Keeping up with the World Cup

[JoBelle]

I've always liked soccer, as we Americans call it. Now, after listening to the rantings of Red, a British football fan, I've decided to keep an eye on the World Cup Series.

Yes, number one France DID indeed lose to Senegal. I had to do my research there to appreciate it! Hehe, but I AM learning! Right now Denmark and Uruguay are playing and the beginning of the game seems to be good. I love to watch sports where there is constant movement. Did I just yell at the television?? I think I did!!

So other than this rookie follower, is anyone else watching? Can you help educate me?? 😕 Red, I'm not talking to you, love! I don't want to hear your theories on our "world seires." 😛

Joby, a soccer mom!

 

[Haltickling]

I'm no big soccer fan, but at such important occasions like the World Cup, I tend to watch it. In just a few minutes, Germany will play against Saudi-Arabia.

One interesting sidenote: About a million Germans will be unable to watch the games: for those with the most advanced digital satellite dishes, the screen will remain black. The reason: German TV was unable to reach an agreement with the company that brokers the TV-licences...

 

[Dave2112]

Not really a big fan of soccer here, as I can't seem to get into any activity that goes on for four hours with a final score of 0-0...BUT...it was nice to see something sad happen to France.🙄

 

[TheSteve]

Just a few things from somebody who knows!!!

Not that many games will end up 0-0. With the new ball and hot conditions, you can expect quite a few late winners!

France lost, but they always start badly. I still have money on them to win, after all they are the world and european champions!

Please dont call it the world cup series. Its demeaning for all of us to relate it to that baseball thing! each to their own I guess! 😀

And finally, I hope you lot can improve on the last one, where you set an all time record for the poorest showing at a world cup!

Oh, and dave? Four hours? What match were YOU watching?

 

[Dave2112]

See? That's how much I know about soccer. I thought that once you were beat, you went home...you mean France lost and still gets to play? I take it that soccer is decided by a series of games or a final win/loss score?

As far as sending a good team, I think we were too busy playing football....😀

 

[TheSteve]

See? That's how much I know about soccer. I thought that once you were beat, you went home...you mean France lost and still gets to play? I take it that soccer is decided by a series of games or a final win/loss score?

As far as sending a good team, I think we were too busy playing football....😀

Hehe - dont get me started on your "football!!"

The format is.... (listening?) Eight groups of four teams play each other in a round robin style thing. The top two teams then pregress to the second round, where First of Group A play second of Group F and vice versa, like a 1/8th final 🙂 here on in is a knockout stage, so if you lose,youre gone!!!

Oh, and theres also a third/fourth place match for the losers of the semis.

 

[Haltickling]

Speaking about 0:0 games: Germany just won against Saudi-Arabia 8:0 !

As for the tournament rules: the first round is played in 8 groups with 4 teams each (=3 games per team in the first round). The best 2 of each group advance into the second round; from then on it's a win or go home system. The whole tournament will take about 4 weeks.

I know that soccer isn't very popular in the States. But it's the most popular team sports in most of Europe, South America, Africa, and large parts of Asia. So the World Cup here is a real one, quite unlike the World Series in Baseball... 😛

 

[TheSteve]

Thank you Hal!!! Now if only Kirsch could get their heads out of a dark orifice huh?

PS. Youre still going out to Ireland and Cameroon!

 

[Haltickling]

Sorry about the cross-over; I was still typing while your tournament explanation was posted (I'm so slow!).

Both Ireland and Cameroon will be much harder to defeat. The German national team hasn't exactly collected many credits during the qualifications; I guess those multi-millionaires would rather have some other people play while pocketing their huge salaries... But they really seem quite motivated this time, so let's hope for the best! 🙂

 

[JoBelle]

Note to self ********

Do NOT add the word series at the end of World Cup....*hehe*

Hal & Steve, seeing the local characters like y'all chatter does me a world of good of understanding!! It's much better than all the sports sites I've been to!! LOL

I didn't know it lasted for 4 weeks! THAT is pretty neat!
Joby

 

[TheSteve]

Hehe - just be glad England and Germany were drawn in different halves of the cup!

(memories of 5-1.... and many penalty cock ups)

But any questions, dont hesitate to ask - although im not on much anymore.

 

[Dave2112]

So, how is Ireland going to win without their captain? ...

...holy crap, I do know something about soccer! Not that I follow, but I work in International Media and read all the British papers everyday. I know that he was from Man U and got tossed because of a disagreement with the coach or something. Is he back now? Last I heard, no one was giving Ireland a chance.

As long as it is truly a "World" Cup, and since I know little about it, I suppose it's time to just fall back on rooting for the home team.

GO SCOTLAND!!!!!!!!!

(They have a team, right? 🙄 )

 

[red indian]

Just a note for the Americans...........

On the Republic of Ireland team, for those of you that dont know, Roy keane called the manager (Mick Mcarthy) "a fucking English c**t" and "a shit player and a shit manager"

As for Scotland having a team? well, they have 11 guys with boots and a football but if they get beat by Brazil once more they get to take them home I think.

 

[qjakal]

Soccer....

See, my idea is to to have our team put 3 guys in front of the net...seems to me this will cut down on the other teams scoring quite a bit. Conversely, if we cut block the other teams goalies, this would free the area up for easier shots. Umm... "Go Italy?"... Q

 

[Biggles of 266]

France and Senegal was a good game to watch. Senegal know they're probably only there for the first round, maaaaaybe the second, so they're gonna go hard out and score as many as they can. France are in for the long run so they're going to hold back and just cruise through with the minimum of effort (how like France).

Roy Keane won't be coming back to play for Ireland until they change their coach, which seems unlikely at the moment.

A lot of players aren't happy with the new ball. They say it's too light and it moves around too much with the breeze. Beckham likes it, but he *is* on the Adidas payroll.

This is my favourite site for keeping updated. They've got a page for each team, rankings, details, schedules, groups, the lot. Very informative, but all in Australian time (it's great finally having a world cup in my time zone! No more 1am games!).

*Biased Team Support Section*

Group A: Go Senegal!

Group B: Bafana Bafana!

Group C: It'd be nice to see China get a few goals at their first Cup

Group D: Portugal

Group E: The Kaiser's men

Group F: Group of Death! Falklands revenge, I wanna see some pissed off english fans riot!

Group G: Mexico

Group H: Russia



Just my random list of who I want to see go through.

 

[JoBelle]

This is my favourite site for keeping updated. They've got a page for each team, rankings, details, schedules, groups, the lot. Very informative, but all in Australian time (it's great finally having a world cup in my time zone! No more 1am games!).

Hey Biggles, what's the site??

Joby....who was trying to figure out the big giant blonde wigs all over the telly today. 🙂

 

[Biggles of 266]

*smacks myself over the head*

eediot! I can't believe I forgot to post the site... Ah well, here it is...

http://www.smh.com.au/specials/soccerworldcup/index.html

enjoy, and try not to turn into a rioting fan!

 

[TheSteve]

Urgh - I cant beleive im up!

For the benefit of those not in th euk - I got upat 6:30 AM to see Argentina vs Nigeria. I feel like death!

 

[JoBelle]

Steve,
Hehe- Join the club~!

I can see the addiction behind watching it. It's now almost 4a.m. and I'm watching Paraguay and S. Africa. 2-0.

Sigh..what is happeneing to me? 😛
Joby

And thanks for the link Biggles!

 

[Biggles of 266]

Just finished watching those dirty coach-stealers england versus a bunch of swedes. Good game, one all draw. Ljundberg wasn't as good as he should have been and Beckham is over-rated except in the set plays.

Nice to see that South Africa pulled back to 2 all after a pretty average first half.

 

[TheSteve]

Gaaa! Whatever happened to the midfield!!!! Hargreaves did okay, but the rest should be ashamed! Beckham and Scholes were hopeless and Heskey wasnt that much better.

Still, apart from one mistake for the goal, the defence looked ok.

 

[qjakal]

Last week...

This was on the net last week...lol.. :

"Twenty-seven men with outstanding arrest warrants turned themselves in to police specifically so they could serve their relatively short sentences right away and not have to worry about being in TV-less jail during the World Cup matches (Hertfordshire, England)."

🙄 Q

 

[JoBelle]

Re: Last week...

This was on the net last week...lol.. :
"Twenty-seven men with outstanding arrest warrants turned themselves in to police specifically so they could serve their relatively short sentences right away and not have to worry about being in TV-less jail during the World Cup matches (Hertfordshire, England)."
🙄 Q

So that's why my sweetie hasn't been posting much. No 'puters in the big house! *giggle* Red, I'll bust ya out! hehehe

Whistling.....Joby

*couldn't resist saying it*

 

[JoBelle]

So the USA beat Portugal this morning. Maybe that'll garner some interest in the games over here~!~!

Joby

You've not seen a tired man till you've seen one at the end of a soccer/football game. WHEW!

 

[qjakal]

Well...

Try 3 hours of racquetball....it's a sweat fest! Anyway, were we supposed to beat Portugal? Are we mad at them or perhaps "owe" them for prior defeats or their bad behavior somewhere? Does this mean we're better than we thought, or was it a bit of luck? Ya gotta give me some "context" here Joby, if you want the excitement to build...