2014 World Cup

Amazingly entertaining World Cup so far. Only Columbia/Greece a bit dull. Really looking forward to Cote d'Ivoire and Japan.

Why are they called Cote d'Ivoire so often? We don't go around saying Espana, Polska, Italia, etc. You'd even see Cote d'Ivoire on wall planners even when the rest of the teams are in English.

I wonder is it an official FIFA thing? Like how we're always Republic of Ireland even though no-one ever uses the term.

Is there any particular reason for the blue/pink combination? Japan's keeper has one blue and one pink glove. One of the Italian players - and I think one of the players in this game too - hhs one blue and one pink boot. Seems a bit weird to be a coincidence

Some campaign by Puma

Drogba is sent on, and the Japanese defence is torn apart twice trying to adjust. Really disappointing to see, want Japan to be doing better than this.

They were starting to look ragged before he came on I thought. Stone wall penalty on Yaya Toure as well but he made the cardinal sin of trying to stay on his feet... crazy fool.

Honda very careless in possession, way too casual.

Originally Posted by DeLorean

Honda very careless in possession, way too casual.

Think he ran out of gas...

Originally Posted by DeLorean

Why are they called Cote d'Ivoire so often? We don't go around saying Espana, Polska, Italia, etc. You'd even see Cote d'Ivoire on wall planners even when the rest of the teams are in English.

Because that is the official name of the country.

Absolutely loving this World Cup so far. Pirlos performance the hightlight for me so far. 35 years old and he looked like he could have played another 90 minutes at the end, made Steven Gerrard in the "quarterback" role look like a joke. Was very impressed with Sterling before he got knackered, he is a serious prospect.

Cant wait to see how Messi gets on tomorrow and then the Portugal against Germany on monday.

Originally Posted by The Fly

Because that is the official name of the country.

Well yeah but presumably Italia and Danmark are official names also, but the English speaking world still refer to them as Italy and Denmark on their wall planners, etc.

Originally Posted by strangeirish

Think he ran out of gas...

He ran out of gas pretty early.

Originally Posted by DeLorean

Well yeah but presumably Italia and Danmark are official names also, but the English speaking world still refer to them as Italy and Denmark on their wall planners, etc.

IC are registered under the name of Cote d'Ivoire with FIFA, that means the registered name will get some exposure.
Whoever else uses the french name would have to explain for themselves why.

So are most of the other nations registered in English or what?

From wikipedia -

In April 1986, the government declared 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

So as far as they're concerned, the English for Côte d'Ivoire is Côte d'Ivoire. FIFA are bound by that offiically, I guess, but everyone else is free to ignore it.

Eamon Dunphy was certain Gerrard should have had a penalty. Even Gerrard - as graceless in defeat as he was - didn't mention that in his post match interview.

Dunphy was also certain that if Terry was playing, England wouldn't have lost, as Terry would have marked Balotelli better than Cahill did for the second goal.

His bias towards England and English clubs and overanalysing their uselessness grates on me sometimes.

Pirlo and Gerrard's performances and their night and day contrast proves just why Gerrard will never be one of the very best players. He got a lot of credit he didn't deserve for Liverpool's season, just like he did in the CL final in 2005 - when he was anonymous for most of the game. Lampard was a more influential player.

Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks

Eamon Dunphy was certain Gerrard should have had a penalty. Even Gerrard - as graceless in defeat as he was - didn't mention that in his post match interview.

Dunphy was also certain that if Terry was playing, England wouldn't have lost, as Terry would have marked Balotelli better than Cahill did for the second goal.

His bias towards England and English clubs and overanalysing their uselessness grates on me sometimes.

I thought the Apres Match skit on him and Gay Byrne last night was hilarious.

Former France and Arsenal star striker Thierry Henry told the BBC that it wasn’t so much Rooney’s positional play that should be assessed but the importance of his miss in the second-half.

“I have missed chances like the one Rooney did in the second half at 2-1 down, but Wayne will know that in a game like this one, he has to score there. He didn’t, and that was the turning point for me.”

Henry knows all about fluffing his lines in big games.

Bosnia is going to win today.