Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic World Cup!!!!

Hi, guys!

So, who is watching the World Cup? Germany just won the first game against Costa Rica for 4X2. And Poland and Ecuador are playing right now.

As a Brazilian I'm really excited about the World Cup! I can't wait to see Brazil playing! We play on Tuesday. This is my first World Cup away from Brazil so I'm missing the whole celebration we have at this time there. Oh, Brazilians are always Brazilians everywhere we go so I'm still excited about it.

GO BRAZIL!!!!!

Cheers,
Raquel

Hi, Raq! Everybody are rooting for the hexa (is that the right word in English? )! The banks and the shops are going to close down during Brazil's games and the schooltime is going to be rescheduled. It means everybody are gonna be glued to TV. In my work I must come later or leave earlier in days of Brazil's games.
And Raquel: I dub thee our virtual cheerleader!

Andreia Não tem pra ninguém, é Brasil!!!

The Brazilian Squad is around!!! Woohooo!! How would we miss it?

glued to the tv indeed. Here in England, the tvs are all hooked on the matches and a lot of fuzz about the English team is going on... but of course we know whos gonna win :p


Good luck to all and may the best team win...


hehehehe...

MDL. (whos gonna have days off every game brazil plays - part of the deal with the Italian boss who will be off when Italy plays. /me wonders what if we both qualify and go to the finals)

Unfortunately , being a Brazilian living in the US means that we don't get to have breaks during the games.

I'll be working during the weekday games. There's no TV where I'm working (ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 are showing ALL the World Cup games) and I'm not allowed to access any website not related to work (although I'll definitely try to see the score during the game and will be rooting silently )

Anyways, prá frente, BRASIL!!!

Just inserting a quick 'hip-hip-hooray' for England, who won their first game this afternoon - and all without The Foot.

Yvonne

I think that if you like soccer, it's hard not to be a little excited, even if you know you're in for another disappointment. I'm pretty much convinced that Spain won't make it too far, but I'll try to enjoy it as long as it lasts .

The good thing is I chose this year to study in Germany(the World cup had, obviously, nothing to do with the decision), and, as fate would have it, Spain is playing its first match quite close to where I am, so even though we didn't get tickets (though we did try), we'll be in Leipzig next Wednesday enjoying all the WC craziness live And I'm sure we'll find a big, nice screen to watch the game

Go the Socceroos! Though it is a pain with the time difference, but that's what program recording is for. I do wish that Australia will go far, but up against Brazil and Croatia in the same group I think that it's unlikely, but I've been excited about the Word Cup since Australia made it though the last qualifying match. Even if Australia didn't make it I'll still be excited.

Well Brazil won against Croatia today (1-0) but it was a really disappointing game if you ask me. I don't know if the pressure of being the "favorite" or the fact that our stupid coach keeps putting Ronaldo on the team even though he is fat and can't even run, but we really didn't play that well as we should have. I still think Robinho should be on the team and Ronaldo should be out. Oh and I didn't understand why they kept kicking the ball so far away from the penalty square... I know, I know, our only goal was because of a kick like that but still it's not like we're used to see Brazil playing! We usually build our attack slowly and wait for the other team to give us some chance to score. Maybe it was just the pressure of the first game but I'm kind of worried now. Well we still got our 3 points so let's see what happens on Sunday when we play against Australia.

GO BRAZIL!!!!

What a cool day!!!!!!! My friends and I had a blast in Leipzig!!!!!!!!!!!! The streets were full of people (many many many people from Spain!), the city was looking great, we got interviewed a couple of times (one for a Spanish channel ) and, heck, Spain won 4-0! It was amazing (and that without tickets! I can't even begin to imagine what it would have been like, had we had tickets! Well, to be fair, some friends did, and they told us that it was simply spectacular!)

ÊÊÊ!
LELEÔÔÔ!
LELEÔ! LELEÔ! LELEÔ! BRASIL!


(Sorry, couldn't resist it).

malu

Quel Lane, I think it's World Cup-itis. England had a bad case of it in their last game, too - they were so tentative, they looked like they were afraid to go anywhere near the goal for fear it might bite them! In the end, they scraped through by the skin of their teeth, but they'll have to get more aggressive if they want to stand a chance of getting through R2.

Anyway, The Foot is back. Yay! Long live The Foot.

Yvonne
(for anyone wondering, I've dubbed Wayne Rooney The Foot because of all the fuss made about his injury in the run-up to the games )

Okay, Brazil won 2-0 against Australia but it wasn't that great of a game still it was better than the first one. Well I have to say that Australia played really well especially their defence. Ronaldo should be out of the team and Robinho should be in because we always play better like that. I think we play better and better each game so I think there is a great performance still to come. The important thing is we're in the second round now!

Raquel

My two cent added here...

Ronaldo is playing astoningly bad, but what brazilian actually thinks Emerson should be playing? Both should hold hands and live a happy life away from our national team.

Kaka is the greatest player now. Even Ronaldinho who is with no doubt a good player, is doing poorly comparedto what he can do.

The players have been stricken by the loss of a Brazilian comentator who had died just yesterday from a heart attack. They claimed they would win the game in his memory and so they did.

Australians have nothing to be ashamed of though. The game was superb and they really exceeded expectations bringing it to a hard match of nill-nill until the end of the first half.

Way to go! I hope to see the socceroos on the next round.

Thanks for those words of encouragement MDL! I'm gunning now for a draw with Croatia and that will definitely see us through and with the way we played against Brazil and the bad state the Croatians were in against Japan, that is definitely a possiblity. I gotta thank Japan for this effort great save from their goalkeeper in denying Croatia a goal from the spot.

Boy, am I enjoying this world cup!!!!!!!!!! I can't even believe the way the Spanish team is performing so far; I would have never expected such a good start! And Raul scored today!!! (what can I say, even if he is far from the great player he once was... he's still the captain!)

This was a fun article...

I Wore A Superman Costume To The World Cup

Really nice article, Sue! Thank you!

And Yvonne, as you know, Sweden and England played 2-2. Perhaps you blame England's Swedish manager, Sven-Göran Eriksson, for that result?

Anyway, Cristina, Sweden is playing Germany next, and it would surprise me very, very much if Germany doesn't kick the Swedish team out of the World Cup!

Ann

Let's just wait and see, Ann The sweedish team is certainly not a bad one! If they have a good day, and the germans don't... In a World Cup almost anything can happen (I mean, look at Korea in 2002 :S, or Turkey -they're not even there this time...).

A part of me kind of wants to see Germany winning the championship (well, first choice is obviously Spain, but... well, that'd be dreaming a little too much ) and be a part of the party Germany is bound to become in that case. Another part of me -the part that's seen the Germans go crazy after every game so far AND IT'S ONLY FIRST ROUND!- is a little scared and wonders if there'd anything at all left of Germany after the celebrations...

I guess we can just sit back, wait and enjoy the game

Ooops! Never meant to quote myself :S Hadn't even seen it; sorry

Congratulations to all Australians on the fine game today!

Brazil vs. Ghana
Australia vs. Italy

These will be good games.

Go Brazil!
Go Australia!

malu

Ann, the thought had crossed my mind. But really, it was down to England's lousy defending.

I must say, Germany seem to be doing a wonderful job of hosting the games. Everyone looks like they're having a great time.

Yvonne

We won, and we are first in our group!

Go Italy!

simona

Yeah, but these Germans are scary

Now, seriously... The whole country is sort of going crazy... The number of flags hanging from windows, cars, etc. just grows by the minute.

They even go as far as cancelling lectures when they are at the same time as Gemany's games. I got one cancelled last Tuesday (it was from 16.40 to 18.10; game was 16-18, more or less; students proposed it, Department accepted). The funniest thing was walking into the entrance hall of the Business Faculty and finding it full with people who were watching the game projected on the wall.

Brazil looked like they were taking a walk in the park against Japan, but boy were they good. It was good to see Ronaldo return to form and equal Gerd Muller's World Cup record I actually don't think he's that great a player, but he gets the job done and in the end that enough.

I went out early today and it was pandemonium I left the house before the game ended and listened in on the radio I was so elated! Now Guus better put Schwazer back in defence goal cos Kalac was terrible I can forgive the first goal that was a stunner and that was unsavable but that second goal shouldn't have gone in. Thank you Harry for saving us.

I am glad that most people seem to think that Germany is doing a good job as the world cup host. It sure does a lot for our country especially after it's been a while since we have really been united in anything .
Just a little while ago it was still unacceptable and uncomfortable for Germans to display their flags and show some patriotism and now we can finally do it like most other countries taking part in the Cup.

And now that Germany has moved on (something very few people here had thought possible), yes we tend to go a little nuts.

I am so looking forward to the game tomorrow and am hoping for a great match and maybe some more good luck for our team.

Natascha (who made sure she gets out of work in time)

I so wanted Japan to win.

Lets wait till the WM is over, I'm pretty sure Germany will be back to what was before in no time, not to mention, that then everybody will find out what our politicians have been up to during the time when nobody looks at them and they pratically can do what they want without any outcry of the masses.

I don't think we'll see that many flags afterwards or the togetherness feeling.
There is not really anything behind it but this one event. The feeling hasn't grown, it has no substance, many people are just swept up in the movement. It'll pass.

Not too many Americans posting in this thread! :rolleyes: Today was the last day of school for us, and I have cable tv in my classroom. So my official Social Studies lesson plan for the last week has been "Geography Through International Sport." I pull down my map, show the kids where the countries are that are playing, and tell them to watch the game. I'm not missing the World Cup for anything!

It's been awhile since I posted on the boards, but that would be due to my trip to Germany. I didn't go to any of the games (I was on a trip with my old high school) but we did get to experience all the hype. And let me tell you, it is crazy over there! I thought Americans went crazy over football, and we do. But this was nuts!

I think the craziest fans I saw were from Sweden. There was yellow everywhere! But the cities were filled with people from all over the world. And I have to say, soccer fans do know how to have fun! Good luck to all of those watching.

~Kristen

The crazy Swedish fans will be quiter now, because Germany just beat Sweden 2-0. That means Sweden is out of the World Cup, but Germany just advanced.

Congratulations, Germany!

Ann

I actually saw part of the Germany-Sweden game since I'm in Sweden at the moment and my mother-in-law wanted to watch. I don't follow soccer/football at all so I don't even know the rules. Either way, the four of us watching here in Sweden probably doubled the total number of Americans actually watching the World Cup with half of them not even in the country.

P.S. Poor Sweden

Yes, poor Sweden, I have never actually seen such a small group of fans singing so loudly, when Sweden was playing against England.
Just because of this they deserved a goal.
But I can't deny, that I'm glad Germany had made it so far. It would be quite a shame to lose, when they have so much support from their fans.
You won't recognize Germany right now, if you had ever been here.

Okay, okay. I'm getting slowly excited about the World Cup. Slowly. Confession time. At first I wanted France to be kicked out of the World Cup so the hype would stop here (it tends to drive me crazy that football is like the national sport here and nothing else matters)... but then I watched France-Togo the other night. And enjoyed it. Reminded me of the matches I watched at the local pub when I was in Manchester.

And I was actually happy France got qualified for 1/8 finals. The good thing is that I can support two teams: France, because hey, whether I like it or not, I'm French , and England, because... well, just because. Any time now I'm gonna put an English flag on my window to counteract the French flags around here.

Kaethel

We haven't played very well, we were too tense, and Australia has played a good soccer, but our portiere (goalkeeper?)and defense were great, and our player has been good to find a penality at the very last second, and Totti has kicked wonderfully. With great difficulty we won!

simona

Poor Australia! I feel so bad for them for losing like this. A penalty goal in the last minute of play! Yikes!!

I so wanted them to win against Italy because I am always rooting for the underdogs (except when Germany is playing <g>) and I just realized today that the Australian team has some pretty good looking guys.

Natascha

I'm sorry that Australia and Sweden are out because I was rooting for them I think Australia deserved to win! I can't believe that Italy got a penalty in the very last minute... some people said it wasn't even a penalty but I need to rewatch it to see if it was or not

Japan and Brazil was a great game! 4X1!!!! I was able to celebrate and watch the game with some Brazilian girls I met in San Diego and we had a blast! I felt like I was partying in Brazil It was sooo cool! I think Ronaldo made a lot of people shut up (even me ) after this last game but I still think Robinho and Ronaldinho are better players but it would be cool to see him setting up a new record so I hope he will score in the next game He did surpassed Pele's record though.

I can't wait for the game tomorrow! I know we'll have a hard time playing against Ghana but I'm sure we'll be able to get out of it alive

Keep going, Brazil!!!!

Raquel (who is really enjoying the World Cup but might end up without any voice left )

Thanks for backing us Aussies! I felt we were hardly done by, but our boys have nothing to be ashamed of we got through the group stage when people said we wouldn't and we held Italy very well and were unlucky to make the most of the chances we had. I'm proud of them and they have done a lot to raise the profile of the sport in this country. Hopefully now football will be widely recognised here as actually football I mean geez how does carrying the ball across the pitch qualify as football? Really the person who made that association shoud have their head checked! Well done boys and now that we are part of the Asian qualification division with a chance to play at the Asian Cup should we get through qualification we have a better chance of getting to South Africa in 2010.

Thanks for noticing how cute many of our squad is. Unfortuantely the cutest one was in crutches Poor Harry, that troublesome injury of his left him out of a game I'm sure he wanted to play in.

...

You're like... the best teacher ever! <g>

its actually kind of a joke really

most australians had never heard of the game (or never knew it was played after you left primary school)

after "we" beat uraguay suddenly we have 4 thousand pple going to germany to watch????

the thing is, in Australia we can now support our true colouurs (ie all those pple in leichardt can now go for their italian grandparent's herratige with no more angst over being disloyal)

we all knew it was not going any further anyway

and yet everyone is talking about our team being robbed


those of us not cought in the "Australia playing an international sporting tornament thus i have to watch tv at 3am" disease, are laughing our heads off now at the others who with tears in their tired eyes turned up very late to work today...

I felt the same way. Just because we got into the World Cup suddenly football is put on the map yet if we hadn't it would still be behind league, union and Aussie Rules. I remember last time in Korea/Japan how Channel 9 bought some of the viewing rights and I remember thinking 'would you all just shut up you obviously know nothing about the beautiful game so stop pretending you do.' It sounds cruel I know, but really Channel 9 doesn't win any points for that supposed special they had on the Sunday before the last group game and united all the football codes (in my mind there is only one sport worthy of actually being called football) in support of the Socceroos because they promoted the more dominate codes here in Australia all the time until Australia made onto the world's biggest stage. The late Johnny Warren did say 'I told you so' in reference to us making to another World Cup and we did and I think we exceeded all expectations it was a cruel way to lose a game though and some part of me wonders whether that Italian player captilised on the fact that Lucas was on the ground because he was nowhere near him when he slipped. I'm ranting I know and I know that Lucas probably shouldn't have left himself in that vulnerable a position and in the end the decsion is that of the referee. Though apparently the Spanish papers are saying that the referee (also from Spain) made the wrong decision in awarding Italy the penalty which I feel that someone should reveiw every match because there have been many matches of this World Cup in which the referee has made many a wrong decision. I'm proud of their acheivement though and hopefully with a new coach (Guus Hiddink is leaving us to coach Russia) we'll be ready to show the world again what we are made of.

Beethoven though I think you are absolutely right. I've been a football fan for nearly 10 years and I remember that 'Songs for the Socceroos' competition that SBS had and when I heard some of songs and they all mentioned that they watched the qualifier against Uruguay I felt that none of them had any clue as to what football really was. I think that if you really want the essence of football, the World Cup is a great place to start, but in particular look at the culture in South America in particular Brazil and Argentina these two countries really capture what it is all about.

This is what the front page of the most important Sportsnewspaper in Spain says about it:

Italia elimina a Australia de penalti injusto en el último minuto.

(Translation: Italy leaves Australia out with an unfair penalty in the last minute.)

It's sad, but Italy is probably the luckiest team on earth. They always have that kind of 'luck' 1994 (USA World Cup) one of the Spanish players ended up with a broken nose during 1/4 final (or was 1/8 final... my memory fails me) thanks to one of the italian guys (who obviously, kept on playing the match, while the Spanish guy bled and bled, and then bled some more :S) But that's what the do; they play 'ugly' (in every possible way) but make it through

Anyway, sorry Australia had to lose like that; it never feels good (though, I must say, the italians also know what it's like to lose thanks to the referee... Hiddink's Korea left them out in 2002, right before leaving the Spanish team out... And don't get me talking about that one referee... )

Poor Ghana! I 'm sorry they are out, I was rooting for them! Their supporters were so nice with ours the day of our first game! You don't see everyday fans of two opponent teams so friendly and nice with each other!

simona

P.S. I'm just seeing that France won agaist Spain! I really thought that Spain would have won easily!
Bravo France!
Speaking about our cousins, thanks to Turham (I don't know if I'm spelling it right) for his kind words about Pessotto

yeah, Ghanna were my 2nd fav team, my dad was born there (but he's not african)

whoever wins this though, there should be something said about the behaviour ov the underdog suporters vs the established FB nations such as Germany and Great B

that is one thing i do not begrudge the Aussie "WE MUST SUPPORT OUR TEAM NO MATTER WHAT SPORT THEY PLAY" fans... they go all over the world to watch a team with a 1/1000000000... chance of winning the final (let alone getting into it) but there have been no arrests (or none reported in the press) regarding brawls between fans after the Japan Game, or the Brazil Game, or even the Italy Game.... which have all had press coverage over biased refs.

Well I didn't want Ghana to play against Brazil because I kind of liked them but since they played against my team I couldn't root for anything else besides the yellow shirt We didn't play that well even if the score suggested the opposite. I'm glad Ronaldo put his name in soccer history as the player who most scored in a World Cup!

I was kind of expecting Spain to win since they had been playing so well but they're always like that, they play really well in the beginning and then they don't go beyond the second round

Saturday we'll play against France and this is the time for some revenge j/k (we lost the World Cup in 1998 to France). That's going to be a good game! I don't mind if they don't play well as long as they keep scoring and winning

Keep going Brazil!!!!

Raquel (who didn't mind that she had to wake up at 8am to watch the game )

Well I'm not rooting for any particular team in the Brazil/France game, but as a great fan of the world game, France in my mind aren't going to match it with Brazil like they did in 1998. Mind you France were the home team that year so go figure, but in Korea/Japan four years ago they didn't even score one goal and bowed out in the first round this time round they only just scraped through the group stage.

Congratulations to Ronaldo for setting a new goal scoring record.

Yessssssss!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally a very good game for Italy!
Thanks and bravo to Ukraine' players and supporters for their compliments!
Next time, Italy vs Germany, wow!

simona

Congrats to France, Germany, Portugal and Italy!!

Oh I'm that England is out, but I enjoyed watching the game. Oh however, I had to walk a away a few times because I hate how players flop on the field when they get touched. That's the reason why I didn't watch the last World Cup.

It was fun seeing the Portuguese community here happy and partying - congrats! My in-laws live in an area rich with Portuguese and Filipino culture and both have been rooting for the Portuguese team. The excitement is just contagious!

One of my most favourite moments of my recent trip was being in a pub watching England play Trinidad & Tobago in Fornby, England. That was just awesome! I hope I get to do that again in four years.

I was hoping against logic that Italy would play Enlgand. My family is English and my old best friend is Italian. We've been hoping for a match up for a long time.

Well, I'm sorry that England are out, but really, they were very lucky to get as far as they did. They played a bit better in the game against Portugal, but they never looked like true winners, IMO.

Congrats to the teams who are through to the semis.

And a big yay! for Andy Murray at Wimbledon, who beat the No.3 seed yesterday and *did* look like a winner. Not that he'll win the championship, you understand, but he's playing well and that's what counts - I hate to see sportsmen and women letting themselves down by not performing at their usual standard. Fingers crossed for his next game!

Yvonne

Totally! Before the game Beckham said something of the effect that he knows they are not playing great...not playing fabulous football (?), but they are at least playing well enough to win. Well, I stuck out my tongue at that!

!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!
One goal-post , one "cross-bar"(?)!!

simona

Omigosh Portugal may not win ]

Congratulation, Simona - you really deserved to win the semi finals although nobody here in Germany seems to be able to admit it....

A whole nation of "They'll never get beyond the preliminary round" is in mouring about the lost chance - at least they applauded when our great team went back to the hotel...

Unfortunately I heard about a lot of quarrels - initiated by both frustated Germans and arrogant Italians... let's hope, that the spirit the World Cup has created during the last weeks might help us to get over this.

I'm looking forward to the finals on Saturday and Sunday - it was a great time regardless of who will win at the end!

Bye,

Jana

I'm going camping this weekend & next week.. Fun and all.. But.. I won't be able to see the finals.. so I guess I'll have to hear who's won about a week later than the rest of the world.. :rolleyes:

I have to post here again:

STRIKE - WE WON!

Okay, it was the petite finale, but nevertheless the game was absolutely gorgeous!
A little comfort for our depressed team.

And I totally appreciate the Portuguese team which was a very fair-minded "loser" (hey, no one's a loser when in the finals...)!
(espeacially when you remember the Argentineans...)

I - who has never ever watched any soccer game - loved this World Cup and I'm lloking forward seeing the Germans win in 2010

Bye,

Jana

CAMPIONI DEL MONDO!
VIVA L'ITALIA!

I loathe football. I just want that understood. <g> The only thing I loathe more than football is watching football.

But, of course, it's been impossible to get away from these past few weeks and I'll admit to having had the odd fleeting moment of interest here and there (though I'll deny it if you tell anyone) while Stuart's been watching this or that match and I was rooting for Italy after their semi final win which inspired even me to be almost on the edge of my seat.

But my main reason for posting is that I just want to say a huge congratulations to Germany. What a truly wonderful competition you hosted and what a terrific atmosphere you created. Well done!

Oh and, yes - congrats to Italy too! <g>

LabRat

Congrats, Italy!

I watched the game from the 40th minute and onwards. I was rooting for them, though I'm not exactly sure why France was giving them a hard time, that was obvious, but I was sure that, if they made it to the penalties, they'd win. And so they did!

VIVA L'ITALIA!

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

Thanks Labby,

I too think that our country did a terrific job of hosting this event and it is so nice to hear all the praise from around the world. Sport really has a way of unifying people, which is exactly waht happened in Germany over the past 5 weeks. And one can never get enough good press.

I was so pleased that Germany won third place, it almost felt like we won the cup. Amazing!!
But congratulations also to Portugal and France. And of course to Italy, the 2006 World Cup winner. Even after our loss to Italy I wanted their team to win the final. And they did! I even placed a bet and won a bowl of ice cream from our cook. <g>

Anyway, I wasn't able to watch the last two games because I was at work but I made my boss call me evertime someone scored so I was at least kept up to date. Of course I didn't tell him I was also following the game online.

Natascha

Whoah I did manage to see the last two games (on a huuuugge screen ) and I just wanted to say; congratz, Germany & Italy (and of course Portugal and France too.. 4th and 2nd is also very good )