A place for champions!

[Silver Forest]

Hey bt how are you girl , forgot that you're from argentina good luck to you bunt you won't need it you're the best of the world.

I am objective and I think we are gonna lose for 3 goals at least . Our goalkeeper sucks big time . Anyway only 5 hours left and thanks James

Argentina is already classified and it's one of the 4 biggest favourites to win the competition (the others being Brasil, Spain and Germany). Also, Argentina has Di Maria which is one of the Benfica player I admire most.
So, today Greece needs more the good luck than Argentina. I was wishing Greece good luck because it's a nice country and a good team. And Teo, after the 1st half your goalkeeper is doing good. Let's see the 2nd half.

[desertlizard]

Well Argentina won! and Mexico lost.. anyhow these two are going to be rivals next sunday

and i think Argentina's gonna kick some mexican ass

[Silver Forest]

Congratulations for Mexico and Argentina.
It will be a great game for sure. Those argentinian strikers are amazing players!
Argentina is favourite but in football everything is possible.

I'm also impressed by Uruguay. Very competitive team.

Sadly, Greece is out. The defeat against South Korea was decisive. I saw part of the game and it was a pleasure to see again Katsoranis and Karagounis (former Benfica players). BTW, what is your greek team, Teo?

[lizardkingteo]

We played good , our goalkeeper Jorvas had not stress ( like he had with Nigeria) and his performance was good , Anyway we played good and Argentina deserved to win , Congratulations .

We had lost back when we played with Korea, if we had played better and took it more seriously we might have chances .

Wish all nations here good luck . may the best win .

I support Panathinaikos , i have met Karagounis many times at a coffe shop he goes often . he is a good player and the game's spirit every time .

[Silver Forest]

Congratulations to the US, England, Germany and Ghana!
Donovan score at 91'!
A few great teams are sadly out. Especially Australia that played very well in the final game.

Now, we already have some amazing games on the next stage:

Uruguay - South Korea - koreans will be very difficult to Uruguay.
Argentina - Mexico - I suppose Argentina has more chances. Best strikers of the tournament.
US - Ghana - I suppose US have great chances
Germany - England woooow! This one is a world classic. This one I want to see!

Let's see what will happen tomorrow.

[desertlizard]

^^^my predictions

Uruguay wins!
Argentina wins!
Ghana wins!
Germany wins!

i think South korea has nothing to do against Uruguay, better players. more tactic skills etc.

i think Mexico is lucky to be even qualified. Argentina has better team and strikers as SF states.

i HOPE ghana wins...

England's goalkeeper is an ass with butter on his hands, Germany passes

[Silver Forest]

Yes, I think you're probably right about Uruguay and Argentina (sadly for you) but England and the US have many chances. Sorry, I understand that most of the times neighbours are not our favourites (for me it's Spain, actually if we pass to the next stage there's a strong possibility of plying against them). It seems to me this is all about Mexico/US, huh.
I read that from Mexico, Uruguay, Ghana or the US we will have one semi-finalist which is rather unusual (golden days of Uruguay are long gone) and a great oportunity. It means at least the 4th place. Very good.
Anyway, don't be so pessimist desertlizard. Mexico is a very good team. I already saw some world cups and I'm sure Mexico has a lot of chances againt Uruguay.

[Buda]

I'm on Mexico's side. I loved how they surprised me with their playing. They have to punch Urugay good. Hungary was inevitably again out of this thing, so it's just as joyful for me

[blindtiger]

i think this is when the world cup really begins. so lets see what is gonna happen.its football, everything is possible.
so good luck everyone!

[Silver Forest]

Holland, Paraguay, Japan and Slovakia. Congratulations to all, especially to Holland that won all the 3 games, showing a very effective football. Robben is back and that's very good news for those that love football.

Also, congratulations to the All Whites! Roughie, I found it amazing that your team left competition without loosing a single game.

Sadly Italy is out. The world champion and a team that usually is present in the final decisions of great competitions. Something failed. I suppose that Pirlo's injury was a critical factor for the failure.

[Roughie]

Holland, Paraguay, Japan and Slovakia. Congratulations to all, especially to Holland that won all the 3 games, showing a very effective football. Robben is back and that's very good news for those that love football.

Also, congratulations to the All Whites! Roughie, I found it amazing that your team left competition without loosing a single game.

Sadly Italy is out. The world champion and a team that usually is present in the final decisions of great competitions. Something failed. I suppose that Pirlo's injury was a critical factor for the failure.

Yeah, we're gone but like you said, at least we didn't suffer a loss. The whole country who ususally don't care too much for soccer/football are so proud of them. Hey we ended up higher than Italy the defending champs, who are also gone, so that is an achievement in itself!

[Silver Forest]

Allright! An Iberian battle to come Spain vs Portugal!

Spain still didn't confirm the best expectations but for me it's one of the four best teams in the tournament. My team has shown to be solid on defense but kind of shy against strong teams.

Spain vs Portugal
Germany vs England

Great games!

[Silver Forest]

US 1 - Ghana 1, and 20 minutes to go.
Mick Jagger and Bill Clinton celebrating the US goal and perfomance.
I have some sympathy for the Ghana team but I'm supporting the US.
I hope the winner of this game will have success in the rest of the competition. Both Africa and the US are important places for the future of this sport.


ps: Ghana did it! Congratulations! An exciting game with uncertainty till the last second. Two great teams.
I would love if the US could stay a little more in the competition but Ghana was better in the extra-time.
Donovan and Dempsey are great players.

So, Ghana vs Uruguay is the first already defined game for the quarter finals.

[Silver Forest]

England is out.
A great win from Germany and I will say a dramatic defeat for England.
Germany has a powerful and young team. Be careful with this team. They present the best football so far. Not very technical but as usual very practical and athletical.

This game was shaded by the terrible decision by the referee of not cofirming a goal for England. It would have been 2-2 and who knows, maybe a different game. I'm not surprised because stupid and incompetent decisions have already been taken. We cannot be sure but in my opinion Germany would have won too and it shouldn't be taken as an excuse by England. Germany showed been better and explored very well the weakened english defense. But still, the shade will not be dissolved. It was a bad decision and it should be avoided.

This makes me say: how much should we wait for video technology be used as a support element for these hard decisions? It's a stupid (and recurrent denial makes it even more stupid) decision by FIFA.

Chances are that we will have a superb Germany vs Argentina!

This is the good side of football. Whenever there's a bad episode there's always the promise of the next and exciting game.

Good luck Argentina. Good luck Mexico.

[Silver Forest]

Congratulations Argentina!
A word of consolation for Mexico. I really liked some of the mexican players (nº 3, 7 and 14)

Indeed, a great game to come. Argentina vs Germany. Exciting!
My opinion: Germany is gonna win but everything is possible.

Again, the influence of a bad decision of a referee. Again, video technology would avoid this. It's indefensible this technology denial at least in the great competitions.

[desertlizard]

im surprised all my predictions were right

[Silver Forest]

im surprised all my predictions were right

It's difficult to play against giant teams. Great players, great business interests.

I'm not saying Argentina didn't deserve it. I'm saying in the first goal the decision was real unfortunate (to be polite) and helped substantially to define the game. It was not a fair decision. Human error is understandable but there are ways to prevent or to reduce its impact.
Football changed, it's not naif anymore. It is surrounded more and more by nationalist passions and less tolerance. To deny this is to slowly kill football. I hope this will not continue and ruin this competition.

[blindtiger]

You mexicans did a great job.
football is not a fair play anymore, i agree with SF about the goal decision.but when everyone from all teams argentina plays with, they are always taking down Messi, hittin' or kicking him as soon as he gets the ball, c'mon they always want to hurt him. nobody says enything, no yellow card no red card.that pisses me off a little because he can't give his best due to shits like this.

[Silver Forest]

You mexicans did a great job.
football is not a fair play anymore, i agree with SF about the goal decision.but when everyone from all teams argentina plays with, they are always taking down Messi, hittin' or kicking him as soon as he gets the ball, c'mon they always want to hurt him. nobody says enything, no yellow card no red card.that pisses me off a little because he can't give his best due to shits like this.

You are right. It's unbelievable what Messi suffers in one game. Fortunately the man has so far escaped from a serious injury. I hope he will keep his luck because it's such a pleasure to see him play!

[Silver Forest]

Congratulations to Brasil and Holland. Another explosive game to watch

Robben is great. What a shame he's always worried about injuries.

Brasil is Brasil, always different to watch this team. The best teams so far were the '70 and the '82 ones. This one has the potential to be world champion but it's not alone. Germany, Argentina and... Holland ( ).

Tomorrow we will see about Portugal and (especially) Spain.

[Silver Forest]

And we saw...
Congratulations to Spain and Paraguay for their wins.

Spain was inquestionably better than Portugal. A strong candidate if they will be able to repeat the circulations of the ball among their midfield players.

Paraguay won on the most cruel decision this sport has: penalties.

I think Spain will win easily the game against Paraguay.


So, anyone wants to comment? I think it's time to make some predictions.

For the quarter-finals, I'll go with these chances:

Uruguay (60%) - Ghana (40%),

Holland (49%) - Brasil (51%)

Argentina (49%) - Germany (51%)

Paraguay (5%) - Spain (95%)

Let's see how bad these predicitions are

[desertlizard]

time to make some

Uruguay wins!
Holland wins!
Argentina wins!
Spain Wins!


lets see how it goes

[blindtiger]

i just hope god hear you desertlizard...

i don't like making predictions at all...im too fuckin' nervous now,i just wanna say i love Maradona and the whole team no matter what.

[Silver Forest]

i just hope god hear you desertlizard...

i don't like making predictions at all...im too fuckin' nervous now,i just wanna say i love Maradona and the whole team no matter what.

I truly hope you will be happy tomorrow, blindtiger.

Germany has a strong and pleasent football but the real artists are in Argentina.

The reason I gave a small favoritism to Germany is because of the argentinian defense. I think it's the weakest point in Argentina and Germany will explore it. But anyway, there's one important factor: Germany has no Messi, no Tevez and no Higuain...

Still waiting for a best performance by Di Maria (he's not a Benfica player anymore but he's still admired here). At least 60% (Benfica supporters) of the portuguese will support Argentina.

[desertlizard]

Argentina deserves to win!!! i ve a bet on em!!! and messi deserves his goal he ve not scored since the WC started, lets see what happens tomorrow BlindTiger *cross fingers* Germans wont be easy nor unbeatable

[blindtiger]

i just hope god hear you desertlizard...

i don't like making predictions at all...im too fuckin' nervous now,i just wanna say i love Maradona and the whole team no matter what.

I truly hope you will be happy tomorrow, blindtiger.

Germany has a strong and pleasent football but the real artists are in Argentina.

The reason I gave a small favoritism to Germany is because of the argentinian defense. I think it's the weakest point in Argentina and Germany will explore it. But anyway, there's one important factor: Germany has no Messi, no Tevez and no Higuain...

Still waiting for a best performance by Di Maria (he's not a Benfica player anymore but he's still admired here). At least 60% (Benfica supporters) of the portuguese will support Argentina.

thanks for your words SF.
i agree about the defense, i hope Diego will check it.
Di Maria was chosen by Diego, and everbody doubted about it as usual almost everyone(the press) here in Argentina was doubting about every decision Diego made.so they were wrong! Di Maria is a very good player.
so like Diego says, 'La tienen adentro'

[blindtiger]

Argentina deserves to win!!! i ve a bet on em!!! and messi deserves his goal he ve not scored since the WC started, lets see what happens tomorrow BlindTiger *cross fingers* Germans wont be easy nor unbeatable

thanks my friend!!!
i sooo want to see a Messi goal too!! he deserves it so much!

[Silver Forest]

Maradona was a genius of football. He seems not a man for smooth words and hipocrisies. He still has to prove that he can also be a successful coach. I have no doubts Di Maria is a great great player but the guy needs to be confident. He spent 3 years in Benfica and only last year he exploded and became the best player from the portuguese league. He's astonishing when he is confident.

Maradona choosed well, taking Di Maria to the team. I was very surprised that other great players were not choosed: Lucho Gonzalez, Cambiasso and even Javier Zanetti. In Benfica we have two other great players: Aimar and Saviola. Do I have to say anything more? But for these two I agree that perhaps there are other players in their position that are in a best period. Benfica knows where can find great quality. Next year we will keep these last two players and will incorporate other two: Gaitan and Jara.

[Silver Forest]

OK, forum is back in business Do we have any brazilian hackers here to prevent us to give our congratulations to the dutchies from this forum?

Congratulations Holland. Magnificent game (2nd half, essentially) and a great win! I have little doubts that Holland will be in the final.

Congratulations also to Uruguay that is back. At least the 4th place is safe.
I felt sad with Ghana that fight so much but lost it all in the final minute. Thrilling game and who would say at the minute 119 that Uruguay will win. That's the beauty of football.

For today, let's see the great game Argentina - Germany. My guess is the winner will play against "La Roja".

With the last games this world cup became finally a great competition!

[Silver Forest]

It's over for another giant. Argentina is out.

Congratulations to Germany.

I feel sorry for Argentina as I felt for Brazil. These are teams that have something extra, something magic in a good day. Today, that was not the case.

Germany was impressionant in the beggining and in the end of the game. In between these periods, especially in the 2nd half there was a time that Argentina - if was playing at his best - could have scored and changed the picture.

Today, there was too much Germany for too little Argentinian defense. In addition Argentina was also not strong in the middlefield sector and this usually means you have great possibilities to loose the game. The only thing that could have safe Argentina was the skill, the brilliance of his strikers. But the combination of discipline and talent of the German defense was too much for a minor day of Messi and Co. I sorry for this comment but football is no more matter of "gods". Maradona is not an experienced coach and I think he did not prepared his team adequately. He did not made the right approach. Veron should have been included in the initial team. During the game I imagined how much some great middfielders were missing in the team: Cambiasso, Zanetti and Lucho. There's no chance for a team to win without middfielders whose primary function is to stop the opposite team, to fill the spaces and to give backup to the artists ahead. A team is not jut a combination of talent, it demands equilibrium within and between sectors.

Argentina and Brazil have the best artists in the world of football but this is not enough.

I think the possibility of a Germany vs Spain is very very strong. I think this game will supply a very tired opponent to Holland in the final.

I don't know if we have members from Uruguay and Paraguay, but if so... sorry people I think you will not dance on the final ball.

I think there's only one way Spain will be able to get the final and that is to play as good as they did when they won the european tournament in 2008.

What I think we will have in the final, now with the results so far?

Holland vs Germany.

And that is also what I would like. A repetition of that final (that unfortunately I have no memory) of the '74 world cup. In that day the powerful Holland of Cruyif lost to Germany of Beckenbauer. This game is one of the greateast games ever.