The Glade 4.0

Ghana should not be underestimated this year.

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I admit favouritism on Australia in this group... I just want to see them get to top 4 once before I die >.<

Not looking good for this year. They got spanked by Germany and looked bad doing it.

Better luck in 4 years! :p

Question for you. Why do you call the team the "Socceroos", but you refer to the game as 'Football' ? Shouldn't it be the "Footballeroos" or something ? :p

I think wiki sums it up pretty well here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_(word)#Australia

Depending on the state, football carries different meanings and thus their nic distinguishes them from the other football games.

I secretly am sad panda about their performance this year, 4 goals and a red card *sigh*... and in all seriousness don't expect them to do any better in 4 years... I'm gonna be above 50 by the time we get half decent imho...

That doesnt mean I won't dress up and support them though ^-^

The low scoring almost every game can suck to folks who on the fence or other side of the fence. But, when they do score...it's like a fast break, long run, inside the park homerun all rolled up into one. They are usually beautiful things to behold and that's why everyone goes crazy.

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"It is true that democracy undermines freedom when voters believe they can live off of others' productivity, when they modify the commandment: 'Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.' The politics of plunder is no doubt destructive of both morality and the division of labor."

How about Switzerland with the upset over Spain? This tournament feels very open this year. I don't see a team that's really standing out, except perhaps Germany. Even Brazil was played tough by North Korea as Lydiaa mentioned.

Poor South Africa though. The host country ties Mexico and gets crushed by Paraguay. It looks like a long couple weeks for the SA fans.

I think a lot of African teams are underestimated. They always had the speed. They're starting to gain the skills to go along with that speed. The Ivory Coast looked good last time out, even if the game itself was slow and boring.

I loked at some stats from yesterday's games - Shots on goal was like 2 or 3 per side, for most games. Some had 1 for one side, and 3 for the other, like the RSA-URU game, I think. I find that odd, since I thought I personally saw a about three SA shots at the end of the game when they were desperately trying to come back (with, like 10 minutes left. Ain't gonna happen.) So, do those shots not countj because there was no chance of them going in (way too far, etc.). Just struck me as a weird stat, apart from the fact that you have something like 5 chances to score - for both sides - in a 90-minute game. That's insane.

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

France lost to Mexico... I admit I didnt watch the game (time difference sux) and saw the score this morning... still trying to pick up my jaw off the ground... Anyone who saw the game got any juicy comments before I go home and catch the re-runs?

RoK got crushed by Argentina ... wow, not fun to watch.

However, France and Spain losing yesterday and today make things interesting. I hope France loses again.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

I kinda have to admit rok's defeat was kinda expected, albit not to that degree... They should still be okay to proceed though, I have high hopes for them.

Why?

Because. **** France.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Good comeback by the US but it seems they were robbed late in the match with disallowed goal. Can't wait to see the replay later on. I've read three different articles that can't believe they disallowed the goal.

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"It is true that democracy undermines freedom when voters believe they can live off of others' productivity, when they modify the commandment: 'Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.' The politics of plunder is no doubt destructive of both morality and the division of labor."

ESPN's poll ranks it as a bigger blown call than the Jim Joyce call. Honestly, I kind of agree. We're talking about the world cup, and we're talking about 3 points versus 1 point. If anything, Bradley was held up severely on the play, which should have been a penalty kick. Besides that fact, Edu put the ball in the back of the net, without any visible foul by ANY of the USA attackers. It's just a devastating blown call. Fortunately, the US can still advance if they win Wednesday against the weakest team, providing England can also win out. There are a couple other scenarios too, I believe.

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At this point, assuming the UK and the US both beat Algeria, that would put the rankings at 4:4:5, Slovenia, UK, US- but then a draw between the UK and Slovenia puts all three teams tied at 5:5:5, at which point it's the total goals scored which will decide who goes.

If either the UK or Slovenia win flat out, then that places the US strongly in second.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Well at least we still have everything to play for! Get the job done against Algeria and maybe we get another crack at Ghana - whose first goal against the USA in '06 came courtesy of some Ghanaian whose name eludes me just destroying Claudio Reyna's knee in a tackle, resulting in him being dispossessed and letting Ghana clear in on goal. The second goal in that game came on a penalty kick for Ghana after Onyewu was called for being American while defending.

Today's game though? Wonderful, flowing action in the second half - I was just a bundle of nerves for the last 20 minutes. Disappointed as I am in the blown call, the ref isn't even on the top of my list of "Refs Who Deliberately Jobbed the USA". That spot is forever held for Jorge Larrionda, who sent off two in the USA's draw with Italy in '06, and then sent off Bradley this past summer in our win against Spain, ensuring he couldn't play in the Confederations Cup final.

I can't wait for Wednesday! For that matter, I can't wait for England and Algeria to start

Actually, if we get out of our group, I'm tickled about any opponent we could get!

Ghana? Rematch from 2006 group stage, and would be stop number two on our USA vs Africa tour in these finals (assuming we do well enough against Algeria to advance) - stop number three lately in games that count, if you consider our result against Egypt last summer in the Confederations Cup.

Germany? Rematch of 2002 quarterfinal, arguably our finest game ever played in the World Cup.

Serbia? Show up Neven Subotic for selecting the Serbian team instead of the USA team after Rongen left him out of the U20 world cup roster, and stop number two of USA vs the Balkans, 2010 edition

Australia? We just got done looking really good against them in the last friendly before the finals started.

Sadly in order for us to advance, we have to be very very good, and ghana has to be very very bad. The chances of this happening is just below having a unicorn visit me on thusday and ask for some milk...

I will still be watching the game however, just with tissues >.<

<--- See this, Lydiaa? I told you =\

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So I was at Buffalo Wild Wings yesterday when they had Brazil vs. Ivory Coast. Soccer players are a bunch of wussies. If they so much as get bumped by another player, they roll around on the ground and cry like they just got stabbed in the kidney or something.

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The Dude abides.

Yeah, the flopping is horrible in soccer. It's leaked into the NBA as well and makes me want to puke.

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"It is true that democracy undermines freedom when voters believe they can live off of others' productivity, when they modify the commandment: 'Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.' The politics of plunder is no doubt destructive of both morality and the division of labor."

The one that got Kaka sent off at the end vs Ivory Coast was pathetic - Kaka elbows guy in the ribs for no reason, which maybe I can see a yellow for anyway if the CR hadn't been ignoring outright assault for most of the game. But the guy clutches his face in agony and drops, not his ribcage, his face. Same thing this morning out of a Swiss guy against Chile. Chilean guy pushes his neck, so he grabs face and flails.

Oh, and although I think they're gonna get shelled, I really want to see Honduras do well today against Spain. I still get a warm fuzzy feeling thinking about how their entire country went completely berserk when we scored the late equalizer against Costa Rica that put them in the finals. Jonathan Bornstein may not be a favorite for the US at the moment but he can get a drink from anyone in Honduras any time for the rest of his life.
[youtube]G0lWIWSMCj8[/youtube]

FIFA really needs to get the drama under control, and introduce some kind of system for penalizing players and teams that flop, and teams who start substituting (with players walking leisurely off the field) during stoppage time.

It's really hard to take the game seriously as it is now.

If I'm not mistaken, there are rules in place for players who flop for the purpose of getting a call their way. If the ref can judge that the guy is just acting, he can receive a yellow card and the other team gets possession.

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"It is true that democracy undermines freedom when voters believe they can live off of others' productivity, when they modify the commandment: 'Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.' The politics of plunder is no doubt destructive of both morality and the division of labor."

They are going to need to take it to the next level. There is no way it can be enforced during the game (either that or the refs are not willing to do it).

I'm talking about a complete independent review of the game and officiating after the fact, where players, coaches, officials, etc... can all face sanctions. As it is now, the game is a farce, almost on a parallel with WWE or whatever...