World Cup 2010

[Alexander Trafford]

The England in the tournament isn't the England it has ever been. They're flat. They aren't playing with great teamwork. Before the tournament everyone was talking about how Wayne Rooney has been otherworldly lately, but he has been a ghost at best. I heard stories that John Terry is trying to play 'captain' and motivate them for christ's sake (the stories also report this attempt was met with failure). And the 0-0 draw with Algeria was by far the worst soccer game I've ever seen. Ever. In my entire life. I expect that kind of performance from a country like Algeria, but not from England. That was embarrassing.

They have the talent to go deep in the tournament, hell, they have the talent to win it. But they need to get their shit together. I don't care if you have the most talented team in the world. I don't care if Germany isn't as good as they were in years past. England won't win if they don't show up to play.

EDIT: Germany is better without Michael Ballack.

And they won't. Unless the news that Rooney will be able to play after all ignites a fire under his ass and the rest of the English side.

[Saz]

It really doesn't matter how average/poor England were in the group stage, we're through now, all that matters is that we start playing well from here on out. It's like the last World Cup, both finalists France and Italy played crap in the group stages but managed to squeeze through to the knockout rounds where they raised their game and scrapped wins against teams like Brazil and Germany.

Also I don't think England not showing up will be an issue, this is England V Germany for Gods sake, if they can't motivate themselves for this game then none of the players deserve to wear an England shirt.

[Kami]

GHANA?!?!?! REALLY?!?!?! They don't even have food! WTF

EDIT: Actually that's a lie.

"Well endowed with natural resources, Ghana has roughly twice the per capita output of the poorest countries in West Africa. Even so, Ghana remains heavily dependent on international financial and technical assistance."

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications...h.html#top

[Belle Hibiki]

We lost to Ghana last time, didn't we?

I know pretty much nothing about soccer but I was getting pretty disgusted by the "diving" towards the end. Any sport whose rules allow - and even reward - the faking of injuries to that extent needs to have its rules reexamined.

[Saz]

USA lost to Ghana 3-1 in the last of the group matches 4 years ago, which knocked them out, yes.

I wanted USA to do well this World Cup, just because of the fact that it was raising the interest of football over there. I heard earlier that 17 million people watched the match against England. 21 Million people watched it in England, but football has always been a huge sport over here so that's to be expected. 17 Million is pretty huge, that's like 7-8% of the population watching a game of 'soccer'. And they had such a great opportunity to reach the semi's, with Ghana and Uruguay the teams they'd have to get past, two teams the USA could have beaten. Oh well.

[Psyren]

I tried to watch the game...but had no clue what was going on cuz i know nothing of soccer...

[Saz]

... It's really not a very complicated game. The only thing I could understand somebody new to the sport getting confused about would be the offside rule.

[Psyren]

It kind of reminds me of Hockey. Cuz like one team is trying to get the ball into the other goal for a point. And I has no idea of soccer rules lol

[Alexander Trafford]

Germany 4, England 1 at the 75 minute mark. Fancy that, the English side didn't show up and the Germans destroyed them. Ho Hum.

[Celena]

England were poor. Utterly poor. I can't even defend them.

[Psyren]

Apparently theres alot of bad calls going on in these games from what ive been reading online.

[Celena]

Yeah, like Lampard's goal that clearly went past the line, yet the linesman and the referee both failed to see it. Bring goal line technology for goodness sakes. Plata's being a dick about it.

[Saz]

That was abysmal. We looked so sluggish and predictable, I can't believe how much better they looked than us. For fucks sake, even in Germany they thought their side was too young to make an impact this World Cup, and they've ended up humiliating us.

Really disappointed.

[Alexander Trafford]

Ballack being injured allows Germany to be a more explosive team. No one expected that, not even the German people. They're a serious contender.

Surprise of the tournament: Who thought Argentina could defend? The team that Maradona put together should not be this competent defensively. They're performing up to snuff on offense, and better than expected on defense. That's a dangerous combination.

[Pinky]

need embedding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVGtB9j7Q...r_embedded

[Sage]

FUCK YEAH PARAGUAY!

Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!

[Psyren]

Welp....Englang and Portugal are gone. And with Portugal being the only reason i started watching my viewing of the world cup is over.

[Celena]

Portugal should have scored at least twice in the first half, but Spain woke up during the second half, and when Spain play their football, there's no stopping them.

[Saz]

Dang it, I would have won £10 if Brazil had gone on and won the World Cup. Honestly how did they manage to lose that game, at half-time you couldn't see a way back for Holland. I need to catch the highlights of the other game, it seems that it was quite a eventful match.

[Dehan]

The stupid calls, the idiotic 'omfg he bumped into me and now i'm laying on the ground in the worst pain I've felt in my life *peeks to see if the ref is buying my story*' bullshit has turned me off of soccer. *gives this sport the finger and leaves* USA still pwns in my book.