World Cup 2010

[IainC]

Arrivederci Italy.

[Paelos]

The Italian team should fake an injury so they don't have to fly home coach like the French.

[Stabs]

The BBC's football web page won't load. Must be jammed with Brits who didn't skive off work and now wish they had.

[HaemishM]

Fuck you, Italian team. Go home in disgrace!  I hope this means they'll fire Lippi and hire a coach who doesn't teach his players to be diving, whiny bitches.

[Distinct]

Howard Webb has had an AWFUL season in the premier league. ALmost every decision wrong etc etc ..

thought he handled the match well - got the decisions right and controlled some pretty volatile incidents without getting card happy.


And yes

Italy / France double is so win!

[Falconeer]

I hope this means they'll fire Lippi and hire a coach who doesn't teach his players to be diving, whiny bitches.

Then you want to look outside that country. In Italy they teach you to dive since you are a kid in football school.

[rk47]

New Zealand - Undefeated.

Italy's game so good to watch, roller coaster excitement.

[Engels]

So, I know Italy was defending champs and all, but why the hate? I mean, sure, they do their usual tomfoolery on the field, but they never struck me as the assholes of the cup.

[Cyrrex]

So, I know Italy was defending champs and all, but why the hate? I mean, sure, they do their usual tomfoolery on the field, but they never struck me as the assholes of the cup.

It is that selfsame tomfoolery of which you speak.  The level to which those assholes dive around the pitch faking injuries to draw cards or penalties is a disgrace to sportsmanship.  It's disgusting behavior, and if there's such thing as karma then every one of those dicks needs to get run over by a beer truck - that way they'll know what real pain is and have an actual reason to roll around like a bunch of whiney fucks.

And yes, the above is an accurate representation of how most people view them.  Not Italians in general, just their soccer players.

[rk47]

I do not hate them. I thought they made a good fight out of it in the final third of the game, but I guess people can't get over their diving reputation.

Oh yeah welcome to World Cup 2010, where both the 2006 finalists are knocked out in first stage. The sun sets over Europe.

[El Gallo]

I didn't get the sense that Algeria wasn't trying to win; shots and possession time were about even and they got 6 corners to 4 from the US.  If they had turtled, I wouldn't think that we would've had so many great scoring chances.   I just thought they weren't as good.  But I may be missing something subtler.

[HaemishM]

Algeria didn't seem like they were pushing up at all. They seemed to be playing the counter-attack exclusively, and the only reason they go so many chances or corners is that the US defenders are really slow.

Also, the Italians deserve their diving rep. They should have gone to penalties against Germany in the '06 Semi but one of their bitches dove in the box in stoppage time and got a penalty if I remember right. Of course, then Germany collapsed and gave up another goal toot suite.

[Amarr HM]

Keane was a primadonna that didn't want to play, called his manager a fucking wanker and quite rightly got booted home, and the Irish team united, got stuck in and did pretty bloody well in the tournament without him, thank you very much. And Keane spent the rest of his career quitting when things got difficult. Seriously, I'm sick and tired of hearing about him.

He was right Mick McCarthy is a wanker, also he had a terrible first touch which was the other thing Keane said. As far being a primadonna Keane had a short temper fair enough but he was totally setup, they held a press conference with him present and read out a statement of things that should have been kept behind closed doors and dealt with properly. His stance was he wanted to be 100% prepared and FAI are a bunch of amateurs and have been for a long time, which was true.

Regardless they wanted rid of him even though he was the main reason we got to the World cup but I guess the average punter who knows nothing about football wouldn't be aware of this, I went to see two of the qualifiers and we were fucked without Keane especially when McCarthy threw away a solid lead against Portugal and Holland by taking all our forwards off in the last fifteen minutes of both games. 2002 was the worst quality World cup I've ever seen we should have easily made the quarters we had one of our best teams at the time, it was a joke to be honest. But I guess second round will always be good enough for Ireland.

/rant

Excuse the derail, split it off maybe.

[Hoax]

^all that. But I'm not real Irish (thank god) so I'm not allowed to debate this point as I've learned.

re: Italy.

I hate Italians too. Not Falc but the ones in America who have been here forever and are still annoying greasy slimy bitchfuck Catholic dicks. Fuck essentially all of those Jersey Italians. Back to their team. Fuck them. If Zizzou is on that pitch Italy never wins the cup in the first place. Everything they accomplish comes with so many caveats and asterisks. They are just dirty in every sense of the word and take pride in that fact. I'd wager without a doubt they are the most hated team on the planet and with good reason.

re: the bracket

How crazy is it that it looks like only Brasil and Netherlands will be on one side and every other team with the potential to win it all is on the other side? Of course we still have 2 huge games coming up. Can Portugal steal first place against a Brazil without Kaka (answer is no in case you were wondering) and what will Spain do? Despite how good they are Torres is clearly off his game and it is still Spain you never know when they'll just self destruct it all.

re: Ghana v USA

Fucking Ghana. They looked amazing for 60 min against Germany. Anyone who knows football and watched that game should be terrified of that team showing up for a full 90 against the US. They looked European in terms of calm and control in possession but coupled with desire speed and strength all over the pitch and despite their terrible finishing they looked very dangerous every time the ball was in Germany's final third. I pray that game comes down to finishing but considering how apt we are to make a goal really really really easy on the opposition I'm so nervous I'm already losing sleep over the game. I hope that Americans are buying up as many tickets as they can from South Africans for that game to reduce the home team advantage.

[Falconeer]

I hate Italians too. Not Falc but

I hate Italians for so many reasons, most of them cultural/political. The football playstyle 100% mirrors the current Italian mentality. They are probably the worst people in the world right now on average. Stress on right now and on average.

Hell, I don't even consider myself Italian, and I hate my passport for stubbornly stating otherwise. I am doing my best to change that anyway.

For me and my son this has been a great day, screaming to the top of our lungs as if we founded Slovakia and survival was at stake. Now watchin TV is suddenly fun again: the QQ just started, it will last for days, and it tastes so good...

[Stabs]

From a football perspective there are several reasons to dislike Italy

1) They really pioneered simulating back in the 60s and 70s. Nowadays everyone does it, football commentators and managers even criticise players for being too honest when they stay on their feet after a foul sometimes and Italy don't do it much more than anyone else. But they pioneered it, popularised it and beat a lot of more honest teams doing it.

2) They pioneered time wasting. Back in the days when goalkeepers could pick up the ball they kept the ball between keeper and backs for several minutes at a time when 1-0 up.

3) Traditionally they've been very defensive and risk averse. They're spoilers rather than entertainers. (There are exceptions and when they do score the goals are usually very watchable).

4) They have a horrible reputation for crippling good players. Even in today's match Gatuso kicked a lump out of an opponent's kneecap in what a British commentator described as an "honest attempt to play the ball". If you look at that incident again you really can't tell if it was accidental or deliberate but if you look at Gatuso's track record he has more of those "accidents" than most whole teams do. Very clever, very cynical. In older, more naive days they did the same without the disguise, men like Claudio Gentile were legendary for damaging opponents. Gentile actually has a very good disciplinary record but it's because he was proficient at not getting caught.

5) They lack popular players. In Britain we're fairly averse to Argentina but everyone loves Tevez for his work ethic honesty and passion just as we loved Ardiles a generation earlier. The only Italian that most Brits have anything approaching a soft spot for is Gianfranco Zola.

[01101010]

Japan... GOOOAALLL!! brought to you by Honda.  



now Endo...

[Cyrrex]

Japan... GOOOAALLL!! brought to you by Honda. 

 

[Falconeer]

Wow, props for remembering the Lord of the Goons, Claudio Gentile. Interesting to notice that he was appointed as coach of Italy U21 squad a few years ago. I don't even want to know what he taught those young players.

Anyway, there are every now and then a few good Italians, Zola was one and even Gianluca Vialli wasn't that bad of a human being. Roberto Mancini is a dick, but he's totally un-Italian in his straightforward ways. I'm not surprised they all ended up in England at some point, they are between the few that I can recall right now that had a different mentality compared to the typical Italian player/citizen.

But Fabio Capello? He's Italian to the bone, a dick, a poor human being, a coward, an asshole and as you can see not that great as a coach either despite his teams wins. When England chose him to save the day, I died a little inside.

[Stabs]

Good lord! How did I forget Capello?

What you say might be true but as far as the English are concerned he walks on water right now. If he steers us as far as the semis he'll become the most popular Italian here since Julius Caesar.

Found this story:

With Leicester in the early 1960s he [Frank McLintock] played in friendlies against Italian sides which were brutal but educational. "Although we had heard horror stories," he told me, "about the lengths some defenders would go to - twisting your testicles or jabbing a finger up your backside - I only ever witnessed pinching, hair-pulling, biting and the ubiquitous bumping."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/jun/04/serieafootball.internazionale

[ghost]

Rising sun.  Japan making some noise.

[Sjofn]

Woo Japan!

[HaemishM]

The dink and pass by Honda on that last Japanese goal was fucking stunning. 

[Stabs]

It seems he's this kind of Honda rather than an Acclaim.

[Nevermore]

[Teleku]

Heh, saw this quote going around yesterday:

This World Cup is working out like WW2 - France have forfeited, the USA turned up late, and England are left to fight the Germans!

Now the Japanese are kicking ass, maybe we can end this thing with a US/Japan fight.  

(Also, the Italians folded like a wet napkin against everybody they played).

Edit:  To bad there isn't a Danish street fighter character you could show Honda smacking.

[01101010]

/clap

[Triforcer]

GANBATTE BLUE SAMURAI!!

I didn't think it was physically possible for that team to score three goals, but they really opened it up.  I was sure they'd play for the 0-0 draw, give up a goal, and die. 

With offense like that they could beat Paraguay.  Then, on to Brazil 

[lamaros]

So, I know Italy was defending champs and all, but why the hate? I mean, sure, they do their usual tomfoolery on the field, but they never struck me as the assholes of the cup.

It is that selfsame tomfoolery of which you speak.  The level to which those assholes dive around the pitch faking injuries to draw cards or penalties is a disgrace to sportsmanship.  It's disgusting behavior, and if there's such thing as karma then every one of those dicks needs to get run over by a beer truck - that way they'll know what real pain is and have an actual reason to roll around like a bunch of whiney fucks.

Better description of Slovakia last night, not Italy. The goalie was a disgrace.

Not that Italy deserved to go through. Would have loved to see New Zealand win the group just for giggles. Alas...

[Jeff Kelly]

Italy is traditionally the Munchkin of football.

They use every loophole, every advantage they get. They trash talk, they dive, they try to disrupt the other team's play by any means necessary. Tugging at jerseys, pushing and tactical fouls to wear down players. (Either by frustrating them and putting them on tilt or by injuring them in an attempt to "play the ball")

This is combined with a usually ultra defensive line up (some jokingly refer to it as 0-0-11). That's why Italy's games usually end up a draw or 1:0. They wear the other team down and score late after the ohter team ran out of steam.

Games usually tend to go in one of two directions.
They play an offensive team, where the offensive team wears itself down trying to get around the Italian defense, after 90 minutes or after overtime their opponents are usually so exhausted that they easily score the one goal they need.
They play a defensive team then it's an utter snoozefest for 90 minutes and it usually goes to overtime or penalties.
Somehow they have perfected the skill of doing the most damage when the ref isn't looking.

Their style of play is utterly frustrating to the opposing team and the crowd but usually pays off. On the other hand if they are behind they tend to either play brilliantly or completely fall apart.

The half final of the 2006 World Cup where Italy played Germany was a perfect example. They played ultra defensively for 118 minutes until the German side was completely exhausted and then they scored two goals in 2 minutes and in the final they actually managed to have an opposing player completely lose his shit. All the while playing dirty as hell, diving and fouling and using every opportunity they could get. You should have heard the cheers when Zidane headbutted Matterazzi. I suppose that every player that had the Misfortune to play against Italy harboured a similar thought at one point or other.

I'm not exactly sad that they got eliminated. Unfortunately with Portugal another team that subscribes to the same "play dirty" antics is still in the tournament.

Germany vs. England is always an instant classic. Although if my German team keeps playing the way they did vs. Ghana and Serbia, then England has a very good chance of actually winning.

It will - as usual- come down to penalties however. Every time when Germany and England play each other they should just skip regular play and just start with penalties, would save each side and the crowd 120 minutes 

[01101010]

Portugal vs Brazil -  game of the Cup?
                         ^
                         worst

 

edit: because this game is just shit. more fun watching the Ivory Coast

[Azazel]

I'm looking forward to it in a few minutes

[Segoris]

Heh, saw this quote going around yesterday:

This World Cup is working out like WW2 - France have forfeited, the USA turned up late, and England are left to fight the Germans!

Heh, John Stewart [eventually] offers John Oliver help if the English need it against the Germans....again..

[Falconeer]

Tiago diving? Disgusting, I hope someone beats him in the head tonight after the game.

[ghost]

You know, it is really fairly spectacular that the People's Republic of Korea even qualified for the cup.