Weird game. So far its been total BIH dominance with no end product, book marked by periods of genuine Argentinian threat. But only one team scored twice.
Printable View
Weird game. So far its been total BIH dominance with no end product, book marked by periods of genuine Argentinian threat. But only one team scored twice.
Hello.
Someone say grandstand finish?
Hopefully both teams go through.
Never seen Messi give the ball away so much.
Argentina looked anarchic compared to the neat, organised and impressive Bosnians.
Hondurans were overwhelmed, they should have played us in a friendly.
The Swiss 2nd goal was a spectacular event from beginning to end.
Ecuador were a very disappointing contrast to the team I had seen before, their fans looked a sorry sight after the final whistle.
I listened to some of the rte punditry, Kenny C is a wonder, a fountain of comment. Sadlier and Whelan are just suicidal territory, there should be a sign to warn viewers that you're about to listen to 2 professional moaners and to have 2 of them on together is a dereliction of duty by RTE.
Ecuador was a fashionable pick based on the fact no one picking them has ever seen them play. To wit;
Chile 2- 1 Ec
Ec 0-0 Argentina
Honduras 2-2 Ec
Ausies 3-4 Ec
Dutch 1-1 Ec
Mexico 3-1 Ec
Swiss 2-1 Ec
Not exactly lighting the world on fire. But its fun to think so I guess.
Agree about Sadlier and Whelan (the former in particular). Wrist slitting stuff. Even O'Herlihy couldn't manage one of his laughs with them. No credit given to the Swiss for coming from a goal down and being in the position they are with pretty much a team of journeymen.Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
Without checking the results, I think that other than in the English/Italian game, the side who has scored the second goal (where there was one), has gone on to win the game. Quite a few teams coming from behind in this tournament. Do the new systems of play weaken defences I wonder?
I'm not sure if this is the funniest or most pathetic thing I've read in a while so I'll go with the most pathetically funny!
Linfield's Tricolour
Very interesting how many teams are coming from behind. I think football tends to go through cycles, from defences dominating and then attacking dominating. WC 2010 rewarded tight well organised teams but almost immediately afterwards Euro 2012 was full of very open, high scoring games. Unfortunately a couple of those involved Ireland! It certainly looks like at club level that endless possession is contained much more easily now.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
I do wonder though whether the pressure on the big wealthy clubs to buy attacking crowd pleasers in an era where budgets are limited by FFP means that the best clubs in Europe are a bit top heavy on attackers and the result is that there are fewer Baresis, Thurams, Blancs, Cannavaros and other top class defenders. Which international defenders do we drool over these days?
Defence also seems to be much more about the collective application of the team at the moment rather than individuals.
We are assuming it's because they don't like the Irish Tricolour but perhaps it's because the good folk of the Shankill believe the shop owners are confused and think we have qualified and have notified the shop of the error of its ways.
Not sure I drooled over many defenders at international level. Paul McGrath and Beckenbauer perhaps. Definitely no Italian no matter how good they were. Admired sure, respected yes, drooled no but then you'll probably mention about ten and I'll say, oh yes I drooled over them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
If anyone's watching on a SKY+ or TiVo box, rewind the Germany game to 25:02 / 25:03. In between the two straw hats is that an old Cork City jersey?
Germany looking very very polished. Much more purposeful looking than the tippy tappy style of Bayern.
Philipp Lahm gets regular mentions on here anyway (BonnieShels ia a particular fan, I think!). Though again, I guess a fair bit of that is for his attacking qualities.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
This one is yet another very enjoyable game. What a World Cup so far!
Portugal imploding. Really soft red. Germany should - and could yet - be further ahead.
Daft by Pepe but I think football's zero tolerance to aggressive actions is counterproductive. Muller's initial reaction was pathetic but wouldn't be encouraged if the offence he was trying to intimate happened if the ref had discretion how to punish those incidents. I don't think the "head butt" warranted a red at all. It makes the game look stupid and actually encourages over reaction to innocuous offences. Pepe was fully entitled to make his disgust at Muller's cheating known.
I'm sure Geysir was seething!
Philip Lahm the converted midfielder? :)Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Löwe was thinking the same as you; that he was wasted at full-back. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Great minds and all that!
Best I could think of though. Unless Richie Dunne counts.
3-0 Germany now.
Cracking finish to the first test between England and Sri Lanka!
Thankfully a draw, but not the World Cup...
No, but it coincided with the last 6 mins of a 4-0 formality. That last over was thrilling.
Btw, I played an hour of footy yesterday, Fathers Day game at my son's footy club. Loved it, despite getting turned twice by a guy who was clearly a proper full back in his prime but who revealed he was 67 after the match. Still, I scored one and after a switch into nets made 3 good stops but punched two corners when I should have caught them. Match sharpness, if you're reading CD! I'm aching like hell today.
Bad day at the office for Portugal today, the Germans were very good but it seemed like one of those games that anything that could go wrong did. Still dont think Ronaldo looks fit, he had no sharpness at all.
The Germans look best team in the tournament so far, even their bench options are frightening
Yep, but how often does the team that impresses most after game one go on to do well? Portugal could have scored twice or three times, including that awful miss by Coentrao.
Do you chaps think ghana will beat the usa?
They have better players so yes.
Always liked Kenny. Very insightful. Pretty much like the Irish Hamann.Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
I think Whelan is easily the worst of the bunch. At least Sadlier for all his moaning actually makes sense.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
Whelan is one of the worst pundits I've ever seen. Never says anything. Always whinsging about stuff and makes comment that any okle in a bar could spout. Moron.
I've been known to maybe say one or two positive things about Mr Lahm.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
*swoons*
Funny you praise Kenny there. Last night, he (and Ossie Ardiles) both suggested Nigeria should qualify ahead of Bosnia from their group. This game is drivel. Nigeria are awful.
He hit a new high point when he decided on the basis of the Netherlands that Liverpool should under no circumstances sign Diego Costa.Quote:
Originally Posted by BonnieShels
To be fair, I've seen Nigeria play a few times in the last 18 months and I thought they would really challenge. There aren't words to describe how bad they were today.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
They have some good players alright; it was amazing how they just completely failed to turn up at all. Long time since I've heard a World Cup match end with such a crescendo of boos.
But I think Bosnia's squad shades Nigeria's; Dzeko and Ibisevic up front versus Odemwingie and Ameobi in particular. Was surprised to hear both basically write off Bosnia. Though there's still two games each to go, of course.
Is Enyeama, the Nigerian keeper, the guy Jimmy Magee noted in 2002 that he wouldn't get into a League of Ireland team? He's improved a bit since then in fairness.
Well you have to consider the opposition. Iran sat back and basically dared Nigeria to break them down. If you're looking for an inspirational figure to take the game to the opposition, are you looking at Shola Ameobi or John Obi Mikel? Argentina and Bosnia are going to try and win the games against Nigeria - I expect they'll give a much better account of themselves.
Don't remember the Magee reference but according to wiki Enyeama only played once at the 2002 WC and kept a clean sheet against England, so it was hardly him. More likely to be the first choice, Ike Shorunmu.
True on Mikel; not sure Bosnia have a match for him. Though he was particularly wojus this evening.
Still, onwards and (surely!) upwards. Will the US regret leaving Landon Donovan at home? Will Ghana suffer an Uruguay-like collapse of form from the last World Cup? Not sure what to make of this one. I'd make Ghana slight favourites, I think.
Cant make up my mind whether I love or hate this US kit
29 seconds!
Makes up for the evening game already!
The IOC also refer to the country as Côte d'Ivoire. Wikipedia provides the following explanation:Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
Quote:
The coastline of the modern state is not quite coterminous with what the 15th- and 16th-century merchants knew as the "Teeth" or "Ivory" coast, which was considered to stretch from Cape Palmas to Cape Three Points and which is thus now divided between the modern states of Ghana and Ivory Coast (with a minute portion of Liberia). But it retained the name through French rule and independence in 1960. The name had long since been translated literally into other languages, which the post-independence government considered to be increasingly troublesome whenever its international dealings extended beyond the Francophone sphere. Therefore, in April 1986, the government declared Côte d'Ivoire (or, more fully, République de Côte d'Ivoire) to be its formal name for the purposes of diplomatic protocol, and officially refuses to recognize or accept any translation from French to another language in its international dealings.
Despite the Ivorian government's request, the English translation "Ivory Coast" (sometimes "the Ivory Coast") is still frequently used in English, by various media outlets and publications.
The ref would have known it was a goal based on the device (located in his watch, I believe) he was wearing buzzing, so most likely would have based his immediate call on that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Had been in Barcelona the past few days and was travelling home yesterday whilst the game was on so wasn't able to catch it, but I don't really see why there's such confusion. From the replays I've seen, the video clearly shows that the technology is analysing the two separate goal-line incidents; the first, where the ball hits the inside of the post and ever-so-slightly crosses the line as it returns back out into play, and the second, where the ball fully crosses the line after the Honduras keeper fumbles it back towards goal. It was clear and worked exactly as it was supposed to.
The USA off to a great start here against Ghana with Dempsey scoring after 30 seconds.
I think it's pretty nice, but it is their away kit. Their home kit is the usual all-white combination and obviously that would have clashed with Ghana's.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
Altidore tore his hammy. Not good.
Yeah I know, the home jersey is a bit boring. It almost looks like a golf topQuote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
You guys must love the Lithuania basketball jerseys Jerry Garcia designed.
We are seeing history with his replacement, the first Icelandic player to play in a World Cup :) i think the guy was even in Iceland squads for qualifiers for this World Cup but didnt come on (or maybe didnt play) so was able to make the switch to TeamUSA.
Is the TeamUSA kit homage to Captain America (Marvell Superhero not Clint Dempsey)?
I thankfully missed that and my opinion on Kenny remains untarnished.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
That was the final straw for me. His determination on how Spain should "win this handily" despite all evidence over the last 2 years to the contrary.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
Does Ronnie only watch games he's a commentator or pundit on? He's beyond woeful. Robbie Savage woeful.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
The hooped red-and-white American shirt was refreshing. I was hoping that they'd keep that as their design basis going forward.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/23...75fa364071.jpg
That was one damned impressive kick to the face!
Game drifting since the opening goal though. Ghana starting to get on top I think. Yanks can't really afford to lose Dempsey and Altidore this early. Though as I type that, Dempsey returns to the game