Very pleased to see Ghana win that one, shame they got over excited after it, could have got a second goal I think. Serbia just had absolutely no passion until the end, don't know what was happening there. Another boring game but was pleased to see Ghana win, the fans deserve it. Bring on Germany Australia.
What an idiotic handball to get called on. Ghana wins and gets three points in group play directly off that. Gyan also had a fantastic shot in the final minute though. What a great striker. This team could really do some damage if only Essien was healthy...
Yes it certainly was a good shot however he could have got the re-bound had he not been so excited and ran away with his hands on his eyes.
Heskey was pretty much the best English player in that game. Great at holding up the ball and bringing the so called world class players with individual talent(who completely disappeared) , winning long balls, he assisted Gerrard for the goal. Out of all English forwards he is the one that has the best partnership with Rooney. England really needs Barry in the midfield if they want to get anywhere. Also they wont have an easy time when they will be up against technical, fast and short passing teams. Carragher and I´d say King are quite clumsy and slow.
I was hoping to see a similar game we saw yesterday with USA-England today with Australia-Germany, but that was not the case. Germany looked sharp and hungry for the win. They are fast, young, and confident. If they keep moving the ball like that it will be a long tourney for the Germans. Meanwhile, USA-England did well on ABC for Saturday afternoon: England v USA Draws Strong TV Ratings For ABC I watched it the correct way at the small local bar down the street with the boys. It was a blast. Drunk by 6 PM I needed a nap to keep going for nightcap.
Germany sent a message today. They're not the grind-it-out team of before, this new team has swagger, talent and blistering speed. This match was totally enjoyable to watch but the ref sucked. That red card on Cahill (who is a good guy on and off the field) was bullshit. I spotted two clear German dives (Cacau at the end, Kheidra midway) and it blemished the victory in my opinion, they should never dive. The first goal may or may not have been offside but Australia's playing with fire if they play the trap against a wide 4-man offense like Germany deployed.
Germany was just toying with them all game. And once the Socceroos went a man down, then it just looked like someone playing FIFA on an easy skill setting. I think Australia is better than that, but not a great way to start your cup.
I think Germany's win today will be overblown in significance. Let's face it, Germany schooling Australia, especially an Australia that was down to 10 men for a large portion of the game, was pretty much expected all along. They looked excellent because they were playing a team they completely outclassed. It's going to take more than that to convince me they can get past the quarterfinals.
56 minutes of 11v11, two goals scored, four missed empty-netters. Australia had a terrible gameplan with their offside-trap against a 4-2-3-1 but Germany has been far more impressive than Argentina so far. France sucked, England was terrible too. We'll see how Brazil, Italy and Spain do in the group stages.
I just heard about this apaprent vuvuzela (fan trumpet) controversy. Are these things unique so South Africa? Or just new for the World Cup this year? Do other countries/cities/teams use them too?
Germany was really impressive in this game, but Beermonster was right about saying that Australia made them look even better. The poor display of Australia (failing to apply any pressure whatsoever, overlooking teammates that had seas of space etc.) helped Germany, but they'd probably play well even if Australie put up more of a fight. I look at it this way; if you can't play a good game against a weak team, than you can't do it against a strong team. Yeah, we won't know if Germany will do well against, let's say, Spain or Brazil, but they did what they were supposed to do, finish off Australia, and they gained confidence for the tougher games by doing it with style. Anyway, on to tomorrow's game: Netherlands vs. Denmark. I'm becoming a bit nervous right now. There is usually a big shock in the first round of games at a WC, and I'm fearing Holland will feature in this one. Yes, England and France could claim that their results were a shock, but those were draws instead of defeats. The quality and form of the Netherlands suggest that they should brush Denmark aside easily. Aside from Spain, they are without a doubt the most attractive playing national team in the world (they're playing even better than during Euro '08, when they trashed Italy and France). But unlike Spain, there's still a lingering feeling that an opposing coach can come up with a tactical idea that wil disrupt the Netherlands. And Denmark has eight players who play or used to play in Holland and Morten Olson coached Ajax Amsterdam. They know us better than we know the Danes. Besides, they almost single-handedly prevented Portugal from qualifying for the World Cup. Still, when I push these fears aside, I think Holland will win this game 2-0.
Yea they are unique to SA and Africa in general. They are commonly used at soccer matches down there no matter what the size. In general, no other nations use them they way they do, though. I can sympathize with people who say they are annoying, but you can't ban a truly authentic part of Africa's culuture at their world cup. After about 10 minutes of watching the games on TV you don't even notice it anymore, and I'm sure the technology is there to dumb down the sound a bit. The biggest argument for banning those things come from what truly matters though; and that is the players. They say that they are having trouble hearing each other on the pitch. I still don't see this getting them banned, though.
Damn. Germany with the most impressive showing of the tournament to date. Lethal offense, strong D, and good coaching to boot. God knows they should be the early favorites.
Japan is probably the 3rd best team in Asia after South Korea and Australia but that's not saying a whole hell of a lot. Take Cameroon.
Japan looked good value for their win earlier. Matsui was a continuous problem for Cameroon. Tulio had a good game in defence, too. Honda was fortuitous to score, though. Sorry Cameroon, but you are NOT the team from 2002 - the defence was SHIT for the goal - they were all over the fucking place. Eto'o hasn't looked awesome over the last 12 months, not like he used to when he played at Barcelona, anyway. Geremi looked old and sluggish, though he did send in some good crosses from the right. However, Assou-Ekotto replicated his form for Spurs and had a fine match. Netherlands vs. Denmark was pretty dour in the first half - it took nearly half an hour for either team to get a shot off. Poulsen was unlucky with that OG - between that and Nicky Bendtner getting subbed, it was impossible for the Danes to challenge. Spoiler The only reason Italy even got a draw was because Villar made a fuckup and misjudged the flight of the Jabulani ball, which Buffon said had a weird and unpredictable flight path before the WC.
I took this from the Sports Props thread since it wasn't really on topic. Does anybody have a clue why they insist on coming out with a new ball right before every World Cup? You would think that the best way to let the players showcase their skills would be letting them play with the same balls they're used to playing with from their club teams and WC qualifying. Not leave them with only a month or two to adjust to a completely different ball every four years. As with most decisions made by FIFA, I'm not remotely surprised; just confused.
I am just hoping for some more parody in 2010. Since 1970, only six countries have even participated in the final match, and I think most people can guess what countries those are. -Brazil (3-1) -West Germany/Germany (2-3) -France (1-1) -Italy (2-2) -Argentina (2-1) -Netherlands (0-2) Since 1982, five teams (minus Netherlands) Please, any team other than those six, though NL winning wouldn't bother me as much because they are fun to watch. Well, wishful thinking, I know. I would love to see a team like Ghana make a long run similar to South Korea and Turkey in 2002, but this time, actually break through to the finals.
How about New Zealand! Things looked hopeless for them, they had a few shots on goal but nothing spectacular. In fact it looked like Slovakia would get a second goal, if anything. Or easily hold on for the 1-0 win, they looked in control and on cruise control, with the occasional attack for a potential second goal. But 2 and 1/2 minutes into 3 minutes of stoppage time, NZ scores the tying goal! The whole game was worth watching just for the equalizing goal. A game I was not that excited about (especially compared to the next two) turned out to be really good. Literally a last second goal, good for New Zealand!