Hey folks, World Football Cup started

Portugal vs The Netherlands in 10 minutes.

Go Portugal Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
It should also be noted that Beckham played while ill. He was physically sick on the pitch not long after scoring. Right, I'm off to see who we get to knock out in the next round... ;)
 
Lets not fool ourselves. Without Ashley Cole's amazing block of Carlos Tenorio's effort in the first half this could have been a very different result. At least the supporters that were interviewed on Sky Sports are realistic about the team. I am not sure that 4-5-1 is good for the players that England have at their disposal, I really don't think that Rooney is suited to being a lone striker. He needs the ball to his feet in shallow midfield so he can run at people with it. I think they should revert to 4-4-2 but without Crouch. So who would partner Rooney? England have precious few choices...

 
I hear a little Red Sox nation type speak (prior to 2004) in all this talk of the English team.

"Yeah, we won the cup... fire Ericsson!"

A win is a win, you will take um no matter how little you enjoy them I bet.
 
Andy K said:
It should also be noted that Beckham played while ill. He was physically sick on the pitch not long after scoring. Right, I'm off to see who we get to knock out in the next round... ;)

A lot of talk on the radio game broadcast here in the US is about the fitness of the players. I am a bit surprised by this. No doubt playing a soccer match at this level of competition is very hard work, but this is what they trained for no?
 
I am not talking about any other sport Mango. Does the German team appear to have any fitness concerns? I haven't seen any. Perhaps the only positive to the US team was that they were among the most fit teams in the tournament. These are professional athletes of the highest order, they should be able to perform for the duration of their games without issue. Very much like runners who train to be able to complete their entire race.
 
rover said:
I am not talking about any other sport Mango. Does the German team appear to have any fitness concerns? I haven't seen any. Perhaps the only positive to the US team was that they were among the most fit teams in the tournament. These are professional athletes of the highest order, they should be able to perform for the duration of their games without issue. Very much like runners who train to be able to complete their for their entire race.

One of the factors could be in which league most of country's players are active: some leagues stop much earlier than others, so some players have a month or even longer to recover than others.
 
I'm watching the game now... Holland's surely good at using elbows and pushing etc - why on earth didn't Sneijder get a red card for that assault on a Portuguese player? I hate watching the dutch team play... oh the arrogance of players like Van Persie, Robben and Sneijder.

Compare that to a player like Ronaldinho - ten times as good and so humble; always enjoying the game, always having a good time and smiling...

edit: why on earth did Deco get that card? For "throwing" the ball away, while he was literally being thrown around himself by a Dutch player?!
 
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No, these are MLS and other soccer players commenting. There actually is a seemingly strong team of US broadcasters in Germany for the Cup. The US TV broadcast is marred by the presence of Brent Musburger who has no knowledge of any sport, but ABC bought him 25ish years ago from CBS and gave him a life contract so they are torturing their audience by throwing him at us as much as they can to get some value out of his employment.
 
I wish you could hear the noise here in Lisbon!!!
Could this be another Euro 2004???
 
peter_n said:
Lets not fool ourselves. Without Ashley Cole's amazing block of Carlos Tenorio's effort in the first half this could have been a very different result. At least the supporters that were interviewed on Sky Sports are realistic about the team. I am not sure that 4-5-1 is good for the players that England have at their disposal, I really don't think that Rooney is suited to being a lone striker. He needs the ball to his feet in shallow midfield so he can run at people with it. I think they should revert to 4-4-2 but without Crouch. So who would partner Rooney? England have precious few choices...



Ericsson probably played a 4-5-1 because Owen got crocked in the previous game. Things may change in the next match when we knock Portugal out. Lennon is well capable of partnering Rooney, and we have the untried wunderkind Walcott.


Ps. Tonight's game was made into a farce by yet more crap refereeing.
 
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It was sad, and i'm happy Portugal won in the end, but it was sad to see such a poor atittude, so many cards, yellows and reds, and all were well deserved, that really spoiled the fun...
 
Thanks Scott!
I agree with you Nomade, too many cards but all deserved.
But the way we played even with one player less (twice) was really nerverecking for the Dutch and the referee alike.
The president of FIFA just told a tv reporter that the referee got a "yellow card" aswell.
 
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