So... no World Cup thread yet? (also featuring TTLG fantasy world cup game) - by D'Arcy
D'Arcy on 16/6/2006 at 14:53
Wow, Argentina was simply brilliant! And they can even afford the luxury of having players like Messi and Tevez on the bench. 6-0 against a team that conceded only one goal in the qualifying stage, and even won its group, relegating Spain to the second place and the qualifying via the playoffs.
Vernon on 16/6/2006 at 14:54
Argentina's form - just wow just wow. They're looking more like world cup winners than any of the other teams so far, that's for sure.
Headphones on 16/6/2006 at 15:03
It is perfectly resonable to dislike a footballer because he is "ungainly" and "inelegant," by the way.
You support a utilitarian, inelegant team std, and nobody has a problem with that. You're a dick when you try to tell other people what football is though, especially as you're clearly completely oblivious to the unending irony of a Liverpool fan espousing the beautiful game.
I watch football to see football. I don't get that from England and I certainly don't get it from Peter Crouch.
To win is great, but if it's the only reason you play, you're missing the point.
Paz on 16/6/2006 at 15:13
Quote Posted by Myoldnamebroke trying to embarrass me
Everyone just be more like Paz.
Obsessed with any team that has a disproportionate number of Alice Band candidates in the side, you mean? :D
That game was exactly what we need to get out of this Crouch-related funk! I don't want to get all misty eyed, but I think we've just seen something very, VERY special there. When they're doing "World Cup Stories" 2030 edition, that's the kind of footage which is going to be shown.
Absolutely astonishing possession football. Sure you can knock Serbia (although - only ONE goal conceeded throughout their entire qualifying campaign), especially after Kezman was sent off; but that was just magnificent.
Still only worth 3 points of course, but THAT is how you leave an imprinted memory.
Shevers on 16/6/2006 at 15:26
8/1 on the Argies winning the cup is starting to look like a damn good deal :cheeky:
But goddammit, I've missed the 3 highest scoring games thus far, including what sounded like quite simply the most beautiful game so far - yet I have been at home for the awful likes of England vs. Paraguay :mad:
zacharias on 16/6/2006 at 15:51
Yes..let's not talk about england for a bit.
That was brilliant stuff from Argentina. Some beautiful passing and neat backheels in the box. Very nice to watch and i hope they don't get knocked out early after this.
I wasn't too impressed with the Dutch v Serbia and i really think Ivory Coast might get through this group. We'll see.
SD on 16/6/2006 at 16:13
Quote Posted by Myoldnamebroke
Things like ''Now, I can't help the fact that I support the most successful club in English football history" really don't help your case.
Well I can't help that, and I can't help feeling that there's the
tiniest amount of jealousy for our achievements from supporters of other teams. I think, subconsciously, the fact that I support Liverpool does taint my opinions, in some people's eyes.
Quote Posted by Headphones
It is perfectly resonable to dislike a footballer because he is "ungainly" and "inelegant," by the way.
To dislike, yes, but not to say that he is rubbish. If he's an ungainly and inelegant footballer, and he's there to perform an ungainly and inelegant role, how is that a flaw, exactly?
Quote:
you're clearly completely oblivious to the unending irony of a Liverpool fan espousing the beautiful game.
Well, yes I am oblivious to any irony there, because when I think of the great footballing sides in history, there's quite a few Liverpool sides that would make the list. So colour me baffled!
Quote:
I watch football to see football. I don't get that from England and I certainly don't get it from Peter Crouch.
You field a team of 10 Diego Maradonas and you will get tonked the minute you come up against a decent side.
Like it or not, top-class football is all about compromise and pragmatism and if you need to play ugly sometimes, then that's what you have to do. If you meet a team like Trinidad & Tobago who put 10 players behind the 18-yard line, then more often than not, the result
will be ugly.
Look at the Argentina-Serbia/Montenegro game today. It was beautiful football from Argentina (although they were helped by a Serbia performance that perfectly illustrated why Montenegro want to secede from the union).
But you can't play football like that all the time; it might win you fans, but it doesn't necessarily win you tournaments.
The names of the great sides who have ultimately come to grief at the hands of teams with less flair are legion; the Magnificent Magyars; the Dutch Total Football side; the France of Platini, Tigana and Giresse; the Brazil of Zico, Socrates, Falcao and Careca. Those teams live long in the memory, but they didn't
win anything of note, because they had no Plan B.
Sure, winning isn't the only reason you play football, but it is the main reason. England have as many World Cup points as Argentina do, and that's the crucial thing.
D'Arcy on 16/6/2006 at 16:17
I disagree regarding Platini's France: they did win the Euro in 1984 (and made me cry for the first time watching a football match when they beat us in extra time in the semis, with two goals in the closing minutes) :)
thefonz on 16/6/2006 at 23:58
With any luck, England v. Argentina will happen this year; and we can all watch the English press go apeshit over the "cheating" argies who are in no-way better at football than the England players...
zacharias on 17/6/2006 at 09:38
But plenty of teams who play nice football with 'no plan B' have won stuff. The results are too varied to draw many conclusions.
Anyway, Holland v Ivory Coast was pretty spiteful, enjoyable though. Can't help thinking if the refs were truly consistent with giving reds for professional fouls half the players would have been off. I really think Fifa have to think about introducing some measures to reduce the cynical play because that match was not a good advert for fair play ('won't someone think of the children!' ;))
Is it just me or do Holland not seem to have a midfield? A more clinical Ivory Coast would have got a draw or more from that game. Drogba was poor and should have been subbed.
