2010 World Cup Thread!!!

[twoNeurons]

Mildly surprised no one has posted anything about the World Cup here.

Anyway, just wanted to weigh in with a few thoughts...

Argentina... wonderful to watch... played the whole game and didn't shut it down defensively at the end.

African teams... doing well, but not as well as they would hope.

Cameroon's offense failed to spark anything against Japan, Cote d'Ivoire has a tough road to ride, Ghana and South Africa are the best chances at the moment.

Great job New Zealand, great piece of retribution after an offside goal against ( saying that, it was barely offside, mind you... so I'm glad it stood ). That round is dead even, with one goal per team per game, so it will be interesting to watch.

South Korea is doing well as expected. Japan controls its own destiny as well, but Denmark will be tough to beat.

England, well they're England... the Maple Leafs of the World cup. They have talent, just need to pull it together. Green's mistake is easily the biggest of the tournament as of yet.

Brazil rested on their laurels and just let North Korea walk through their defense. They make up for defensive lapses with their offensive firepower, though.

[WarrenC12]

North Korea is best Korea!

[PaperTiger]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

North Korea is best Korea!

They must have some crazy top secret soccer training facility a la Dolph Lumgren in Rocky 4.

They looked really good for a team that doesn't have any players in any of the major interanational leagues.

[Overground]

I agree with above comments. I'll add some of my thoughts -


I jumped out of my seat when NZ scored this morning in stoppage. Fabulous! It's going to be almost impossible for them to get out of the group as Paraguay are looking pretty good. But that group is dead even right now!

It's obviously a low scoring tournament so far. I think it's 10 goals down from this point in Germany last. Opening games can have midfielders not pushing forward enough and full backs sit back so there isn't any additional attacking up front hence less goals.

Early days but....Argentina looked great but I think they can give teams some chances at the back.

Germany look awesome even though it was only against Oz.

Italy was flat with no creativity.

Holland were convincing but it was more down to a very poor Denmark.

France looked crap.

As for my England....well I'm still very optimistic. The US fluked out with that Green mistake and England had majority possession, out shot them two-fold, more corners, just the better side. Barry is back from injury to shore up midfield against Algeria on Friday and although King is out at the back, we have plenty of quality centre backs to replace him. No worries.

IMO, vuluzevas need to be banned from matches. Or they need to sell the new ones only that have had them altered to bring the volume down 20 decibels. When you can't hear the referee's whistle or your teammates then it affects the game.

NY Post trying to be funny but fail miserably. Idiots.

[twoNeurons]

Lol. That's actually kind of funny.

Well, I DO feel that what's good for US Soccer is good for Canadian soccer.

Watching the Hondurans play today, I couldn't help but think Canada could be in a similar position.

[mrjauk]

Originally Posted by Overground

NY Post trying to be funny but fail miserably. Idiots.

I'd be more cautious about calling people idiots if I were you. If you were a little bit more informed, you would have immediately realized that the caption pays clever homage to the famous headline in the Harvard Crimson student newspaper following the "most famous Ivy League college football game ever played."

For the first time since 1909, the football teams of Harvard and Yale were each undefeated with 6-0 records in their conference (8-0 overall) when they met for their season's final game on November 23, 1968[1] at Harvard Stadium.[8] Led by their quarterback captain Brian Dowling, Yale was heavily favored to win and they quickly led the game 22–0.[9] With two minutes remaining on the clock they still led 29–13.[1] As the last seconds ticked down, Harvard, coached by John Yovicsin, tied the game, scoring 16 points in the final 42 seconds to tie Yale.[9][1] The Harvard Crimson declared victory with a famous headline, "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29",[1][9] providing the title for Rafferty’s documentary.[2][3][10][4][5]

Those of who have are fans of Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury will know that Yale's quarterback that day, Brian Dowling, was the original inspiration for the character B.D.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Beats_Yale_29-29

[Overground]

I guess it is kind of funny Cheeky beggars. I still want the US to lose badly.
I somehow have a feeling Canada won't qualify until 2018. The game will have a better hold in Canada by then with MLS expansion and academy prospects coming out of Cdn clubs, especially VWFC, could be very promising.

What about Spain losing 1 nil to the Swiss?! Wow. This could mean that they have a chance of finishing 2nd in the Group now and would have to play the probable winner of Group G - Brazil in the next round.

[mrjauk]

Originally Posted by Overground

I guess it is kind of funny Cheeky beggars. I still want the US to lose badly.
I somehow have a feeling Canada won't qualify until 2018. The game will have a better hold in Canada by then with MLS expansion and academy prospects coming out of Cdn clubs, especially VWFC, could be very promising.

What about Spain losing 1 nil to the Swiss?! Wow. This could mean that they have a chance of finishing 2nd in the Group now and would have to play the probable winner of Group G - Brazil in the next round.

I agree about Canada's WC qualifying chances. I think that 2014 is a pipe-dream, but by 2018 we could have a shot for the reasons you mentioned.

Spain's diving was frustrating (as was Ronaldo's a couple of days ago). I wish that FIFA would put an end to it. It's simple really. If you dive, you're engaging in unsportsmanlike activity, for which a just punishment is a yellow card. Do it again in the same match and you get sent off.

[Tom Bombadil]

Originally Posted by Overground

I guess it is kind of funny Cheeky beggars. I still want the US to lose badly.

Like it or not, the future success of MLS is intimately linked with the success of the US on the international stage. Failure for the US is not good for MLS or Vancouver.

[djmk]

Originally Posted by Overground

I still want the US to lose badly.



.

I want the US to do well. if the US does well, i'm hoping the domestic league (MLS) will get more attention and thus do better. And then what's good for the yanks is good for canada

[jlousa]

The success/failure of the US team would only affect the Canadian team if we let it though. Our soccer success does not need to become dependant on the Americans. It certainly hasn't been a factor for Mexico. I fully understand the differences, and I'm not arguing that the US being successful would probably help our game. I just don't think we should count on that.

One of our biggest issues is unfortunately we are a country built on immigration and we lose a lot of our best players at a very early age to their original countries. When given the chance to develop with the Canadian team or go and develop with the Italians/Spaniards/Portuguese etc most of these player go back home. I can't fault them for this, but it's a cycle we need to break and hopefully our better players will actually want to stay and play for Canada.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by jlousa

One of our biggest issues is unfortunately we are a country built on immigration and we lose a lot of our best players at a very early age to their original countries. When given the chance to develop with the Canadian team or go and develop with the Italians/Spaniards/Portuguese etc most of these player go back home. I can't fault them for this, but it's a cycle we need to break and hopefully our better players will actually want to stay and play for Canada.

Which is why we really need a quality league that people WANT to play in. If you can get some general overall quality to back up key ( read: star ) players, they might just want to stay and play.

The MLS could shape up to be that quality league. In the 80s, it was the NASL, hopefully, MLS can do better and stay around longer.

[djmk]

more fans = more money
more money = attract better players
attract better players = better development of current players
because canadians and americans play together, what is good for the US is good for canada

besides, one of the core missions of the MLS when it was first started was to develop american players.

[SpikePhanta]

i'm a fan of France but man the coach was stupid, didn't even play henry.

[cjohnny4]

I wonder what the chances are that Canada could be the host country for a near-future World Cup. The infrastructure and stadiums are already nearly adequate, the security is there, organizational abilities (hey..we pulled off three Olympics more or less successfully)...

On the down side is the fan base, but hey, FIFA could use the occasion to spark more interest in soccer in Canada. Most of Canada's major cities are quite international, so the fan base may not be an issue. Distances between cities are in issue, but the US hosted and that didn't seem to be a huge issue. Speaking of the US, I'm sure lots of US fans would come up to see games too.

Any thoughts? I think there's a good case to be made!


Oh yeah, and for the current World Cup, go USA!
(I'm a soon-to-be dual citizen!)

[jlousa]

See I don't see the domestic league being a prerequisite to having a good national team. I'd still love to see a proper league in NA and the MSL will have to do for now.
Most countries home leagues aren't all that impressive and their nation's star players all go and play in the big leagues like the EPL or la liga etc. Their players are still happy to come home and play for the national team, that is something that we need to improve. If we could just get a couple of the better players to stick with Canada on the national level it would improve our team tremendously. A couple of topnotch players would raise the play of the remaining squad and put us in a position of being invited to the big show.
I fully expect Canada to host a World Cup within the next 2 decades, probably even earlier, I would like to see us qualify consistently before that.

[djmk]

Originally Posted by jlousa

I fully expect Canada to host a World Cup within the next 2 decades, probably even earlier, I would like to see us qualify consistently before that.

the next time Canada can bid to host is for 2024 and beyond.

Brazil is next and I'll wager Europe is in 2018 (traditionally every 8 years but not this time - (SA and then Brazil).

there are many countries (or regions) that will get the world cup before Canada. Russia, China, The Middle East (Quatar), Oceania (Australia or Indonesia)

also, FIFA looks down at countries with poor national squads and canada sucks. Canada was supposed to have its best team since '86 to qualify for the World Cup and they could barely win a game.

[Overground]

2018 is probably going to Europe with England then Russia the most likely. I think Sepp Blatter said he wants Europe for 2018 as well. The US is bidding too for '18 but it's been hinted they will back England in '18 for their backing of the US for 2022. Either way NA and Asia are next if they stick to "every other continent is in rotation except Europe" idea. Asia/Australia are already bidding so who knows which way that goes.

Canada could host in 2026 with a joint bid with the US even though Blatter said he would reject joint bids, but would allow them if there wasn't another suitable host. Hypothetically if the US did get 2022 then the next time Canada would be likely to host is 2038?



....Wow, Germany loses to Serbia. Crap officiating but ze Germans should have scored that penalty. It's only the 2nd penalty they've missed in WC group play, ever. US currently down 1 nil to Slovenia in the first half! Later on this morning....England v Algeria. C'mon England!!

[twoNeurons]

And the US is down by 2 at the half!!!

I agree that the Germany game was poorly officiated. Frustrating to lose a game that way.

[Overground]

Oh god....Yanks just drew 2 - 2.


Trivia time.

Germany lost their first group match since '86.

England have lost one group match('98 to Romania) since '86.