Tnspieler1012

Predictions: Netherlands 3 - 0 Denmark Japan 0 - 2 Cameroon Italy 1 - 0 Paraguay

lolz I also have Heitinga, and think I wasted a free transfer trying to switch him out for another Netherlands defender. If he doesn't play its a waste, but all my good subs have already played. Here's my eerily similar list: Casillas (Keeper ESP), Maicon (Def BRA), Chiellini (Def ITA), Heitinga (Def NED), Xavi (MF ESP), Sneijder (MF NED), Kaka (MF BRA), Ronaldo (FW POR)

pretty much the only teamso far that's made me think 'these guys could win the world cup'. Psyched for Holland tomorrow.

My captain shot, my captain (Klose) scored! (I also had Lahm who did even better)

yeah, I only caught a cumulative fifteen minutes of the game, as I was at work during the game, but the Germans have been the first to really impress me with their play, gorgeous stuff. Even though I haven't seen Spain, Brazil or Netherlands yet, my doubts about their chances after losing Ballack etc. are completely gone.

oh snap! Ghana get a PK.

No more than 2 goals in a game so far. It's a popular excuse, but I do think the ball is a big factor in the very low scores we're getting. Players are constantly over-shooting crosses, and the ball is bouncing very high so the majority of through-balls don't check-up but run off the field. Some of the fields are partially synthetic, so that might contribute to the liveliness as well.

ah vel, what've you been up to? I see you're a dude now.

I see, well did you go through the downtown area, like worlds fair park and the sunsphere? Not that they're particularly exciting...........................................................................................

Was anybody else in the states annoyed by the camera-work/production of the game on ABC? Those little slow-mo snippets of Capello's facial expressions were driving me crazy. They kept showing extended slow-mo replays of old plays and missed what was going on in the game, like when Heskey got hurt. Plus the announcers commentary was on a lag, and they'd call passes that hadn't happened yet.

ROFL Well, I actually live in Loudon, a half hour outside of Knoxville. But I'll take the pity anyway as I've been running low lately and have had to resort to making my own. What brought you to K-town?

:surprised:

William Basinski - Disintegration Loops

...

true, but he didn't score. No team or player has dominated in their games, though I have high hopes for Germany tomorrow.

Well, remember to see this game in the context of the tournament. By the 2nd round there obviously won't be any draws, you'll have extra-time and then a shoot-out. Now the U.S. is just trying to qualify, so a draw is fantastic because they still have a chance of qualifying ahead of England and getting a better match-up. Predictions for tomorrow: Algeria 1-1 Slovenia Serbia 1- 0 Ghana Germany 2 - 0 Australia

you'd think he could just do the math...

Here's that John Cleese bit. Being a fan of american football it does irk me to hear English people rave about american football not being 'real' football, and all that crap. But still I agree with some of his points. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sD_8prYOxo]YouTube- John Cleese rants - Soccer vs Football[/ame]

@bjaiken. By last post I was somewhat more interested in breaking down the last few pages than I was about discussing the world cup, so if anything you made my evening more entertaining. Don't feel obligated to like soccer just because the world cup is on. Out of context, today's U.S.-England match was not a very exciting game at all. The U.S. couldn't get any offense going, and England couldn't make anything of their chances. If this was my first soccer game I'd be disappointed as well. However, if you were to see a quality game (not necessarily a high-scoring game, but a game with a lot of action, beautiful passes etc.) you might be impressed. John Cleese once compared soccer to Jazz, and in my opinion, Jazz is amazing if done well, but God awful when played badly. Unlike most american sports which have time stoppages and set plays, most soccer strategy is improvised (like Jazz), so one gets a thrill from seeing a bunch of players go from passing aimlessly in the backfield to a spontaneously structured series of runs and passes resulting in an amazing goal, a goal soccer fans find more exciting because chances are far more difficult to create than, say, in hockey. Though the U.S. goal today was really lucky, there's less luck available in soccer than in hockey or basketball, because it's that much more difficult to create chances. So when a team scores it's rarely luck, but a definitive work of art. Unfortunately the U.S. team was clumsy and only able to put together one good chance, and a bunch of mishit headers. In other words, bad jazz. The only excitement came from grimacing as the U.S. defenders tried to keep out England's many chances. Some say its boring, and sometimes it is, but there's almost always at least one goal scored in a match, and knowing that heightens anticipation. I confess that this is the one game I did not see today. I only remembered to record Greece-Korea.

I did. Whether or not you were replying to an individual, your comment attacked the whole thread. I thought it was rude and ridiculous for someone who says they consider soccer a waste of time to take the time to compare it to commercials in a soccer thread. I figured at the time you were only saying this to troll. So I curtly suggested you go have a productive conversation about something you do enjoy, as your comments didn't pertain to the world cup, but seemed to only be there to mock us, and spam the thread. 1. I wasn't mocking or being sarcastic, I honestly thought it would make more sense for you to discuss something you do like in an appropriate thread, then to tell us what you dislike in the inappropriate thread. 2. I wasn't telling you to go away because of your opinion, I was telling you to go away because you clearly didn't have anything more to say about soccer or the world cup, and you were just hanging around to mock us by talking about the NBA. After I gave up, as you were being self deprecating about your boredom anyhow. But I was set off again when you said Because you went from 'ignore me, I'm just bored' to a self-righteous victim who mocks anyone who responds to your comments. I called you a cock, because I thought it was obvious that most people are annoyed when people behave that way. If I go to an NBA thread, call basketball a waste of time, begin discussing the world cup, and then laugh at people's 'sensitivity' when they tell me to go away, I deserve to be told off. If you had said this at the very start, we might've had something substantial to talk about. I wouldn't have presumed you to be an obnoxious troll(I see now you're not), and I wouldn't have told you to run off. All the same, I apologize for the way I acted in this thread. I first read some of your comments out of context and reacted much harsher than I normally would've. I didn't mean to 'clown' you, I just didn't feel you had anything to say, and were only hanging around to goad people.

Those responses were fully justified by the absurdity of coming into a soccer thread and saying that twice. The first time was a simple, harmless observation and so ignored. But your second comment directly insulted the people in this thread, and painted you as someone with poor intentions and nothing to contribute. Hence the fuck off. 'Fuck off' is the response you give when someone is perceived to be acting like nuisance for no real reason other than boredom or spite. In this case, your insistence on discussing the NBA playoffs in a world cup thread. We've got it, you don't get sports with little to no scoring, while we obviously find it very exciting. Do you want us to explain why?

Josh, I'm guessing you had Rooney on your team for today? I took him off expecting this kind of result.

By watching the game and observing "That team is performing better than the other". It's not hard.

It's only that you insist on hanging around that annoys me because it interrupts and diverts conversation. You wouldn't post if you didn't think you had something valid to say. Thus your comment is, particularly by contrast to the topic of the thread, a challenge to discuss it. This leaves us handcuffed. If we reply at all, we're suddenly 'sensitive' when you know we've had the same stupid conversation a million times before with stupid ethnocentric americans, and would prefer not to explain ourselves again. But if we ignore you, then our acquiescence accepts your comment as 'legitimate' when I consider it anything but. You're entitled to your opinion, I disagree. Now go away if you don't actually care what people say.

Don't be a cock. You know perfectly well that its annoying when somebody insists on hanging around a thread such as this and makes superficial comments about soccer, insisting they are 'legitimate', not grasping the obvious logic that we find a goal in soccer to be a thousand times more exciting than any dunk or 3-pointer in basketball. no shit, there's nothing to discuss here.