2010 FIFA World Cup

[grifftron]

My two teams at the beginning of the cup, besides Mexico of course, were Netherlands and Spain, but I like a lot the way Germany and Uruguay have been played.

Germany vs Uruguay is my final. Timminz only supports Netherlands because his hair is orange.

Yeah, Germany is my only team left on my "list".. i will not change my list, 5 teams is enough... i was cheering for Argentina over Germany but clearly they could not keep up after things went down hill...

[Lord and Master]

4-0 now
I have to admit, as an England fan this goes a long way to making me feel a bit better about the trouncing Germany gave us!

Me and the Mrs were just saying the same thing

I never thought I'd say it but I'm gonna have to support them now, they've played some lovely football and it'd take a good team at it's very best to stop 'em now. Germany/Holland final methinks...

[ga7]

Wow missed the game and was expecting Argentina to crumble at their first decent show off but that much, impressive and I'm happy I picked Germany for winning the WC yesterday before their odds diminished drastically If they go to finals I'm pretty sure they could deal with Holland, Spain could be more of a problem though...

[Qwert]

Now its show that Group D whas most hard group in World Cup, Only serbia so far manage to win against Germany.

Also its show that Argentina group whas much weak group.

[Iliad]

Now its show that Group D whas most hard group in World Cup, Only serbia so far manage to win against Germany.

Also its show that Argentina group whas much weak group.

It does, considering that nearly both the teams which topped the group made the semis.

4-0 now
I have to admit, as an England fan this goes a long way to making me feel a bit better about the trouncing Germany gave us!

Aussies feeling the same way here. We're on equal ground with Argentina

It will be a Netherlands vs Germany final. Netherlands will be fresher and more rested, while Germany has had the hardest route in this world cup yet still has not only beaten, but brushed aside, giants.

Spain's next.

[oVo]

Both Germany and Netherlands are playing excellent team football
with none of that individual kick for glory stuff seen elsewhere
in this World Cup and it's paying off bigtime.

The England/Germany game was awesome... by both sides and it was the
only time so far that the fan noise actually drowned out those damned horns.
That match also seemed like a sign that the survivor would go far in this
tourney and this young German team definitely looks solid right now...
even without Müller eligible for the next game.

[Pedronicus]

What i noticed today about the german game is it looked like they had 15 players on the pitch.

If they were attacking - there were 4-6 players in and around the penalty area, if they were defending an attack, they had 6-8 defenders.

three of this squad had about 10 caps before the world cup and have added 33% more just through playing in the world cup.

Awesome Germans. I never gave them a chance before this started. They are some sort of tournament powerhouse. Weird.

I'm envious

[Pedronicus]

Oh, and i was really pissed because i got argentina in the sweepstake.

[InkL0sed]

Click image to enlarge.

[nietzsche]

“Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win”
-Gary Lineker

[obliterationX]

I scrolled all the way down that image, very slowly, and, I will admit, I didn't expect that.

[Qwert]

Awesome Germans. I never gave them a chance before this started. They are some sort of tournament powerhouse. Weird.
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actualy,these is mutinational German Team,these is probably recepies for all teams.
Little Polish, put some turkish, add little serbian, put ghanians together with nigerian,and tunisian,and dont forget brazilian and spanish and last Germans, and all these mix give to Joacim Low to shake.
You will get strong powerfull footbal team. I think that these will be new World Champion.

[Timminz]

Both Germany and Netherlands are playing excellent team football
with none of that individual kick for glory stuff seen elsewhere
in this World Cup and it's paying off bigtime.

I would say the same for the Spaniards. As long as you haven't been watching the first 25 minutes of the current match.

[oVo]

More suspect officiating as Spain should be down 1-0 to Paraguay at the Half. Is it finally time for instant replay review of Goals in the World Cup? Certainly would take some pressure off of the Referee and eliminate some blown calls.

[Gypsys Kiss]

Well, Spain shoulda had another penalty, the Paraguayan shoulda been sent off........

[Night Strike]

More suspect officiating as Spain should be down 1-0 to Paraguay at the Half. Is it finally time for instant replay review of Goals in the World Cup? Certainly would take some pressure off of the Referee and eliminate some blown calls.

The "scorer" may not have been offside, but the other guy was. And since that other guy was active in the play, it was called as offsides.

[Doc_Brown]

Here's my picks:
26 June games:
US over Ghana
Uruguay over South Korea

27 June games:
Germany over England
Mexico over Argentina (this one is probably wrong, but I'm rooting for Mexico here!)

28 June games:
Netherlands over Slovakia
Brazil over Chile

29 June games:
Japan over Paraguay
Spain over Portugal

Hmmm. Only got 5 out of 8 right (though, to be fair, I said Mexico was probably going to lose, and the other two incorrect calls were both games that went to overtime). Well, that won't stop me from making predictions for the Quarterfinals!

Uruguay beats Ghana (but I think this one is going to be close)
Germany beats Argentina (this is the one I'm most likely wrong in)
Brazil beats Netherlands
Spain beats Paraguay

Figures that Brazil would be the one team to let me down! For the semifinals:
Netherlands beats Uruguay
Germany beats Spain

I think the Netherlands game is an easy prediction. The Germany game will probably be close, but I think Germany is playing a bit better than Spain at the moment.

[ViperOverLord]

Argentina will lose in the round of 16. Book it.

Booking... Not happening tho Viper.

Well I hope for you I'm wrong. But I do think they'll lose in that round or the quarterfinals. I thought they looked bad in qualifying.

I underestimated Argentina's weak group, but let me say I pretty well was on the money about Argentina being an imposter.

[Iliad]

More suspect officiating as Spain should be down 1-0 to Paraguay at the Half. Is it finally time for instant replay review of Goals in the World Cup? Certainly would take some pressure off of the Referee and eliminate some blown calls.

The "scorer" may not have been offside, but the other guy was. And since that other guy was active in the play, it was called as offsides.

The other guy was not active in play, he did not touch the ball and he didn't obstruct the keeper's view. That was a wrong decision.

[Night Strike]

More suspect officiating as Spain should be down 1-0 to Paraguay at the Half. Is it finally time for instant replay review of Goals in the World Cup? Certainly would take some pressure off of the Referee and eliminate some blown calls.

The "scorer" may not have been offside, but the other guy was. And since that other guy was active in the play, it was called as offsides.

The other guy was not active in play, he did not touch the ball and he didn't obstruct the keeper's view. That was a wrong decision.

He did draw the attention of the back line defenders so that the other guy could slip behind to the ball.

[Iliad]

More suspect officiating as Spain should be down 1-0 to Paraguay at the Half. Is it finally time for instant replay review of Goals in the World Cup? Certainly would take some pressure off of the Referee and eliminate some blown calls.

The "scorer" may not have been offside, but the other guy was. And since that other guy was active in the play, it was called as offsides.

The other guy was not active in play, he did not touch the ball and he didn't obstruct the keeper's view. That was a wrong decision.

He did draw the attention of the back line defenders so that the other guy could slip behind to the ball.

That doesn't count as offside. He didn't participate in play and he didn't obstruct the keeper's view so not, him being in an offside position is irrelevant. Meanwhile the goalscorer was totally onside. The goal should've stood.
And Paraguay's missed penalty should've been retaken because of Spanish encroachment

[Gypsys Kiss]

He made an attempt to play the ball, therefore he was active.

[obliterationX]

It was a very seesaw game last night, and I have to admit I was rooting for Paraguay. I was very impressed with how they conducted themselves.

On a different note - I'm gonna miss the World Cup when it's over!

[ga7]

Boring first half but things got better after the penalties madness. About the offside goal, you have to consider the offside player Cardozo was pretty damn close to touch the ball as he jumped. At normal speed, it'd be hard to see, and as usual the intent counts. The paraguayans didn't even bitch much about that refused goal, so I don't think it's that much of a mistake.
On the other hand the penalties... I never understood the point of this rule in the first place, why should it matter the other guys got in half a meter when the ball is hit? It could only be a problem if the ball bounces back which weirdly happens in the first place. Anyway the spaniards confuse me, I wonder if they play lousily because the teams they faced so far are defensive and physical (well except Chile but they were 10) or if they are all kinda burnt out. There's no way they'll beat Germany playing like that anyway, so probably third place (which still would be the best result of their WC history as "always favorites, never in finals" )

[nagerous]

More suspect officiating as Spain should be down 1-0 to Paraguay at the Half. Is it finally time for instant replay review of Goals in the World Cup? Certainly would take some pressure off of the Referee and eliminate some blown calls.

The "scorer" may not have been offside, but the other guy was. And since that other guy was active in the play, it was called as offsides.

The other guy was not active in play, he did not touch the ball and he didn't obstruct the keeper's view. That was a wrong decision.

He did draw the attention of the back line defenders so that the other guy could slip behind to the ball.

That doesn't count as offside. He didn't participate in play and he didn't obstruct the keeper's view so not, him being in an offside position is irrelevant. Meanwhile the goalscorer was totally onside. The goal should've stood.
And Paraguay's missed penalty should've been retaken because of Spanish encroachment

There was encroachment in all three penalties, it was the Spanish who got screwed by the system as the one they scored was the one disallowed.