[quote]rbnlaw wrote:
1-packlondoner wrote:
fuckbeans
A heartbraker to be sure.
And, WTF? Lehmann sent off. . .
in the first half??
Playing a man down for 60 min. killed the defense in the end.
Shame.[/quote]
We were shattered by the end. There’s no shame in it but still… Bollocks.
Too bad… the ref. should have allowed the goal to count and Lehmann to stay. Continuation and all
[quote]UtahLama wrote:
Too bad… the ref. should have allowed the goal to count and Lehmann to stay. Continuation and all[/quote]
Still… We were fine until an offside goal was allowed for them and 3 of their players escaped bookings for fairly cynical tackles. Not being bitter - They’re a great team but it’s a shame we never got to see who was best on a level playing field as we were all over them until we lost mad Jens.
as a Middlesbrough fan I feel your pain, but chin up, at least you weren’t absolutely raped. We know true humiliation, yours was pretty respectable in comparison.
[quote]juninho wrote:
as a Middlesbrough fan I feel your pain, but chin up, at least you weren’t absolutely raped. We know true humiliation, yours was pretty respectable in comparison.[/quote]
That cracked me up… Raped lol.
At least you can look on the bright side and say you offloaded McLaren!
1.With Turkey out (in typically idiotic form), I’ll be pulling for the US. I’ve never really been a big US soccer supporter (despite being an American), mostly because we were kind of a joke and because most of my soccer energy is invested into following the turkish leauges and national team. As I’ve gotten a bit older and made the jump to coaching, I realize that US success is so valuable for American who love the game, because it does wonders for the popularity and support of the game in the states.
That said, good to see a nice soccer thread on here. I’ll second the Aussie chance at success and also say that I like the Ivory Coast to do some damage.
To rub it in the face of those who’ll be watching on TV, I’ll think of you as I sit at the opening match, two US group matches, and most likely, the final!!! woohoo!!!
[quote]xtolgax wrote:
1.With Turkey out (in typically idiotic form), I’ll be pulling for the US. I’ve never really been a big US soccer supporter (despite being an American), mostly because we were kind of a joke and because most of my soccer energy is invested into following the turkish leauges and national team. As I’ve gotten a bit older and made the jump to coaching, I realize that US success is so valuable for American who love the game, because it does wonders for the popularity and support of the game in the states.
That said, good to see a nice soccer thread on here. I’ll second the Aussie chance at success and also say that I like the Ivory Coast to do some damage.
To rub it in the face of those who’ll be watching on TV, I’ll think of you as I sit at the opening match, two US group matches, and most likely, the final!!! woohoo!!![/quote]
Shame there’s about as much chance of the US being in the final as Pele coming on and scoring a hat-trick for Brazil!
[quote]1-packlondoner wrote:
Oz have that same thing as the US which is a history of producing both great athletes and great competitors but it’s never really translated into football results.
[/quote]
It’s the money thing. Don’t forget we have FOUR football codes (Aussie Rules, the two rugby codes and soccer) competing for the fan market (of only 20 million people) and sponsorship dollars. It’s the case of “winners are grinners” and the money goes to the succesful sports.
The Socceroos not getting to the world cup for years has really hindered the popularity of soccer. Like in the US, soccer has pretty much the largest junior sport participation numbers, the trouble is when the kids grow up they see the money in the other codes and swap over.
We have just had the first season of the new A-league which will hopefully attract more of our Europe-based stars in the future, and more money if we go well in the WC. This will then give the juniors something to look forward to in their own country.
Having all the players over here would be much better for the national team, as no one has sufferred more from the “club vs. country” problems than Australia, because all the European clubs don’t like letting go of all their players too often. This is one reason why Australia has played a lot of its “friendlies” in England, because the players are mostly based there. By playing together more often in Oz it would strengthen the national side.
[quote]1-packlondoner wrote:
Doesn’t Oz have to first qualify from their group and then have a play-off with Asia or sommink? A bit unfair when most of your players are half way around the world and have to keep coming back mid-way through a tough season in Europe.
[/quote]
Yep, this time around (and last time) it was the 5th placed South American side. Both times it was Uruguay, at least we got revenge this time! Before that it was Iran where we should have got through and gave up a 2-0 lead at home in the second game to let them score two quick goals and get through on away goals. Before that it was Argentina and so on and so forth…
We are now part of the Asia conference and will be able to compete in the round robin tournament instead of relying on peaking for two games every four years. This will reduce the pressure somewhat.
[quote]1-packlondoner wrote:
lol… You can’t use that friendly win over England as a marker - We had Danny Murphey, Francis Jeffers, Gareth Barry and Sean Davis playing!
[/quote]
Yeah, but you had pretty much your first team lineup in the first half before wholesale changes were made at halftime and brought on all of your young blokes, and we were up 2-0 at halftime…
I think every Pom’s worst nightmare is meeting Australia at the World Cup and losing, it doesn’t matter how many Ashes series or rugby WC you win, we will never let you live it down because we know that this is the game which would REALLY hurt!!
Don’t you just love Aussie-Pom rivalry!!
Cheers,
Ben
[quote]1-packlondoner wrote:
xtolgax wrote:
1.With Turkey out (in typically idiotic form), I’ll be pulling for the US. I’ve never really been a big US soccer supporter (despite being an American), mostly because we were kind of a joke and because most of my soccer energy is invested into following the turkish leauges and national team. As I’ve gotten a bit older and made the jump to coaching, I realize that US success is so valuable for American who love the game, because it does wonders for the popularity and support of the game in the states.
That said, good to see a nice soccer thread on here. I’ll second the Aussie chance at success and also say that I like the Ivory Coast to do some damage.
To rub it in the face of those who’ll be watching on TV, I’ll think of you as I sit at the opening match, two US group matches, and most likely, the final!!! woohoo!!!
Shame there’s about as much chance of the US being in the final as Pele coming on and scoring a hat-trick for Brazil!
[/quote]
my final ticket isn’t contingent on the US getting to the final…I’m just waiting for a confirmation from the German Tourist Board/Lufthansa, who are giving me all of the tickets.
[quote]bg100 wrote:
I think every Pom’s worst nightmare is meeting Australia at the World Cup and losing, it doesn’t matter how many Ashes series or rugby WC you win, we will never let you live it down because we know that this is the game which would REALLY hurt!!
Don’t you just love Aussie-Pom rivalry!!
Cheers,
Ben[/quote]
Every Pom’s nightmare is Australia getting good at yet another sport! Ha ha luckily we’re a way off that…
As for the rivalry - I think it’s great - simply because it’s kinda fierce but at the same time very sporting and full of humour and banter - unlike say England/Scotland or England/Germany
BTW I couldn’t give a toss about rughy WCs and the Ashes - except that they mean something you guys and that’s enough for me! lol
Cheers
[quote]1-packlondoner wrote:
bg100 wrote:
I think every Pom’s worst nightmare is meeting Australia at the World Cup and losing, it doesn’t matter how many Ashes series or rugby WC you win, we will never let you live it down because we know that this is the game which would REALLY hurt!!
Don’t you just love Aussie-Pom rivalry!!
Cheers,
Ben
Every Pom’s nightmare is Australia getting good at yet another sport! Ha ha luckily we’re a way off that…
As for the rivalry - I think it’s great - simply because it’s kinda fierce but at the same time very sporting and full of humour and banter - unlike say England/Scotland or England/Germany
BTW I couldn’t give a toss about rughy WCs and the Ashes - except that they mean something you guys and that’s enough for me! lol
Cheers [/quote]
When we eventually beat England in a soccer match you will be glad for any victory in any sport you can get!! LOL
It’s strange that England haven’t played us more often at soccer, I wonder why…
[quote]bg100 wrote:
It’s strange that England haven’t played us more often at soccer, I wonder why…
[/quote]
Same reason we don’t play Congo all that often. We need some competition… JOKE!
U.S…not in final…Pele? England football…
Somebody needs a 1950 reminder…BAM!!
[quote]UtahLama wrote:
U.S…not in final…Pele? England football…
Somebody needs a 1950 reminder…BAM!![/quote]
Ha ha ha ha… That’s low man, using a 56 year old example of you beating us! 
[quote]UtahLama wrote:
I just called a friend of mine and he reminded me Freidel retired from National Team play in 04.
Keller is our #1 I think he will be just fine(Did you see any of the qualies this year for the U.S. He was in great form)
I love Howard but he is just a little raw.
Marcus Hahnemann is our third. A bit of a unknown but is having a very good time of it in the Bundesliga.[/quote]
Howard’s problem is that he’s been picking splinters out of his rear with ManU.
He only appeared in like 6 matches all season. And that complete lack of playing time killed any chance he had of playing in the World Cup.
It’s too bad his loan to Everton is coming AFTER the WC.
And FYI, Hahnemann has been playing in the Coca-Cola Championship in England, alongside Bobby Convey, at Reading. Marcus and Bobby are two huge reasons that the Royals will be playing in the Premiership next season.
[quote]1-packlondoner wrote:
UtahLama wrote:
U.S…not in final…Pele? England football…
Somebody needs a 1950 reminder…BAM!!
Ha ha ha ha… That’s low man, using a 56 year old example of you beating us! :-)[/quote]
It’s also 40 years since the 1966 World Cup! What’s the chant the English fans are use against Germany? “One World Cup and Two World Wars…” those events are getting a little bit old…
[quote]bg100 wrote:
It’s also 40 years since the 1966 World Cup! What’s the chant the English fans are use against Germany? “One World Cup and Two World Wars…” those events are getting a little bit old…
[/quote]
“Two world wars and a world cup” - Cracks me up lol. Agreed though. If your country hasn’t won in your lifetime then you shouldn’t be allowed to boast about it.
That said, we DID send Germany home at Euro 2000 with a lovely header from Shearer!
Anyway - You’re allowed to be as petty as you want for your biggest enemy.
So a question to everyone outside the UK…
How much British football do you guys watch?
Just wondered what the general interest and knowledge of our game there is outside these shores. For example would you know off-hand without googling who, say, Pascal Chimbonda or Linvoy Primus is? It’s not a test, I’m just curious. I could probably only do the equivilent for the other big leagues but have a great interest in world football.
I personally take an interest in the English, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian, Dutch, Argentine and French leagues and it’s actually easier to see Brazilian, Dutch and French football over here than the Premiership if you don’t have a big cable or satellite package and are willing to stay up late!
[quote]1-packlondoner wrote:
So a question to everyone outside the UK…
How much British football do you guys watch?
Just wondered what the general interest and knowledge of our game there is outside these shores. For example would you know off-hand without googling who, say, Pascal Chimbonda or Linvoy Primus is? It’s not a test, I’m just curious. I could probably only do the equivilent for the other big leagues but have a great interest in world football.
I personally take an interest in the English, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian, Dutch, Argentine and French leagues and it’s actually easier to see Brazilian, Dutch and French football over here than the Premiership if you don’t have a big cable or satellite package and are willing to stay up late!
[/quote]
have just gotta say that i will be going away during the world cup to get away from the ranges of idiots that come out at that time.
Iceland, i think.
[quote]1-packlondoner wrote:
So a question to everyone outside the UK…
How much British football do you guys watch?
Just wondered what the general interest and knowledge of our game there is outside these shores. For example would you know off-hand without googling who, say, Pascal Chimbonda or Linvoy Primus is? It’s not a test, I’m just curious. I could probably only do the equivilent for the other big leagues but have a great interest in world football.
I personally take an interest in the English, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian, Dutch, Argentine and French leagues and it’s actually easier to see Brazilian, Dutch and French football over here than the Premiership if you don’t have a big cable or satellite package and are willing to stay up late![/quote]
I know who Frankie Simek is, but had no clue on those two guys.