Shayde on 26/6/2010 at 20:38
Go Ghana!
Edited for victory -GO GHANA!
frozenman on 26/6/2010 at 21:02
Ghana are a team of huge fierce black men!
Medlar on 26/6/2010 at 21:08
Tough luck to the USA but one hell of a game...
Gingerbread Man on 26/6/2010 at 21:30
Rats! Poor Howard! They're going to be scowling at him for a while.
Sad to see USA out of the Quarters, honestly. I was liking the incredibly-slim chance of England v USA rematch as a Final :D
Nicker on 26/6/2010 at 22:02
Quote Posted by Medlar
Tough luck to the USA but one hell of a game...
Luck schmuck (but it was a good game)! Ghana clearly outplayed USA and if it wasn't for that crappy call, leading the the US penalty shot, it would have been a shut out. Nice to see at least one African team in the semis.
Mind you, the USA has done better than I expected and their hockey like approach may make them a threat in future but they don't have the depth and experience to take on nations with a long footy tradition. Sometimes throwing a bunch of money at it doesn't take the day.
SD on 26/6/2010 at 22:11
Quote Posted by ercles
One thing I was wondering last night watching the dreadful display from Brazil and Portugal was what the fuck is the deal with the nicknames? Is it mainly a Brazilian thing? Why on earth don't they just get called by their actual names?
Because their actual names tend to be longer than
this post.
Hence
Edson Arantes do Nascimento becomes the snappier
Pelé, and
Képler Laveran Lima Ferreira is instead rendered as the actually-fits-on-the-back-of-a-shirt
Pepe.
SubJeff on 27/6/2010 at 00:10
Haar! Go Ghana! Both my teams still in it to win it! Ok they're unlikely to win but broddas gone far. Your fathers usa, yo faddas.
SD, Vennegoor of Hesselink fits on a shirt.
Jason Moyer on 27/6/2010 at 00:51
Quote Posted by Nicker
Mind you, the USA has done better than I expected and their hockey like approach may make them a threat in future but they don't have the depth and experience to take on nations with a long footy tradition. Sometimes throwing a bunch of money at it doesn't take the day.
I dunno if this is common knowledge outside of the US or not, but Soccer has been a very popular sport here for a long time. It's just not a popular *spectator* sport. I'm pretty sure most athletes spend a significant portion of their youth playing in soccer leagues before focusing on real^H^H^H^Hother sports.
ercles on 27/6/2010 at 08:53
Quote Posted by SD
Because their actual names tend to be longer than
this post.
Hence
Edson Arantes do Nascimento becomes the snappier
Pelé, and
Képler Laveran Lima Ferreira is instead rendered as the actually-fits-on-the-back-of-a-shirt
Pepe.
Is that all one surname? You couldn't just call them do Nascimento or Ferriera?
Brian The Dog on 27/6/2010 at 12:37
You could, but then you'd have a few players with the same surname. For England that wouldn't be a problem (e.g. Ashley and Joe Cole), but for such long names, nicknames are probably best. Also, it's just a tradition by now.
Just to add to the confusion, Ghana's two centre-backs had the same name (John Mensah), so one was called by his first-name.
Edit - After a bit of digging, it seems the Portuguese use two family names and two given names. The two surnames come from each of the parents' surnames, and if a player gets married they can take their spouse's surname as well, just to make things even more complicated!
