The Official 2010 World Cup Thread

  On 6/11/2010 at 5:27 PM, mcbpete said:

Can someone shut up those fucking bees, I'm trying to get some work done (realises irony of posting on here ....)

FIFA made a big mistake by not banning those fucking things. JUST AWFUL.............

South Africa look fucking amped. This could go 2-0 very soon...wow.

Umm, did anybody just notice Blanco coming onto the pitch. He weighs like 250 lbs.

Well, that was horrid defending. 1-1

P.S. - Blanco looks like Jake LaMotta out there...

Couldn't ask for a better opening match...the woodwork from Mphela was a bit unfortunate as it would have been a perfect ending (if undeserved by Mexico).

great game. seemed like south africa had three good chances score a 2nd goal in the 2nd half.

fucking pumped about le bleu!!!

good game. no surprises tho.

also,

Could have easily ended 3-2 or 2-2. I had a bet on Mexico to win with 3 or more goals scored in the game but i still couldn't actively will South Africa to lose.

Did anyone see a slow mo clip of the Mexico coach doing a 70's kung fu elbow in the first half? It was so good.

  On 6/11/2010 at 6:13 PM, Rambo said:

Did anyone see a slow mo clip of the Mexico coach doing a 70's kung fu elbow in the first half? It was so good.

Not gonna lie. I love the slomo of coaches doing weird shit. It's been one of the better bits of ESPN's coverage of the WC / European Championships from the last 10 years...

btw, lol @ Steve McManaman doing commentary for ESPN. Blast from the past. Shaun Bartlett seems good, too. (Didn't even realize he was retired. I figured he was somewhere in League One/Two.)

  On 6/11/2010 at 6:02 PM, GORDO said:

good game. no surprises tho.

 

also,

  Reveal hidden contents

(another example as to why the offside rule in its current form is stupid).

 

err why is it stupid? the rule is very simple. The complexity is with double movements and players being active/inactive in offside positions... this wasn't an example of that.

That was a textbook example of a clear offside. You've got to love how the World Cup brings a load of 'football fans' out of the woodwork and they don't even know the offside rule correctly.

To be fair, until you watch the replay while focusing on the keeper bolting off his line, it was easy to get wrong. Then again, the message boards out there are filled with comments from people (even right now) still maintaining that it was a blown call because of the defender standing on the line.

My expectations for the game went from to ... But it's ok, I see a lot of ties happening in this group.

Yeah, especially since I suspect France will look like they did in 2002.

For anyone that wants a better alternative than laggy Flash streams. I used a P2P sopcast stream I found here and the quality is excellent. Veetle should be great too, but their browser plugin doesn't work in Firefox 64-bit.

  On 6/11/2010 at 6:55 PM, Ego said:

For anyone that wants a better alternative than laggy Flash streams. I used a P2P sopcast stream I found here and the quality is excellent. Veetle should be great too, but their browser plugin doesn't work in Firefox 64-bit.

thanks for that, as i suspected, Justin.tv was dropping broadcasters like crazy...

i found the ESPN commentating a little subdued for an opening world cup match. first goal of the game received by: "my goodness."

  On 6/11/2010 at 6:58 PM, Fred McGriff said:

i found the ESPN commentating a little subdued for an opening world cup match. first goal of the game received by: "my goodness."

Agreed. That goal was breathtakingly nice, especially for a WC opener.

  On 6/11/2010 at 6:58 PM, Fred McGriff said:

i found the ESPN commentating a little subdued for an opening world cup match. first goal of the game received by: "my goodness."

I've seen games where US commentators keep comparing plays to golf or baseball.

  On 6/11/2010 at 6:55 PM, Ego said:

For anyone that wants a better alternative than laggy Flash streams. I used a P2P sopcast stream I found here and the quality is excellent. Veetle should be great too, but their browser plugin doesn't work in Firefox 64-bit.

Just go here and it gives you a choice of streaming and languages.

http://www.myp2p.eu/competition.php?competitionid=&part=sports&discipline=worldcup2010

  On 6/11/2010 at 6:37 PM, jhonny said:

  On 6/11/2010 at 6:02 PM, GORDO said:

good game. no surprises tho.

 

also,

  Reveal hidden contents

(another example as to why the offside rule in its current form is stupid).

 

err why is it stupid? the rule is very simple. The complexity is with double movements and players being active/inactive in offside positions... this wasn't an example of that.

 

That was a textbook example of a clear offside. You've got to love how the World Cup brings a load of 'football fans' out of the woodwork and they don't even know the offside rule correctly.

the rule is very simple, i know, you don't have to tell me that. and no, it is certainly not a text book case, text book case is when the goalie is the last opposing player. in fact, at one point the rule was that there had to be at least one defending player BESIDES the goalie (did you know that or are you a football closet fan?). i'm not sure what caused them to change it to being at least two players. can't think of a good reason.

now ... i'm not saying it is stupid because it is complicated, i'm saying it is stupid because it is HARMFUL to the game in most cases. the only point of the offside rule is to prevent goal hanging, do you think in situations like in this game the attacker was goal hanging?. in fact the ONLY reason why that goal was annulled was because the goal keeper made a MISTAKE. how crazy is that? are you getting it now?

Fucking hell - Mexico better tighten up their shit if they expect to get any further in this cup...

Fuck this off side bullshit. Football is very simple, 11 people try to kick a ball into a net, while another 11 try to do the same, and whoever scores most wins. Talking about off side is what chumps do to sound knowledgeable. It was off side, there will be at least another 200 off sides before its over.

  On 6/11/2010 at 7:15 PM, Joyrex said:

Fucking hell - Mexico better tighten up their shit if they expect to get any further in this cup...

I thought they looked ok, they defended well for the most and attacked with speed, i reckon theyll get out.

  On 6/11/2010 at 7:12 PM, GORDO said:

  On 6/11/2010 at 6:37 PM, jhonny said:

  On 6/11/2010 at 6:02 PM, GORDO said:

good game. no surprises tho.

 

also,

  Reveal hidden contents

(another example as to why the offside rule in its current form is stupid).

 

err why is it stupid? the rule is very simple. The complexity is with double movements and players being active/inactive in offside positions... this wasn't an example of that.

 

That was a textbook example of a clear offside. You've got to love how the World Cup brings a load of 'football fans' out of the woodwork and they don't even know the offside rule correctly.

 

the rule is very simple, i know, you don't have to tell me that. and no, it is certainly not a text book case, text book case is when the goalie is the last opposing player. in fact, at one point the rule was that there had to be at least one defending player BESIDES the goalie (did you know that or are you a football closet fan?). i'm not sure what caused them to change it to being at least two players. can't think of a good reason.

 

now ... i'm not saying it is stupid because it is complicated, i'm saying it is stupid because it is HARMFUL to the game in most cases. the only point of the offside rule is to prevent goal hanging, do you think in situations like in this game the attacker was goal hanging?. in fact the ONLY reason why that goal was annulled was because the goal keeper made a MISTAKE. how crazy is that? are you getting it now?

And what would you propose? It isn't just about "goal hanging", it's a way to keep the game moving and giving defenders a fair chance against fast strikers. How would you catch up with a Torres if he has a couple of meters advantage?

I was a defender in my playing times and offside is a huge game changing rule. You push your defence up, forcing the other team to fall back and making your defenders part of the passing game. There is nothing wrong with it except that it can be difficult to spot and is thus the cause of much dispute.