World Cup?

[CHRIST]

does anyone here watch the world cup? and do you have any predictions?
I think it will be Argentina vs. Brazil in the world cup final.

[BOSS]

I am a big soccer fan so I deffinitely am watching the 06 World Cup, but it sucks USA got eliminated so early. Anyway my prediction is Germany vs. Brazil and I have no doubt that Argentina is gonna make the final 4, they have been wicked good this World Cup.

[Phoenix]

Well, if there is no USA I am cheering for the greatest team of divers/babies....GO ITALY!

[RIZZO]

No matter what happens. GO BRAZIL! Ronaldo all the way. Hes the man. But yea unfortunately USA sucks and they tried hard but got beat by Ghana which is um...stupid..lol

[CHRIST]

man if ronaldo got back into shape he would be the best striker in the world he is an astonishing finisher. if he gets the ball in the 18 yard box more than likely he will score. but unfortunately as of now he has a ton of extra weight makin him a lot slower

[Zabka]

Ghana had the surprise team of the tourney. If Essien hadn't gotten that ridiculous yellow against the US, he would have been a big difference maker for them against Brazil. Ghana outplayed Brazil for large stretches. The first goal was a great goal, but very disorganized on D---they missed Essien there. The second goal was clearly offside. The third was with a man down after Ghana was so frustrated with the game. Ghana and Australia were such pleasant surprises. Hiddink is one of the most remarkable coaches out there.

The US doesn't have all the elements yet to be a world power...but the improvement to any soccer fan is obvious. Even if we did worse in this cup than in 02, I think we fielded a better team that showed some maturation. Donavon is just too mentally weak to be the leader of this team. Reyna is just too old now, and replacing him is the highest priority, but he is a legit world class player--nothing fancy, but controls the pace and makes the non-obvious passes...in fact only Reyna and Obrien who was hurt the whole time are able to do that for the US. I am a big US fan and despite the disappointment, the results were not at all surprising other than the awful form they showed against the Czechs whose bout with the injury bug really did them in.

Germany are a much improved team and have been playing an almost Dutch style of soccer. Remarkable since they haven't played like this since 94.

Brazil are clearly the top team in this tourney. Argentina have bags of talent, but I think they have a tough time playing when they are under a lot of pressure as they will be in the next round.

The officiating at this World Cup has been atrocious---worse than in 02 for sure--but perhaps this is the start of something new for FIFA. Lots of yellows here in an attempt to get the game to be played cleaner and allow more flow to the game in the long run. In the short run, there have been grave injustices out there.

[captnjeter]

Well I watched the US-Ghana game up until the 70th minute. Bottom line was they just couldn't finish on offense. They had a couple of breakaways that were called back for offsides early second half and then the near miss on the header by McBride. Still, officials have been awful. I didn't watch a lot of the '02 Cup and what little of it I remember did not have these many penalties. There were 3 yellow cards given out in the first 13 minutes of the Brazil-Ghana game this morning. The call against the US on the Ghana PK was so crazy. No way he pushed or even touched the Ghana player. And the US-Italy game we should not have lost two players for those tackles. Maybe one was "reckless", but they should be warning, yellowing and then red carding players. This is probably the first time I've ever agreed with any of ESPN's commentators.

I haven't checked the brackets yet, but somewhere along the line, I think Brazil will face Germany and the winner of that match will take the Cup.

[SithWarrior]

i dont know guys i think its gona be Germany vs Argentina in the finals :?: never mind because they face each other on the 30th

[BOSS]

The game with the worst ref had to be the USA vs. Italy match, too many red cards and yellows that game that were un-called for leading to a disadvantage for USA with 9 players and Italy with 10. Still surprised how it was kept a tie the whole game.

[CHRIST]

no the worst ref had to be the portugal vs. netherlands game,
there were 19 cards given out in that game. 15 yellow and 4 red card. The ref had lost control. Even a fight broke out in that game with Luis Figo headbutting someone but the ref did not see it. I can not wait unitl the Ger. vs Arg. game that wil be good

[jog-mike]

brazil will be there but i don't watch it often.

[BOSS]

I have to agree with you on that one Christ, I wouldn't say a fight broke out its more like fights but seriously that wasn't a real game after all of that.

[Zabka]

The ref lost control---but to be honest, the players need to follow the rules. And one thing is certain about the Portugese on foreign soil---they don't play by the rules. I was surprised that the Dutch stooped to their level. In 02, when the US not only opened up their account early on them, but then resoundingly thumped them, they were flabergasted. In their must win game against Korea in the opening round, they were at their worst with tackles that clearly looked to be attempts to break legs. Why? Their "golden generation" was about to get tossed out on its ass out of the World Cup in a group they were supposed to coast through. I lost all respect for Figo and all the rest of the team after that tourney.

Now here we are 4 years later and they still played incredibly dirty. It's interesting because in Euro 04, they were surprisingly good and played well until the final--perhaps it is because they were playing at home. I seriously hopes that England gives them a considerable thumping and that Rio Ferdinand rips Figo's legs from their sockets.

Italy are a lot like Portugal---but a bit more composed.

So yes, the reffing has been inconsistent...but when players choose to play the way they are doing, then the ref has no other recourse.

In the US game---Eddie's first yellow was a complete joke. The second yellow was legit. Regardless Eddie was the Agoos of our team this year and was responsible for more than one goal against. I hated having him start. Mastro's challenge was a dangerous, spikes up challenge...and was within the realm of a red (I would argue yellow in most games), but not outrageous. What was outrageous is that he was boneheaded enough to make such a reckless tackle in the middle of the pitch at the end of the half with the full defensive line betweeen the player and the goal. It was so incredibly unnecessary, he should have been slapped around at halftime for being such an idiot if he weren't already tossed out.

The US is whining alot about the officiating--which has been tough. But the reality is our coach and our "stars" like Landon Donavon and Damarcus Beasley played like horseshit for all but small patches of the three games.

[CHRIST]

i think it would be cool if some way u guys could somehow televise the game in one of your servers and we could all watch and commentate through our mics but im pretty sure that is impossible.

[SithWarrior]

italy won 3-0