Official Football Thread

Now I don't see where the racism comes into it (even though I'm not hysterical about that). Feel free to explain.

Any footballer named Honda is worth a play on words, regardless of nationality  :D

By the way, both Portugal and Ivory Coast have shown that they possess players skilled in the noble art of diving.
 
I thought of a Honda Civic, myself.

And I would think of the same thing if it was a guy named Heinz Volkswagen or Ken Ford who scored.
 
Eddies Wingman said:
Now I don't see where the racism comes into it (even though I'm not hysterical about that). Feel free to explain.

Any footballer named Honda is worth a play on words, regardless of nationality  :D
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I was making jokes about his strike-partner Suzuki etc. the whole match, annoying everyone else watching with me.

Well done to the Kiwis, who more than matched Slovakia in mediocrity.  ;)

Eddies Wingman said:
By the way, both Portugal and Ivory Coast have shown that they possess players skilled in the noble art of diving.
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I think diving annoys me more than anything else. Players are remonstrating with the ref for a foul not given minutes after conning him to give a freekick when they dive. Didier Dogbreath wasn't on long enough to do it but that scumbag Ronaldo made up for him.
 
Agree. Not many players can do that, and even great players miss more often than not.

By the way, any others who think that North Korean TV will report this as a 1-0 win for the heroes of the people?
 
No, I think they won't say anything until it is over and show it as the Great North Korean World Cup Victory For Dear Leader!
 
Forostar said:
I still think the USA can beat them in the next round. I have my doubts about England now. They played a lot worse than I'd imagined.
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I can't see USA beating Germany.  England needs a better goalie, otherwise they're good.  I expect them to beat Slovenia and Algeria.  If they face Ghana or Germany in the knock outs, they'll lose IMHO.

Speaking of Ghana, I wanted to mention this a couple of days ago but forgot.  For those who watched the Serbia v Ghana game probably noticed that the Serbian born, Ghanese coach Milovan Rajevac pushed away his assistant coach (or a substitute) and refused to celebrate at Ghana's win.  The following links provide more interesting information for those interested.

My first thought was "there's the ugly head of Serbian nationalism rearing its ugly head", but when I researched I found that I was right in a way.  However, the coach is likely the victim of such nationalism.

Article 1
Article 2

From the articles:
"A large section of the Ghanaian media including Peace fm and Joy Fm have also criticized the behaviour of the Coach and have reported that Mr. Milovan Rajevac in further expressing his unhappiness over the Ghana's victory allegedly failed to shake hands with his Assistant Coach, Akwasi Appiah and other team officials."

"While some football fans are calling for the immediate removal of the Serbia born Coach of the Black Stars, other also believe that his demeanour was only a camouflage to save his wife and children who are back in Serbia from any mob attack."

"The plush Serbian home of Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac is to be razed to the ground, but the trainer says it is a calculated attempt to intimidate him from leading the Black Stars to the World Cup."

"If this is their intention, they are very mistaken. I am leading the Black Stars to the World Cup to make history. They should get this correct."

Eddies Wingman said:
By the way, a South African dissident's take on the vuvuzelas:

http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/article476668.ece/Nothing-kills-the-joy-of-soccer-like-a-bunch-of-wailing-vuvuzelas
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"Not the sound of a goat in distress".   :D
FIFA did not ban it, obviously.  There would be too much controversy and they don't want to step on any nationalistic sentiments.
LooseCannon said:
Some keepers say it is hard to hold on to. Like Rob Green.
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Ouch!  :D

There have been complaints about the Jabulani, mostly from goalies.
national acrobat said:
Well done to the Kiwis, who more than matched Slovakia in mediocrity.  ;)
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Watching only the highlights, I was under the impression that Slovakia had more chances and played well.  The Kiwis scored in the last minute of added time.
 
That sounds pretty much like what Nush actually meant, doesn't it? New Zealand more than matched Slovakia in mediocrity - thus they were even more mediocre than Slovakia  :P

By the way, not nice reading that bit on Ghana's coach and how Serbian authorities seem to try to intimidate him.
 
Genghis Khan said:
England needs a better goalie, otherwise they're good.
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What was exactly so good about England in that match? That goal? Alright, that's indeed all that counts. But does the rest show enough confidence to beat a possible opponent in the next round?

I don't know what match some of you guys have been watching but sorry, England seriously were not good. A lot of bad passes. Hardly any imagination, old-fashioned kick and rush football, a style still played in the 2nd and lower British leagues. Sometimes effective but hardly when you're going to give Rooney balls 2 meters above his head. Perhaps things will change but only if some players (like e.g. Dwight-Panasonic) will be replaced and when some new tactics will be used.

This is simply not good enough to beat Germany or the other team from that group.

The USA showed big strength, a lot of quality in the passes, some great technique and above all, spirit.
It was a draw but the USA was clearly better.
 
Forostar said:
What was exactly so good about England in that match? That goal? Alright, that's indeed all that counts. But does the rest show enough confidence to beat a possible opponent in the next round?
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Sorry Foro, but I really don't think you can just jump on England's throat based on just one performance. They qualified with a far better record than just about anyone aside from the Dutch and Spain. They scored more goals than anyone and conceded less then almost everyone. And both Spain and the Ducth had their own whipping boy and potential "banana skins" in their own qualifying groups. They have a good set of players and a good manager, so I don't think it's right to start writing them off after drawing with the USA. And what you have to remember is that the USA is a far better team than a lot of people are giving them credit for. Better than Australia, better than the Danes, better than Paraguay and by a whole lot better than North Korea.

By the way, this is not me telling you all that England will win the World Cup, I still stand by my prediction of the semi's - and not a lot has changed my view on that.



Eddies Wingman said:
"These Rob Green jokes are getting out of hand. In fact they're crossing the line"
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Now that is funny.
 
Albie said:
Sorry Foro, but I really don't think you can just jump on England's throat based on just one performance.
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I judged this one performance, and thought I'm going to be honest about it.
 
As I've said before: Despite England looking out of ideas after one half, and the US pretty much set on defending, they should both smash Algeria and Slovenia. Yesterday's games did not top Algeria vs Slovenia in terms of anemia.
 
LooseCannon said:
Am I right to think that was a gorgeous goal? A football fan please tell me!
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I'm prepared to be lambasted for this, but I think Maicon's goal was a fluke. 90% of the time when players are in that position they try and pull it back to someone in the middle, more often than not hitting it as hard as possible so a slight touch or deflection will be enough to turn the ball in. Also, if you watch the replay you can see Maicon glance into the area rather than at the goal just before he goes to strike the ball.
 
Honduras - Chile: 0-1 at half time!

Finally a match where one of the teams score before half time again (it didn't happen in any of yesterday's games) and here I am at work, following it via a crappy live update service.
 
Chile was the best team up til now and also it was the best match, specially because Honduras didn't chickened out and always looked to attack when had the ball in their domain.
 
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