Official World Cup Thread

[Crazed Rabbit]

A great performance by Americans. Down a man for 40+ minutes, and they tied Italy.

Yes, Italy scored both goals, but Americans pushed hard the whole game. And the red for the late tackle was, to me, absurd.

Italy was a man up for 40 mins-and America was what-a 8-1 underdog? The Americans deserved this.

And now, if Italy beats Czech, and America beats Ghana, we can advance! A decidely heated group. Any team could advance. Heck, Ghana could be the group leader (though I certainly hope not).

Crazed Rabbit

[scotchedpommes]

Don't see the Americans getting past Ghana if they play as well as they did
today against the Czechs. Was willing them to beat the Italians after the
elbowing, almost as much as I wanted the Germans beaten four years ago.


[Also need to see France actually show up for the match tomorrow night against
South Korea.]

[Louis VI the Fat]

[Also need to see France actually show up for the match tomorrow night against
South Korea.]

Oh the princesses will show up alright. The question is, will the combined striking force of Arsenal, Manchester United, Olympique Lyon and Juventus manage to break the record currently held by Bolivia: that of the team that went longest without scoring at a world cup?

Really, how can you have Henry and manage to field a team that can't score goals?
(well I know why: because Domenech won't play Trezeguet, the natural couple with Henry front. Because he didn't bring Giuly, champions league winner with Barcelona and whose goal kicked out AC Milan in the semis. Because Zidane is worried about his status as number one and refuses to have the team play in a manner that fits Henry. And blahblahblah)


Edit: the ref from the US-Italy game was truly excellent. All his major decisions were correct.

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Oh the princesses will show up alright. The question is, will the combined striking force of Arsenal, Manchester United, Olympique Lyon and Juventus manage to break the record currently held by Bolivia: that of the team that went longest without scoring at a world cup?

Really, how can you have Henry and manage to field a team that can't score goals?
(well I know why: because Domenech won't play Trezeguet, the natural couple with Henry front. Because he didn't bring Giuly, champions league winner with Barcelona and whose goal kicked out AC Milan in the semis. Because Zidane is worried about his status as number one and refuses to have the team play in a manner that fits Henry. And blahblahblah)


Edit: the ref from the US-Italy game was truly excellent. All his major decisions were correct.

I live in the USA and I think I'm the only American who wouldn't have a biased decision about the refs because I'm a German fan. As you can see though a French man and a Dutch man (men gaining from neither side) agreed to good refs. I'd agree with them.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Edit: the ref from the US-Italy game was truly excellent. All his major decisions were correct.

He was suspended in 2002 and not allowed to ref in the last world cup...of course they play it up more on american tv but he was certainly inconsistant.

I don't think the game result would have been different, but it would have been nice. The game itself was poor to watch, set piece goals are boring and the US made a lot of bad passes which was a letdown after watching Ghana.

[drone]

Mastroeni's red card was a poor decision by the ref, should have been a yellow at the most.

Hell of a game though. Even though their finishing was crap, at least the US showed up. Though if Arena plays Beasely against Ghana, he should be fired. With fresh legs and his pace, he just didn't do anything. All his teamates spent in the second half, and Beasely just stood around, didn't challenge any balls, didn't seem to put any effort in at all. Hopefully his last international performance, he doesn't deserve another.

Go Italy, go USA. Pretty entertaining group. Ghana looks tough though, wouldn't surprise me if they win the group outright.

[InsaneApache]

I disagree, Mastroeni's tackle was mis-timed and two footed. He clearly played the man not the ball (he'd get a warning in the backroom for that ) furthermore it was completely unnecessary just in front of the Italian penalty box. What did he think he was doing?

Aside from that, a great game of footy. Lots of passion and commitment. The US had to run their legs off to stay in the game and rose to the challenge, kudos to them.

The Italians (much like the Portuguese) got more and more frustrated and it affected their moral as it became obvious that they were not going to break down the US defense. Keller, IMO, kept them in the WC with a cracking one handed save at the end.

Originally posted by InsaneApache
There's more chance of a creationist embracing Darwinism.

I'm glad I didn't say I'd eat my hat, I dont like bacon, eggs, fried bread and trilby.

[Rodion Romanovich]

Damn I missed Italy-USA... It seems like I missed out on a great game...

Ghana 2 - Czechs 0 was both a disappointment and a pleasant surprise. Ghana deserved the victory but I had hoped the Czechs would be better than they were. As it seems now, they aren't that good, and it's even doubtful if they continue to 2nd round - Italy and Ghana probably will instead (Ghana have USA left to play while Czechs have Italy left to play, Ghana has 3 points and Czechs have 3 points, plus Ghana won internal meeting between Czechs and Ghaha).

[DukeofSerbia]

Mastroeni's red card was a poor decision by the ref, should have been a yellow at the most.

Hell of a game though. Even though their finishing was crap, at least the US showed up. Though if Arena plays Beasely against Ghana, he should be fired. With fresh legs and his pace, he just didn't do anything. All his teamates spent in the second half, and Beasely just stood around, didn't challenge any balls, didn't seem to put any effort in at all. Hopefully his last international performance, he doesn't deserve another.

Go Italy, go USA. Pretty entertaining group. Ghana looks tough though, wouldn't surprise me if they win the group outright.

Mastroeni's red card was clear. He tackled with both legs. New rules say that is immediately exclusion


Italy - USA was one of the best game so far in World Cup, especially second half.

[scotchedpommes]

Oh the princesses will show up alright. The question is, will the combined striking force of Arsenal, Manchester United, Olympique Lyon and Juventus manage to break the record currently held by Bolivia: that of the team that went longest without scoring at a world cup?

Really, how can you have Henry and manage to field a team that can't score goals?
(well I know why: because Domenech won't play Trezeguet, the natural couple with Henry front. Because he didn't bring Giuly, champions league winner with Barcelona and whose goal kicked out AC Milan in the semis. Because Zidane is worried about his status as number one and refuses to have the team play in a manner that fits Henry. And blahblahblah)

I'm struggling to understand why Giuly wasn't included, really. He's a pain in the
neck for anyone when he starts his runs and links up with passes for Barca. I
think he'd really bring yet another cutting edge to the French team. Maybe just
another princess though?

France will pull something off - if not, I think it'll be hard to deal with the
resulting fallout.

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Australia better beat the pants off Brazil.

But seriously...

[doc_bean]

Croatia -Japan was rather lame, especially the second half...

[Dutch_guy]

Croatia -Japan was rather lame, especially the second half...

How did it turn out ?

0 - 0 ?

[Alexanderofmacedon]

A great performance by Americans. Down a man for 40+ minutes, and they tied Italy.

Yes, Italy scored both goals, but Americans pushed hard the whole game. And the red for the late tackle was, to me, absurd.

Italy was a man up for 40 mins-and America was what-a 8-1 underdog? The Americans deserved this.

And now, if Italy beats Czech, and America beats Ghana, we can advance! A decidely heated group. Any team could advance. Heck, Ghana could be the group leader (though I certainly hope not).

Crazed Rabbit

Nope. America is seeded 5th and Italy 13th. Those seedings gave USA way too good a standing, but they were supposedly the favorites. I don't know how I want this to turn out though. I want the worst teams to come out of every group to help Germany's chances, but I don't who the worst two are!