Official World Cup Discussion Thread (No Spoilers)

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 11:46 am

JRod wrote:I don't know what goes where and I don't care. Avoid all news sites and this forum if you don't want to know the result.

JRod:

Keep the posts with scores or game information in the spoiler thread. That's why it was created.

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 12:15 pm

Info. on getting World Cup streams online:

http://torrentfreak.com/world-cup-p2p-stream/#more-312

Take care,
PK

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 12:24 pm

I just found out that I will be in Amsterdam on the day of the final. How f*cking cool would that be if The Netherlands win it?

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 12:28 pm

World cup.. in ascii:

http://www.ascii-wm.net/

Instructions to use it are (from a shell or cmd window) to type:

telnet ascii-wm.net 2006

I can't access it from work here.. but I'll try tonight from home.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 12:52 pm

Very cool Firefox extension that gives live World Cup scores and schedules, and does the same for European domestic leagues and continental cups:

http://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/footiefox/?L=1

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:29 pm

pk500 wrote:Info. on getting World Cup streams online:

http://torrentfreak.com/world-cup-p2p-stream/#more-312

Take care,
PK

I downloaded the TVUPlayer and have Tunisia-Saudi Arabia on in the background while I work. Pretty good stream quality -- I'm impressed!

Take care,
PK

Zlax45 · Post by **Zlax45** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 2:01 pm

pk500 wrote:Very cool Firefox extension that gives live World Cup scores and schedules, and does the same for European domestic leagues and continental cups:

http://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/footiefox/?L=1

Take care,
PK

Even screams goal at you when someone scores.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 2:25 pm

Nice to see Allen Hopkins on the World Cup Live shows on ESPN2. I know Hoppo caught a lot of sh*t from Fox Soccer Channel viewers, but I always liked him.

I'll tell you who I don't like on ESPN2's studio coverage: Eric Wynalda. What an arrogant, aloof dick. He acts as if he's an omniscient former international superstar. Yeah, right.

Dave Revsine, a rare ESPN guy because he seems to do his homework, made a point in a question today to Wynalda about how Arena is facing pressure for the first time as U.S. coach because the American public doesn't pay attention to soccer outside of the World Cup.

Wynalda responded: "That's true. I didn't expect you to make that point."

What a dick. If I was Revsine, I would have a word with Wynalda after the broadcast.

Take care,
PK

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 6:23 pm

pk500 wrote:Dave Revsine, a rare ESPN guy because he seems to do his homework, made a point in a question today to Wynalda about how Arena is facing pressure for the first time as U.S. coach because the American public doesn't pay attention to soccer outside of the World Cup.

Wynalda responded: "That's true. I didn't expect you to make that point."

What a dick. If I was Revsine, I would have a word with Wynalda after the broadcast.

Take care,
PK

That was a rather embarrasing moment, wasn't it. Hopefully Revsine told Wynalda where to go after the broadcast.

Zlax45 · Post by **Zlax45** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:59 pm

Julie Foudy is very good also on the broadcasts. I find her somewhat attractive....Is that wrong?

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 11:32 pm

Zlax45 wrote:Julie Foudy is very good also on the broadcasts. I find her somewhat attractive....Is that wrong?

I'd say so. I think it was Deadspin that referred to her as "slightly prettier" than John Kruk.

Zlax45 · Post by **Zlax45** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 11:52 pm

RobVarak wrote:
Zlax45 wrote:Julie Foudy is very good also on the broadcasts. I find her somewhat attractive....Is that wrong?
I'd say so. I think it was Deadspin that referred to her as "slightly prettier" than John Kruk.

I have things for athletic chicks...Remember, I majored in Sports Management and had some classes with athletes so I enjoy the female athlete very much...LOL

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 10:06 am

You know when I had it on the other day my girlfriend came in and made some comment about how ugly she was. Now I have learned when to keep my mouth shut concerning such topics, but I don't find her to be that unattractive at all. She's certainly no stunner, but I think she is maybe modestly attractive...

Now if you want to talk about unattractive sportscasters, I would defer to Linda Cohn, who my friends and I have affectionately referred to as 'horsewoman' for a number of years.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 10:06 am

Wow, if this accusation from Convey is true, the the U.S. team is in more chaos than I thought:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story ... et&cc=5901

Take care,
PK

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 10:20 am

pk500 wrote:Wow, if this accusation from Convey is true, the the U.S. team is in more chaos than I thought:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story ... et&cc=5901

Take care,
PK

That's incredible. I can't imgaine that it's totally accurate. And it still wouldn't acquit Convey of his role in the massacre. His crossing in particular was simply atrocious.

I've actually been a bit heartened by the strength of the media reaction to the US loss. I'll take indignation and aggravation over indifference anyday. The '98 debacle was met with a shrug at best, it's nice to see a bit of edge in the coverage and among the public.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 10:29 am

pk500 wrote:Wow, if this accusation from Convey is true, the the U.S. team is in more chaos than I thought:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story ... et&cc=5901

Take care,
PK

The quote sounds really bad, but I think that is the kind of contradictory statement a 3-0 drubbing tends to produce. I mean how complicated were the roles? Everyone played the position they always do with exception of Beasley and Donovan. Maybe Beasley is less effective on the right, but it's hardly like he doesn't know how to position himself as a wide midfielder. The biggest blame in this regard would go to Donovan I think, who had a bit of 'free' role, but ultimately floated in no-man's land, neither attacking like a forward, nor distributing like an attacking midfielder.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 10:59 am

Well it could be that Arena told Donovan and Beasley to stay back to keep men behind the ball. There's no reason why the US can pull a Brazil and once they get the ball the run forward. Instead the keep Donovan and Beasley back like they were scared of the Czechs.

Still a 3-0 lose and everyone goes pearshaped is what happens. If this was England, we'd be hearing much of the same. Although Ericson would be rightly to blame. I'm sure DaveT can't wait to see him go.

Zlax45 · Post by **Zlax45** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 10:39 pm

JRod wrote:Well it could be that Arena told Donovan and Beasley to stay back to keep men behind the ball. There's no reason why the US can pull a Brazil and once they get the ball the run forward. Instead the keep Donovan and Beasley back like they were scared of the Czechs.

Still a 3-0 lose and everyone goes pearshaped is what happens. If this was England, we'd be hearing much of the same. Although Ericson would be rightly to blame. I'm sure DaveT can't wait to see him go.

Group of death on Friday again...Good attackign soccer from 3 of the teams.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:02 pm

And L. Messi seems to have re-injured himself during practice, I doubt he'll see any action. A. Robben an exciting player to watch for the Dutch.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 6:59 am

Drogba a good player for the Ivory Coast. Plays for Chelsea, I believe.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 7:26 am

JRod wrote:Well it could be that Arena told Donovan and Beasley to stay back to keep men behind the ball. There's no reason why the US can pull a Brazil and once they get the ball the run forward. Instead the keep Donovan and Beasley back like they were scared of the Czechs.

Still a 3-0 lose and everyone goes pearshaped is what happens. If this was England, we'd be hearing much of the same. Although Ericson would be rightly to blame. I'm sure DaveT can't wait to see him go.

Actually, in terms of qualification for the big tournaments (Euro 2000 and 2004, WC 2002 and 2006) Ericsson is the most successful manager we've had..England have had bad luck with injuries (Gerrard, Owen, Rooney) and general bad luck (Campbell's disallowed goal vs Portugal, for example), yet he's always got us there.

To put it into context, look at the people reportedly lined up to replace him before McLaren got the job

Allardyce (fat clueless self-publicist, won f**k all)

Venables (did nothing last time he managed England, described by a High Court judge as 'fundamentally dishonest')

O'Neill (managing in a mickey-mouse league does not make you a good manager)

Curbishley (great, kept Charlton in the Prem for 6 years, finishing outside the Euro places every time...obviously well suited to competing with the best in the World, then)

No, as far as our moronic Press is concerned, Sven has one drawback from which all others stem....he's not English. So what if he's won titles in 2 different countries, he doesn't jump up and down on the touchline like a tw*t, so he's got no passion.

F*ck me, if that's all you want, take Stuart Pearce....he'll soon be out on his arse anyway, so there'll be no compensation to pay either.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 9:23 am

This writer agrees with Dave:

http://www.squarefootball.net/article/a ... p?aid=3301

Take care,
PK

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 9:37 am

Sven's a good League manager, but he's too cautious and that hurts England in knock-out tournaments.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 10:34 am

What does it say about ESPN's broadcasts when I don't know a bit of Spanish yet find the Univision broadcasts more entertaining and better produced?

ESPN, its announcers and studio crew are simply dreadful. I actually feel bad for Marcelo Balboa, as Dave O'Brien is so clueless while announcing games that he never sets up Balboa for analysis with any questions about tactics, trends, strategies, etc.

O'Brien sounds like an automaton, simply droning out player names who touch the ball and reams of meaningless stats that ESPN interns have unearthed for him.

ESPN feels the need to bury the most un-American of beautiful sports with the most American of sports television trends -- mountains of stats. Take this gem from the Germany-Poland game -- Germany was 12-0-3 lifetime in games at Dortmund. WHO GIVES A FLYING F*CK?

Memo to ESPN: This isn't baseball, where fans are just drooling over the next Bill James or STATS Inc. nuggets.

Take care,
PK

fanatic · Post by **fanatic** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 10:40 am

Not sure what feed I'm getting here (Toronto). British announcer I think...then goes back to Sportsnet (local) studio, where half the guys are experienced football analysts and the others are generic broadcasters that will probably be doing Curling next week.