[Hip Priest]

Switzerland were knocked out, but became the first team in World Cup history to finish a tournament having conceded no goals (not counting the shoot-out, obviously).

Brasil are breaking a few records too:

Ronaldo’s history-making goal - his 15th in the FIFA World Cup™ taking him above Gerd Muller in the all-time goalscoring list – was not the only landmark achievement in Brazil’s Round of 16 defeat of Ghana.

Adriano’s goal, which made it 2-0, was Brazil’s 200th in FIFA World Cups. The 100th was scored by none other than Pele, the magnificent header against Italy in the 1970 Final in Mexico City.

Captain Cafu’s appearance in the game with Ghana in Dortmund was his 19th FIFA World Cup game - a Brazilian record, taking him past Claudio Taffarel and Dunga who were both on 18. If Brazil go all the way and he plays in all the remaining games, Cafu would end the tournament on 22, three behind record-holder Lothar Matthaus who appeared in every FIFA World Cup between 1982 and 1998.

The victory was also Cafu's 16th winning game in the competition – another FIFA World Cup record. Both Matthaus and Wolfgang Overath enjoyed 15 wins with Germany while Paolo Maldini and Franz Beckenbauer are next best on 14.

[!@#$%!]

cafu fucking rules

cafu cafu cafu!!!!!

--

& ribery is the son of god

[Hip Priest]

Maniche! What about Maniche? Player of the tournament so far. Footballing king, that man is.

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Yes, two days with no games and I feel lost.

I'm hoping Ukraine can pull off something special. And you're right Hipster, playing Italy safe is exactly what they want. It doesn't take a genius to realize this, but teams in the past have really fallen for it. Just watching Serie A matches, this is obviously a staple of Italian football; denfensive and quick counter-attack. The good thing is, I don't think Ukraine fits the profile of a team that will wait for something to happen, they create a lot of chances. As long as they don't allow an early goal.

[atari 2600]

Originally Posted by Hip Priest

Switzerland were knocked out, but became the first team in World Cup history to finish a tournament having conceded no goals (not counting the shoot-out, obviously).

Brasil are breaking a few records too:

Ronaldo’s history-making goal - his 15th in the FIFA World Cup™ taking him above Gerd Muller in the all-time goalscoring list – was not the only landmark achievement in Brazil’s Round of 16 defeat of Ghana.

Adriano’s goal, which made it 2-0, was Brazil’s 200th in FIFA World Cups. The 100th was scored by none other than Pele, the magnificent header against Italy in the 1970 Final in Mexico City.

Captain Cafu’s appearance in the game with Ghana in Dortmund was his 19th FIFA World Cup game - a Brazilian record, taking him past Claudio Taffarel and Dunga who were both on 18. If Brazil go all the way and he plays in all the remaining games, Cafu would end the tournament on 22, three behind record-holder Lothar Matthaus who appeared in every FIFA World Cup between 1982 and 1998.

The victory was also Cafu's 16th winning game in the competition – another FIFA World Cup record. Both Matthaus and Wolfgang Overath enjoyed 15 wins with Germany while Paolo Maldini and Franz Beckenbauer are next best on 14.

It''s so great that ESPN is broadcasting all the games this time because there's been so much history made & so many milestones passed this tournament. I'm glad to be able to watch & grateful to all the sy boardies involved for helping to pique my interest.

[Hip Priest]

Finally, after all of the waiting (two whole days), it's quarter-final time: Ukraine vs Italy and Argentina vs germany today. I'm expecting Argentina to progress, as they have the strongests squad in the competition and have been reasonably lucky with injuries, bookings etc. They've also already played beaten two good teams (Mexico and Cote d'Ivoire) and drawn with Netherlands.

Although Italy are favourites in their game, I am of course still hoping that Ukraine come through - how nice it would be to have a World Cup newcomer reach the last four.

[Hip Priest]

It's currently 1 -0 to Argentina. Ayala did well to meet the corner - nice header (and an assist for Riquelme - hurrah!).

Oh no. My goalkeeper is injured - looks like he's being substituted.

edit: now it's 1-1, about ten minutes left. But whereas Jurgen Klinnsman has made attacking changes, Argentina's Jose Pekerman has used all of his substitutions trying to shore things up, and as a result Argentina have much less by way of attacking options - Riquelme and Crespo are both off, so this is a real test for the Argentines. Things look to have swung in Germany's favour.

edit 2: 1 - 1 after 90 minutes, extra time immenent.

[Hip Priest]

Germany win on penalties!

Argentina had 65% of the first half possession but only one shot on goal - that's the statistic that they will have to look at when they examine at what went wrong. There is no question that this tournament was Argentina's for the taking - a generation of truly wonderful players on top form, good team spirit and a recent record of breathtaking performances. But they blew it - it was not taken from them, not at all.

There was a disgraceful punch-up at the end, apparantly started when one of the Argentine players punched a German player. I'm sure there will be reports on the guilty parties by tonight.

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

The build up on Kloses equalizer was fantastic!

Good game all around. Germany is now very dangerous. At home, playing well enough to beat anyone...are they the favorite now?

I'm ready for Ukraine!! Today I wore my Dinamo Kiev shirt in support.

[jon boy]

fight fight fight fight!

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Perhaps we haven't talked enough about how good Italy is. This Italy team is ACE. Maybe it seems more clear after this pounding of Ukraine. It will be hard for anyone to beat these guys. Return to glory?

(The diving should stop though, really)

[atari 2600]

the only team i have four players from is italy...but i'm sullen about that argentina loss & losing the goalie. when cruz was named as the last sub, i was thinking just what the marcela guy was thinking...that messi should have came in, that the argentines needed to play their game...

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Yes, Argentina played some dumb football today. Too bad that game had to go to PK's though.

Atari, should we be alarmed you are thinking like Marcelo Balboa?

[atari 2600]

naw, he's a goon mostly...that dave o'brien guy creeps me out more though because he sounds like such an al michaels clone

[Hip Priest]

Originally Posted by Пятхъдесят Шест

Perhaps we haven't talked enough about how good Italy is. This Italy team is ACE. Maybe it seems more clear after this pounding of Ukraine. It will be hard for anyone to beat these guys. Return to glory?

(The diving should stop though, really)

I think people always know that Italy are very skilful, the problem is that they so rarely apply that skill to it's logical effect. Today was the first time this tournament that Italy attacked the oposition, and they demonstrated very ably that when they attack, they cause massive problems. This lack of application must be a source of massive frustration for the Italian people, but maybe the team will build on their discovery of this new-fangled attack thingy.

I'm a bit sad that Ukraine have gone - for whatever reason, I've developed a little bit of passion for them. Such fine players but again, not the right tactics on the day - why oh why were after getting the ball up the field in the first half, did they consistently elect to play it around too much? Maybe they just didn't realise that that guy waving his arms around in the box was Andriy Shevchenko - "SHEVA" - the greatest forward in the world, and on their team! Please, forgive my sarcasm, I'm a touch miffed (and more than a tad nonplussed).

A bad day for my team. After rising up the league a bit, Ukraine and Argentina both flop, and the dropped Luca Toni finally scores (twice, if you please). At least I've got him for two more games.

Good luck to fellow leaguesters in the remaining games - the right choice of captain on any given day might mean massive points!

[sonicl]

Ten hours to kick off at Gelsenkirchen. England aren't going to get away with being lucky today. Let's hope for a decent game, I really can't face the thought of another England borefest. I fell asleep during the last one.

Hopefully two years with Jose Mourinho and several Portugese players will have given the Chelsea boys enough of an insight into their way of thinking that it'll help us through. Although it works both ways I guess, there are several Portugese players who have played against or alongside every member of the England squad.

[Grete]

italy ukraine

3 0



ohh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Hip Priest]

Originally Posted by sonicl

Ten hours to kick off at Gelsenkirchen. England aren't going to get away with being lucky today. Let's hope for a decent game, I really can't face the thought of another England borefest. I fell asleep during the last one.

A hot day, moderate alcohol intake and yr average England performance don't encourage alertness, do they? If England don't perform from the start then they will surely be punished by this Portugal team. Maniche won't take any s***, I would imagine.

I have to confess that I'm not too confident, but we all know that England can wipe out the opposition when they get it together.

[Hip Priest]

As the number of matches dies down, so does the number of valid news stories.

The numbers suggest it's Brazil... or Germany
1 July 2006
by FIFAworldcup.com

It’s definitely a numbers game at this FIFA World Cup™.

FIFAworldcup.com has already explained how it all adds up to a Germany triumph on 9 July in Berlin. Multiply the years of their first two FIFA World Cup triumphs (54x74), subtract the year of their third (1990), and it comes to 2006.

Another calculation - the sequence of South America-Europe-South America triumphs since 1962 - suggests the Trophy is headed for European hands once more. But the figures also throw up other quirks.

For instance, looking at Brazil and taking their triumph in 1994 and adding the year of their previous championship victory – 1970 – produces 3964. Adding together Argentina’s last win – 1986 – with their other victory – 1978 – also produces 3964.

Germany’s last triumph was 1990, before that they had lifted the trophy in 1974. Add them together and it comes to ……3964.

Following the same logic we could have calculated the winners in Korea/Japan before a ball was kicked. Subtracting 2002 from 3964 and you get 1962. The winners in ‘62? Brazil. The winners in 2002? Brazil.

So what about 2006. Subtracting 2006 from 3964 produces 1958. The winners that year? Brazil!

Mmm. England take on the impressive Portugal in just over an hour.

[pokkeherrie]

pekerman's substitutions were ridiculous indeed and argentina's negative aproach to the game rightly costed them the victory. after the argentinian goal there was space for their attackers to finish it off but instead he takes off all his creative players and tries hanging on to the lead. after the equaliser you just knew that argentina didn't have the players on the field anymore to drag a victory out of it... and of course germany were the favourites for a penalty shootout.

in my fantasy team, yesterday i just decided to throw everything on argentina and brazil, even though history says neither of them were going to win it. yesterday before the game i suddenly had a feeling germany were going to win it and to be honest i have a similar feeling today that france are going to knock out brazil. my only chance of still catching up 70 points on grand popo though is by picking different players than him and hoping they will do better. i now have 5 brazilians in my fantasy team.

as for the england-portugal game, it's a really close call, but i think england are going to reach the semi-finals, despite of having sven the mastermind on the bench. at least they have a much better chance now than they had two years ago. but i hope they're finally going to show a decent performance on this tournament, they've been terrible to watch so far; except for joe cole and steven gerrard.

portugal will have to improvise on midfield today... however that turns out could be the decisive factor today.