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Post by mpanayiotakis on Jun 24, 2010 22:13:45 GMT 2
Great performance by the Australians, they gave everything. One of the surprises of the tournament, pity they couldn't get through.. And LOL @ Italy, last of their group with only 2 points, who would have thought that they would play so badly?
In general, european teams are under-performing in this world cup, none of the teams have played great football so far.. Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay are very good teams and they can go far (which is no surprise for the first two of course!).
Michael
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Post by andycole on Jun 25, 2010 11:18:27 GMT 2
I am not surprised that the Australians played well. They got pretty far last time, didn't they? The Italians beat them by manufacturing a penalty which won the game. See Youtube Video They got their just rewards! Could it be the climate or the altitude causing problems for the Europeans? It's an easy excuse but I think they have all played badly for different reasons. It certainly looks like the 48 year pattern will continue. Andy.
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fredolococo
Full Member
J.i21 full set : 25/25 . Rain shower pub Coral
Posts: 249
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Post by fredolococo on Jun 25, 2010 14:50:40 GMT 2
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Post by mpanayiotakis on Jun 26, 2010 12:54:34 GMT 2
So, some major teams are out, France, Italy, Greece (lol!). All south american teams advanced to the next round (!) and Ghana is the only african team that managed to do that as well. Japan is the surprise of the tournament for me so far, they play very well!
Michael
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Post by Aris on Jun 26, 2010 14:47:34 GMT 2
What's so beautiful about her? ;D How about an avatar with her holding a Game and Watch game instead of that seller I found on ebay that Andy now uses as his avatar. LOL! I agree Mike, Japan is the biggest surprise out of the 16 teams that moved on to the Round of 16. France, on paper is a huge surprise to not make it, as they were ranked very high in the FIFA rankings. Uruguay looks very good in that group - better than Mexico IMO. South Korea looked pretty good too - Until they played a top-caliber team, and lost 4 - 1! I'll take Argentina and Uruguay to advance to the Quarters from Group A & B. Ah, what can I say about Groups C & D? In the back of my mind, I had a sneakin' suspicion that Slovenia would pull it off, especially since they had a tough path to make it to the World Cup, beating Russia in a two-legged playoff, plus, they also beat the eventual group winners in their qualifying group (Slovakia) in both games that they played. They should have advanced instead of England, who IMO, have been just as disappointing as the Azzuri! As for Group D, it was anyone's game. I liked Australia, Serbia and Ghana, but felt Serbia had the best chance - WRONG! Oh well.... I'll take Germany and the USA to advance to the Quarters from Group C & D. E & F - I'm sure almost everybody had The Netherlands advancing for sure, with either Denmark or Cameroon coming second. And of course, Italy with Paraguay moving on to the knock-out stage. Good for Japan! I always thought both Japan and South Korea played well in 2002 only because the venue was in their backyards, but, they've obviously proven in 2010, that they're not push-overs! Slovakia won their qualifying group (which included Slovenia, Czech Republic, Northern Ireland and Poland), so, it's not like they were a bunch of bums and didn't deserve to be at the WC 2010. However, if Lippi didn't have a brain cramp and actually ended up tabling a team that WASN'T slow and over the hill, then yeah, the Slovaks would have been on the other side of the line dividing 2nd and 3rd place. This is a HUGE upset for Italian fans! I'll take The Netherlands and Paraguay as the teams that will advance to the Quarters from Groups E & F. Groups G & H ended pretty much as most people figured. The only team that might have changed that for me, was the Ivory Coast. I thought they would have edged out Portugal, especially with the advantage of the games being played on their home continent, but, when Drogba went down with a broken arm, I thought, the Gods were smiling upon Portugal. In the end, Portugal was the better team, and despite their penchant for diving, they deserved 2nd place. Drogba may not have been 100%, but even still, the IC didn't play up to snuff! BTW, loved the simulation call by the ref when the Portuguese player was in the box and collapsed (as if he was chopped down with an axe) at the mere touch from the Brazilian player. Fabiano and Messi have impressed me the most out of all players so far in this tournament! Spain had a bit of a scare losing to the Swiss. Memories of cough, cough, choking came back to mind, and I wondered if they had returned to their old ways.... Luckily for them, they turned it around and played like the favoured team they are against Chile and Honduras. I'll pick Brazil to knock out Chile, and man, that Spain - Portugal game will be a doozy! I think that game can go either way, but, I'll go with the favourites, since, on every WC pool entry sheet I filled out, I have Spain going further than Portugal. Now that most of the crap teams have been weeded out, we should be seeing some better quality soccer! Man, am I glad I picked up my Panasonic 54" G20 Plasma back in April! ;D Hope everyone is enjoying the 2010 WC so far!!! AC
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Post by mpanayiotakis on Jun 27, 2010 23:28:27 GMT 2
The logical favorites have advanced from the first four games so far. England is out but I don't think that's a surprise for most people. They didn't play very well in this tournament, their defence looks sooo tired and they didn't deserve to reach the quarter finals.. Ghana has managed to reach quarter finals as well and what a feat for the africans that is!! They were the better team though. Argentina looks very very strong (despite the help from the referees) and it will be a great game against the germans!! If they can get past them they will probably reach the final!
Aris, the Serbians managed to shoot themselves on the foot - they lost a game due to a guy's mistake. They could have advanced instead of Ghana and against USA they had very good chances!! I was rooting for them as well as the surprise of this tournament but they couldn't in the end..
Michael
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Post by pheldge on Jun 27, 2010 23:52:13 GMT 2
...we should be seeing some better quality soccer! ...Hope everyone is enjoying the 2010 WC so far!!! Better soccer ? Maybe. But referees... !!! It's a shame. I have no words to describe. Argentina doesn't deserve to be there, so as Germany. Just like France didn't even deserve to be in South Africa. Well... Italy deserved to be eliminated, for sure... So, let's be a little less serious. Here's Michael's new forum...
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Post by Aris on Jun 28, 2010 1:58:53 GMT 2
...we should be seeing some better quality soccer! ...Hope everyone is enjoying the 2010 WC so far!!! Better soccer ? Maybe. But referees... !!! It's a shame. I have no words to describe. Argentina doesn't deserve to be there, so as Germany. Just like France didn't even deserve to be in South Africa. Well... Italy deserved to be eliminated, for sure... So, let's be a little less serious. Here's Michael's new forum... Nice one Patrick! I just love hearing that sound!!! ;D AC
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Post by mpanayiotakis on Jun 28, 2010 14:15:39 GMT 2
ROFL!!! :biggrin: :laugh: Nice find Patrick!! I might set it as the default page of this forum until the end of the world cup!
(not!)
Btw, I saw yesterday's Top Gear and Stig was driving around the track with the sound of vuvuzelas on the background.. LOL!!!!
Michael
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Post by pheldge on Jun 28, 2010 23:58:44 GMT 2
Talking about Top Gear, I've never seen that program (even if I like cars), but I've discovered another show presented by James May. This is called " James May's Toy Stories", and I warmly recommend it to all of you. I think you should be able to find them on youtube, but I can also help people to have them in another format (by PM). Sorry for this out of topic.
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Post by mpanayiotakis on Jun 30, 2010 2:02:18 GMT 2
I've seen all episodes. You can find them easily in various torrent sites. I think all 3 presenters of Top Gear are great story tellers and I've seen almost everything they've done. I also suggest James May's top toys and James May's big ideas..
Michael
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Post by rensmits on Jun 30, 2010 10:00:26 GMT 2
Well, almost at the end of the tournement. Just 8 more games.
I must say, I've never seen a more boring tournement than this edition. Glad to see Portugal go. Playing only to defend is always a bad idea.
Some fine quarter-finals now. Germany-Argentina and The Netherlands-Brasil. I think Germany-Argentina will be the best one to see. Both teams play very offensieve. I guess Messi will make the difference and Argentina will win with 2-1. The Netherlands-Brasil will be an easy victory for us! We have waited for a great opponent to play or best game! So The Netherlands-Brasil 3-1.
The other two games will be boring to watch. Uruguay-Ghana 0-0 and Spain-Paraguay 4-0.
Viva Hollanda! René
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Post by andycole on Jun 30, 2010 10:33:32 GMT 2
Are we heading for an Argentina-Brazil final? That would be a great game!
Andy.
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Post by rensmits on Jun 30, 2010 11:34:51 GMT 2
Are we heading for an Argentina-Brazil final? That would be a great game! Andy. NO WAY!!!!!!!!! The final will be Spain against The Netherlands! I'm afraid that Spain will win that one with 3-2. René
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Post by rensmits on Jul 2, 2010 20:38:07 GMT 2
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE DID IT!!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
What a game. Outplayed by the Brasilians in the first 30 minutes. A fantastic safe from our keeper Stekelenburg, to keep us in the match.
A totally different Dutch team in the second half, a very lucky goal, but they knew that Julio isn't that strong with these kind of passes. After the goal we really start playing and destroyed Brasil.
Should have been 4-1 or so at the end.
The whole country is orange right now!
René
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