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Post by blade on Jun 13, 2010 13:55:55 GMT
I don't know how many football (soccer) fans there are here, but I know we have English, Americans, Germans and Australians, and they could all end up playing each other. And not to forget our Dutch, Argentinian, French and Japanese representatives!
Last night it was a 1-1 draw between England and the USA. A good result for the Americans, not so much for England.
And tonight it's Germany v Australia.
Then it's possible that it could be England v Australia and USA v Germany in the first knock-out round.
An exciting few weeks ahead!
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Post by velvetgirl on Jun 13, 2010 14:28:25 GMT
Yes today it's Germany vs. Australia, as a German I'm of course excited about the game tonight but I don't know what to expect because we have a very new team with young players.
Yesterday I also saw England vs. USA - what a painful goal against England. To date I was also disappointed by France, Greece and Algeria. It would be great if there could be a new world champion with an underdog status, such as like Slovenia or of course a team from Africa.
The only thing which annoys me a bit is the enduring sound of the vuvuzelas during the game - it really sounds like the stadion is a bumblebee box. I know it's an African tradition but it's so loud that you cannot hear the hymns, the singing crowd, the rejoicing or the whistles - I think that takes away a lot from the whole stadion atmosphere.
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Post by blade on Jun 13, 2010 15:36:58 GMT
Yes, you're right about that awful noise......
World Cup organiser Danny Jordaan was on the radio this morning saying if there are enough complaints, particularly from broadcasters, they might do somehting about it and ban these horrible vuvuzelas. He said the situation is "under review".
Anyway, some odd World Cup facts:
1) Kevin Prince Boateng and Jerome Boateng are brothers, yet Kevin plays for Ghana and Jerome plays for Germany.
2) Only two of the seven largest countries (by population) in the world are present at the World Cup - USA and Brazil. The absent five are China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Slovenia, with a populaton of just over 2 million, is the smallest country present. It is the 144th largest country in the world.
3) Argentina only ever wins the World Cup when the tournament mascot is wearing a hat. The South Africa 2010 mascot does not wear a hat.
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Post by blade on Jun 15, 2010 20:10:27 GMT
We've now seen all the main men, except for Spain. Four of the big European teams (England, France, Italy, Portugal) were not impressive but Germany and Holland were very good. Of the South Americans, Argentina looked good, but Brazil struggled to overcome the minnows of North Korea.
There have been a few dull games so far because nobody wants to lose their first match. Hopefully it'll open up when it comes to everybody's second games.
A couple more wacky World Cup facts:
1) Even though England gave the game to the world, never before have there been so many (mainly) English-speaking nations at the World Cup - England, USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa. Maybe we could count Ghana too. As usual the Spanish speakers proliferate - Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Mexico, Honduras. Oh, and, of course, Spain.
2) There are two players at the tournament who share names with famous prisons. There's Holland's Robben and Paraguay's Alcaraz. OK, nearly!
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Post by blade on Jun 24, 2010 17:15:24 GMT
1998 Champions France OUT!! 2006 Champions Italy OUT!!
England v Germany in the last 16. Oh dear. But after 1970, 1972, 1990 and 1996, it might be our turn.......
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cyn
Junior Member
Posts: 37
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Post by cyn on Jun 27, 2010 2:45:43 GMT
good luck tomorrow to all the english and german forumers out there! we have a difficult game waiting for us too, so let's see who will make it to the next round
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Post by blade on Jun 27, 2010 21:11:35 GMT
Can anyone give me the phone number for the Samaritans?
How the referee and linesman failed to see that that ball was nearly a metre over the line is one of the most inexplicable things I've seen in many years of watching football but to say we lost because of that would be taking credit away from Germany. They were by far the better team and deserved to win.
It's Germany v Argentina next. That should be very interesting.
I am now a fan of the Netherlands. Come on the Oranje!
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Post by velvetgirl on Jun 28, 2010 12:38:06 GMT
Oh man - what a match yesterday - sorry for the English people in here. Like many of my fellow countrymen I see the not counting goal as a little revenge for this here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeXWEVXhdUobetter perspective from here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYixmHvnN0s&feature=relatedIt was not a goal ;D. Somehow it seems to be like a battle between nations of this forum - Cyn you're from Argentina, right? Next round against Argentina will be very hard. Even if it's only because of Maradona - he's one of the most enthuastic coaches in this championship.
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Post by blade on Jul 3, 2010 22:59:25 GMT
How can you match this for excitement?
Holland beat five-time champions and favourites Brazil. Ghana miss a penalty with literally the last kick of 120 minutes and end up losing on penalties as Sebastian Abreu wins it with the most audacious penalty kick ever! Then Germany crush Argentina 4-0. Awesome! Spain and Paraguay both miss penalties, one retaken, and Spain sneak it 1-0.
You can keep all your films and theatre - nothing beats sport, and especially football - for drama like this.
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Post by blade on Jul 13, 2010 10:06:20 GMT
I said earlier that I wanted Holland to win but half way through the first half I changed my mind to Spain becuse of Holland's rough-house tactics. And then they had the temerity to complain about the referee!
So I'm glad the best team won, but it's a pity that the second-best team came third.
The irony was watching all those thousands of fans in Madrid celebrating a World Cup won by a team full of Barcelona players! I wonder if they celebrated in Catalunya?
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Post by velvetgirl on Jul 13, 2010 20:01:50 GMT
I said earlier that I wanted Holland to win but half way through the first half I changed my mind to Spain becuse of Holland's rough-house tactics. And then they had the temerity to complain about the referee! So I'm glad the best team won, but it's a pity that the second-best team came third. The irony was watching all those thousands of fans in Madrid celebrating a World Cup won by a team full of Barcelona players! I wonder if they celebrated in Catalunya? Yeah it was not really fair, especially this one was very hard: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBa15Q7QCjY
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