Official World Cup Thread

[perkinke]

Man, Pirlo is a medical marvel, he doesn't seem to have lost much, if anything, from the last cup.

[CaptainQuintero]

Good game! If England play like that again then qualification should be ok, great defensive discipline by Italy too; like the Italy of old.

[soutso]

with the greatest of respect, i don't swallow that for a second. i'm no great soccer fan - enjoy the gunners and would like to see australia do well here but if not, so be it. but are we really just in a tournament, even this one, just to make up the numbers?

tell me honestly that you would rather us play heroically but get tragically beaten after a great performance than sneak home with an ugly win? ask the players what they would prefer.

go back to brett lee almost getting us home in a last wicket stand in an early test in the 05 ashes, or border and thommo almost doing the same from further out back in the mid 80's. heroic losses, no doubt. and what aussie wouldn't have given a limb to see us get home (even, say, on the back of 40 no balls and 6 dropped catches by england) and win those. any way possible. there for a win, not to be epic losers.

realistically, we are next to no chance but now there is every possibility we'll come home beaten 3 zip and perhaps having managed only a single goal. if we are not there to win, we should not be there.

a heroic loss is still a loss. yes, better than going down say 5-1 (whoops), but still a loss.

Ken, I'd take an ugly win every time than a loss, I see your point.

The problem though is that winning ugly is not going to be sustainable. We want to build a Socceroos squad that will be competitive for the next Asian Cup campaign and the World Cup Qualifiers and World Cup 2018. We are looking to build a squad that will be competitive for generations to come that will need minor tweaking as older players move on and younger ones come in.

That will require some sacrifice and planning. That sacrifice came in this tournament. We forgoe some of our experience in order to give some to the new squad members - those that will be further developed come 2018. Our goal in this tournament is to be competitive. To have our opponents know that they are in for a fight. So far so good. Though a red hot Dutch side and a World Champion Spain may spoil things yet. Either way the style of play and desire shown by the players since Ange Postecoglou has been appointed coach has all been positive thus far.

As a fan, I can see that there is a plan. As a fan, all I can do is hope!

[Smalls]

Man, Pirlo is a medical marvel, he doesn't seem to have lost much, if anything, from the last cup.

Yeah... He has to be at least 67 years old by now. He can still get the ball to move like a boomerang though.

[Ken Gargett]

Ken, I'd take an ugly win every time than a loss, I see your point.

The problem though is that winning ugly is not going to be sustainable. We want to build a Socceroos squad that will be competitive for the next Asian Cup campaign and the World Cup Qualifiers and World Cup 2018. We are looking to build a squad that will be competitive for generations to come that will need minor tweaking as older players move on and younger ones come in.

That will require some sacrifice and planning. That sacrifice came in this tournament. We forgoe some of our experience in order to give some to the new squad members - those that will be further developed come 2018. Our goal in this tournament is to be competitive. To have our opponents know that they are in for a fight. So far so good. Though a red hot Dutch side and a World Champion Spain may spoil things yet. Either way the style of play and desire shown by the players since Ange Postecoglou has been appointed coach has all been positive thus far.

As a fan, I can see that there is a plan. As a fan, all I can do is hope!

the great hope for this team is ange. i think he is clearly an exceptional coach. but you'd have to think some mob in europe will pick him up before long.

[Ken Gargett]

Here here!

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or even, in this case, hear, hear.

[ptrthgr8]

or even, in this case, hear, hear.

I blame the beer I've been drinking since 11am. LOL

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[Ken Gargett]

just read where tim cahill claims a player from chile told him they were cheats.

i cannot believe that he is so dimwitted as to come out in public with such a stupid thing. more embarrassing as he is the captain.

have a think about it. in the middle of a soccer game, cahill supposedly tells a bloke he is a cheat. cahill struggles with english, from what i have seen, and i have no idea whether the bloke from chile even speaks any english or not, but at best, a difficult conversation. but the bloke stopped and admitted to cahill, in english, that they were cheats. seriously?

even he did, which i highly doubt, tim cahiil, you lost. keep your mouth shut. don't whinge like that. just makes us look awful. all the good their performance on the field achieved gets lost.

if i recall, cahill whinged like mad last world cup when he was legitimately sent off in the game v germany, even suggesting it cost us the match (we were already several goals down and lost 4-0). nice to have a high opinion of yourself. and the same bloke, if i recall, deliberately punched a ball in the goal area v serbia near the end of that game (missed by the officials). that goal would have given serbia a draw and put them into the next round. it was nothing but blatant cheating.

and this idiot comes out whinging about chile. i was disappointed when he was made captain and i am much more disappointed now. complete tosser.

[Ken Gargett]

I blame the beer I've been drinking since 11am. LOL

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sorry - only intended as a pun on the silence with those dreadful things missing.

[soutso]

Mile Jedinak is the Socceroos captain. I'll be looking out for this article Ken, if he has said that it makes a laughing stock out of us for sure. I hope its just a load of crap. It is also not consistent with his character.

[DrunkenMonkey]

I so enjoyed that Holland-Spain match! Can't wait to see the Dutch play for the rest of the tournament.

[soutso]

“In the first-half, there was an incident where the left-back elbowed me and kicked out at me when I was trying to run past him for a cross, and I’ve got the yellow card,” he said. “I called him a cheat and he said “Yes, I’m a cheat, so what?”. That’s not [ethical] gamesmanship.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/fifa-world-cup-2014/australia-2014/tim-cahill-hits-out-at-referee-and-chile-players-after-socceroos-defeat-20140614-zs7w4.html#ixzz34gPN0kjg

Well I'd say the Chilean player was just being facetious. Tim is guilty of not showing class here, he appears to be a sook. Perhaps it's just the emotion of it all. Still a champion in my book.... but I'm biased!

[wookiemofo]

ABC in the states makes the World Cup feel like a golf event... it's terrible.

[shlomo]

I vory Coast last night put on a fun show in the second half. Their defence was lousy, but they just bulldozed their way through the Japanese players at will when they needed a goal. Actually fun to watch.

[jeremyk]

France looked good today

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[mf83]

That Honduran team were an absolute disgrace! Don't know what was worse, the play acting or the tackling.

[Bartolomeo]

No PePe against the US next game

[Smallclub]

That Honduran team were an absolute disgrace! Don't know what was worse, the play acting or the tackling.

Agreed, this is really poor football!

[brutusthebuckeye]

Forza USA...

[westg]

just read where tim cahill claims a player from chile told him they were cheats.

i cannot believe that he is so dimwitted as to come out in public with such a stupid thing. more embarrassing as he is the captain.

have a think about it. in the middle of a soccer game, cahill supposedly tells a bloke he is a cheat. cahill struggles with english, from what i have seen, and i have no idea whether the bloke from chile even speaks any english or not, but at best, a difficult conversation. but the bloke stopped and admitted to cahill, in english, that they were cheats. seriously?

even he did, which i highly doubt, tim cahiil, you lost. keep your mouth shut. don't whinge like that. just makes us look awful. all the good their performance on the field achieved gets lost.

if i recall, cahill whinged like mad last world cup when he was legitimately sent off in the game v germany, even suggesting it cost us the match (we were already several goals down and lost 4-0). nice to have a high opinion of yourself. and the same bloke, if i recall, deliberately punched a ball in the goal area v serbia near the end of that game (missed by the officials). that goal would have given serbia a draw and put them into the next round. it was nothing but blatant cheating.

and this idiot comes out whinging about chile. i was disappointed when he was made captain and i am much more disappointed now. complete tosser.

Yep terribly embarrassing , to think that had any outcome on the game, and of course he agreed with him. just to piss him off more...it was a little shirt tug ..c'mon Timmy

[MPS]

USA!

[ogus]

Wow USA

[Smalls]

Wow.. I don't think I can take another game like that. That was about as ugly as it gets, but it is still a win. The obviously weren't ready for the conditions which is unfortunate. Bradley was non-existent, and Ghana pretty much had the ball the entire game. Happy the Dempsey and the younger players came through for a win.

The good news is that the USA is +5 over Portugal in goal differential...... lol

[DrunkenMonkey]

That was about as ugly as it gets

No, it can get much uglier, as those who watched France-Honduras can tell you.

Seriously, though, I thought the US-Ghana was a really exciting match. I just hope Altidore is OK.

[Sver]

Alright! now lets go Belgium Mexico & Russia.