World Football Thread IX - Weltmeisterschaft Ausgabe

[Solver]

Locutus, you have a tendency to be very harsh on the stronger players, and give praise to the weaker teams. I personally thought the Angola attack was just horrible. Akwa was active, but the team seemed very dependant on him, and with Akwa gone, they didn't have anything good up front. And I'm quite reluctant to say the Angolan defense was solid, it was more that Portugal played poorly. Simao must have slipped three times and messed up the rest, but Ronaldo and Figo still managed to dribble past the Angolans every way (or have a foul committed vs. them). Granted, Portugal was still far from impressive.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

No chance.
Anyway, I'm impressed that the guy leading the line for the Swiss also has inventing Dungeons and Dragons on his CV. Nice work - makes him popular with the jocks and the nerds.

?

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Solver
Locutus, you have a tendency to be very harsh on the stronger players, and give praise to the weaker teams.

No, you're the other way around. Strong players can never do any wrong and the weak ones should just give up and switch to volleyball. You have an amazing capacity for exaggeration, the claim that the Angolese can't play football is just ludicrous.

Yes, the Angola offense was weak but football is played by 11 players, not by 2 strikers and a goalie. Their offense and midfield were no weaker than the Portuguese equivalents, they intercepted most of the Portuguese attacks. Of course the Portuguese still got a couple of shots in as well, what do you expect? They've got one of the strongest offensive line-ups on the tournament and are a candidate (if an outsider) to win it. On the offense the Angolese still managed to create at least half a dozen opportunities but the finishing just wasn't there. Of course Angola isn't gonna get very far in this tournament but if they couldn't play football they wouldn't be here. The African qualifiers are the toughest ones of all the confederations.

[Zoid]

Locutus

Of course the Angolese can play football, they got to the World Cup after all. I don´t see any Latvian team in the WC...

[Solver]

Strong players can do wrong, and I think this game was a prime example of that.

I'm certainly harsh on weaker teams, yes. Maybe it's because I got annoyed a lot at the last WC when frakking Korea was in the semis. Maybe it's the rather stark contrast between teams with 2-3 players with excellent dribbling and teams where the attackers can't get a decent finishing and the midfields fail many passes. Then again, I do sometimes like the underdog teams, too.

[Solver]

Got to admit, though, I am a big disliker of Asian football. I'd happily see Asia get just one place in the WC, and be done with it. Then again I'm not sure where to put those extra slots. Maybe give Oceania a guaranteed one, another slot to the Africans...

[DanS]

Originally posted by SpencerH
Thank god for Adrian Healey and Tommy Smyth on ESPN.

John Harkes and JP Dellacamera announced the Holland-Serbia Montenegro game well.

Harkes does a good job as color man for DC United on cable. Also heads youth development for the team.

[Barnabas]

If I recall correctly Maradona became a junkie when he got injured in his Barcelona season, too much free time and too much money, but he didnt get a bad anti doping test result till 1992.

Well, anyway, I had forgotten how much the bitterness of english fans make football forums pretty much unreadable (I only lurk in football forums every 4 years, for obvious reasons)

I am extremly happy about ecuador´s victory, they used to say that like us (bolivians) they only win in the mountains because the opponents cant breath, but now they are kicking ass at sea level, I hope they makew it to the next round.

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by duke o' york

I'm impressed that the guy leading the line for the Swiss also has inventing Dungeons and Dragons on his CV. Nice work - makes him popular with the jocks and the nerds.

Are you a nerd for knowing that, or am I a nerd for knowing you know that? Both?

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Solver
Got to admit, though, I am a big disliker of Asian football. I'd happily see Asia get just one place in the WC, and be done with it. Then again I'm not sure where to put those extra slots. Maybe give Oceania a guaranteed one, another slot to the Africans...

Haven't seen much of the last WC as I was travelling but Korea and Japan generally play good football, with some other countries like China and Uzbekistan being on the rise. It's the ME countries that tend to be utter crap (they can play well for 50-60 minutes but then they're out of breath, as we saw with Iran today), but with all the money there they're not likely to get less slots anytime soon (and eventually that money might buy them better teams once they start spending it right).

And you don't know where to put the slots?! There are at least 5 strong European teams absent on this tournament! As much fun as it can be to have them if they do well, I find it a travesty that teams like Costa Rica and T&T can qualify without meeting any kind of serious opposition while great football nations like Turkey and Russia have to miss out. Europe deserves at least two more slots IMO (which would go at the expense of CONCACAF and Asia if I were in charge). An extra slot for Africa might be worth considering too, but that's all fantasy anyway as the weaker confederations won't give up their hard-won slots anytime soon and making the tourny even bigger has way too many drawbacks just to let a few more good teams in.

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Brachy-Pride
If I recall correctly Maradona became a junkie when he got injured in his Barcelona season, too much free time and too much money, but he didnt get a bad anti doping test result till 1992.

Trying to reason with the English about football is impossible, don't even bother to try. They're also absolutely convinced just about everyone in the world is a bunch of cheats and divers except them. In case of the Duth especially Robben and Van Nistelrooij seem to get a hard time. Some of that may be justified (Robben dived once today, which every Dutchman I've spoken or that was interviewed on tv strongly disapproved of) but funny enough they both picked up the habit in England...

[Mercator]

... And what's wrong with the pitches/footwear? There are players slipping left and right every time they make quick turns or something.

[DanS]

There are at least 5 strong European teams absent on this tournament!

Which is why you move the tournament to 40 teams, of course.

[Solver]

There are at least 5 strong European teams absent on this tournament! As much fun as it can be to have them if they do well, I find it a travesty that teams like Costa Rica and T&T can qualify without meeting any kind of serious opposition while great football nations like Turkey and Russia have to miss out.

Please not Russia at the World Cups, they get unberable then. But really, I think Europe is pretty much at the limit of how many teams they can have while keeping it fun. Poland and Switzerland are no powerhouses. I think the number is fine. I'd rather see Turkey instead of Switzerland this year, and almost anyone instead of Poland...

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Mercator
... And what's wrong with the pitches/footwear? There are players slipping left and right every time they make quick turns or something.

Can't be moist on the pitch as there is none, can't be shoes as every player has different ones and different types have been tried. The grass quality looks great on the surface, so that's not it either. It's probably because it's new grass: in most if not all cases it was placed just days before the matches started, it's probably not really solidly in place under the surface yet. The fact that the problems seem to mostly be in the corners and on the edges of the field confirms this. Hopefully it'll get better with time. Pretty bad move to wait so long with placing it though...

Originally posted by DanS
Which is why you move the tournament to 40 teams, of course.

That's bad in so many ways...