Hey, what are shin-guards for? Cahill made contact with Schweinsteiger using his knee. That would've barely hurt.
I now agree with you, I think I over looked at that, and took it more like a dangerous foul from the back. this is also the comment from the German player I saw on the daily mail website: "After the match Schweinsteiger approached Cahill in the media mixed zone and told the 30-year-old that the incident should not have earned him a red card." but again, is very unfortunate for Aussie what happen but it would not have change the outcome too much, I just hope he will not get too many disqualification matches from the Fifa committee, since it should´t have been a red card. Last night there was no contact on Valdez, when the referee whistle and give a free kick to Paraguay that was transformed into the first goal, but I suppose there is nothing you can, Italy should have play better upfront, and scored more goals, because stuff like that happen!
I think you have overlooked Argentina. They looked realy strong out there. The only reason they didn't win by about 4-0 was because the Nigerian goal keeper played extremely well. I realy do think Brazil will have a tough fight on their hands if they face Argentina.
Anyone who hasn't downloaded the free ESPN app, do so RIGHT NOW. Pretty awesome app, very well put together. I advise upgrading.
Argentina did look strong on the attack, but they looked horrid on defense. The NIGERIANS were able to make some good counter-attacks and if they were slightly better (i.e. didn't mess up the dribble in a 2 vs 2 counter attack) they probably would have scored. Argentina scored ONE against Nigeria, that's not something to celebrate. I think it was an overall... dull performance, especially since their lone goal, while a good one, was half gifted. He wouldn't have gotten to that ball if he was covered. Anyways, Portugal right now, BRASIL LATER!!!! WHOOOO!!!!
Definitely a great goal... so far. Today you guys saw just a *glimpse* of Brazilian football. Wait for more and you'll notice how we dominate the tournament with Robihno's spirit and Kaka's... well... he didn't do much. Maicon was good, and his goal was even better. North Korea did outstandingly well. Having a flat 5 formationt towards the back definitely did them justice to hold up against our attackers. I reckon the outcome when they play Ivory Coast or Portugal would be the same; if not better for North Korea.
Thanks for the heads up, just downloaded it. And, Maicon's goal was fantastic. The keeper did not in anyway see that coming. Their second goal was great also, pure and clean soccer.
that makes for what, 50 seconds of actual football? am i the only one that thinks that brazil did pretty much nothing today? if they keep on playing like this they will not have a chance on the title at all. but yeah, the first goal was indeed a great one. nearly every game to date was a letdown for me and i am more than underwhelmed with the perfomance of many so called favourites (brazil, italy, england, france, argentina, portugal). the only two teams i really was surprised of were germany (i thought they would win but not that clearly) and ivory coast (i thought they would lose by a landslide). i hope england step up their game as i've bet on them to take it home...
Yes, I'll agree that the World Cup has been a disappointment to date, but I as an American would love to blame the unimpressive English performance on good things from the US. Anyway, I was just excited to see a couple nice goals, even if the the games are not superb. That's just the way I see it.
Um, considering they kept the ball for... 76% of the game, I'd say they did pretty well. You need to have patience to score. I don't know if the Germany-Australia game was the first soccer game you've ever seen, but not ALL games go 4-0, most games have one or two point differentials It's the first REAL game for almost all of the teams here, so wait until the Round of 16 until we complain. Also, anyone find it funny how Adidas, a German company, made the dreaded Jubalani ball, and that Germany was the only team to score more than two goals... Conspiracy?
@Brazilian Rider: please. you can't see nothing wrong with most of the games? i'm not talking about scoring twenty goals a game or anything but the majority of the games to date were just plain boring. little to no ideas in the offense and peddling the ball around midfield does not make for good or exciting football. (not talking bout the brazil game in particular here, but about the lot) i have seen amateur games that had more verve. granted, no team wants to lose in a world cup and everybody acts cautious and so on, but don't tell me those last few games were exciting. i'm not saying that football always is exciting, but i guess you also prefer a more active game with actual plays and everything... i love conspiracy theories.
Oh, I thought you were targeting the Brasil game particularly. I have so many people giving me crap about that, even though Brasil DOMINATED statistically (check them out on ESPN, they set the 7th highest number of passes in a game and third highest in the opposing team's area!). Carry on
I think he is mainly targeting the "Italian game" here since he keeps on repeating they were crap. But I suggest him not to start talking bad about other teams in this threaad otherwise this civilized discussion will transform to uncivilized and I think we did well so far to have good football talk, and not been hooligans. About ESPN application, looks good, but, where do you find this stats about number of passes?
what is wrong with you? i'm not "targeting" anyone. i one time said that they played a crappy game. in the other post i mentioned italy along with 5(!) other teams. that is hardly "keeping on repeating"... to promote peace i did remove my initial comment. i still fail to see how it was "hooligan like" in the first place but if people can't take any criticism, i guess i'll be out of this thread...
Pim Verbeek needs to lose his ego and see that no-one can win games with one striker. I can't even believe he chose Cahill to be the sole striker against Germany and not Kennedy. Cahill has a great vertical leap, but I thought Kennedy, being tall, would have been the obvious sole striker. Bring back Kewell and Kennedy as the two strikers, and bring Bresciano into the side as well.
