Official World Cup Thread - Page 12

**Dr. Horrible** · 07-04-2006, 02:47 PM

The score is still tied 0-0, but the Germans seem to be struggling. Even if they don't take the lead, though, they're in nice shape if it goes to PKs.

Lurch1982 · 07-04-2006, 03:58 PM

Funny how shiitty the Italians look when they don't get an insane amount of calls.

11/10 for the German keeper for cross-body tackling the Italian guy and hitting him in the throat AND getting nothing for it. Payback's a bitch.

**Dr. Horrible** · 07-04-2006, 04:12 PM

Haha, yeah. That was great.

So am I the only one without cable that has to watch these games in Spanish? The English speaking local channels don't show them here.

**Dr. Horrible** · 07-04-2006, 04:34 PM

Dammit. Well, there goes the last team I care about.

Lurch1982 · 07-04-2006, 04:41 PM

A team from a country where the major league has major teams implicated in ref/game fixing scandals should not be eligable. Makes you wonder why the Italians have gotten so many sketchy calls.

Regardless, they actually won this on their boots, not on a BS penaltyshot call.

Go France.

**Sean P Kelly** · 07-04-2006, 04:41 PM

Boy, that game was nailbiter. I was in the bar watching it, and, figuring it was destined for penalty kicks, went home after the first overtime half.

I just finished walking the dogs/settling in, when I see Italy score TWO last second goals to win the game.

Even if you aren't a fan of Italy, you have to agree that's as close as it comes.

I predict that they will go against France in the final.

EDIT: I expected a lot of Ukrainian fans in the bar for Friday's game, but I didn't anticipate that there would also be a lot of German fans in today's game. However, for Sunday's final, I plan on taking a trip to one of Toronto's two Italian districts, Little Italy and Corso Italia, to watch the game. I think which one really depends on the result of the France/Portugal game. If France win, either district would be fine (though, since Corsa Italia happens to have a festival next weekend, Little Italy might be the less busy). However, if Portugal win, I'll probably have to opt for Corsa Italia to avoid the large Portugese population that now occupies Little Italy.

ShyGuy727 · 07-04-2006, 11:29 PM

A Portugal-Italy final would be the worst thing ever. They might as well just put a bunch of infants on the field and have them roll around, you'd never know the difference.

**NintendoNut** · 07-05-2006, 03:45 AM

I would like to see a France vs Italy final. Portugal don't deserve to make the final, based on their performance against England.

Koga · 07-05-2006, 07:27 AM

^ and against the Netherlands.

I must admit that Italy deserved to win yesterday, and the two goals they scored were both really good. I really hope France win tonight, because as Shyguy said an Italy - Potugal final would be awful.

ShyGuy727 · 07-05-2006, 03:09 PM

Ugh, this ref hasn't gotten any better since the USA-ITA match.

Good to see Crynaldo get the boo treatment whenever he touches the ball.

Viva la France!

**Sean P Kelly** · 07-05-2006, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShyGuy727

Viva la France!

For someone who dislikes the Italian team so much, you seem to have no hesitation in using an Italian word (viva) to cheer on the French team.

EDIT: BTW, according to Babel Fish, Viva la France translates to "The France Lives"

Lurch1982 · 07-05-2006, 03:43 PM

Its been a while since I've taken any French, but if I remember correctly, Viva la France is translated to the equivalent of "long-live france."

Similar to Italian because they're all rooted in Latin.

ShyGuy727 · 07-05-2006, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean P Kelly

For someone who dislikes the Italian team so much, you seem to have no hesitation in using an Italian word (viva) to cheer on the French team.

And vivier is "to live" in Spanish.

Ah the wonders of the Romance languages.

Koga · 07-05-2006, 05:25 PM

Online translators suck anyway. It indeed means 'long live France', although I'm not sure whether it's spelled 'viva' or 'vive'.

And the French did it! They beat Portugal only because Zidane scored from a penalty kick (which actually is quite an achievement against Ricardo). They really need to pick up their game to win against Italy, though. But the last two victories of France were too very efficient 1-0s.

Portugal were down a lot again, and I liked that Ronaldo got bood as well. At the end of the match he inevitably cried, which made me and my friends laugh.

**Sean P Kelly** · 07-06-2006, 10:32 AM

While, we are waiting for the final, let's revisit some past World Cups.

Something I didn't know until this year, was that Canada managed to qualify for the World Cup 20 years ago, at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico (I would have been 4 and probably concentrated more on playing with toys than watching soccer -- the earliest World Cup I, barely, remember is the 1990 World Cup in Italy).

Canada was grouped with the USSR, France, and Hungary. Sadly, they lost every game in their group, without scoring a single goal and they have yet to get back in.

However, Canada is going to be the host of the U-20 World Cup next year (I can only guess how hard it would be to get tickets for it). You can get more info at the FIFA website (note: This will be the first time the event will be called the U-20 World Cup. Before it was just called the FIFA World Youth Championship)

Koga · 07-06-2006, 01:21 PM

A couple of days ago I spend an entire afternoon reading about past World Cups on wikipedia. The only past cups I knew something about were 1974 and 1978, because the Netherlands got in the final of both Cups only to lose to the host nation on both occasions (Germany and Argentina respectively). I knew the winners of the past tournaments, and of course I had heard about legendary matches like England - Argentina 1986 (the hand of god), but I also learned a lot of new interesting facts.

The 1994 world cup was the first I watched, and Holland lost to Brazil in the quarter final in a match that was played on my 11th birthday.

4 years later, was the most enjoyable World Cup for me to watch, of course also due to the Dutch success. After a disspointing 0-0 against Belgium they dominated South Korea with 5-0. They lead against Mexico until the last minute when they scored the 2-2, but since Korea and Belgium also tied (1-1), the Netherlands came in first of their group.

The last 16 match against Yugoslavia was a very tense one with an early Dutch goal, and an equaliser just before half time. In the second half Bergkamp should've got a red card for stomping on a player, and the Yugoslavians kicked a penalty kick against the crossbar. Just before full time Edgar Davids scored the winning goal.

The quarter final against Argentina was again played on my birthday, but this time it was a much better result for Holland. The match was much alike the last one in terms of scoring with an early Dutch goal (Kluivert) an equaliser before half time and a winning goal at the very end. And what a goal it was: a long pass from Frank de Boer to Bergkamp who finished it perfectly. In my opinion the best World Cup goal.

The semi final against Brazil was very tense as well. In this match Brazil lead for a very long time and the Netherlands only managed to draw late in the second half. Neither team scored again and Brazil easily one the penalty shootout with no misses against 2 for Holland. They also ended up losing the 3rd place match 2-1 against Croatia, but it really seemed they didn't bother.

The 2002 cup was much less interesting for me, because the Netherlands didn't qualify and the matches were played during the day because of the time difference. I still watched it quite a lot and soon adopted South Korea as my new favourite because they had a Dutch coach, Guus Hiddink. Just like he did 4 years earlier he reached the semi-finals only to lose against the losing finalist, and also lose the match for 3rd place. Still, it was a great achievement.

Pyropunk · 07-07-2006, 11:52 AM

really frustrated italy won but obviously they were better than us germans this year. My coworker was kind enough (he's italian) to rub it in my face the ENTIRE 7hour shift we were there. Hopefully italy loses -.- i'd hate to deal with this for the rest of the month til he goes to college... either way may the best country win.

Koga · 07-08-2006, 05:05 PM

Germany ended the tournament well with a 3-1 victory over Portugal. The 3rd place matches always feel a bit like a friendly match, but you could see that Germany wanted to shine one more time before their home crowd.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's final. I hope France win, but I give the Italians a good chance as well. But most of all I hope it will be a good match, preferably without extra time, and I definitely don't want to see this tournament end in a penalty shootout.

ShyGuy727 · 07-09-2006, 02:28 AM

Can't believe it's almost over.

France is the major underdog heading in, sorry to say.

Lots of IFs though:

IF France plays like they did against Brasil, then look out Italy.
IF France plays like they did against Portugal, there's no way in hell they'll score against the Italy D.

IF Italy plays like they did against Germany- hard nosed d and coutner attacking at all the right times- chalk up an Italy win.
IF Italy plays like they did against the US...viva la France.

France's offense is just overmatched by the Italian D, plain and simple. Cannavarro and Gattuso will easily shut down Ribbery and Zidane, and Henry hasn't been able to do much on his own this tournament. And France's defense is nothing to boast about either- Barthez has been on the verge of making a costly mistake all second phase, the time is coming. Say what you want about their diving, greasy hair or whining, they know how to win.

Pick: Italy 2:0 France (11', 57')

Viva la France!

Koga · 07-09-2006, 04:44 AM

I think France's defense is one of the best this tournament with Thuram, Gallas, and also the defending midfielders Viera and Makelele. The problem is that Barthez can hardly catch a ball, even though he is close to winning his third major title (after World Cup 98 and Euro 2000). I read a report that if you compare each position of the field of these two sides, that there's not a big difference, except for the goalkeeper's: Buffon is one of the best, and Barthez one of the worst.

This final will be a battle of the defenses I feel, and both have excellent records this Cup. France only got two goal's against, a lucky one by South Korea, which only nearly dropped in, and a penalty kick against Spain. Italy only got one goal against, which was the own goal against the US.

07-04-2006, 04:41 PM	#226
Sean P Kelly SMBHQ Mod Movies Mod Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Toronto, ON, Canada Gender: Posts: 3,393 Thanks: 10 Thanked 46 Times in 36 Posts Points: 207,613.73 Bank: 152,388.02 Total Points: 360,001.75 Donate	Boy, that game was nailbiter. I was in the bar watching it, and, figuring it was destined for penalty kicks, went home after the first overtime half. I just finished walking the dogs/settling in, when I see Italy score TWO last second goals to win the game. Even if you aren't a fan of Italy, you have to agree that's as close as it comes. I predict that they will go against France in the final. EDIT: I expected a lot of Ukrainian fans in the bar for Friday's game, but I didn't anticipate that there would also be a lot of German fans in today's game. However, for Sunday's final, I plan on taking a trip to one of Toronto's two Italian districts, Little Italy and Corso Italia, to watch the game. I think which one really depends on the result of the France/Portugal game. If France win, either district would be fine (though, since Corsa Italia happens to have a festival next weekend, Little Italy might be the less busy). However, if Portugal win, I'll probably have to opt for Corsa Italia to avoid the large Portugese population that now occupies Little Italy. Last edited by Sean P Kelly; 07-04-2006 at 05:11 PM.

07-04-2006, 02:47 PM	#221
Dr. Horrible PP&R Mod Current Events Mod Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: More important than where is when.... Gender: Posts: 6,787 Thanks: 137 Thanked 477 Times in 309 Posts Points: 6,638.82 Bank: 5,568,857.78 Total Points: 5,575,496.60 Donate	The score is still tied 0-0, but the Germans seem to be struggling. Even if they don't take the lead, though, they're in nice shape if it goes to PKs.

07-04-2006, 03:58 PM	#222
Lurch1982 Senior Member Join Date: May 2000 Location: Katrinaland, USA Gender: Posts: 9,278 Thanks: 122 Thanked 253 Times in 140 Posts Points: 36,419.03 Bank: 338,725.11 Total Points: 375,144.14 Donate	Funny how shiitty the Italians look when they don't get an insane amount of calls. 11/10 for the German keeper for cross-body tackling the Italian guy and hitting him in the throat AND getting nothing for it. Payback's a bitch.

07-04-2006, 04:12 PM	#223
Dr. Horrible PP&R Mod Current Events Mod Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: More important than where is when.... Gender: Posts: 6,787 Thanks: 137 Thanked 477 Times in 309 Posts Points: 6,638.82 Bank: 5,568,857.78 Total Points: 5,575,496.60 Donate	Haha, yeah. That was great. So am I the only one without cable that has to watch these games in Spanish? The English speaking local channels don't show them here.

07-04-2006, 04:34 PM	#224
Dr. Horrible PP&R Mod Current Events Mod Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: More important than where is when.... Gender: Posts: 6,787 Thanks: 137 Thanked 477 Times in 309 Posts Points: 6,638.82 Bank: 5,568,857.78 Total Points: 5,575,496.60 Donate	Dammit. Well, there goes the last team I care about.

07-04-2006, 04:41 PM	#225
Lurch1982 Senior Member Join Date: May 2000 Location: Katrinaland, USA Gender: Posts: 9,278 Thanks: 122 Thanked 253 Times in 140 Posts Points: 36,419.03 Bank: 338,725.11 Total Points: 375,144.14 Donate	A team from a country where the major league has major teams implicated in ref/game fixing scandals should not be eligable. Makes you wonder why the Italians have gotten so many sketchy calls. Regardless, they actually won this on their boots, not on a BS penaltyshot call. Go France.

07-04-2006, 11:29 PM	#227
ShyGuy727 Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: O-H! I-O! Gender: Posts: 10,061 Thanks: 37 Thanked 62 Times in 46 Posts Points: 32,216.98 Bank: 25,651.08 Total Points: 57,868.06 Donate	A Portugal-Italy final would be the worst thing ever. They might as well just put a bunch of infants on the field and have them roll around, you'd never know the difference.

07-05-2006, 03:45 AM	#228
NintendoNut NinNut Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Hold on, I know this..... Gender: Posts: 8,298 Thanks: 84 Thanked 41 Times in 31 Posts Points: 49,473.76 Bank: 0.00 Total Points: 49,473.76 Donate	I would like to see a France vs Italy final. Portugal don't deserve to make the final, based on their performance against England.

07-05-2006, 07:27 AM	#229
Koga Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: The Netherlands Gender: Posts: 17,095 Thanks: 104 Thanked 186 Times in 117 Posts Points: 109,339.07 Bank: 25,861.92 Total Points: 135,200.99 Donate	^ and against the Netherlands. I must admit that Italy deserved to win yesterday, and the two goals they scored were both really good. I really hope France win tonight, because as Shyguy said an Italy - Potugal final would be awful.

07-05-2006, 03:09 PM	#230
ShyGuy727 Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: O-H! I-O! Gender: Posts: 10,061 Thanks: 37 Thanked 62 Times in 46 Posts Points: 32,216.98 Bank: 25,651.08 Total Points: 57,868.06 Donate	Ugh, this ref hasn't gotten any better since the USA-ITA match. Good to see Crynaldo get the boo treatment whenever he touches the ball. Viva la France!

07-05-2006, 03:43 PM	#232
Lurch1982 Senior Member Join Date: May 2000 Location: Katrinaland, USA Gender: Posts: 9,278 Thanks: 122 Thanked 253 Times in 140 Posts Points: 36,419.03 Bank: 338,725.11 Total Points: 375,144.14 Donate	Its been a while since I've taken any French, but if I remember correctly, Viva la France is translated to the equivalent of "long-live france." Similar to Italian because they're all rooted in Latin.

07-05-2006, 05:25 PM	#234
Koga Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: The Netherlands Gender: Posts: 17,095 Thanks: 104 Thanked 186 Times in 117 Posts Points: 109,339.07 Bank: 25,861.92 Total Points: 135,200.99 Donate	Online translators suck anyway. It indeed means 'long live France', although I'm not sure whether it's spelled 'viva' or 'vive'. And the French did it! They beat Portugal only because Zidane scored from a penalty kick (which actually is quite an achievement against Ricardo). They really need to pick up their game to win against Italy, though. But the last two victories of France were too very efficient 1-0s. Portugal were down a lot again, and I liked that Ronaldo got bood as well. At the end of the match he inevitably cried, which made me and my friends laugh.

07-06-2006, 10:32 AM	#235
Sean P Kelly SMBHQ Mod Movies Mod Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Toronto, ON, Canada Gender: Posts: 3,393 Thanks: 10 Thanked 46 Times in 36 Posts Points: 207,613.73 Bank: 152,388.02 Total Points: 360,001.75 Donate	While, we are waiting for the final, let's revisit some past World Cups. Something I didn't know until this year, was that Canada managed to qualify for the World Cup 20 years ago, at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico (I would have been 4 and probably concentrated more on playing with toys than watching soccer -- the earliest World Cup I, barely, remember is the 1990 World Cup in Italy). Canada was grouped with the USSR, France, and Hungary. Sadly, they lost every game in their group, without scoring a single goal and they have yet to get back in. However, Canada is going to be the host of the U-20 World Cup next year (I can only guess how hard it would be to get tickets for it). You can get more info at the FIFA website (note: This will be the first time the event will be called the U-20 World Cup. Before it was just called the FIFA World Youth Championship)

07-06-2006, 01:21 PM	#236
Koga Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: The Netherlands Gender: Posts: 17,095 Thanks: 104 Thanked 186 Times in 117 Posts Points: 109,339.07 Bank: 25,861.92 Total Points: 135,200.99 Donate	A couple of days ago I spend an entire afternoon reading about past World Cups on wikipedia. The only past cups I knew something about were 1974 and 1978, because the Netherlands got in the final of both Cups only to lose to the host nation on both occasions (Germany and Argentina respectively). I knew the winners of the past tournaments, and of course I had heard about legendary matches like England - Argentina 1986 (the hand of god), but I also learned a lot of new interesting facts. The 1994 world cup was the first I watched, and Holland lost to Brazil in the quarter final in a match that was played on my 11th birthday. 4 years later, was the most enjoyable World Cup for me to watch, of course also due to the Dutch success. After a disspointing 0-0 against Belgium they dominated South Korea with 5-0. They lead against Mexico until the last minute when they scored the 2-2, but since Korea and Belgium also tied (1-1), the Netherlands came in first of their group. The last 16 match against Yugoslavia was a very tense one with an early Dutch goal, and an equaliser just before half time. In the second half Bergkamp should've got a red card for stomping on a player, and the Yugoslavians kicked a penalty kick against the crossbar. Just before full time Edgar Davids scored the winning goal. The quarter final against Argentina was again played on my birthday, but this time it was a much better result for Holland. The match was much alike the last one in terms of scoring with an early Dutch goal (Kluivert) an equaliser before half time and a winning goal at the very end. And what a goal it was: a long pass from Frank de Boer to Bergkamp who finished it perfectly. In my opinion the best World Cup goal. The semi final against Brazil was very tense as well. In this match Brazil lead for a very long time and the Netherlands only managed to draw late in the second half. Neither team scored again and Brazil easily one the penalty shootout with no misses against 2 for Holland. They also ended up losing the 3rd place match 2-1 against Croatia, but it really seemed they didn't bother. The 2002 cup was much less interesting for me, because the Netherlands didn't qualify and the matches were played during the day because of the time difference. I still watched it quite a lot and soon adopted South Korea as my new favourite because they had a Dutch coach, Guus Hiddink. Just like he did 4 years earlier he reached the semi-finals only to lose against the losing finalist, and also lose the match for 3rd place. Still, it was a great achievement.

07-07-2006, 11:52 AM	#237
Pyropunk Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: "whore"lando, FL Gender: Posts: 157 Thanks: 37 Thanked 7 Times in 6 Posts Points: 3,619.16 Bank: 765.49 Total Points: 4,384.65 Donate	really frustrated italy won but obviously they were better than us germans this year. My coworker was kind enough (he's italian) to rub it in my face the ENTIRE 7hour shift we were there. Hopefully italy loses -.- i'd hate to deal with this for the rest of the month til he goes to college... either way may the best country win.

07-08-2006, 05:05 PM	#238
Koga Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: The Netherlands Gender: Posts: 17,095 Thanks: 104 Thanked 186 Times in 117 Posts Points: 109,339.07 Bank: 25,861.92 Total Points: 135,200.99 Donate	Germany ended the tournament well with a 3-1 victory over Portugal. The 3rd place matches always feel a bit like a friendly match, but you could see that Germany wanted to shine one more time before their home crowd. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's final. I hope France win, but I give the Italians a good chance as well. But most of all I hope it will be a good match, preferably without extra time, and I definitely don't want to see this tournament end in a penalty shootout.

07-09-2006, 02:28 AM	#239
ShyGuy727 Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: O-H! I-O! Gender: Posts: 10,061 Thanks: 37 Thanked 62 Times in 46 Posts Points: 32,216.98 Bank: 25,651.08 Total Points: 57,868.06 Donate	Can't believe it's almost over. France is the major underdog heading in, sorry to say. Lots of IFs though: IF France plays like they did against Brasil, then look out Italy. IF France plays like they did against Portugal, there's no way in hell they'll score against the Italy D. IF Italy plays like they did against Germany- hard nosed d and coutner attacking at all the right times- chalk up an Italy win. IF Italy plays like they did against the US...viva la France. France's offense is just overmatched by the Italian D, plain and simple. Cannavarro and Gattuso will easily shut down Ribbery and Zidane, and Henry hasn't been able to do much on his own this tournament. And France's defense is nothing to boast about either- Barthez has been on the verge of making a costly mistake all second phase, the time is coming. Say what you want about their diving, greasy hair or whining, they know how to win. Pick: Italy 2:0 France (11', 57') Viva la France!

07-09-2006, 04:44 AM	#240
Koga Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: The Netherlands Gender: Posts: 17,095 Thanks: 104 Thanked 186 Times in 117 Posts Points: 109,339.07 Bank: 25,861.92 Total Points: 135,200.99 Donate	I think France's defense is one of the best this tournament with Thuram, Gallas, and also the defending midfielders Viera and Makelele. The problem is that Barthez can hardly catch a ball, even though he is close to winning his third major title (after World Cup 98 and Euro 2000). I read a report that if you compare each position of the field of these two sides, that there's not a big difference, except for the goalkeeper's: Buffon is one of the best, and Barthez one of the worst. This final will be a battle of the defenses I feel, and both have excellent records this Cup. France only got two goal's against, a lucky one by South Korea, which only nearly dropped in, and a penalty kick against Spain. Italy only got one goal against, which was the own goal against the US.