World Cup Throwdown III (Do read if you hate football,its the only way youll learn)

D'ya see what I did there?

What a jackass. A dive perfectly suited for a nancy-boy, fish-eating, vinegar-swilling, tipping-over-his-own-knickers, Mr.Spice-wanna-be- but- unfortunately-Scary-is-a-lesbian, soccer, yes, soccer, player. Jackass. I haven't seen a dive like that since the queen mother broke her collarbone. I take that back. Her 6-foot dive into the grave was pretty damn good.

http://www.SoccerAge.com/en/13/e8080.html

This made me smile though:

Totti behind the offensive duo formed by Vieri and Inzaghi.

Of course I'll believe it when I see it. Needless to say Inzaghi should then be replaced by a real striker i.e. Montella. :)

The reason it's better for this living legend to win is he is 1 of the few who plays football the way it should be played, touches of magic, creativity & style. Like a great artist or musician, he is a unique voice who plays like no one has ever played before, the antidote in an era of lesser skilled robots and bores.

Maradona says, "For me Rivaldo is the only player in the world who is a pure joy to watch. He never ceases to amaze me."

Did you know Rivaldo was so malnurished as a child that all is teeth fell out, it is the reason for his extreme bow legs and why his muscular structure never developed fully? This kind of deprivation lowers life expectiency, organ developement, stamina and strengh. It's amazing he was able to become such an athelete in these circumstances and we can only imagine how much greater he'd have been if he could have eaten proporly in his youth.

As for the Turkey incident, this is not typical of Rivaldo but IMO he got a raw deal fr. media. He never tried to get anything to happen to the player that shouldn't have, the guy still deserved the second yellow for kicking the ball at him just to be a prick. The ref was not qualified and the match was v. dirty on turkey's part. I thought it was a good laugh at a pnt when the match was over, and nothing happened to the guy that shoildn't have, so they all the hate?

Fuck overly tactical Antifutbol Dahle Brazil!

4 yrs. Ago Rivaldo & RC cried while watching their friend Ronaldo have a seizure, swallow his tongue and come close to death before the final. Now I want them to get another chance to win the Penta! Viva Brasil!

Makes this group *very* exciting, don't you think?

Italian player's I(CE) (S)CREAM at the assistant refs decisions - as their unbeaten record MELTS AWAY in the HEAT

I thought the second disallowed goal was ruled out correctly, although you see those things allowed all the time.

I was quite pleased about the result but I do feel a bit sorry for Italy: it's awful losing a game to dodgy refereeing decisions.

My dad was cross also.

Hopkins is spot on re. the second decision: it was not a legit goal.

Sod the Italian team. They have always been bores. I think Croatia's result marvellous.

Well done to them for making it finally feel like a World Cup!

I can't follow this logic. Anyway, how do you know whether all the other teams will win (OK Brazil v. China fair enough)?

Nice to see that the rain's eased up in Jeonju - has a WC game ever been abandoned due to the weather? A bit torn over this group - I don't really want to see Portugal, USA *or* South Korea being eliminated. I fear it'll be SK...

Portugal motoring nicely now (but against the most inept defensive performance outside of Saudi Arabia's first match), *and* my man Rui Costa notched a goal (but should've had a second). Strangely, I think Poland actually had more attempts at goal - they were nearly all rubbish, however.

I've been feeling very smug at being able to watch practically every game so far (and the prospect of uninterrupted knockout-stage enjoyment), but I'll be missing a few crunchy group games later this week. Portugal vs South Korea could be the game of the tournament.

Hopefully France and Germany will get knocked out tonight. Does anyone know if Zidane is playing?

Word around the campfire is he's off on a loan to Barca. Probably some cheeky Catalan plan to beat the hefty sum (and we're talking big money here) Lazio must pay Valencia if Mendieta returns to the Spanish League within a certain amount of time. Still if Atletico go ahead and get Mendieta they are building quite a team with the rumoured transfers of Riquelme and Javi Moreno.

Oh, must fight the urge to get exicted about Spain, The Curse Of The Penalty looms.

Eating shit has its good points. Haven't you seen 'Salo'.

As for Spain, I'm not convinced. Three wins and nine goals is good, obviously, but conceding four goals against three weakish sides is a danger sign. Still, I think Spain can be at least as optimistic as England - their one team to fear will be Italy, who I still fancy making the final from that half.

Real Sociedad fans can often be heard muttering 'we should sign Mendieta' because he's Basque and good. Well, that's what they say, I think it's because they want to tape his records. They can't afford him anyway.

Looking forward to the second round already. Ireland have finally managed, in the words of Danny Blanchflower, to equalise before the opposition score, Duff looks precocious; they will give Spain, still not as impressive as perhaps they should be, some problems. It could, amazingly, go either way.

Germany should overcome Paraguay, hampered by the Brando-esque liability that is Chilavert. The sight of him pawing the air to gift the Spanish their second goal was fairly tragic. The Germans, as ever, look strong in the face of adversity.

England - Denmark will be ding-dong. England could grind it out, or Denmark could strike with their great flank play. Penalties? It seems the only way England can go these days.

Sweden against Senegal should be another exciting, wholly unpredictable affair. The Africans still seem, even after 3 games, an unknown quantity. The Swedes have already surpassed most people's expectations by getting this far. I expect them to go on.

''England - Denmark will be ding-dong. England could grind it out, or Denmark could strike with their great flank play. Penalties? It seems the only way England can go these days.''

I really wanted england to play senegal! Denmark are a very good team (they won the european championship beating a good german team in the final: no one fancied the danish then) whereas senegal conceded three goals after being 3-0 against uruguay btu we've got them. I really want to see England brazil (have i said that already).

Four years ago denmark played brazil in the quarter finals. a brilliant match. Brazil won 3-2 (as I recall, a very tight game).

If england get through I think we'll beat brazil. I really do! The danish match will be harder.

Sweden should beat senegal. Their defence is terrific and they have henrik larsoon but it will be interesting to see how senegal do.

Do no underestimate paraguay. In '98 only a golden goal took paraguay out (they were playing France and they were definetely playing for penalties then). This is the worst german team I've ever seen. Another really interesting match.

Not only that, he reads *real* books. :) I always figured he should play for Athletic Bilbao, he should be the figura they're lacking in order to recapture former glories. Ideally, Real Madrid should trade F*g* for Mendieta and pay Valencia that stupid fine.

Now re. Spain - Ireland, it seems to go the other way around already there's been talk from the Ireland camp along the lines of "we don't fear Spain, we're feeling invincible." while Spain are muted and humble. Heheheh. Masterful.

I'm on the fence re. Italy who I fancy, but it would be better for Spain to have them out of the competition. Spain always loses to Italy. It's the law.

Edmilsons goal was a thing of beauty and poetry, that game was a peach!

I was always impressed by Zvonimir Boban's high-brow credentials, living in a former Pope's palace, with his huge library stuffed with first editions of existential classics, and his cool beard!!

It says so on the BBC.

Good old Petit. He was criticized for choosing not to go to Israel with Chelsea, now nobody will be able to call him a big girl.

De retour de la CM, les joueurs de l'équipe de France ont tellement honte qu'ils décident de se déguiser pour ne pas être reconnu.

Zizou se déguise en moine (tonsure déjà existante) et se proméne sur les champs elysees. Tout d'un coup une vieille dame lui dit "ça va Zizou!"

Et la vexé il repart changer de déguisement et se retrouve habillé en émir arabe. Et là, la même vieille dame lui dit "ça va Zizou!". Interloqué il va la voir en lui disant "mais comment faites vous pour me reconnaitre?" et elle lui répond "T'es con ou quoi ? C'est moi Barthez."

I wish I was at home with my interactive TV so I could switch to the Croatia game.

Mexico to win World Cup, though?

Italy, sort of a 1982 style qualification innit? Since they "won" against Croatia there's some justice. Though they need to make some drastic changes, the "midfield" with Zanetti and esp. useless Zambrotta doesn't do anything to help Totti and co. Inzaghi needs to be benched too. Still can't believe they didn't bring along Fiore.

Well, they're in the other half of the draw so we can't meet them till the final anyway. If we made it that far I really wouldn't care who we played.

Yawn.

I quite wanted Italy to depart, but here are three reasons for wanting them in:

a) I like their stretchy blue lycra shirts

b) I think several of them are quite easy on the eye

c) Somehow I like Trapattoni. I like the way he looks, his suit, his expressions and gestures - but more importantly I think he was Juventus coach in the mid-80s, so cannot help liking him somewhat.

yes please! (stripey _likes_ Dino)

I thought Maldini did well enough against Ecuador. I didn't see the Croatia game so I can't comment on it, but I agree about the Mexico game : Maldini seemed so slow and so overwhelmed. It was sad to watch him (Almost as if he was hiding an injury that's worse than the one we've heard about). Actually, now that I think about it, the entire team seemed to be in a daze when playing Mexico. (Contrast this to the Argentinians and Swedes who, in a similar predicament, were so "there" that it probably affected their aim -- I haven't seen such nail-biting intensity in ages!). I agree too about Inzaghi. He hasn't done much yet -- except maybe as a cheerleader, giving bear-hugs to Vieri whenever he scores. (Is he Vieri's incentive to score?) But what's the solution? I dunno, I guess I'm hoping they'll go back to the strategies and players they used in the first game. Seemed more concise and effective. Why empty your midfield just to add defense or strike-power when you've got Cannavaro and Vieri on the pitch already? It seems redundant. Trap tried his "trident" plan at Fiorentina too, and it didn't work very well there either -- but possibly for different reasons.

Well, I don't think Vieri and Inzaghi work together, they both are pure strikers. What Vieri needs is someone who plays alongside him, for him. Totti did this quite well against Ecuador but maybe Trap could opt for Delvecchio, who doesn't score that much but also doesn't have a problem with playing for the top striker. At least that I think is the reason Capello uses him with more frequency at AS Roma than Montella, who actually is a better striker.

Ah Belgium, another miracle, 1986 style, would be fun in the next round

Portuguese Sardines squeezed out by the South Koreans !

This isn't scapegoating, by the way-- Agoos is truly shit, and all the other players know it.

"Can you say, "annihilation", boys and girls?"

Jesus, absolutely! I'm not patriotic (by any means), but damn, US could only struggle up to score ONE goal? It looked like the entire team was dependent on Reyna to consistently score. For the most part, the US team lacked serious direction.

Pardon me for scraping up a little hope!