FIFA World Cup Football/Soccer!!!

[Penthesilea]

The other games from yesterday:

US - Slovenia 2:2  ( )
England - Algeria 0:0  ( )

So, in their Group, the US are now standing slightly better than England. Who would have thought? Aaand: in the last game, the US plays against Algeria, while England has to play against the much tougher Slovenia. The US could throw England out of the contest!

[Penthesilea]

A few more pics from yesterday

German coach Joachim Löw was hopping mad, trashing his water bottle around




The US boys happy





Those crazy English fans




... and the next thing I knew I was flyyying through the air. Only I wasn't no angel like you and Jenny.

[Penthesilea]

My friend won this week a competition to go with his wife to South Africa for the World Cup Final.. (which is coincidentally also his first wedding anniversary!) you have NOOOOO idea how excited he is!

WOW!!!!!! I think I can halfways picture how excited he is. That's so great for him .

[Penthesilea]

The Kiwis (New Zealand) drew 1- 1 with Slovakia and the country went wild as it was the first point NZ has ever won in a world cup. I think they were last in the cup in the 1980's. Then a major  Australian Newspaper tried to claim the point for Australasia. That went down real bad over here and all Aussie expats like me are ducking for cover.
However NZ next meet Italy so I do not hold much hope but you never know.

I'm holding a grudge against Italy, because they kicked my Aussies out so unfairly last time. So go, Kiwis!

[Sophia]

i am voting for Argentina

[Kelda]

The other games from yesterday:

US - Slovenia 2:2  ( )
England - Algeria 0:0  ( )

So, in their Group, the US are now standing slightly better than England. Who would have thought? Aaand: in the last game, the US plays against Algeria, while England has to play against the much tougher Slovenia. The US could throw England out of the contest!

I know its eveil for me to say it but I hope the US do. The fans booed the Englad footballers when they were coming off the pitvh and Rooney got all uppity about it, and shouted at te cameras about the fans. He's got tot realise. He's gotta realise. He gets paid a HELL of a LOT of moeny to do his job, and hes been so cocky about it, he's not getting the results. They need a good shock.

[brianr]

NZ Italy 1-1
These little shaky islands are going wild.

[Kelda]

New Zealand did fab today.. was just coming to post about that.. good on them!!!

[Sheriff Roland]

I'm not a big soccer fan but...

Since nearly half the teams allowed to play in the (supposedly) Wold Cup are European, I'm happy to see anyone BUT the European teams win. Even the U.S.A.

If fewer European teams actually make it to the quarter finals, maybe, just Maybe, eventually, more of the rest of the world will be allowed to attempt to qualify. As it is, only 3 teams are allowed from North and Central America while about 4 times more teams (13, actually), are from Europe.

I'm just saying ... ain't just the U.S.A. who seem to think they ARE the world (Baseball World Series, Football's Superbowl, World Wrestling Federation and more recently, the Canadian game - hockey. We can't seem to get any new teams north of the border, even though the largest number of player AND viewers are Canadian, and American teams, i.e., Phoenix Coyote can't give away tickets).

[Kelda]

I'm not a big soccer fan but...

Since nearly half the teams allowed to play in the (supposedly) Wold Cup are European, I'm happy to see anyone BUT the European teams win. Even the U.S.A.

If fewer European teams actually make it to the quarter finals, maybe, just Maybe, eventually, more of the rest of the world will be allowed to attempt to qualify. As it is, only 3 teams are allowed from North and Central America while about 4 times more teams (13, actually), are from Europe.

I'm just saying ... ain't just the U.S.A. who seem to think they ARE the world (Baseball World Series, Football's Superbowl, World Wrestling Federation and more recently, the Canadian game - hockey. We can't seem to get any new teams north of the border, even though the largest number of player AND viewers are Canadian, and American teams, i.e., Phoenix Coyote can't give away tickets).

I'm surprised you say that Roland.. Brazil & Argentina are some of the strongest on the pitch generally.. and a lot of the African and South American Teams have been playing well - like Honduras, Mexico, North Korea, Uruguay, Chillie, Nigeria & the Ivory Coast (although not last night - they were full of theatrics last night!!)

Its not about being allowed as far as I'm aware..... its about who manages to do well enough in the rankings & qualify to get to the World Cup. Scotland are huge football followers but well, we're rubbish hence why we aren't there!!

I do realise thought that perhaps the European teams do get more places under qualification than Oceania for example, but thats based on playing strength. As the teams progress they'll get more places.

For those interested, this explains stuff a bit more... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup_qualification

As it is - so far all the big European teams are doing shite!! So maybe Canada etc have a chance next time! France & England are falling apart at the seams... and Germany and Spain have had shock losses too.

I was learning the other day that Uruguay has a population of only 3.5million. So there is hope for Scotland to get into the World Cup yet and maybe even get to the next round as we have about 5 million!!