*** Official World Cup 2010 Thread***

Argentina Beat Nigeria 1-0 In Close Match

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqKDcT397L8

A beautiful header from Gabriel Heinze off a corner kick from Veron was enough to earn 3 points for Argentina's opening match against Nigeria. Messi and Higuain had chance after chance after chance, each failing to find the back of the net. It was excruciating to watch as Argentina toyed with Nigeria. If it weren't for the brilliant play by Nigeria's goalkeeper, the score could easily have been 4 or 5-0.

 
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Street Novelist said:
Greece made it easy for South Korea...too easy
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only watched the first half, but I thought South Korea was going to open up conservatively. They surprised me. Great quick goal at the beginning.

US/England here in a few minutes. I'm hoping for an interesting game...and hope England doesn't beat us too bad ;)

 
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US is containing Rooney which is something of a shock. We've had the typical US World Cup start, which is suck a$$ for the first 10-15 minutes, get scored on, then figure out they're actually playing in the World Cup. Then we get the luckiest goal ever in a World Cup.

US is actually doing alright if you take out the first 10 minutes. We're still not good at transition, the back line is suspect and just stops paying attention at times, and the front movement can be a little lazy. Inconsistency continues to be the big problem for the US.

 
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Okay, as an American I have no idea how the World Cup works, but I did manage to get the Interweb and the Google machine to spit out that there was a tie between England and the United States. This made me shiver and grit my teeth, but that aside, where does it go from here? Is the US still in contention to win the famed cup? Or are they now spinning their wheels playing El Soccer (not football, which is a real sport)?

 
Husker_x said:
Okay, as an American I have no idea how the World Cup works, but I did manage to get the Interweb and the Google machine to spit out that there was a tie between England and the United States. This made me shiver and grit my teeth, but that aside, where does it go from here? Is the US still in contention to win the famed cup? Or are they now spinning their wheels playing El Soccer (not football, which is a real sport)?
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I was going to answer your question until I read your last sentence, where you called it El Soccer, which is fairly racist, and then proceeded to say it isn't even a "real sport."

 
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Street Novelist said:
Husker_x said:
Okay, as an American I have no idea how the World Cup works, but I did manage to get the Interweb and the Google machine to spit out that there was a tie between England and the United States. This made me shiver and grit my teeth, but that aside, where does it go from here? Is the US still in contention to win the famed cup? Or are they now spinning their wheels playing El Soccer (not football, which is a real sport)?
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I was going to answer your question until I read your last sentence, where you called it El Soccer, which is fairly racist, and then proceeded to say it isn't even a "real sport."
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OMG!!!

Dude, thanks for the laugh. When a definite article in the Spanish language becomes racist, that is the day you know Tooldom has reached new and majestic heights.

See you in the funny papers.

 
Husker_x said:
Okay, as an American I have no idea how the World Cup works, but I did manage to get the Interweb and the Google machine to spit out that there was a tie between England and the United States. This made me shiver and grit my teeth, but that aside, where does it go from here? Is the US still in contention to win the famed cup?
Click to expand...
The World Cup starts with group play, which they're doing now. They're groups of four with round robin play, so each team will play 3 games no matter what. A win is worth 3 points, a tie is worth 1, a loss nothing. The top two teams out of each group advance into a standard single elimination tournament bracket.

England is the best team in Group C, followed by the US. The other two teams aren't expected to advance, though there are often plenty of surprises in World Cup play. So essentially, the US getting a tie earned them 1 point, which isn't bad for them. Assuming they win their next two games, which they should, they'll advance out of the bracket (England should, too). Depending on how the other games go, the US may not have to win both games to advance, but winning both pretty much assures them advancement.

So yes, the US is still very much in the hunt. Or at least as much in the hunt as they ever were, which really isn't much, heh. We just don't match up too well with the elite teams around the world. Not yet, at least, but we're steadily improving.

 
EbylHusker said:
Husker_x said:
Okay, as an American I have no idea how the World Cup works, but I did manage to get the Interweb and the Google machine to spit out that there was a tie between England and the United States. This made me shiver and grit my teeth, but that aside, where does it go from here? Is the US still in contention to win the famed cup?
Click to expand...
The World Cup starts with group play, which they're doing now. They're groups of four with round robin play, so each team will play 3 games no matter what. A win is worth 3 points, a tie is worth 1, a loss nothing. The top two teams out of each group advance into a standard single elimination tournament bracket.

England is the best team in Group C, followed by the US. The other two teams aren't expected to advance, though there are often plenty of surprises in World Cup play. So essentially, the US getting a tie earned them 1 point, which isn't bad for them. Assuming they win their next two games, which they should, they'll advance out of the bracket (England should, too). Depending on how the other games go, the US may not have to win both games to advance, but winning both pretty much assures them advancement.

So yes, the US is still very much in the hunt. Or at least as much in the hunt as they ever were, which really isn't much, heh. We just don't match up too well with the elite teams around the world. Not yet, at least, but we're steadily improving.
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Thanks for the info. Hopefully the US can make a decent showing. Makes you wonder how we'd do if we used our best athletes for el soccer.

As for my comment above about el soccer not being a real sport, that was meant sarcastically. Is it my cup o' tea? No, not really, but it's not my national sport, or even A national sport as far as that goes in popular media.

 
I can't blame people for not getting enjoyment from watching soccer if they've never played it. Especially at a high level (serious club or college - high school is rarely a "high" level with soccer, in my experience, though in places it can be). There's a lot more going on than seems at first glance, but it's not easy for an "outsider" to appreciate, imo. Most people find the sport slow and boring, especially when watching high quality play like you'll see in the World Cup (though many professional club teams are better than the World Cup teams, heh).

Soccer is gaining popularity here, though, and I think we'll continue to develop the sport. US players are doing better and better in top leagues around the world and it's earning us respect (sorry, the MLS is not real soccer, imo). We don't really have the serious youth development for soccer that some other countries have, though. And we're not a light weight in soccer anymore, we're just not a heavy weight yet. Teams can no longer just dismiss us when they play the US team; they have to at least take us seriously.

 
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Husker_x said:
Street Novelist said:
Husker_x said:
Okay, as an American I have no idea how the World Cup works, but I did manage to get the Interweb and the Google machine to spit out that there was a tie between England and the United States. This made me shiver and grit my teeth, but that aside, where does it go from here? Is the US still in contention to win the famed cup? Or are they now spinning their wheels playing El Soccer (not football, which is a real sport)?
Click to expand...
I was going to answer your question until I read your last sentence, where you called it El Soccer, which is fairly racist, and then proceeded to say it isn't even a "real sport."
Click to expand...
OMG!!!

Dude, thanks for the laugh. When a definite article in the Spanish language becomes racist, that is the day you know Tooldom has reached new and majestic heights.

See you in the funny papers.
Click to expand...
It's called futbol, not el futbol. And you didn't even call it that...You said El Soccer. You calling it that would be like saying I am going to play the basketball. It doesn't make any f'ing sense. If you don't like soccer, why are you even here? I can't stand f'ing retards who have no knowledge of a sport so they have to make fun of it instead.

 
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