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Haha no no it's not aimed at anyone here, it's just the NY Post headline made me laugh. Usually after good results the press here gets carried away, my friends and I make these jokes all the time, but it didn't really land here. As an example, DURING the German game where they won 4-0 the commentators were discussing how much more likely they were to win the cup. Maybe the connexion was a bit too thin to be related, nevermind, poor delivery.

Regarding Eto'o, what was he doing at right midfield? Surely some of those chances Cameroon had would've been better taken by him? It reminds me of the same strange decision to put Anelka up on his own, when he's known as a supporting striker.

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

I wish I could say that I'm surprised by the result the Italians ended up with here, but I'm not. As I've said, they nefariously always start off slowly in these tournaments, but there was a glimmer of some brilliant play in the last bit of the second half and I'm hoping that more of it shines through.

If Buffon is out for hamstring issues, I'll start to worry, however.

Wasn't too impressed by Denmark's show, but the Netherlands were pretty fluid.

I still can't believe Japan beat Cameroon. What an upset!

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Okay, but there was a goat!

New Zealand would do a lot better if they did the haka before kick-off. That would be brilliant.

About Italy, I totally agree DF, they are still my picks to come second and, barring any upsets, I think they'll knock Spain out in quarter-finals.

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

I am one Slovak goal away from getting what I think would be the tourney's first perfect prediction. I want to see it soooon.

All respect to Jav as the primary Italy supporter around here (and I guess sweets for his prediction), but I can't see Italy anywhere near second in this tournament, particularly should they run into Spain. There's been a lot changed since their tight game in Euro 2008, and bias aside I feel that Spain's squad is stronger now than it was back then, and Italy's is poorer. Spain's younger players from '08 are more mature now and stronger, and the addition of Navas as a sub can help run an aging Italy side into the ground. Additionally, I think Spain has the most in-form goalkeeping side in the tournament, but that might also be a bit of bias on my part, since a big part of that lineup is from my club team.

Edit

and there's the jinx. Just went from a possible perfect to only one point. story of my tournament so far.

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 15th June 2010 13:19

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (Rangers51 @ 15th June 2010 09:06)

and there's the jinx. Just went from a possible perfect to only one point. story of my tournament so far.

I have no idea why I thought New Zealand would win 4-1. What site was I getting my odds from?

(PS I got as many points as you on that match. )

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Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

Quote (Rangers51 @ 15th June 2010 14:06)

All respect to Jav as the primary Italy supporter around here (and I guess sweets for his prediction), but I can't see Italy anywhere near second in this tournament, particularly should they run into Spain.

I forgot to mention before, if Buffon isn't out there then I'm not so sure they'll get past Spain either, and certainly not Germany or Argentina.

That was a great performance from NZ. Sorry to hear about the loss of points, but CoN aside, don't you think they really deserved the draw? I got nothing from that game in the end, I put down 2-0.

4-1 NZ, seriously that would've been the best game of the tournament for a whole sack of reasons.

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

Quote (sweetdude @ 15th June 2010 08:37)

That was a great performance from NZ. Sorry to hear about the loss of points, but CoN aside, don't you think they really deserved the draw? I got nothing from that game in the end, I put down 2-0.

There is ONLY CoN.

I don't know that they deserved the draw, it seemed like they only put true aggressive play in for the first ten and last ten minutes. However, the goal they got was lovely, to say the least, and they certainly deserved that.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

They definitely deserved AT LEAST the draw, as the goal for Slovakia was offside and shouldn't have counted. They managed to play the game well enough to keep out any other goals and, let's face it, with all the draws we've been having so far, one more only serves to make this the theme of the tournament.

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Okay, but there was a goat!

Quote (sweetdude @ 15th June 2010 09:37)

4-1 NZ, seriously that would've been the best game of the tournament for a whole sack of reasons.

Yeah, I needed a flurry of goals at the end so the announcers would have been all GOAL GOAL GOOOAL G-GOALAALALL G-G-G-GOOOAL GOAL GOAAAAL GOAAAAAAL. Alas, it was not to be.

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Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

Quote (Neal @ 15th June 2010 15:56)

Quote (sweetdude @ 15th June 2010 09:37)

4-1 NZ, seriously that would've been the best game of the tournament for a whole sack of reasons.

Yeah, I needed a flurry of goals at the end so the announcers would have been all GOAL GOAL GOOOAL G-GOALAALALL G-G-G-GOOOAL GOAL GOAAAAL GOAAAAAAL. Alas, it was not to be.

If they did a quick haka at half-time then it would've been like that. I am the hairy man who fetched the sun.

I really hope the Portugal v IC game finishes 0-0. (didn't work )

This post has been edited by sweetdude on 15th June 2010 15:51

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

Got your wish, sweets. What a disappointing match that was. That Cote team should have played the whole match like that last ten minutes, eh?

Top prediction score in that match was 1. How exciting.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

I have to say, I am absolutely not impressed with Brazil. To be the best team in the world they should not have allowed North Korea to score like that, and I can't believe they missed some of the goals they did. To barely beat a team like North Korea is just pitiful, IMO. Don't get me wrong. Brazil kept the ball in North Koreas field for the majority of the game, made some really good plays, and showed great team work, but there were so many moments when they seemed so careless.

This post has been edited by Sephiroth on 15th June 2010 20:31

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Climhazzard is the timeless evil robot who runs some of the cool stuff at CoN (mostly logging chat, since there are no quizzes at the moment), all the while watching and waiting for his moment to take over the world. -Tiddles

I might be able to get into it. Just one thing: can they ban the stupid horns? God, I will never get that out of my ears.

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Praise Be To Helix!

I feel you blitzsage. Those vuvuzelas can get a bit irritating at times, but they are a staple of futbol in many different countries. I've been to a few matches in Mexico and I'm surprised I don't come out deaf.

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"The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved."
- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Hey ummm... I missed the Netherlands/Denmark game, but I was noticing that the app says Simon Poulsen, a Danish defender, scored the first goal, even though Denmark didn't score any goals. Can someone tell me what greatly ridiculous event I missed?!

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Climhazzard is the timeless evil robot who runs some of the cool stuff at CoN (mostly logging chat, since there are no quizzes at the moment), all the while watching and waiting for his moment to take over the world. -Tiddles

Quote (Sephiroth @ 16th June 2010 00:13)

Hey ummm... I missed the Netherlands/Denmark game, but I was noticing that the app says Simon Poulsen, a Danish defender, scored the first goal, even though Denmark didn't score any goals. Can someone tell me what greatly ridiculous event I missed?!

OH NO! OWN GOAL?!?!

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Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

OH NO!




OWN GOAL?!?!

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And have you found your joy, in this near dead world of ours?

Quote (Sephiroth @ 16th June 2010 05:13)

Hey ummm... I missed the Netherlands/Denmark game, but I was noticing that the app says Simon Poulsen, a Danish defender, scored the first goal, even though Denmark didn't score any goals. Can someone tell me what greatly ridiculous event I missed?!

Basically he spun round as the ball was crossed into the box, the ball hit off his head, hit the back of one of his teammates, then went sweetly into the net. It was pretty funny, he was smiling for a while afterwards. Also to his credit, he did make an amazing goalline clearance near the end of the game, which makes up for it IMO.

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

Man, Spain has had magnificent possession and touch on the ball so far, but what is with the overall lack of shots? They had only three shots on goal all half, and that is just not acceptable. Their touch inside the box is great (see Pique's great move about ten yards out) but touch doesn't necessarily get you goals unless you start following it with shots.

Edit

And that is why you DON'T SCREW AROUND. Absolutely embarrassing for Spain.

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 16th June 2010 15:09

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

1-0, this is brilliant! What a test for Spain now. They need Fabregas on to partner Iniesta, he's scored the same total league goals this season than the whole Spanish midfield put together apparently. He can be their scorer. It's so funny because Spain have been better this half.

Later that day...

Maybe if Fabregas was playing for Barcelona he'd have been brought on. The Swiss were just defending for fun by the end. All those crosses were pointless, Spain needed to attack down the centre or take a middle-distance shot. That's what Fab4 does on a weekly basis for Arsenal. No idea why a winger went on. Sure, Navas made good runs and is obviously a quality player, but the feeding to the strikers wasn't working. Having said that he very nearly scored, although if his shot was on target the defender had it covered.

Switzerland thoroughly deserved that win. I slated them in last WC for killing every game they played, especially against Ukraine which is still the worst game I've ever seen, but against such quality opposition as Spain they attacked pretty well too when they had the ball. Great defence obviously, really capable players. This game is just what the WC needed. It was intense.

This post has been edited by sweetdude on 16th June 2010 16:18

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

I was two minutes away from getting what I assume would be the first perfect of the competition. That header at the death shafted me and perhaps T300 as well - I really needed that perfect score to salve the hurt of Spain.

Here are the scores from the RSA - URU match:
Rangers51: Score 3
baralai888: Score 2
Kappa the Imp: Score 0
Dragon_Fire: Score 1
Nytecrawla: Score 0
Gears: Score 0
footbigmike: Score 0
The_Pink_Nu1: Score 0
sweetdude: Score 1
Sephiroth: Score 0
Del S: Score 1
Hanyou: Score 0
Cazboab: Score 0
Corda: Score 0
Gigantuar: Score 3
Neal: Score 1
Tiddles: Score 0
Quad: Score 1
T300: Score 3

Do you guys want me to keep posting these?

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

That would be cool, if it doesn't take you long to get that list.

Today is just not a good day for my predictions! Haha! All in good fun I suppose.

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Climhazzard is the timeless evil robot who runs some of the cool stuff at CoN (mostly logging chat, since there are no quizzes at the moment), all the while watching and waiting for his moment to take over the world. -Tiddles

Quote (Sephiroth @ 16th June 2010 15:41)

That would be cool, if it doesn't take you long to get that list.

The list is autogenerated when I record a match. I tell it the results of a match and it returns everyone's scores. I'll try to collect them and just post them once a day so I don't spam everything up.

On a somewhat related note, my folks are coming into town this weekend so I probably won't be around to record matches the second they end between the middle match on Friday and the last match on Sunday. May be some lag in the leaderboard during that time unless I do the updates from my phone, which I might.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

2-0 with Forlán would've been perfect, oh well.

EDIT: Huh, seems I had just guessed 1-0. >_>

This post has been edited by Gigantuar on 16th June 2010 21:37

Gigantuar, you seem to be doing really well at guessing the winners and such. Have experience doing this before or are you just getting lucky? Haha!
Just out of curiosity.

This post has been edited by Sephiroth on 16th June 2010 22:05

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Climhazzard is the timeless evil robot who runs some of the cool stuff at CoN (mostly logging chat, since there are no quizzes at the moment), all the while watching and waiting for his moment to take over the world. -Tiddles

I've never done something like this before so I guess it's luck or that I have a secret talent or something <_>

Korea did it to themselves too! OH NO! OWN GOAL?!?!

So confusing for first scorer purposes, but I certainly know who I'll be selecting for the remainder of Argentina's matches...

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Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

Quote (Neal @ 17th June 2010 14:15)

So confusing for first scorer purposes, but I certainly know who I'll be selecting for the remainder of Argentina's matches...

I think so too. Unless opposing teams are more likely to mark him, in which case Tevez or Messi is a better choice. Decisions, decisions.

Does anyone remember when Diego Forlan was at Manchester United? He was hilariously bad. It was like he was cursed, literally. He missed the easiest chances, missed penalties, missed passes. The fans thought he was a complete disaster. Anyway it's funny how much better he has been at Athletico Madrid and now for Uruguay in the WC.

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

Quote (sweetdude @ 17th June 2010 08:28)

I think so too. Unless opposing teams are more likely to mark him, in which case Tevez or Messi is a better choice. Decisions, decisions.

Does anyone remember when Diego Forlan was at Manchester United? He was hilariously bad. It was like he was cursed, literally. He missed the easiest chances, missed penalties, missed passes. The fans thought he was a complete disaster. Anyway it's funny how much better he has been at Athletico Madrid and now for Uruguay in the WC.

I didn't watch English soccer much back when Forlan was there, but I did my homework yesterday when I saw on Twitter some idiot Man U fan saying "See? Every Manchester United striker is better than any other striker out there." Everything I learned backed up your post, not that silly bias.

The most important thing to remember about Forlan, though, is this: he has dreamy eyes.

Argentina played so well, today, in the offensive half of the field. That defense, though, oh my. Maradona's going to need more than one Rosary to get him through against clubs in the knockout stages. I still think that Tevez or Messi are due for an explosion. Higuain might have had a hat trick today, but two of them were only possible as mop-ups made possible by far more elegant play by Messi. Should Messi get better luck with his shots, or decide to start feeding Tevez, those will be your Argentinian goalscorers.

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 17th June 2010 13:50

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (Rangers51 @ 17th June 2010 14:49)

I didn't watch English soccer much back when Forlan was there, but I did my homework yesterday when I saw on Twitter some idiot Man U fan saying "See? Every Manchester United striker is better than any other striker out there." Everything I learned backed up your post, not that silly bias.

The most important thing to remember about Forlan, though, is this: he has dreamy eyes.

Yeah, as another example, Berbatov is definitely one of the best in the world, if not the very best. I'm sure that fan would be devastated if Ferguson sold him in the summer.

About Forlan, he looks just like one of my old schoolfriends' mum. She used to shout advice and abuse at us when we were playing rugby at the school in exactly the same way Forlan shouts at his players (Suarez). His eyes are terrifying.

I was so sure Greece would leave this tournament without scoring a single goal, continuing their history of never scoring in a WC. Disappointed with Nigeria. Can we get points for predicting the time when a Nigerian player gets sent off?

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.