Official World Cup Thread

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Congrats to you Aussies....really wanted to see you do it and it was nailbiting watching reports of the pens as they were taken on SkySportsNews. It'll be great to see you at the World Cup.

[Alrowan]

im so [expletive]ing happy right now, i gettin piss drunk and laughing and cheering all night!!! Aussies are goin to Germany!!!!!!!!! THE 32 YEAR CURSE HAS BEEN BROKEN!!!


HUZZAH!!!!


AUSTRALIA

[Ser Clegane]

Congrats Australia!!

Quite a surprise - and definitely a pleasant one

Looking forward to seeing lots of Aussies visiting us here in Germany next year

[Dutch_guy]

Wow Hiddink managed to do it with them too ?

that is good news.

[Alrowan]

oh bugger my head feeels ;like its 150 kgs and my extremities are bumb, but i feel GOOOOD AUSTRALIA IS In THE WC!!!!!!11

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Place your bets lads....Bahrain or Trinidad and Tobago? I think I'd like to see the Soca Boys make it, but it should be a laugh either way.

[Dutch_guy]

I'm betting on T&T, would be great if they'd manage to make it !

[LeftEyeNine]

Trinidad & Tobago has a player named Marvin Andrews. I know that he is a solid defender, however I could never watch him. I'd like to see him playing..

I wonder if Collin Samuel is capped for T&T national team as well..

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Well, that's two down. Congratulations T&T! The final 3 will be determined tonight, although you can pretty much put Spain in there.

[Dutch_guy]

T&T is through too ?

I managed to miss both matches...to make matter worse , I've heard the Aussies made quite a show.

So how did T&T play, and does anyone know if South-Korea is qualified for the WC

That would make the total Dutch coaches in the WC 4 ( Holland,T&T,Australia,S-Korea )

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

South Korea got through. Trinidad played ok, but I think it was more that Bahrain were awful - I don't see T&T posing much of a challenge at next year's tournament I'm sorry to say.

[Dutch_guy]

Really, no one expect them to get far, no one expects them to even win a single match

It's just that they are there that counts.

[Papewaio]

Australians in Germany ... two beer drinking cultures and a side event of football.

Aussie: Do you have any Australian in ya?
German Women: No.
Aussie: Do you want some?

And that is the epitomy of Aussie pick up lines.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

The Turks are out - valiant effort though.

[LeftEyeNine]

Swiss players attacked assistanct coach Mehmet Ozdilek and when Alpay tried to interfere the assault he was assaulted too. That's what I just saw on TV..

These Swiss players are pity kids that pretend to be playing football..

Fatih Terim just called the referee of both matched being "corrupted".

A world cup is always enjoyable. But I don't think Switzerland will prove anything on such childish stuff. They don't deserve a single point or even a pinch of reputation after all of that. Our "Democracy tutors" are falling one by one, quite interesting

Congratulations to all going to World Cup.. You know who I imply an exclusion for..

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Well I'd love to have seen the game, but Eurosport showed Slovakia-Spain instead - I mean what's the point?!? I thought the Turks would win to be honest.

[LeftEyeNine]

We beat them to hell.. But it all started with an imaginary penalty given to Swiss at 20th second of the game..

The team locked Swiss into their own half until it was 3 - 1. But then it was that supernatural touch of Tolga (centre back) trying to prevent the ball going into touch which put the ball into the feet of the Swiss forwards. That made 3 -2.

Tuncay - a constant fighter - knocked his 3rd header goal of the match when it was 88th minute. It was 90 + 2 when Tumer (that struck killer goals against Denmark, Ukraine and Albania) was on a 23 - 24 metres long freekick. I don't remember any more stressful moment than this one lately. The angle was perfect the spot was perfect, his left foot was perfect but he shot the ball into the wall and all our dreams faded.

Switzerland who conceded only 7 in whole qualification group matches saw 4 goals at once. But they were the schizophrenic De Bleecker and supernatural Tolga that handed the game into Swiss team at once..

All kinds of sports are games of win or lose - sometimes draw. That's the nature of it. I'd happy to congratulate the rival team after a defeat - like I did after our pathetic defeat at the hands of Latvia before Euro '04. However, I seriously doubt that Swiss players are aware of what they are doing.

[Dutch_guy]

too bad Turkey is out...

The Swiss probably won't contribute any thing meaningfull to the tournament, though I wouldn't mind if the Dutch managed to get into the same group as them ;)

But anyway, I feel with you... some time ago, IIRC WC 2002 we weren't there either...makes for a long and boring summer.

[Quid]

Swiss players attacked assistanct coach Mehmet Ozdilek and when Alpay tried to interfere the assault he was assaulted too. That's what I just saw on TV....

Obviously, we have seen two very different camera shots then...

These Swiss players are pity kids that pretend to be playing football...

Oh look who's talking...putting up posters at the airport insulting player's mothers and throwing eggs and other such things at the players as well as their bus is not at all immature then...

Fatih Terim just called the referee of both matched being "corrupted"....

Oh there comes a surprise...why can't he take a loss like a real man...

A world cup is always enjoyable. But I don't think Switzerland will prove anything on such childish stuff. They don't deserve a single point or even a pinch of reputation after all of that. Our "Democracy tutors" are falling one by one, quite interesting

And Turkey clearly deserves all the reputation for fair play and a job well done...oh...almost forgot...you should also get first prize in Human Rights...

Congratulations to all going to World Cup.. You know who I imply an exclusion for..

Generally...
I am not really certain you have watched the same match as I just did. I am glad we are in the WC and not you. I have never seen so much hatred on TV as I have just witnessed. I always knew that Turkey is hell to play in an away match (meant in a fair way) but that is just beyond the bounds of any justified rivalry.

It's easy for your coach to just blame others and accuse them of all sorts of things (good tactic) but maybe he should be looking at himself for once. The amount of bollocks he has been spreading is rather laughable at best and pure hate at worst.

I find it funny that one of your players went to the Swiss cabin to apologise for the punch up in front of the cabins and the general atrocious behaviour of the public and players alike (this coming from the horse's mouth, so to speak).

Also, I have for the first time tonight seen scenes from the Swiss Team's arrival and I would immediately be banned permanantly from this board if I only repeated a single syllable of the 'welcoming posters' that were there.

Don't get me wrong, you won today, and you did well, for the most part. You played rough and we have to get used to that first. The atmosphere and the tremendous support is almost unbeatable worldwide in Turkey. You're an emotional people which can help to miraculously lift your team. But let us be honest...you lost, you don't deserve to go to the WC. Take it as it is and do better next time. DOn't be a sore loser...because I don't like to be a winner rubbing it in...

Well played...

Quid

[LeftEyeNine]

Make sure I watched the same match, Quid.. I agree with Terim on that : "They are professional provocators"

That's another simple, over-repeated and annoying cornerstone of football but, two penalties (one given to the Swiss without *any* touch, and several we were not in this match) make so much difference..

I can't do anything much about the fans. Fair Play (which has a referee and two rival players in the logo) aims the ones on the pitch being fair first. You know assaulting an assistant coach and a player is not Fair Play.. You may well see in previous posts that I refused to defend Turkish murderers that were pretending to be fans.. My subject is the professionals of football..

Fatih Terim is known well to avoid blaming referee for all his career...Note down..He's not a cry-after-defeat guy.

Take it as it is and do better next time. DOn't be a sore loser...because I don't like to be a winner rubbing it in...

Latvia played so well and won their way to Euro '04 over us. Fair from the start all over the pitch.. No referee plays.. No press insults over coach..

I'm not a sore loser. Though I'd recommend you to rub this win in - few time to enjoy until summer, you know ... Enough said..

Do the Spaniards qualify after that draw?

[asilv]

Do the Spaniards qualify after that draw?

Yes

Qualified teams:

Africa (CAF)

• Angola
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Ghana
• Togo
• Tunisia

Asia (AFC)

• Iran
• Japan
• Korea Republic
• Saudi Arabia

Europe (UEFA)

• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• England
• France
• Germany (host)
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Portugal
• Serbia and Montenegro
• Spain
• Switzerland
• Sweden
• Ukraine

North America, Central America & Caribbean (CONCACAF)

• Costa Rica
• Mexico
• Trinidad and Tobago
• United States

South America (CONMEBOL)

• Argentina
• Brazil
• Ecuador
• Paraguay

Oceania (OFC)

• Australia

[LeftEyeNine]

No Colombia ?!

This World Cup is getting worse and worse..

Watch out for Ivory Coast and Iran.. I predict these teams doing Senegal-2002 surprise in Germany..

[Quid]

Make sure I watched the same match, Quid.. I agree with Terim on that : "They are professional provocators"

We will have to agree to disagree then because all I could see in the past two weeks was Mr. Tarim provoking the Swiss...but never mind...neither of us will change our mind about him...

That's another simple, over-repeated and annoying cornerstone of football but, two penalties (one given to the Swiss without *any* touch, and several we were not in this match) make so much difference..

The Penalty for the Swiss WAS a handball. The only question is...did the ball go to the hand or vice versa. The referee thought the latter. End of discussion. You got a penalty too, I don't know what you're whining about. None of the other incidents were anywhere near another penalty but poor acting on the part of the Turks...

I can't do anything much about the fans. Fair Play (which has a referee and two rival players in the logo) aims the ones on the pitch being fair first. You know assaulting an assistant coach and a player is not Fair Play.. You may well see in previous posts that I refused to defend Turkish murderers that were pretending to be fans.. My subject is the professionals of football..

Right, and how many yellow cards have been handed out in both matches? This implies that neither team really played all that 'fair'. In fact, usually the defending side (i.e. Switzerland in Turkey) gets more cards. You rarely see an attacking side getting as many as the Turks did...

We are not talking about Turkish murderers. We're simply talking about players and fans alike behaving in at least sort of a civilised manner. This did NOT happen. I already apologised for whatever the Swiss may or may not have done to the Turks in Switzerland (although I doubt anything ever happened at all) but what I saw yesterday on telly was ALL the Turks and NONE of the Swiss...

Fatih Terim is known well to avoid blaming referee for all his career...Note down..He's not a cry-after-defeat guy...

He is in this one!



'Nough said!

Quid

[InsaneApache]

UK based players who are likely to play at Germany 2006 (England players not included)

Argentina
Hernan Crespo (Chelsea), Gabriel Heinze (Manchester United)

Australia
Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough), Lucas Neill (Blackburn), Tim Cahill (Everton), Tony Popovic (Crystal Palace), Harry Kewell (Liverpool), Brett Emerton (Blackburn), Mark Viduka (Middlesbrough), John Filan (Wigan), Stan Lazaridis (Birmingham), Craig Moore (Newcastle), Luke Wilkshire (Bristol City), Josip Skoko (Wigan), Tim Cahill (Everton)

Brazil
Gilberto Silva (Arsenal)

Croatia
Dado Prso (Rangers), Ivica Mornar (Portsmouth)

Czech Republic
Petr Cech (Chelsea), Milan Baros (Aston Villa), Jiri Jarosik (Birmingham)

Ivory Coast
Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Kolo Toure (Arsenal), Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal)

France
Djbril Cisse (Liverpool), Claude Makelele (Chelsea), William Gallas (Chelsea), Jean-Alain Boumsong (Newcastle), Thierry Henry (Arsenal), Mikael Silvestre (Manchester United)

Germany
Dietmar Hamann (Liverpool), Jens Lehmann (Arsenal), Robert Huth (Chelsea)

Ghana
Michael Essien (Chelsea)

Holland
Edwin Van Der Sar (Manchester United), Edgar Davids (Tottenham), Ruud Van Nistelrooy (Manchester United), Mario Melchiot (Birmingham City), Arjen Robben (Chelsea), Wilfrid Bouma (Aston Villa), Robin Van Persie (Arsenal), Andy van der Meyde (Everton)

Japan
Junichi Inamoto (West Brom), Hideoshi Nakata (Bolton), Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic)

Mexico
Jared Borgetti (Bolton)

Poland
Jerzy Dudek (Liverpool), Artur Boruc (Celtic), Kamil Kosowski (Southampton), Tomsaz Hajto (Southampton)

Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Ricardo Cavalho (Chelsea), Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea), Luis Boa Morte (Fulham)

Tunisia
Hamed Namouchi (Rangers), Rahdi Jaidi (Bolton)

Serbia and Montenegro
Zvonomir Vukic (Portsmouth)

South Korea
Park Ji Sung (Manchester United), Lee Young-Pyo (Tottenham)

Spain
Luis Garcia (Liverpool), Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), Fernando Morientes (Liverpool), Jose Reina (Liverpool), Albert Luque (Newcastle), Jose Antonio Reyes (Arsenal)

Sweden
Olof Mellberg (Sweden), Freddie Ljungberg (Arsenal)

Switzerland
Philippe Senderos (Arsenal)

Trinidad and Tobago
Chris Birchall (Port Vale), Russel Latapy (Falkirk), Jason Scotland (St Johnstone), Stern John (Derby), Kenwyne Jones (Southampton), Kelvin Jack (Dundee), Marvin Andrews (Rangers), Dennis Lawrence (Wrexham), Carlos Edwards (Luton), Shaka Hislop (West Ham), Brent Sancho (Gillingham),

USA
Claudio Reyna (Manchester City), Brian McBride (Fulham), Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham), Bobby Convey (Reading), Tim Howard (Manchester United), Eddie Lewis (Leeds), Jonathan Spector (Manchester United)

link

Looks like the UK will have a lot of recognizable names in Germany next year. I'm getting excited already.

[Alrowan]

i knew a lot of aussies played overseas, but thats suprising to see so many over in england, i guess they neeed a stronger league here where the pay and level of play is up there with the best :-/

[Tricon]

I haven't seen the game (Turkey-Switzerland), just parts of the aftermath. So I cannot comment on who provoked whom...
Now, I understand that soccer is a thing of national honor in turkey, but :FANS STOP TAKING MATTERS INTO YOUR OWN HANDS.
This is at least the sixth time (in the past three years) I noticed turkish fans acting like hoodlums and wreaking havoc (usually involving Galatarasay Istanbul fans, but also Fenerbahce Istanbul fans and others).
It's not right. This shames the people I've met as gracious hosts on several ocasions.

Edit: Note that I do not comment on ANY players or trainers action.

[miho]

Thats nice to know that the preimier league and the scottish league have so many good players. Anyway I counted that Chelsea has 10,Man. Utd. 9 and Liverpool 8 players.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

From PlanetFootball.com:

Swiss players have exposed the extent of the abuse dished out by Turkey during Wednesday's World Cup qualifying play-off.

Defender Stephane Grichting was hospitalised after receiving a kick in the stomach at the end of the match and was treated for a perforated urinary channel.

Violence erupted in the tunnel following Switzerland's qualification, with Swiss players claiming they were attacked by their Turkish opposition and a number of security guards.

Johan Lonfat, Johann Vogel, Benjamin Huggel and trainer Erich Burgener were all caught in the fracas.

"It is a scandal," fumed Swiss coach Kobi Kuhn. "I never saw it, nobody saw it - Turkish police officers stopped television crews from filming what happened in the tunnel."

Sochaux's Lonfat added: "After the match, the players were pushed around in the tunnel leading to the changing rooms. There, the Swiss players were worked over by Turkish players and police officers.

"Grichting got a kick in the privates and was bleeding. I was attacked. It is incredible."

Sepp Blatter, who is himself Swiss, has revealed his outrage at the events and has threatened to exclude Turkey from the 2010 World Cup.

It has also emerged that the Swiss government are considering legal action. Spokesman Raphael Saborit confirmed: "We can't exclude the possibility of there being action.

"We are seeing what we can do or say but initially we need to be put in touch with the people concerned."

Now I didn't see the game, but I've seen most of what was filmed afterwards. Really funny stuff, but is it me or did a Swiss player start it? They ran off the pitch, he kicked the Turkish coaching staff member and then it all erupted from that. It doesn't matter what happened on the pitch, the Swiss appear to have started the trouble afterwards, so I don't see why the Turks appear to be getting punished. I think Sepp Blatter, being Swiss, is not the right man to preside over this case. I'm just calling it how I saw it.

Also, I've heard that neither fans caused any trouble. I know Turkey have a reputation, but I really don't think they can be solely blamed for last night.

[LeftEyeNine]

Now I didn't see the game, but I've seen most of what was filmed afterwards. Really funny stuff, but is it me or did a Swiss player start it? They ran off the pitch, he kicked the Turkish coaching staff member and then it all erupted from that. It doesn't matter what happened on the pitch, the Swiss appear to have started the trouble afterwards, so I don't see why the Turks appear to be getting punished. I think Sepp Blatter, being Swiss, is not the right man to preside over this case. I'm just calling it how I saw it.

Also, I've heard that neither fans caused any trouble. I know Turkey have a reputation, but I really don't think they can be solely blamed for last night.

And you know what ? FIFA president Sepp Blatter organized a press briefing without seeing ANY official reports blaming Turkey for the whole scene and told that we could be excluded for further organizations..

That's shame times shame. I saw Number 14 running into the tunnel kicking the assistant coach, then Alpay kicks the one in his front and the nottorious 14 assaults Alpay.

And it is all since we are not very humanitarian.. This is being backroom stuff, though. I don't want to comment any further related to politics.

However, it is obvious that Blatter is a Swiss more than being FIFA president.

[InsaneApache]

Blatters a bloody disgrace and should resign with immediate effect. He has been an embarrassment for years....remember the envelopes under the door thingy and the NZ rep who 'changed' his mind (after a large amount of money was deposited into his acount) so that Germany got to hold the championship?

The mans a menace.