Boring, yes, but inevitable.

exactly.

Japan is keeping it's distance defending. They aren't getting in Brazil's face enough, and that's obviously when they've been getting the ball.

Brazil - Japan got pretty boring after Brazil starting stomping all over them. However, Croatia - Australia is insane. Lead changes, send offs, goalies slapping defenders, players touching referees. Fun stuff.

23 points for me today (16 from my goalkeeper - the Czechs must at least have had plenty of shots for Buffon to pick up that many points).

I'm a bit sad to see the US go, because their nine-man show against ten-man Italy was one of the highlights of this World Cup. Ghana go through - if Ukraine beat Tunisia or draw with them tomorrow, then Ghana will be the only African team in the second round! Especially given that the next World Cup is in South Africa, that's a bit of a shame.

did ghana play well again today? i did not see the game but i read that Essien got a yellow card - apparently a stupid yellow card at the beginning of the game - and will not play against Brazil... that's a shame... and now i am also thinking of transferring essien because i'm not so confident that ghana can manage to eliminate brazil...

by the way, if you still have transfers to make, apparently tomorrow is a deadline to use them... after tomorrow (after the kick-off of the last game, i think), those transfers will be lost...

the problem with those transfers is that everyone is ending with more or less the same teams, if you try to make the more points possible... especially since now everyone realised that nearly only forwards or offensive midfielders bring a lot of points...

I already used mine. Sacked the Saudi goalie (as someone informed me before it started - I apologize) and a Mexican player that they weren't using. Got Lahm and Ji-Sung for them.

i wish i could make those transfers after the last game tomorrow and not before the kick-off of that last game, because i might have three french players out of the tournament tomorrow evening...

trezeguet will be in the starting 11 tomorrow, i hope he will score because it has been a bit sad to see him sit on the bench...

against Korea, when he laughed while entering the game at the 91th minute, i wondered if it was a nervous laugh because he felt this situation was ridiculous or if it was because Trezegol-129-goals-at-Juventus-Turin felt that one had not showed him enough respect or trusted him in this team, and that now he did not care at all about this WC... the fact that he is starting tomorrow is a good sign that he is still motivated... he might be even very motivated to show that he should have played before...

Despite breaking my heart, I'm rooting for Ghana the rest of the way. No one had them finishing in the top half of that group, NO ONE. Surprisingly, I'd also like to see Italy do well.

I realize I can't be too upset about the US bowing out in the group stage. It really shows how far we still have to go, and damn it, one of these days we will win a World Cup game on European soil.

US and Japan are out. I quit soccer. I guess I gotta root for England now...

Korea, Tunisia, or Ukraine must make it to the second round, or I give up!

Also, anyone else had enough of the referees yet? Besides the fact I'm a sore States supporter, some of these calls are ridiculous. Cards are being handed out as if were Christmas time...

And we thought it couldn't get any worse than 2002.

I thought that referee-wise the Japan-Brazil game was really good, but the US-Italy game was absurd. I haven't been watching all the games like I did at the beginning of the tournament, though. They're so damn early and I started a job last week. It sucks.

I've missed most of the early games too, work/class just gets in the way. I left early to watch the US today though. Depressing.

Its the close, all important games that the referees have been fucking with. Not games with a three goal spread. Before the tournament, I know FIFA told all referees not to hesitate to give out fouls and cards, and they have listened. Its a shame. Let them play. Too bad it wasn't an all EPL referee core.

Well, yes, lots of fake-virtual-simulacre players are out, some more after France-Togo, Switzerland-Korea, Ukraine-Tunisia & Saudi Arabia-Spain.

We might become more and more demanding while watching the real games for wrong reasons.

I was glad Ghana went through, a bit sad Essien won't make it against Brasil, hope Ghana carries on, but with him out...
Australia? I hadn't seen any of their games yet. Must have brought them luck.

As for transfers, there'll be more next round. I'm lagging off 60 points behind the leader (to think I've been there too, once... how quickly one can fall). I'm gonna bet on a couple of subs for the last transfers, try to pick somebody whose playing will bring me points galore.

I started working on a time machine. Hopefully, it's gonna be ready by tuesday, and I'll hop on the 9th of July, see what happens, come back, pick that player who'll score 4 times in the semis and a goal keeper who'll save 43 shots.
If nothing of the sort happens, I'll travel back in time, hire somebody to hurt a striker or two. As it's Germany, I'll have to travel several times to learn German before that. Well. It might take me some time to lay down some good schedule to achieve this master plan.
Of course, if the machine works, I'll allow you to use it too.

Any catching up probabl needs to be done at the start of round two; as the tournament progresses, our teams will feature similar players from the same sides, with the big differece being who we nominate as captain.

The US vs Ghana, US vs Italy, England vs PAraguay, Mexico vs Portugal and Ukraine vs Spain have all suffered from the detrimantal effects of bad refereeing. In other games, the paucity of quality judgement has been evident.


He's such a fine player, isn't he? He deserves a good chance in this tournament - I saw him come on as substitute in one of the friendlies and he looked very impressive still.



Things can change so quickly though, especially with the right captain. I wake this morning to see myself in third place - I was nowhere four days ago, so I know you can bounce back! Half of my points are from the past four days, think...

Ghana was picked by me to finish second in that group. Only on goal differential with the Czech's....but hey at least I picked them. It was no suprise when they qualified...I mean they had to beat a team that until that game had not scored an actual goal in the previous two games....go figure.

Well, it's completely different (maybe not after all; since Ghana & Togo, these two small courntries, share a border, looking at the athletes & how different their morphologies were), but have you noticed how thick some players' necks are?
I was thinking about Messi's and Tevez's. They're not gonna die old. And in the same line, for Argentina, stands the healthy, human figure, of Cambiasso. Some difference between them.

Ukraine-Tunisia 0-0 half time.
Ukranians play the same way they played against Spain, Tunisians seem paralysed, no movement nowhere, the referee must have had something against Jaziri. Second yellow card for a fault that never existed (that time, first one was understandable). Sore play. Shevchenko isn't given any ball or can't do a thing with it - since there's no speed.

Meanwhile, but I haven't seen any action so, can't say much, it's 1-0 for Spain versus Saudi Arabia.
The Spanish bench is on the field, from goal keeper to forwards (the only ones who played a bit in previous games being Albelda, Joaquin & Raul).

These teams loaded with great players (Spain, Argentina, Italy, Portugal...) are puzzling for the virtual game, since the coach ain't too dependent on one single star. They've got good results, different scorers and should thus go far - but might bring next to nada to the SY Leaguers.

THere's also the potential for good points from goalkeepers too, something I hadn't fully realised at the start.

On a slightly different note, do you remember how much I praised English referee Graham Poll after his performance last week? How I said maybe he'll get picked to officiate in the final? Do you? :o Oh well, I take it all back:


Poll set for early World Cup exit

Graham Poll may have refereed his last World Cup match after a series of high-profile errors during Croatia's turbulent game against Australia. The English official booked Croatia's Josip Simunic three times before sending him off and also twice waved away strong Australian penalty claims. Fifa will study Poll's performance and he will learn his fate by the weekend. But Fifa president Sepp Blatter said: "We had four officials and what is not understandable is nobody intervened."

Oh dear.

Full embarassing story here

Goal keepers... That's right. The more they're shot at from far, the more chances they have (if they're good), to extend themselves and catch or deviate the ball. A good (good in virtual football terms) goal keeper is the one that has a defense eager enough to prevent strikers to approach them while offering the midfielders the possibility to shoot several times from far. And missing. To get discouraged.
So many variables, to misquote someone's signature.
I'd bet many national goal keepers facing the English can get a bundle of points, with Gerrard, Lampard, even if Erikson's boys score once or twice.

Exactly. I only realised after the Italy vs Czech Republic game: The Czechs attacked a lot and my goalkeeper for the day, Buffon, finished with 16 points due to eight saves. So even if the Czechs had scored two of those, he would have finished on 6 points.

Korea - Switzerland game was biten by the bad call bug as well. Too bad for Korea. Switzerland have been very impressive, they probably should have finished with three wins. Maybe Switzerland is this years Croatia or Turkey?

The Swiss are offered a big opportunity to reach for the 4th since the Ukranian game has been quite dull. But what could they do next?

Not a whole lot .....

I think Switzerland will go further into the tournament than England, Holland, or even BRAZIL. For real.

All my teams are dead. I hate soccer.

Well, I honestly think the best teams are left stading. And besides not having a team of real interest playing still (maybe Ukraine), the rest of the tournament should be ace! Great match ups for the Round of 16 from top to bottom. No clear favorite either.

I still have Mexico to root against!

I wish Portugal good luck (I liked that team). First comes Holland, then, maybe, Italy. Rough.
I would have never expected Australia, Ukraine, Ecuador & Ghana (even though I hoped so) to be there.

Great match-ups tomorrow!!!


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday + no work + World Cup soccer = Shangri-la

the last 16 teams:





italy seems to have a relatively easy way to the semi-finals...

I've been keeping it all up-to-date on my little BBC printout. Very handy.

that's exactly what i need... i think i will print it as soon as i have a printer at hand...
it would also remind me the time when i had some panini albums for the world cup, and religiously writing the scores every day...

Sure, it looks like Italy has an easy route to the semifinals. I don't think any of those teams are just going to lay down and let Italy through.

After the group stage all players will select a new squad from a revised player list.

I had taken this to mean what it said - that we pick an entirely new squad - but I can't see how this can be done! Any help?

I couldn't make Klose my captain, as ntl's internet service for my area failed for 24 hours! Grrrrrrrrrrr :mad:

Germany 2 - 0 Sweden

Dull for the most part. Germany has been fun to watch so far, lots of goals. They are starting to look very dangerous. How oh how did Larrsson miss that PK?

I missed most of that game. I'm looking forward to Argentina vs Mexico.

As much as I want to see Mexico go down in a flurry of goals, I think it will be closer than that. Though last year Mexico took Argentina all the way to PK's in the Confederation Cup. There is no reason this should not be a good game.

I don't know, I really should pull for Mexico. Either way a team from the Americas will advace. Hooray!

From what I gether, Germany deserved the win today, although I understand that the refereeing was once again somewhat below-par. Will there be anyone up to officiating in the final? It's almost as interesting as the football!

I couldn't make Klose may captain today (see above!) so I've brought in Crespo and givem him the armband - hopefully, he'll remember my kindness and bag the tournament's first hat-trick tonight...

yes, of course, i didn't mean to say that they were already in the semis... maybe guus hiddink will eliminate italy 2 WCs in a row...

this morning, i nearly used one of my new transfers to get podolski in my team, but then i thought i should wait that some of my players' teams are out, before using those transfers... well, now i can transfer ljungberg and ibrahimovic...

the german team really made an amazing number of shots, from all kinds of positions on the field...