past FIFA (world cup) NOW: le tour '10

[Swamp]

Well shit! I was just getting ready to watch the game and the radio station called to say
that they are redrawing the teams after each round. Now I'm Spain, and I even cooked
Brazilian steaks last night. I'm just one of those people who never read the fine print.

[Fool No Where]

Ghana Player Fakes Injury

i don't pretend top understand soccer but this seems like some bullshit to me. It's one thing to sub for a guy on the other side of the pitch, in fact i applaud that. But bringing out a stretcher for a guy and watching the jagoff walk away from it after being carried off. Is there any point beside the blatant burning of time? Yeah, it's a bit jingoistic, but when a football player gets carried off the field it's because he's possbily suffered a life threatening or debilitating injury not to milk the fuckin' clock.

[LuthierJustin]

Ghanarians...

['Scratch]

Vuvuzelas......


Caveat Emptor.

[beantownbubba]

W/ the exception of some of the US - Ghana game, the round of 16 games have thus far been curiously uncompetitive. No idea why that is.

The Ghanaians aren't the only ones who fake injuries or milk the clock. As it's now structured, soccer is set up to "fail" i.e. to create unfairness and bad decisions by the very nature of how the game is governed. Part of it is the single referee (compare to say THREE on an NBA court which is a fraction of the size), part is the no clock stoppages, etc. As a relative novice at the game, all i can say is that the people who know must think it's ok because there really is no justification for it.

[The Black Canary]

Ah the Portuguese colony of Brazil is still in the running!!!! or did I read the paper a day late????

[Jeremy]

Ill be rooting for the dutch too. My ancestors on my moms side came from holland, a long time ago(1600's), but now I am just a good ole american mutt(native american, dutch, english, irish, scottish, african american, and a few others I am missing). But Holland is my favorite country to visit in the EU and have met some of the nicest people in all of europe on my trips there(plus they have a great view on pot), so Ill thow my support to them. Then rooting for Spain, my buddies wife is from spain. Then Ghana.

[joelle]

uru<ghana
brazil>ned
arg>germany ( toughest match)
esp?par...esp

brazil>ghana
arg>esp


arg>brazil


(> for the win)
gettin pretty good

perfect timing
as soon as the world cup finishes
the tour de france starts
i am not being facetious
love the tour! love it.

[shuffle]

well, gonna give predicting this thing a shot...

winners:
Uruguay
Ghana
Netherlands
Brazil
Argentina
Germany
Paraguay
Spain

just gotta point out that I got everything right

so far.

[beantownbubba]

Well done, sir.

How would anyone even know that Renaldo was on the pitch today? Clearly wasn't all, or even mostly, his fault, but geez, big time players gotta come up big at big times, no?

[shuffle]

yeah, he was kinda useless...he could've been "anyone". Torres weren't much use either, but then again Spain don't really need him that much since they've got David Villa (who gotta be one of the most underrated players out there, at least before the world cup). Can't wait to see him with Messi and co in Barcelona next season. Gotta take that Champions League trophy back.

[shuffle]

man, what a game! I enjoy Uruguay more but I was kinda hoping for Ghana too...I feel really sorry for Gyan now...


I couldn't watch Brazil-Holland because I was working but I listened to it on the radio...sounded like a great game. and I'm so happy that Holland won, despite that meaning the winning streak for my prediction went wrong

[shuffle]

yeah, it should mean Holland being in the final...

Argentina-Germany tomorrow's gonna be something special I hope.

[beantownbubba]

Did the Netherlands win or did Brazil lose? I guess it doesn't matter in the end: The Dutch move on, the Brazilians go home for 4 more years of angst and hand wringing. The Brazilians really fell apart in the 2d half, but I suppose the netherlands had something to do w/ that.

Poor Ghana. They came THIS close, both at the end of extra time and the initial PK.

At least in the post game stuff i saw, nobody was making a big deal of the quick thinking by Uruguay, taking the handball to make the last second save even though it resulted in the PK and the red card, in order to have one last gasp. That turned into EVERYTHING! That guy should be a hero, and i've already forgotten his name ROFL. I know it starts w/ an S and he's a striker.

[shuffle]

It's Suarez

they're going to have a lot of trouble against the Netherlands in the semis without him, because now Forlan is the only one who's really capable of doing something extra.

[beantownbubba]

Yikes! What a thrashing Germany gave Argentina. In a recurring theme this WC, the big star is more or less a no show, tho in this case it seemed to these untutored eyes that it had as much to do w/ Germany's defense as anything Messi was doing wrong or not doing.

[Flood18]

The best way to stop Messi is to put him in an Argentine Jersey

[joelle]

so basically
this is why i am no longer allowed to gamble
i suck
argentina and brazil out. fuck

i want spain, but germany will probs win
i only want NED for shuffle's sake

blah

great games. exciting.
will watch all the finals
but since my money is gone,
i will now turn my attention to betting on who will win the tour...

[shuffle]

then
Uruguay
Brazil (hoping for the Netherlands)
Argentina (very close since they're playing Germany)
Spain

fuck I should've gone with my gut feeling for both the Netherlands and Germnay instead of trying to be logical...but yeah, I'm happy anyway. The Netherlands shouldn't have any problem with Uruguay but you never know...Spain-Germany's gonna be great, before the tournament I would easily have said Spain but Germany's been very impressive...but Mueller is suspended (I think at least) and Spain's got David Villa...

Go Netherlands!!! (and thanks joelle)

[beantownbubba]

Almost game time! Funny how quickly i got used to the world cup schedule and how much i already miss that 2-3 games/day schedule. Hopefully the remaining games will live up to the hype.

[Swamp]

I guess I'm still Spain. Big one tomorrow.

[Jeremy]

Go Orange!!!
I think Germany will make it to the finals too, they play pretty stout D, are a young team and play together well. That last goal they scored against argentina was nasty. Spain is too inconsistent.

[beantownbubba]

Well, my son's 5 pound bet is still alive and well, lol. Now i actually have to start thinking about how i'm gonna cash that sucker if the Netherlands actually pull this off. Damn, i hope i still have that ticket!

[joelle]

very very cool
i work at a spanish restaurant
epic joy and madness. the place was ridiculous. going bananas

and cheers to shuffle
gotta be very very awesome

[beantownbubba]

What is the deal w/ the 3d place game? Does anyone actually care about this? Can the players possibly have any interest in playing?

Even the NCAA dropped the 3d place game from the college basketball tournament (long enuf ago that most of u probly dont remember that there was a 3d place game, but there was).

[beantownbubba]

Turned out to be a surprisingly entertaining and hard fought game yesterday. And yeah, I watched it I blame it on the thunderstorms that made yesterday a stay at home kind of day.

Looking forward to today's battle royal but damn, then it's all over. Wow, that went by fast.

[Penny Lane]

The guy who scored the goal..what did his undershirt say? Sempre something? Just wondered.

[Zip City]

FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU

[beantownbubba]

So Swamp, what do you win?

[Steve French]

was that Spanish dude offside when he scored?