Who will triumph in south africa?

09:32 / 06.02.10

i went through the draw, group by group, then mapped out the games flowing therefrom, and it seems spain will beat the cote d'ivoire in the final. england will beat argentina for third.

is anyone else excited?

is anyone else here??

hello!

Benny the Ball

14:33 / 10.02.10

I'm excited - most definitely. Not just the usual over-inflated excitement that and Englishman gets before every tournament - golden generation la de da - but because I'm actually going to be there!

Yep - I managed to bag a job over there, and will have flights and accommodation taken care of for the small price of 3 months away from the family and my summer break.

I've also managed to snag some tickets to 3 games, featuring Brazil, Argentina, Ivory Coast and Korea - one of the games being a 1/4 final game. Very exciting.

So - never been to Africa, never been south of the equator, and only been to one WC game before - all good.

Predictions = Spain to do well, but not too well - England and US to make it out of their group - Germany for the cup - Brazil to disappoint - Messi to have too much expectation, but no support from the midfield - Italy to be undone by some upstarts - N. Korea to score 0 points.

21:12 / 27.02.10

If I was Wayne Bridges, I would kill him.

Lest anyone think this is anover-reaction, Terry knobbed Bridges' bird, while they were on the same team, and Terry may have laughed while he was at it.

As a footie guy, I suppose one's morals are rather loose, but some things are unforgiveable

oryx

00:10 / 28.02.10

Um, what are you all talking about? And, as a side note, is it something I need to take an interest in? *genuinelyconfused*

00:18 / 28.02.10

Oryx: If you're asking about what Alex is talking about, probably best to just ignore it.
Or not, your choice.

If you're asking what Benny and Astrojax are on about, it's the World Cup.

11:02 / 01.03.10

I'll admit to being a bit confused, but, this is the soccer world cup we're on about, right?

In which case, surely the Bridge/Terry thing;

('John, you did my bird.'

'But I didn't know she was your bird, mate.'

'Yeah you did. Mate.'

'All right, but she said you'd split up.'

'Yeah, but only a mumf or two before ... a relationship needs a decent burial, and it was like you were interfering with the corpse ...') is the topic of the moment?

haus of fraser

10:04 / 05.03.10

No Boboss is not lying. Boboss and Baboss and Bobosso will be watching the lovely fireworks in Preston Park this weekend, and in a few weeks Boboss will be turning on the TV to watch football (even though he's only a fan of international games).

This is Boboss's future. BEHOLD!

03:39 / 29.04.10

it strikes me as fortunate boboss is a fan of international games and will be switching on the teev to watch football in a few weeks - there will be a plethora of international games on!

very jealous, benny - is mrs the ball accompanying you to the fair climes of the south of that dark continent?

good to see our mark schwarzer in such dazzling form, might halt a few german assaults - better, ghanaian and serb assaults, really - and help us out of the group to meet the alma mater when we can watch rooney and co drool at the consummate skill of cahill and kewell and succumb to the might of their once-was-colony! (astro wakes up...)

but excitinger - closer!

14:31 / 08.05.10

Hugh Masakela has described the World Cup as 'a sideshow'

It will not help South Africa's problems after the stadium collapses, he says, and I think he's right.

So it seems to me that anyone who's got anything postive, whatsoever, to say about the World Cup may as well be Pik Botha.

rakehell

08:20 / 13.05.10

Quite excited about Australia's first game against Germany. I'm going to be in Germany visiting friends that weekend and they're thinking about a trip to the local Fußballstadion to watch the game. I'm thinking of getting an Aussie away shirt and being the one yellow amongst a 50k strong sea of white.

Living in the UK at the moment, I'm missing the vibe as I imagine it must be in Melbourne. The "underdog we might do it" feeling is much better than what I hear/see in London right now.

10:45 / 07.06.10

the vibe in oz is quite good, rakehell, though there is much dissent on the world game site about pim's squad selection - the omission of nicky carle and scott mcdonald in particular seem to rankle the punters - and i am a bit peeved with them at pim's lack of willingness to pick a starting team with two strikers, so include scotty mac who is a gifted goal poacher who could play off jesus with the invisible man cahill sneaking up in behind with brescia and harry mopping up if necessary. and why does old man moore still get gig?

anyway, go socceroos - i tip a 1-1 with germany. have a blast in germany!

but spain to lift the jules rimet by the end of the party. you?

23:04 / 10.06.10

Astrojax, whaddya think about the friendly last Saturday? I know they're to be taken with a grain, but the U.S. wasn't playing that great or anything.

Anyway, I'm so excited about the games on Saturday. I'm sorry everyone can't win.

22:09 / 11.06.10

That sounds like a productive use of your time, rakehell.

23:29 / 11.06.10

sorry took a while tsuga, been away - also take friendly with the salt grains - we had just done two days hard slog and this was part of the training regime, rather than a normally approached game anyway (suspect something similar for u.s. of a.)

am still confident we'll make a good account of ourselves and make it hard for the germans to get all three points. if we manage a draw, confidence gives us a real shot at a win against the serbs, esp if they have struggled to get any form against a hungry ghana, which is quite possible.

excited? me? as if...!

happy global fusbol fest everybody!!

22:36 / 13.06.10

ahh well, poor officiating and too many under-done players cost us any hope - that and the elevated skill, speed of thought and creativity of the germans! without cahill (what a dreadful red card decision, ref!) we stand little chance against ghana so i imagine our wc is over. the germans looked good, but i suspect we also helped them to do so, so still not convinced they'll progress too deeply.

anyone see the other games?

rakehell

11:21 / 17.06.10

Germany played and deserved to win. I am surprised it wasn't by a larger margin. So far Aus have been the worst team of the tournament, even North Korea managed 1 goal against Brazil's 2.

I can't say that it's been the most exciting WC, though Switzerland vs Spain was an excellent game and well done to the Swiss for winning. The Spanish coach said that the Swiss played a boring game and only took advantage of counter attacks. I think that if that's what it takes to defeat the tournament faves, then more power to them.

Oh and the vuvuzela‎s are ridiculously annoying.

17:02 / 17.06.10

Players were complaining about the official ball (the "Jabulani"), which is too light and tend to go (way) up when kicked. As they get used to it, expect scores to go up and the better teams to show their force over the weaker ones. Argentina's victory today may be the first sign of that

14:34 / 19.06.10

Sweet jesus, what a world cup it's been so far! England has looked terrible, to be honest. I thought someone had slipped them roofies yesterday, but I've got to be truthful, I was hoping for a tie at least for the US chances. Algeria did a good job, really.
The first half of the US game was a travesty, I'm surprised they were able to pull it together so well, and that foul called at the last goal? Well, it was terrible, but there have been a number of really poor calls so far in the tournament. It's going to happen, but it seems a bit too common in this one. Klose's second yellow card is another standout lame call, and the current game between Ghana and Australia has been seriously changed by a red card that seemed to me too much. It's interesting how open the possibilities still are, after this many matches.

13:36 / 21.06.10

God damn it, Portugal, just beat your adversaries, don't humilliate them so...

12:29 / 26.06.10

Usually, I don't watch Fußball, but tomorrow might be an exception. I like the atmosphere of the fans being tense and enthusiastic. I don't know if I should root for someone, though. If Germany loses, I can get some peace, since people here also started with those ******in plastic trumpets. And if England loses, it just reinforces one more German stereotype.

09:34 / 27.06.10

australia was mis-led by a dutch novice, who should always have corralled the aussie spirit of attacking, c'est la vie. now the scuttle butt is about that we'll get le guen, or heaven help us, sven!

while i'd love to see a rooney show tonight (oz-time) i suspect (and have tipped) the germans to progress, but either one will fall to maradonna's chaps next up. uruguay will be hard to stop for a while yet - the other half is where the real tournament fascination is. brasil still look likely to do the confeds-wc double for mine, but who the hell knows in this world cup? go japan!

must say, paraguay and uruguay have scored two of the three goals of the tournament - with ghana's winner making up the trio. australia's second against serbia was also pretty good. but i'd like to see a montage of all the wc goals some time and have a think from there. rekkun the goal of the tournament is still ahead of us.

17:19 / 27.06.10

That was fun!

I don't how many years ago I last watched a game, but I really liked the atmosphere. Everyone had such a good time. I'll even watch next saturday.

That goal that wasn't a goal was a bit iffy, but then it still would've been 4:2.

They only showed people in Berlin and München and I would've liked to see how people in England were following the show.

20:10 / 27.06.10

That goal that wasn't a goal was a bit iffy, but then it still would've been 4:2

Not necessarily, since the "goal that wasn't" (Dr. Seuss, anyone?) de-stablized the England team and made them lose control of the game. Snowball effect and all that.

In fact, today was the day of shoddy arbitration, with an absurdly illegal goal by Argentina that killed Mexico's morale.

Still, IMHO, both games would probably ended with the same winners even without those mistakes, though by a much closer score. Alas, now we will never know.

Tomorrow: Brazil vs. Chile. Monday shall be Sunday

02:06 / 03.07.10

Personally, I blame it on Mick Jagger. Fucking jinx!

10:33 / 03.07.10

God, Brazil just fell apart when things got tough, didn't they? It's sad, because they could have done so much better in the second half. You have to give Netherlands credit for getting it together after a poor start, as well.

11:23 / 03.07.10

Forgot to mention, that Ghana game was a real heartbreaker. I didn't know who to pull for, but I think by the end Ghana deserved it more, and the PK at the end of stoppage killed me.

19:09 / 03.07.10

Danke schön, Argentina!

Earliest German WC goal since 1934 and best score against Argentina ever.

04:32 / 06.07.10

i'm shattered now we can't have an all-guay final... still rekkun spain will hoist the jules rimet when it's all over, see the teutonic run ceasing about now - they'll have fun playing the oranje for third place, what!

04:33 / 06.07.10

oh, and i blame it all on mick jagger, too.

but it occurred to me, an englishman watching germany play argentina, who'd he want to see win??

21:52 / 07.07.10

Damn you, Paul!

Also:

21:00 / 08.07.10

Honestly, did someone slip the Germans some roofies or something? They looked slow and shaky the whole game, compared to how they'd looked the rest of the competition. It was a frustrating game to watch in parts, but Spain did a good job of picking apart the German defenses. It could have been a much more lopsided score.

09:24 / 09.07.10

Octopus Paul predicted the German Team to win tomorrow. I bet that might be because of the death threats.

10:26 / 11.07.10

so, it's down to game 64 - dutch versus spanish sides; oranje vs los matadores. paul predicts a spanish win and it hard to see this tasty ocean morsel mistaking anything having come so far. the 3rd 4th play-off was a cracker, as usual. let's hope the big one is as exciting.

i am hoping we get extra time so have more fusbol to savour, with villa cracking home the winner from an iniesta through ball... and i am 41st out of near three thousand in the australian football show website's tipping comp, so hope to stay there!

any thoughts on save/goal/player/moment/etc of the tournament, anyone?

20:11 / 11.07.10

Paul wins the World Cup!

Seriously, that squid is awesome!