I’m surprised the European visitors haven’t made a thread about this!
In a surprising set of circumstances, we find South Korea and the US survived the first round and France was humiliated, with having its kicked repeatedly in the games they played. Also a rare occurrence, the host country, South Africa, was knocked out along with France.
I’ve been following it (surprise surprise)- can’t not really with every pub in my town celebrating beating, um, Slovenia, as though we’d won the whole damn thing. If we beat Germany in the second round though, I’ll be chuffed. 
Good riddance to France, cheating bastards (Google ‘France Ireland Hand Henry’ to see what I mean there). Always good to have a last 16 with plenty of non-Europe or South America teams in it. Pity South Africa went out though, I’ve never seen a host country get into the spirit of the World Cup as much as they have- every press conference Desmond Tutu’s held in his South Africa beanie hat has made me smile.
Result of the tournament for me so far are New Zealand- Oceania’s only representative and a country without a professional league- holding the world champions Italy to a 1-1 draw. They may even still qualify if they beat Slovakia in the final round.
I’m not much of a sports fan; I enjoy the pomp and circumnstance more than the actual play. Still it’s nice to have something positive going on in the world.
If it weren’t for those annoying vuvuzelas…
We need EPIC HEROES To deal with them!!
If by rare you mean the first time ever.
Also
USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
Leave it to America to be like “Hey, let’s just TACKLE that goalie, then we can get a goal!”
BRILLIANT IDEA!!!
USA! USA! USA!
^This.
We’re busy watching the games, Sin. I was really only surprised by SA being disqualified, but certainly not for their merits in the field.
France has kept their clueless coach that had already humiliated them once in Euro 2008 and who would have failed dismally in the last WC if not for Zizou taking his team in hand. His picks were stupid (a forward that has scored thrice in 2 years?) and the morale of the team was nonexistent.
South Korea’s defense is very weak but they were more focused than the other teams. Greece performed badly in the friendly games before the WC and no one batted an eyelid. When the comparisons with the legendary 4-4-2 team of WC '94 began to emerge (the '94 team had a 0-4,0-4,0-2 record) after the first game, they finally became motivated, but the aforementioned game with Korea was damning. Tough luck. As for Nigeria, the poor guys are on a downward spiral.
As for the U.S., they are a better team than Slovenia and Algeria. It also seems Americans have discovered they field a soccer team and there’s a lot of rah rah support, but they were pretty good last time too. Not spectacular, but certainly good.
The outrage of the English on behalf of the Irish is rather funny though. It looks more like a dislike for the French than a fair play thing, unless Rooney was ostracised for his sporting behaviour in the England - Portugal game of the last WC and I missed the news.
I don’t understand American patriotism. Drawing attention to the fact that you’re American pretty much labels you as a douche to everyone who isn’t. I dunno, it just feels like posts like 984’s are supposed to make the US sound enviable or something 
No one wants to be you. Sorry. Like, they actually don’t 
The right to post like that is reserved right now for Argentinians, not countries who get lucky and slip into the final 16 in a sport they’re almost-not-mediocre at. And not to turn this into a political thread, but yeah, the past nine years, etc. Your country has a LOT of sucking up to do to the rest of the world before people will be able to endure patriotism from you without puking in their mouth a little.
Man, I know 984 does this for jokes, but it’s irritating and doesn’t belong in a WC thread. USA is irrelevant and you’d have to be a goddamn lunatic to think they’re going to ride this team past the second round. Even the first is outrageously ambitious, but I’m willing to entertain the possibility of a miracle if they happen to be seeded against the second-weakest team there. And no, they are not a better team than Slovenia. Let’s get real.
England deserves to be doing better than they are. Argentina and Brazil are no surprise. Chile is a happy surprise. Uruguay and Mexico are exactly where they should be. The team I’m most impressed with is Greece. They got their first 2 world cup goals EVER this year, and won that game. Awesome stuff from them. Germany is Germany, they won their group, like anyone predicted anything else. That about sums it up so far.
Everytime I see a stream of “U~S~A!!”, the first thing to come to mind is “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan going on a rampage. I’m sure 984 would echo these sentiments as well.
In another very surprising ending, Slovakia beat Italy 3-2 in a very close match with lots of action at the end. Now both finalists from 2006 are out without even having gotten past the first round. God damn.
Everytime Mexico played a game, my students missed class. Gotta love their priorities.
I don’t think it was that surprising. Italy was old in 2006. They have the same squad this year. They’re even older.
And Kairi, as a lesbian, are you rooting for America or are you a turncoat rooting for those damn Mexicans?
And Hades, get back to me once Canada finally scores a goal in the World Cup.
And no, they are not a better team than Slovenia. Let’s get real.
Yes they are.
England deserves to be doing better than they are.
No they don’t.
The team I’m most impressed with is Greece.
The most anti-football team west of North Korea? Fuck off.
Germany is Germany, they won their group, like anyone predicted anything else. That about sums it up so far.
Oh wait except Germany was 3rd in the group going into that game and was in some danger of missing out on the next round if they had played to a draw with Ghana (though I’m sure you’ll say Ghana is shit).
jesus fucking christ you are so lacking in knowledge about anything related to sports it is painful for me to read.
At first I didn’t make a thread because Argentina’s classification round was so abysmal that we had essentially a snowball’s chance in hell of getting anywhere and I was avoiding getting hyped up for an inevitable disappointment. I must assume that there was some manner of 80’s style training montage occurrence in between the end of classification and the start of the cup in order to explain what the fuck is currently happening. Or maybe they all just finally figured how to play together.
Then I didn’t make a thread because Kor, Ren and Pierson are no longer here and I couldn’t remember who else here would actually care.
Anyhow, it’s been a… baffling group stage to say the least. Lots of big teams have been playing like ass and smaller ones have been showing promise. Germany started well and then tripped over itself, actually being in danger of not making it, England has been pretty damn mediocre and I don’t think I have to comment on Italy and France.
North Korea Vs Brazil was an actually impressive match, since the guys from BEST KOREA actually put a very good fight until that physics-defying goal destabilized them. And then they got utterly reamed by Portugal. Seriously, WTF.
Speaking of Brazil, I’m not saying it was important since the match ended 3-1, but Fabiano’s double-hand goal against Ivory Coast was BULLSHIT. The FIRST hand I could let go, it was an accident, but the second one might as well have been him playing Basketball.
Speaking of obvious faults, Rig I’m sorry to say this, but Greece played like a bunch of cheating assholes in the first half. I know Messi breaking into a sprint triggers the dreaded “Maradona effect” by which the opposing team collectively shits themselves and scrambles to stop the goddamn midget whatever means possible, but the Greek marks seemed ready to club him in the back of the head if it was what it took to stop him, I lost count of how many times they tackled him with no repercussions. I’m not saying anything about the defensive play in the first half, if turtling up is what you needed to do, then fine, but it shows that getting told that they needed to win in the second half really threw the team off track.
Well, Palermo’s goal was very touching given the circumstances.
And Diego apparently had a lot of fun.
This only happens once ever four years, cut them some slack. You should see my country, everything literally freezes whenever there’s a match going on.
Ez… you’re so fucking stupid, it’s staggering. Seeing me react like this is probably the only reason you made that embarrassingly unsupported “nuh uh!” response to me, but goddamn, I can’t help it. You’re just… a fucking moron unlike anything I’ve ever seen on these forums. You just made the combined stupidity of Setz and Sabin look like Rhodes Scholar material.
I don’t think I’ve EVER seen anyone who’s actually racist against Greeks. How… the fuck? It’s not even… like, I didn’t think this shit existed. I’m not allowed to be proud of them for the improvements they’ve made in the past 4 years… because Greece isn’t a football nation? Wha…? I don’t eve-…what? Are you even trying to make sense? If they were so “anti-football” why did they even field a team? Why were they so pumped when they got their first goal and won, and why was the entire Greek community in London Ontario shitface blitzed throughout the night, partying to the point that it got local news coverage? Those don’t strike me as anti-football activities, but I guess I don’t know anything about sports, and the only right way to show your enthusiasm for the game is by mounting Brazillian flags on your car windows, like it’s supposed to be edgy to support the landslide favourites of the past half-century.
Can you cite even a SINGLE source that claimed Germany might not win their group before two games were played? I’m not even asking for a good one. I’m just asking for anything. Any shred of any news article that said not to pick Germany if you were putting money on that group going into the tournament. Can you? Let me put things into perspective for your indescribably dumb ass: Germany’s GOAL DIFFERENTIAL after game one was TWICE Ghana’s TOTAL GOALS scored after game three. Now read that again, and pay attention to the underscored words. The group standings are misleading. Ghana, the team you have a trembling hard-on for, was not close to matching Germany’s production or effectiveness on the field. Am I saying they’re shit? No. But goddamn, you need to smarten the fuck up and see things for what they are before you go limping your troll ass into topics you’re not prepared to discuss to any degree of intelligence or civility. The funny and ironic thing is that the “pain” I’ve caused you with my perceived “stupidity” is the result of your own obscene bigotry and frantic need to disagree with me about something you only have a passing interest in and have done absolutely no research or observation for. But go ahead, keep thinking you’re a magnificent analyst and I’m a retard. I’ve been here too long to expect anyone to concede anything when it’s so much easier to just sweep the mountains of evidence under the rug 
Edit: btw 984, Canada’s lack of success is irrelevant and you know it 
Edit2:
I love this paragraph and I love Maradona.
Source: Official FIFA world rankings…you know…as in the FIFA that runs the world cup (in case you didn’t know that because Canada is ranked 63.
That was the sickest game of the world cup so far…why didn’t Italy play like they did in the last 10 minutes the whole game? Slovakia 100% earned their place in the elimination round last night.
Damn vuvuzelas are everywhere!
England played pretty bad so far. They don’t deserve anything. There’s a big difference between “they should be playing better” and “they deserve better.” If you want to talk about deserving better, the better examples, believe it or not, are America’s two disallowed goals (one over Slovenia, which, gasp, would have been a victory and the other an early goal over Algeria) and Italy’s disallowed goal today against Slovakia.
Ez wasn’t being racist against the Greeks. That’s just stupid. He used an actual soccer term, anti-football, to describe their type of play. It means a completely defensive type of play that is brutally ugly, the antithesis of the beautiful game. Ez knows the sport. I’ve had so many conversations with him between the past two World Cups about various competitions (international, club, college, and high school) it’s absurd. If YOU knew anything and had more than a “passing interest” in, you would know the term anti-football. But you don’t. Because you actually don’t know the sport.
But you don’t know the game. Like Kaiser said, you’re a vuvuzela.
Double Posting to add:
Favorite World Cup Moment So Far:
Learning that the North Korean government chose to begin live broadcast of the tournament to its citizens just in time for North Korea’s game vs Portugal (Portugal 7-0 North Korea).