June 15, 201015 yr Congrats to New Zealand :o Their first ever point in a World Cup Finals! Portugal v Ivory Coast is a game I've been looking forward to for a while now, Better get some food before it starts!
June 15, 201015 yr Two teams trying not to lose, didn't make for a great spectacle and I doubt either are particularly happy with a point. The match pretty much summed up the tournament so far, too many teams playing too cautiously.
June 15, 201015 yr Portugal looked very much uninspired to play Ivory Coast.....at least that's my opinion, from a non-fan perspective....
June 15, 201015 yr Only team to impress me so far has been Germany. It is no surprise. Every single member of their squad has been using the Jabulani ball in League games since February. It's been used in the French and Argintinean leagues too, but they don't have many home based players unlike Germany, all 23 of their squad play in the Bundesliga. I didn't see any of the Portugal game but a boring 0-0 draw doesn't surprise me. With Brazil in their group it would've been viewed as a game that neither team could afford to lose at all.
June 15, 201015 yr I hate the complete and utter ignorance being shown to the North Korean team. Just because no one knows anything abouth them why does it automatically mean they're going to be f***ing awful? They wouldn't be there if they weren't half decent. :manson:
June 15, 201015 yr I cheered more when North Korea scored than when Stevie G scored on Saturday evening. Here is some food for thought: FIFA WORLD CUP GOALS 1930 - 18 games - 70 goals - 3.8 average number of goals per game 1934 - 17 - 70 - 4.1 1938 - 18 - 84 - 4.7 1950 - 22 - 88 - 4.0 1954 - 26 - 140 - 5.4 1958 - 35 - 126 - 3.6 1962 - 32 - 89 - 2.8 1966 - 32 - 89 - 2.8 1970 - 32 - 95 - 3.0 1974 - 38 - 97 - 2.6 1978 - 38 - 102 - 2.7 1982 - 52 - 146 - 2.8 1986 - 52 - 132 - 2.5 1990 - 52 - 115 - 2.2 1994 - 52 - 141 - 2.7 1998 - 64 - 171 - 2.7 2002 - 64 - 161 - 2.5 2006 - 64 - 147 - 2.3 2010* - 14 - 22 - 1.6 :manson: *Up to and including Tuesday, June 15th.
June 15, 201015 yr It would be more relevant to compare after the Spain game tomorrow, with the first 16 games of 2006. It seems too many teams this time don't want to lose their first match. I can't see it staying this low.
June 15, 201015 yr Most of the matches have been very boring until Brazil came along, very enjoyable to watch, the Koreans gave them a good game.
June 15, 201015 yr Looks like Italian the Italian goalie who started the match the other night, is out indefinitely with a back injury....
June 16, 201015 yr So let's see how Spain, the favourites, play today. I don't think they'll go as far as many predict.
June 16, 201015 yr So are the Spanish media gonna jump on Spain now? :) Switzerland are lower ranked than Spain and beat Switzerland but after this result it means Switzerland are better than Spain and we drew with USA who are better than Switzerland so this techincally means we are better than Spain who are the favourites so this means we'lll win the World Cup. :o See! It all works out! I'm a genius :D
June 16, 201015 yr So much for Spain running away with this group, at this point, seeing as they were just blanked by Switzerland......
June 16, 201015 yr Quite a good match actually surprised at the Swiss hammering them 1-0, Spain tried to come back with some numerous shots on goal obviously some hit the woodwork.
June 16, 201015 yr It would be more relevant to compare after the Spain game tomorrow, with the first 16 games of 2006. It seems too many teams this time don't want to lose their first match. I can't see it staying this low. OK then (after first set of group fixtures with 8 groups & 32 teams): 2010 - 16 - 24 - 1.50 2006 - 16 - 39 - 2.44 2002 - 16 - 46 - 2.88 1998 - 16 - 37 - 2.31 Personally I think the majority of the players complaining about the new FIFA Jabulani ball where they now seem incapable of taking free-kicks, and strikers are struggling to control their shots & headers, and where a quarter of the goals have come from goalkeeping errors because the movement of the ball is difficult to predict for all concerned; and the noise from all the vuvuzelas means the players are having trouble communicating with each other on the pitch resulting in several tepid poor quality matches is the real factor for this low scoring tournament to date, especially when you consider in major European, South American & International football the goals per game averages are higher than they were 10 & 20 years ago. Well done Sepp Blatter & FIFA. :arrr:
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