FIFA World Cup: South Africa 2010

[shadowgrin]

Made the league, here's the link. League name: NLSC Password: McDwyane

Yahoo errors.

There was a problem
This is not a private group. (Error #147)

You are not a member of this group. (Error #113)

So decided to say fuck it to Yahoo. I've had enough of Yahoo screwing up in the NLSC (NBA) league and abandoned it.
I'll just enjoy the matches.

[Phil89]

I had errors when I tried joining it.Try typing the password in with just lower case letters. Worked for me.

[hova-]

South Africa game was decent. Good that the refs notice that Vela stood behind RSA's keeper -> offside.
France just sucks. So good individual players but they totally lack of any offensive structure.

Most Aussies play in the EPL anyway, so they need to be considered for second place in their group. Might sound cocky, but I expect Germany to advance at first. I know it will be hard but damn we were 2nd in EC and 3rd in the last WC so Semis must be our goal again. Even without Ballack, Rolfes, Westermann and Adler the team is still good enough to make it far.

Watch out Mesut Özil and Sami Khedira, those two guys will stand out for Germany in this tourney. Schweinsteiger, Podolski and Lahm will be the team's core.

For golden boot I'd go with a Spaniard, Torres or Villa, simply because the benefit from the whole team's great play and are very effective with their chances. In order to shoot many goals, you need to stay in the tourney for a maximum of games and that's given for Spain.

I don't want to predict the finals, but teams that I see in the Semis are:

Spain, Brazil, Germany and one underdog (maybe an african team because they play at home, although none of them are pretty good this WC)

No! Mesut Özil is ours! Not yours! Mesut Özil is Turkey's! Serdar Taşçı too! But he betrayed to us because Germany is better! I hate them!

Final: Uruguay vs. North Korea
Winner: With penalties

Well, both guys were born in Germany and grew up here. So I don't see your point. They grow up here, use our infrastructure and just live their lifes here, so I totally understand why they chose Germany. There is always such a rivalry between the Turkish and the German that I don't understand. I mean many Turkish came here in order to get a job and make money, so they should not make Germany responsible for taking away their players but rather blame themselves for it.

[Cartar]

Made the league, here's the link. League ID: 34178 Password: McDwyane

Fixed now.

[Murat]

South Africa game was decent. Good that the refs notice that Vela stood behind RSA's keeper -> offside.
France just sucks. So good individual players but they totally lack of any offensive structure.

Most Aussies play in the EPL anyway, so they need to be considered for second place in their group. Might sound cocky, but I expect Germany to advance at first. I know it will be hard but damn we were 2nd in EC and 3rd in the last WC so Semis must be our goal again. Even without Ballack, Rolfes, Westermann and Adler the team is still good enough to make it far.

Watch out Mesut Özil and Sami Khedira, those two guys will stand out for Germany in this tourney. Schweinsteiger, Podolski and Lahm will be the team's core.

For golden boot I'd go with a Spaniard, Torres or Villa, simply because the benefit from the whole team's great play and are very effective with their chances. In order to shoot many goals, you need to stay in the tourney for a maximum of games and that's given for Spain.

I don't want to predict the finals, but teams that I see in the Semis are:

Spain, Brazil, Germany and one underdog (maybe an african team because they play at home, although none of them are pretty good this WC)

No! Mesut Özil is ours! Not yours! Mesut Özil is Turkey's! Serdar Taşçı too! But he betrayed to us because Germany is better! I hate them!

Final: Uruguay vs. North Korea
Winner: With penalties

Well, both guys were born in Germany and grew up here. So I don't see your point. They grow up here, use our infrastructure and just live their lifes here, so I totally understand why they chose Germany. There is always such a rivalry between the Turkish and the German that I don't understand. I mean many Turkish came here in order to get a job and make money, so they should not make Germany responsible for taking away their players but rather blame themselves for it.

Right.

[George7]

Today it's the premiere for Greece!
Hopefully we will win.
We have the team to qualify to the 2nd round and hopefully make again a great upset,though this time it's hard to be champions again.
Go Greece!!

[kevC]

Korea up 1-0 at half time and thoroughly outplaying Greece. If it wasn't for the terrible reffing they could be up 3-0 by now.

[|)e8*]

Mexico is gonna make it to the semis

[kevC]

Man, Greece is completely outclassed. They haven't put together a single coherent offensive possession. They're just hoping they get lucky with these long balls.

[Murat]

Man, Greece is completely outclassed. They haven't put together a single coherent offensive possession. They're just hoping they get lucky with these long balls.

Korea leads 2-0 now.

[NovU]

Domination by Korean. Whatever happened to Greek warriors, that was just awful. They were just lucky to lose 2-0.

I'm still favoring Nigeria and Argentina to advance, but Korea impressed me today.

[Murat]

Domination by Korean. Whatever happened to Greek warriors, that was just awful. They were just lucky to lose 2-0.

I'm still favoring Nigeria and Argentina to advance, but Korea impressed me today.

It's passed 16 years after. The Greek warriors see the World Cup first. But South Korea? They know something about teams. Exactly Park Ji-Sung. He knows the systems of Europeans teams, thanks to Manchester Utd.

[Oznogrd]

I'll take it. Go USA...even if the only reason we scored is because the goalie for england dropped a ball any of us would've caught...

[NovU]

Lolz... The goal keeper fails. I hear that position has been the problem for England for quite awhile. They even considered giving Spanish player a citizenship to fill that position. It seems like USA is one step closer to round of 16.

[buzzy]

ze germans mean business .. they're destroying the aussies

[The X]

ze germans mean business .. they're destroying the aussies

It's hard to know how good the Germans are since Australia's defensive line consists of slow, old men. Let's see how they do against Ghana & Serbia.

[Phil89]

I'm glad I didn't stay up to watch that one.

We conceded twice as many goals as any other team so far this tournament and our best player got a (harsh) red card. Couldn't have been much worse.
I thought our team was supposed to be strong defensively? I didn't expect us to win the game, but conceding 4 goals? Rubbish.

Verbeek is known for getting results, so let's hope he can come up with something against Ghana and Serbia.

[The X]

I thought our team was supposed to be strong defensively? I didn't expect us to win the game, but conceding 4 goals? Rubbish.

They were lucky to concede only 4 goals, should've been at least 6 or 7 IMHO. And I don't know why you thought they were strong defensively. You must not have caught their lead up games against the likes of New Zealand and USA. Craig Moore & Scott Chipperfield are just too old & slow. There are many reasons why nobody in Australia & abroad ever thought they would get out of the group stages. I thought Australia could do it last World Cup & they did, but with the exact same core team as last time but 4 years older (& slower) & with a formation that doesn't suit them & a coach who I haven't liked from day one, I just couldn't see it this time around.

All this being said, I hope I am wrong & they bounce back & beat Ghana. The only problem is Ghana is probably quicker across the pitch than the Germans. Should be a more competitive game though.

[J@3]

Verbeek is a piece of shit. I hate that guy so much. Five defensive midfielders and Garcia as a lone striker, great strategy dickhead.

[shadowgrin]

Five defensive midfielders and Garcia as a lone striker, great strategy dickhead.

Wow, the last time I've seen that kind of formation was in grade school. The kid was a ball hog douche so everyone let him go at it alone.

[Phil89]

I didn't particularly think they were strong defensively. It's just what all the 'experts' on SBS kept on saying in the lead up.
And yes the team is old. Only 6 of the 23 players in the squad are 25 or younger.

Hopefully our next coach won't be Dutch just because Hiddink was. They should get someone who actually puts out teams that can play attacking football.

[J@3]

This is seriously what the England team would look like if Pim were in charge..

DMC: Owen Hargreaves
DMC: Michael Carrick
DMC: Nigel Reo-Coker
DMC: Jimmy Bullard
DMC: Steven Gerrard
SC: Joe Cole

The guy is a moron.

[shadowgrin]

It's just what all the 'experts' on SBS kept on saying in the lead up.

Hey, the team does have 5 defensive midfielders. That looks like great defense on paper.

[hova-]

I'm surprised that everyone is blaming the Aussies now and Germany is not getting much credit. Like X said, we will have to show what we got against Serbia and Ghana, but I still think guys overrated Ghana after their surprising win against Serbians, who could not even show a bit of their potential.

Still, if we play like we did against Australia, Serbia and Ghana should not cause many problems (sounds cocky, maybe it is, but this is definitely the best German squad on a world cup since winning the title in 1990)

It's the first time for years, that every german player can handle the ball well and this allows us to play one-touch football at times. Özil, Müller, Schweinsteiger, Khedira and Podolski all know how to deal with the ball and I love that.

Australia's major problem was not their slow defensive men, but more the fact that they did not even try to score a goal. Germany's weakness is their defense. But playing with five defensive midfielders and only Cahill as forward (who is not even a "real" forward) did not really hurt Germany on defense.

[The X]

I'm surprised that everyone is blaming the Aussies now and Germany is not getting much credit. Like X said, we will have to show what we got against Serbia and Ghana, but I still think guys overrated Ghana after their surprising win against Serbians, who could not even show a bit of their potential.

Still, if we play like we did against Australia, Serbia and Ghana should not cause many problems (sounds cocky, maybe it is, but this is definitely the best German squad on a world cup since winning the title in 1990)

It's the first time for years, that every german player can handle the ball well and this allows us to play one-touch football at times. Özil, Müller, Schweinsteiger, Khedira and Podolski all know how to deal with the ball and I love that.

Australia's major problem was not their slow defensive men, but more the fact that they did not even try to score a goal. Germany's weakness is their defense. But playing with five defensive midfielders and only Cahill as forward (who is not even a "real" forward) did not really hurt Germany on defense.

I didn't think the win was surprising at all, especially after New Zealand (ranked in the high 70's) went into Serbia a week or two back & beat them 1-0.

As for what you said their problem was, I think a lot has to do with the coach, the players he used (& where he used them) & the formation he set. It was embarrassing for Australia on the World stage. Unfortunately their best foot was not put forward.

I think Australia will get a result against Serbia (either win or draw), but unsure about game against Ghana. They're capable of beating them, so yeah, they can still get out of the group as 2nd qualifier, they just have to do a 180. In the end, I expect them to not get out of the group.