World Cup South Africa 2010!

[Dixie]

Bafana can easily be the lowest ranked team that ever played in a world cup.

But the support they get! Yesterday they organised a human chain for support in Sandton where Bafana stays. So many people pitched up that they just crowded all the possible pavement areas, blowing vuvuzela's, wearing team shirts and waving banners and flags. Bafana call the support their twelve man. The slogan the public have for them is "Just make us proud".

We have a number of players who have never played in such a huge arena, so we even sent our rugby psychiatrist to have a few sessions with them.

I think Bafana, with all this support, will play their harts out. Even though my brain tells me that the Mexico attacks are too fast for us, my hart says "go get them!"

Even Madiba, who is now 93, is going to show up in the middle of Winter, (if his health allows it), for a couple of minutes to wish the players luck.

BTW not being English speaking, do one use plural or single for a team?

[K.Snyder]

Dixie;1314978 wrote: Bafana can easily be the lowest ranked team that ever played in a world cup.

But the support they get! Yesterday they organised a human chain for support in Sandton where Bafana stays. So many people pitched up that they just crowded all the possible pavement areas, blowing vuvuzela's, wearing team shirts and waving banners and flags. Bafana call the support their twelve man. The slogan the public have for them is "Just make us proud".

We have a number of players who have never played in such a huge arena, so we even sent our rugby psychiatrist to have a few sessions with them.

I think Bafana, with all this support, will play their harts out. Even though my brain tells me that the Mexico attacks are too fast for us, my hart says "go get them!"

BTW not being English speaking, do one use plural or single for a team?


Traditionally in international sports it's singular, denoting one among many other "one's", while in a national league many teams can have nicknames that are synonymous of animals, armies, etc...etc... Because of this many national teams with nicknames is used as plural.

Aside from that I'd say South Africa may do pretty well you never know. Trust in your boys and be Proud. You can never "lose" that way. :yh_wink

[Dixie]

@K. Snyder, you have an American flag, so are you supporting USA against England on Saturday ?

You think a Colony can beat the mighty England?

[K.Snyder]

Dixie;1315073 wrote: @K. Snyder, you have an American flag, so are you supporting USA against England on Saturday ?

You think a Colony can beat the mighty England?


I support USA at all times so the World Cup is just added incentive to see my boys win. Just that the World Cup is immensely competitive and defines a nation's collective passion for the sport. The reason many resent the USA soccer team is because this sport is not popular here in America which implies a lack of innate dedication to the game so in response the more "angry" one feels toward them the more they exclaim USA's ability to play respectively, I like that! :yh_wink

What I say is please don't underestimate the passion USA players have for the sport. Take it as a compliment as it shows a great level of respect not just for the sport but for the hopes of a more unified World.

Yes, yes I will be supporting USA with an extreme emphasis on the fact I never stop supporting USA to start again... :yh_wink

Sorry I know I can appear as a "bit" of a smart *** but I assure you it's my pedantic nature!

I wish your side well throughout the World Cup and if they beat USA then well deserved. :yh_wink

[CARLA]

It has begun. :-6



South Africia 1 Mexico 1 game ended in a tie game Whooo....!! God I love this game as it can change in seconds great game.

[Snowfire]

Bafana 1 - 1 Mexico

Good opening game. South Africa didnt have a great 1st half. Lost their shape a bit at times and Mexico played the better football. Probably nerves, given the occasion

Second half much better and it was a wonderful goal by Shaballalah. Classic counter attack and a superb strike by Siph Shabalalah. Bafanah looked dangerous on the break.

Caught ball watching for Mexico's equaliser. Not very good defending

All in all an entertaining match

[YZGI]

Dixie;1314013 wrote: As I posted before, Africa is a noisy place and those vuvuzelas are load.



Rugby is larger than soccer here and because we did so well in the super 14, we had to play the semi and finals in a smaller soccer stadium because the larger rugby stadium was made ready for the soccer. Needless to say when the rugby fans arrived, the vendors were ready with nice light blue vuvuzelas. So vuvuzelas, I think, is now not only part of soccer culture but also our rugby.



I was looking at the pathetic little plastic whistle of the rev in the South African match and I though "good luck chum", but the stadium was "open" and not enclosed as the big ones, so the players heard him.



I read on Twitter the announcer actually encouraged the fans to blow those vuvuzelas. Ouch!
Vuvuzelas,Uh these sound like part of the female anatomy.

[K.Snyder]

Mexico was cheated!

How in the World can referees selected to mediate the game at this level make such an obvious blown call!?!?!?!?

My God wake up and smell the air. Instant replay...That simple.

No doubt this will be the most talked about already and we're in game 1!

[Snowfire]

K.Snyder;1315237 wrote: Mexico was cheated!

How in the World can referees selected to mediate the game at this level make such an obvious blown call!?!?!?!?

My God wake up and smell the air. Instant replay...That simple.

No doubt this will be the most talked about already and we're in game 1!


What in particular K. The disallowed goal ?

That was offside. Simple. They got that one right

[K.Snyder]

Snowfire;1315241 wrote: What in particular K. The disallowed goal ?

That was offside. Simple. They got that one right


A South African player was on the goal line during the cross, unless the Mexican player placed the ball in the net from inside the net it was onside.

[Snowfire]

K.Snyder;1315242 wrote: A South African player was on the goal line during the cross, unless the Mexican player placed the ball in the net from inside the net it was onside.


You need to get aquainted with the offside rule K. Ther must be TWO players, one of which is usually the goalkeeper. In this instance, the goal keeper was well off his line, leaving one outfiels player on the goal line.

Offside. Pure and simple

[K.Snyder]

Snowfire;1315241 wrote: What in particular K. The disallowed goal ?

That was offside. Simple. They got that one right


K.Snyder;1315242 wrote: A South African player was on the goal line during the cross, unless the Mexican player placed the ball in the net from inside the net it was onside.


Ok I'd had another look, as I'm taping every freaking game! :wah: :yh_wink

So let me get this straight, the goalie is allowed to step up and become the defender(Along the back line) while another player is aloud to become the goalie throughout the game at any time during any instance then?

If such is the case then you're right it was a good call and I respectfully retract my previous rant. :yh_bigsmi

[Snowfire]

BBC SPORT | Football | Laws & Equipment | Think you know your offside?

A player is in an offside position if, when the ball is played by a team-mate, they are nearer to the opposition's goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent.

One player being the defender and the other being but not necessarily the goalkeeper.

In this instance when the ball was played forward in the last phase, the goalkeeper ran off his line to retrieve the ball leaving just one player on the goal line. Strange thing is, the goalkeeper should never have gone for the ball - bad decision, he was nowhere near it - but by doing so put the south African player offside. In other words he got away with a bad decision

[G#Gill]

Well done South Africa !! I enjoyed the match, and that brilliant goal can be something you can all be proud of, and nobody can be more proud than Tshabalala the scorer ! Excellent start !






Here's hoping that England can do well on Saturday !

[CARLA]

I'll be watching tomorrow in hope the USA can do well tomorrow. :-6

[G#Gill]

We will see, Carla! In any case, may the best team win Just so long as your boys don't try to cut up Rooney, or try to make him loose his cool! :sneaky:

[Snowfire]

France 0 - 0 Uraguay

Not up to much really. As one commentater said. "Much less than the sum of its parts", which is certainly true of France. Very dissapointing given the talent they have (well they do have a coach whose a bit doolally)

[Dixie]

I'm very proud of Bafana. Yes they started off very nervously, but that was to be expected. But they did find their feet and held their own against a much higher ranked team. Ah my favourite player player scored a goal, and a beauty to boot! Watch him, he is always in the opponents faces.

I was concerned about the Bafana defense, but they held mostly, love our goalie to bits!

I live close to a little town, but this morning vuvuzela's were blowing everywhere, most people wore strange hats and headed off to a place where they can watch the game on a big screen. Wow the atmosphere!

The fact that Bafana and Mexico scored goals and France and Uruguay not, also should help Bafana later (lets hope:yh_worry)

I also think we did well with the opening ceremony, it was interesting, colourful and just long enough.

YZGI;1315236 wrote: Vuvuzelas,Uh these sound like part of the female anatomy.
There were about 60 000 vuvuzela's at the opening match, each making the same amount of noise as a chain saw. That is why you wear earplugs to soccer games in RSA

I am really looking forward to the USA / England game and of course the France and Springbok game. Tomorrow is dedicated to sport!

[G#Gill]

Hey Dixie! Well done to your country I watched the match on TV and enjoyed watching Mexico being held to a 0 - 0 draw ! :-6

However, the noise from those vuvuzela's was more like a massive swarm of very angry hornets ! I suppose we'll get used to it as the matches progress, but I do hope they don't drown out our little brass band that keeps playing "The Great Escape" theme ! :wah:

[K.Snyder]

G#Gill;1315333 wrote:


Now that little boy in the yellow shirt knows what it's like to be married! *Buttopp boom!*

[Dixie]

K.Snyder;1315348 wrote: Now that little boy in the yellow shirt knows what it's like to be married! *Buttopp boom!*


:yh_rotfl

[K.Snyder]

Dixie;1315353 wrote: :yh_rotfl


:wah: :yh_wink

[Dixie]

G#Gill;1315333 wrote:

However, the noise from those vuvuzela's was more like a massive swarm of very angry hornets ! I suppose we'll get used to it as the matches progress, but I do hope they don't drown out our little brass band that keeps playing "The Great Escape" theme ! :wah:


In Port Elizabeth, we have a brass band that normally plays during our cricket matches, they might just pitch up on the 23rd, then we would have two brass bands .

[Odie]

K.Snyder;1315247 wrote: Ok I'd had another look, as I'm taping every freaking game! :wah: :yh_wink




you said you were going there for the games?

[chonsigirl]

South Korea beat Greece this morning.

[Dixie]

South Korea 2 Greece 0. I liked the Korean ball skills, but then Greece gave them lots of time to display those skills methinks:p

I could only watch the first part of the game because I had to go and see what our rugby team was doing to the French. Not the best sporting weekend for France here in RSA this time.

The South Korean supporters have a counter for the vuvuzella! Drums. They competed in noisemaking, I could hear them so I think their team did as well! Smart.

[G#Gill]

Gerard has scored !!!!!!! it's only just started ffs!!!!

[CARLA]

Brilliant goal great start for England. :-6

[spot]

It was startlingly good, the goal. Effective passing, nobody offside and a blinder of a kick. One can only hope one's national team continues through the entire tournament that way.

[G#Gill]

Let's hope England don't get complacent - a fault with them I feel. I'm sure they won't, and neither will they underestimate USA..................................... I hope !

[spot]

I've only ever been to one football match in my life. The captain of the away team was one of the players in Brazil when the US beat England in the 1950 World Cup. He was quite well known back then was Tom Finney.

[G#Gill]

Flippin eck, spot, are you really that old ???? Who's Finney?

Bugger they've equalised! Goalie error ! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[CARLA]

yes..... !!

[spot]

Good lord - our goalkeeper will have a lot of explaining to do if he ever wants to come back into the UK.

One all.

[spot]

G#Gill;1315426 wrote: Flippin eck, spot, are you really that old ???? Who's Finney?


433 appearances for Preston North End, 76 England caps and he was never booked in his career.

[G#Gill]

spot;1315430 wrote: 433 appearances for Preston North End, 76 England caps and he was never booked in his career.


Something like Gary Lineker then!

[G#Gill]

England should have had a couple more goals by now. I'm glad I'm not in the England dressing room right now!

[CARLA]

Game of goalkeepers US keeper tremendous, England keeper good except for the mistake. 1 point for each team draw.

[G#Gill]

1 -1 phthththth When will England stop playing ping pong and play more close quick passing! England could have won. It is thanks to the American goalie that they got the draw.

[spot]

Bloody useless national squad, they might have good players to call on but they've absolutely no sense of teamwork, they might all have met for the first time today for all they played cooperatively. We'd have done as well to have ditched the entire concept of an England team and drawn a lottery for one premier squad to have gone out and done the job properly.

[G#Gill]

The trouble with that, spot, is that most of our football teams have more foreign players than Brits ! Otherwise, I might agree with you !

[spot]

G#Gill;1315442 wrote: The trouble with that, spot, is that most of our football teams have more foreign players than Brits ! Otherwise, I might agree with you !


Scrub the premiership then, there's easily enough talent at Bristol Rovers to get the job done, and they'd be proud to do it too.

[Snowfire]

Didnt think we played particularly well with one or two exeptions. Heskey did his job well, Gerrard and Johnson played well. Rooney ineffective. Went missing for a lot of the game. Carrick was awful. A clumsy player who I dont think should play IMO

USA defended very well indeed. Tame goal given away by us but that happens, otherwise their only shot in anger on target was saved very well by Green. That must have done his confidence a whole lot of good after going in at half time depressed at his mistake

Looks like these two will progress through the group. I just hope we can do better against the Algeria and Slovenia than USA, to top the group

[Snowfire]

spot;1315444 wrote: Scrub the premiership then, there's easily enough talent at Bristol Rovers to get the job done, and they'd be proud to do it too.


This is the World Cup not the Crown Paint Trophy :rolleyes:

[spot]

Snowfire;1315446 wrote: This is the World Cup not the Crown Paint Trophy :rolleyes:


That's an unkind observation. From anyone else I'd have called it churlish.

You're right about Rooney too - for all the effect he had he might as well have been laid up in the nearest brothel as stood on the pitch.

[Snowfire]

spot;1315447 wrote: That's an unkind observation. From anyone else I'd have called it churlish.

You're right about Rooney too - for all the effect he had he might as well have been laid up in the nearest brothel as stood on the pitch.


Probably where his mind was anyhow. Or maybe his next bag of chips

He reminds me of a character in a comic when I was a kid. A working class lad who was training to be a sprinter and lived on chips. Name escapes me, maybe Tupper or something

[Snowfire]

Snowfire;1315448 wrote: Probably where his mind was anyhow. Or maybe his next bag of chips

He reminds me of a character in a comic when I was a kid. A working class lad who was training to be a sprinter and lived on chips. Name escapes me, maybe Tupper or something


Alf Tupper

From Wiki

Alf Tupper was 18 years of age ....... He was employed as a welder working in Ike Smith's welding shop which was located under a railway arch, his wages were £1 5s (£1.25p) per week of which he paid his Aunt £1.2s.6d (£1. 12½p) for rent. This meant he had 2/6d (12½p) for himself. Following a bust up with his Aunt Meg, he moved into Ike Smith's welding shop, sleeping on a mattress by his workbench. Alf joined the Greystone Harriers paying a subscription fee of half a guinea; he was only a member of the Harriers for three weeks and was instructed to return his membership card by Bob Richards the Hon Secretary, following an ontrack fight with Vic Mason in the 440 yards at the Greystone Harriers Sports meeting. Alf's staple diet was fish and chips wrapped in newspaper.


Roony to a "T"

[chonsigirl]

Well, a draw!

[spot]

Snowfire;1315448 wrote: Probably where his mind was anyhow. Or maybe his next bag of chips

He reminds me of a character in a comic when I was a kid. A working class lad who was training to be a sprinter and lived on chips. Name escapes me, maybe Tupper or something


Alf, at Greystone Harriers. I always had the Eagle every week but I saw a few Victors now and then. Ah - I've just seen your post, you worked it out quicker than I did. I got sidetracked by Roy Race.

[G#Gill]

Why are you all against Wayne Rooney? Is it because he plays for Manchester United, and is one of the best strikers in the world. OK he didn't score a goal today, but he will get a few goals, you'll see. :p