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

[xtapolapacetl]

Every new World Cup England expect to be taken seriously and as contenders, but every new World Cup they don't address the weaknesses that got them kicked out of the previous World Cup: Goalkeepers and penalty shootouts.

I guess you can say that they don't have good players to choose from on the GK position since every big club (and even smaller ones) in England have foreigners as goalkeepers.. But then they shouldn't act so shocked when they don't advance deep in the tournament, should they? Or maybe they should just develop some domestic goalkeepers.

 

[duba169]

JUST GOT BACK IN WOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!!!!!

almost had a heart attack on that USA goal

USA defense was TRASH

 

[carlos tevez]

Originally Posted by Xtapolapacetl

Every new World Cup England expect to be taken seriously and as contenders, but every new World Cup they don't address the weaknesses that got them kicked out of the previous World Cup: Goalkeepers and penalty shootouts.

I guess you can say that they don't have good players to choose from on the GK position since every big club (and even smaller ones) in England have foreigners as goalkeepers.. But then they shouldn't act so shocked when they don't advance deep in the tournament, should they? Or maybe they should just develop some domestic goalkeepers.

England's biggest weakness is lack of creativity. You can point to them losing on PKs in their last few major tournaments but I'll point to the fact that they were inable to score enough goals to win those matches in regular time. It's one thing to put 3-4 goals past weak teams...but when it comes time to play teams with decent defences, England do not have enough talent to break those defences down and score some goals. It's the same old story with this team. Look at the most recent WC...they beat Ecuador 1-0 thanks to a Beckham FK in a match they created very few scoring chances. Then they got shutout in 120 minutes of play against Portugal. Four years later and they're basically fielding the same attackers with some minor tweaks to the rest of the team. When you have greats such as Bobby Charlton say that England are not as skilled as other countries then you better pay close attention to his criticism of the country's football program.

imo, our defense did alright considering who the opposition players were.
The thing is though, other than Rooney, the U.S.'s opponents today werent that great. What happens if the U.S. give up those kind of chances to a team with better finishers? There is the possibility of the U.S. meeting Germany in the 2nd round and I'm sure the Germans will hold no prisoners.

BTW, this result is great for Algeria and the U.S. but not great for Slovenia. Had England won today and beaten Algeria next week, there would've been the chance of England resting players and taking it easy in their final group stage match against Slovenia (which obviously wouldnt be fair to the U.S. and Algeria). Thanks to today's draw, England will be forced to play for a positive result against Slovenia to ensure qualification into the next round.

 

[mikeisoriginal]

men #!$% usa should of won that game

 

[jailblazer]

 

[erascism]

England have a wonderful keeper in Joe Hart, who had a fantastic year with the Blues, but not enough int'l experience for Capello's liking. Why Robert Green (10 caps) was chosen over David James (50 caps) is dumbfounding though.





 

 

[andrew630]

USA USA USA!

 

[gabers]

Once again the US had no central midfield, Bradley and Clark in there together do absolutely nothing to promote any kind
of offensive play.They are like another stopper/sweeper in addition to Demerit & Gooch. I honestly can't recall at any time where either of these
 two settled the ball and pushed it forward creating an offensive opportunity for Donovan, Dempsey, Altidore, or Findley.
If BB starts these 2 in the central midfield again i'm gonna go bonkers.

Neither one of them can hold the ball, pass the ball, or see opportunities that can lead to positive chances for the attacking players
it's beyond me why Torres doesn't play 90 minutes a game. You can't tell me he doesn't provide just as much defense
as Clark, while providing ample more chances with his calm demeanor on the ball. The whole game I was screaming at the tv talking
about where is the central midfield.

Howard will be the reason the US goes as far as they go, if he's on then he's gonna stop at least 1 shot per half that I think others
might not to keep the US in it.

Hopefully Friday will see the US deploy better tactics, and lead us into a W.


PS
Anyone else wonder why in the hell the US just boots the ball 70 yards up the field when they could easily pass it to a teammate?

 

[TheGift23]

Sunday 6.13.10 (Times Eastern US) :
7:30 AM - Algeria vs Slovenia
10:00 AM - Ghana vs Serbia
2:30 PM - Germany vs Australia

Monday 6.14.10
7:30 AM - Netherlands vs Denmark
10 AM - Cameroon vs Japan
2:30 PM - Paraguay vs Italy

Tuesday 6.15.10
7:30 AM - Slovakia vs New Zealand
10 AM - Portugal vs Ivory Coast
2:30 PM - Brasil vs North Korea

Wednesday 6.16.10
7:30 AM - Chile vs Honduras
10 AM - Spain vs Switzerland
2:30 PM -  South Africa vs Uruguay

Can't wait for Tuesday and Wednesday

 

[TheGift23]

Note for those in the FIFA Fantasy NT WC Game : Round 2 begins on the 16th, so have your lineups ready for the next round before or by the 16th. (Although the games for Group H that day will count towards Round 1)

Currently in the Top 3 for Round 1 :  

I'll post the full results of Round 1 when the round is over on the 16th.

 

[AZwildcats]

Does anyone else think England and France are highly overrated this year? In my opinion the USA could beat both of those teams and should have scored again when altidore missed

 

[sirius lee handsome]

 

[xtapolapacetl]

The best news this tournament so far: There is a rumor that they might ban vuvuzelas..

 

[TheGift23]

Meh, that's too much. It's not like every nation does this...just because outsiders don't like the noise? They shouldn't stop those who want to use them permenently.

 

[gma 11]

Can't wait until the Brazil/Spain games. This hasn't been the best start to the world cup.

 

[jpioneer]

Originally Posted by TheGift23

Meh, that's too much. It's not like every nation does this...just because outsiders don't like the noise? They shouldn't stop those who want to use them permenently.

The problem is they can make a noise over 120db which can be harmful for your ears.

 

[shabooyah1124]

Originally Posted by TheGift23

Note for those in the FIFA Fantasy NT WC Game : Round 2 begins on the 16th, so have your lineups ready for the next round before or by the 16th. (Although the games for Group H that day will count towards Round 1)

Currently in the Top 3 for Round 1 :  

I'll post the full results of Round 1 when the round is over on the 16th.

Then again I only have 3 players that have not played yet, 2 of them defensemen.

 

[xtapolapacetl]

Originally Posted by TheGift23

Meh, that's too much. It's not like every nation does this...just because outsiders don't like the noise? They shouldn't stop those who want to use them permenently.

WTH does it matter whether every nation does it when it's the only thing you hear? All the games so far, every second of every game I hear is RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR... I don't give a damn who does it. You can't even hear the damn chants.

 

[TheGift23]

Feel bad if a fan payed to go to this game and is not a supporter of either nation

.

GOL

Can't believe this game produced a goal

.

 

[Retroballer]

Originally Posted by TheGift23

Feel bad if a fan payed to go to this game and is not a supporter of either nation

.

GOL

Can't believe this game produced a goal

.

a took a terrible misjudge from a goalie to do that

what was that celebration?

 

[jpioneer]

HORRIBLE

Had a bet for 0-0 and that goal ruined it....

 

[TheGift23]

RENE, South Africa -- U.S. coach Bob Bradley isn't sure whether goalkeeper Tim Howard broke ribs during a collision with Emile Heskey in the Americans' World Cup opener against England.
"He'll be evaluated later today and then a decision will be made as to whether he'll need further tests," Bradley said Sunday. "Obviously he was sore -- did a great job of taking a tough hit, and staying in it and playing really well. But we'll assess him later today and figure out then what we need to do from there."

Link

Terrible if it turns out he has fractured his ribs

. Guzan is shaky...

 

[Sinner]

And just like that Slovenia tops group C! 

 

[sirius lee handsome]

 

[theafricandream]

Hope Ghana can hold it down today and get a W for the African teams