***Official World Cup Talk Thread***

[cdub21]

Now that his WC is over, I have to say that the most dissapointing player was Ronaldo. Considering all the hype he came in with (top 2 player with Messi) did he really do anything besides bitch and complain? Take away the N. Korea game where everyone scored and what did he really do?

Villa was extremly impressive, he has now scored 7 goals in his last 8 WC games.

Don't remember who said it, but one of the commentators put it perfectly--Ronaldo doesn't trust his teammates. He's trying to do everything on his own--and that's why he keeps going down, trying to get free kicks, because he thinks it's the only way Portugal can win.

He was the same way at Manchester United, until he started trusting his teammates, especially Rooney and Rafael (who played on his side). Once he started truly trusting them, the football became more free-flowing with him, and he went on a scoring rampage.

I do not think he will EVER figure it out on the international level unless they get someone else that he trusts can link up with him and/or score on their own.

Villa is a beast; there's a reason Barca signed him for $50 million THREE DAYS after the season ended. The rich get richer.....

its true, he doesnt have much help on attack with portugal. where was nani? hurt? Deco was good but hes past his prime. He shouldnt of been up front in the middle anyways, its just that much easier for the other team to triple team and surround him very quickly.

[jsence2]

Now that his WC is over, I have to say that the most dissapointing player was Ronaldo. Considering all the hype he came in with (top 2 player with Messi) did he really do anything besides bitch and complain? Take away the N. Korea game where everyone scored and what did he really do?

Villa was extremly impressive, he has now scored 7 goals in his last 8 WC games.

Don't remember who said it, but one of the commentators put it perfectly--Ronaldo doesn't trust his teammates. He's trying to do everything on his own--and that's why he keeps going down, trying to get free kicks, because he thinks it's the only way Portugal can win.

He was the same way at Manchester United, until he started trusting his teammates, especially Rooney and Rafael (who played on his side). Once he started truly trusting them, the football became more free-flowing with him, and he went on a scoring rampage.

I do not think he will EVER figure it out on the international level unless they get someone else that he trusts can link up with him and/or score on their own.

Villa is a beast; there's a reason Barca signed him for $50 million THREE DAYS after the season ended. The rich get richer.....

its true, he doesnt have much help on attack with portugal. where was nani? hurt? Deco was good but hes past his prime. He shouldnt of been up front in the middle anyways, its just that much easier for the other team to triple team and surround him very quickly.

Nani got hurt a few days before the tournament, he had to be replaced with their emergency replacement. That REALLY hurt Portugal, as he had gotten into top form the two months leading up to the tournament.

Was Deco even out there today? I know he didn't start but wasn't paying attention to their subs.

[cdub21]

Now that his WC is over, I have to say that the most dissapointing player was Ronaldo. Considering all the hype he came in with (top 2 player with Messi) did he really do anything besides bitch and complain? Take away the N. Korea game where everyone scored and what did he really do?

Villa was extremly impressive, he has now scored 7 goals in his last 8 WC games.

Don't remember who said it, but one of the commentators put it perfectly--Ronaldo doesn't trust his teammates. He's trying to do everything on his own--and that's why he keeps going down, trying to get free kicks, because he thinks it's the only way Portugal can win.

He was the same way at Manchester United, until he started trusting his teammates, especially Rooney and Rafael (who played on his side). Once he started truly trusting them, the football became more free-flowing with him, and he went on a scoring rampage.

I do not think he will EVER figure it out on the international level unless they get someone else that he trusts can link up with him and/or score on their own.

Villa is a beast; there's a reason Barca signed him for $50 million THREE DAYS after the season ended. The rich get richer.....

its true, he doesnt have much help on attack with portugal. where was nani? hurt? Deco was good but hes past his prime. He shouldnt of been up front in the middle anyways, its just that much easier for the other team to triple team and surround him very quickly.

Nani got hurt a few days before the tournament, he had to be replaced with their emergency replacement. That REALLY hurt Portugal, as he had gotten into top form the two months leading up to the tournament.

Was Deco even out there today? I know he didn't start but wasn't paying attention to their subs.

suspended i think, i was talking more in the last couple years with him. hes not much of a threat anymore

[Seeitsaveit13]

Now that his WC is over, I have to say that the most dissapointing player was Ronaldo. Considering all the hype he came in with (top 2 player with Messi) did he really do anything besides bitch and complain? Take away the N. Korea game where everyone scored and what did he really do?

Villa was extremly impressive, he has now scored 7 goals in his last 8 WC games.

Don't remember who said it, but one of the commentators put it perfectly--Ronaldo doesn't trust his teammates. He's trying to do everything on his own--and that's why he keeps going down, trying to get free kicks, because he thinks it's the only way Portugal can win.

He was the same way at Manchester United, until he started trusting his teammates, especially Rooney and Rafael (who played on his side). Once he started truly trusting them, the football became more free-flowing with him, and he went on a scoring rampage.

I do not think he will EVER figure it out on the international level unless they get someone else that he trusts can link up with him and/or score on their own.

Villa is a beast; there's a reason Barca signed him for $50 million THREE DAYS after the season ended. The rich get richer.....

its true, he doesnt have much help on attack with portugal. where was nani? hurt? Deco was good but hes past his prime. He shouldnt of been up front in the middle anyways, its just that much easier for the other team to triple team and surround him very quickly.

Nani got hurt a few days before the tournament, he had to be replaced with their emergency replacement. That REALLY hurt Portugal, as he had gotten into top form the two months leading up to the tournament.

Was Deco even out there today? I know he didn't start but wasn't paying attention to their subs.

suspended i think, i was talking more in the last couple years with him. hes not much of a threat anymore

The announcer said he was available as a substitute... but I thought he was out too

[Dolemitesooner]

So the Nigeria soccer team was sentenced to death by firing squad when they arrived home. LMAO wtf

[Seeitsaveit13]

So the Nigeria soccer team was sentenced to death by firing squad when they arrived home. LMAO wtf

No they weren't. They've been banned from competition for 2 years by the president

[jsence2]

So the Nigeria soccer team was sentenced to death by firing squad when they arrived home. LMAO wtf

No they weren't. They've been banned from competition for 2 years by the president

Which won't sit well with FIFA. They don't allow government interference into the national team bodies, that's why they're telling France's president to shut the hell up or see France get at least a two year ban. If Nigeria's president is doing this, FIFA may oblige them and add two MORE years onto it for government interference.

[packsyD22]

So the Nigeria soccer team was sentenced to death by firing squad when they arrived home. LMAO wtf

No they weren't. They've been banned from competition for 2 years by the president

Why because they went 0-3?

[jsence2]

I can't stand Bill Simmons very much, but this is a GREAT column by him.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ons/100701

A cynic might say, "Come on, you could have said the same thing when we beat Colombia in 1994." No way. You need time with these things. Decades. You need kids like me to grow up with soccer in their lives. You need a few memories to stack up. You need it to happen organically. The theory that soccer would never catch on until we found our own Pelé or launched our own successful pro league was dead wrong. We only needed to be exposed to great soccer for a prolonged period of time. We're American. We only respond to the best. The cream of the crop. Nothing else is going to fly.

We don't care that much about Donovan playing for the L.A. Galaxy with guys who couldn't sniff the Premier League, just like English people wouldn't care about seeing Dwyane Wade playing with a bunch of D-Leaguers in London. We want to see Donovan tested against the best. In the months leading up to the 2010 World Cup, I watched Donovan play big games for our national team, for the Galaxy (in the playoffs), then overseas for a solid Everton team. I knew he was a world-class player. I knew he was legitimate. I wasn't stealing that opinion from a magazine or a talking head. The hours I logged with Donovan made me feel invested in him.

It's just easier to care about soccer now. Actually, it's something of a perfect storm -- the technology in place, the flaws of our own professional sports, the efficiency of soccer games, our longing for the pre-JumboTron days when people just cheered and that's what fans did, our best-of-the-best fetish, ESPN's unwavering commitment to pushing the sport, the urgency of every game -- that makes more sense as a whole than it did 10 years ago. After that crushing Ghana defeat, the U.S. players weren't devastated just because they blew a winnable game, but because they knew a growing number of Americans actually cared and it wasn't simply a bandwagon thing. (The TV ratings backed it up: an astonishing 19.4 million U.S. viewers.) It was like pining for the same girl for four years in college, finally hooking up with her one night, then getting kicked out of school the next day.

Dammit! I blew it! I had her! We could have had something!

Regardless, the U.S. completed Stage 1. Soccer is no longer taking off. It's here. Those celebratory YouTube videos that started popping up in the 24 hours after Donovan's goal -- all unfolding the same way, with a stationary shot of nervous fans watching the game in a bar, going quiet for a couple of seconds during the American counterattack, reacting to Dempsey's miss ("Nooooooooo!"), holding their breath for two beats ("Wait a second …"), exploding on Donovan's finish ("Hi-yahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"), then chanting "USA! USA! USA!" afterward -- tapped into a collective American sports experience unlike anything since Lake Placid.

[jsence2]

1) I've come to realize that Arjen Robben will dive until the day he retires--and then probably still won't stop.

2) Robin Van Persie has to be the whiniest bitch I've ever seen in soccer--he puts Ronaldo to shame.

[brwnbear]

Great set play by Holland

[jsence2]

Great set play by Holland

Yep. And after Sneijder's first goal was taken from me (which kills me in fantasy), I get one from him.

This is unreal....Brazil are falling apart defensively.

[brwnbear]

Melo losses his cool and gets red carded. Probably not a good idea to cleat the player you just fouled.

[jsence2]

It's over now.

I can't even say a word about that one. Robben took a dive and Melo just flat stomped him. He also scored the own goal. He has cost his team the World Cup.

[packsyD22]

This Robben guy is a pussie..............Spain will put their sorry asses away in the semis.

[jsence2]

This is why I FUCKING HATE Arjen Robben!!!

He did this shit all during Champions League, got guys pissed off, got guys booked/sent off with his diving. So tired of this cunt. GIVE HIM A RED CARD ALREADY FOR DIVING!!!!

[brwnbear]

Great set play by Holland

Yep. And after Sneijder's first goal was taken from me (which kills me in fantasy), I get one from him.

This is unreal....Brazil are falling apart defensively.

Never really been impressed by this team. They ended up only 1 pt ahead of Chile and Paraguay in qualifying.

[jsence2]

[brwnbear]

This Robben guy is a pussie..............Spain will put their sorry asses away in the semis.

Yea, hes a pretty big drama queen. But Melo earned that red card. First he hacked at the back of his leg and then he stupidly cleated him while he was down. Really stupid move by Melo. Basically did exactly what Robben wanted.

I could be wrong buy I believe the winner of this game gets Uruguay or Ghana. Holland cant meet Spain until the final.

[jsence2]

This Robben guy is a pussie..............Spain will put their sorry asses away in the semis.

Yea, hes a pretty big drama queen. But Melo earned that red card. First he hacked at the back of his leg and then he stupidly cleated him while he was down. Really stupid move by Melo. Basically did exactly what Robben wanted.

I could be wrong buy I believe the winner of this game gets Uruguay or Ghana. Holland cant meet Spain until the final.

You are correct.

I can't blame Melo to be honest. If I had to deal with Robben's bullshit all day and him diving the moment he felt someone touch him, I'd want to bury my studs somewhere more painful than the back of his thigh.

He represents everything that is wrong with football. He has so much talent, but instead of staying on his feet and using his talent to beat people, he tries to cheat to get free kicks and fouls, and get people into trouble so they can't challenge him.