The unofficial World Cup Thread,

[Louis VI the Fat]

Germany arrived as well prepared to this tournament as ever. Either the Germans are geniuses, or the rest of the world are a bunch of imbeciles. Is it really all that hard to just gather your best twenty players and have them play a straightforward, disciplined game of football?
All of the German injuries - Ballack! - don't even matter. German players excell in performing basic skills to perfection: passing over thirthy meters, receiving a ball and controlling it effortlesly so you can have your eyes on the pitch instead of the ball, etc. This way, it doesn't matter if you have international superstars or not. All you need are twenty players who can perform basic football to perfection, with discipline and a will to win. Unless Brazil or Spain can deliver their best, Germany will be a major contender yet again.

England (not the UK) and the US shall have to win their group to avoid the Germans!
Second in the group gets beaten by Germany next round, the winner meets a weak opponent and can cruise to the Quarterfinals.

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Serbia is in major trouble already. They will lose to Germany in the second game. Then the tournament is already over. Serbia has done itself a major disservice today - I think it could be all over already.

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Algeria's goalkeeping howler rehabilitates Green to a large extent: this ball is a to control for a keeper if it is shot low with a bounce. Second game in two days that's been decided in this manner.

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Wow, Germany v Australia was easily the best game so far. Very exciting to watch on offense.

Most of the big teams have yet to play. Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal. Keep an eye out for Holland - Denmark tomorrow for some exhilarating football by two offensive teams.

Of the other three most gifted teams, Argentina so far looked good, England dissapointed, and France put up the greatest football show since Brazil in 1970.

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