World Cup 2010

[nkstan]

For me,the most sayisfying match of the games!Watching Ronaldo play reminded me of why I learned to enjoy the game,and trouncing the North Koreans was frosting on the cake!!! =D> =D> =D>

[BobHelm]

Well my pre-game assesment of the Korea v Portugal game was running right on script until after half time. I think that the 'Beloved Leader' must have decided that he had enough video footage from the first half to put together the Korean TV clips of the glorious victory not to send the team out for the second...
Once the second goal went in the Koreans just went completely to pieces. Portugal could have set a new record (the old one is 10-0) with a bit more composure in front of goal. All of the forwards & midfielders wanted to score the BEST goal of the competition. In fairness there were some lovely goals scored, but the oposition had gone home by then.
Ronaldo did start to play in the second half & I do think that is directly connected with Portugals' improvement. Whether he can do it against a more ruthless defense remains to be seen.... Brazil are next up for them !!
Chile managed to get past the Swiss by the odd goal & are starting to look another good South American side.
Spain got their show back on the road, just about....an England fan would die for a 2-0 scoreline at the moment so it might sound a bit 'sour grapes' by me....but is not . The win was easy but left as many questions as provided answers about the favourites. Portugal showed the way to deal with 'minnows' - score 7, with as many players as possible getting on the score sheet. Spain managed 2, both by Villa who then managed to miss a penalty. His co-striker (Torres) looked as bemused in front of goal as he had in the first game.....so questions still remain.

On the French front.... The Dom says he is not sure if some of his players will turn out for the South African game !! Personally it looks to me like he is turning a bad situation into an even worse one - probably as a form of revenge against the FFA....part of me says I don't blame him, but it is not really the sort of thing a gentleman should do..
The most intelligent member of the English squad (management included ), Mr. Lampard held a bit of a press conference yesterday to smooth things over. (I was going to say 'pour oil on troubled waters', but that seemed a little inapropriate given BP situation ). Nicely worded piece as I would expect from him that sort of put things into perspective & hopefully draws a line under it.....the two protagonists also had a bit of a say...
Mr. Capello sort of reverted to his Italian roots & said Mr. Terry statement was 'a big mistake' which sort of hinted at horses heads & beds to me..
Mr. Terry said he apologised for any misunderstanding he may have cause as it was not his intention to undermind the Manager....OK, maybe over then....but if I was Terry I will still be checking my bed carefully (something he has a well known record for NOT doing )

[poolshark]

The South African Police today stated "That they noticed a high increase in,
Beer Drinking,
Drug Taking,
shop lifting
and acts of a sexual nature over the last couple of weeks.
But they added it should return to normal on Thursday
when the TERRY Family goes home.

[pienmash]

class poolshark !! sheer class

Just for the record ive got England to go home Thursday , im predicting the USA to beat Algeria 1-0 with the 3 lions drawing 2-2 with Slovenia . Capello to walk out with Nigel Adkins ?????? taking over followed by world domination within a year.

[red67]

The England Squad paid a visit to an orphanage in cape town yesterday '' its heartbreaking to see their sad little faces with absolutely no hope for their future.'' said Sambooto Masaman'' .Age 6 Come on England last chance

[Boris]

Hi, I have cable. Will I be able to view the England game? Can someone tell me what channel it's on please?

[BangkokButcher]

You can view the game on Thai channel 3 at 9pm

[Boris]

Hey BangkokButcher, thank you. Care to predict the score?

[BangkokButcher]

Hey BangkokButcher, thank you. Care to predict the score?

Hmm, not really, I always try to be optimistic with my home teams, but with their performance so far, I think I would be way off .

I'll give it my best (pessimistic) attempt though with a score of 2-1 to Slovenia.

[Boris]

I have to agree with you. However, I do think they will come out fighting. 3 - 1 to England. Thanks again for the information.

[BobHelm]

Well the French squad did not want to play the last match... The Dom dropped a couple but it did little to alter the approach the team have taken to this competition - dismal. South Africa were already 1-0 up before France had a man sent off.
The dismisal was a bit of a travesty - it did not even look like a foul to me let alone a booking. The general decision making by the men on the touchlines has been pretty good on most decisions..BUT some of the red cards (straight & 2 yellows) have been VERY questionable. I fear a little for Mr. Rooney tonight if things start to look difficult!!!
Back to France.... Down to 10 men they managed to let 1 more in & then score a late consolation. Finishing bottom of the group with only 1 point is just such a poor return from some great players. Domenech & the team were placed in an impossible position from the start. If Blanc is the man for the job then he should have been in charge. However Domenech's refusal to shake the hand of South Africa boss Carlos Alberto Parreira at the end of the match was a disgrace.
However even the win was not enough to get South Africa through to the next round though. I doubted from the decision to play the Final in SA if they could muster a team strong enough to get through & so it proved. The rest of the contest will undoubtedly suffer because of their non involvement but I think they acually over achieved on the pitch. The county should be proud of their efforts, even if they failed, they attempted to play football and not defend to a 0-0 which some sides have done.
Mexico & Uruguay only needed a draw to both progress to the next round. I did not see the match as the final group games are played simultaneously & I watched the South Africa v France game. Uruguay won it 1-0 but neither side looked like they would be content to play for anything other than a win. I gather Forlan had yet another outstanding game for Uruguay without managing to score.
The win was certainly worthwile for Uruguay as it means they miss playing Argentina in the next round - that honour falls to Mexico in what promises to be a match well worth watching. Uruguay will face South Korea..
So to Argentina.... I watched the match against Greece rather than going for South Korea against Nigeria as there have been rave reviews of the Argentina side. As it turns out that was almost a mistake. I have never seen a side so concerned with defense as Greece. They man marked Messi out of the game. This might prove to be a tactic other future teams will follow as it was so sucessful for 90% of the game & undoubtedly stopped the free flowing attacking play that Argentina like. HOWEVER defense is Argentina's real weakness & the Greeks never even tried to test them. Man alone at the front, Samaras, battled manfully & showed that it was possible to overcome even two defenders on his own - but, most of the time, he did not even have a team mate in the same half as him!! Even when it became obvious that Greece needed to change their style or they would be out they could not. I think I cheered the two goals as much as any Argentinian did!! For the Greek team to have progressed would have been a disgrace & put back the game of football...
The other group B game was, by all accounts, a real nail biter. A 2-2 draw was the end result of a match that would have seen Nigeria progress if they had won it. So South Korea face Uruguay in the next round. That could be a real feast of goals as the SK side appear the negative of the Greek side & without a defensive thought in their head. I fancy that approach will probably be a losing one against a very capable Uruguay.

So I can only hope that England do not 'do a France' today & that a nice clear cut win can be celebrated at 5 tonight!!

[Zidane]

Much better from England last night.Their main concern will be that they did not kill the game off with the number of chances they made.They should have been 3 goals to the good before Slovenia had that good chance late on that was blocked twice then fired wide.
Rooney has an ankle injury but,hopefully,will be fit for the next round.....still a long way from his best form,though.
I thought James,Terry and Cole were excellent in defence.I'm not the biggest fan of David James but couldnt fault him against Slovenia.
Defoe was a much better option than Heskey but hard to choose between Milner and Joe Cole.If Cole played it would enable Gerrard to play on the right as he is wasted on the left side at present.
Congratulations to the USA who topped the group and now face Ghana in the next round ! =D>
So England play their old adversaries,Germany.I think England will be the underdogs but you never know as Germany havent been that impressive,either,other than demolishing Australia.
I think its a 9pm kick off so could be interesting in Soi Sampan that night !

[BangkokButcher]

A very nice summary there Zidane, so now it's:

Germany vs England

Sunday the 27th June @ 21:00 Thai time!

Venue: Bloemfontein

England will face Germany in Bloemfontein on Sunday with a World Cup quarter-final place up for grabs.

Let's see what they can do

[BobHelm]

Yes good summary (as always) Zid.
England 'got through' which was the number 1 objective. To say that they could play better (& have) is an understatement. . Milner got a great deal of tv pundit praise but I must say that I was not that impressed by him personally. He saw a lot of the ball but there was a lot of huffing & puffing & little end product. I would certainly like to see Joe Cole starting there instead, or even Wright-Phillips. Both can lose the ball, but can supply decent oportunities as well.
The Germany team was not exactly highly regarded going into the competition either. They have had 1 very good showing against an Australian side who (in my opinion) tried suicidal tactics in their opening game & rightly got stuffed for it. Germany only beat a pretty average looking Ghana side by 1 goal. If they had drawn & Serbia beaten Australia they would have been OUT. So not much different that the England situation realy. The major difference between the two sides is that Germany appears to have a few players who brought their scoring boots with them, England have not.
Both of the next rounds from Group C & D are real even money bets & all 4 must think that they now have a real chance of progressing to the next round. From an England standpoint I just hope that Mr. Rooney's Manchester United boots are quickly found for him !!

Today an interesting contest in Group F to see who can qualify from it. Another good performance from New Zealand could actually see them into the next stage. For all the Kiwi's sporting prowess this really would be an amazing result. At the other side of the coin, another poor performance by Italy could see them catching the plane home. Although I fancy them to get their act together & beat a pretty poor Slovakian side. However second place will undoubtedly mean the side facing a pretty insipred Holland. A next round battle could see the best attacking European side up against the best defensive outfit. Definately a day for me to be wearing Orange I think!!

[Galee]

Yep, I agree with Zidane's comment about Gerrard. Wasted on the left. He comes into midfield to often where he is more comfortable leaving us exposed to Glenn Johnson's defending, which is his weak point.
Not sure I agree with Bob about Milner. I thought he got some quality crosses over, which is more than Lennon has done. Wright-Phillips works the line well, but his end product usually dissapoints. I'm still not convinced that Joe Cole will make a big difference. Skilfull, at times, but lacks pace to play wide on the left.
Germany-England is going to be nerve wracking. Could go either way. On the plus side for me, England coming second means I get home in time to see the match. If they had won their group I'd have only seen a few minutes at Heathrow.

[red67]

Agree about glen johnson gary ,hes not a defender i would like to see him play infront of the back four,especially for liverpool,safe journey back

[BobHelm]

Currently Slovakia 3 Italy 1 with added time only being played.
Game was a loss at half time with Slovakia 1 nill up against an Italian side who had not had a shot on goal in first 45...
(now 3-2 in extra time ).
2 changes at half time didn't really inspire Italy but Pirlo coming on at the hour did. italy could have gone 1-1, but just about cleared off the line & rightly not given. Then when at 2-1 down they had the ball in the net again to have it dislowed (just about right again) for offside.
Would have been a travesty if Italy went through. After Greece just about the most defence minded team in the competition.

Thank goodness, game over & Italy out!!

New Zealand managed a 0-0 creditable draw - if they could have snuck a goal they would have gone through at the expense of Slovakia.... They should be well pleased with their World Cup - especially after finishing ABOVE the previous champions Italy in their group!!

[Zidane]

Italy never started playing until 15 minutes from time when they were 2-0 down.
I fancied them to beat Slovakia comfortably after the Slovaks had been dire against New Zealand and Paraguay.
But Italy achieved the impossible....they made the Slovaks look good !
Certainly too little,too late for Italy though the last 15 minutes plus extra time were the most exciting of the tournament so far.Even when Slovakia made it 3-1 with a minute to go it was far from over....Italy scored again and missed a great chance with virtually the last kick of the match.
But in the end Italy,like France got what they deserved....nothing.Two teams who appear to be in a steep decline.
However,I wonder if it is just a coincidence that both France and Italy announced beforehand that their current managers would be quitting at the end of the World Cup and already named their replacements ?? Certainly doesnt look like a recipe for success.
Paraguay topped the group but well done to New Zealand for 3 creditable draws. =D>
Holland maintained their 100% record beating Cameroon 2-1 and go through along with Japan who beat Denmark 3-1.
Tonight two tasty looking matches.....Brazil v Portugal at 9pm (Thai time) and Spain v Chile at 1.30am.
Also Ivory Coast v North Korea at 9pm and Switzerland v Honduras at 1.30am....the Swiss still have a chance of making the knockout stages but Ivory Coast will rely on a heavy defeat for Portugal plus a big win for themselves.

[jackspratt]

................ managed a 0-0 creditable draw ......................

I really can't see how any credibility can be gained (particularly for the game of soccer) where there is no score in 90 minutes of football.

[stattointhailand]

Then I respectfully suggest Jack, that you stick with netball for 6ft 10inch boys and their 125 - 126 scorelines where there are no tactics except to throw the ball into a hoop a couple of hundred times in about 60 mins.