World Cup 2010

^ and just when we thought the Lampard "goal" would take all the headlines up pops Mr Tevez of Argentina to score a "legit" goal even though everyone in the stadium could see that he was 5 yards offside :-p
it probably didnt help the linesman involved that the VERY BIG GIANT SCREEN showed the "goal" in all its glory seconds afterwards and all the mexicans started waving imaginary offside flags at him.
Sepp Blatter has got to allow goal line technology now hasnt he before the games turn into a farce?

The "goal"that never was was part payment for the "goal"that never was that happened 44 years ago.

I'm speaking about the England v Germany game of course.

Germany deserved to win

Based on the four games England played, you have to say from the 22 or 23 players that were picked, 3 maybe 4 turned up to play and the rest turned up only for to disappear up their own arse - Rooney being the biggest culprit along with Gerard, Terry and Lampard.

And yes, Lamps' goal should have stood - even Stevie Wonder saw that and he was at Glastonbury today........

Sir GH wrote: GratefulFan wrote:

"The problem starts when you want to make international football some kind of virtue instead of just a popular game with personal and cultural signficance for lots of people in lots of places."

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Ask anyone in Africa right now if it's just a game.  It'd be like saying The Beatles were just a band who wrote great songs.  Soccer is what kept Mandela and his cellmates full of hope for decades.  It's a way of life for people all over the world.
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There isn't a sport in the world that doesn't have amazing narratives woven around and through it.  Ask the guy who bought Paul Henderson's 38 year old jersey last week for 1.3 million dollars if he thinks hockey is just a game.  He bought it for a small fortune, but in his mind he doesn't own it.  It belongs to all of us, he says.  Pretty incredible.  The power is in the shared experience, not the specifics of any one game.  The truth is that once the World Cup is over, and Coca-Cola packs up and the satellite trucks leave, South Africa will sill be more divided by sport than they are united.  A little less divided we hope, but divided still.  And if they are a little less so, it will be because they shared something, were proud of their host duties together, and maybe because a little circle of hope that began a slow trace way back in 1995 with the World Rugby Cup has been completed.  It's not going to be because soccer is inherently flawless and unassailable and the untouchable "best" game in the world.  Best, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

The position that you seem to me to have taken - particulary with Microwave - that to embrace soccer is to be enlightened and morally sound, and to reject it in whole or in part is to be dull, self centred and xenophobic, leaves the overwhelming impression that more than anything in this discussion you want it noted that you're into the sport that all the cool kids like.   Nothing wrong with that - we commonly use sport to say something about oursleves to the world.  I have one of those provincially issued Ottawa Senators license plates on my car and a Sens Army flag on my bulletin board at work.  I'm projecting a conscious message about me. It just that quite honestly I've never seen someone be quite as obnoxious about it as you seem to be being. ;)

Mr Mercury wrote: Based on the four games England played, you have to say from the 22 or 23 players that were picked, 3 maybe 4 turned up to play and the rest turned up only for to disappear up their own arse - Rooney being the biggest culprit along with Gerard, Terry and Lampard.

And yes, Lamps' goal should have stood - even Stevie Wonder saw that and he was at Glastonbury today........
if im perfectly honest i didnt see the Lampard goal or drei or vier goals as i had already been banished to the beer garden for laughing hysterically at the 2 german goals and taking the piss out of stroppy english fans in the pub.

@Mr. Mercury - the fact that English world class players are unable to form a great national team and succeed in an international cup has been an enigma for many decades now. Why excellent players who succeed in one of the best leagues in the world are unable to transfer their excellent performance into the national team is simply beyond comprehension. Surely, there are special problems in each tournament but once in 44 years they should have been able to put all problems behind and just win the cup!

Personally, I think it's psychologigal. The expectations generated by the English media are so high that the team is simply under too much pressure. For some reasons the English public seems to think that the team must win because they are better by default. On the other hand the Germans manage to look like the underdogs although England has never won a World Cup finals match vs German teams since the famous Wembley 1966 win. While the Germans know they can win because they did it before the English teams seem to be frightened because they lost before. It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy. While Wayne Rooney did not score once after a brilliant season, German striker Klose scored two goals afte a horrible season when he did not even play for his team Bayern München but spent most of his time on the bench. It must be pschological ...

^ Wayne Rooney beat David Blaine's record of doing nothing in a box for 42 days,,

i knew the English were in trouble before the tournament started when Ashely Cole was interviewed at the FA Cup Final and said that he would "rather win the league/fa cup with Chelsea than win the World Cup with England".
you cant win a tournament when you have players with that attitude.

cheering for the Dutch today which means that with my predictions over the last few days the clog wearers will be home tomorrow too ;-D

Very disapointed England were diabolical

I hope Brazil go on and win the thing

The one thing I did find funny during the Gernany v England game was listening to Mark Lawrenson's moaning - sorry - co-commentating.

I could virtually see the tears running down his face.......

I hope I'll manage to stay awake today during Brazil's match. Not that the squad is going to do anything to help me with that...

The thing is Yara, Brazil will have to try against Chile with this being the knockout phase. No second chances here in this round

I really want Slovakia to win but it looks like it's not gonna happen.

Edit: It didn't happen :( But congratulations to Maarten, probably the best keeper in the tournament, only beaten by penalties.

some good goal keeping saved Dutch bacon today,Vittek should of scored twice,the Dutch defence looks very flat,can see Brazil or Chile beating them easily if the Dutch play like that again.

on a seperate note,Francis Ford Capello is blaming "tiredness" for the lacklustre England team and wants the premier league to have a Winter break like the Germans.Problem is,this "tiredness" only seems to affect English players in the premier league as Kuyt,Van Persie,Fabregas,Torres,Evra,Pansil,Howerd,Donovan and every other foreign premier league player is running around like a 2yo and managing to pass the ball to a team mate :-p

FIFA just announced that they found a solution to controversial calls.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/803404/ce/uk/&cc=5901?ver=us

...by not replaying them on the giant screens.

Next step, not repeating them on any TV broadcasts, or internet video.

GratefulFan wrote:

"There isn't a sport in the world that doesn't have amazing narratives woven around and through it."

That's true, but none can compare to soccer.  The sport has given a sense of hope and empowerment to millions of people around the world, particularly in Africa, and to growing numbers of women who are in many cases otherwise oppressed.  Your hockey story is touching, but the reality is the sport does not unite people and change lives the way soccer does.  For people in many third world countries it's literally all they have.  On CBC there was a documentary a few days ago about life in Africa and soccer's role in it.  I really hope they show it again.  Then you'll hopefully see that everything else is simply in second place.

"The position that you seem to me to have taken - particulary with Microwave - that to embrace soccer is to be enlightened and morally sound, and to reject it in whole or in part is to be dull, self centred and xenophobic."

Not at all.  Millions of people don't like soccer and they're entitled to like or dislike whatever they want for whatever reason they want.  It's when people can't simply draw the line there and insist that the sport must be changed in order to please them in their narrow worldview that they appear to be self-centred and xenophobic.  It's not my fault that a large number of Americans have created those labels and trademarks for themselves, so please don't shoot the messenger for pointing it out like it is.