2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa

[U2Rox]

I remember five years ago my brother and I discussed actually going to South Africa. Now that's it's here I kind of wish we would of followed through.... Football at it's finest!!

[Josh Linn]

There's a good chance the U.S. lands the World Cup again in 2018 or 2022, and if Brazil continues to drop the ball with building stadiums and infrastructure for 2014, we'd be a good fill-in candidate, so don't feel too bad about skipping out on next year. I really wouldn't want to go to South Africa anyway.

[U2Rox]

There's a good chance the U.S. lands the World Cup again in 2018 or 2022, and if Brazil continues to drop the ball with building stadiums and infrastructure for 2014, we'd be a good fill-in candidate, so don't feel too bad about skipping out on next year. I really wouldn't want to go to South Africa anyway.

 

True, True! well see how things go. Maybe it'll happen for us.

 

I'd still like to go to South Africa. The experience alone, for me, would be unforgettable!!

[fatdaddy]

U.S. might make the second round? I think.

[moris.green]

With only 26 days remaining for the World cup all teams are chalking out their final strategies. If seen from the recent forms, I will put Spain in the front . All their players are performing brilliantly in the club level and now it's time to prove their mettle in the final itself. Teams like Italy,Germany and Brazil are always dangerous .

 

 

 

 

 

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[Josh Linn]

I'll tell you what, as amazing of a football player that Diego Maradona was, he is probably one of the worst managers in the world. I wouldn't be shocked at all to see Argentina flame out in the group stage.

 

As far as who I like/don't like, off the top of my head:

 

FAVORITES: Spain, Brazil, England

SLEEPERS: Netherlands, Germany, Ivory Coast, Nigeria

OVERRATED: Argentina, France, Portugal, Italy, Mexico

 

And by sleepers, I mean teams that have a chance to make a deep run, not necessarily win the whole thing.

[KeSteven]

Can't wait for the world cup to start. Hopefully the US will make it far this time. Still don't know the possibility due to the US law about online poker and gambling but I think I will try some bets for the first couple of games. In the end I think it will either be Brazil, Spain or Germany who will win the trophy.

[noticias24]

Personally I think that Spain or Brazil SHOULD win this one, they are playing real good. As for who I would like to win, being an Italian citizen I think answers that question:p, even though I definitely do not like our team's playing "style".

 

Also I would keep an eye out for Ivory Coast and Netherlands.

[Josh Linn]

5 more days, so excited. It's a shame that there's been a crap load of injuries to major players on a lot of teams:

 

USA: Charlie Davies (out of World Cup)

England: Rio Ferdinand (out of World Cup), David Beckham (out of World Cup)

Netherlands: Arjen Robben (questionable)

Germany: Michael Ballack (out of World Cup)

Ghana: Michael Essien (out of World Cup)

Ivory Coast: Didier Drogba (doubtful)

 

I really hope Drogba can make it back, because that team is the only chance Africa has of winning a World Cup any time soon.

[Shockwave]

Funny how Drogba's actually injured this time, instead of faking it like he usually does. But that aside, I agree Ivory Coast will miss him big time if he doesn't get to appear.

 

Add Brad Jones (Australian goalkeeper) to that list. He's gone back home due to a family illness.

 

John Obi Mikel (Nigeria midfielder) is also out with a knee injury. That's a big miss for them, he's pretty much their best player.

[downunder]

Sigh, still over a year to the Rugby World Cup.

 

Go Australia! After the USA warm up game, they are looking very much like a 0-3 go home early team. The Ghanians and Germans have been good enough to lose their top players, now if only they could lose their next best 10 or 20 (Aus might be a chance against 3rd stringers). Somehow Aus managed a draw with Croatia last time, maybe they can manage the same or better with their good friends Serbia.

[BeemerBoy]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm sorta anxious for the World Trophy to begin.

[Sir Clinksalot]

Despite my dislike of Football (Soccer) I'm actually at least semi-interested in watching some games.

[Divv3k]

I'm now getting majorly excited for the World Cup! It really is the biggest sporting event on the planet and even though Scotland haven't been at a World Cup since 1998 I still just love having games to watch every day for a month!

 

This is the first major championships that England have taken part in since I moved here. The amount of hype is ridiculous, but it's fun to watch! It'll be even more fun when it all comes crashing down! Though I don't think that'll be in the group stage as England have a ridiculously easy group. That said, I'm still hoping that the USA pull off a miracle on Saturday!

 

Regardless of how it goes I can't wait to kick off four weeks of football and beer every night!

[Josh Linn]

I'm now getting majorly excited for the World Cup! It really is the biggest sporting event on the planet and even though Scotland haven't been at a World Cup since 1998 I still just love having games to watch every day for a month!

 

This is the first major championships that England have taken part in since I moved here. The amount of hype is ridiculous, but it's fun to watch! It'll be even more fun when it all comes crashing down! Though I don't think that'll be in the group stage as England have a ridiculously easy group. That said, I'm still hoping that the USA pull off a miracle on Saturday!

 

Regardless of how it goes I can't wait to kick off four weeks of football and beer every night!

 

The U.S. beating England would not be a miracle. Them beating Spain in the Confederations Cup wasn't even a miracle and was way more of an upset than us beating England would be.

[SharkTums]

Yeah I'm really bummed we'll miss being in England for the US v England match by four days!

 

Oh well, we'll have a lot of other great matches to watch on both the UK and Europe trips! Quarter finals while in Germany and the Netherlands should be great fun for all, even those of us who don't really care about the sport. It's just a really fun festive atmosphere.

Edited June 7, 2010 by SharkTums

[Sir Clinksalot]

Yeah, being in England for the match would be much more exciting than being in the US.

[itsme102]

Check out what happens when you Google "world cup"

Haha, Google, you so sneaky.

[TheScooterGuy]

Guys, check out something interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ESPN

Is it pretending to be the 'official' ESPN YouTube channel?!?!?!?!

[Josh Linn]

No, it's legit.

 

Anyway, here are my (probably wrong) predictions for today:

 

South Africa 1-1 Mexico (Mexico is the better team but I feel like all the emotions of this being the first WC match ever in Africa with the home team there will give SA a boost and get them a point)

Uruguay 2-1 France (Upset special...IMO Uruguay is very underrated and can pull it off. I still see both teams advancing out of the group)

[SharkTums]

I think today has shown why most Americans could care less about Soccer and the World Cup.

 

Two big games, big first day of action...and both games ended in a tie. One tie being ZERO ZERO!!!!

[Divv3k]

^ See, I'm not bothered at all that both games finished a draw. I actually liked it because it makes that group even more exciting for the remaining games. That said, I agree that the France - Uruguay game was a total snoozefest, but I was gripped by the South Africa - Mexico game and thought it was fair result in the end. And what an amazing first goal in the tournament!

 

I do feel that football/soccer will never ever take off in the US. I think maybe it's just that US viewers are just not used to games always finishing with a winner. I guess it works both ways, I remember when I first started trying to understand American sports and was shocked to find that there are very few opportunities for games to finish level.

 

I find that passion for sport usually comes from a young age and if you're not brought up with a sport as a kid then you're probably not gonna become a big fan of that sport in the future. It's probably the same reason the NFL Europe failed and none of the other major American sports are big elsewhere.

 

Despite all this, it's at least encouraging that the USA have the biggest number of visiting supporters in South Africa! They've also got another fan in me tomorrow!

[SharkTums]

^Don't get me wrong Divv, I totally agree with you. I'm just saying the same as you, Americans are brought up that someone always has to win and someone has to be the loser, ties are unacceptable in more than just sports. It's just our culture.

 

LA was pretty crazy this morning and the Mexicans were celebrating like the won the whole thing, where in reality they should have probably lost the game.

[Divv3k]

Yeah, I can see how a game finishing without any scoring could seem a bit dull when you're used to sports where points and goals are scored every few minutes.

 

I think in some ways it's probably good for the rest of the world that the sport isn't that big in the US, because if it was then the US would more than likely be the best at it!

 

I can't wait for Argentina - Nigeria tomorrow, hopefully Messi plays as well as he has at club level lately. There's huge expectations on him to be player of the tournament.

[Josh Linn]

One example of an extremely entertaining 0-0 draw was in the '06 World Cup with Trinidad & Tobago against Sweden. T&T was the consensus worst team in the field and wasn't expected to do anything, but managed a point against a pretty talented Swedish team.