World Cup 2010

Tanglebones wrote:
slazev wrote:

My prediction was for the Mexico win, but the tie was deserved.

Now for more predictions, I'll say France will have a tie with Uruguai. God, I hope France doesn't make it past the group. As a portuguese, this is a long grudge since 1984 and I just know that if the teams met again they would inevitably win... just like Portugal now kicks England's butt everytime. :P

I've got France to win, but it'll be close :)

Yeah, just wanted to say that I rule. Carry on... ^_^

What? Italy mediocre? Not at all.

Next prediction... South Korea vs Greece: I foresee a LOL of a game. Ok, somewhat seriously now... I'll go for the tie again.

Anyone else laugh their behinds off when Thierry Henry was complaining for a handball?

Prederick wrote:

Anyone else laugh their behinds off when Thierry Henry was complaining for a handball?

This

Prederick wrote:

Anyone else laugh their behinds off when Thierry Henry was complaining for a handball?

Whenever I see France or Italy play, I laugh my ass off the entire game. True story. On a more serious note, yesterdays games were slow and not really exciting. I hope today's will be better. Or at least when the second wave of group games starts.

So EA Sports FIFA Online is now in open beta. Think you just need an EA Account to sign up.

Downloading now... I played the Tiger Woods online beta last year and it was pretty good looking for a browser game, but I just couldn't get into the old 3-click swing after the Wii M+ stuff. Been a while since I played a soccer game though, so this might be fun.

http://fifa-online.easports.com

Luggage wrote:

On a more serious note, yesterdays games were slow and not really exciting. I hope today's will be better. Or at least when the second wave of group games starts.

I think most of the games will be pretty conservative when they are balanced opposition and while the groups are open. As soon as you have a group leader teams are going to need to be more creative to score points to get to the second round.

Yeah, a lot of the analysts say, that teams need to get used to the combination of Jabulani, african climate (air pressure) and tournament stress. As I said, I guess a lot of first round games will look like yesterday's matches. But once they have some hands-on experience and analyzed their first games, things should get more dynamic.

Yeah, they need to get used to not floating Jabulani when they are playing at altitude. Some shots at goal looked like the ball was filled with helium.

Man, South Korea is decimating Greece. The Greeks are even fighting between themselves.

South Korea in the lead now vs Greece. there goes my 2-0 Greek victory prediction. Anyway, looking forward to argentina's game later on, as well as US vs England

Man...those vuvuzelas are driving me nuts also.

South Africa needs to lose fast so the south africans stop coming to the stadiums with their godsdamned vuvu-*beep*-zelas.

slazev wrote:

South Africa needs to lose fast so the south africans stop coming to the stadiums with their godsdamned vuvu-*beep*-zelas.

Yeah, they are so much more annoying than those airhorns they use in Europe :rolleyes:

Greece playing better now despite SK's second goal, still, not enough yet to give me hopes. Poor fellas, being robbed, the country on the brink of economic chaos and having to lose on their debut.

Sorry DeVil, no disrespect on my part intended there, it's just that watching any game feels like having your head in a bee's nest.

MrDeVil909 wrote:
slazev wrote:

South Africa needs to lose fast so the south africans stop coming to the stadiums with their godsdamned vuvu-*beep*-zelas.

Yeah, they are so much more annoying than those airhorns they use in Europe :rolleyes:

Yes, they are much more annoying than those airhorns which sound for a couple of minutes before they run out.

For some of you, it may be the most annoying noise you hear in the WC. I was tempted, but I've started watching ITV's coverage and am being exposed to Craig Burley. As a Scot, what exactly does he know about the World Cup ?

What is it with those things anyway? The sound is really mind-numbing, at least when digitized and converted a few times before the viewer hears it. Do they have some kind of cultural meaning? Hope I don't sound too ignorant, but yes, that humming definitely takes some getting used to.

Greece was comprehensively smashed by SK in that game. Only a couple of chances in the second half, after already being 2-0 down.

Looking forward to the result of the England-US game. As an Aussie, I really hope England loses.

slazev wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:
slazev wrote:

My prediction was for the Mexico win, but the tie was deserved.

Now for more predictions, I'll say France will have a tie with Uruguai. God, I hope France doesn't make it past the group. As a portuguese, this is a long grudge since 1984 and I just know that if the teams met again they would inevitably win... just like Portugal now kicks England's butt everytime. :P

I've got France to win, but it'll be close :)

Yeah, just wanted to say that I rule. Carry on... ^_^

What? Italy mediocre? Not at all.

Next prediction... South Korea vs Greece: I foresee a LOL of a game. Ok, somewhat seriously now... I'll go for the tie again.

Yay, I suck! But Greece provided the LOLz.

I say Argentina wins against Nigeria.

MrDeVil909 wrote:
slazev wrote:

South Africa needs to lose fast so the south africans stop coming to the stadiums with their godsdamned vuvu-*beep*-zelas.

Yeah, they are so much more annoying than those airhorns they use in Europe :rolleyes:

Yes, they so are.

slazev wrote:
MrDeVil909 wrote:
slazev wrote:

South Africa needs to lose fast so the south africans stop coming to the stadiums with their godsdamned vuvu-*beep*-zelas.

Yeah, they are so much more annoying than those airhorns they use in Europe :rolleyes:

Yes, they so are. :)

I disagree, but it's a subjective thing. At the end of the day soccer fans seem to like making a noise.

They actually sound quite cool in person, they are really loud so you don't want one blowing in your ear. But they have different sounds and at the stadium there is usually a call and response thing going on so you don't get the incessant drone that comes through on TV.

Really good guys can play little tunes too, kind of like a didgeridoo.

Vuvuzelas actually became far more common after the Confederations Cup. Every foreign coach, player and media person complained, so there was a sense of, 'Well, f*ck you guys for coming here and telling us what to do' and even people who hated them got one and learned to blow it. Myself included.

Luggage wrote:

Do they have some kind of cultural meaning? Hope I don't sound too ignorant, but yes, that humming definitely takes some getting used to.

It's not ignorant, there's no way you would know.

It's just a traditional thing, they used to be either real animal horns or hand made until someone decided to get them mass produced, and they have become way more ubiquitous since the Confed Cup, as I mentioned above.

It's part of South African soccer, just as much as face paint and the makarapa.

IMAGE(http://www.afro.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/makaranga1.jpg)

Just before kick-off Maradona grins at camera. He actually looks relaxed. Players look really tense. Messi already shows why he's the best in the world

Interesting lineup with Veron in center and Guttierez as right wing-back. Where Cambiasso and Zanetti would normally play.

edit: Obinna and Obasi should give Heinze and Guttierez problems, Argentina might want to settle this as soon as possible, as long a it's one-nil they're in danger.

edit2: Veron is poor. Sure he can pass, but he barely walks and his slowness makes him easy target for opponents.

You can tell Maradona's dying to jump into the pitch and dribble a bit, by the way he kicks the ball to the nigerian players. Argentina's doing a good job so far, though they've gone a bit lazy after the goal.

MrDeVil909 wrote:
slazev wrote:
MrDeVil909 wrote:
slazev wrote:

South Africa needs to lose fast so the south africans stop coming to the stadiums with their godsdamned vuvu-*beep*-zelas.

Yeah, they are so much more annoying than those airhorns they use in Europe :rolleyes:

Yes, they so are. :)

I disagree, but it's a subjective thing. At the end of the day soccer fans seem to like making a noise.

They actually sound quite cool in person, they are really loud so you don't want one blowing in your ear. But they have different sounds and at the stadium there is usually a call and response thing going on so you don't get the incessant drone that comes through on TV.

Really good guys can play little tunes too, kind of like a didgeridoo.

Vuvuzelas actually became far more common after the Confederations Cup. Every foreign coach, player and media person complained, so there was a sense of, 'Well, f*ck you guys for coming here and telling us what to do' and even people who hated them got one and learned to blow it. Myself included.

Luggage wrote:

Do they have some kind of cultural meaning? Hope I don't sound too ignorant, but yes, that humming definitely takes some getting used to.

It's not ignorant, there's no way you would know.

It's just a traditional thing, they used to be either real animal horns or hand made until someone decided to get them mass produced, and they have become way more ubiquitous since the Confed Cup, as I mentioned above.

It's part of South African soccer, just as much as face paint and the makarapa.

IMAGE(http://www.afro.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/makaranga1.jpg)

You can't say the soccer fan likes to make noise, at least constantly, because everyone loves to celebrate a goal. You're just generalizing. It depends from country to country as you can clearly see for South Africa. I just hate this always-on buzzing, but at the same time I can accept it makes for a more lively environment in the stadium, but definitely not in the living room, no sir.

Yeah. Just like Ive suspected, Guttierez is burden in defence, Veron is burden when going forward.

Here's another site with decent streams: http://atdhe.net/watchtv.html

T-minus 4 hours until USA/England kickoff - I'm so excited and nervous for it. Still taking USA 3-2.

slazev wrote:

You can't say the soccer fan likes to make noise, at least constantly, because everyone loves to celebrate a goal. You're just generalizing. It depends from country to country as you can clearly see for South Africa. I just hate this always-on buzzing, but at the same time I can accept it makes for a more lively environment in the stadium, but definitely not in the living room, no sir.

Every European game I've seen has had the airhorns through most of it. I can understand totally why someone doesn't like the vuvuzela, but you are going to need to deal with it. We've bought most of the tickets, they are going to be in every game.

*Edit*

I'm really sucking at getting my scores right. At least I will get some points for predicting the Argentinian win.

And I have the US to beat England, I have a feeling the English are under too much pressure to perform.

*edit again*

93_confirmed wrote:

T-minus 4 hours until USA/England kickoff - I'm so excited and nervous for it. Still taking USA 3-2.

Was chatting to a few American guys today, they seem to have a very similar attitude to us. Don't expect much, but some good games will be great.

I don't see 5 goals. The altitude is lower than Johannesburg, but still pretty high. High kicks will float again.

I've got the US and England drawing. Hopefully Argentina gets a couple more goals this half; I had them 3-0.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

And I have the US to beat England, I have a feeling the English are under too much pressure to perform.

Where's the pressure sensor on the US team these days? Are they in "screw it no one cares anyway" mode or are they still "if we do well soccer might actually be popular"?

Nigeria's been incredibly lucky so far, to only be losing by 1. They've been outplayed by Argentina badly.

LilCodger wrote:
MrDeVil909 wrote:

And I have the US to beat England, I have a feeling the English are under too much pressure to perform.

Where's the pressure sensor on the US team these days? Are they in "screw it no one cares anyway" mode or are they still "if we do well soccer might actually be popular"?

They haven't been in our media much, but I sense that they just want to play soccer and do their best, which I think is good.

And it's amazing that even an 'unpopular' sport in the US can still have a lot of followers. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it in this thread, but the largest overseas fan contingent is from America.

MrDeVil909 wrote:
LilCodger wrote:
MrDeVil909 wrote:

And I have the US to beat England, I have a feeling the English are under too much pressure to perform.

Where's the pressure sensor on the US team these days? Are they in "screw it no one cares anyway" mode or are they still "if we do well soccer might actually be popular"?

They haven't been in our media much, but I sense that they just want to play soccer and do their best, which I think is good.

And it's amazing that even an 'unpopular' sport in the US can still have a lot of followers. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it in this thread, but the largest overseas fan contingent is from America.

America is great at youth soccer engagement, but we tend to lose interest at the professional and college levels, since the quality of play and advertising are pretty poor. I married into a family of fans