Good reply, homer.   On the world stage, you want the best team to win, with referees having little impact on the outcome due to a bad sendoff - that Kaka one in particular was a joke (luckily it had no impact in this instance).  Grrr....I'm still bitter over the Italian dive that cost a place in the quarterfinals four years ago.

Some debate on Kaka not wanting to exchange jerseys with the NK player:

http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/s ... world-cup-game.html

for north Korea it's not so important right now for 7-0.
player might be send back to become miner as their big boss said.

[ Last edited by  sron63 at 22-6-2010 16:11 ]

I think it is petty of Portugal going all out to smack down N.Korea.  After getting in 3 goals to N. Korea's nil, Portugal should have done what most big countries do, send in their least experienced players so they can get some game time.

as reported ... being sent to the mines is nothing !  some speculate their lives and the lives of their falilies are stake !

So a couple of hours before round 3 begins...

Group A is all but mathematically settled with France or South Africa needing to see a result in their match AND the Uruguay Mexico match with a defecit of up to 6 goals being accounted for
Group B is wide open
Group C is wide open
Group D is realistically between Ghana, Germany and Serbia for the qualifying spots with Australia relying on causing a minor upset against Serbia and Ghana causing a bigger upset over Germany to get through. (The less likely Alernative scenario is for Germany to thrash Ghana and Australia to thrash Serbia to the tune of a 3 goal margin in each match.)
Group E the Netherlands in and Cameroon out of the running with the second spot going to the winner between Japan and Denmark regardless of goals scored. If they draw, Japan will go through.
Group F sees the top three teams with a chance to finish first or second, and last placed Slovakia relying on a win for themselves over Italy and a Paraguay victory or a draw in their match Vs. New Zealand.
Group G will see Brazil and Portugal qualify with Côte d'Ivoire a purely academic chance to make it through.
Group H is open to any of the four teams, with Honduras having to see themselves win by ~2 goals and Spain lose to Chile by a similar margin.

So long story short, it's about to be a very exciting and very important couple of days.

The only advantage France have is that Mexico will not want the draw in their game against Uruguay because if it is drawn Mexico will have to play Argentina in the next round

[ Last edited by  Stephenmozza at 22-6-2010 22:02 ]

Seeing the amateur skills of the French Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, I am pretty sure he must have English ancestors. How can a pro get it so wrong. I mean if it was the North Korean keeper, okay, nobody expects that guy to have international class, but the French one should have, shouldn't he?

You're not wrong Homer.

Another dodgy red card and it looks like bye bye, adieu Francais.

And with Uruguay scoring it looks like the rank outsiders S Africa might well make it to the second round

There still has to be a few goals against Mexico or for South Africa for that to happen.

If I'm looking at the qualifying criteria right, should Uruguay score twice more to make it 3-0 and the SA/France game remain 2-0, the team that goes through will be drawn at random by FIFA.

France are out of the world cup which is what they deserved as they really didnt show up at this world cup.  Wonder whos next ... Italy?

I did not expect that the final matches in Group A to be so dramatic.
South Africa lead 2:0 in the first half while Uruguay lead 1:0.
That mean Mexico will be out if South Africa score an extra goal and will go through instead.

Uruguay has not conceded a single goal in all three group matches.
I just love to watch the Uruguay players Forlán, Luis Suárez and Cavani.

Finally, God has punished France for Henry's foul score that had eliminated Ireland.

What an incredible miss from Yakubu!
I guess he is aiming at the container near the post.
South Korea should be grateful to Argentina winning over Greece.

Congratulation!!
South Korea, the 1st Asian country to go through in this World Cup.

Bucking the system: how one Italian is worth three times more than the entire Kiwi team
TONY SMITH, STUFF.CO.NZ
June 22, 2010
New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert has admitted he brought Wellington bank employee Andy Barron into yesterday's wonder World Cup draw with Italy to prove that amateur footballers can cut it with multimillionaire world champions.
Italy has 4.9 million footballers - more than the population of New Zealand - including 3541 professionals.
The All Whites have just 25 fully fledged professionals to draw on from a player base of just under 200,000.
Marcello Lippi's Italians are valued at $255.4 million on the international transfer market and earn millions each per year. In stark contrast, Herbert's New Zealanders are valued at $15.8 million - a whopping difference of $239.6 million.
Italy could bring on 2006 World Cup winner Mauro Camoranesi from Italian glamour club Juventus as a substitute, while the All Whites introduced Jeremy Christie, who plays in Florida for Tampa Bay Rowdies, and Barron from Team Wellington in the New Zealand national league.
Barron, who works for Westpac Bank when he's not on World Cup duty, replaced Middlesbrough striker Chris Killen for the frenetic final moments of the greatest result in New Zealand football history at the World Cup finals in South Africa.
Herbert, stung by criticism from ex-All Whites Wynton Rufer and Danny Hay that he shouldn't have taken amateurs to the World Cup, admitted he wanted to "prove a bit of a point" that Kiwis with big hearts could match it with Serie A superstars.
That was part of the reason for throwing Barron on, he said.
Barron was unfazed at being pitched into the heat of the battle at Nelspruit – just as he was in the vital World Cup play-off against Bahrain in Wellington last November when the All Whites booked their World Cup finals passage.
Barron was photographed by The Dominion Post ironing his shirt for work at Westpac a day after the Bahrain victory.
That image caught the attention of the football world, with many media outlets marvelling that amateur players and part-timers were opposing world champions such as Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro.
Barron agreed his situation showed that players did not have to be highly paid professionals to succeed in the sport.
"Absolutely. That's what our team's all about," he said.
"We've got a couple of stars, the Ryan Nelsens and that. But we're made up of hard workers and we grind out results – like we have in our first two games.
"That's how it is in New Zealand. That's how we're raised. And that's what our spirit is all about.
"It's a special moment for New Zealand sport again. Every time we tend to get out there, we're creating history.
"We were hanging on for a bit but we defended pretty well and I think we deserved something."
Barron said he wasn't nervous at facing the Italians.
"We played them last year, been there, done that.
"We should have beaten them last year as well [when Italy won 4-3 after the All Whites led three times]."

Total market value of Italy's starting XI v NZ
Federico Marchetti (Cagliari) $17m
Gianluca Zambrotta (AC Milan): $6.1m
Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus) $42m
Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus) $7.6m
Domenico Criscito (Genoa) $17m
Simone Pepe (Udinese) $13.6m
Daniele De Rossi (AS Roma) $52.5m
Claudio Marchisio (Juventus) $23.8m
Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina) $27.6m
Strikers: Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus) $22.9m
Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina) $25.3m
Total value: $255.4

Total market value of New Zealand's starting XI v Italy
Mark Paston (Wellington Phoenix) $688,000
Winston Reid (FC Midtjylland) $1.9m
Ryan Nelsen (Blackburn Rovers) $5.2m
Tommy Smith (Ipswich Town) $459,000
Leo Bertos (Wellington Phoenix) $688,000
Simon Elliott (unattached) $382,000
Ivan Vicelich (Auckland City) $765,000
Tony Lochhead (Wellington Phoenix) $688,000
Chris Killen (Middlesbrough) $1.5m
Rory Fallon (Plymouth Argyle) $2.3m
Shane Smeltz (Gold Coast United) $1.2m
Total value: $15.8m
Source: www.transfermarkt.co.uk
Link here:
http://www.smh.com.au/world-cup- ... -20100622-ytl6.html

[ Last edited by  atomic3d at 23-6-2010 05:10 ]

no way daniele de rossi is 52m

No it would not have, if SA win 3-0 they would still have been eliminated. You'd think that by flooding this thread and making constant double posts under the pretense of reporting on the World Cup that you would have a clue.

actually, given your reasoning on France's handball, you must not be a supporter of Argentina either ... right ?

Just what will it take for Rooney to score?! He could have had a hat trick!



Hopefully Joe Cole can do better.

[ Last edited by  JckJr at 23-6-2010 23:28 ]

Yes USA wins 1-0 and advances. Mr.Clinton gave them luck lol

I'm glad the USA got through, they would have been hard done by to play quite well and miss out...what a dramatic way to qualify for the final 16 though, injury time goal when all looked lost.

Too bad England aren't going home.