Football World Cup 2006

[Guest Majsju]

ONFG! T&T - Sweden 0-0. The worst result in Swedish sports history, and an absolute disgrace.

 

I'm too ashamed to be a swede now, I'm gonna apply for a Danish citizenship instead. Un****ingbelievable. Should have sent the U212 team instead, they'd at least have showed some heart.

[Graendals favourite]

Seems like Paraguay might have an advantage against the Swedes for place 2... draw and a win... :cry:

[Guest Majsju]

"All" Sweden have to do is win against paraguay, that'd mean 4 points for Sweden, 0 points for Paraguyay with one round to go. And well, what Sweden failed against T&T was scoring, they completely dominated the game. Paraguay has a quite lousy defence, and not as good keeper as T&T, Hislop was unbelievable.

 

This is not such a huge disaster, Sweden should be able to win against Paraguay, and get the usual draw against England, and then be qualified. But right now my faith in the team is...Quite low, so to speak.

 

And Luckers, you picked the wrong game if you're not like me, watching pretty much every single game. You should have watched tonights Argentina - Côte d'Ivoire, the entire first half was very entertaining football, as well as parts of the 2nd half. The only letdown was that Messi never came on, I would have loved to see him play.

[Graendals favourite]

Yea, Argentina was very strong, the best yet in the tourney certainly, Côte d'Ivoire played well I think,

 

Yea, the Swedes should still be favourites, but they need to fix their finishings. They fumbled their chances now. It reminded me of the practise match against Finland ... T&T had the best shot in the match!

[Guest Majsju]

I'm just a bit disappointed that Argentina tried to defend the score in the 2nd half, rather than trying to get a 3rd goal. But I understand that they want to give the key players some rest.

 

CÔte d'Ivoire stood up well, but up front they're too depending on Drogba. If you can control him, you take the edge off their entire attack.

 

Looking forward to Netherlands - Serbia & Montenegro tomorrow. Van Basten has picked a very exciting and youthful squad. Will be interesting to see how their totaal-voetball fares against Serbia's discipline.

 

I don't even dare to make predictions, but I'm quite sure Van Nistelrooy will bag at least one.

[Graendals favourite]

Yep, the first half was much more entertaining. Suppose understandable, though dangerous, even at 2-0.

 

Yea, that will be the game of the day. And it has to come at the same time as Federer-Nadal... So I'll be missing all the goals. Interesting to see too whether S&M is really a threat.

[Guest Majsju]

S&M is definitly a threat, if they can reach the top of their standard. It's a physically very strong team, very disciplined, but also with techically skilled players. Their main strength is the defence, they only conceded one goal in the qualification group, against Spain. But as most teams with a strong defence, they can have a quite effective counterattack. However, their best defender, Vidic, is not playing against Netherlands due to suspension. Weird rule that suspensions hang on from the qualification groups, but...

[Luckers]

Maj, im sorry, i was weak. There was alcohol. I will watch everyone from now on!!!

 

*blinks owlishly*

 

I was just speaking of the england v paraguy game, i was at bar with some friends watching it, so i got a bit distracted at times. But still, not the most inspiring football--which is possibly why i got distracted.

[Leafburner]

LOL! Maj, have you crawled out from under your rock yet?

 

Couldn't even score! LOL! :lol:

[Guest Majsju]

Luckers, you should know that it's often quite bad games when England play weaker opponents. Paraguay was no exception, the first 15-20 minutes England plays the way they're supposed to, fast, aggressive. After that they tend to slow down.

 

And now it's kickoff for S&M - Netherlands, can be a really good game.

[Guest Majsju]

Recap of today's games.

 

Netherlands - Serbia & Mintenegro 1-0

Started more or less as expected. Netherlands had a lot of ball, and a lot of pace. S&M defended well, and tried to go for counterattacks. After Robben's goal S&M tried to go a bit more for the attack, but lacked the individual skill to get that final pass.

Netherlands then almost fell apart in the 2nd half, but managed to defend the lead.

 

Mexico - Iran 3-1

Iran shocked by playing with a very high press, much different than the quite low defence they have used earlier. That gave a very nice game in the first half, with plenty of chances for both teams. Iran collapsed in the 2nd half though, and fell back, which gave Mexico enormous spaces to play with.

 

Portugal - Angola 1-0

Amazing display from Portugal. In 15 minutes. After that it was pretty much only C. Ronaldo who tried to speed up the game, and he was also the one who came closest to a 2nd goal, with a header in the bar. Unfortunatly the rest of Portugal started to think about the next game after 20 minutes, and slowed down the game way too much. Credit to Angola though, who tried to play an attacking football the entire game. They need some serious training in how to organize the team though.

[teehee]

Whoa.. that was an intense game for Australia vs Japan but we came out well: 3-1 :D i was getting ready to pick up and leave when it was 0-1 with only 8min to go, especially with that sketchy first goal. i guess we wont see many more wins from here but i'm gonna be savouring this one.

[Guest Majsju]

Great attitude by Australia, but I'm still wiondering what the heck Zico what was thinking. First a sub to go 4-5-1, then waiting way too long to go back to 4-4-2 when they needed.

 

But I'm glad that Japan got to suffer from falling back and trying to defend 1-0 instead of trying to nail the victory with a 2nd goal. Just a shame that Viduka didn't get to score, I was hoping he would be the player to get Australiaa's first WC goal ever.

 

And great show by Czech Rep, easily getting 3-0 against USA. But if Koeller's injury is as bad as it looked, the remaining tournament might be difficult for them.

[Ozhammer]

Japan went to sleep, they should have put us away in that second half. People may have question marks about us at the world cup, but the weak willed and timid never survive in Aussie sport. Sport is what we have, being a small country, it defines us internationally. Schwarzer should have done better with that goal, even though it was a foul, he should have steam rolled them!

 

Hey Maj, what did I tell you about Dwight! He is good in the engine room dont you agree!

[Guest Majsju]

Oz, it was not a foul, Schwartzer stumbled into the japanese, it was not a conscious attempt to block or disturb him.

 

As for Dwight, sure he was good, but the one player that saved T&T was Hislop. Unfrigginbelievable! Especially when you consider that he's the reserve keeper. Curse him for having the game of his life against us :evil:

 

Italy - Ghana was a really nice game. Not a trace of Boring Italy in the first half, both teams seized every opportunity to go for the attack. Lovely goals by Italy, and great game by Luca Toni. His amazing shot in the bar deserved a better fate.

 

And Australia better bag one against Brazil, I am very insisting on Viduka getting at least one goal. He's been one of my (non-United) favourite players for almost ten years, and it's great to see him finally getting his time on the big stage.

[Ozhammer]

Thats true Maj, I said Schwarzer should have done better, but we have seen goals disallowed for less (and I cite France 98, Sol Campbells goal against Argentina, when Shearer "fouled" Roa). It was still a foul, Schwarzer was impeded, clearly, but he should have been more assertive!

[Guest Majsju]

The disallowed goal against Argentina was a major scandal. Granted, I've watched the incident over and over again, and it seems that the ref is in a really bad position to see what actually happens, but the linesman should have seen it.

 

But, mistakes from the refs is a part of the game. The trick is to deal with it and go on.

 

Speaking of questionable refs, I don't think anyone not Italian would have been to upset if De Rossi had been sent off. At least two quite nasty charges after having been booked, that's not very smart.

[Ozhammer]

And what about a certain pretty boy from a north london club, and the captain of a midlands club having ANOTHER altercation at training? Can you confirm Olaf Vs Freddy round 2???

[Guest Majsju]

They were shouting at eachother in the locker room immidiatly after the game.

 

From what I've heard, Zlatan and Ljungberg stood chatting about what they had done wrong, when Mellberg walked by, and dropped a comment about ineffective attack. Ljungberg replied by telling Mellberg to try to do something different with the ball than his usual überlong crosses without adress, and then they yelled at eachother for a minute or so, before some other players pulled them apart.

 

It's really not a big deal, at club level this happens all the time, and probably at most national teams as well. But usually it never leaks to the media.

 

If it had lead to an actual fight, Ljungberg would have missed the rest of the WC because of the injuries mellberg would've given him :lol:

[Ozhammer]

I like Mellberg, hes a tough player. I used to like Freddy until a lady said he was better looking than me in Calvin Klein undies Impossible!!!

[Guest Majsju]

I despise Ljungberg. Or, La Primadonna as we call him here. Whiney diver, like the rest of the scum in that filthy club he plays for.

 

I do like Mellberg though, the kind of get-in, get-dirty defender who doesn't take any nonsense from anyone. Terrible as captain though, but it's not his fault Lagerbäck thought he could do the job.

[Ozhammer]

Freddy dives so much he should wear SCUBA gear onto the pitch. Hes not as bad as Robben or Pires though. I laughed when we played France in a friendly a few years ago, and Kevin Muscat broke his leg and he missed the World Cup, its harsh, but thats Karma!

[Guest Majsju]

Funny though, he doesn't dive nearly as much when he plays for Sweden, so apparently he can stay on his feet when he wants to. Or rather, when the coach doesn't tell him to go down as soon as anyone is nearby.

 

Wenger has implemented diving as a natural part of ARSEnals game. But it won't be as easy for them to get away with all their cheating now, after their representative on the FA board was sacked :lol:

 

Speaking of France, their first game tomorrow. I hope their coach has the guts to play Ribery from start, that's one of the most exciting players in the tournament.

[Ozhammer]

And Ribery is in big demand as well. Chelsea will throw cash at him if he goes well!

How dominant was big Dukes though for Oz. No one can beat him as a target man!

[Guest Majsju]

I don't think Ribery would ever consider going to Cheatski, he's a serious footballer, he loves to play more than he loves the pay. Rumour has it he'll sign for Lyon after the WC, though I still hope United will increase the bid, Ribery is born to be a Red Devil.

 

Although, him going to Lyon might be part of the reason why they apparently have agreed to sell Diarra to United, a player we need more than Ribery.