General Chat / World Cup '10

Oh my God I want a soccer thread so badly but I'm afraid too few people really care about soccer here.

Americans...

Americans still love soccer...

Americans...

You've got to be fucking kidding me.

Wow, nothing like stereotypes..

You've got to be fucking kidding me.

I am.

So the world cup starts this week!!!
Are any of you guys as excited as I am? For the last week all I've been doing (besides hanging out with friends) was to pretty much get information on the teams and all kinds of things to keep myself updated.

Maybe we could set up a little prediction league or something like that as well just to enjoy this event even more.

This goes to you folks from America as well even if most of you despise what is known as "the beautiful game" in the rest of the world.

any of you guys have iphones/touches? i just updated doodle jump and the new theme is the world cup its really sick.

^soccer is actually growing pretty steadily over here.

I think Messi is gonna lead Argentina to the cup, but thats just me

^I don't think Messi will be able to do all that much as he never really impresses when he's playing for Argentina. He runs the show for Barca but for his national team he can't perform quite as well somehow. Maybe it's due to their coach, Maradona. Well, just to sum up what I wanted to say in the above: As Argentina has got Maradona as a coach they're effed anyhow, no matter how incredible their players are. Maradona is just a crackhead!

Edited by Fisch, 07 June 2010 - 03:44 PM.

I'm really excited aswell. Actually, the fact that sweden is not participating makes me look forward to it more. Now I can really just watch as many games as I have time for, root for the team playing the best soccer (that's rarely sweden) and just enjoy the game. That's gonna be awesome. I'm even gonna enter a world cup bet that they hold at my father's workplace together with him, I never bet or gamble otherwise.

I always tend to root a little extra for the underdogs, and this year I've choosen Japan, much due to my studying of the language and future plans to study there. They have sucked balls in the friendlies prior to the WC, lost all of them I think, so they're not looking that sharp. But their manager has officially stated that their aim is semi-finals, so I'm sure they'll hit a higher gear when it starts for real.

Maybe we could have a bet like the one at my father's workplace? Not with real money of course, but just for fun? It consists of over 20 questions (which teams go through from the group stages, top scorer from the different continents, highest scoring game, which teams go to quarter finals etc. etc.) But we could compress it a bit into three questions: Winner, top scorer and highest scoring team.

My bets:

Winner: Spain

Top Scorer: David Villa

Highest Scoring Team: Spain

Looks like Spain's gonna have a good tournament

I had actually more thought of something where you like predict every game of the matchdays and get 3 points for correct results, 1 point for correct tendency (win,tie,loss), and 1 extra point for some special thing (like person to strike first or something...). That's how we do it on some other forums. I can just show you what I mean by showing you my predictions of the first matchday.
So anyone who wants to join could just copy my stuff and insert their tips on the results of the games.

Group A
South Africa 2-2 Mexico Mphela
Uruguay 2-1 France Forlán

Group B
South Korea 1-0 Greece Ji-Sung Park
Argentina 3-1 Nigeria Higuain


Group C
England 2-1 USA Rooney
Algeria 1-2 Slovenia Novakovic

Group D
Serbia 3-2 Ghana Krasic
Germany 3-0 Australia Cacau

Group E
Netherlands 3-1 Denmark Snejder
Japan 1-2 Cameroon Okazaki

Group F
Italy 1-2 Paraguay Barrios
New Zealand 0-2 Slovakia Sestak

Group G
Ivory Coast 2-2 Portugal Doumbia
Brazil 3-0 North Korea Fabiano

Group H
Honduras 1-3 Chile D. Suazo
Spain 2-1 Switzerland Villa


(the names at the end are the names of who I predict to score the first goal)

Oh yeah sounds fun, here's mine:

Group A
South Africa 2-2 Mexico Mphela
Uruguay 1-2 France Benzema

Group B
South Korea 1-0 Greece Park Chu-young
Argentina 3-0 Nigeria Messi


Group C
England 2-2 USA Rooney
Algeria 1-2 Slovenia Hamsik

Group D
Serbia 3-2 Ghana Appiah
Germany 3-1 Australia Podolski

Group E
Netherlands 3-1 Denmark Robin Van Persie
Japan 1-1 Cameroon Morimoto

Group F
Italy 2-2 Paraguay Pirlo
New Zealand 0-1 Slovakia Sestak

Group G
Ivory Coast 2-2 Portugal Kalou
Brazil 3-0 North Korea Fabiano

Group H
Honduras 1-3 Chile A. Sanchez
Spain 2-1 Switzerland Villa

Can't wait!

I agree wholeheartedly with Splitvision and think it is Spain's to loose this year. They've shaken their label of the worlds greatest underachievers by finally winning a major competition at Euro 2008 and I believe they have the strongest squad.

If England's current form is anything to go by we won't be able to keep a clean sheet when it matters and I can see us out in the quarters/semi's as usual but if results go kindly and fortune favours the lions then realistically we could get an England vs. Spain final.

Netherlands have hit some form recently too and might be a contender but Robben needs to be fit. You can't rule out Germany, Brazil or Italy either but I don't expect much from France.

EDIT:

Group A
South Africa 1-2 Mexico - Guardado
Uruguay 2-2 France - Forlan

Group B
South Korea 1-0 Greece - Park Ji Sung
Argentina 1-0 Nigeria - Tevez


Group C
England 2-1 USA - Gerrard
Algeria 2-0 Slovenia - Belhadj

Group D
Serbia 0-1 Ghana - Muntari
Germany 3-0 Australia - Ozil

Group E
Netherlands 4-1 Denmark - Robin Van Persie
Japan 0-0 Cameroon

Group F
Italy 2-1 Paraguay - Cardozo
New Zealand 0-1 Slovakia - Stoch

Group G
Ivory Coast 0-2 Portugal - Ronaldo
Brazil 5-0 North Korea - Luis Fabiano

Group H
Honduras 1-0 Chile - Palacios
Spain 4-1 Switzerland - Xavi

Edited by Themeparkmaster, 07 June 2010 - 04:29 PM.

So the world cup starts this week!!!
Are any of you guys as excited as I am? For the last week all I've been doing (besides hanging out with friends) was to pretty much get information on the teams and all kinds of things to keep myself updated.

Maybe we could set up a little prediction league or something like that as well just to enjoy this event even more.

This goes to you folks from America as well even if most of you despise what is known as "the beautiful game" in the rest of the world.

I feel just the same!

I just can't wait for it to start, especially because we (The Netherlands) are in such good shape, and have arguably the best attacking force currently;
- Sneijder- decisive in the Champions League final
- Robben-got Bayern in the Champions League Final, probably only misses match 1 against Denmark
- van Persie- Arsenal's biggest star, and he got back from his injury with a bang, looks like he's in better shape than most of the other players and he's hungry for success. Because he wants to play as forward, van Nistelrooij wasn't selected.
- Kuyt; Doing all the hard work in front and cuts away all the dirty work for those other attackers
- Substitutes are in good shape as well.. Elia, also came back with a bang after his injury, Afellay, Doing way better in a more attacking role than as in a defending role which he played this season with PSV and van der Vaart, he will probably not play at the start but was just as good as Kaka when he replaced him during his injury at Real Madrid.

Our recent friendly's just prove that; Beat Mexico (2-1), Ghana (4-1) and Hungary (6-1). Only weak point is our defense, although Heitinga and Matthijssen are playing for major teams in major competitions and have lots of experience. Van Bommel and De Jong also could assist with defending.

Other title candidates are Spain, England, and Brazil imo.
Spain's squad is just insane. Every position they have at least 2 worthy players, and they had won Euro 2008 with ease, so I think they are the top favorites this WC..
England have a long history of just not making the next round due to penalties, but I think now with Rooney in absolute top shape and the strongest defence/midfield of all teams they will break that curse and finally make it to the semi final/final (Netherlands will beat them of course in the semi's )..
Brazil always have a strong squad and now is no exception.. Defence is really strong with Lucio, Juan, Maicon and Dani Alves and their attacking play is insane, with Robinho/Luis Fabiano and Kaka.. Says a lot Pato wasn't even selected..

The outsiders are Germany/France/Italy/Argentina/Portugal and I think Cameroon could maybe deliver some African surprise..

Here's my prediction of round 1;

Group A
South Africa 0-0 Mexico
Uruguay 0-1 France Ribery

Group B
South Korea 0-1 Greece Gekas
Argentina 2-0 Nigeria Messi


Group C
England 3-0 USA Rooney
Algeria 0-0 Slovenia

Group D
Serbia 1-0 Ghana Jovanovic
Germany 1-1 Australia Kennedy

Group E
Netherlands 4-0 Denmark van Persie
Japan 0-2 Cameroon Eto'o

Group F
Italy 1-1 Paraguay Cardozo
New Zealand 0-1 Slovakia Sestak

Group G
Ivory Coast 1-2 Portugal C. Ronaldo
Brazil 4-0 North Korea Fabiano

Group H
Honduras 0-1 Chile Suazo
Spain 3-0 Switzerland Torres

Still kinda hard to predict, because of injuries.. Some great decisive players already are out of this tournament (Obi Mikel, Ballack, Ferdinant, Essien, Drogba (won't make game 1 probably which will be decisive for Ivory Coast). Some didn't even got selected (Cambiasso, Zanetti, Pato, Ronaldinho, van Nistelrooij, Benzema, Nasri), which will make this tournament very exciting!

We do this every round btw? Will be fun!

SF

Sorry, I haven't read the whole topic, but to go on gir's point about soccer in the US: Even European teams are coming over here to play exhibition (I think) matches. M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore sold out last year (70,000+) and I'm sure it will/has sell/sold out for the next Euro match. Baltimore wasn't the only city to hold one of these matches, either. IIFRC, there were quite a few other cities that hosted European teams. I wouldn't necessarily use ESPN as an indicator of popularity though as I have seen both the mainstream sports (basketball, American football, baseball, boxing, bowling, etc.) along with poker, dominoes, Spelling Bee, billiards.

It amazes me that people think England will do so well. I dont see ourselves as more than a quarter final team.
If the USA dont finish 2nd in the group i will also be suprised. You have a good team and one that should be able to see off Slovenia and probably get a result from Algeria.

Yeah now we've had the team organised and Ferdinand is out etc I don't think we will do as well as I originally had hoped but meh, gotta have faith in your own team.

A tweaked version of my original prediction:

Group A: South Africa, 2.Mexico, Uruguay, 1.France
Group B: 1.Argentina, 2.Nigeria, South Korea, Greece
Group C: 1.England, USA, Algeria, 2.Slovenia
Group D: 1.Germany, Australia, Serbia, 2.Ghana
Group E: 1.Netherlands, Denmark, 2.Japan, Cameroon
Group F: 1.Italy, 2.Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G: 2.Brazil, North Korea, Côte d'Ivoire, 1.Portugal
Group H: 1.Spain, 2.Switzerland, Honduras, Chile

a1-b2 France - Nigeria ( 1 )
c1-d2 England - Ghana ( 2 )
e1-f2 Netherlands - Paraguay ( 3 )
g1-h2 Portugal - Switzerland ( 4 )
b1-a2 Argentina - Mexico ( 5 )
d1-c2 Germany - Slovenia ( 6 )
f1-e2 Italy - Japan ( 7 )
h1-g2 Spain - Brazil ( 8 )

1-2 France - England ( 1 )
3-4 Netherlands - Portugal ( 2 )
5-6 Argentina - Germany ( 3 )
7-8 Italy - Spain ( 4 )

1-2 England - Netherlands ( 1 )
3-4 Argentina - Spain ( 2 )

Final: England - Spain
3rd Place: Netherlands - Argentina

So to clean it up a bit:

Group Qualifiers:
1. France - 2. Mexico
1. Argentina - 2. Nigeria
1. England - 2. Slovenia
1. Germany - 2. Ghana
1. Netherlands - 2. Japan
1. Italy - 2. Paraguay
1. Spain - 2. Brazil

2nd Round Winners:
France
England
Netherlands
Portugal
Argentina
Germany
Italy
Spain

Quarter Finals Winners:
England
Netherlands
Argentina
Spain

Semi Finals Winners:
England
Spain

Final Result:
1. Spain
2. England
3. Argentina
4. Netherlands

Louis why don't you just enter our little prediction game and post your predictions for the results of the first matchday?


@Roomie:
Personally I don't think England will win it all either. But I know a lot of people and especially a lot of English fans who really have fate in the English national team and who believe they're gonna get far this time.

^Cause I dont know a whole great deal about football lol haha it's easier my way

So the world cup starts this week!!!
Are any of you guys as excited as I am?

No. Usually I don't care about football leagues and the game in general, but the World Cup is always a good reason to tolerate that the euphoria of most people just overwhelms myself as much as my friends who are all not into this game, too.

I cant wait till its over to be honest. The sooner england get knocked out the better. All this over the top patriotism makes me feel sick. Special thanks goes to the media for telling me about it every half an hour aswell