The World Cup so far

[Sabba Simba]

I know we're only a few days in to the tournament, but how do you think it's going so far? I'm not a fan of these kick-off times, but we've seen some great football: Germany routing the Saudi's, Senegal upsetting the French, Brazil against Turkey, and of course England's first half display against Sweden! :xyx

Do you think this Tournament is shaping up to be a great one, or is it too early to tell yet? Feel free to give your opinion here.

[HSM]

Englands first half display against Sweden was not good in fact it was poor at best the only reason we looked so in control was because the Swedes were playing even worse than we were.As soon as Sweden woke up after half time they ran us ragged and made us look second rate which quite frankly we were.Im starting to have serious doubts about Eriksons tactics,playing the long ball game simply does not work at this level.Owen was a success at the last world cup because teams had not heard of him but this time round everyone knows if you mark Owen out of the game then we have trouble scoring which is exactly what Sweden did too him and is exactly what Argentina will do to him.I also think that its an absolute disgrace that he substituted Vassell and not Owen, Vassell was the only England player that was troubling the Swedes in the second half he was running at defenders and causing them genuine problems so quite why he was taken off and not Owen i dont know.Also surely if he is so desperate for a left sided player that he fells he has to play Heskey there wouldnt it be better to play Ashley Cole at left midfield and play Bridge at left back because Cole only seems to be comfortable when hes going forward and i think Bridge is a better defender.Heskey certainly shouldnt be playing on the left if he is too play anywhere then it should be down the middle as he showed when he finally got switched there towards the end of the match.Basically unless we improve at least %100 i fear we will get well and truly stuffed by Argentina.

Thats it rant over (phew that was tiring) ill go back to sleep again now :D :D

[The Crippler]

Todays match between Brazil and Turkey was outstanding. The quality on show in that match put the England - Sweden match to shame. The Germany - Saudi Arabia was terrible to watch. Those sort of matches should not happen at the World Cup.

[Tajiri]

I have to admit I was quite impressed with Japan, they were unlucky not to win but they do seem uncomfortable defending.

I can see Ireland winning tomorrow, I would settle for a draw because I think Cameroon will beat Germany but Ireland are more that able to do it.

For England I would bring in Butt for Hargreaves in midfield and allow Vassel was the best player on Sunday morning I think Sheringham is the player they need upfront with Owen, Heskey should not be playing down the left, Sinclair did well there against Cameroon and Dyer may well work well there. I would keep the Left and Right backs the same, Wes Brown is a great Central Denfender but hes not a right back and outside of the error that cost the goal Mills seemed comfortable, in my opinion Bridge is too unproven at this level to risk against Argentina.

Brazil/Turkey was an out standing match, going in I felt it would be awfull to watch with Brazil having zero confidence and Turkey playing for a draw but I enjoyed it. Ronaldo stands a good chance of getting the Golden Boot when you take into acount the weaker teams that Brazil have to play in there group.

Italy looked awesome, could this be the end of the no european team wins outside of europe curse?.

[Hardcore Holly]

I think the world cup has been great so far with some great matchs my fav matchs so far have been Ireland V Cameroon, USA V Portugal, but have been disappointed with Portugal i thought they should of beat Usa but didnt perform on the day and i am also quite impressed with s-korea but my highlight so far has been Robbie keanse last mainute equaliser against Germany in the final minute which they deserved to win in that match too and hopefully they can make it through to the second round. and Rivaldo only got fined for his play acting

[Thomas Patson]

Well spank my arse and call me Charlie, we've only gone and done it ! England 1, Argentina 0, woooooooooooooooooo !

First Germany, now Argentina, it's only a matter of time before we give the French a trashing !

[The Crippler]

Originally posted by Thomas Patson
Well spank my arse and call me Charlie, we've only gone and done it ! England 1, Argentina 0, woooooooooooooooooo !

First Germany, now Argentina, it's only a matter of time before we give the French a trashing !

And people wonder why England are disliked.

[TsuMirren]

Owen dived, Scholes had 9 fouls during the match and Ashley Cole should have been off the park...of course, so should have Batistuta.

Guess which of the above points the English media will focus upon.

[Hardcore Holly]

damn right it was a dive, although England were all over them, but this time England dont have an excuse because they didnt lose for once

[The Heel]

And people wonder why England are disliked.

Note/chant to: Gremany, France, Argentina etc

"WHAT'S IT LIKE TO LOSE A WAR, WHAT'S IT LIKE TO LOSE A WAR"

[TsuMirren]

I never realised the death of thousands was something to gloat over, but there you go.

[K.J]

Personally I would have thought the Scots would be against the Argies too after all their players said about the Falklands. From my very limited knowledge of this brief conflict I believe it was a British effort which probably would have involved a fair few Scottish soldiers as well as English and Welsh.

Onto the World Cup, as i've been away for the week the only live matches I've caught so far is the France vs Senegal opener, which was fantastic, England vs Sweden, say no more and of course England vs Argentina on which I shall comment now.

I thought England were fantastic, Argentina were a lot of peoples, including mine, pre tournament favourites and the way we beat and mainly outplayed them was fantastic. If we can maintain that then who knows how far we can go.

I dont think Owen dived he was clearly caught, I don't think theres a player in the tournament who wouldn't have gone down. Beckham showed nerves of steel to score the penalty but it was very close. Danny Mills proved me wrong and Trevor Sinclair would have surprised many with his performace.

Had to laugh at our Trev getting on the Argies bus after the game, shame he made a hasty retreat though, personally I thought he should have had 1-0 panted on his arse cheeks and mooned at the Argies before making a hasty retreat.

[The Crippler]

Originally posted by K.J
Personally I would have thought the Scots would be against the Argies too after all their players said about the Falklands. From my very limited knowledge of this brief conflict I believe it was a British effort which probably would have involved a fair few Scottish soldiers as well as English and Welsh.



What has that got to do with the World Cup?

[HSM]

Oh what a surprise this thread has been filled by comments from a certain few bitter scotsmen claiming Owen dived and such things.If you see the replay from the side view you can clearly see that owens leg was taken from under him and i dont think he could have stayed up if he tried.Why cant you just congratulate us on beating the favourites for the world cup?

Collina is without a doubt the best Referee in the world and i thought he had an outstanding game.Sure there may have been a few fouls by some England players but there was also the usual playacting by the Argentinians, especially the guy who came on for Veron at half time (his name escapes me right now) every time he was touched he fell to the floor as if he had been knocked out.He shouldnt be in the world cup he should be performing on stage for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Also my last point is the extreme bad sportsmanship displayed by the Argentinians.4 years ago when England lost in the 2nd round the Argentinian players were openly taunting the Enlgand players while they boarded there coach ofter the match.This time around they refused to swap shirts with the England players and also some of there substitutes resorted to even calling Paul Scholes a "Bas***d" while he was giving a post match interview.As well as this in the past two days every interview the Argies have been giving is saying how England were lucky and it was a fluke etc etc.Why cant they just turn round and say well done you beat us and leave it at that becuase im sure if they had won they would have been quite happy to rub our noses in it but our players have been remarkably dignified about the whole thing.

[The Crippler]

I'm not bitter. I'm just wondering why some people see football as having anything to do with a war. The Heel's comments being a prime example.

But anyway, well done to the England players. It's not the actual players I have a problem with. Its the media and the fans who think that England v Argentina or England v Germany has anything to do with wars which happened years ago.

It's like the idiots who go along to watch Rangers and Celtic matches so that they can chant about something that happened centuries ago. It's got no place in football or anywhere for that matter.

[K.J]

I don't usually associate football with wars, but the Argentinian players were in the news all week saying how losing to England is not an option as beting England is revenge for the Falklands war. That was what their players were saying and it annoyed me and all I was saying is I fail to see how coments like these could fail to annoy the Scottish and Welsh as well as the English.

[Tajiri]

I'm not bitter either, infact i'mquite positive with Ireland as good as in the next stage :D .

I think it was Sorin who came on for Veron and he does like to go down but speaking of play acting before Owen won the penalty Beckham colided with Plecente, went down holding his ankle and then saw the ball had gone back into the box and quickly popped back up with no limp or anything. As for the Owen penalty its was a standard Owen one, get slight contact and go down like your shot. I have never found Argentina to be any more of a "cheating" team than any other teams in world football and the Hand of God was 16 years ago, get over it.

Butt deserves alot more credit for an awesome preformance, shame after the World Cup he'll be back to playing stand in for Gerrad and stand in for Veron at United. Credit should also go to Ferdinand and Sinclair and Kily Gonzalez for Argentina.

Batistuta should not of started and should of been sent off for the amount of times he went in late and put the elbow in jumping, Ashley Cole was just as bad. I find it hard to see why Argentina picked Canigga over Saviola and why Batistua who scored 7 times last season for Roma starts when Crespo and Lopez are on the bench.

I agree with what Crippler said about Wars and other issues having nothing to do with football, its sick, its one of the main resons I find it hard to enjoy going to Windsor Park to see Northern Ireland play and I really detest the use of the word "Argies". What a few of the Argentia players said was wrong and but by England fans saying it themselves after wards is just as low.

As for the media they are a complete joke and are nothing short of Infuriating.

[HSM]

Taj i find it hilarious that you still say the contact on Owen was 'Slight' look at the side on camera view the guy takes Owens standing leg out from under him.

As for all the war stuff there is just no need for that and yes i know the part where Beckham fell down then suddenly got up and i agree with that it does happen in every team but i do think certain teams like Argentina,Brazil and probably Italy make it more a part of the game than it should be.

[Tajiri]

Oh come on there is no way you can say that Pottichino took Owens legs out from under him with a straight face, Owen clipped the knee of Pottichino when he turned him, Owen's inside leg where the contact was made carried on going it was his back leg that he kicked out then he flipped over.

If Ortega had of gone down the exactly same way at the other end all the England fans and media would argued that he had dived or had over acted.

And shouldn't FIFA hand out the £1000 fines to Beckham, Sorin etc like they did Rivaldo?

[HSM]

oh yeah great idea lets fine guys who earn 3 million a year £1000 :)
If FIFA are truly serious about crakcing down on cheating they should start suspending people for the following game.What Rivaldo did against Turkey was nothing short of disgraceful and he showed no remorse afterwards and what do FIFA do? They fine him £4500 well big deal he earns 3 million a year 4 and a half grand is nothing to him they should have banned him from the next game that wouldhave made him and others think twice about cheating.

[Tajiri]

If FIFA want to fine the players who dive and play act maybe fining them about 25% of there club wages would work.

[The Vulcanized One]

Originally posted by Big Poochie
Oh what a surprise this thread has been filled by comments from a certain few bitter scotsmen claiming Owen dived and such things.If you see the replay from the side view you can clearly see that owens leg was taken from under him and i dont think he could have stayed up if he tried.Why cant you just congratulate us on beating the favourites for the world cup?

Collina is without a doubt the best Referee in the world and i thought he had an outstanding game.Sure there may have been a few fouls by some England players but there was also the usual playacting by the Argentinians, especially the guy who came on for Veron at half time (his name escapes me right now) every time he was touched he fell to the floor as if he had been knocked out.He shouldnt be in the world cup he should be performing on stage for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Also my last point is the extreme bad sportsmanship displayed by the Argentinians.4 years ago when England lost in the 2nd round the Argentinian players were openly taunting the Enlgand players while they boarded there coach ofter the match.This time around they refused to swap shirts with the England players and also some of there substitutes resorted to even calling Paul Scholes a "Bas***d" while he was giving a post match interview.As well as this in the past two days every interview the Argies have been giving is saying how England were lucky and it was a fluke etc etc.Why cant they just turn round and say well done you beat us and leave it at that becuase im sure if they had won they would have been quite happy to rub our noses in it but our players have been remarkably dignified about the whole thing.

I totally agree with evrything you said there HSM and Tsu in particular is usually a benefactor in these type of arguments. if scotland had done what england had done all the english would have been congratulating you on a great result. you don't hear any welsh people bitching about diving and such things. England are in the World Cup, Scotland aren't : GET OVER IT!!

[Tajiri]

if scotland had done what england had done all the english would have been congratulating you on a great result.

I don't think thats true at all, and I seem to remember most England fans taking quite a bit of satisfaction in Scotland not quallifying.

you don't hear any welsh people bitching about diving and such things.

Well all of my mates who saw the game said it was a dive and incase everybody else forgot Northern Ireland is part of the UK.

[Russ]

Oposing football fans will never get on. Probably the biggest reason why this forum isn't used too often. If you state that Team/Player X is better than Team/Player Y, people who strongly back that team or player will disagree.

When you look at the wrestling forums, it's different. Most people are prepared to admit they like the same thing: eg- Workrate good, boring promos bad. When it comes to football, you've got people who love Scotland, people who love Ing-er-lund, people who like Guatamala, etc.

If you're Scottish, I highly recommend http://www.webta.co.uk. Their Ing-er-lund Vs Argentina commentary was priceless-
"That's a dive, Owen ya wee *Cough*! Ya went doon like a sack of English spuds!"

But I agree with those against the English media- Do we really need the 22nd interview with Teddy Sheringham of the tournament? Especially at half time, of a game that doesn't even involve England.

If all those Ing-er-lung fans who think that Scots overreact to their coverage, if fans down south had to listen to the post-match show after Scotland beat England in Wembly 1-0 thanks to Don Hutchison, the switchboards would be flooded with calls reporting racism and general hatred of the English. Yet for years, the rest of the UK has had to put up with Motson and his Bias Brigade.

The point of arguing here is nil; no one is going to say "Wait a second...You're right! Now I hate England and love Scotland!". But stopping Tsu upsetting people in this situation is like trying to make Gazza speak sense.

All I know is that I'll be wearing my 1998 Nigeria top on Wednesday, listening to http://www.webta.com 's coverage of the game.

[TsuMirren]

Back in erm 1996 I think it was, Celtic were playing Paris St Germain in Europe and Rangers were playing Borussia Dortmund...guess which two football tops I wore to College those two weeks.

Anyways, all I did was say that Owen dived and he blatantly did...even if he didn't, it wasn't a penalty as he hurdled the tackle and just landed like anyone would do naturally. It's like goalkeepers nowadays, a guy goes for a header and bumps into the goalie so it's automatically a foul...are strikers supposed to stop in mid-air? Is it a law that a goalie can jump forwards or at an angle, yet an outfield player can only jump straight up. I used to be a goalie and you take your wacks, you give out a few...it's all part of the game.

The English just get...well, they just build themselves waaaaaaaaaaay up. Why can't they win once and it's a shock? I guarantee that if England face Brazil and sneak a draw before losing on penalties there'll be headlines like "Robbed by Samba cheats"

As for people dragging wars into all of it, I think that's a damned sight more distasteful than anything I've said.

Scotland don't even congratulate themselves for qualifying. The press pick every whole imaginable, then on the next page print a wee coupon for a free Daily Record fan pack. Don't even get me started on Duncan Ferguson... lol

[K.J]

When it comes to International football I usually like all the home nations to do well, as long as it's not at the expense of England. When Scotland qualified in '98 I was cheering them on when they nearly got a result against Brazil, I was cheering them on in '96 when they narrowly lost out to Holland. Same for the Welsh, i'd love to see them qualify for a major tournament and allow Giggsy to do his thing on the big stage, same for Northern Ireland. I think my attitude is shared by most English people.

OK so I take the piss when Scotland don't qualify but at the end of the day i'd rather they had.

Why doesn't the same go for Scots, Welsh and Irish when it comes to England, simple, jealosy.

[Tajiri]

Why doesn't the same go for Scots, Welsh and Irish when it comes to England, simple, jealosy.

jeaslosy? again the mystery of why there is dislike for the English international team continues.

[Hardcore Holly]

HSM for starters im not Scottish I am Irish, and why shouldnt I slag England they cry any other time making up excuses o a player is injured its all over now, alot of the teams have players missing Belguim have 7 missing and im so sick of hearing about the queen