The [Horribly Unpopular] Soccer Thread

[Reno_eNVy]

There's also the other streaming websites like first row sports and whatnot.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Well, England get knocked out today......I am sooooo relieved that the focus will be on Spain getting knocked out instead!!!

 

[aygov]

The Colombia v. Ivory Coast game was a good one. Hopefully Aurier will end up at Arsenal!

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

The Colombia v. Ivory Coast game was a good one. Hopefully Aurier will end up at Arsenal!

I can't help imagine what Columbia would look like with Falcao. They may be the tournament favorite.

 

[Memorex88]

No email of new posts from HBT. I was wondering why? Go ENGLAND!!!

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Oooo... sorry LGI

 

[passedpawn]

Oooo... sorry LGI

Beauty header. Uraguay looking tough.

 

[passedpawn]

The Colombia v. Ivory Coast game was a good one. Hopefully Aurier will end up at Arsenal!

Ivory Coast impressed me. They are huge attacking team, pretty scary when then have the ball.

 

[aygov]

Kind of ironic that Suarez is sinking England... what with the amount of Liverpool players playing for England.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Oh wow... keeper got the second assist. Is that the first assist of any degree from a keeper in a WC?

 

[aygov]

To me it looked like Gerrard was trying to head it back and just got it wrong. Dunno if that should be an assist for the keeper.

 

[Mongrel]

Buena Uruguay!!!

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

Oh wow... keeper got the second assist. Is that the first assist of any degree from a keeper in a WC?

Without research, Timmy Howard had an assist to Donovan at the end of the Algeria game. Last year.

 

[aygov]

Two lack lustre games and my English friends are quick to point out that they are still in it. It's kind of like the guy pointing out that the headless corpse still has a pulse.

 

[soccerdad]

So I am having a hard time remembering if Alexi Lalas played for the Giant Douches .. or was he a Turd Sandwich? I'm thinking he's a giant ******.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Without research, Timmy Howard had an assist to Donovan at the end of the Algeria game. Last year.

?

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

?

Whoops, I forget what play I was thinking of, not ALgeria but I can't think of the play I was thinking of at all. Chelk it up to dead brain.

 

[aygov]

So I am having a hard time remembering if Alexi Lalas played for the Giant Douches .. or was he a Turd Sandwich? I'm thinking he's a giant ******.

I am so sick of him. He seems to pop up in anything related to USA soccer and for the most part he is a gigantic ****** nozzle. His analysis is either "Captain Obvious" or flat out wrong. At least ESPN stuck him in the studio so we aren't cursed with him for 90 minutes. He almost singlehandedly ruined the 2006 WC for me when they had him in the commentary box.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

I enjoy Lalas. I mean yeah he's wrong most of the time, but he's entertaining.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Lalas is entertaining.

Twellman actually knows what he's talking about about 75% of the time.

Keller does some solid color commentary.

Ian Darke is the David Attenborough of sports.

And damnit I can't remember their names but the ESPN Radio guys are excellent at painting a picture. And the super Irish color commentator is awesome to listen to.

 

[Grannyknot]

Its pretty obvious to me that ESPN pays Alexi Lalas to be the contrarian member of the crew.
Its pretty embarrassing though, especially when he decides to have a go at people like Michael Ballack.

 

[Grannyknot]

Not sure what is going to happen with the England squad. Sure they are mathematically still in it, but I'd imagine Roy gets sacked when they get back home, barring a miracle run to the semi finals.

Whatever happens, England's FA needs to stop the media from having so much influence on manager, player selection, & formation. They very nearly got Harry appointed for the position, which in turn got him sacked from Tottenham. John Terry should have been allowed to come back to the team (as much as I hate him), but the papers continuously wrote brow beating articles about the drama he would bring to the team. They've done nothing but go on and on about how Rooney should be dropped. They forced Roy into bringing a bunch of young players, rather than taking Ashley Cole & giving James Milner a run out. They've forced Roy's hand on a 4-2-3-1, even though he has never played that formation, and England players aren't brought up to excel in that formation (since they don't groom players to play as a true defensive holding mid). Two banks of 4 in a pragmatic defensive formation would have had England well and clear in this group. But the media would have slaughtered him for playing a defensive 4-4-2.

I guess that's just the way it goes in Britain, with everyone being obsessed with tabloid style papers.
But its a massive problem in my opinion.
Imagine, in America, if people regularly read, & put stock in articles found in the national enquirer.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

I guess that's just the way it goes in Britain, with everyone being obsessed with tabloid style papers.
But its a massive problem in my opinion.
Imagine, in America, if people regularly read, & put stock in articles found in the national enquirer.

We do, just on TV instead. I'm not too sure there's much reading going on in the US anymore.

EDIT: Unless it's 140 characters or less...

 

[Grannyknot]

We do, just on TV instead. I'm not too sure there's much reading going on in the US anymore.

EDIT: Unless it's 140 characters or less...

True, we watch a lot of crap on TV, but I feel like American's know it is just that, mindless crap, and not to pay much attention to it.

In Britain, people actually go to those tabloid style papers for information.
Think about the crap the SUN printed about Hillsborough. People reacted to it as if the SUN was a viable source of information, rather than just writing them off as idiots who were trying to sell papers on shock value.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Mr Knot is absolutely correct about the British newspapers. You can't even compare them to Fox news in terms of absolute crap.
I was thinking yesterday about England managers, and why they almost always do so poorly. Like Mr. Knot, I concluded that their main problem is with their work environment. This applies to to the players too.
It also does not help that many player's and manager's agents conduct their business through press leaks that are designed to destabilize interested parties.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Mr Knot is absolutely correct about the British newspapers. You can't even compare them to Fox news in terms of absolute crap.

Wow really? I thought Fox News was the worldwide leader in bulls**t and fear mongering. The British tabloids being that much worse is really scary.


Anyway, PICK TIME!

ITA (1 - 1) CRC
SUI (1 - 2) FRA
HON (1 - 3) ECU

I think Costa Rica trails most of the match, scores an equalizer somewhere in the last 15 minutes of regulation.

 

[botigol]

I'm going to go with:

ITA (2 - 1) CRC, ITA (1 - 2) CRC if Balotelli manages to get himself tossed
SUI (1 - 2) FRA
HON (1 - 3) ECU

 

[botigol]

All goals from ITA-CRC in the second half.

 

[Mongrel]

All goals from ITA-CRC in the second half.

Except for that beauty. Makes up for the lack of the penalty.

 

[aygov]

Pack your bags Engerland... If you're lucky you and Spain can split a plane on the way back!