3-1 to Germany. I can't see Costa Rica coming back now but you never know. Wanchope's goal was sweet, I thought he was offside at first but the replays show otherwise.

 

meh, but soccer in the US is still confined to the middle-upper class.

as long as soccer in the states remains an anti-egalitarian sport with the majority of the economically poorer players not being able to receive national attention - the states will lag behind other countries.

 

3-2! Another Wanchope goal.

If you don't play football in the U.K. or even LIKE it...you're pretty much an outcast period.

 

I suppose I should eat my words. 3-2, Wanchope again. Costa Rica are still in with a chance.

 

Well, that was a nice gift from the referees. I can only imagine German outcry if they loose 2 points now.

EDIT: Holy shit, what a goal! Forget that offside, no one will remember that mistake after the game is over.

 

FUCK!!!

That goal was pure sexy...nothing else to it. Frings' strike...maybe 30 yards out...seeing that thing swing in real time and JUST get by the goalie...orgasm.

I wa actually pretty shocked by Costa Rica...they played like shit. Sure, Wanchope scored twice, but that was shit. His second goal was offside anyhow, and it looked like a flukey "well i might as well smack the ball" sort of shot. They played like shit...their passing kept getting intercepted in teh second half, Germany probably bad some 62-63% ball possession...it was horrible to watch. I'm surprised they made it this far...

 

Final Score: 4 - 2 to the Germany

Verdict: When I predicted 2 - 0 I didn't take into account Germany's poor defense recently. I was thinking of the solid, cautious team of two years ago. Well things have changed. The early goal showed signs of another Saudi-like drumming of four years ago but what we got was something better.

The two centre backs were horrendous, they were so flat it was unbelievable. You just can't give those kind of chances to a prolific (national) goalscorer such as Wanchope. Honestly, when Germany get out of their group, they will be slaughtered. Torn apart. This atacking style just doesn't suit them.

Going forward they looked more comfortable but to be fair, the Costa Rican defence was horrendous. The space they got on the wings was unbelievable and the Germans should've scored more than 4. The first and last goals were absolutely outstanding.

Based on this match, Germany are nowhere near in contention for the cup, despite what the bookies say. They deserve their low FIFA ranking position. One less team for England to think about

As for the US, FIFA rank them 5th in the world. FIFTH IN THE FRIGGIN WORLD! Sorry for offending half this site but the US aren't that great and they don't have a single world class player. Yeah, Freddy Adu's quality but he's still a teenager.

Overall, a good start to the world cup.

Edit: As for why Costa Rica keep making it into the world cup, they've got one of the easiest fucking FIFA regions in the world ever. Same goes for USA.

 

No offense taken, Master Slytherin. I agree with you.

Anyways, it might of just been me, but it seemed that whenever Costa Rica got the ball upfield, they were severly outnumbered by the Germans. On the flipside, Germany always had plenty of attackers up there when they were attacking the Costa Rican goal. I mean, come on! Wanchope up there scored both of those all by himself! (albeit with a little help from the refs )

Just my thoughts, can't wait for Ecuador vs. Poland.

 

MS, I agree with most of your assessment of Team USA... Personally I think they should be ranked somewhere between 8 and 15.

They may not have any amazing players -- though Adu will evolve into one, but they have a solid team.

 

Well, Poland seems to suck at their first games in a major competiton, ever since 1974. 0-2 versus a good Ecuador, let's see how Germany can compete with those South Americans.

And shouldn't this be in Real Life Discussion?

 

Yeah Poland sucked ass. It seems that Group A will be the weakest on the tournament.

 

Yeah, a real blessing for us. With a defense like that, any major team better than Costa Rica would have devoured us...

 

Eh, what's the difference.

I only saw the last 10mins of the match and Poland were seriously struggling. Quite surprising as they gave England a real run for their money during the qualifiers. And they had the majority of fans over there because of how close Poland is to Germany.

Tomorrow's fixtures:

England v Paraguay [2pm GMT]

Prediction: 2 - 0 England. It's the big one and the pressure is really on England. They've got to perform as it's arguably their best squad ever. Paraguay will be very troublesome but I just don't see them as troublesome enough for a team at its peak. COME ON YOU ENGLAND! Ahem...

Trinidad & Tobago v Sweden [5pm GMT]

Prediction: 3 - 0 Sweden. Yes, that big a score or even more. honestly, T & T struggled against a fucking third division German side in a friendly. Sweden are usually very strong against weak opponents and they know this is three points on a silver platter with th added bonus of goal difference potential (especially if it comes down to a duel between them and Paraguay for second place). I'll be the first to admit I won't be watching this one.

Argentina v Ivory Coast [8pm GMT]

Prediction: 2 - 1 Argentina. This is going to be one hell of a match I reckon. With the passion of Ivory Coast and the skill of Argentina, this is one to look out for. Never underestimate the power of the African nations at the World Cup.

 

I am Korean, and I got cable just for the cup. I say they are going to get top 8. Last cup, they got 4th.

 

My predictions are:
England - Paraguay: 3:1
Sweden - Trinidad and Tobago: 3:0
Argentina - Ivory Coast 3:1

 

Final Score: 1 - 0 to England!

First half was very strong and all that we wanted it to be. Beckham was strong, Joe Cole was magical and Lampard looked dangerous. We created chances and it was all set up to be an easy win. Then was the second half and the fatal error. Downing on for Owen. WTF? It was only 1 - 0 and Erikson took off the most dangerous striker on the pitch! It doesn't matter if he didn't want to risk him or whatever but we had a game to win! If we didn't win the three points, Erikson would've been assasinated. Simple as. Poor second half but a win is a win and 3 points are 3 points.

 

I am going to say that it wasn't as horriffic a blunder as you are making it out to be.

But even still, you don't TRY to win games 1-nothing, it's illogical and stupid.

If England were up 2 nil it still wouldn't be good -- but it wouldn't be nearly as bad as it was, and it would be far more defensible if something had happened to go wrong.

Paraguay is not a vey ofeensively oriented team however, but even still. Going for a one nil win was ill advised.

But then again, England isn't exactly in an extremely strong group... Paraguay, Sweden, and Trinidad/Tobago?

I was a bit more concerned with Crouch's post-run idiocy in (I think) the 86th minute. Yes, the ball was out on Paraguay. And yes, it SHOULD have been a corner... But mouthing off to the referee when you already have one Yellow isn't advisable.

 

For England, we should've asserted our power and create more chances but with the blunder substitutions, we weren't able to do that. What did go well was the defence. Ferdinand was strong and Terry was amazing as usual. Ashley had his moments and was merely ok.

 

What channels show them with the best coverage?

I've got FTA and DishNetwork.

 

I haven't got a clue tbh. I quite like the BBC, they have good ol' Hansen and Wrighty. Yeah, if you have BBC on there, then definitely tune into them.