Yeah, I was so shocked by the goal, which probably clouded my assessment of Switzerland's actual performance.

hahahaah!

glad spain lost.

does everyone hate spain because they are favorites, or were?

Haha, brilliant! And i'm totally with you on the Vuvuwhatsits.

I definitely don't hate Spain and, besides the interest that an upset inevitably brings, I wanted them to win. The problem is that traditionally this is what Spain does. It builds up the expectations of the world and then fuck things up. If Spain were a band they'd be Queens of the Stone Age, post Songs For the Deaf.

i don't hate them, i feel a little sorry for them, they field these teams that look awesome on paper and then they always inevitably fuck up, and it's hilarious.

The only positive I can think of for Spain is that they may have gotten their inevitable blip out of the way now, before it can have any real impact. I still think they're very serious contenders. (Unlike QOTSA)

so S. Africa plays again today. excellent.
Can Uruguay win? They need the points!

the vuvuzuelas is like having an Earth record playing at full blast during a futbol match! I think that shit is great! drone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

not everyone complains about vuvuzelas, in fact i heard that prettyboy losers; spain actually encourage spectators at their practices to bring tha noize

that's cuz you're confusing a futbol game with a concert


ps- im being polite even though you called us idiots!!!



that's to get them accustomed to hell-- next world cup: firebombs

I meant the losers in the media who havenothing better to write about!!! and you!


;)

But it's the world cup, which is as much a sporting spectacle as it anything purely to do with just the game. The ridiculously light ball seems to be having a far bigger impact on the actual matches than a few thousand people blowing trumpets. And I do really think they sound awesome. Sort of menacing, but in a good way.

ha ha ha ha-- damn newbie!



at this point broadcasters are managing to partially shield their mics from the barrage, which is why most of us can watch a little better, but i'm concerned that it's affecting the players, and ultimately that's what matters. sure, it's the same noise for everyone (you can say the same thing about wet pitches, balls that are too light, wind, etc), but i want to see as many good games as i can and not 144dbs of dumbass blowhorn. i have a couple of ear-splitting maryanne amacher cds that i play often, but not when i try to hear what somebody else is saying-- and players need to be able to hear each other to play at their best.


anyway, uruguay has a good defense that could stop the south africans cold (i think if they put someone on tshabalala's ass that's 50% of winning the game), but what's left to see is if uruguay's world-class strikers are able to get their shit together & actually score instead of the team just frustrating their opponents. last game the strikers didn't get many balls from the midfield and their play together had not gelled, but on a good day uruguay can play incredibly well-- the problem is that they are not consistent. physically, they are bigger and stronger than the mexican players, which is a good thing against the big & fast south africans. cuahutemoc blanco looked like a fucking ladybug the other day. so i think yeah uruguay can win, and the support of the crowd for south africa, which is usually a big factor, will be rendered null by those awful trumpets.

you guys need to speak up. i can hardly hear u

Chile looked very good this morning constantly looking to attack instead of passing back and forth chewing up the time. North Korea should look good as they have been together as a team longer than anyone else. The announcer claimed that North Korean fans were hired actors as the government certainly wouldn't allow folks out of the country. Swiss looked ok as did Spain. Spain's major problem was over passing if you ask me.

How do they seed the teams for the knockout rounds? Most points earned #1 least amount of points earned #16. All ties broken by goals scored?

they started out the first half looking awesome compared to the swiss who took 40 minutes or so to get into it, the swiss started playing, to quote larry bird "like sissies" and I was so surprised they pulled it off.

I'm waiting for SA to start at 11am.. damn you folks back east are lucky, these games start at 430AM pacific, I catch the first one before leaving for work around 540ish..

NBA FINAL tomorrow, fucking Boston is getting tossed, I was rooting for Phoenix but I got to go for home team against those dickwads in boston, they are the only team more thug, more crooked, more cocky than LA!

the 2 top teams of each group qualify & play in a bracket against those qualified in adjacent groups-- it's elimination from then on

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/kostage.html

"1A / 2B" is first place of A group vs 2nd place of B group-- apply to the rest.

the number in the middle is the game number. along with the date (day/month). games 49 and 50 are on june 26: [49] 26/06, [50] 26/06

W49 means "winner of game #49". etc.