:::[Official]World Cup South Africa 2010 Thread:::

[engoi]

Maybe del Bosque should give Torres a break, he doesn't play a very good World Cup so far.
David Villa on the other side....

Hope the Nike curse stops, Ribery out, Rooney out, C.Ronaldo out and now they show a commercial with Mesut Özil.

 

[an dee 51o]

Originally Posted by nawlinsjunkie

Almost as good as seeing the Japanese player miss the penalty. Almost.

 

[marionthebarberian]

^

the nike curse just applies to the og members of the commercial.

 

[jd214]

Originally Posted by America Bambaataa

Originally Posted by JD214

My boy Carles Puyol had Ronaldo on lock

It's not basketball, idiot.

When did I say it was like basketball? Just saying Carles was on Ronaldo whenever he got the ball.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler [+]

Spoiler

http://photobucket.com/images/u mad

 

[gma 11]

It's nearly over 

. Just realised tomorrow will be the first day in 3 weeks without any games

 

[persiafly]

Pretty impressive:

- Four South American squads are in the quarterfinals, and the 5th South American team in the tournament was eliminated by a fellow CONMEBOL squad when Brazil ousted Chile.

- Spain's defeat of Chile is the only loss of a South American squads at the hands of a team from another continent.

- It's quite likely that three of the four semi-final spots will go to South American squads (Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil are arguably QF favorites). If Paraguay pulls off a stunner we could even have an all CONMEBOL semis.

- This is impressive as hell because South America only gets 4 or 5 spots in the tournament, depending on the playoff between the 5th place CONMEBOL team and the 4th place CONCACAF team. Europe has often had 5 or 6 teams in QFs, and even had all 4 semi spots last time, but they get 13 spots in the tournament.

- There are huge historical trends here. Every World Cup outside of Europe has been won by a South American team, and every WC inside Europe, save 1958, has been won by a European team.

 

[jjgrt5]

great game today

I think Torres should start next game, if anything it will be his breakout game.

 

[carlos tevez]

At this point I think we can all agree David Villa is the player of the tournament so far. The 'high powered' Spanish attack has only scored 5 goals in 4 matches so far and Villa has scored 4 of them including 2 in a 2-0 win over Honduras, the opening goal against Chile and the winning goal against Portugal. It's kind of surprising that a team so loaded in talent is relying so heavily on one player.

Portugal remain offensively anemic. They were shut out in 3 out of their 4 matches in this tournament and none of their attackers really got going. It's a damn shame Portugal can produce world class wingers, midfielders and defenders but they cant produce strikers for sh*t.

I think 3 of the QF matches will be suspenseful but I think Spain will have little trouble beating Paraguay. Perhaps Paraguay park the bus and resist Spain for a while but Paraguay showed us little today to suggest they have much of a chance against Spain.

 

[dat exclusive cat]

Congrats to Spain. Def played the better game today.

WE will always be crap untill we have a better forward. How does almeida not put away that header in the first half is beyond me. Meireles was awful for the second game in a row. There is no linkage anywhere on the field. Best player for portugal the entire cup was Fabio Coentrao and its not even close. Portugal cannot even get any possession to do anything in the game. Ronaldo cant do !+! because unlike messi's situation, they dont have to stay true to anyone on portugal since no one has proven to want to step up. All 3 subs today were terrible. Danny should never wear a portuguese shirt again. Why start Ricardo Costa at rb to go up against Villa is beyond me. Queiroz has no tactics whatsoever. Can we please become a little offense minded? Putting Coentrao & Ronaldo on the same side was working in past games, why not stick with it?

And not for nothing, David Villa was offside on his goal. Next game should be a walkover for Spain. I see Villa tormenting them.

 

[TheGift23]

The Top 10 in the NT Fantasy WC Standings after 4 rounds...

Knockout Round Update...

Made so many mistakes in my lineup this matchday but glad I still advanced. Salvadoreno vs Salvadoreno next round.

 

[joe camel smooth]

I'm sure I've said it before......but I'd really like to see Fabregas on the pitch more often. He subbed in the first two group games but has been MIA since. I know, the last thing Spain is in need of is a playmaking midfielder, but he is also an excellent scorer and could add some punch to their attack. Everyone can see how much Torres' poor form is hurting them.

Fabregas is easily top 5 on the team in terms of talent IMO...he needs to see more playing time.

Also....Llorente was a pleasant surprise. I expect we will be seeing more of him late in matches.

 

[scuse7]

Watching this Portugal game again, they are frustrating.

Capdevilla

 

[keepie uppie]

i agree,Portugal hasn't had a history of producing world-class strikers over the years...
the last i remembered was seeing Pauleta upfront(i know...a few of y'all are asking,"who?") during Portugal's "Golden Generation" alongside Figo...

i also think Villa's goal had a hint of offside...
but if anyone deserved anything,then it's probably him...the commentator was saying that Villa's had more shots on goal than any other player in this WC so far...

and to that dude who's been talking about fairies and %*%...fool,get the hell outta here

 ... this thread's not for you...
  

 

[aztec]

Originally Posted by TheGift23

The Top 10 in the NT Fantasy WC Standings after 4 rounds...

Knockout Round Update...

Made so many mistakes in my lineup this matchday but glad I still advanced. Salvadoreno vs Salvadoreno next round.

Choosing players is getting harder especially since most of the players from the remaining teams cost a lot more.

 

[noskey]

Cant believe I missed the Fantasy League playoffs by one spot, and then outscored all but 5 others last round and moved up from like 17th to 11th overall

Oh well, predictions that will be off:
Netherlands 2 (5pk) - 2 (4pk) Brazil
Uruguay 3 - 1 Ghana
Argentina 3 - 2 Germany
Paraguay 1 - 3 Spain

 

[breakyaneck3000]

Originally Posted by JJGRT5

great game today

I think Torres should start next game, if anything it will be his breakout game.

llorente deserves to start against paraguay.  he played with more enthusiasm than torres and had better chemistry with villa in my opinion.   

 

[drop knee 101]

its the world cup.........its the world cup bro

 

[brian cushing]

Originally Posted by JOE CAMEL SMOOTH

I'm sure I've said it before......but I'd really like to see Fabregas on the pitch more often. He subbed in the first two group games but has been MIA since. I know, the last thing Spain is in need of is a playmaking midfielder, but he is also an excellent scorer and could add some punch to their attack. Everyone can see how much Torres' poor form is hurting them.

Fabregas is easily top 5 on the team in terms of talent IMO...he needs to see more playing time.

Also....Llorente was a pleasant surprise. I expect we will be seeing more of him late in matches.

Yeah I wish Cesc would get more burn. I actually thought they were gonna sub him instead of Llorente, but I was wrong. I also wanna see more of David Silva (too bad he has to sit behind Iniesta). One of my favorite players. His off the ball movement is incredible.

 

[xblaze23]

Llorente should start for me. Torres has been terrible the entire time.

 

[s0rtega2]

Originally Posted by moneyisthemotive

ShaunHillFTW49 wrote:

---

Originally Posted by moneyisthemotive

this world cup has cemented soccer as the biggest joke of a sport on the planet ... id rather watch the National Spelling Bee than put myself through this flop fest ... how can you make a case for soccer as a serious sport? bunch of flakes running around falling all over the place scoring one goal per game if that ... the blown calls by refs have seriously hampered the game ...

i understand that soccer is the most popular sport in the world and everyone plays it and the national pride and yadda yadda yadda, but as a male and an athlete, how can you defend this $*$%$++%? i mean these dudes act like they are giving birth when they get grazed by a foot or tickled by an elbow ... i've seen numerous times in this world cup where a dude gets carried off on a stretcher and hops up on the sidelines like he paid for a magic carpet ride ...

"o but thats just how soccer is" ... bull !!%$ ... then soccer is for fairys ...

I hate this argument with a passion. First off, if you don't like it, don't watch it. You sound like an idiot complaining about a sport that you don't like, yet seemed to watch more than just one game in this WC. Secondly, I love basketball and football too, but the amount of shape soccer players are in is up to par, if not more than other athletes in sports. And lastly, yeah, guys flop. Is it exaggerated? Certainly. Is it part of the game, absolutely. What about when a center in the NBA flops after little contact from being posted up? Or when a guard puts up a shot and falls over dramatically after being breathed on wrong? Or in football, near an end of a close game, when someone is hurt ... You ever stop to think they are "faking" a more serious injury to get an injury time out than waste one of their own? Cut out all that nonsense talk and spin Recovery once more.

 

[joe camel smooth]

Originally Posted by Brian Cushing

Originally Posted by JOE CAMEL SMOOTH

I'm sure I've said it before......but I'd really like to see Fabregas on the pitch more often. He subbed in the first two group games but has been MIA since. I know, the last thing Spain is in need of is a playmaking midfielder, but he is also an excellent scorer and could add some punch to their attack. Everyone can see how much Torres' poor form is hurting them.

Fabregas is easily top 5 on the team in terms of talent IMO...he needs to see more playing time.

Also....Llorente was a pleasant surprise. I expect we will be seeing more of him late in matches.

Yeah I wish Cesc would get more burn. I actually thought they were gonna sub him instead of Llorente, but I was wrong. I also wanna see more of David Silva (too bad he has to sit behind Iniesta). One of my favorite players. His off the ball movement is incredible.

I thought so too, but I mean I see where they were going with by putting in Llorente.

 Yeah Silva is talented too, sucks for those guys since they'd be the Xavis and Iniestas of any other nation.

Originally Posted by Breakyaneck3000

Originally Posted by JJGRT5

great game today

I think Torres should start next game, if anything it will be his breakout game.

llorentedeserves to start against paraguay.  he played with more enthusiasmthan torres and had better chemistry with villa in my opinion.   

I disagree about his enthusiasm/chemisty, a sub is gonna have more energy than a player who started the match. But that's an interesting idea that he should start.....on the one hand he did look deadly a few times.....but on the other hand Paraguay is the weakest team still in the tournament, Spain can handle them easily. I would like to see Torres start and play substantial minutes since he appears to be physically fit, just rusty. Might be smart to give him more chances to finally get back into his game. They might need him in the semis.

 

[carlos tevez]

Nigeria's President today suspended the national team from competing in ANY matches for the next 2-years after their dismal WC showing.

 

[noskey]

ESPN reporting Elano's not playing Friday

One step closer to the Netherlands pulling an upset.

 

[carlos tevez]

Originally Posted by Noskey

ESPN reporting Elano's not playing Friday

One step closer to the Netherlands pulling an upset.

It's ok...they'll probably continue with Dani Alves starting on the right side who is a better two-way player anyways. I think Brazil's bigger loss is the suspended Ramires who is a very good box-to-box midfielder and performed better than the player he was replacing (the injured Felipe Melo).

 

[noskey]

Yeah I know the injury isnt gonna impact the team. But I'm looking for anything positive for the Dutch. Going into this game, I'm the most unsure out of any game played thus far. I can see Brazil blowing the doors open right away, and I can see the Dutch taking an early and surprising lead. Anything can happen. Which is scary for a team that historically chokes

Ramires being missed should have some sort of effect on the team, but I'm not sure it'll matter anyways since they're so damn deep.