World Cup GAME CHAT!

[seamus]

France were shite, see there is a God

[whore]

RTE just showed footage of Henry shouting for a hand ball in that game, with the caption "He's at it again".

[BlueBallz]

Saw that incident....can you say irony? A about a half second after he made the appeal, he looked as though his brain processed what was going on......I wish Ireland were there as well.....

[ciobha]

(jimslim @ Jun. 12 2010,02:33) The World Cup is only 2 games old and already those plastic horns are getting on my tit end  

Not to worry my good friend, once South Africa get knocked out all the locals will fuck off back to their slums, and the horns will never be heard again.

[Jake_Sully]

Watching game highlights now, OMG that bee hive is annoying.

[Tomcat]

Raymond Domenech ( i think)

The French manager is a real loony. Apparently he consults Astrology Charts and actually dropped a player because he was a Scorpio

Another guy was left out due to he was showing " aggression"
A proper cunt if ever i see one ..

The game tonight will be a draw E v USA. Both teams know that a draw will do and thats why the opening games are cagey. Just like the champions league opening games .. no pressure

The best games are the knockout stages when your head is on the chopping block.. well in theory anyway

[Bobcat]

I reckon Cappello wil push hard for a win it will be 2-1 to England I hope.

[pacman]

Cagey or not, I can't see either side not trying their hardest for an opening win. They are both vying for whatever points they can get.

I expect a close game & will be happy regardless of who prevails.

I met up with a Scottish friend this afternoon & asked him if he was supporting England given that Scotland aren't there.

I am too polite to repeat his answer.

[kahuna]

(Tomcat @ Jun. 12 2010,17:52) The game tonight will be a draw E v USA. Both teams know that a draw will do and thats why the opening games are cagey. Just like the champions league opening games .. no pressure

Great minds TC...A piece I just clipped from MSNBC....


U.S. vs. England: A Divide as Wide as an Ocean

The United States opens its 2010 World Cup against England on Saturday in a match that has generated
more than a few chest-poking arguments in bars and pubs on both sides of the pond. David Hirshey and
Roger Bennett, authors of €œThe ESPN World Cup Companion,€ come to the game from opposite ends of the
field. One is from New York and came of age watching Brazil€™s mind-blowing World Cup champion of 1970.
The other, born in Liverpool, suffered as England found increasingly theatrical ways to shatter the
hearts of a nation in the late €™80s and early €™90s.

DAVID HIRSHEY As an American, I would love nothing more than to see us repeat our epic 1950 World Cup
upset of those smug inventors of the game. I€™m tired of England lording it over us as if we were €”
I don€™t know €” some sort of former colony of theirs. Still, there isn€™t a single American field player,
including Landon Donovan, who would even make, let alone start for, England€™s 23-man squad. There€™s a
drop-off in technical skill that would give Sir Edmund Hillary a nasty case of vertigo.

For instance, take the two teams€™ respective strikers. England has Wayne Rooney, one of the three best
center forwards in the game, a terror-inducing pit bull from iconic Manchester United, a man who bears
an eerie resemblance to the character Shrek and plays like an ogre among boys. He scored 34 goals in 44
appearances this past season.

Across from him, looking relatively puny despite his mixed martial arts build, is Jozy Altidore, he of
the whole two goals scored for his Premier League team, a young man of whirring feet and a highly
erratic finish. And have you seen our defense lately? How can a country of nigh on 310 million people
fail to produce four guys who can patrol an 18-by-44-yard rectangle of grass in front of our goal
without channeling their inner Monty Python?

I€™m not saying that the United States hasn€™t made considerable progress over the last 10 years, it has.
I am saying that the talent divide is €” if you€™re not looking through officially sanctioned United
States Soccer Federation binoculars €” still as wide as the Atlantic.

ROGER BENNETT You appear to be suffering from a lethal case of the low self-esteem typical of a longtime
American soccer lover. Do not reinforce it by coveting the big money and marketing hype that surround
the English Premier League. Yes, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea play there, but the vast
majority of its players are expensive foreign imports, sadly ineligible to pull on the white shirt of
England. Of the recently selected Premier League team of the season, only one Englishman, the frenetic
yet crocked Rooney, is likely to start against the United States.

HIRSHEY Yes, but many of our players come from Major League Soccer, which is to quality soccer what
€œThe Real Housewives of New Jersey€ is to €œKing Lear.€ Roger, I know you hope that it€™ll be 1950 all
over again and that the plucky Americans will upset mighty England in the World Cup. Now, if you€™ll
excuse me, I have to go practice hiding under my desk in case of a Soviet nuclear strike.

BENNETT 1950? It is clearly still 30 July 1966 inside your head, the first and last time the English
rode their styleless blood-and-thunder brand of soccer to a World Cup title. I love the team as much
as the next gullible, masochistic Englishman, but since that day they have specialized in finding new
ways to torture a nation.

This year they have started early, limping into the tournament besmirched by a mix of sordid sex
scandals, mysterious injuries (including one that knocked our captain, Rio Ferdinand, out of the
competition) and the absence of a goalkeeper who can actually catch the ball. The real victory for
American soccer at this World Cup will be won off the field: this tournament will be remembered as
one in which America€™s traditional deep-seated suspicion of all things soccer finally evaporated: a
story line that must be a cause of optimism, even for you.

HIRSHEY I will grant you one thing. This is our best World Cup team ever, but it€™s also the first time
in which the team has no excuses not to advance. Easy draw. Impressive victory over Spain in the
Confederations Cup and a final against Brazil that for 45 minutes had people thinking the unthinkable.
We are no longer €œsheep ready to be slaughtered,€ as the coach of that storied 1950 United States team
referred to his players. It won€™t even be considered €œa miracle€ if we tie or beat England because we
are now legitimately to the point where it is conceivable that we can hold our own against a world-class
team.

But soccer in this country will not rise or fall on the outcome of the England game; it€™s imperative
that the United States defeat the two lightweights in its group, Algeria and Slovenia. Those matches
will determine whether this World Cup looks like France €™98, when we finished dead last in the field
culture€ that you so optimistically posit the real thing, or just another false dawn?

BENNETT When did you write this, David? The night after your cherished New York Cosmos shut up shop in
1985? Not only is United States soccer culture alive and flourishing, but the global game is fast taking
on an American tinge. Your players are competing in elite European leagues in increasing numbers.

Three of the best-known English teams are American-owned, including the two with the most titles,
Liverpool and Manchester United. Even P. Diddy was rumored to be snapping up a team. But enough of this.
Time to make a prediction, my self-hating friend.

HIRSHEY My prediction is that three hours after the game, you will be lying comatose on a tile floor in
the bathroom of a soccer bar, your face smeared with your red, white and blue paint, surrounded by the
shards of your Tim Howard bobblehead doll. England 3, U.S. 1.

BENNETT Opening games are always cagey. Neither team needs to win, but no one wants to lose. This will
be no different: 1-1. Another milestone on the gradual path toward the United States€™ becoming the true
home of soccer.

[Tomcat]

whoops, thanks for that Kahuna, you jumped in ahead of my reply to the Pacman


re Scotland
Just the green eyed monster at work Paccers .

[pacman]

Blimey! Wrong again...

So let's see if I have it right then, when the strikers are swooping on gaol, they are not trying too hard to score?

Soccer, who knew it could be so complicated...

[whore]

USA USA USA!!!

[Tomcat]

basically Paccers the players underlying Psychology for game 1 will not be the same as say the final.

Both E and US know thay can both "probably" qualify without winning and so in the back of players mind they are not giving 110%.. maybe 95%

A player will score of course if possible but less risks will be taken in the build up. Thats the theory anyway.

Must go now , a gathering of the Armchair Experts Foundation beckons

[whore]

USA should not be ruled out. They actually scored the most goals during qualification with 42 goals. They got to the confed cup final, and they won the copa america recently aswell (I think).

Am hoping for a USA win, but really ABE, Anybody But England. I just wouldnt be able to stand the british media going on and on and on and on and on and on............

[laputanegra]

koreaaaaaaa goooooooo