The unofficial World Cup Thread,

[Ser Clegane]

They need to ban that horrid instrument of torture, the vuvuzela.

"Vuvu-Stop"

The earplugs, marketed as the "Vuvu-Stop", have a label on the back of the packet which reads: "Highly effective noise reduction. Uses include soccer, rugby, or for couch potatoes to block out your wife's moaning."

[Beefy187]

Netherlands 0 - 2 Denmark
Japan 2 - 1 Cameroon
Italy 2 - 0 Paraguay

I'll bet for Japan because its Japan. Not a fan of the current team though
Hope they prove me wrong.

[InsaneApache]

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Fantastic.

[LeftEyeNine]

Yo, Beefy, I've read that Uchida signed for Schalke 04. What can you tell me about the player ?

[johnhughthom]

Yo, johnhughthom, here are my predictions that mostly screwed up for the matches of Sunday. Please update.

Sorry about that, I was sure you had made predictions but couldn't find them.

Louis: +1 = 8
Little Grizzly: 2
Psycho: +2 = 2
Sarmatian: +1 = 2
Insane Apache: +1 = 8
Secura: 2
Ser Clegane: +1 = 4
Romanic: +2 = 3
Joooray: +1 = 2
Rhyfelwyr: 0
Sasaki: 0
LEN: +1 = 5

[Beefy187]

Yo, Beefy, I've read that Uchida signed for Schalke 04. What can you tell me about the player ?

He played for Kashima Antlers (My Team! The best in Japan!) and he is by far the sexiest player in Japanese National Team
Pretty fast RB, with a decent crossing skill. His good at attacking but his often criticized for his defence skill.
I hope he plays tonight

[Louis VI the Fat]

I predict The Netherlands, Japan, and Italy for winners

CR

Go one then, join the prediction game properly! You know you want to...

Most of the points are given in the knock-out phase anyway, so with one right prediction you can catch up with those who started playing before you.

Yo, johnhughthom, here are my predictions that mostly screwed up for the matches of Sunday. Please update.

ALG 2-0 SLO
SER 2-2 GHA
GER 3-1 AUS

Yo, johnhughthom, here are my predictions for the matches of Saturday. Please update.

Eng 1-1 USA (I predict a green howler)
Korea 2-0 Greece
Arg 1-0 Nigeria

[LeftEyeNine]

Lwiz Ze Fad, you haz Turk genes.

Netherlands win and I sink even deeper.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

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Fantastic.

Sadly, there is more truth to the headline than there should be.....

Pretty much a gift from the "footie dieties" to us on this side of the pond.

[edyzmedieval]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxWX...eature=related

K'naan - Waving Flag (the true anthem, not that Waka Waka crap)

Poor Poulsen. From Agger to his head, back to Agger and into the goal. Still, Netherlands had no ideas until Elia came in. Van Persie shouldn't be there, they need Huntelaar.

[johnhughthom]

Yo, johnhughthom, here are my predictions for the matches of Saturday. Please update.

Eng 1-1 USA (I predict a green howler)
Korea 2-0 Greece
Arg 1-0 Nigeria

Update:


Louis: + =
Little Grizzly: 2
Psycho: +2 = 2
Sarmatian: +1 = 2
Insane Apache: +1 = 8
Secura: 2
Ser Clegane: +1 = 4
Romanic: +2 = 3
Joooray: +1 = 2
Rhyfelwyr: 0
Sasaki: 0
LEN: +1 = 5

[Pannonian]

Sadly, there is more truth to the headline than there should be.....

Pretty much a gift from the "footie dieties" to us on this side of the pond.

Would Robert Green have stopped the ball if he were less of a diety and more of a fat bastard?

[Hax]

I want to drown myself after the Netherlands' victory. ;_;

[naut]

Van Persie shouldn't be there, they need Huntelaar.

A nice 6 goals in 5 consecutive games for club and country before today says otherwise. The problem lay in de Jong being ineffecient will keeping tha ball moving and Robben being on the bench. The Elia - v.d.Vaart - v.Persie - Snjeider - Robben front five is much more effective than when Kuyt and de Jong are in the team. Although, admittedly that is fairly attacking.

[Fragony]

Gawd that was boring 2-0 yipee, put us in the group of death next time, we aren't going to win so at least make it fun. Denmark..

[Rhyfelwyr]

Watching Cameroon under le Guen brought back all sorts of horrible memories of his Rangers years.

Very poor game, no flair on either side. The only difference between the sides was that Japan were actually well organised.

And what was PLG (Paul le Guen) doing with Eto'o on the right of midfield?

[gaelic cowboy]

That was brutal stuff twas terrible game Cameroon/Japan they deserved there beating entirely.

I shall speak no more of it worst game so far.

[Louis VI the Fat]

It's not the most exciting tournament evar, is it?

Very few goals. Too many matches decided by some defensive howler. Boring, weak teams.

Not enough fans travelled to South Africa. What little atmosphere they wish to create is frustrated by those vuvu******zelas. And what little we hear of this little atmposphere I can't hear because I turn down the volume of that awful monotenous noise.
Imagine what Saturday's game would've been like with a sing-off between God Save the Queen and the Star Spangled Banner. The players would've fought twice as hard.

The ball is a disaster. Players are looking for long distance shots, and defenses are kept tight to block attempts. Once again, Fifa managed the opposite of what it intended with some weird supermarket beachvolleyball - rather than more goals, we see fewer, of lower quality, with less of a passing and attacking game.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

One would almost think the lack of atmosphere is standard. Not so. Here's what a football game should be like, for atmosphere, audience participation, sounds, oohs and ahs, anthem sing-offs, taunts:

[Sarmatian]

Freakin' trumpets ruin my enjoyment of every match. The sound feels like a giant swarm of mosquitos is circling around the stadium.

Africa unfortunately wasn't ready to organize a tournament of this magnitude...

[Rhyfelwyr]

The ball is a disaster.

It's because it's too round.

Honestly, apparently one of its special features is that it is the roundest ball ever.

As for the vuvuzelas, I don't think they're annoying of themselves, but they ruin all the atmosphere. I think a fair compromise would be to let them be used in games were African teams are playing. But other than that, no, let all the supporters be heard in their own style.

[Pannonian]

England 1 - 1 USA

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

In Lego

[naut]

Is every world cup this mind-numbingly boring? Maybe hindsight is blurring my perspective, or not following a team is reducing my involvement, or the "World Cup Fever" hasn't grasped me. But, I don't remember being so bored watching football before....

[drone]

The sad thing is every USian that went to South Africa for the Cup (and supposedly there are a lot of these) is going to come home with a vuvuzela. We'll be hearing these in MLS and national qualification matches for a few years.

The ball is a disaster. Players are looking for long distance shots, and defenses are kept tight to block attempts. Once again, Fifa managed the opposite of what it intended with some weird supermarket beachvolleyball - rather than more goals, we see fewer, of lower quality, with less of a passing and attacking game.

Why use a ball that makes it impossible to maintain a decent passing game or make simple crosses into the box?

Tin foil hat time:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Adidas gave the Germans Jabulanis months before other teams got a hold of them. It's the only explanation for their clinical performance while other teams are flailing about.

[InsaneApache]

That Kawaksaki Yamaha Honda goal must be the softest ever and the goal awarded to Cameroon IMO.

[Marshal Murat]

"World Cup matches have had lots of zeroes

I would like to say that for many Americans not totally initiated, these games seem to be "soccer as usual", vuvuzelas aside. I thought the glory of the game was scoring that one lone goal...not a high-scoring match like Germany - Australia.

In regard to Vuvuzelas, I don't really know what a regular soccer game "sounds" like, so I'm not seeing the vuvu's as a problem, even though every match sounds like a beehive. I figure (and many Americans the same) that the vuvuzelas are simply "part of the game", especially since the games are in South Africa. Meh. Besides, if it annoys the Europeans, it has to be good.

I think that the more "erratic" balls are making the game so much more intriguing because luck and skill makes every game a toss-up. Who could win, who loses, because the possibility of correctly predicting these games has become more difficult.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

I would hope that the reasons for some of the poor games have been the poor teams.

The USA-england match was good and the Germany-australia match was great. I remember argentina looking pretty good too. And I liked the opener because it's fun to watch the host country and the announcer kept saying "tshabalala--Owww" which was entertaining because I didn't know what the hell he was talking about...

Also, the games that decide for sure whether a team advances will be more tense.

[LeftEyeNine]

For those that were looking for streamless entertainment: Back to your WWEs, UFCs, NFLs or whatever please. This is football and there is a serious trophy up there.

Paraguay leads the game for the moment and it'll end that way after the second half. YAAAARRRR !

[Pannonian]

In regard to Vuvuzelas, I don't really know what a regular soccer game "sounds" like, so I'm not seeing the vuvu's as a problem, even though every match sounds like a beehive. I figure (and many Americans the same) that the vuvuzelas are simply "part of the game", especially since the games are in South Africa. Meh. Besides, if it annoys the Europeans, it has to be good.

A general background murmur, with waves of songs periodically washng across the stands. An intake of breath when there's a chance, followed by an ooh if it stays out, applause if there's good play, or a roar if it's a goal. Having only watched genteel and even parochial clubs, I haven't really experienced them, but I've heard that some of the bigger clubs have atmospheres that one can feel. However, I did once watch a 3-3 which had some pretty decent atmosphere for such a small club.

[gaelic cowboy]

In fairness lads yer all being hard on USA they have supposedly one of the biggest if not the biggest traveling contingents at the games.

Well that Italy game was a bit better but that was only because there was a second goal.

I was gonna say I would turn of telly till the 1/4finals but seeing as portugal and brazil out tomorrow I will be still tuning in.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Can I still join the prediction game?

0 - 1

1 - 2

1 - 1

The Brazilians are pretty old, I don't think we're going to see great soccer from their part.