Hey, how come nobody here is discussing what's arguably the Most Important Tournament on this planet?
Good teams?
Bad teams?
Predictions?
Hopes?
State your opinions here.

Sports suck. There's my opinion.

World Cup. What's that?!

Well,

Argentina must be favourites now after france lost to senegal.

Spain looked good in their win too, until we see italy and brazil play we don't know about them.

Sadly for myself, England started another tournament yet again with an inept performance. Not a problem if we had an easy second game opponent.. but it's argentina...

oh....

Still at least we were better than Saudia Arabia.

I agree with 23 and DLH.

Then you have my pity..

DOWN WITH ENGLAND!!!
DIE YOU BRITS!!!

sports rock,

I guess for me its because i get the bests of both worlds,

being a nerdy coder,

and a athelete

the us, is young to the world cup
and don't have many fans yet.

The the rest of the world is crazy about it. Its the only single sport that the whole world comes togethere to play (not including olmypics which is composed of various sports)

Nothing wrong with playing sports. I just don't get sitting around watching others play it. Not my thing I guess ....

I find soccer boring.
The best reason to watch it is for the players' acting abilitites.

Guess we don't have any football fans here..

Perhaps it's because some of you who replied are from countries that aren't really 'into' football. I suppose if you had other english, spanish, italian, korean, etc.. people here than there would be more chance of finding other 'football fans'

Not really.
I mean, I'm German, we won our first game 8:0, but who cares?
I'm simply not a soccer fan
If we would be talking about a sumo tournament here, it would be a different story...

Ya, go Canadian soccer team! We're gonna win the world cup this year!!:)

shiver

shiver

shiver

SPORTS ARE EVIL! SPORTS ARE EVIL!! RUN!

As I am french, I am quite interested in the world cup ( 6 or 8 years ago, when we were too bad, nobody cared ).

But no it's all over. Our team SUCKS !!!

WE ARE THE LOSERS, MY FRIENDS ....

PS : Congratulations for spellcaster and Germany for the 8:0. We only beat them 4:0 4 years ago ( but Zidane had got a red card )

Go here for fans

I use to like Allegro.cc but now I see you're just a group of nerds I'm not so sure anymore.

R.Phipps: Spain did NOT look good in their first game. In fact if the referee was someone who actually passed his eyesight test it would have finnished 2:2 (can you tell I'm from Slovenia?). And I'm really sorry about England 'couse apart from Slovenia they are my favourite team but they just can't play well in big tournaments.

As far as favourites goes, I think Argentina have a good chance, maybe also Italy but it depends on their first game later today.

pfft.

Where I come from, football == Rugby League, not soccer.

The biggest Rugby League "tournament" outside the world cup is being played at the moment.

It's an annual three match series between Queensland and New South Wales (two Australian states), dubbed "The State of Origin".

It has a HUGE following here, and equally so in Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.

Basically it is supposed to be the pinnacle of Rugby League in the Southern Hemisphere, with the best players in Australia duking it out to either win or retain the trophy proclaiming them the best footy players in the country.

New South Wales won the first match, but I'm hoping Queensland will win the second match (since it's being held in my home state, Queensland).

But anyway..
I don't get the deal with soccer.

Australia can't play soccer ("football") for nuts.

They were supposed to be able to make the World Cup but failed miserably (again).

Funny how one of the teams we lost to (Saudi Arabia) got flogged by Germany 8-0.

Must say a lot about the quality of Australian soccer players...

Australia do have a few good players. Viduka and Kewell have been outstanding in the last few seasons here in England.

I don't know about Saudi Arabia, I remember them scoring that amazing goal last time which is now ranked no. 7 in the best world cup goals of all time.

But they were absolutely dire against Germany, who I think will find things much harder against Ireland and Cameroon.

I saw the first half of the spain game when they were rather lucky to get a goal, and the highlights of the second when they seemed to be playing much better. But highlights can be deceiving.

Spellcaster: I didn't say you WOULD be a football fan if you lived in a country where football is popular, just it would be MORE likely you would be interested in it. When I lived in America only people in the colleges seemed even slightly interested in football. It's really not that popular there yet. However when I went to germany a few years ago I saw a lot of interest in football there. I'm sure that's the same in France, spain, italy, etc..

It's definately popular in England, especially now!

Of course we're nerds! Embrace your nerdiness ... it roxx0rs j00r boxx0rs!

Anyways, I can't stand football. God, I hope they all get bludgeoned to death by football supporters wielding deflated footballs. Or osmethne (see, obscure reference!).

Soccer (or football) would be better if the field was shrunken, the number of players per team was reduced to 5, all the players could hold wooden sticks, the ball was changed into a flat hard rubber disc, and the grass was transformed into ice.

I say allow the players to use heavy weaponry, like maces.

Hide land mines in the pitch.

Sorry Rash,

There's too many of these football haters to reason with..

Still, they don't realise what they are missing do they?

Who do you support Rash?

Grass transformed to ice? But that would be spikey and very painful to the feet!

Having played hockey for multiple seasons, I gotta go with FrankyR, although I will concede that soccer is an awesome sport (I played that when I was little, too).

Maybe if everyone in the US prays, knocks on wood and crosses their fingers at once, we'll beat Portugal...maybe...

FOOTBALL/SOCCER/FUTEBOL IS THE BEST!!!!!
CORINTHIANS IS THE BEST!!!!!!
AND NOW, with Emerson injured, Ricardinho, the Corinthians's brain in mid-field, will play in the world cup!!! Ricardinho for Corinthians == Zidane for France

Go Brazil, go!!!! Vai que é Penta!!!!

Here in Brazil the people are in front of TV at 3:30 AM, 6:00 AM and 8:00 AM, but it's ok

Yeah, Brazil is going to win the world cup!!
(It's just sad that finland didn't make it:'(... Too many Ice-hockey fans here...)

Who cares about Brazil! And Rivaldo suxx!!! For what he did in the game against Turkey he ought to have been banned from football for at least two years.

Oh, and BTW, ice hockey is a sport for toothless Canadians with no brains!

The referee wouldn't have seen the offence if Rivaldo hadn't been acting "a little". And yes, ice-hockey sucks.

spam

just checking if my post comes up.

if it doesn't then it's not my browser.

[edit]
it appears to be working. but my post on the programming forum isn't showing up..

I personnally don't enjoy watching sports but I don't have anything against anyone who does.

<--begin description code
heres your pulse,
heres your finger...far from the pulse shoved straight up your @zz
would you like a chocolate covered pretzel?
end description code-->

I think football is fun to watch, even though my country (Finland) isn't playing in the cup. Actually we almost beat the German team last year. They had luck and got a draw (2:2).

Well, I don't watch every match. I just like to hear the results and maybe see the goals.

The most important thing is that Sweden loses .

is that pic graham from kings quest? cause if it isn't it should be

Incidentally, does this have any relation to you, chris?

Why is he going "Ah, prepare to die! Muhahahaha!" with an Autobot?

PS: Nostalgia would imply I actually stopped doing that at one point ...

That can't be Chris. He doesn't have a beard.

Keric, nope, it's actually from The Green Bard (my project). Haven't done alot progress though.. In the holidays then..

And the Oscar goes to.... Rivaldo!!!!!;D

Somebody is talking about me?

Really I don't understand why Rivaldo did that. I think it's a good player, but that was so low. Through the other player seemed to have bad intentions.

From a bad thing to another much better: Spain has classified!!! It's the first team!!!

Congratulations Spain... great game against Paraguay

And tomorrow Brazil will play with China.

GO BRAZIL!!!!

And today we played Argentina the tournament favourites and won 1-0.

Which was nice.

I agree.. very good

yes maces, and say.. maybe rocket launchers? like halflife/soccer.. fun! I would watch that!

land mines.. yes good idea!

JaTeR

I wouldn't watch a deathmatch game, i'd get in there and Sub Machine gun thier butts!

grin I vouch for Argentina And if not Argentina, I go for Brazil. Then England, and otherwise, the weakest of the teams left. I will never accept Italy nor Germany as champion, as their defensive play is SO boring.

And yes, we lost, but that was because the players want to get their money back (the Association owes them at least u$s6m, and since they told them to win and later talk with them, they answered losing).

That worked, as the guys at the association went to talk with them

There was also a rumour that said Veron (our theorically best player) did not played at 100% because he had an agreement with Manchester (british club where he plays for) for about u$s 4m for "coming back to England before June 30th" (the day when the final is played).

RB (from Buenos Aires, Argentina)

I don't agree with all those conspiracy theories.

I think the Argentina team let the event go to their heads. If you watch batistuta from the kickoff he runs straight into an english defender after he plays the ball and knocks him over. He then does the same again and gets a yellow card. Why does he need to do that?

I think England got their tactics right and that argentina wanted to fight too much and lost some of their skill.

Veron has either been brilliant or terrible for manchester united this season. He seems to be having a few more terrible games at the moment.

If england can't win the world cup I think I'd like south korea to win, just because of the fabulous game they played against poland. They were also very positive, playing fast fluid attacking football.

Sweden rules!!!

And Brazil wins again ^__^

4x0

But our defense... well... isn't so great...

Maybe you are the unique argentine going for Brazil!!!

I'd like to see Japan winning... but I doubt they will win another game

UNBELIEVABLE! The current world champion, France, has been eliminated in the first round! They even ended up as the last one in the group.

I think it is more unbelievable that they won last championship. They have a lot of world class players, but the team doesn't function well as a whole. Simply put, no Zidane, no France, it shouldn't be like that. 4 years ago I think it was just luck that gave them the title. This year they were out of luck. In the last game, they kept on creating goal moments but couldn't score, and Denmark had only 3 good moments and scored twice.

It sure does. Argentina's goal should've been rejected. Two players of argentina were in the box before the kick. I made this to demonstrate the penalty kick:
http://portfolio.sipooinstituutti.net/sya/ttv84/sjouni/kentta.bmp

Nooooooooo......France lost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have did the referee not see that ?!?! I mean Crespo was about 4 meters into the penalty area when Ortega took the penalty! I know it didn't make a difference in the end but what if it did? We've seen so many referee errors in this world cup like that and some did make a difference! I hope there will be no African, Asian or Arab referees in the final stages.

Don't be so sure. Most argentinians much prefer a south american country to win the cup rather than an european.

Je, people whining 'cause Crespo was inside the area when Ortega kicked the ball. Err... have you seen the penalties the referee gave to Uruguay and Senegal? Have you seen Brazil-Turkish (however it is spelt)? And even they (FIFA) let the referee of THAT match to be in another eyeroll

These things happens. Oh, and don't worry, there will be an Argentinian one

RB

That doesn't happens only in Argentina. In some regions of Spain happens:

Just yesterday, a Metropolitan TV at Barcelona, made a poll. The answer was: Would you be happy if Spain wins the World Cup? The results were:
Yes: 48%
No: 52%
~6000 people voted.

It's a bit difficult to explain it here, but about 50% of the people that said 'no' was because politics(and I won't explain it now), the other half was because there are few players from Barcelona and a lot from Real Madrid (the 'eternal rival' of Barcelona).

That hapens in Slovenia too! Yesterday when Slovenia played Paraguay the Slovenian "supporters" at the stadium in Korea got into a fight between themselves (Maribor against Ljubljana). It was so bad the Korean police had to intervene!

Yeah! We advanced to the 2nd round!

It's kind of nice seeing Portugal in the rear view mirrors...;D

Mexico, you're next.

all your world cup are belong to U.S.

mp

France, Argentina, Portugal and so nearly Italy.. all out.

What a strange world cup! I hope it's not us next.. all fingers crossed against denmark.

Excellent play by Japan and South Korea to get to the 2nd round!

Comon England!

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAA

Sorry, but S. Korea wins Portugal and US, so Korea will be better than U.S.

I think S. Korea can win Italy...

And if Paraguay wins Germany, S. Korea wins Italy and Denmark wins England.......

Go Brazil!!!! 100%!!!!! 9 points!!!! 11 goals!!!!! And only 3 'taken' (with THAT defense)!!!!!!!

^__^

I do think Italy will lose the match if they continue playing the way they do against Mexico. It drove me mad. Almost as much as with the last Argentina match against Uruguay, when they stayed just passing the ball for the last five minutes.

RB

I don't know how we did it, but we (Germany) managed to get into the quarter finals.

BTW, I've played some older soccer games (mainly on my SNES and on a c64 emu). I think simulating a team sport which involves a large field and a lot of running is a very difficult task.

Just aimimg the ball towards other players / in your templayers running path is not an easy thing to do. If you use "free aiming" it's easy to miss even the easiest passes.
if you can directly aim towards your team-members it's a tick too easy (IMHO). Also, selecting the team-member to pass to is not easy as wel...

Has anybody played the newer titles? How is it done in them? (Fifa soccer, for example?)

YAYAYAYA!!!

We are through to the quarter finales. Brazil or Belgium to come..

What a dreadful game germany v paraguay was! I watched it all, frankly I would have been better off asleep!

But we won! Brazil vs England.. what a game eh??

@:D

Well i dunno about others, but in fifa 2001, you have an arrow pointing towards where your going to pass and it's color coded

red=bad pass
yellow=fair chance
green=good pass

I actually belive fifa 2001 is a great ps2 game, but someone i know prefers the amiga soccer games to it.

USA beats Mexico.

Germany up next, I believe.

"I hate Americans. I really do. I hate them so much."

PS: this was my Cartman impersonation.

Yep, I thought Mexicans would win...
And I still think that they should have, they played more agressively and had more goal moments.

Did you see how referee overlooked things like pushing Mexican player in the back when we was prepared to take a shot in pretty good position, and, of course, that cute little handball? EVERYBODY saw how US player knocked it out with his fist, everybody "except the referee"

ARrrgh... we just got beat by Senegal yesterday...

But hey, if you can't beat 'em - join 'em!
Guess I'll have to start hoping Senegal wins the future matches - always much more fun to be supporting the underdogs anyway =D

And Rivaldo scores!!! Go Rivaldo!!

re: US v Mexico

I told everyone we'd win this game, did they listen? Noooooooooooo... (=

BTW: what's up with Kobi Jones getting headbutted (twice)? What's that about?

Yeah, go Senegal!
They are in good shape, I hope they go far.

Yeah!!!! A Rivaldo fan!!!

Now is time to defeat England... (I hope)

GO BRAZIL!!!!

Damn, Japan lost. Turkey was much too strong as I feared.
Korea is back in the game for the moment. Let's see how they fare in the extension.

[edit]Yes! They win!

Koreas next match is against Spain. I hope Korea will win...

I must say, a lot of Italians will probably be speaking about that match (and the tournament in general) for a long time to come. Try not to mention the word offside to them for your own sake.

BRAZIL HAVE JUST WIN ENGLAND!!!!!

Brazil 2X1 England

We will win the World Cup!!!

^__^

Korea vs Italy shows just how unpredictable football is
I lost €30 on that game

Now putting my money on Germany since they got two easy matches ahead

The big picture!

Did you see how Rivaldo faked at least 3 fouls again and the referee didn't see anything? If Brazil wins this World Cup I think I'll start watching ice hockey or something instead of football!

USA is playing Germanry

NOWWWW (realtime)

anyone scored yet, I can't tell, i'm at work now

I hope Sengal or Korea wins (too bad Srilanka never makes it in!)

FUNK LORD: Do you realise you look like David James - one of Englands goalies (http://football.guardian.co.uk/gallery/image/0,8556,-10404383595,00.html) !

Ooh, I don't know who I want to win (looks like Germany). A bunch of pretentious, self-righteous, insular no-hopers or Germany.

Fair enough we (Sunderland) have a US player in our team

Neil.
Crying quietly into my pint without a hint of bitterness in this email

USA is out. Germany made it.

what do you mean USA is out,

arent they playing now

whats the score?

i saw the USA game early this morning. all i'm saying is HANDS!!!

that goal was totally saved with the arm. hands wasn't called because it wasn't purposely done, but if you watch the replay the ball was sooo close to passing the line. i think USA definitley got some worldwide respect and hopefully there will be more local support of the game. maybe next time. All i know is Germany will get the hammer put down on them next game.

Good, Brazil won. If you want me to bet, Senegal will lose. They are very tired physically. Spain has all the cards to win the last key, but Korea is local.

Hmm... do you believe in numbers? Let's juggle a bit with a mail I got a few days ago.

So, I let you guess, according to these numbers, who will be the winner.

RB

Hahahaha...

I've received this in e-mail to.

3964-2002 = 1962 -> Brazil!!!

^__^

Wow, Korea is through.
Hiddink for president ;-)
To be fair, they were really lucky to have these referees....

Yup, so many wrong offside calls, and that uncounted goal...
It's unfair, Spain is such a good team. Korea had two good goal moments as opposed to so many dangerous situations created by the Spanish. I have nothing against Korea, but it is Spain who should have gone to semifinals. It's like they are doomed or something, always display good football, but can't score.

Almost time for the big game

Ahm... the semi finals are tormorrow and the day after tomorrow.
So no "big game" today, sorry.

EDIT: Ok... Maybe I should sleep more...
Finland has never won world cup, so 0+3964=3964. So Finland is going to win the world cup in year 3964!!!!!!!

Okk?????????

Anywho (loll)

who do you guys think is going to win it all
put up your IEB's

Imaginary
Electronic
Bets

I place 500 imaginary bucks on South Korea

I already put €20 on Germany
if they win I get circa €300, yaay

I will put 100000 imaginary bucks on Brazil!!!!!

With Ronaldo+Rivaldo+Ronaldo Gaucho+Roberto Carlos+..... we can't be defeated

^__^

I admit Brazil seems like the best playing team so far, but everyone else is putting their money on them so why should I? No odds no fun

but turkey(is the spelling right??) seems to have a 25% chance against brazil

Korea will win. Watching that two last games (vs Italia and vs Spain), I think this world cup has been sold to Korea. I'm very disappointed.

The bicepressident of the referees of the FIFA (Or something like that. I don't know his name, but he has resigned) said (in Spanish): 'I had the impression that, even if we would make 5 goals, we (Spain) would return home'. (Maybe the translation is not very good)

We'll see the match against Germany. Maybe nothing will happen because it's semifinals. And the referees are European (it's supposed that they're good).

There are very few things i hate as much as *NIX OS's. One of them is football.

Hehe, oh no. That is not going to happen.
Italy wasn't playing at the level they were expected to, and they paid for it. But even with the mistakes that referee made, Korea was very, VERY lucky to with the Spanish, in my opinion. I don't think that they'll win Germany. And even if they, by some weird chanse, do, they definitely won't be able to win Brazil (which will most likely beat Turkey). It is true, that Korea is probably in by far the best shape that it has ever been. But you just can't jump out of nowhere and become champions.

If you ask me, Germany will win 2-0. And Brazil will win at least for 2 goals of difference.

Reasons: Korea has already played two overtime. That is too much, even for a physical team. Note that they start with 3 changes (including the two forwards). They are very tired.
And Brazil started the world cup without hope, and that was why they have problems with the turkish team the first match. However, the group they were in was good to upgrade their self-confidence. And when the brazilian team knows it can, there is almost no way to stop them.

My preferences? This is the World Cup. The only game where the World Cup is much more important than the Olympics Games. The winner must be the best team. If playing anywhere else, Korea wouldn't have reached this far.

If I were to bet, I would go for Germany. But with all these referees, I would not put more than $100.

08:07, match is just half hour ahead. Let's see what happens...

RB

Yes, that's true. And I thought about that just yesterday. But I don't know why. Really, I don't know of any other sport where the World Cup is more important than the Olympics. Oh God, and think that Spain won the gold at football in Olympics at '92::)

And I bet Brazil will win Turkey. I even don't know how Turkey has arrived this far. Well... this is a strange Worls Cup.

73 minute: 1 to 0 for Germany

EDIT:

Whoooohoooo!

We made it to the final
Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

oscar : maybe that's because rare are the games which have an world cup (??) the others have special tournaments (roland garros, the 5 nations)

Hmm... failed for 1 goal. I thought that Germany would get the 1-0 at the start of the second half (koreans should be really tired by then), and the second in the last 5 minutes, with a counterattack. But Germany isn't the team that continues attacking after getting the first goal, at least not at this far at the Cup.

Well, if you remember, the olympics were getting as good as the WC, but then the FIFA stated that only < 23 plus 3 older can play that tournament, to keep the stars out of the olympics. I think it is because the FIFA (or whatever the federation abbreviature is) controls the WC completely, while they cannot do that with the olympics.

Besides, in the olympics soccer is just another of the 20000 disciplines played there.

RB

And the winner of the world cup will be??

probably germany but turkey ... eeeh maybe

Korea lost?
Damn, but they did a very good job by getting this far. Losing with only 1-0 to Germany isn't that bad
About the previous match, it would seem that Spain had its share of luck with the referee too, Korea was just more lucky :p
off to see if he can find more details about todays match
Germany wil most likely win this WC

That means i'm going to win the world cup in 3964 if i'm still around, l;DL .

superstar4410, I don't bet until having both teams But if you push me a bit, I would say that the winner of the cup is in the other key, either Brazil or the... hmm... they are european, though half of their territory isn't, ain't I right? hmm

RB

This is what football does to an otherwise sane person:

Before:

After:

Hehe...
I never expected that we get past the group games. Once we managed to get that far, you simply have to watch / cheer / etc.

At least it's a good excuse to party

Dae Han Min Kuk!!!!!!!!!!!!!

clap clap clap clap clap

Ahhh poor Koreans. They were such good sports about their loss to Germany too. Unlike some other teams/fans.

the match has began now we will now if world has really changed??

So its Germany and Brazil

I do say a very good match up.
It think Germany seems to be the better team at scoring, and Brazil to me seems to have more skill.

I want Brazil to win

but I feel Germany will

i think germany will win coz they want to take definitively the worldcup
brazil have it already

No! Germany won't win... They can't... Cause... Brazil will win!! They have to... They MUST win!!!!!

Ok...

(Hey, I found my old account, I'm now member #1000! Lost my ulra-high post count though...)

heay 32 posts really high (in comparison to 23yrold3yrold)

lets hope those German fans dont riot when their teams looses

jk
http://www.caliach.com/paulr/euro96riot/CN241-03.jpg

The guy in the red(off orange)
is 23

Back to this topic

8 hours for the 3rd position match. I guess Korea will lose. They are inferior technically. The final? I have a rule: never bet in a final match. I hope Brazil win, because they have shown some good soccer. Germany is too... hmm... "grit teeth fiercely".

RB

This is a funny match... Less than 15 secs and Turkey scores and now Korea... You can't really tell which one wins... Whoa! 12 mins and Turkey scores!!! (Currently) 1-2!!

and now turkey 3 -- 2 korea
turkey really merited it

Congratulations to Brazil. Taking the entire tournament into account, they deserved to win this thing.

And now a question of my own:
What was the longest thread ever on allegro.cc?

It was a great match. I think we (Germany) played very good... but Brazil played better.

We had a lot of chances, but were unable to get the ball in... while the goals of Brazil almost looked like it were childplay to get them in... very well done

Gratz to Brasil, they had the best team and therefore deserved the title.

No! I have to wait FOUR YEARS to see Brazil win the world cup again! Anyway, WOOOOOOHOOOOO!!! They WON!!! Edit: Not that there was any doubt...

This one, AFAIK. Though not too many threads get this long around here ....

i hope they never win again!!!!!!!!

they will win again,

definitely

YES, Brazil is Penta-champion...

going to hexa in next (in Germany!!!)

And Ronaldo scores 8 goals! Since 1974 the players don't scores more than 6!!!

^__^

So what! I rather have a good haircut than score 8 goals in the WC.

YES!
BRASIL is 5-times World Champion!!! (É PENTA!!!)
Felipão (our coach) is the best!

The best.... maybe excellent. If he put Ricardinho in the team I will accept....

And other brazilian!!! YES!!!!

And Corinthians is the best soccer team too ^__^ (espero que vc seja torcedor do timão)