World Cup...

[ioconnell]

John R said:
The score line was very flattering... Had their goalie and attack been on form it would have been very diffrent....
Still thats football....

Nice to see all that rain must have made them feel at home.

Maybe Belguim can do us a favor and defeat Brazil.....

And there's still a chance of a England V Ireland final....

And I would dearly savour that :p

[Pete Hanlin]

3-0 England in the first half took the mystery out of this game... Glad to see Hesky finally scored- I enjoy watching him play.

[sarahr]

A BIG THANKYOU
to all the customers who didn't come into the store today!!!
Got to see the whole match. BRILLIANT!

COME ON BELGIUM!!!!!:D :D :D :D :D

[sarahr]

Ian, hope you have a good result tomorrow! See you in the final methinks!:cheers:

[ioconnell]

Pete Hanlin said:
3-0 England in the first half took the mystery out of this game... Glad to see Hesky finally scored- I enjoy watching him play.

If you enjoy watching Heskey play, keep an eye out for big Niall Quinn tomorrow. He suffers from chronic falling down syndrome.

Sarahr, thanks, Im hoping that we can pull off a result against the spaniards
:)

[ioconnell]

:angry: :angry: Mick is playing Harte:angry: :angry: in the past three games he has been running like he is just after a colonic and then he reveals that he has a trapped nerve in his foot:angry: :angry:

You better prove me wrong Hartey

[ioconnell]

We showed the spaniards what we were made of. Harte did lets us down, But we will be back.

You'll never beat the Irish (unless it goes to penalties)

[John R]

The Irish eyes arn't smileing...
I think in their harte of hearts they knew if it was penalties ireland were done 4..
Still well done you have showed others there is hope still for football..

[Maria]

I'm with Sarah. Thank god for a quiet Saturday! We have only seen old ladies and kids during each game. We didn't have a TV, which would break various laws to do with fire and public broadcasting. It wasn't outside the back door for better reception. It wasn't wrapped in binbags for the rain. It didn't have a special huge ariel. It's not true, I swear!

[John R]

Maria said:
I'm with Sarah. Thank god for a quiet Saturday!

Lucky you it was our local carnival and sprog decides on tues that she's going to be on school float
:hammer: So had to video it but still got to see the match live the local scouts were as resourcefull as ever and had a tv on the back of their float (Should have one first prize in my eyes...)

[Pete Hanlin]

On this side of the pond, today was Father's Day. Happily enough, this involved breakfast in bed (if you haven't tried the new cereals with the freeze dried strawberries that plump up like fresh when you add milk, I highly recommend them). The only station showing World Cup in the morning was UniVision (the Spanish channel). So, I munched my cereal, toast, milk, and OJ while watching and listening to the Ireland-Spain match.

Although I was hoping Ireland would win, it was a very entertaining game. I couldn't believe the Spanish player didn't get a card on the foul a minute or two before the sole Irish goal (looked like the Spaniard came up and threw an elbow to the chest of the Irish player). A minute later and they issue a yellow card for a bit of shirt grabbing (I just don't get the system in WC play, obviously).

The Spanish goalkeep was obviously pretty good (at least the Spanish speaking announcer kept using words like "excellente" and "mucho grande" and such), but those penalty shots in the end were pathetic! Only scored on TWO, and two would have missed with an empty net... geesh!

Anyway, I'll be taping the USA-Mexico game tonight... hopefully we can get things back on track!

[wmcdonald]

The Mexico- US game was a bit of a surprise. I only saw bits and pieces due to the hour (2:30 AM), but I thought we'd get by them- we seem to have their number recently. The roster change was good- we needed it- and I was excited to see the final score this morning. I will watch the entire replay this afternoon. Go USA! If we continue to play this well, who knows!

[Pete Hanlin]

USA 2 - Mexico "Nada"

Now the gaping hole in our defense is gone (good riddance, Agoos), we seem to have found our game. Although he didn't score a goal, my game ball goes to Jones. Apparently, the Mexican players realized how bad he made them look too, because they tried to murder him on the field during the waning moments!

I believe the Krauts are next on our schedule! In keeping with our history with the Germans, we should let the Englanders play the first half to a draw, show up at halftime, beat the stuffing out of them and claim total victory!
:D

[ioconnell]

Pete you are right, weak points in a team should be removed.

If I was the Ireland manager for the game against spain,

Harte should have not been playing, Gary Kelly should be in the left back position.
Kilbane should not have been playing, my reckoning is that Clinton Morrison should have been playing up front with Robbie Keane with Duff going wide on the wing

Id nearly say England would be better off without Heskey,
Darrius Vasselle is more versitile i think he would work well with Sinclair on the left. I'm open to be told otherwise

[Pete Hanlin]

Well, arriving home from work I had the chance to watch the entire game on replay...

I think the refs had a side bet to see if they could yellow card the entire US sqaud in one game (they got about halfway there).


Reyna finally showed some of his stuff, and Friedel continues to play out of his cleats (I don't think I've ever seen a goalie get a yellow just for taking the **** out of an opponent though!)... as good as Germany is supposed to be, I'm just glad we aren't playing Brazil! Good luck, England!

[John R]

Pete Hanlin said:
I believe the Krauts are next on our schedule! In keeping with our history with the Germans, we should let the Englanders play the first half to a draw, show up at halftime, beat the stuffing out of them and claim total victory!
:D

:drop: Er, If you are refering to what i think you are refering too.....Then you will only be need for the shirt swopping....
:drop:

Perhaps you had better put the footiee team on border patrol as its the only time the mexicans have never got passed.....

Jokes aside (Well your footie team is anyway) well done, this game needs new blood...Now you can leave it to us (Italy) to win thanks..:bbg:

[Tim Hunter]

USA played well, great goals, although the Mexico defense was so busy beating up Jones they weren't paying attention! I think they'll do well to beat Germany though (I have a horrible suspicion that the germans are going to do far better than we all expected! Prove me wrong USA!)

Look forward to the two home countries matches today and of course the Brazil game on Friday.

Enger-land, Enger-land! :finger:

[Pete Hanlin]

I tried to be diplomatic, I really did...

Perhaps to better keep with history, we could let you play Germany, get down 0-4 and have all your players huddled in your own penalty area... then, we can enter the game, make a mess of everything, and win 6-4.
Just kidding ;)

Seriously, I've followed the US squad through the qualification process, and frankly- I'm shocked. These guys are either just dumb lucky or they really found a way to pull it together for the World Cup! I guess we'll find out against Germany.

[Tim Hunter]

Sorry to any Italy fans but really enjoyed the game against South Korea, mind you not as much as the South Koreans. Still not sure about that Totti yellow card though!

Ah well Friday morning hope no patients come in until 10 o'clock!:bbg:

[John R]

Tim Hunter said:
Sorry to any Italy fans

I'll let you off...
Still a bit sad that the korean who scored the winning goal has been sacked by his team.:shiner: :finger: Mind you they are Italian......

[Tim Hunter]

John R said:
Still a bit sad that the korean who scored the winning goal has been sacked by his team.:shiner: :finger: Mind you they are Italian......

John I suspect that the fact that he's taken his country through to the quarter finals for the first time in their history (this after South Korea had never won a match in the second round before!)will probably help assuage the pain.

I don't think he'll have much difficulty getting another contract, although maybe not wise to go back to Italy!

[John R]

I hope South Korea go all the way to the final now, as they are nieave enough to go all out for the win...not just sit back and hope not to lose like the european teams do....
Wonder what odds i would get on South Korea V Senagal for the final now there could be a match to watch, but then again after watching senagal in the africian nations cup final they have learnt too much from the european game about You Must Defend rather than attack...

[Pete Hanlin]

I'm listening to an interview with the Mexican coach (after their loss to the US), and he's crying about the "non-manly" style of soccer the US team played. "They didn't allow us to play the kind of football we're comfortable with, they just played to frustrate us."

Excuse me, I didn't realize it was customary to make a point of allowing your opponent to play their brand of soccer! However, I must admit, when one of the screen displays described the American line-up as 3-5-2 I was scratching my head...

When I played, it seemed we almost always played 3-3-4 (sometimes 3-4-3, if you had a lead or only needed a tie). Perhaps Warren or someone can explain the advantages of having five midfielders and only two defenders? I imagine having only two back would make it easier to catch opposing forwards off-sides, but heaven help you if you get beat on a break through!

Thanks for the info, I'll be getting up to watch the US-German match tomorrow a.m.

[Tim Hunter]

It's 1-1 in the Brazil England game at half time, bloody terrifying is what it is!

Second half here we come, stay away patients.

[10 Pence Short]

We didn't want to win the stupid world cup anyway.

COME ON SOUTH KOREA!!!