FIFA World Cup 2010 - South Africa

[OMNOMNOMALY]

[font="Garamond"]Hello, hello everyone. Now I don't often* (read: never) make threads, but I just feel like since it hasn't been made yet and it's only about a week away, we need a World Cup 2010 thread. I don't know about y'alls but I'm ridiculously excited. There are going to be some incredible matches, sweet bar gatherings with friends, and general "friendly" rivalry (My team got farther than your team, nyah nyah nyah). There's just something about soccer tournaments. I love the atmosphere, you can feel how charged up the fans get at the matches, and I love the upsets and surprises.

The teams who have made it to the tournament are as follows:

[b]A.
South Africa
Mexico
Uruguay
France

B.
Argentina
Nigeria
Korea Republic
Greece

C.
England
USA
Algeria
Slovenia

D.
Germany
Australia
Serbia
Ghana

E.
Netherlands
Denmark
Japan
Cameroon

F.
Italy
Paraguay
New Zealand
Slovakia

G.
Brazil
Korea DPR
Cote D'Ivoire
Portugal

H.
Spain
Switzerland
Honduras
Chile
[/b]

I'm pullin' for Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Argentina, Spain being my favourite. My underdog team is Korea Republic (i love them, i'd love for them to do well, but it won't surprise me if they don't.) Canada, my country, has never and it seems like will never get to the World Cup :C Don't heckle me, but I personally don't want the USA to do well, because, they win at everything else! Why do they need soccer, too? Just for them to get into the World Cup is pretty impressive for a nation that's not really a soccer nation.

What about you guys? Anybody else planning on watching? Favourite teams or players (Torres. Hnnnngh)? Is your country in the World Cup? If so, will you be cheering for them? And are there any lucky bums who are actually going to get to go to the World Cup? Discuss!

Hopefully I can update this thread regularly once matches start. if it stays alive that long, that is. Lol.

Official FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa Song: Waka Waka - Shakira ft. Freshlyground.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXoIMTjk9Xg&playnext_from=TL&videos=WWF6jBK5FsE[/media][/font] Edited June 4, 2010 by Anomaly

[eleanor]

I want S. Korea to kick butt but... I'm not expecting it.

2002 was epic, though

[Raiha]

[font="Times New Roman"][size="3"][color="#9932cc"] All I know about football I learned from Green Street Hooligans. ...And Shaolin Soccer.

Seriously.

Oh right and all of my Hispanic friends are obsessed and in Germany we call it FuÃ?ball. The Ã? is a double 'ss' for the record. I think I saw a guy headbutt a goal once and thought that was cool. And I met Mia Hamm at a Take Your Daughter To Work Day in Silicon Valley. That's...where my knowledge of all this ends. But I'm 99.9% sure I will hear all about it through facebook when my frenzied latin friends shriek the news to the world through their status updates. Speaking of which, I remember hearing people complain that South Africa is as bad a location for the World Cup as Bejing was for the Olympics. Is there still a furor? [/color][/size][/font] Edited June 4, 2010 by Raiha

[Korey]

[color="#000080"][size="2"][font="Garamond"]I'm actually a huge fan of soccer because of my grandmother's fascination with it when she was growing up in Scotland. I'm really excited for the USA vs England matchup, but it's a little sad that David Beckham won't be able to make it this year to play for them. I'm pulling for the US, of course, but realistically I don't expect them to win the entire thing. Argentina, Spain and Brazil have a strong case for winning this year, but you never know. Someone might come out of nowhere and have a really good cup, so we might see an underdog making it.

Here in Germany, even in my town, everyone is going batty over the world cup. In the market place, there's banners all over advertising it and I know people that have had tickets for a couple of years to the event. It's definitely going to be exciting.[/font][/size][/color]

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"][strike]Death[/strike] Defeat to the cheating French!

I'd probably like to see Spain or Brazil win, love their style of football although Germany are always a good team to see play too. I suppose any European team bar the English and the French would be nice to see as the winners.[/size][/font]

[OMNOMNOMALY]

[quote name='Raiha' date='04 June 2010 - 02:01 AM' timestamp='1275638474' post='694528']
[font="Times New Roman"][size="3"][color="#9932cc"] All I know about football I learned from Green Street Hooligans. ...And Shaolin Soccer.

Seriously.

Oh right and all of my Hispanic friends are obsessed and in Germany we call it FuÃ?ball. The Ã? is a double 'ss' for the record. I think I saw a guy headbutt a goal once and thought that was cool. And I met Mia Hamm at a Take Your Daughter To Work Day in Silicon Valley. That's...where my knowledge of all this ends. But I'm 99.9% sure I will hear all about it through facebook when my frenzied latin friends shriek the news to the world through their status updates. Speaking of which, I remember hearing people complain that South Africa is as bad a location for the World Cup as Bejing was for the Olympics. Is there still a furor? [/color][/size][/font]
[/quote]

[font="Garamond"]There were some issues about whether or not SA could actually handle the tournament, because I think for awhile things were moving along really slowly in terms of construction - but they did finish up all the stadiums in advance so that's good news. There were also some concerns about safety of fans, just because of all the crazy violence and such, but people who are gonna go, are gonna go anyway. I think the really sad part is that most South Africans can't even afford to go.[/font]

[Korey]

[quote name='Anomaly' date='04 June 2010 - 05:17 PM' timestamp='1275664671' post='694548']
[font="Garamond"]There were some issues about whether or not SA could actually handle the tournament, because I think for awhile things were moving along really slowly in terms of construction - but they did finish up all the stadiums in advance so that's good news. There were also some concerns about safety of fans, just because of all the crazy violence and such, but people who are gonna go, are gonna go anyway. I think the really sad part is that most South Africans can't even afford to go.[/font]
[/quote]

[color="#000080"][size="2"][font="Garamond"]I'm secretly rooting for South Africa to make an appearance in their own World Cup, a la the South African Rugby team. That was one of the best moments in sporting history and the world needs more of those these days. That really united the population of South Africa.

But as far as hosting goes, Atlanta had a bombing during their Olympics in 1996 and I'd like to think of Atlanta as a safe-ish city.... we can only hope people won't go ape-crazy when this event is going on.[/font][/size][/color]

[OMNOMNOMALY]

[quote name='Korey' date='04 June 2010 - 09:35 AM' timestamp='1275665741' post='694550']
[color="#000080"][size="2"][font="Garamond"]I'm secretly rooting for South Africa to make an appearance in their own World Cup, a la the South African Rugby team. That was one of the best moments in sporting history and the world needs more of those these days. That really united the population of South Africa.

But as far as hosting goes, Atlanta had a bombing during their Olympics in 1996 and I'd like to think of Atlanta as a safe-ish city.... we can only hope people won't go ape-crazy when this event is going on.[/font][/size][/color]
[/quote]
[font="Garamond"]That would be incredible, I would absolutely cheer for them if they got far in the World Cup. It's like when we had the Olympics here in Vancouver, it really did bring people together and yeah it would be great if they got that again.

I think I remember hearing that women need to be really careful/possibly have defensive stuff on them at all times because of the really high incidence of rape =/ scary stuff.[/font]

[Red]

[quote name='Gavin' date='04 June 2010 - 12:53 PM' timestamp='1275652425' post='694534']
[font="Tahoma"][size="2"][strike]Death[/strike] Defeat to the cheating French![/size][/font]
[/quote]

Hoping said defeat is decided by a keeper charging up the field and punching it in Kahn-style, preferably with a deflection off Henry's face! Not that I'm the vengeful type...

Also hoping England get somewhere but that's mostly out of a wish to see the incredibly pessimistic press & supporters shut up for five minutes Looking forward to watching the Dutch play too, if only to see van Persie have a touch of the flippin' ball (the man works magic, I tell thee).

[Korey]

[quote name='mapthesoul.' date='04 June 2010 - 05:43 PM' timestamp='1275666200' post='694553']
[font="Garamond"]That would be incredible, I would absolutely cheer for them if they got far in the World Cup. It's like when we had the Olympics here in Vancouver, it really did bring people together and yeah it would be great if they got that again.

[/font]
[/quote]

[color="#000080"][size="2"][font="Garamond"]Don't remind me of the Olympics. My American hockey lovin' soul is still crushed [/font][/size][/color] Edited June 5, 2010 by Korey

[Boo]

[b]Soccer does not exist[/b].

Teams that shouldn't win:
[list][*]Portugal[*]Japan[*]America[/list]Team that should win:
[list][*]Sweden[/list]Teams I should be rooting for:
[list][*]The Netherlands[*]Germany[/list]
World cups are greatness. Football is the best sport ever to worked up about and shout stuff at the telly. Also, the Netherlands would really suck if they can't get out of their own group. Last Euro Cup they did excellent in their group only to play a lousy match against Russia. Gotsto do better than that. Edited June 5, 2010 by Lady Shy

[Gavin]

[quote name='Red' date='05 June 2010 - 08:22 AM' timestamp='1275722552' post='694642']
Hoping said defeat is decided by a keeper charging up the field and punching it in Kahn-style, preferably with a deflection off Henry's face! Not that I'm the vengeful type...[/quote]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Now that would be rather awesome.[/size][/font]

[quote name='Red' date='05 June 2010 - 08:22 AM' timestamp='1275722552' post='694642']Also hoping England get somewhere but that's mostly out of a wish to see the incredibly pessimistic press & supporters shut up for five minutes Looking forward to watching the Dutch play too, if only to see van Persie have a touch of the flippin' ball (the man works magic, I tell thee).
[/quote]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]So long as they don't win out overall (and less likely now that Ferdinand has returned to his comfort zone of the injuries list) I don't really mind. Listening to them still go on about that one world cup they won four decades back becomes a tad tiring. Love watching the Dutch play actually, great team, like the love-child of German technique and Spanish style.[/size][/font]

[TheShinje]

In pool F you can see the eventual winner of the [b]FIFA[/b] world cup 2010. That's right, [b]New Zealand[/b].

Why is New Zealand going to win, you may ask? Because we haven't qualified for the tournament since [b]1982[/b], where we made the finals. Such a long timespan out of the World Cup scene may make us look like minnows, but it just serves to make us [b]hungrier.[/b] New Zealand feasts on world cup glory, you wait and see!

Okay, I'm a dreamer, who dreams impossible dreams. It would still be pretty [b]radical[/b] if we made it past pool play.

[Deena]

[center] [color="#9932cc"][b][font="Century Gothic"]I have never really put much thought into football but, it'd be nice to see England go far not necessarily win it. I felt they did really badly in the last word cup. Not entirely sure who i want to win. Wishing all participating countries the best of luck though ^^
[/font][/b][/color][/center]
[center][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhM-cpSwrmM[/media]
[/center]

[Humaru]

Im not gonna lie....I am cheering for USA to win the whole thing(no matter how much of a dream that may be) Every team has a shot at winning because when it comes down to one game....a goal here and a goal there could mean a juggernaut falling to a small team. Im also cheering Italy as they are my favorite nation going into the tournament.

Also kudos to Deena for posting the official theme for the world cup....I love K'naan and his music. Its one of the best themes ever.

[OMNOMNOMALY]

[quote name='Humaru' date='08 June 2010 - 11:38 PM' timestamp='1276061884' post='694940']

Also kudos to Deena for posting the official theme for the world cup....I love K'naan and his music. Its one of the best themes ever.
[/quote]
[font="Garamond"]From what I was told, they changed the official theme from K'naan's Waving Flag to Shakira's Waka Waka which I posted above. I think because it was used for Haiti or something, and Waka Waka was actually made for the World Cup.

Edit: FIFA.com confirms the actual song is Waka Waka, doesn't mention Waving Flag which I think is weird.
[url="http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=1205344/"]FIFA announces Waka Waka as Official World Cup theme.[/url][/font] Edited June 9, 2010 by mapthesoul.

[Boo]

Oh yeah.
[quote name='Korey' date='04 June 2010 - 10:26 AM' timestamp='1275640009' post='694529']
[color="#000080"][size="2"][font="Garamond"]I'm pulling for the US, of course, but [u]realistically[/u] I don't expect them to win [b][color=red]any[/color][/b]thing.[/font][/size][/color]
[/quote]
Just sayin'.

[Gavin]

[quote name='Lady Shy' date='09 June 2010 - 12:17 PM' timestamp='1276082227' post='694946']Just sayin'.[/quote]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Now now Boo, we should be glad they're at least playing the game without relying on a kevlar helmet and thirty kilos of padding as they do when they play rugby.[/size][/font]

[Lady Asphyxia]

[size="2"][font="Arial"]I'm excited! Australia's in Group D with Germany, of course, so I'm not too sure how it's going to go. Last time, we lost to the damn Italians who went on to win the Cup....maybe that's a good sign for Germany?

The downside to being Australian is that all the matches are on at like, 3am. My last world cup, we woke up at 3am for it, then the sound wasn't working on the TV so we were watching it on complete silence whilst screaming like madmen....

...I love football. [/font][/size]

[Boo]

South Africa's Makarabas made me mute my TV at one point.

[OMNOMNOMALY]

[quote name='Lady Shy' date='11 June 2010 - 11:27 AM' timestamp='1276277270' post='695088']
South Africa's Makarabas made me mute my TV at one point.
[/quote]
[font="Garamond"]yeah they're getting more than a little deafening. o_o

For anyone who didn't tune in, South Africa tied Mexico 1 - 1 in the opening match. Decent game. The SA goal was wicked. Uruguay - France match is on right now, and so far it's scoreless.

Love love love this tournament.[/font]

[Humaru]

Its really cool that South Africa got the first goal in the tournament.....and it was awesome at that. think we are in for a huge treat this summer. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im so excited.



[img]http://www.ebygum.org.uk/images/italy%20flag.jpg[/img]

GO ITALY!!!!!


[img]http://www.franhurtado.com/Source%20Images/USA_FLAG.jpg[/img]

Go USA!!!!!!!!

[OMNOMNOMALY]

[img]http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/602/bbhhzz.jpg[/img]

[font="Garamond"]Just sayin'.

Hating the time difference a little, I'm gonna be up at 5:15 tomorrow morning to watch the SKorea game TT_TT hope it's good.

Edit: Yay SKorea 2-0 against Greece. And Argentina beat Nigeria 1-0, not a huge surprise. The England v. USA match is starting soon. Let's go England ;D[/font] Edited June 12, 2010 by mapthesoul.

[eleanor]

Man draws are boring. Feel bad for Green though. He's still a great goalie but I'm sure England is ready to kill him


SK was great against Greece!! Although Greece was playing pathetically...

[Raiha]

[font="Times New Roman"][size="3"][color="#9932cc"]US and England draw 1-1.

I have to confess I'm surprised. I was under the impression that those tea drinking imperialists yearly slapped us against the chopping board a few times before beheading us.[/color][/size][/font]