Fifa World Cup South Africa 2010

[wolfie]

World Cup Final

Sunday July 11th.

[Hector]

I think a tie was pretty good for Uruguay. Holding back the defending champs....

France was runner up...Italy are the current defending champs...

[Hector]

The team that has impressed me the most so far is South Korea.

Their technique has vastly improved...and they are relentless...pretty gritty team...and a dangerous one at that...I like them.

[LadyZod]

France was runner up...Italy are the current defending champs...

You are right my friend. Me type-y too fast-y and no think-y.

[Hector]

You are right my friend. Me type-y too fast-y and no think-y.

That's ok...I do the same thing often as well...




Hey...anybody else watching all the games?

I am...

Today...I got up at 4:30 in the morning to watch South Korea vs Greece...then at around 7...I watched Argentina vs Nigeria...then at 11...England vs USA.

Tomorrow...same thing all over again...

[Adam West]

France won it in 1998 but they are overrated. I don't think they or Italy will make it far this year...throw their rankings out the door.

Very impressed with South Korea and I was skeptical about Argentina but they looked really good. That game could have been 8-0 against Nigeria which isn't a push over.

[wolfie]

Gearing up for todays games. First up the other two teams in Englands group so we will see what we are both up against.

[wolfie]

Well having watched Algeria and Slovenia i don't think England have got much to worry about. America must beat Slovenia though on Friday.

[wolfie]

It's time to support the Aussies.

[wyldpny]

Slovenia is going down on Friday

[wolfie]

Which way is it back to Australia?

Nice to see the Germans are no good then.

[Meule]

Just found out my brother is in South Africa right now, he's going to watch Holland play and go to two other matches (don't know which ones)... lucky SOB

[Hector]

Poor Socceroos...they got blasted by the Germans...4-0.

Germans are a machine of a team...and the second youngest in the tournament.

Australia is the second oldest...and it showed.

[Hector]

I have one question .....
Now bare in mind I know nothing about soccar so this question will probably sound dumb to most people.

I looked up all the countries in it and couldn't find Poland.
Being of Polish heritage it's the first thing I noticed.

Are they just not in it, or did they get bumped out before or something else ?
I think soccar is pretty big in Poland so its weird they're not in this.

You'll be happy to learn that the powerful German team three Polish-born players, Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski and Piotr Trochowski.

Podolski scored a goal against Australia today.

Germany is no longer the old Germany...they have a nice mixture now...like Jerome Boateng (half-brother of Kevin Prince Boating who played well for Ghana today), Marco Marin who was born in Bosnia, Mesut Ozil (Turkish decent), Mario Gomez (half Spanish), Dennis Aogo (Nigerian decent), and Brazilian born Cacau...who also scored a goal today.

Watch out for Germany, folks...

[wyldpny]

I see this just popped up on MSN:


Vuvuzela drone killing World Cup atmosphere

Updated Jun 13, 2010 3:51 PM ET

John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press

The constant drone of cheap and tuneless plastic horns is killing the atmosphere at the World Cup.

Where are the loud choruses of "Oooohhsss" from enthralled crowds when a shot scorches just wide of the goalpost? And the sharp communal intake of breath, the shrill "Aaahhhhss," when a goalkeeper makes an acrobatic, match-winning save? Or the humorous/moving/offensive football chants and songs?

Mostly, they're being drowned out by the unrelenting water-torture beehive hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm of South African vuvuzela trumpets. Damn them. They are stripping World Cup 2010 of football's aural artistry.

Vuvuzela apologists - a few more weeks of this brainless white noise will perhaps change, or melt, their minds - defend the din as simply part of the South African experience. Each country to its own, they say. When in Rome, blah, blah, blah.

Which would be fine if this was purely a South African competition. Fans could then legitimately hoot away to their hearts' content while annoying no one other than their immediate neighbors.

But this is the World Cup, a celebration of the 32 nations that qualified and of all the others that did not but which still play and love the game. Hosting planet football brings responsibilities. At the very least, South Africa should ensure that the hundreds of millions of visitors who come in goodwill to its door, both in person and via the magic of television, do not go home with a migraine. How many TV viewers who long for a more nuanced soundtrack to go with the show have already concluded that the only way to enjoy this World Cup is by pressing mute on their remote?

In Tweeting "No offense to the vuvuzela posse but, man, it's a bit much," seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong was not alone.

Attending or watching a match should be a feast for both the eyes and the ears. Those two senses work better together, each augmenting the other.

FOX SPORTS POLL

*
How do you feel about South Africa's vuvuzelas?
o Can't stand 'em! Get 'em out!
o They provide a nice atmosphere
o I barely notice either way
o I think they should shove them where the sun doesn't shine

Sounds should ebb and flow like tides with the fortunes on the field. That adds to the drama. Fans reacting with their voices to action on the pitch, to events in the stadium and to each other's sounds, songs and chants are part of football's theater.

A sudden crowd silence can also tell a story - perhaps of the heartbreak of a late, defeat-inflicting goal or of the collective shock of seeing a player horribly injured by a bad tackle. Sometimes, you should even be able to hear a coach bark orders from the touchline or players shouting at each other for the ball.

There are stadium sounds other than vuvuzelas at this World Cup - just not enough of them. They are being bullied into submission by the trumpets' never-ending screech.

In Rustenburg there were scattered unison chants of "In-ger-land, In-ger-land," a few bars of "God Save the Queen" and the occasional "USA! USA!" when England played the United States on Saturday night. But vuvuzelas ultimately won the battle of the bands. They and the result - a disappointing 1-1 tie - silenced England's fans, who usually are among the best-drilled noisemakers in football.

They take their singing seriously, with chants that are cheeky, taunting and often just insulting. But at least they are inventive, too.

The same cannot be said of vuvuzelas. They are simply mindless. Their pitch doesn't change, just the intensity. Blow hard. Blow soft. The only range is from horrifically loud to just annoyingly so. Because of that, we absolutely could not hear the rich African voices of Ghana fans who sang lustily Sunday at the Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, vibrantly clothed in their national colors of green and red. What a shame.

Please, South Africa, make the trumpets stop. Give us a song, instead.

The same cannot be said of vuvuzelas. They are simply mindless. Their pitch doesn't change, only the intensity. Blow hard. Blow soft. The only range is from horrifically loud to just annoyingly so.

Please, South Africa, make them stop. Give us a song, instead.

John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jleicester(at)ap.org.