The Official 2006 FIFA World Cup thread. (2 Viewers)

[Minai]

bah, disappointed with Korea's effort against the Swiss

wtf was with that goal which was offside (linesman raised his flag), yet was allowed?

 

[*Minka*]

Yeh, the animosity towards her homeland perplexes me

She has got to be 70% Serb, 30% Cro and not the other way around...its a disgrace that she could proudly sing that chant

Hvae you not heard of a little thing called Irony? That was the idea of the chant - a bunch of Crotian borns chanting it because heaven forbid we have moved because of circumstances beyond our control and ended up falling in love with the country that gave us a home when the war took it away from it. Yes, we were being IRONIC when we were singing 'Who the Fuck are Hrvatska'.

It is aprt of the game Robbie, and if you are as big of a Footballf an as you claim to be, you would know that. Go to a Dinamo Zagreb vs Hajduk Split game and have a listen to some of the stuff that gets chanted there.

I have no aninosity towards Croatia the country - I was shot for being a Croat, three of my brothers died at the hands of Serbian Bullets, fires and landmines. However, while I recognise my Croatian heritage, I am an Australian now. This is who I am now, the country I call my home and as such, I am proud of the Socceroos for their heart and spirit against Croatia. And to be honest, I think the Croatian's played dirty football.

I don't hate Croatia, I proudly recognise my Croatian roots. However, I am an Australian NOW and there is a reason I have proudly taken up citizenship of this fine country.

 

[otay]

I proudly recognise my Croatian roots. However, I am an Australian NOW

Dare I suggest a few other "Australians" around here remember that.

I use the term loosely not because I don't consider them Aussie, far from it. It's coz they don't. A real shame I think.

 

[*Minka*]

Minka, seriously, I cannot for the life of me come to understand how someone such as yourself could possibly display so much animosity towards their homeland.

And whats all this bullshit about you having to feel bad if your homeland knocked out your new country...or something along those lines...you would of been ashamed or some shit...what a piss poor attitude.

Yeah. I would have felt bad Robbie. I would have felt bad for every single Australian who has embaraced me ever since I had to leave Croatia because of the war. The people have this country have welcomed me, given me every damn opportunity in the world that I could have ever dreamed of and let me be one of them when my own country was in tatters. Maybe it is different for you, having been born here (?), but let me tell you, the gratefulness I feel from all of that is so big and something I will always, always be thankful for. I had to leave my own country because it couldn't give me any stability and my life was in danger - do you know how hard that is? I witnessed my brother die for being Croatian.

I would have felt bad for everyone in this country that has followed the Socceroos because yeah, my the place I wad born and my second favourite team took them out. I would have gone for Croatia for the rest of the tournament - it would have felt like I was rubbing it all in their face.

Yeah. I feel Australian above feeling Croatian. Why is it a crime to embrace the place i have come too and feel like I belong here? I don't see the problem. I was Croatian, I am now Australian/Croatian.

I believe in fate. I was born in Croatia, things happened there that tore my family and home and stability apart, and I found myself in Australia and ended up falling in love with the country and feeling like I belkong and found my home. That? I call that fate.

 

[*Minka*]

And let me tell you, most Croatians show no animosity to those who did find themselves in psotions of having to leave during/after the war.

After the match, I spoke to quite a few Croats who had come to watch the game, and we did talk about how I came to find myself as an Australian and there was not one person who didn't wish me and my family the best of luck and said we are welcome to come back and visit anytime I told them that likewise, they are welcome to come and visit Australian anytime. Even people sitting/standing behind the ones we were talking too would lean down and hug me and say 'You take care of yourself young lady and good luck'. There is a lot of love between most Croatians and Australians and all those in between. There was so much genuine goodwill shown to me from many Croatians I met and I am very grateful and pleased about that.

 

[*Minka*]

There is a real stereotype of Balkan people beung very hateful and violent, but it is only a tiny minority that are completely stuffed in the head.

Topic? I hope Spain crush France.

 

[LMF^^]

just won $865

thankyou france.....thankyou god...........my $10 multibet payed off. 86.5 times



$35 more if germany beats sweden and gets into the quarters tonight

woohooooooo

so happy right now.....was worth staying up for




unlucky LMF^^, i thought france would have scored more than twice.....thats the way it goes sometimes with high odds betting i guess

Lucky you, now I gotta do it yo way and try to multi bet it back, which will be hard.

 

[otay]

Topic? I hope Spain crush France.

Pourquoi??? I'm going for Australia and whoever wins this match. I am goin for Spain but I wouldnt mind France winning also.

 

[bazookajoe]

I see Spain smashing France, they're playing appalingly and Spain finally look like they're worthy of making it past the second round. Going up against Brazil will be totally different though.


Australia are considering a move for Martin O'Neill as they search for a replacement for Guus Hiddink.

http://home.skysports.com/worldcup/article.aspx?hlid=397904&CPID=4&clid=575&lid=&title=Aussies+target+O'Neill

Pretty confusing article, seeing as it has quotes from John O'Neill as well. It'd be an interesting move, and I actually saw it coming when he got rejected from the England job and Russia got Guus.

 

[Komit]

I hope Spains wins otherwise I'd be in trouble - I was telling everyone before the WC to put money on them to win the tournament. I still stick by my tip but I didn't think that they'd play France in the 2nd round.

 

[otay]

Spain are definetly a good bet...

Who would be your favourites so far?

The two that have really stood out are Argentina and Germany. I still can't believe this is the same German team of recent. Sure home ground helps but still, they are playing some exceptional football. I'd probably include Brazil on the top tier too, even though they struggled for a bit at the beginning, they still look good.

Next would be Spain, Holland, England. I have no doubt any1 one of these teams could win either. Spain ahve been the best out of this lot and maybe deserve to be up there with the others, and while I feel this team is different, they do have the choker tag.

One of those six I would probably expect to win.

Of course Portugal, France and Italy (good luck in 2nd round losers) are quality too and could well win, especially if they get past the 2nd round

But it's knock out round now and we dont need to be reminded of Euro 2004 to know miracles do happen.

Go Socceroos!!!!

 

[otay]

Imagine if that were the case...The multibet payout would be MASSIVE.

 

[bazookajoe]

For me it's Argentina and Spain. Argentina have been incredible, both attacking and defending, and Spain just have an amazing attacking force with Villa and Torres. When you've still got Raul to come off the bench, Spain can score at any moment.
I'm still not sure about England, they really haven't been incredible as of yet, they couldn't score by themselves against Paraguay and left it late against lowly T & T. But if they get Rooney firing (as much as I hate him) they should get to semis.
For me the real disappointments have been Czechs, Sweden and France. Czech didn't make it in, really should have beaten Ghana in that respect. Sweden have been awful with the squad they have. Larsson has not been firing, Ibrahimovic is injured and when you can't win against T & T you know something's up. France have stuck to the same formula last World Cup, and it hasn't worked again. Henry is actually scoring which is promising, but a lacklustre midfield is causing them problems, and I can't see them even scoring against Spain.

 

[bazookajoe]

Semi Finals:

GERMANY v England
BRAZIL v Australia - although i hope this isnt the case

That isn't possible, it would have to be Germany vs Australia and England vs Brazil

 

[robbie1]

Dude, noone likes you. Fuck off you nautica-wearing retard, and leave Minky alone. God forbid she's not allowed to show love for her country right? At least she has her priorities straight.

no one likes me? BOO-FUCKEN-HOO. cry me a river dickhead

when did i say she is not allowed to show love for her country?

i simply expressed my view on her showing some animosity towards her homeland....fucken spastic

 

[stazi]

bloody exam on tuesday 9am. oh well, ill be out for our quarter-final match against ukraine/switzerland (prob ukraine)

 

[ujuphleg]

I love my sister. I just said (after seeing the front page of the Herald which states 'We could win the World Cup- Kewell'

me: "Nah theres no way we could win the world cup!! I mean, I would love it, but no way.

sister: "Oh yes we could"

me: "Why's that?"

sister: " The earth is tilting on a different axis."

Me: "Wha?"

sister: "Well the Brits won the cricket and the rugby. Why can't we win the soccer? "

 

[Kabeio]

Hopefully get a draw against Italy...and beat them in the shootouts.

 

[sunjet]

Italy drew with USA, that is all.

 

[withoutaface]

Round of 16:

GERMANY v Sweden
ARGENTINA v Mexico
ENGLAND v Ecuador
PORTUGAL v Netherlands
ITALY v Australia
SWITZERLAND v Ukraine
BRAZIL v Ghana
SPAIN v France


Quarter Finals:

ARGENTINA v Germany
PORTUGAL v England (shoot out)
ITALY v Switzerland
BRAZIL v Spain


Semi Finals:

ARGENTINA v Italy
BRAZIL v Portugal


Playoff for third:

PORTUGAL v Italy

Final

ARGENTINA v Brazil