuality, looking at how England played against Germany, I'm even more amazed now (in hindsight) that the US team was able to hold their own against them. That our guys even made it to the sweet-16 in the first place is impressive, and I'm glad we got that far.

Looking forward to Mexico vs. Brazil now. I have a fondness for Mexico, having been there for about 3 weeks or so, mostly in Oaxaca... but I have a feeling Brazil is going to come out on top.

As for the instant replay, the FIFA argument --which admittedly all you here probably are already all too familiar with-- is that it would be too expensive to apply it all across the board. Some countries are doing all they can just to fund a world-class team; the expensive video tech required for inter-regional fairness and compatibility would be too much. In a place like Honduras, perhaps, several thousand dollars of video equipment and trained techs to use & maintain them can be make-or-break money for a rural village needing basic services. But places like Europe, Brazil, etc could easily afford it, putting the rich nations at an advantage.... and there's enough of that going on these days, eh?

[Big Phil]

That said, Lampart and Rooney were very impressive, these two worked their ass off. However, Cole was very effectively neutralized.

Of course, there are no points for effort and hustle, only for scoring goals. So even though Lampard, Rooney, and Gerard worked a lot, they dramatically underperformed in this World Cup. Three goals in four games (Gerrard, Defoe, and Upson) isn't exactly impressive, particularly given that they played Algeria, the United States, and Slovenia.

[Korgeta]

...so where do I start?

We had good moments for about say....20 minutes overall, just a shame that we weren't as good in the other 75 minutes of the game.

Yes the officials screwed up on that lampard miss but it doesn't disguise the fact that it was a terrible display. There was no plan, simple pass, and even that was poor. No urge to play forward and even then we do it in a reckless manner. if there was nothing to play for perhaps i could understand not placing holding midfielders at the centre of midfield, but when your 2-1 down with 30 minutes to go? The moment germany had a perfect counter attack and made it 3-1 I knew the game was up.

4-1 overall and it could had been a lot more to the germans. Once they snuffed out our game plan we hit a wall, despite Upson scoring a goal he was terrible and contributed to the germans scoring twice.

And this part is not rocket science. Rooney was awful, he played with little enthusaim and was just babylining, he was far too slow to catch up on the ball. I think Nike must be scrathing their heads and wondering why they gave him screen time for their world cup ad.

It should have been 2-2 but how England easily lost the momentum just tells me that we wouldn't have won the game. Even worse that these players earn tens of thousands. Sorry their not justified to it and Rooney shouldn't had been playing for more then the first half. lampard did great, so did gerrad but not rooney and certinely not upson.

Officially it's our worst defeat in a major competition but it could have been a lot worse had the germans carried on scoring and not decided to rest on 4-1 and do a 'catch me if you can' as they pass around for five minutes leaving england playing catch up.

Urgh.

The only bright side, Germany is on my sweep bet to win the world cup

[Big Phil]

Fuck you to the Limeys

OK can you really stop using that phrase? It's a little offensive.

How about "Meat Boilers?" Or perhaps "Tusks for Teeth?" Or perhaps you could recognize ribbing for what it is and relax. You and your fellow Inselaffen gave Americans a load of shit yesterday; you're just getting back what you deserve, after all.

[Thanas]

Merkel's grin at Cameron while watching the game is priceless.

[Korgeta]

Well am looking to the Mexico match vs Argentina, I think there's a chance Mexico could pull it off. (A big IF mind you)

[DaveJB]

The one good thing that can come out of this fiasco is that maybe people will finally start to look at what's wrong with our national team, instead of just making up excuses about why England should have gone through, but were just unlucky.

In 2002 it was "England were good, but Brazil were just that bit better"

In 2004 it was "England were good, but Beckham fucked us on the penalty spot"

In 2006 it was "England were good, but Eriksson's tactics were too negative"

In 2008 it was "England were kinda shit, but that's only because McClaren is an incompetent fuckwit"

No excuses in 2010. None at all.

[Bluewolf]

Fuck you to the Limeys

OK can you really stop using that phrase? It's a little offensive.

How about "Meat Boilers?" Or perhaps "Tusks for Teeth?" Or perhaps you could recognize ribbing for what it is and relax. You and your fellow Inselaffen gave Americans a load of shit yesterday; you're just getting back what you deserve, after all.

Sorry I am not recognising it to stop, stop blatantly flaming.

[Korgeta]

The one good thing that can come out of this fiasco is that maybe people will finally start to look at what's wrong with our national team, instead of just making up excuses about why England should have gone through, but were just unlucky.

In 2002 it was "England were good, but Brazil were just that bit better"

In 2004 it was "England were good, but Beckham fucked us on the penalty spot"

In 2006 it was "England were good, but Eriksson's tactics were too negative"

In 2008 it was "England were kinda shit, but that's only because McClaren is an incompetent fuckwit"

No excuses in 2010. None at all.

Didn't the Liniker and alan hansen show a record of england's advancements that sincw 1990 we never made it past quater finals for the last 20years? Given our claim to be the richest league etc that is quite unacceptable. I think capello should go only because he knows that we do not have any england players that are truly world class.

[Big Phil]

Sorry I am not recognising it to stop, stop blatantly flaming.

Wait, did that really just get said? On SDNet? Stop flaming people?

Fuck you and the Spice Girls with a rusty screwdriver... I'm really enjoying the morning, and there's no way I'm not going to flame and mock the English after today's trashing by Germany. If you don't like it, go away, but don't start whining like a little bitch.



Moving along, any quarterfinal/semifinal predictions/hopes?

Here are mine (with the assumed Round of 16 winners):

Ghana beats Uruguay
Netherlands beats Brazil
Germany beats Argentina
Spain beats Paraguay

Netherlands beats Ghana
Spain beats Germany

At that point I don't care who wins the final

[Bluewolf]

Wait, did that really just get said? On SDNet? Stop flaming people?

Fuck you and the Spice Girls with a rusty screwdriver... I'm really enjoying the morning, and there's no way I'm not going to flame and mock the English after today's trashing by Germany. If you don't like it, go away, but don't start whining like a little bitch.

Yeah because just because there is a rule on flaming means you have to use it at every in every tiny instance. I don't give a care about the forum title, don't try and use that as a scapegoat. Plus I wont stop "whining". So I am sorry if I am going to have to disrupt your morning.

[Korgeta]

Good grief are you two still bitching at each other? We are meant to be talking about football here.

[DaveJB]

Didn't the Liniker and alan hansen show a record of england's advancements that sincw 1990 we never made it past quater finals for the last 20years? Given our claim to be the richest league etc that is quite unacceptable. I think capello should go only because he knows that we do not have any england players that are truly world class.

England's overall record hasn't actually been that bad since 1990. The problem is that whereas other countries alternate between winning things and being embarrassing failures (France's record since Euro 96 is a good example of this), England tend to be sort of decent and rarely humiliate themselves totally, but at the same time never really threaten to win anything. That gets boring after a while.

[Crown]

The one good thing that can come out of this fiasco is that maybe people will finally start to look at what's wrong with our national team, instead of just making up excuses about why England should have gone through, but were just unlucky.

In 2002 it was "England were good, but Brazil were just that bit better"

In 2004 it was "England were good, but Beckham fucked us on the penalty spot"

In 2006 it was "England were good, but Eriksson's tactics were too negative"

In 2008 it was "England were kinda shit, but that's only because McClaren is an incompetent fuckwit"

No excuses in 2010. None at all.

Craig Johnson called this 2 years ago;



England players are categorically less technically proficient than their continental and South American counterparts. And he also nails it again; this isn't the players fault, it's the entire fucking youth setup. As long as you have cunts like Sam Allardyce thinking that 'boot it long, and stick it up 'em!!' is the be all end all of football skills, England will still be crap.

An entire overhaul of the youth set up is necessary, Spain did it 28 years ago, and now look at the result!

Wake up England!

[Falkenhayn]

Whoever made the decision over at ESPN to get McManaman for their pre and post-game shows deserves a medal. McManaman sees clearly what is wrong with his side, to the point where he was banging his head on the desk during a segment with Mike Terrico.

Terrico said it best. "England have a lot of supporters here. Germany scored a lot of goals". Which saved us from endless droning drunken choruses of "Ten German Bombers" and "Rule Britannia".

[Master of Ossus]

Personally, I was really impressed with Germany's play. In the past, they've always struck me as playing a boring style (play up wings, crowd box, cross in the air, look for header). Actually, the team they reminded me of the most when I was watching this game was Chelsea in the EPL. Lots of crossing, diagonal runs designed to free mid-fielders and forwards in space, and frequent drops in the midfield to develop passing angles. They played a lot of work with the ball on the ground, and while they weren't aerially deficient, it wasn't the focus of their attack.

[Minischoles]

Hey don't lump all us english people in with Bluewolf, some of us do realise just how terrible the England team is. On paper, they're a world class team, but pretty consistently at every single major competition they fail to perform time and time again, never replicating the same form they manage at club level.

Terry and Upson were playing terribly in defence, it was like they were wearing concrete shoes, and the German attacks just kept embarrassing them time and time again. The entire defence may as well have not been on the field for all the good they did.
And why exactly have the papers and media been trumpeting Rooney as the saviour of English Football? he did absolutely nothing all tournament, he really hasn't shown anything in any of the games that justify the kind of build up and hype that has been going on with him.

Unfortunately, the monumental loss here due to terrible defending, unimpressive attacking (apart from one or two sparks of brief brilliance) and poor decisions, all of it will be overshadowed by the papers and every moron who followed it concentrating purely on the goal that was disallowed - no-one will care that England would have lost anyway, they'll constantly claim 'oh we were robbed, if that goal had gone in' blah blah blah - and then come next competition we'll be in the same position again, dependent on overpaid preening bitches who'll whine and complain their way through another competition.

[Falkenhayn]

Maradonna's backed off a bit. I only spotted three strikers in Argentina's lineup. Roberto Rosetti's the ref, which bodes well.

[Falkenhayn]

Nevermind. Tevez has scored from four yards offside. Rosetti and the Assisstant had a looonng chat after the replay came back up on the stadium's Titantron, but the goals stands as given. FIFA rules forbade him from utilizing the replay in his decisions.