Neowin's Official World Cup 2006 Thread

[L3thal Veteran]

I never mentioned anything regarding playing defense = bad play. Iran had a chance to score two goals before they actually tied the game while Mexico didn't show much of anything while Iran was going on an onslaught. Fortunately for Mexico and yourself, Iran played horribly in the second half of that game, hence why Mexico ended up winning.

P.S. I can't wait until my Portuguese team meets your team so you can see your "higher" ranked team get embarrassed :whistle:

Anyway, time to watch Ghana play. I hope they follow the style of the Ivory Coast.

[tiagosilva29]

Ghana will own Italy!

[a1kashur]

And US loses by the biggest margin so far in this world cup. After this much hype I was expecting US would back themselves up by some performance. Oh well, may be in the next wc. :)

[sanctified Veteran]

P.S. I can't wait until my Portuguese team meets your team so you can see your "higher" ranked team get embarrassed :whistle:

I cant argue with that. Portugal is indeed a scary team to play against. figo must be one of the best players in this game ever.

I do recognize Portugal talent. i like teams who are greatious and humble, not overrated and pompous (Y)

[fascist]

Damn 3-0. When I go to school tomarrow, its going to be hell.

[L3thal Veteran]

On that note, I will see you in the second round of the World Cup, as Mexico and Portugal will advance :)

Go Ghana!

[spa2k]

Why do you all try to leave out the United States when they have the 5th ranked team, and dont give me any **** about ranks dont matter, because if it was any other teams you would use the same argument.

the fact of the matter is that the FIFA rankings are basically a load of crap.

They have no foundation in reality, most people who know anything about FOOTBALL could reel off at least 9 countries that have a consistantly better team than the US. And before you say i am anti american, the same applies to mexico as well.

What basis do i use for this? Look at the teams that the US have to face to qualify for the world cup.....

Compare that to the quality of the teams that the major european footballing teams have to face in order to qualify and also the teams that they play to qualify for the european championships and you can see that the competition is much more fierce in europe than in america.

Another example of the mockery that the rankings make of real football statistics is France.....only 8 years ago they were world champions, 6 years ago they were European champions, in fact they are the only team to EVER have held both titles at the same time and yet they are ranked in 8th place.....what in the last 10 years have the us or mexico won, particularly a tournament that has quality teams?

I would like to see North America and central america merge qualifying groups with South america, this would show wether the US really are as good as they think they are - to be honest every time that they mix with the big boys in the world cup they dont get too far.

Dont get me wrong, i dont want to see the us lose any more than i want to see ghana or mexico lose (unless it is to England), i just think that the FIFA rankings are a pile of poo.

[ThePitt]

Sincerely, I dont know how US has qualified on this worldcup. They probably confuse the term football, thats for sure. If you dont tell them soccer, they dont understand, so, for sure they were playing another "thing". Thank God, they will leave this cup soon.

[djpnuemo]

wow, what a first half! i'm enjoying this match! :)

[qdave]

ghana doesnt stand a chance on this one :D match is good indeed!

[L3thal Veteran]

Can we please leave the topic of "soccer" and "football" behind? If you buffoons didn't know, the english were the ones that called football, soccer, not the Americans :whistle:

soccer, outdoor ball and goal game, also called association football or simply football. The first recorded game probably was that on a Shrove Tuesday in Derby, England, part of a festival to celebrate a victory over a contingent of Roman troops (A.D. 217). By 1175 the Shrove Tuesday soccer game was an annual event.

The sport remained popular for centuries in England under the name football. But the advent of rugby (1823) as a variant led to confusion. The London Football Association was formed (1863) to further the game that emphasized the kicking of the ball. This became known as association football and then, through abbreviation, as soccer.

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Now I hope everyone can think twice before saying Americans named it soccer and they "dont know the difference" :rolleyes:

Man, I can't believe Ghana is losing. They had at least three goals in the bag if it weren't for their anxious finishes.

[kaffra]

at least it was only a 3-0 defeat. Lifes hard when your going to be the whiping boys of group E

[Martyn]

Can we please leave the topic of "soccer" and "football" behind? If you buffoons didn't know, the english were the ones that called football, soccer, not the Americans :whistle:

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Now I hope everyone can think twice before saying Americans named it soccer and they "dont know the difference" :rolleyes:

Man, I can't believe Ghana is losing. They had at least three goals in the bag if it weren't for their anxious finishes.

That was a hundred years ago. The fact is that the game is known as "soccer" to American's and "football" to the rest of the world.

[qdave]

what an awesome goal by italy!

I dont see why is everyone cheering for ghana so much? is it one of the afrika's strongest football nations?

[bayrider]

C'mon guys, this is absolutely retarded. Who cares what the sport is called in other parts of the World? Really.

The game is still the same from USA, to UK, to Uganda. So if you wanna start stirring this empty pot of nonsense, then go ahead, but whats your point?

Are you all of a sudden superior for calling it football instead of soccer? Think the US would play better if they changed the name? Soccer/Football has no bearing on the quality of play, so stop this stupid argument.

As for the rankings; The US looked like they deserved to be in last place! they played horrible today, and I don't think they will beat Italy or Ghana either. Ghana played pretty good IMO, a lot better than the US.

[Krpano]

Well, Italy won....if Ghana was a bit more experienced they could make at least a draw.

Was a good first half, but the second was disappointing...typical italian foot schema, score one goal and everyone return to the defense.

Anyway, 3 points for Italy.

And tomorrow my BR start in the competition, i hope ill not get disappointed neither.

Go BR !!!

[L3thal Veteran]

Why are people cheering for Ghana? Two reasons, I assume: 1) they are underdogs and 2) they outplayed Italy most of the game but were terrible when it came to putting the ball in the net.

That was a hundred years ago. The fact is that the game is known as "soccer" to American's and "football" to the rest of the world.

It doesn't matter if it was 100 years ago or 10000 years ago. Everyone outside the US bashes the US for calling it soccer and claiming the Americans came up with the name soccer which is not the case. The english themselves named it soccer.

Not to mention the ref did not call a penalty in favor of Ghana when he anticipated the defender and was going to kick it in in that short cross (the Italian player threw him when he realized the Ghana player cut in front).

[Martyn]

It doesn't matter if it was 100 years ago or 10000 years ago. Everyone outside the US bashes the US for calling it soccer and claiming the Americans came up with the name soccer which is not the case. The english themselves named it soccer.

I still dont see your point. I dont know anyone that has said the American's came up with the name soccer, I only said that the American's are the only people that use it.

[acedriver]

great game by the azzurri

[L3thal Veteran]

I still dont see your point. I dont know anyone that has said the American's came up with the name soccer, I only said that the American's are the only people that use it.

Fair enough, your comment holds some truth :p

Moving on, my dear Croatia better not disappoint me tomorrow. I have always liked them because of their jersey's :p

[Slimy]

Aww man I was sitting in computers when Japan scored the first and I found out later in the day about the amazing Australian three goal come back, good for them! I'm definitely catching the rerun of the three goals in a row :yes: The Czechs deserve the win, imho they aren't second in the world but the U.S. sure as hell isn't 5th. 3-0 just shows you how stupid those rankings are. If anything, they would have won 3-2. And then Italy and Ghana. Ghana played well but Italy played better. That's basically it, 2-0 and it's over. Anyone remember Tino's crossbar? Damn that was close.

[Shibby]

Some good games today!!!! watching 3 games in a day is tiring!!!

I only sort of missed the ivory coast match as i started watching at my sis place and i went home 20mins in the game.

Game for me still has to be the T&T match for just puting on a match that is just as entertaing as a big win like costa rica or czech

[sn00pie]

Brazil's playing tommorow :D!!!!!!

[tylerm]

I see alot of USA bashing in here because they are ranked #5 and got beat by 3 goals. I'll admit--3 goals is bad.

---But what alot of you failed to mention is the USA team that played today was not the USA team I've watched qualify for the tournament. The team I know is fast, energetic, and are aggressive attackers. In the 02 WC they were one of the fastest teams in the field.

Today they had a bad day, they played A bad game. they didnt look like themselves, they were sluggish and some of their best players were not to be found.

Bad games happen.

When USA beat Portugal and Mexico in the 02' WC everyone said the US got lucky. I didnt hear anyone bashing Portugal about being overranked and overrated when they were down 3 goals to US in the 1st half of the 02 WC.

If the US loses to Italy---let the bashing begin, but every team has bad games and bad days.

[Lare2]

If the USA team is going to play like they did today, they got no chance on this world cup. Mexico gave a decent game, too bad Borgetti is injured, since he is the only one who can compete with the taller europeans.