The problem with English football is that it is boring. They play a defensive game that depends on the occaisional fast break and set plays. They have no flair.

The Germans are even worse. Who actually enjoys watching them play?

Brazil are the most skillfull and entertaining. They play "football arte". It is the way football should be played imho.

Go Brazil!!!

p.s England are a huge chance of upsetting Brazil though, I just have that feeling.

The problem with English football is that it is boring. They play a defensive game that depends on the occaisional fast break and set plays. They have no flair.

The Germans are even worse. Who actually enjoys watching them play?

Brazil are the most skillfull and entertaining. They play "football arte". It is the way football should be played imho.

Go Brazil!!!

p.s England are a huge chance of upsetting Brazil though, I just have that feeling.

The problem with English football is that it is boring. They play a defensive game that depends on the occaisional fast break and set plays. They have no flair.

The Germans are even worse. Who actually enjoys watching them play?

Brazil are the most skillfull and entertaining. They play "football arte". It is the way football should be played imho.

Go Brazil!!!

p.s England are a huge chance of upsetting Brazil though, I just have that feeling.

OOPS!

Dont know what happened there.

bkw said:

lol... a little too enthusiastic today eh?! Enough with the , it's making you LOOPY! (even more than before

7salles said:

Kindly shut the fuck up. The only reason u "hate their soccer", whatever that means, is cuz YOU want 2 win! Dont b ashamed 2 admit it, its ok! Just dont go all ballistic on ENTIRE countries,man. Thats not cool.

No I cant speak Portuguese, but my Spanish skills could whip u damn good. Besides, Spanish is more useful than Portu-sneeze.

A friend of mine (Marco) wrote this on another forum, thought I'd post it here... it reflects a lot of people's disappointment with the way Italy played...

"Not only was this World Cup a comedy regarding the referees, but it was also the first World Cup where I am sure we have seen that the old coaches and tactics from eons back have no place in the Italia squad of the future. What coach do you know, that would let his players stand idly by and defend for a solid 75 mins in the hope that they could hold onto their meager goal. It is ridiculous! Italia has probably the most beautifully gifted players in the world and it is so sad to see these talented players put through these torturous ancient tactics implemented in every World Cup.

It does not take a genius to realise that players such as Del Piero are vital to the squad, and to have him replaced constantly and never play a full game is messing with the stability of the team. A team needs unity, and in that unity they will find their strength.

Football has become more than just a game, it has become a religion to some. When international teams representing their countries face off against each other, the public needs to know that there are going to be fresh ideas and some new improvements to previous performances. Italia is regressing in terms of football while the other nations are getting progressively stronger.

Yes, there were some excruciatingly bad referees present and there was general animosity towards the Italian team from the start, but in the end, the Koreans wanted it more, and the Italians rested on their laurels. The Koreans were hungry, and not only were they hungry but they had a crowd of thousands of people fuelling them and pushing them forward. Any coach would realise that sitting back and defending with 10 men is not a bright idea against the host nation. They invited pressure, they got pressure. Did they not learn from the Euro tournament in 2000? France was beaten, and in exactly the same twist of fate, after a barrage of pressure from the French, Italy let one through...and that was all it took. From there, the French were fuelled (just as the Koreans were on Tuesday) and the Italians were demoralised. A simple, yet lethal combination and infact they lost.

Trapattoni should be replaced with someone young, with some revolutionary ideas. Dare I say he should be replaced by a foreigner? Well maybe that is just what we need. Look at England, how much have they achieved simply because there was a man with true vision behind them. These 65 year old men of days gone by have had their chance. They might have the experience, but they are too afraid to deviate from the norm and simply too stubbornly set in their traditional ways. He made some enormous errors such as:

(i) Panucci (My God, does this man have two left feet? Virtually every cross/setpiece was completely offtarget as well as him messing up and allowing the first Korean goal)

(ii) Nesta (Even when injured, this man together with Maldini is virtually unstoppable)
(iii) Di Livio (although a fantastic player, he is getting old and him trying to run the ball the way he did simply wasn't effective)

(iv) Gattuso (not a bad player, but to take Del Piero off for him? Erm...no)

Yes we all make mistakes but the overall performance of the Italians was simply shocking. Let's hope there is not a repeat when the time for the Euro Tournament arrives. "

---

@ bkw


Damn!

Or should I say,"Ok already!"

The reason i hate that soccer is because they play ugly, can't you see it?

Talking about Italy,
It's a shame seeing Italy out of the World Cup out this way, I don't like either Italy tatics, but Italy has lots of incredible players, like Maldini, Totti, Del Piero, I don't lie Vieri, but at least he scores loats of gols. I would like to see Italy playing like Milan in the early 90's. They had a great deffense but they always tried to attack and score goals. Roberto Baggio in 94 at least took responsabilities and lead Italy to the finals. I think that DEl Piero and Toti should've done this. But they're not as good as Baggio was. Anyway I think Baggio is the best player of the 90's. I prefer him than Ronaldo, Romario, Zidane, Figo or Stoitchovo, too bad he is old now.

7salles said:

I can!

Oh well, we're out.

Congratulations to Brazil, but you sure were hit hard with the ugly stick

Well done Brazil...

England were just outplayed...

Seaman ... gotta vent at someone!

The right result for Football. Great play but Brazil, crap play by England.

Crap last 25 minutes for England...you couldn't even tell Brazil were only playing with 10 men.

England out ... boohoo

But, the real reason I'm posting is to assist Ian in justifying the existence of the thread.

PRINCE WAS THERE!!! ... I'll whisper the "Andrew" bit ...

I won't say nothing cause I'm a jerk.

I love England.

I'll cross post like Ronaldinho, oh dear Seaman...

Where was the terrible Brazil defence?

England haven't achieved much overall, terrible against Sweden and Nigeria, won by questionable penalty against Argentina and Denmark were just poor.

Congrats Brazil!

I'd imagine it was tough being an English supporter during this world cup tournament. Despite having some of the best players in the world and a budget of millions, they haven't played a single good game in the whole tournament. A great disappointment for the fans...

The match today...

• Owen basically wasn't participating at all until the Brazillian defence dropped their pants and conceded the first goal. He took full advantage of the blunder and set England up nicely being 1 goal up.
  
• After that England did ... nothing. They didn't push forward. They created no opportunities. There were no good on-target shots on goal.
  
• The Brazillian equaliser in first-half extra time was superb and well deserved. They had out-played England and really deserved a goal.
  
• Why was Ronaldinho sent off? A yellow card maybe, but why was he given a red card? The referee was a joke. Yet despite this lifeline for England, with the opposition down to 10 men, and despite Ronaldo being substituted so Brazil had two of their best players off the pitch, England STILL couldn't create any opportunities.
  

What we ended up with was a dull game, England hardly playing (aside from the hard-working Sol Campbell) and not threatening Brazil (who were 1 man down) even slightly. It was a shame because it was a disappointing game to watch. Even if you put a hard-working but less experienced team like Japan or Ireland up against Brazil ... we might still lose but you can be damn sure we wouldn't make it so easy for them.

Congrats Brazil, you were by far the better team. Commiserations to the English fans, your team let you down today. Sit back and enjoy the USA vs Germany later today
[This message was edited Fri Jun 21 3:23:43 PDT 2002 by ian]

Well naturally I'm cheering for our old friends Germany today. Germany and Ireland have always got on pretty well, we have a "mutual-admiration club" thing going on when it comes to football I think. No matter what happens, I think Germany will give us a great game of football today. Come on Germany, we need SOME European teams in the semi-finals

However, a part of me is quite pleased to see the USA doing so well. I always love an underdog! Also it might finally make the USA take football a bit more seriously in the future. I'm hoping you guys do well and give it 100%. You might lose, but at least go down in a blaze of glory (unlike England) and don't get beaten by crappy penalty knockout (unlike Ireland).

Ian

Ian, I couldn't agree more.
And yeah, the ref was strange - he also let England get avay with several blatant dives, two of them from the over hyped Beckham. England didn't create shit. Disappointing but not really surprising.
It's always a joy to watch Brazil... hope they get to the final (against Spain).


...said jalokin, the Danish geezer.

Well so far my predictions are still coming true! lol

But since they are buried on the thread at the gd forum I will repeat them here.

My predictions were a victory from the South Koreans over Italy, becaus Guus Hiddink is the next president.

Spain would win from Ireland, which they did. Korea will lose their next match against Spain.

Germany will win from the USA and after that beat the Spanish, then they will meet the Brazilians in the final.

I also predicted todays victory from Brazil over England, which anybody could have seen coming. The English simply aren't really that good as everybody (especially themselves) pretend they are..

Senegal will win from Turkey and will be the first African nation in the semi finals of a world cup. Senegal will however not be able to win from Brazil.

Brazil will be world champion 2002.

7salles said:

Hey man you are forgetting the great Dutch trio Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard who brought AC Milan lots of succes in the early nineties. It weren't the Italians, it were the Dutch that made that team so great.

Totti is a bullshit player. He only speciales in making schwalbes which he was punished for the only right way against Korea, with a yellow card. too dumb of him to be doing that with already one yellow card in his bag.

IMO The Italians are a disgrace to the beauty of football. Sometimes I think they have that long hair and try to look good all the time to make up for the lack of beauty they put in their play. They really are the lousies and most boring team I have ever seen. And I am very glad that such a powerfull exciting and incredibly enthousiastical team like Korea beat them.

Oh I remember Euro 2000!!

Now the Italians are complaining about the way their team played against Korea, but they were just as bad or even worse to watch at Euro 2000. They played so defensively it was awfull.
When they faced Holland in the semi-finals they defended 90 minutes straight and held a 1-1 draw. Then, in the xtra time, they just kept their wall of defense up untill the penalty shoot out, because they knew they were going to have better chances with that. And you heard no Italians complaining when a team was winning.

The Italians have a reputation of playing extremely defensive football, they just can't do much else than that.
They ruined the entire match, like they do so often. When Holland was willing to play an atractive open game of football, the Italians simply put a lock on the door and constantly defended with at least 6 defenders. What a goddamn shame to the game!!
And those fuckers played themselves into the final that way, where they lost from France , which was no less than justice served.

Was it good that the Italians were beaten?


YES it was good, very good.



-
[This message was edited Fri Jun 21 5:00:22 PDT 2002 by Abrazo]

Talking about Holland, I like very much their football. They always plays offensively, good deffense, great midfield. It's very cool when Brazil plays against Holland, always a difficult game. Why they aren't in the WOrld Cup? The great players are old now? Unlucky? What teams put Holland out the cup?

Phew, all is right in the world.

Great result however, it would've been nice to see Brazil stay with 11 men in the 2nd half. That decision was awful. Rivaldo is touted as a cheat for what he did against Turkey (fair enough) but Danny Mills' rolling about on the ground was just as bad. It got Ronaldinho sent off. If he'd just went down normally, there's a good chance the wee Brazilian would've just got booked. The ref shat it though when he saw Mills' reaction.

Ronaldinho though, what a guy. Did I ever tell you about the time he nearly signed for my team, St. Mirren? No? Strange that. Click to read the story.

http://www.soccernet.com/...dinho.html

That'll mean Seaman is the scapegoat for this tournament. I wonder if the English press will put the blame all on him. Hmm, I think so.

Finally, I was sent this 10 minutes ago. Didn't take long.

His name was David,
He was a goalie,
With a pigtail in his hair, why was he standing way out there ?
He tried to run back, but couldn't make it,
The Brazilians watched it from a far, as it sneaked under the bar
You could hear the crowd roar, Rivaldo's lying on the floor
The lions whimpered out the door,
Oh baby, who could ask for more...

At the Copa, oh, Copa-ca-bann-ock-burn,
Its great to watch Rivaldo turn,
At the Copa, oh, Copa-ca-bann-ock-burn,
The man with the Moustache should stick to making the adverts,
At the Copa - They fell to bits.

His name was Rio, He was a diamond,
He was running round in rings, he saw Rivaldo level things,
And when he finished, He called him over
But Rio went to slow, Rivaldo slammed it in the goal,
And then Brooking had a spew, Motson bit his mike in two,
Then Ronaldino, he got a red card, but with Mills picked by Sven
It looked like ten versus ten...

At the Copa, oh, Copa-ca-bann-ock-burn,
Its great to watch Rivaldo turn,
At the Copa, oh, Copa-ca-bann-ock-burn,
With heskey near the ball, how did they score a goal at all ?,
At the Copa - We laughed and laughed.

His Name was Bobby, He was the captain,
But that was 30 years ago, thats when they used to have a show,
Now its a party, but not for Beckham,
Still in the dress he used to wear, faded feathers in his hair,
He slumps down on the pitch refined, and then cries himself half blind,
He lost his cup, and lost his glory,
But up in Scotland thats not the story...

At the Copa, oh, Copa-ca-bann-ock-burn,
Its great to watch Rivaldo turn,
At the Copa, oh, Copa-ca-bann-ock-burn,
Three little kittys on the chest, Now we all know whos the best,
At the Copa...we...said...good-byeee!!.


Heh, heh, heh. And now the "At least we were there" responces come...

7salles said:

Ahem!
That would be my fault I'm afraid. Or rather my country. Ireland knocked Holland out. They are a great team though, I agree.

Unlucky USA. Played VERY well.

Well, that's one prediction right. (Although I would've predicted 2-1 to Brazil, however, I didn't want to jinx them)

2-1 to Senegal
2-1 to Spain (unfortunately)



Prince.







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[This message was edited Fri Jun 21 6:23:24 PDT 2002 by npgsmfc]

Germany 1 - USA 0

Hard luck USA, you played a good game but did very well to get this far. Hopefully you Americans will take the sport more seriously now that you've seen your team do well!

In this game USA actually deserved to win, and it's harsh for them that they didn't, looking at the way they played it was unfortunate that they didn't score... they should of got that penalty, it was a clear hand ball... and besides that, they played a lot better, but what can you do. I still can't understand why they don't have video replay for those kinds of suspect decisions

However, while I am still not impressed with the way Germany is playing, they winning their games, and that's what it comes down to if you want to progress to the final. So congrats Germany... wish the standard of Germany's play though was better.

USA should take great enouragement from how well they have done in this world cup... it should inspire the rest of the country to be more interested! What an improvement from the last world cup... didn't they come 32nd out 32 last time?! Congrats USA, they really took the game to the Germans, and dominated most of the time, even if the score line didn't reflect their efforts.