Alright : A poll on the FIFA...who's gonna win !!!

Ronaldo looked a shadow of a man on the pitch in the first game. Something strange going on there. He didn't seem to have any appetite for the game at all.

Have to say your brother in law may well be right. Argentina are looking well up for it. Great game yesterday, although I missed the second half - had to go for my guitar lesson.

Ronaldo is certainly messing up.Though Ronaldinho and Kaka looked great.

And i think you did well , attending your guitar lesson :wink:

OK OK Brazil beat us 2 - 0

A draw with Croatia will see Australia through to the next round , not something that can't be done . After the way we preformed in the first half against the world champions ( Brazil ) ..

There is still hope for the Aussies and the USA team can feel very upset with those match officials , card happy I say .

I will quote a British commentator , When born in Australia your given a birth certificate and optimism .... We are still in there look out Croatia , a Australian team with it's back against the wall is a very dangerous opponet ...

There is still hope for the Aussies and the USA team can feel very upset with those match officials , card happy I say .

My prediction is that Brazil and Aus will move on. As for the other comment I appreciate your comments. I hesitate to say much cause coming from me it just sounds like whining. When I used to coach 12yos in soccer I would tell them that you cant count on having perfect officiating to win your matches and you have to be bigger than that. But I think that the officiating has been awful for most of the matches I have seen in this world cup but in particular the US v Italy match. The red card for bloodying McBride I understand but other than that there were terrible calls on both sides. Still, am really enjoying watching all this soccer.

Geoo

I had a giggle with this statement that you said Geoo

I would tell them that you cant count on having perfect officiating

Ummm perfect officials in any sport would be luxuary , I have reffereed Rugby League in my home town ( the big boys not children ) so I have a little knowledge of officials .

In any sport officials are to aduicate on the rules as the sport unfolds , they ( officials ) are not there to control the flow of the game in any way . Currently in Aus ( Rugby League officials ) have got a secret code to find out the penalty count . What a load of rubbish , they should just penalise what needs to penalised and move on if a team has a 100 penalties against them so what ... Just means they are very ill disapplined

Any way

Go the AUSSIES

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE

OI OI OI

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE

OI OI OI

AUSSIE OI AUSSIE OI

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE

OI OI OI

Our national anthemn

Australia has plenty of chances. Croatia is starting to look really stale and tired where the Aussies seem to have plenty of drive left. And with the current situation Croatia has to attack, which they can't very well, so Australia can just lean back and enjoy themselves with a few counters. Nice to see Australia demonstating that playing agressively and with force doesn't have anything to do with cruel fouls, as some media seemed to suggest.

As for the USA, both red cards were quite well-deserved if you ask me. And while Pope collected two yellow cards without too much nonsense the first red card for the USA was downright disgusting, pretty much the same kind of sick crap as the Italian elbow. That wasn't a late or mis-timed tackle (as I've read in some American media), it was an intentional and potentially career-ending ankle-crusher. There just is no other punishment then a red-card for it and I truly hope the FIFA treats the guy to a free ticket home.

Apart from him the USA did play very well and deserved the point against the lackluster Italy, based on their work-rate. The general quality of refereeing during the match was fairly high: you can't blame the ref for what the players did. Some errors by linesman did cost Italy a handfull of excellent chances. From a football-point of view I don't think the USA-squad has any reason to complain: getting away with a 1-1 'victory' without scoring a goal or even creating a chance of sorts, after Mastroeni little show and Pope's (who played well and seems a fair player) somewhat unproffessional behaviour, seems more then enough reward to me. If there was any justice in the world both teams would have lost the match. They can pull things right against Ghana but they will really have to perform a whole lot better then what they've showed so far.

And as for Ronaldo: he was basically butchered by his team-doctor before the WC98 final against France. I'm impressed he's still running every now and then.

I'll have to agree to disagree with most of that ALTHOUGH, I will totally admit that I am more than a little biased so you may well be right. Dunno. But I will agree with you on one thing, the US will have to play alot better than they have shown so far if they are to beat Ghanna. So far, as far as I am concerned, we havent scored a goal. Cant win games without scoring.

We're all biased. I'm unable to play football on a decent level anymore because I encountered a few
Mastroenis myself, so I tend to get quite annoyed when I see it happen. Bottom line is that the USA still got a chance, and that's what matters in the end. :)

Watched the game last night between brazil and aus - that is until ronaldo went off , i can't help it i like guys more when the commentators shoot them down.
Kinda like Michael Schumacher – although to be fair I always liked him, the guy's brilliant.

And he was innocent!!

Back on topic

Go FIFA!!

Minus

We're all biased. I'm unable to play football on a decent level anymore because I encountered a few
Mastroenis myself, so I tend to get quite annoyed when I see it happen. Bottom line is that the USA still got a chance, and that's what matters in the end. :)

Mastroeni's foot was sliding along the ground, keeping it low to avoid injury (and a card), and he didn't whip his trailing leg. Since he was late, I can understand a yellow card, but a straight red didn't make sense to me.

The second yellow for Pope was insane, he got to the ball first, and wasn't from behind.

I've watched many of the WC games, and I think the refs have done a good job overall. I know that some people have been annoyed by the "technical" yellows for delay and dissent, but everyone was warrned in advance that they would be enforcing the Rules of the Game.

As for the US, once again our coaching has been terrible. We play strange formations and leave our best players on the bench.

I love all the underdogs - Ecuador, Ukraine, even Trinadad and Tobago after their first game.

Laz

Group B final tonight, Sweden vs. England.

I'm hoping for sweden to win (of course :P) , but I'm guessing it'll be a tie because that is how the Sweden team plays :( .

It'll be a tough game whatever the result.

I know our destiny is in our own hands but since when have England made life easy for themselves or their supporters. I hope I'm wrong but I have this strange sense of foreboding that it's Germany for us in the next round.

Need a couple of pre-match apperetifs to calm my nerves. Not going to get much guitar practice in tonight. :(

Come on England.

Ok chuckster, Sweden is going to win :P .

I just started my summerjob and I have to get up 6 o'clock tomorrow so I won't get much sleep tonight. So if Sweden loses and T&T wins against Paraguay and ends up with more goals than Sweden I'll be pissed.

How come the both matches are on att he same time? Up to now all the matches have been on at different times. Just to make us more nervous or what!

We're all biased. I'm unable to play football on a decent level anymore because I encountered a few
Mastroenis myself, so I tend to get quite annoyed when I see it happen. Bottom line is that the USA still got a chance, and that's what matters in the end. :)

Mastroeni's foot was sliding along the ground, keeping it low to avoid injury (and a card), and he didn't whip his trailing leg. Since he was late, I can understand a yellow card, but a straight red didn't make sense to me.

The second yellow for Pope was insane, he got to the ball first, and wasn't from behind.

I've watched many of the WC games, and I think the refs have done a good job overall. I know that some people have been annoyed by the "technical" yellows for delay and dissent, but everyone was warrned in advance that they would be enforcing the Rules of the Game.

As for the US, once again our coaching has been terrible. We play strange formations and leave our best players on the bench.

I love all the underdogs - Ecuador, Ukraine, even Trinadad and Tobago after their first game.

Laz

also the first yellow was undeserved, I didn't even think it was a foul, it was two players shoulder to shoulder IMO

The final match in each group is played simultaneously so that no team has the advantage of knowing the result of the other match and trying to adjust their gameplan accordingly. It's done for fairness (theoretically).

I guess it's going to be a long night for both of us. :lol:

That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure. I'm getting a bit nervous now :lol: .