Hey folks, World Football Cup started

MacCaulay said:
Not British - English 😡
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Hey, I feel your pain: whenever they portray any Spanish-speaking countries on this side of the pond, the maracas and guitar are automatic. 99% of the spanish-speaking countries gained independence from Spain many many years ago.

It doesn't help when you get into complications with other countries: "I'm not Italian! I'm sicilian!" "I'm not Spanish! I'm Catalonian!" But this is the spice of life, no?

Besides, Blair is always "going back to the U.K.", isn't he? 😉

But yes, England is England is England.
 
In football, rugby and the Commonwealth Games, it is England. In most other sports such as the Olympics, it is Great Britain. In such things as the Eurovision Song Contest, it is the UK. We just like to try and confuse everybody. 😀

Kim

gabrielma said:
But yes, England is England is England.
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MacCaulay said:
Hang on chaps, vegetarian here 😎
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No problem, I tollerate nearly everything even vegetariens as long as they don't steal the gras from the cows I eat 🙂
 
gabrielma said:
I don't like veal, but how do I like German veal cutlet with those whatchamacallit potatoes and sauce. Mmmmm. And the braunschweiger (I'm sure I mispronounced it), I don't care how heavy it is, no matter how early or late it is, on fresh rolls.
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That's correct, Braunschweiger Leberwurst, they make nice things there, even cameras 🙂
Argh, no fresh rolls tomorrow, the best are from the local market which is held tuesday, thursday and saturday.

Due to the worldcup I managed to get home when the market opened the last two saturdays. Next saturday I'll take a RF with me.
 
I missed way too much fun today.

Germany is at the top of their game and seeming ready to go very deep in this tournament.

It looks like England has lost Michael Owen.
 
I just finished watching the England match and I still think they're poor. Too bad about Owen but he looked well off the pace in the previous two games anyway. I think Crouch is quite skilful but I don't like him in the England team. He just invites Route 1 football and obvious centres to the far post. Ericsson the Thick has truly done a number on the squad by omitting both Bent and Defoe IMHO. Did David Beckham play in that game? Why wasn't Lennon on? And did you ever see worse comedy defending, especially on that 2nd Swedish goal? OMG. On the bright side, Joe Cole was terrific and it hurts me to say it but Gerrard was good in the short time he was on. Rooney needs more games.

It was very ragged. Did anybody figure out what shape they were playing? I thought it was 4-4-2 for most of the game but later on in the 2nd half I couldn't figure it out at all. I thought there were maybe 5 in the midfield after Gerrard came on. Another random Ericsson move no doubt. The only hope is Italy in 1982 in Spain. Crap in their group but they ended up winning the tournament.

 
MacCaulay said:
England failed to take advantage of their first half pressure. They caused their own second-half problems - all Sweden's chances came from abysmal English defending rather than Swedish creativity. If England can correct this failing, they will rival any team. Pitty their defence doesn't play like that against Scotland, though.
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Well I'd agree, very bad defending, especially on corners you'd exspect they would have been more organised. Their lack of using the right flank is another things though, I think they should play with Lennon (?), or whoever it was they switched for Carragher in the previous game.

As for Sweden, they had trouble giving that last pass and needed the corners to be dangerous, yes, but throw in a good Ibrahimovich and a Wilhelmsson that actually gets passes from his team and things might look different in the next round (don't know if Ibrahimovich will be able to play though, and he didn't look in excellent shape even before his injury...). I wouldn't call the English too creative either though - compare the amount of long-distance shots to the amount of well-played out chances (how many were there? two? Beckham's pass to Rooney in the first half, and the second English goal?).
 
peter_n said:
It was very ragged. Did anybody figure out what shape they were playing? I thought it was 4-4-2 for most of the game but later on in the 2nd half I couldn't figure it out at all. I thought there were maybe 5 in the midfield after Gerrard came on. Another random Ericsson move no doubt.
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Well, I wouldn't call it 'random', Gerrard did score... And who else should he have brought in if he didn't want to have Rooney playing all game - I'm not too familiar with the English team - how many good attackers do they have, not counting Owen, Rooney and Crouch?
 
I think Eriksson did not expect much from his attackers, but did expect the midfielders to score most of the goals - Gerrard, Lampard and Cole got 50+ goals between them last season.

Of course, shackling Gerrard and Lampard in an inflexible formation to protect a suspect defence does not help much in scoring goals.
 
Actually, congratulations to the Miami Heat for winning their first championship, and we didn't share too much on the Hurricane's winning the Stanley Cup, firsts for both franchises.
 
Just for the record...

Just for the record...

England has not defeted Sweden in a major tournament for 38 years, although british press seems to forget that before every match between the countries.
 
It's telling that over here (USA) that the main sports network, ESPN, runs sports news updates at the bottom of the TV screen in this order: NBA, Major League Baseball, College World Series (amateur baseball -- who cares??), then World Cup.

ESPN is showing the College World Series, so that parly explains it. But it's also carrying the World Cup. Expect a great deal less interest if the US fails to advance -- and I guess I should be embarrassed that I don't know all the things that have to occur for that to happen. Beating Ghana is a must; if the Czechs lose to Italy, then I don't know what happens. But the US has one goal only so far (an own goal, at that) and only 2(!) shots on goal. Really doesn't look good.

Very enjoyable reading the comments above from the English/Scots RFFers about England's performance, even though I could barely understand them. But then I suppose they wouldn't get much out of commentaries about "our" football.
 
It's about time we did then. 😛 That is of course if Germany doesn't beat us to it. 😉

Kim

peot said:
England has not defeted Sweden in a major tournament for 38 years, although british press seems to forget that before every match between the countries.
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Kim Coxon said:
It's about time we did then. 😛 That is of course if Germany doesn't beat us to it. 😉

Kim
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Congrats to the Miami Heat! 2006 world champions! The fight for the trophy is now in the East!
 
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The Argentinian test

The Argentinian test

How to win the match against Argentina? Very easy, ask any kid at any spot in Latin America and you'll get the same answer, more or less: Psychology, not football.
After their last victory 6:0 against half Yugoslavia, they may enter the ground with their pipi filling their veins at their brains. Now THEY are the favourites for the cup, besides Germany. Holland has just to play defensively for the first half, avoiding a single Argentinian goal and you will get the Argentinians out of their champion minds. By the second half they will be so demoralized for not eating the Datchs, and then Holland will easily collect the fruits of victory. That's what disastrously happened at last WFC.

Have the Argentinians learnt their lesson? Quite hard to tell, the pressure over their egos is so overwhelming, that it will take them true champion blood in order to overcome themselves. Winning against half Yugoeslavia by 6:0, instead of getting an intelligent profile lowering 2:0 victory, it is already a very bad sign.

Argentina's problem is not, not had ever been, in their legs but at their minds.

If we see today a cool, slow and patient Argentinian game, then and only then it should be really taken into account for the finals. Not half Yugoslavia, nor an unlucky Ivory coast team.

Whatever the end result of the game today, if the Argentinians show patience and humility after their last 6:0, then Germany thank you very much for the hospitality.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
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Ruben, I fully agree - Argentina's most serious rivals is their own mind.

Today, we are expecting more than 50.000 Dutch fans in Frankfurt (just a stone's throw away from my home). The city's predominant color is orange today. I personally think this might not be the last time during this cup, Argentina and Holland meet.

Hup, Holland hup!
 
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