My money is on Les Éléphants. Drogba is waiting for permission from FIFA to play with his special cast, the team has got to be fired up to see their captain play with a broken hand. Portugal does not have Nani, I can't see Ronaldo doing it alone. I believe Sven-Göran Eriksson will have these guys ready for Portugal, if there is any African team that will go far in this WC, it is Côte d'Ivoire.
This happens in Mexico too, you can see traffic before the game, because a lot of people is going to watch the game somewhere, but when the game begins, the streets are empty, there is no traffic for 2 hours. All people stops what they are doing to watch the game.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8739146.stm That explains why the German players had no trouble with it. You can say the players have no one to blame but themselves as it was widely distributed earlier this year, but with comments such as these, why should they have to settle for less because of a lame marketing gimmick? There's a nice reference to the time the NBA switched balls with similar complaints. Despite "testing" proving the ball was more consistent and accurate, it didn't translate in play and they switched it back. Just something to discuss - I think we'll see more fluid play by the quarterfinals but so far I've found all the errant passes and discombobulated build ups frustrating. Should be interesting to see how workaholic Ronaldo handles the ball later today, as well as the Brazilians and IC.
So New Zealand equalizes in the 93rd minute...crowd reaction (in the half-empty stadium)? same monotonous BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ crap
Nice finish by New Zealand after looking basically like total crap for 92 minutes. How many times did their players run into each other?
No. That wasn't him. This guy is more known for the 3 sendoffs in the Italy vs. USA game and the Portugal vs. France game, both in the 2006 Cup.
Is there any doubt that Cristiano Ronaldo is the Kobe Bryant of soccer? He has enough talent that I wish I could root for him, but his personal tactics make it impossible. Moaning and crying like he did in the first half of this makes him repulsive. Portugal has been awful to watch. If only they would attack! It seems like you would at least want to try to get 3 points out of this match when Brazil is most likely a loss. Perhaps Group G really will come down to goal differential from whipping up on North Korea.
I'm rooting for Ivory Coast in this one. I can't stand Ronaldo, even though his explosiveness is impressive.
Oh, alright. I remember that he did ref a match involving Portugal... guess I thought of the wrong match.
