gospeed81

iTrader: (51)

I haven't read any commentary on this, and it looked like a dive to me at first as well, but if you check the :15 mark carefully you can see Da Silva's left cleat rake across De Rossi's Achille's.

The Italians will never shy away from a good dive opportunity (didn't they do this to Australia last time around?), but this one may not have been as bad as it seemed. Mid stride at that speed even small contact can cause one to tumble and go down, and players train themselves for impact with the ground at 20mph.

But yeah, he played it out and milked it.

stranges12712

iTrader: (1)

+1 to that even though most of those players are a bit older they are better if they cant find a younger player that is better then the older ones they have they keep them. So i cant wait to see the starting line up on sunday. And that 100% was not a dive like gospeed81 said they are bad for diving but now with instant replay and cameras everywhere it wont be as bad but he did get clipped. And De Rossi is the best always a good finisher.

buffon01

iTrader: (9)

Hmm De Rossi is a midfielder He just tends to score.

My team lost unfurtunate goal

Oscar

iTrader: (2)

Too bad for south africa, was rooting for them. Switzerland big surprise against spain though. Interesting match watching spain fail to score with lots of opportunities

richyvrlimited

iTrader: (1)

Ahem,

I should gamble....

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

The Spaniards just didn't look like they were playing together well. They seemed to be a collection of individuals instead of a team.

buffon01

iTrader: (9)

Spain is known for choking. Like I said before they always had had great squats, but they seem to follow the same path every time. Although is early to tell what will happen, it was somewhat expected for those that have seen Spain in a world cup before.

Poor South Africa. Im hoping Mexico to get drilled totmorrow I can stand all the **** talking on Univision (owned by mexicans btw)

buffon01

iTrader: (9)

The problem with spain seems to be physical teams that play to counter attack. Spaniards dont like to get roughed up

turotufas

iTrader: (7)

There’s always a chance you can lose, and their football didn’t deserve such a big reward. We fought hard for the win but it wasn’t to be. I want to avenge this defeat and I’m up for the challenge, and that’s the way we all need to feel. This is no time for feeling sorry for ourselves and cursing our bad luck.
- Vicente del Bosque, Spain coach

gospeed81

iTrader: (51)

choke on ****

buffon01

iTrader: (9)

Impossible. Im not Damon

France 2-0 Mexicunt

gospeed81

iTrader: (51)

My daughter on the way to school this morning:



She's been rooting for her mom's national team since day one.

México 3-1 Francia

stranges12712

iTrader: (1)

Want to see diving watch this baby...

Oscar

iTrader: (2)

Awesome, France got their asses handed to them. Well deserved victory for Mexico I think.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

They both played poorly. If Mexico hadn't benefited from bad officiating on the first goal and a bonehead player mistake on the second one it would have been a zero zero tie. Both performances weren't worthy of even a local football club. There was a little bit of good passing by France in the last 5 minutes but that was it. And I don't like France. If that is the best Mexico can do I might be willing to place money on Uruguay...and I've never seen them play...

When they say World Cup, I'm expecting world class performances by both players and teams. Some of these guys aren't hustling up and down the field for ****. Lazy bastards. You only get one shot at this. Leave EVERYTHING on the field. Lazy, unfocused, selfish, and not working together is what I have seen by almost everyone in the few games I have watched (I have a job).

Rafa

iTrader: (22)

I guess we'll see about that next Monday! We play your country

Rafa

iTrader: (22)

Such a pretty girl. She must look a lot like her mom. There's no way she looks anything like you!

Rafa

iTrader: (22)

Not really shooter. In my humble opinion Spain's loss was a combination of a couple of things:

1) Hitzfield (the Swiss coach who used to coach Bayern Munich) put 3 midfielders to stop Spain's well known "tiqui-taca". This is just a lot of passes in the midfield until someone opens up. We have the greatest midfielder in the world today (Xavi Hernandez) and his strategy worked to perfection. Xavi wasn't able to show his game.

and 2) A well known Spanish football commentator titled his essay: "like a boxer with 2 bad hands" meaning we didn't have any of the 2 strikers in top form. Villa is way too tired after a very long season and the other striker (Torres) just came out of a 3 month recovery from knee surgery.

We shot 27 times and the Swiss only 3 but they won the game. In the end, that's what counts!

We won't win the Cup but we'll do better in the coming days.

richyvrlimited

iTrader: (1)

must've watched a different game to me. Mexico were as good as France were bad. France have some pretty serious internal conflict and poor management, they were truly awful and some of domenech's decisions were odd to put it mildly.

Mexico were a delight to watch, and being a Manchester United fan am rather excited about Hernandez joining us now! The lad has composure!

1st goal was a boarderline decision, France should never have got themselves in that position anyway.

Mexico fans were top notch too, finally I heard singing and cheering! The vuvuzelas got drowned out! Yay!

gospeed81

iTrader: (51)

I'm going to disagree with you on pretty much every count here.

Mexico has been a politically divided team for a decade. The European club players and the home league guys have never wanted to play the same ball. What you saw yesterday was one of the first times they've really set that aside, and made it gel. And it was amazing because the two biggest instigators of this rivalry were both on the field, and they both have goals in this Cup so far.

I watched and watched the Hernandez play, and I think he was just in the right spot at the right time, which takes practice and being very alert. He was on-sides by half a cleat, and there isn't a single angle that shows otherwise. He had an advantageous vector that put him yards away for the delivery, and it was a great play, regardless of how "close" it was. Sometimes you're off, sometimes you're right at the line, almost like a drag race. We don't scoff at the guys that end up with a ridiculously low reaction time because they anticipated the light, we just hand them their well deserved timeslip.

The Penalty was well called, and a stupid mistake on the part of the French. That can't be used against Mexico's play, although it did serve to augment their lead. Their play DID however keep them in front of the goal a lot, which tends to either allow shots on goal, or draw the penalties. They worked hard, with their midfield finally coming together in the second half, and had plenty of opportunities.

Now, I still think they need to slow down and be patient in front of the goal. Had it not been for Chicharito's awesome play and a penalty, this would have looked just like their first game, lots of shots and crowd raising trips into the box, but few goals (if any).

I expect them to get better after this performance. It will lend some confidence to the younger forwards that need to connect and stay composed in front of goal. Defense is there, and hopefully the midfield is no longer hit or miss.


EDIT: Wow! I thought Mexico beating France was big, but the Germany loss is just insane. From what I can tell THAT game was unfair, but I've yet to see it myself.