Official World Cup Thread

**The Blind King of Bohemia** · 06-10-2006, 13:42

Just about to sit down and watch england stuff paraguay. 3-0 i reckon, a header from terry, then a lamps then owen to finish it.

**Rodion Romanovich** · 06-10-2006, 15:00

Haha funny own goal 4 minutes into England-Paraguay... Poor Paraguay

Looking at this match I wonder if perhaps Sweden rather than Paraguay will take the second place in the group. England will take the first - they've shown a very good defensive work so far. I wonder what changes will be made after the half time. My 3-2 predictions doesn't seem likely at this point...

**Equilibrium** · 06-10-2006, 15:25

Watching England - Paraguay, the brits don't really convince me and paraguay's getting better atm; the 1 - 0 was really bad luck for them...I guess a draw will be the result in the end.

**naut** · 06-10-2006, 15:57

Amazing free-kick. It should have been more though, 1 - 0 is simply not enough. But that was possibly the worst refereeing I have ever seen. Terrible descisions or the lack of decisions. No. 13 for Paraguay should have been sent off multiple times.

**Ianofsmeg16** · 06-10-2006, 16:05

Although I'm English and my opinion might be biased....but was that referee wearing a Paraguay shirt underneath his referee's shirt, or do South Americans Stick together?

**Soulforged** · 06-10-2006, 16:36

Originally Posted by Ianofsmeg16

Although I'm English and my opinion might be biased....but was that referee wearing a Paraguay shirt underneath his referee's shirt, or do South Americans Stick together?

Oh we stick to our brothers always

... And I specially hate the english football team (kidding) so my opinion might be biased too. There was no actual team dominating the match this time, it has happened many times to England during debutes in the World Cup. Though Paraguay was unlucky i think that they sincerelly didn't diserve to win this match, they played as many desperate teams play, long unprecise shots, little coherence and little game play. On the other hand England played the football that we all want to watch, though only for a few moments. All in all I think this diserved a draw. Anyway, I still think that this two are the ones who will make it to the round of 16.

**Sasaki Kojiro** · 06-10-2006, 19:10

That Sweden vs T&T game was great fun. Always nice to see the underdogs do well.

**Louis VI the Fat** · 06-11-2006, 01:13

What a horrid substitution by Errikson, it killed the game. England's first half performance was promising though, and with Sweden equalizing against T&T the road to the next round lies wide open.

Argentina and Ivory Coast were excellent. If I were Holland or Serbia, I'd be very worried by now. The group of death indeed.

Originally Posted by LEN

Man of the Match : David Beckham. He is a captain, a playmaker, a dead ball expert and despite his enormous fame, still very enthusiastic. He showed his class in this match as well.

Beckham IS good, isn't he? He's certainly much more than just the pretty fashion model / marketing machine some think he is.

**The Blind King of Bohemia** · 06-10-2006, 16:07

Paraguay didn't play well its just that are second half performance was beyond belief and then bringing on downing and hargreaves who imo have no talent just summed it up. The 2nd half shambles will undermine the first half performance as we ripped them apart for the first 45 mins. We cannot afford to play like that against someone like sweden.

But we got the three points and the first game is always the hardest, smash TAT and then beat sweden 1-0 and then the 2nd round against either ecuador or Costa Rica and we should be fine

**Big King Sanctaphrax** · 06-10-2006, 16:15

I really sympathise with the England players-it was tactical ineptitude and poor substitutions that were responsible for the poor second half performance, and that wasn't their fault.

If they can keep the standard of play they were exhibiting in the first half up, they should do well.

**Boohugh** · 06-10-2006, 16:21

Not the most convincing performance from England in the second half. Our inability to kill off a game when we are dominating could cause us problems later on in the tournament.

The refereeing was a complete joke though, so much for FIFA claims it would be better this time round. Some of the decisions were just laughable, such as Gerrard being given a yellow card in the first half even though TV replays clearly show he didn't touch the player or Downing being body-checked as he ran past a Paraguayan player only for play to continue with Paraguay in possession in the second half.