Lets Talk Football

Isn't Malouda playing in Silva's position in Chelsea's team? Not sure though, maybe HK or Tatty can tell.

Anyway, I've watched all 3 games today, or at least started to watch all 3 games, but only finished 2.

Paraguay - Slovakia was a terrible match. Paraguay could've probably won that 3-0 or 4-0 if they tried. Slovakia was so damned awful, I don't think they created one chance which was a direct result of their football skills. I quit watching that after like 60 minutes.

Tuned back in for Italy - New Zealand. I was cheering pretty hard when those kiwi's scored in the 7th minute, as Italy is a side I've always disliked and them denying Zidane's ultimate career triumph has only strengthened this profound dislike. It was a delight to see how utterly unable Italy was of really putting New Zealand under constant pressure and score. And lol @ that penalty they got. Here's hoping they only finish 2nd in their group and thus face Holland in the 2nd round. That's win-win, as at least one team I've no love for will be heading home afterwards.

Tonight I also watched the hotly anticipated clash between Brazil and Ivory Coast. Brazil was superior, but I have to say that it could have been a lot less comfortable for Brazil had the referee done his job. That French ref must've thought he had to match his national team's current level, because he was gawd awful to say the least. Fabiano's second goal was hands, twice. 2 players of Ivory Coast should've been sent off: the first one being the guy who tackled Elano and the second one being Keita, who found it necessary to put Bastos' ankle to the test. It gets worse, as a few minutes later, Keita displayed his acting skills when he got "elbowed" by Kaka. Yeah right pal, everytime you intentionally run into a player is an elbow to your face. Again, horrible decision by the ref to give Kaka his 2nd yellow. This is one of those times when I think it's justified if the FIFA overrule the ref's decision, if (or better said: when) Brazil will file a complaint against Kaka's sending off.

Oh and my boy Fabiano has now netted two and is on his way to become world cup topscorer. HA!

He is, but Silva can really play anywhere across the midfield, especially in the more advanced positions.

I only saw the end of the game and the highlights programme, but the ref did look to have a poor game in the Brazil Ivory Coast game and the sending off was ridiculous. As they pointed out, both in commentary and, more forcefully in the analysis after the game, the referee wasn't even looking in the direction of Kaka when the incident took place. The linesman was on the other side of the pitch, so there's no way either of them could've seen it. He shouldn't have been sent off, even if he'd swung his elbow in his face, as the officials missed the incident. The ref's obviously reacted to the commotion afterwards. Terrible refereeing. Don't expect to see him after the group stages.

Do you support Sevilla? Just wondering why you described him as "my boy". Not that you shouldn't, of course, I describe the whole United team that way. Even Rio.

No, I don't support Sevilla. I just have a bet running on Fabiano to become the topscorer this world cup. And I kinda predicted (see below) that he would be topscorer so now I'm hoping he pulls through so that in a couple weeks time I get to say: told you so

Then again, my prediction of Slovakia to upset the world was way off the mark

It's a lot easier for a side like Spain with strength in depth to tailor their side to a specific system without people playing out of position. It also helps that so many of that Barca side are 'Spanish' (quotation marks inserted to stop ETA bombing Tatty Towers ) and are used playing together.

I wonder how popular England's Lion Big Brave JT is in the England hotel this evening? It seems as if a private chat between some of the senior players was taken as an excuse for the former captain to turn French/go rogue.

He certainly doesn't have an axe to grind with the manager, does he?

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

Just thought I'd let everyone know that I am a big fan of this World Cup tournament thing...it's just the soccer part of it that I cannot get past.

Ach, go watch the 'World Series'

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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here

It's time for some B3ta-land commentary...

Nice of you to share with us, Raul. It's like baseball and that American version of football to us Europeans. The former is boring and the latter is a girly version of rugby

A rugby player would last one play in an American Football game.

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We are both the source of the problem and the solution, yet we do not see ourselves in this light...

Rugby really is pretty intense, but it's football is not belittling by any means.

I was just joking around, anyways .

Yikes, it looks like I can add Walter Matthau to the Lou Reed and Bert from Sesame St comparisons.

And guys, comparing different sports is just daft no matter if the shape of the ball is the same. For instance, have you seen the body armour some rugby players wear? I had an uncle who died of a broken neck playing club rugby...

It's like comparing amateur and professional boxing (or snooker and pool). To the uninterested or partial eye they may look awfully similar but to someone who considers themselves a fan they're as different as darts is from extreme marathon running.

And this is coming from someone who's only experience of American Football was Super Bowl XX.

Me too

Yeah, you're right Tatty. Me and Raul were just joking around a bit, nothing to be taken seriously.

Back to football!

Wow, France is playing even worse than in their previous 2 games. No fighting spirit whatsoever.

Transfer news:

Arsenal will buy the 24-year-old centre-back defender Koscielny from Lorient

Luca Toni's contract with Bayern Munich was rescinded by mutual consent and the attacker is now set to join Genoa.

Earlier reports that Mascherano will join Internazionale seem premature, as Barcelona are also after the Argentinian midfielder. Barça would like to sign Mascherano as a replacement for Yaya Touré, who is certain to leave the Spanish team. Liverpool are looking to catch around € 30 million for Mascherano.

Real Madrid has reportedly come to a € 25 million agreement with Benfica over Portuguese winger Di Maria.

Holy Bafana Bafana. By the skin of their teeth, and with plenty of help from the French Revolutionaries (or lack of them), and a pretty suspect looking ref (no way was that a red). But still, loving the possible come back

It'd be awful to see the hosts go out after this effort.

It seems that I'm not going mad about the dreadful ITV picture - Link

It's almost unwatchable today, possibly because they're also broadcasting a live match on ITV4 and the signals are being compressed too much. I hadn't noticed it as being quite as bad during FA Cup and CL matches because I didn't have the BBC coverage showing the same feed coming so quickly afterwards.

It's appalling.

EDIT - Here's a link to a screenshot of the ENG-USA match. It seems to depend on the transmitter but does anyone else have this problem in Britland?

EDIT II - Ha! I took the advice of someone in the thread I linked to and the picture is better in analogue! Jesus wept.

Even ITV4 on my digibox is glitchy. I'm ducking back and forwards. Mexico just missed a peach - 'miss of the tournament'. The bafana boys are certainly looking good for this - altho the missing man is probably flattering a little. Still, lovely stuff (Glad the Uruguay/Mexico game is full guns too - mainly to avoid Argentina, but still )

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You looked but you didn't see

Have you had the full Digital switchover yet? I'm thinking that once the full frequency can be used for Freeview it will sort out the compression problems. Or maybe it is that ITV are just too tight for words?

My signal strength is fine, always has been, but the ITV picture quality has been awful since the start of the WC and watching it on the old analogue signal now would be funny if it didn't reflect so badly on the broadcaster.

I never usually watch ITV so it's probably got Ant & Dec's little pixelated faces staring blankly back at me the rest of the time, soon to be joined by that fantastic sad panda look that Christine Bleakley uses when she's presenting something serious and looks as if her face is melting.

what a shame SA couldn't qualify for the next round, still they played their best so I think they can go out with their heads high.
Did you see manager Domenech refuse to shake hands with the SA manager? what a dick.