FIFA 2010 QF Poll

Oh, and.....c'mon Liverpool!

Scouser! At least your boys will be well rested this season.

You've got to be joking, Dan! While everyone else is still in pre-season training, Liverpool will be playing in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League. Most of them'll still be shattered from their World Cup exertions...about the only Liverpool regular 1st-teamer who DIDN'T go to the World Cup was Lucas. No wonder Brazil didn't win!*

:D :D :D

Vic

*That's called sarcasm. Lucas is by far the worst "footballer" I have EVER seen in a Liverpool shirt, and I've been watching them since 1965. If he's got "footballer" on his passport in the section marked "occupation" he should be prosecuted under the Trade Descriptions Act. If he's a footballer, then Cheryl Cole's the Queen of Rock'n'Roll and Westlife will make a clean sweep of the Kerrang awards!

Oh my, I did forget the Europe Cup. So did lots of people.

I thought you were a not-so-secret Everton fan.

Poor Lucas. It is not so bad. It is not comparable to his uncle, Levinha. I will always remember on of his goals. The goalkeeper put the ball on the field while Leivinha was behind of him. Leivinha stole the ball and scored the goal. We won 4-0. Smart and very skilled player.

And perhaps he doesn't seem a typical Brazilian player but there was not so much difference between Lucas and Kaka in the World Cup and Real Madrid paid a lot of euros the last summer. Was Kaka in the World Cup?

I thought you were a not-so-secret Everton fan.

OK - what I have done to upset you, Dan? That's almost downright rude, calling me an Ev....Ever...Ev....no, I can't bring myself to say the word. There is only ONE football team that matters............

YNWA!

:D :D :D

Vic

Poor Lucas. It is not so bad. It is not comparable to his uncle, Levinha. I will always remember on of his goals. The goalkeeper put the ball on the field while Leivinha was behind of him. Leivinha stole the ball and scored the goal. We won 4-0. Smart and very skilled player.

That reminds me of a league match where the goalie held the ball in one hand while waiting to kick it, and Dennis Wise ran up from behind him, headed the ball out of his hand and kicked it in the goal! Ahhh, those were the days....back when football was a proper game, and didn't stop because of mild frost, cuts to the head, nor required perfectly manicured pitches*.

*On that note, was there a single World Cup player who didn't moan about the pitches in South Africa being the worst pitches they'd ever known? I mean, seriously, back in the glory days of football, the pitch was a mudbath for half the season, and either covered in snow, or rock solid sandy-dust for the rest of the season. And they didn't have a range of studs for different conditions (why did that only become de rigeur after pitches became homogenously perfect?!?).

I miss the good old days. :cry:

I had the Spain - Germany game on while doing some ironing earlier. In the first 20 mins, and I was barely even paying attention so there could be more I missed.....

Podolski gets fouled twice. First time, the ref didn't call it, but Germany lost possession, so they didn't have "play on advantage". Second time, ref takes ages to blow - v bad sign, if there'd been a controversial call to make, I wouldn't trust someone so reluctant to referee. Ramos committed the second foul. Didn't get booked or get a talking to - his studs were showing and the tackle was very late, so a yellow would have been reasonable.

Capdevilla was onside and received the ball in a crossing/scoring position at the edge of the Germany box. Gets called offside. Was onside by a couple of yards. Ramos gets fouled by Boateng right on the edge of the Germany box. There are a couple of Spain players in the box, and Ramos was also in a scoring position. The tackle was late and rash. Didn't get called at all, even tho a linesman was stood right there, a few yards away and it was an obvious foul (the ball was a yard away from Ramos when Boateng took Ramos out). Boateng could have reasonably been carded for that.

And that's just the stuff I noticed in the opening of the game without paying much attention to it. Rubbish ref? I think so. Biased? No, just crap overall.

I want the Final to be a decisive victory for whoever wins - I don't want there to be any controversy or debate about a dodgy call. Whoever wins, it'll be their first World Cup, so I want them to be able to celebrate it free from complaints about bad refereeing. That's why I said the ref from the semi-final shouldn't get the final. He shouldn't be allowed to ref Accrington Stanley's games, he's that crap. Same deal goes for ref from Spain's QF match - his penalty calls were ludicrous.

I thought you were a not-so-secret Everton fan.

OK - what I have done to upset you, Dan? That's almost downright rude, calling me an Ev....Ever...Ev....no, I can't bring myself to say the word. There is only ONE football team that matters............

YNWA!

:D :D :D

Vic

My sincere apologies for mis-remembering. I was positive that you were not a fan of the Red Devils, nor City, and I must have confused the rest of our conversations.

My sincere apologies for mis-remembering. I was positive that you were not a fan of the Red Devils, nor City, and I must have confused the rest of our conversations.

Apology accepted.......as long as you promise to come over and jam next year!

This Germany v Uruguay game - 2-2, with 10 mins to go - has turned out to be a good game. Hope the final's as good tomorrow!

Edit - 3-2 for Germany - they scored just as I pressed submit!

:D :D :D

Vic

Germany win 3-2 fielding their reserves. And Muller (whose presence was really missed against Spain - that kid will be a star for the future if he carries on like this, he's already awesome) gets a goal to put him in contention for the Golden Boot. So does Forlan.

I've been impressed with the performances of Kroos and Keibling - both have come on for Germany as subs and really made an impact in the games they came on for. Good to see they have that kind of depth for the future. Shame Klose had to miss his chance to surpass (or at least equal) Ronaldo's WC Goal Record. Made up with how this team have played throughout - Low is awesome and the NDP in Germany have been delivered a solid kick in the teeth by this young squad. Props to them for how they've presented themselves, too.

Suarez got booed throughout and missed plenty of great chances. Very sweet. And, as a moment of poignancy, he cheated his way to a free kick as the final kick of the game and.......it hit the bar. In the words of the philosopher, Bob Dylan, Awwwww How Does It Feeeeeeeeeelllllllll? :lol: Sympathies to Forlan, and the rest of the Uruguay team. But for Suarez, nothing but just desserts.

If Villa and Sneijder both fail to score tomorrow, the Golden Boot will be decided on assists and will go to Thomas Muller, 20 year old who only began playing in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich last season and was only called up for the National Team just before the World Cup. He's like a Pele in the making. :shock:

If Villa and Sneijder both fail to score tomorrow, the Golden Boot will be decided on assists and will go to Thomas Muller, 20 year old who only began playing in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich last season and was only called up for the National Team just before the World Cup. He's like a Pele in the making. :shock:

Bit of an exaggeration there - at that age, Pele already had one WC Winners Medal - scored twice in the final, aged 17 - and would have his second a year later. Pele is without a doubt the finest footballer I've ever seen....streets ahead of his nearest competitor. Maradona was good, but he was a cheat on and off the pitch. I'd rather have George Best than Maradona any day of the week. The current crop of "World's Greatest Players" - Messi, C. Ronaldo, etc - don't even come close.

Great players.....I could spend all day on that one. Pele, Garrincha, Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Eusebio, Best, Moore, Muller, Rivelino, Rossi - in a different league to today's pampered prima donnas. You'd never see one of those guys taking a dive, or trying to get an opponent sent off. They just got on with the game - and when they played, it WAS the beautiful game!

:D :D :D

Vic

If Villa and Sneijder both fail to score tomorrow, the Golden Boot will be decided on assists and will go to Thomas Muller, 20 year old who only began playing in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich last season and was only called up for the National Team just before the World Cup. He's like a Pele in the making. :shock:

Bit of an exaggeration there - at that age, Pele already had one WC Winners Medal - scored twice in the final, aged 17 - and would have his second a year later. Pele is without a doubt the finest footballer I've ever seen....streets ahead of his nearest competitor. Maradona was good, but he was a cheat on and off the pitch. I'd rather have George Best than Maradona any day of the week. The current crop of "World's Greatest Players" - Messi, C. Ronaldo, etc - don't even come close.

Great players.....I could spend all day on that one. Pele, Garrincha, Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Eusebio, Best, Moore, Muller, Rivelino, Rossi - in a different league to today's pampered prima donnas. You'd never see one of those guys taking a dive, or trying to get an opponent sent off. They just got on with the game - and when they played, it WAS the beautiful game!

:D :D :D

Vic

I meant more the way he came from nowhere and has gone right to the top within a matter of 12 months professional football. He doesn't have a WC winners medal, but to go from the youth team into the top flight of football and really dominating there (5 goals, 3 assists, his team go out in the one match he didn't play in.....spookily similar to Pele's Brazil going out of 1966 after he got injured..., and he's a complete player like Pele - you see him scoring, but also heavily involved in creating plays, and in defence, some of his best moments have come from him tracking right back to his own box to secure the back).

And I gotta be fair to the current crop of German players - they're tough guys who don't go down easily. Schweini has always played that way, but Muller, Kroos, Keibling, and co all tend to stay on their feet and have to be hacked by several players before they hit the ground. I have mad respect for a team that plays that way in today's 'game'. When they do go down, they tend not to make a show of it either, and just let the ref call it however he chooses and get on with the game. A better attitude than many teams these days.

And to top it all off, the players deciding to club together on their allocated/reserved tickets for their games and give them to local schoolkids in S.Africa. So, every game Germany played, 300 S.African schoolkids who'd otherwise be missing out on the World Cup got front row seats for the event. I haven't heard of any other team doing something like that. The only other thing I've heard that comes close to matching it is Fernando Torres researching Aparthaid and S.African history before going out there - S.Africans apparently love him cos in interviews he's the only footballer who seems to have a strong understanding of what happened there. As Ambassadors for their respective countries, I think the German squad and Torres have done their countries proud. Meanwhile, the England team... :roll:

Fair enough, Scrybe, you make some good points there. Like you, I've been impressed with ze Germans (oops, sorry, watched "Snatch" a couple of nights ago - Jason Statham cracks me up every time I watch that film.) and like you, I think they will be a VERY good team in a couple of years or so.

I'm just bemoaning the lack of talent, and the surfeit of diving, these days - football, in the 60's and 70's, was a much HARDER game. Footballers were MEN, not pansified wusses. I would love to see someone like Robben, Drogba, C Ronaldo, or Klinsmann - great finisher, but the a**hole who started the whole diving culture off - marked by Gerry Byrne, Dave Mackay, Norman (bites-yer-legs) Hunter or Nobby Stiles.

The class footballers back then - Best, Keegan, Colin Bell, etc - EXPECTED to end a game covered in bruises. They wouldn't feel as if they'd earned their money unless their shins were black and blue at the end of a game. They expected the hard men to go in hard, but fairly - and whatever happened during the game, they'd have a couple of beers together at the end of the game and laugh about it. "I'll get you back next time!" - then they'd shake hands and go home smiling.

Football, these days, bears very little relation to the game I grew up watching, and that's sad. There are no characters, there are no real hard men, and the skill factor is sadly lacking. Oh yes, there are players who can do several step overs - but there are players (take a bow, Lucas) who can't kick a ball to a teammate five yards away without it going astray. That's not rocket science...it's just basic footballing skills. Sadly, too many players these days seem to be able to do all the flashy stuff in training - keep a ball up in the air for 15 minutes with any part of the body - but can't translate those skills to actually playing football on a football pitch!

Gimme the 60's and the 70's any day - gimme Saint, Yatesy, Cally, Keegan, Smithy, Clem, etc etc etc.....they played FOOTBALL!

:D :D :D

Vic

I remember Beckenbauer as one of the best German defenders ever, and a promoter of German long-ball. Not as a player of the beautiful game though. The rest of the names above stand.

I remember Beckenbauer as one of the best German defenders ever, and a promoter of German long-ball. Not as a player of the beautiful game though. The rest of the names above stand.

Franz B was one of the classiest players who ever played - started out as a midfielder, but when they asked him to play as a holding midfielder - or sweeper, as it was called way back then - he was the only man who could play that role and bring the ball out of defence and turn defence into attack. Sheer class. Seriously, watch some old videos - his positional sense was second to none, only Bobby Moore was even on the same page....but Beckenbauer was in a different class, and he still managed to get upfield and score a few goals. One of the greats, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

:D :D :D

Vic