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  1. #81
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Partly Orlando, FL partly heard Sandpoint, ID
    The only thing is, part of Drogba's excellence is his physical presence on the field. And even if he's able to play, that will be greatly reduced. And Ivory Coast has to get a draw or better against Portugal. They aren't going to take down Brazil, and losing to Portugal would render the North Korea game meaningless. A draw with Portugal and suddenly GD could become huge. But I don't have high hopes for Ivory Coast right now, after originally picking them to come out of that group.

  2. #82
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Brookline, MA
    Yes, I know the first game is going on right now, but I figured this was important for USA fans to hear: Bob Bradley says that Jozy Altidore will start for the USA tomorrow, according to this twitter update: http://twitter.com/dpshow/status/15931901081

    Right now, it's 25 minutes in, still no score in the Mexico-South Africa game. South Africa has looked better in the last 10 minutes with their possession, but Mexico is clearly the better side, and any South Africa goal will probably come against the run of play.

  3. #83
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    San Francisco
    Quote Originally Posted by arydolphin View Post
    Yes, I know the first game is going on right now, but I figured this was important for USA fans to hear: Bob Bradley says that Jozy Altidore will start for the USA tomorrow, according to this twitter update: http://twitter.com/dpshow/status/15931901081

    Right now, it's 25 minutes in, still no score in the Mexico-South Africa game. South Africa has looked better in the last 10 minutes with their possession, but Mexico is clearly the better side, and any South Africa goal will probably come against the run of play.
    South Africa is lucky not to be down 3-0. Some great, last minute blocks and saves by the defense and the keeper has covered up some of the awful turnovers in the midfield. Dos Santos and Franco are all over the place on offense for Mexico. Franco has sent to free headers waaaay over the bar. South Africa will have to control the tempo a little bit better in the second half if they want to stand a chance.

    Also, usually Mexico is most dangerous attacking out wide with Dos Santos and Vela on the wings taking on defenders and sending crosses into the box. Today, they've looked better playing through the middle of the pitch. I think a Mexican goal or two is inevitable if they keep getting the ball to Dos Santos in the middle and let him go to work. At the very least, it will result in a lot of dangerous free kick opportunities and probably a few more yellow cards for the South African defense.

  4. #84
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    San Francisco
    Quote Originally Posted by COYS View Post
    South Africa is lucky not to be down 3-0. Some great, last minute blocks and saves by the defense and the keeper has covered up some of the awful turnovers in the midfield. Dos Santos and Franco are all over the place on offense for Mexico. Franco has sent to free headers waaaay over the bar. South Africa will have to control the tempo a little bit better in the second half if they want to stand a chance.

    Also, usually Mexico is most dangerous attacking out wide with Dos Santos and Vela on the wings taking on defenders and sending crosses into the box. Today, they've looked better playing through the middle of the pitch. I think a Mexican goal or two is inevitable if they keep getting the ball to Dos Santos in the middle and let him go to work. At the very least, it will result in a lot of dangerous free kick opportunities and probably a few more yellow cards for the South African defense.
    Great goal by South Africa . . . counterattacking football at it's finest.

  5. #85
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Washington, DC
    Wow! What a blast. As we Americans know, this Mexico sqaud is rather vulnerable to the counter attack. Let's go South Africa!

  6. #86
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Mexico ties it on some horrid defending by SAfrica. How could the defense let the far side be that wide open?!??!

    -Jason
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  7. #87
    Just looked like poor coordination on setting the offside line by the South Africans. Everyone else pushed up to either get the Mexicans out of the box or set an offside trap, but one guy missed the communication and was ten feet behind all his teamates, so he ended up playing defense against three guys on the pass.

    I don't know what I like better about Tshabalala - his name or that goal. That was a thing of beauty. Perfect lead pass followed by a perfectly placed shot, giving the keeper zero chance.

  8. #88
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Partly Orlando, FL partly heard Sandpoint, ID
    The Mexico goal was a busted offside trap. The South African - captain I think? - didn't step up when the rest of the backline did. As a result, at least 3, perhaps 4 Mexicans were in behind the defense, but held onside by 1 defender. And was a good soft ball that could be controlled. Had it been harder struck, Mexico would have had a great opportunity for a header, but not as catastrophic as an unmarked man able to control the ball on the back post.

    Of course, then Mexico almost gave it away again on the long run out and beautiful head on touch that ended with the shot off the post. But a good start for the hosts. A little bit worrisome for the Mexicans. Am curious to see how France looks, as I'm not expecting them to survive this group.

  9. #89
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Partly Orlando, FL partly heard Sandpoint, ID
    The South African goal was as perfect as could be. The one touch pass ahead was really the work of beauty. To strike that ball with perfect pace, getting the attacker behind the defense, but ahead of the penalty area and far enough out that the attacker has time to take a settling touch before shooting, just superb. And the finish topped it off. But it was the pass that deserves the raves.

  10. #90
    alteran is offline All-American, Honorable Mention
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham-- 2 miles from Cameron, baby!
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    That ball went one way and then it went the other. What the heck happened there?

    Is there some controversy about the types of balls being used in these friendlies leading up to the WCup this year? Is this the same ball that will be used in Cup matches?

    --Jason "that was very strange" Evans
    I may be late to this, but it sure looks like there might have been some deflection-- possibly arm/hand deflection-- by the three French players lined up front of the kicker.

    The video resolution makes this inconclusive, but look at these time marks on the video.

    1) 40-42 seconds- deep, behind goal camera angle. The Chinese player kicks the ball, and it deflects visually and sharply when it appears to be passing over the French players, coincident with one of the French players. Now, from this angle it is impossible to tell whether the path change occurred right over the Frenchmen or significantly in front or behind them, but the one thing it DOES show us is that the ball passed horizontally directly over the Frenchmen's heads, most likely over the one in the middle, whose arm went up. We still don't know how far VERTICALLY over their heads, though.

    2) 47 seconds -- ground shot from front right of French players. The motion blur in this shot is severe, but if you can freeze it here, the ball appears slightly more than the width of the soccer ball itself over the white of the French jerseys (motion blur makes it hard to differentiate the heads. In short, the ball is pictured directly over the Frenchmen, within 16 inches or so (possibly less) VERTICALLY over THEIR SHOULDERS. This angle cannot tell us whether the ball is over them or merely at the same height but away from them, but the previous shot showed the ball went over them. In short, that ball passed within inches of the French players heads-- and we already know the center player put his arm over his head.

    3) 53 seconds -- ground shot from front right of French players. It sure looks like it's deflecting off the center French player here. Most particularly, look at the center French players elbow when the ball appears to be proximal to him. It changes direction quickly. We already know the ball is in the right vertical and horizontal planes to be within inches of the French players from the other shots.

    A shot of this in HD would tell us a lot more. But while conceding that players can sometimes do amazing and seemingly impossible things with a soccer ball, with the evidence here, Occam's Razor leads me to think the ball probably slightly deflected off the center player (and in the right way) to throw off the goalkeeper-- rather than the ball having some flukish property.

    Of course, it could be the Hand of God. My understanding is sometimes that happens in soccer.

  11. #91
    Agreed, Deslok. It's not like it was a short, delicate little lead pass; that was a 40+ yard ball, and the moment it left his foot you could see it would be just beyond the reach of the defender and hit his teamate in stride in perfect position.

  12. #92
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, DC
    Well, a draw for Bafana Bafana, but probably should have been a win. The South African GK looked pretty good, in my opinion. He had some monster saves. For all the publicity that Guillermo Ochoa gets, it's funny he doesn't even start for the Mexican team...although there will probably be calls to replace Perez. He got beat bad twice, although the last one hit the post.
    Check out the Duke Basketball Roundup!

    2003-2004 HLM
    Duke | Mirecourt | Detroit| The U | USA

  13. #93
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Austin, TX
    The Uruguay keeper's save of that free kick from the flank may already be the save of the tourney. That thin

  14. #94
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    southern boy in the north
    Quote Originally Posted by blazindw View Post
    After a couple days of toiling around for the perfect tracks, I have come up with the perfect mix. Here it goes:

    1. K'naan - Wavin Flag
    2. Juelz Santana - The Second Coming
    3. Team America World Police Theme Song (You know which one I'm talkin about)
    4. Deuce - Don't Tread
    5. Gnarls Barkley - Going On
    6. George Clinton - Stomp
    7. Overtone - Shosholoza (from Invictus)
    8. Shakira - Waka Waka
    9. Fabolous - It's My Time
    10. Eminem - Till I Collapse
    11. Jimi Hendrix - Star Spangled Banner (from Woodstock)
    12. Bruce Springsteen - Born In The USA
    13. James Brown - Living In America
    14. The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army (intro music at Euro 2008)
    15. Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger
    16. The Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger (the song from the Amstel Light commercial - huge in European stadiums)
    17. Eminem - Not Afraid
    18. Scooter - Maria (I Like It Loud) (the Doop Doop Doop song for all my Philly guys - also huge in Europe)
    19. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
    20. Blur - Song 2
    21. Bellini - Samba de Janeiro (Euro 2008 Goal Song)
    22. Rivers Cuomo - My Day Is Coming
    23. Al Pacino - Peace With Inches (Speech from "Any Given Sunday")

    23 tracks to get you hype for the World Cup...enjoy!
    this is awesome man!

    add the new weezer song. its legit!

  15. #95
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, DC
    Quote Originally Posted by soccerstud2210 View Post
    this is awesome man!

    add the new weezer song. its legit!
    I just got home and am about to add it now!

    Uruguay didn't capitalize on its chances. I think it had France a couple times, but nothing resulted from it (like Forlan realizing that the stands didn't have enough target practice on a couple of occasions). It's incredible to say this, but the team that's in the best shape so far probably is South Africa. They outplayed everyone today and were unfortunate to only get the draw. If they continue to play like they did today, with passion and inspiration, they will beat Uruguay and probably France as well.
    Check out the Duke Basketball Roundup!

    2003-2004 HLM
    Duke | Mirecourt | Detroit| The U | USA

  16. #96
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    southern boy in the north
    Quote Originally Posted by blazindw View Post
    I just got home and am about to add it now!

    Uruguay didn't capitalize on its chances. I think it had France a couple times, but nothing resulted from it (like Forlan realizing that the stands didn't have enough target practice on a couple of occasions). It's incredible to say this, but the team that's in the best shape so far probably is South Africa. They outplayed everyone today and were unfortunate to only get the draw. If they continue to play like they did today, with passion and inspiration, they will beat Uruguay and probably France as well.
    i have to agree. although mexico looked tough and should have clearly won that game, but i was disappointed that Uruguay did not put France away when they had the chances

  17. #97
    Been on the move this week, so haven't caught up with this excellent thread. After a cursory look, I did not see the following info posted, so here's a list of ESPN announcers for first 2 weeks, FYI:

    http://www.epltalk.com/espn-announce...coverage/20012

    If posted already, my apologies for repeating this.

  18. #98
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Austin, TX
    I think that Korea must have agreed to pay off Greece's debt the way Greece is playing.

  19. #99
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Charlotte, North Carolina
    Quote Originally Posted by A-Tex Devil View Post
    I think that Korea must have agreed to pay off Greece's debt the way Greece is playing.
    LOL. I've been watching this as much as I've been able to this morning, and have been trying to figure out if Korea's this solid or if Greece is that bad. Korea has developed a very solid World Cup pedigree over the last 20+ years, but, with the exception of the 2002 World Cup haven't been able to get out of the group stage (I think). They'll have trouble with Argentina and Nigeria at the top of the group, but they got the result they needed this morning.

  20. #100
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    southern boy in the north

    nerves???

    how is everyone's nerves this morning????

    i will admit, i've had butterflies all morning. at a family reunion and made it clear that come 2:30 i will be out of commission and engrossed in the match.

    how is everyone else doing?

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