Football 2010 Winner speculation

[Joe San]

Guess France would be out of the tournament soon. Their chances of making it to the second round seems little!

[Jaikiran Pai]

Although it's too early to predict, but after Argentina's win yesterday, I guess some Argentinians would have started to worry about Maradona's forewarning

[Seetharaman Venkatasamy]

My Vote for Germany!

[Hussein Baghdadi]

Germany is beaten!
I think they showed they true color today, Australia is hardly a team.

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

U-S-A! U-S-A!

But the ref seemed a little biased, wouldn't you say? That last goal was in for sure, and last time I checked, getting hit in the face with the ball doesn't earn you a penalty.

[Paul Clapham]

Ernest Friedman-Hill wrote:But the ref seemed a little biased, wouldn't you say?

"Never ascribe to malice that which can be ascribed to incompetence."

[Hussein Baghdadi]

USA third goal is absolutely clean, the referee abort an American revolution (I'm not American).
A well deserved three points are lost.
Donovan goal is amazing.

[Joe San]

I feel that most of the third round matches must be interesting as this would be the deciding round for most of the teams to qualify for the second round of leagues.

[Joe San]

France, England, Germany seems to be in big trouble in qualifying for the second round. Atleast Germany has some chances, but it is certainly a doubt for England and France. On the one side though it is a little bit worrying, but definitely good to see other new names (Japan, Serbia, USA) proving that football is not only for Europe.

[Pradeep bhatt]

England was looking very weak. Got away with a goaless draw

[Joe San]

Nigeria and Cameroon are already out of the tournament.

[Matthew Brown]

Jothi Shankar Kumar wrote:Nigeria and Cameroon are already out of the tournament.

Nigeria aren't out yet, not quite. They need to beat South Korea, and hope Argentina beat Greece. Then there are three teams on 3 points, but Nigeria would have the best goal difference and so would go through in second place.

[Matthew Brown]

Jothi Shankar Kumar wrote:France, England, Germany seems to be in big trouble in qualifying for the second round. Atleast Germany has some chances, but it is certainly a doubt for England and France. On the one side though it is a little bit worrying, but definitely good to see other new names (Japan, Serbia, USA) proving that football is not only for Europe.

You do know Serbia is in Europe, don't you?

[Joe San]

Oh yse, I do know that. But what I meant to say is that it is interesting to see teams other than Germany, France, Italy, England are also playing well.

[Hussein Baghdadi]

Jothi Shankar Kumar wrote:Oh yse, I do know that. But what I meant to say is that it is interesting to see teams other than Germany, France, Italy, England are also playing well.

France, Italy and England are playing well !!

[Mike Simmons]

Hence the use of "also".

[Pushkar Choudhary]

Italy were amazingly poor yesterday. New Zealand stunned them alright! I think France and Italy teams are too old.

[Christophe Verré]

France is falling apart. Insults, gossips, mutiny... I don't know what the last game will look like.

Pushkar Choudhary wrote:I think France and Italy teams are too old.

What do you mean ? You're not talking about the age of the players, are you ?

[David O'Meara]

In the end I think the referees will win.
I am usually the first to support the referee and the need to keep the game flowing within the rules and spirit of the game, but I am not sure what directions where given to the referees before the World Cup but in my opinion they are being too harsh and having too much direct influence on the outcome of the game.

[Pushkar Choudhary]

Christophe Verré wrote:

Pushkar Choudhary wrote:I think France and Italy teams are too old.

What do you mean ? You're not talking about the age of the players, are you ?

No. I mean they've been playing since a long time. Time to hand over to newer teams (meaning relatively less or no appearances in World Cup) like New Zealand, South Africa, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Faroe Islands, India, Nepal...

[Jaikiran Pai]

David O'Meara wrote: but I am not sure what directions where given to the referees before the World Cup but in my opinion they are being too harsh and having too much direct influence on the outcome of the game.

Not just harsh, but incompetent. Overall, it's been an extremely poor performance by the referees so far. That's closely followed by the performance of the goalkeepers.

[Christophe Verré]

Jaikiran Pai wrote:That's closely followed by the performance of the goalkeepers.

It seems that the offical ball is giving them nightmares. After Japan-Netherlands (0-1), the Japanese goalkeeper said that he had the ball well in sight, but that it suddenly changed its trajectory... A university in Japan did some experiments blowing wind at the ball, and showing how it was more influenced by air movement than other balls.

It bounces pretty badly too

[Chris Baron]

David O'Meara wrote:...in my opinion they are being too harsh and having too much direct influence on the outcome of the game.

Yes absolutely. It's like as if they had directive to make the results inpredictable with intent. Maybe Fifa hopes that this way some weaker teams come forward.

[Chris Baron]

Christophe Verré wrote:

Jaikiran Pai wrote:That's closely followed by the performance of the goalkeepers.

It seems that the offical ball is giving them nightmares. After Japan-Netherlands (0-1), the Japanese goalkeeper said that he had the ball well in sight, but that it suddenly changed its trajectory... A university in Japan did some experiments blowing wind at the ball, and showing how it was more influenced by air movement than other balls.

It bounces pretty badly too

Excuses, excuses, excuses. The Ball was introduced december 2009. Every team had enough time to get used with it.

[Christophe Verré]

Chris Baron wrote:Excuses, excuses, excuses. The Ball was introduced december 2009. Every team had enough time to get used with it.

No. Balls get influenced by the wind blown out of the vuvuzelas, which were not used back then That also explains why the fans keep blowing all game long. They are trying to influence the movement of the ball.

[Chris Baron]

Oh, Vuvuzelas are getting on so many balls. Not only the Jabulani.

[Pradeep bhatt]

Chris Baron wrote:Oh, Vuvuzelas are getting on so many balls. Not only the Jabulani.

I watch match in mute.

[Christophe Verré]

Christiano Ronaldo's goal was hilarious

[Hussein Baghdadi]

Christophe Verré wrote:Christiano Ronaldo's goal was hilarious

Yeah indeed.
I'm happy for "La Furia Roja"

[Christophe Verré]

France, or what's left from the team, is playing today. The coach said that some players who took part in Sunday's mutiny might not play... I wonder who's going to be on the field. It's about time that this nightmare ends.

[David O'Meara]

This is a definition of 'team' that I had not encountered before.

[Hussein Baghdadi]

Christophe Verré wrote:France, or what's left from the team, is playing today. The coach said that some players who took part in Sunday's mutiny might not play... I wonder who's going to be on the field. It's about time that this nightmare ends.

Maybe it is the golden change for South Africa to qualify!

[Paul Sturrock]

They are one nil up and France a man down!

I think they need a three nil win and the other game to not finish in a draw.

[Joe San]

France vs South Africa - Don't know for what reason they should play this match!

[Paul Sturrock]

Jothi Shankar Kumar wrote:France vs South Africa - Don't know for what reason they should play this match!

As it currently stands (with Mexico losing the other match and South Africa currently two nil up on ten man France), South Africa need to score two more goal to qualify.

[Chris Baron]

Adieu les bleu!

I just discovered this this nice app. You can enter the scores you guess and it calculates the ranking in the group and determines the finalists. It's also good for scenarios to see whats necessary for your team to make it. It's a safe website btw. Kicker is the largest football newspaper here.

Here are my guesses for the round of sixteen:

Uruguay     : Nigeria
Slovenia    : Serbia
Germany     : USA
Argentina   : Mexico

Netherlands : Italy
Brasil      : Switzerland
Paraguay    : Japan
Chile       : Portugal

No England, no Spain, sorry.
What are your guesses?

[Paul Clapham]

Christophe Verré wrote:No. Balls get influenced by the wind blown out of the vuvuzelas, which were not used back then That also explains why the fans keep blowing all game long. They are trying to influence the movement of the ball.

Also, the pitch of the vuvuzelas is 236 Hz which just happens to be close to one of the resonant frequencies of the new-style ball. As a result the ball tends to pulsate as it flies, which tends to make it curl off in random directions.

[Joe San]

I doubt Nigeria... if they would make it to the 16.

[Joe San]

Tomorro should be a lot of fun here in Germany as the Germans play a deciding match against Ghana. I'm planning to go watch the match in a public viewing.

[AjayKumar Panigrahi]

If India participates, definitely it will be handy option... As it is not participating

Argentina may take the cup to Home..

Messi rocks..... Portuguse win against Nkorea was Amazing... I like ronaldino