OFFICIAL FIFA World Cup Discussion Thread

GoldenMiles wrote:

I bet Ronaldo is pissed he gets such a shitty national team.

I'm sure he is pis\sed and that's just another reason to dislike him. When he first played for Portugal they had players like Figo, Deco, Rui Costa, Carvalho, etc. That they didn't win a trophy is their own fault.

Now Ronaldo is the star and there is plenty of raw talent in the squad, but they lack cohesion and discipline. He's the captain so he's part responsible. Great players make their teammates better. He doesn't. Look at his attitude on the pitch today. Did you see him giving instructions or encouragement to his teammates? No, you saw him bit\ching and whining like a spoiled kid when something didn't go his way.

Ronaldo has the national team he deserves.

Manchester wrote:

itsmrsarcastic wrote:

How do people bet on things like this? I'm serious. What companies do people use. Is there a website?

It's all legal in England so there are lots of places. Not sure how/if you can bet in America.

Go to your local Chinese restaurant and ask for the boss.

Portugal just left the door WIDE OPEN for the round of 16. If the US doesn't take advantage of this opportunity, then they don't deserve to be in this World Cup. Portugal doesn't look like the team they are on paper!!! Big opportunities here USA.

Manchester wrote:

itsmrsarcastic wrote:

How do people bet on things like this? I'm serious. What companies do people use. Is there a website?

It's all legal in England so there are lots of places. Not sure how/if you can bet in America.

Online betting is illegal. The CEO of BetonSports, which is a legit company, traded on the London Stock Exchange, who was arrested while changing planes in Houston is still under house arrest according to Wikipedia. Crazy!

Ghana 2 USA 2

First draw of the tournament

puro pinche BS wrote:

Portugal just left the door WIDE OPEN for the round of 16. If the US doesn't take advantage of this opportunity, then they don't deserve to be in this World Cup. Portugal doesn't look like the team they are on paper!!! Big opportunities here USA.

I would agree that it is a good result for the US, but it doesn't do much to change what the attitude has been all along - they need to find a way to beat Ghana. I had picked Germany and Ghana to advance and definitely think that the Black Stars are a bigger threat than the Lady Boys of Portugal.

george oscar bluth wrote:

puro pinche BS wrote:

Portugal just left the door WIDE OPEN for the round of 16. If the US doesn't take advantage of this opportunity, then they don't deserve to be in this World Cup. Portugal doesn't look like the team they are on paper!!! Big opportunities here USA.

I would agree that it is a good result for the US, but it doesn't do much to change what the attitude has been all along - they need to find a way to beat Ghana. I had picked Germany and Ghana to advance and definitely think that the Black Stars are a bigger threat than the Lady Boys of Portugal.

So far not my image of a "Group of Death".

dkny64 wrote:

So far not my image of a "Group of Death".

Portugal had bad luck with the penalty, played "OK" until the 2-0, then it was over.

Germany would have won this game in any case, no matter how it would have unfold, but it may have been closer.

We'll see what the US does tonight. If the US wins, POR would have to win against the US on matchday 2.

Wørd wrote:

GoldenMiles wrote:

I bet Ronaldo is pissed he gets such a shitty national team.

I'm sure he is pissed and that's just another reason to dislike him. When he first played for Portugal they had players like Figo, Deco, Rui Costa, Carvalho, etc. That they didn't win a trophy is their own fault.

Now Ronaldo is the star and there is plenty of raw talent in the squad, but they lack cohesion and discipline. He's the captain so he's part responsible. Great players make their teammates better. He doesn't. Look at his attitude on the pitch today. Did you see him giving instructions or encouragement to his teammates? No, you saw him bitching and whining like a spoiled kid when something didn't go his way.

Ronaldo has the national team he deserves.

I agree with you that Ronaldo acted terribly on the pitch today. The Portuguese team doesn't play well together at all, and he could've gotten a yellow card for whining to the ref. He plays on Real Madrid, right? Is he the superstar on that team?

I'm pretty sure Messi plays on Barcelona, which has lots of top players, so maybe he's more used to team play. Just speculation, as I don't follow pro soccer.

On another note, is Luis Suarez not playing in this WC? I know he didn't play in Uruguay's first game that I saw.

Real Madrid is a team full of superstars. They have the two most expensive players in history, Ronaldo and bale(Neymar could be more expensive, lot of funny business went on with tax and payments to Neymars parents).

Real won the European Cup this year and Ronaldo is still the undoubted superstar, Since he moved to them in 2009, he has scored more goals than games he played. 200+ goals in 200+ games.

Suarez had surgery 3 weeks before the tournament and he is gaining fitness now. He will play in the next game after Uruguay loss but may not be fully fit.

GoldenMiles wrote:

I agree with you that Ronaldo acted terribly on the pitch today. The Portuguese team doesn't play well together at all, and he could've gotten a yellow card for whining to the ref. He plays on Real Madrid, right? Is he the superstar on that team?

I'm pretty sure Messi plays on Barcelona, which has lots of top players, so maybe he's more used to team play. Just speculation, as I don't follow pro soccer.

Ronaldo is the star of Real Madrid in the sense that he's their best player, but he's not their captain. And it's an old debate whether you can be captain for your country if you're not captain week in week out. It happens a lot these days because the world's best players are concentrated in very few clubs and a lot of national team captains play for foreign teams where the language barrier may prevent them from being an effective captain.

Messi is not Barcelona's captain either. And he does suffer a little bit from the same problem as Ronaldo in that he doesn't play as well for Argentina as he does for Barca. But he has a better attitude about him and he plays a more central position than Ronaldo so he's a bit more involved.

Wørd wrote:[/

Messi is not Barcelona's captain either. And he does suffer a little bit from the same problem as Ronaldo in that he doesn't play as well for Argentina as he does for Barca.

Messi has been playing well for Argentina, maybe not in the past but he has scored 21 goals in the last 21 games.

hej, don't you ruin this thread!

(by angering me)

Apologize: now

It wouldn't be a proper letsrun thread about international football without some dum\ba\ss making a gratuitous and completely irrelevant WWII comment.

Good first half from the US. They will be hard to beat in this game. Great start with Dempsey's goal. US lead 1-0.

DeMarcus is going to give me a heart attack.

assist referee wrote:

Messi has been playing well for Argentina, maybe not in the past but he has scored 21 goals in the last 21 games.

Even more. Messi played better in Argentina in the last two years.

Ghana is dominating the 2nd half, but they don't scored yet. The game is very close, as expected.

Ghana scored. Let's see what happens in the final minutes.

Bad news for Portugal.

What'd I say?! 2-1!!!!!!

Wasn't far off on my other predictions either.