I agree... I was biting my nails waiting to see when Ronaldo would flop, then scream at the ref, or get a foul called. It's a WIN for Costa De Marfil!
how many Ivory Coast players were on the ground in the last 15 minutes? I know how much you and your countrymen value draws
Blech. A sloppy game. Makes me crave to see Brazil this afternoon so we can hopefully see some creativity and finishing.
The second half was great, Ivory Coast looked more dangerous throughout the game, I've never seen them play this well. I'm upset that Drogba didn't shoot when he had a chance, he elected to pass across the goal to nobody. As someone already pointed out the amount of goals on North Korea might be in emportant to determine who gets to the next stage. Unless Brazil is not as good as advertised, which I believe might be the case this time around. It'll depend on what kind of form KAKA is in, he's their main man.
I thought Portugal played like ****. I've seen better Ball handling, passing and even striking in an MLS game.
I think North Korea vs Brazil is the game with the most upset potential. We know so little about NK and Kim Jong Il's team. Who knows what he's got them juiced up with.
Most of the european commentators calling it a complete snoozefest and the most disappointing match of the world cup - I haven't seen it yet, but with all the firepower the two teams have, this was one of the most-anticipated matches of the first round, a nil-nil draw has got to be considered a disappointment. I think people's standards are lowered when it comes to the world cup since hte opening round produces so much blah. I mean we're about 15 games, and between them, the four best players in the world, Rooney, Drogba, Ronaldo and Messi have ZERO goals in between them - it's not becuase of great defense either.
i am hoping the rest of the matches pick up a little bit because so far...all hype and no goals. heck not even any good shots on goal. it's not about 0-0 or 1-1..but all I have seen so far is passing in the midfield like 8th grade girls football.
I don't think Kaka's all that important, Brazil's defense is absolutely stacked. They'll eek out a lot of 1-0 games.
I agree that their coach's philosophy seems to be more focused on a strong defense and physical play than on outplaying the opponent. I think they call Dunga the "German" (he played in Germany for a while) because he is making them play like Germany used to. Kind of funny that Germany is switching to a more creative style of play at the same time.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/footba...h-controversial-jabulani-ball-86908-22334283/ World Cup 2010: Moaning Jamie Carragher claims Germany better than England in South Africa - because they've had more practice with controversial Jabulani ball Jamie Carragher last night claimed Germany have been given a World Cup advantage - months of practising with the new ball. The controversial adidas Jabulani ball has been used in Bundesliga matches since February and the Germans looked comfortable with it as they thrashed Australia 4-0. Carragher claims the Germans have a head start on the rest of the teams in the World Cup and pointed to keeper Rob Green's blunder that gifted USA a draw against England as an example. The Liverpool defender said: "It gives them an advantage and that's obvious. The ball is very different. "Every training session we do we always start by passing 30 or 40 yards to each other just for that reason alone. I am sure it has helped them. "We were watching the game last night. When you are creating a ball for a World Cup, the idea is to create more goals I think. "It does strange things to make it a more exciting tournament. But every cross I have seen has been overhit. It goes over the back post. I haven't seen anyone get a free-kick over the wall yet. It just seems to sail straight over the bar. "Looking at the start, maybe it is not doing what people expected. "People thought there would be more goals but apart from Germany last night I don't think there have been too many in the tournament. "They played so well. I am not looking for an excuse. You are trying not to hype them up too much because of how well they played. It is something to cling to, that they might have been playing with the ball. I have had two or three texts about it. "It helps if you are training with it but it is a little bit inconsistent. "Sometimes you don't really know what it is going to do when you are knocking balls to each other. "Sometimes it goes straight on, other times it just deviates at the last minute. But that is the same for every team, probably except Germany." Manufacturers adidas gave leagues the chance to use the ball last season but the Premier League deal with Nike ruled that out. ------------- LOL @ the whiny b**ch. He should team up with ToyCen428 - conspiracy theorists united!
LOL, some dutch reporters said that it might be that Germany played at sea level and other team at higher altitute and that that could cause the ball to react differently. I think Germany just played good soccer and the other teams didn't.I'm getting tired of all the excuses, just play better next time, And if you cannot even beat the USA , than you shouldn't complain at all, just play better. England is overrated, especially by their own fans.
I think people expected the opening group games to be very tight and low scoring. It'll be the second group games played that will be more interesting as teams that lost will have to win. We'll see more scoring then...I hope. I agree with you on Brazil's defense, but I just don't see a big time scorer on the team. They've usually always had one or two guys who were big game players, scoring a goal when need. Hence my mention of the importance of KAKA being able to feed the current group. Robinho is quite the talent, but he's so inconsistent that I wouldn't rely on him.
