2010 Football World Cup

[Troy]

Diving galore and card galore. Some of the referees have been giving out yellow and red cards at will. Yesterday the referee in the Chile Switzerland game nearly lost control of the game and to counter that was handing out cards for every little thing. Once the group stages finish I have faith that the refereeing will improve because it would be a shame for the refereeing to have a big impact on the result of the game.

France vs South Africa is the match I am most looking forward to tonight. France have been poor at this tournament and the problems within the team threaten to ruin their progress into the next stage. I actually hope they don't get through since Ireland should be there instead.

 

[R.D Punk]

There have been to many other factors other than skill that are determining the matches really, example the ball has been a major talking point and so have the ref. The World cup is slowly getting better but the quailty of reffing is getting poorer. I mean the Chilie and Switzerland game should of been a cracker but the ref didn't let the game play and role he just kept on stopping and as for the red card. Wow, that was wrong. Basically, every red card in this cup other than the Keita red card where wrong, its unbelievable how bad the officalating has been, so much for the worlds best. As for Ref's, German ref for Englands game tommorw, yeppie kiey yay motherfucker!

 

[Troy]

End of the road for Australia. I woke up early and watched this match and we looked like a much better team, this is how we should have played the entire tournament. A 2-1 win is a nice way to finish although it is a shame that we selected the wrong team against Germany and played so badly, that first match cost us the tournament.

England and US are both through to the next stage after 1-0 wins. England play Germany I believe which Germany should win unless England can find their spark and start performing to their potential. US vs Ghana should be a good match and I see US being too good for Ghana who weren't that impressive.

 

[R.D Punk]

Having Australia knocked out is sad for me because they had it all against them. I mean they had two highly unfair red cards and results didn't go their way. I watched the last match agasint Serbia and they played really, really well and deserved to at least go through in second but I suppose you loose a match and it's an uphill battle. Shame that their squad is oldish because I really would of thought they would of got far if they got through, not far as in the final but at least having a chance of getting into the 1/4 finals and giving their team a good seeing too.

England vs Germany. Two teams, two countries with national hatred. I can't beleive that this match is only the last 16! This would of been my bet to be the match in which england win the cup , England will win this obv, they have got that smile back when the train, they have the players and Cappelo showed us last night that he isn't bothered about changing tactics.

 

[Troy]

I am quite happy with four points though, not as far as last time but we did well in a tough group, probably the toughest behind Brazil and Portugal's. It would have been nice to go though and play US since that would have been a winnable match. Shame but we have the Asian Cup coming up and hopefully we perform well there. Then we need to qualify for the next world cup and continue to make it there and show we can play football at a high level.

Are England back to their best though? They have seemed flat during the tournament so far and Rooney is having a shocker in front of goal. DeFoe provides a good spark up front though and he should turn it on during the later stages.

Portugal vs Brazil is tonight and that should be a great match which should show us how good this Portugal side actually is. I actually want Portugal to defeat Brazil.

 

[Troy]

Germany did win like I predicted, it was 4-1 in the end and Germany were just too good for an England team that was still so flat. Their defence was horrible and the loss of Ferdinand before the tournament hurt England more than I thought it would. Gerrard's non-goal raises the issue again of why a massive sport like football doesn't use video replays.

Netherlands vs Slovakia and Brazil vs Chile. Netherlands and Brazil are my selections to win in regular time. Who do you think will win tonight?

So far the Quarter finals are Uruguay vs Ghana and Argentina vs Germany.

 

[Troy]

NETHERLANDS!!!! WOOOOOOOO!

So happy right now. Netherlands defeat Brazil 2-1 and move into the semi-finals. I travel to Netherlands next week and it will be awesome being there in this atmosphere.

They play the winner of Uruguay vs Ghana, I am tipping Uruguay 3-1, and that is very winnable.

 

[R.D Punk]

Semi Finals this week with Holland vs Uruguay and Spain vs Germany. These are some great games on paper with all of them loving to attack but you never know what can happen. I am going to guess Holland will win 2-0 and Spain and Germany will go to extra time where none other than Torres will score a excellent goal. My prediction of the final will be Holland vs Spain which will be amazing too see if bother attack.

 

[Troy]

The final was an anti-climax. Boring match with a referee bent on trying to make a name for himself and ruin the match. Too card happy and some of his decisions were terrible. Worst decision was awarding a goal kick when it was a clear corner to Holland, that goal kick lead to the Spainish goal so effectively that bad decision cost Holland the match.

Robben can't use his right foot and that hurt Holland. He has the best chance to win the game but screwed up some clear chances. Was weird watching the game with about 30 Dutchies at a family members house in Netherlands, different environment.

Good that a new team won the World Cup and bring on the next one in four years in Brazil.