The World Cup

[Rob 2,999]

Now that the footiefest is well and truly underway, does anyone have anything to say about the orgy of intense melodrama occasionally punctuated by moments of footballing genius. I for my part would like to see Budweiser do the football and FIFA the beer as both would likely be improved.

[Geordie582 18]

and here's me thinking this was a football-free zone. Ah! well, another refuge lost!

[Peter 615]

I'm loving every minute.

I agree with Rob on the Bud though.

[wybrit 2]

I wish the matches weren't on during my work time. Sad to see the US crash out but they deserved not to advance - in fact their poor fortune can be traced back to their final game in qualifying, losing 3-0 to Costa Rica and losing a chance at a #1 seed.

The Aussies have been fun to watch. They aren't apt to go much further now.

England needs to quit sleepwalking through their matches - Ecuador will be no pushover. After living in the country for 10 years, I still finding myself cheering them on.

Stupid question on ESPN Soccernet: "Can England win the World Cup without Michael Owen?" Well, how many did they win with him? Northern Ireland never won any World Cups with Georgie Best.

Edited June 24, 2006 by wybrit

[Peter 615]

I'm going to put a bit on Aussie to beat Italy....

Spain e/w to win the cup.

But my hopes stay with England..it just needs that little push and confidence injection.

[wybrit 2]

England were dismal again today. This was one of the most poorly played matches I have ever seen. Luckily, they still won.

I hope they can step it up a notch when Portugal takes the field. Even with two suspended players, the Portuguese will be very dangerous.

The match between the Netherlands and Portugal was hard to watch as well. 16 yellow and red cards!!!

Come on England!

Edited June 26, 2006 by wybrit

[Geoff T 3]

Last week I had the interesting experience of being in Sweden while the England-Sweden match was being played. Let me say I have no interest in watching overpaid thickos kicking a ball around, but it was impossible to escape it on that occasion. Having found a restaurant which didn't have a big screen, we heard the cheers and groans coming from those which did and had various messengers running in with the latest score on the assumption that we were interested in knowing it.

What struck me most forcibly was how well behaved all the Swedish fans were. OK, they didn't actually lose on that occasion, but for all the crowds and high spirits there was no yobbish or threatening behaviour, even to those of us who were patently English.

All I can say about the World Cup is that it's marginally preferable to the annual Yawnfest called Wimbledon and, unlike in a cricket match, the players actually move around once in a while.

Geoff

[Peter 615]

Imagine 70,000 coin collectors on the raz.

If your coin was better than mine it would "kick off big time"

BTW my two tips have stumbled.

[Rob 2,999]

BTW my two tips have stumbled.

Australia were robbed by a cheating Italian who looked for someone laying down to fall over.

[Sylvester 15]

All I can say about the World Cup is that it's marginally preferable to the annual Yawnfest called Wimbledon and, unlike in a cricket match, the players actually move around once in a while.

Geoff

Oh don't get me started on Wimbledon or on Cricket... 'paint, dry' comes to mind for both.

As for the football, come on Portugal! You can do it!

Nah i have to say i would like England to win that match and get to the Semis, which i think is do-able, but they'll have to play better than they have done and watch their defending, which is sloppy at best.

If they do scape through to the semis then Brazil or France will tidy up and our boys can come home.

Of course it'd be nice to see England in the final, but i don't it'll get to that stage. Now if it should then they've got to lose, it'd be awful to destroy the importance of 1966 after all these years.

Germany will win.

[wybrit 2]

Sorry about England's loss.

[Geoff T 3]

Why? Maybe we English will finally realise that football is simply a game and not an industry or a celebrity bandwagon, that an overpaid yob is still a yob and that you can't expect to have a decent England team when a substantial chunk of Premiership players don't actually qualify to be in it.

Sadly, even though they know it's all over, the English will quickly find something equally trivial to get worked up about.

Grumpy old man - moi?

Geoff

[Geordie582 18]

Move over Geoff, I think the trouble is that the whole thing is part of the celebrity cult and has nothing to do with sport>

[Rob 2,999]

What a pity the referees and players didn't perform like that 60 games ago

[krasnaya_vityaz 0]

Lets go Portugal, crush France and then Italy.

[Sylvester 15]

Lets go Portugal, crush France and then Italy.

I certainly hope Portugal don't win! During the match with England they tried a few dodgy tactics to get one up on top, that's not to say England were blameless, the whole Rooney fiasco was proof that England were just as bad in that respect.*

No what really turned me against Portugal was the way they played against the Netherlands, it was disgusting, they were throwing themselves all over the pitch and playing what i call 'yellow card tactics', the ref being card happy only helped to set the unsportsmanlike tone, as far as i'm concerned the Netherlands deserved to win that match. Now that might sound pretty passionate for a person who generally couldn't give a stuff about football, but i hate to see people cheater and get rewarded for it!

* Honestly i don't know what all the fuss is about with Rooney, he's quick to anger and he's not as good as the media would like everyone to believe. Lampard, Hargreaves and Gerrard are the heroes of the match, notice how much better England played after Beckham and Rooney left! Of course England always go out on penalties, it's a tradition, we're lousy and we didn't deserve to go through, we're just not up to the standards of France, Italy etc.

As for Italy well after watching them against Australia i wasn't too keen on them as they too were happy to throw themselves about too much and take dives, but after the game yesterday with Germany they redeemed themselves in my eyes, despite all the nasty comments in some of the German newspapers and the somewhat obvious dislike the two sides had for each other, they went out there and they played good some damn football, as did Germany.

So France or Italy, i would prefer France. I have to say though it's a pity about Germany going out, i would have liked to see them win it, since they were hosting it and all.