World Cup 2010

[QUOTE=Doggboy]Looking great until Demichelis fell asleep at the end.[/QUOTE]Took the wind out of my sails. If Messi could just close the deal. The guy is amazing.

[QUOTE=Seismo]After the first 16 games [all teams having played one game each],

There has been 11 unders /1 over /4 pushes. The only game that went over was Germany. The total on most games has been 2, with a few games being 2.5 It doesn't get any easier than this!

I expect the next round to be primarily unders also.[/QUOTE]Maybe it's time to go for a parlay.

[QUOTE=Seismo]After the first 16 games [all teams having played one game each],

There has been 11 unders /1 over /4 pushes. The only game that went over was Germany. The total on most games has been 2, with a few games being 2.5 It doesn't get any easier than this!

I expect the next round to be primarily unders also.[/QUOTE]Three matches so far in Game 2's: Over 3, under 0! Seismo, I hope you didn't press your highly successful Game 1 strategy too much so far! I also hope this recent trend stops for the moment-- I have the under in France Mexico this afternoon!

BTG

AP reported a story from South Africa of an older man who was killed by his wife and 2 grown children over a clash about what tv channel to watch. He wanted to watch the Germany game, and the rest of the family wanted to watch a gospel show. When he got up to change the channel manually after having been refused the remote, the rest of the family assaulted him.

It happens every World Cup.

Wow, what a comeback by good ole USA! And robbed of a winner by the referee. So now, it looks like whoever scores the most against Algeria will go through from the group. Unless Algeria does the impossible and beat or tie England.

[QUOTE=Black Shirt]Wow, what a comeback by good ole USA! And robbed of a winner by the referee. So now, it looks like whoever scores the most against Algeria will go through from the group. Unless Algeria does the impossible and beat or tie England.[/QUOTE]The USA completely fucked by that piece of shit ref. Check that cocksucker's bank account in the next few weeks.

[QUOTE=Black Shirt]Wow, what a comeback by good ole USA! And robbed of a winner by the referee. So now, it looks like whoever scores the most against Algeria will go through from the group. Unless Algeria does the impossible and beat or tie England.[/QUOTE]If England wins out and the USA wins the last group match we go through. That's the most likely scenario to help us overcome being fucked like a dog today. I'd like to strangle that cheating cocksucker of a ref.

[QUOTE=Doggboy]The USA completely fucked by that piece of shit ref.[/QUOTE]The boy (ref) would need an armed escort if he made a call like that against Argentina.

Seems like the major European countries are not doing so well? The Cup looks like it may become a South American event?

[QUOTE=Damman]The boy (ref) would need an armed escort if he made a call like that against Argentina.

Seems like the major European countries are not doing so well? The Cup looks like it may become a South American event?[/QUOTE]So far no South American team has lost. The French stink and are on their way out, Italy is only a little better and it looks like their goalie (best player on the team) might be out with a bad back. Germany looked mortal today. Spain was overconfident and are looking up from the bottom, but will probably go through.

The South American teams play with more passion and creativity.

I'd still like to find that asshole ref and unscrew his fucking head.

On the slightly brighter side, it's definitely possible that England could win their last two matches and the USA could beat Algeria. The dark side of that is that England are noted WC pussies and you can't fucking rely on them for a thing.

That ref's Wikipedia page already assaulted.

[QUOTE=Doggboy]I'd still like to find that asshole ref and unscrew his fucking head.[/QUOTE]Doggboy, you have missed your calling, need to be a color commentator on ESPN.

The best part of this World Cup thing for me is watching my Argie friends. The passion and animation in their actions is a site to behold. I get to laughing so hard and keep telling them it is "only a game." They look at me and "wonder what is with this Gringo?" Quite an experience.

My apologies to my friends from the mother country, pero por favor! What a gutless performance today. The english 11 stood around for 90 minutes and did next to nothing. They all looked tight as snare drums.

I was wrong in an earlier post. The USA can still progress even with England's draw. What a pitiful group.

[QUOTE=Doggboy]My apologies to my friends from the mother country, pero por favor! What a gutless performance today. The english 11 stood around for 90 minutes and did next to nothing. They all looked tight as snare drums.

I was wrong in an earlier post. The USA can still progress even with England's draw. What a pitiful group.[/QUOTE]I was in Mexico City yesterday and watched the Mexicans thoroughly outplay the French. How satisfying was that? They were partying in the streets with everyone driving around, hanging out of cars and waving Mexican flags. It was good to see for a country that usually has so many setbacks. Pity that I couldn't stay for the night.

Turning to the USA and England, I think the tiebreaker rules are:

1. Total points (obviously)

2. Goals differential.

3. Total goals scored.

I mention this because there is a fair chance that USA and England will be tied on #s 1 and 2, above, after the next match. If one team wins and the other loses or draws its next match, then the they would have a different # of points, so there would be no need for a tiebreaker.

But, if both finish with the same result next match, then it gets interesting. For instance, if both teams win their final match 2-1, or tie again at 1-1.

Then, the third tiebreaker would come into play -- total goals scored in group play. With the USA having scored two today, they are ahead in that category.

Can anyone confirm whether or not the above is how it works?

If the US beats Algeria, Slovenia needs at least a tie with England to go through. So that is one advantage that the US has, but my gut instinct tells me that England will beat Slovenia. That means Slovenia could be looking from the outside despite their great start. Regardless, USA needs to win and win big to maximise the group outcome.

[QUOTE=Stan Da Man]The third tiebreaker would come into play -- total goals scored in group play. With the USA having scored two today, they are ahead in that category.

Can anyone confirm whether or not the above is how it works?[/QUOTE]I guess the key way to look at this is that the World Cup tie breakers are in the completely opposite order of the ones we're used to in the US looking at say, college football conference stuff. We think of "head to head" as the first tie breaker. In FIFA land, that only comes in AFTER: total points, goal differential, and total goals scored. And since, in this case, the only teams we can tie with are England, or Slovenia (but not both) and we tied both of them, head to head cannot solve anything. So as I read it, if we end up in any ties, with equal goal differential and equal total goals with anybody, we're going to draw lots.

Somebody let me know if I've got this wrong.

In any case: If the US wins vs. Algeria, they have 5 points, and they advance, no matter what: as follows-- If England wins, then Slovenia only has 4 points, so England and the US advance. If Slovenia wins, Slovenia has 7 points and wins the Group, but our 5 points will beat England's 2 and Algeria's 1, and thus we advance. If England and Slovenia Draw, we're tied with Slovenia at 5 points, but England only has 3, so we advance.

Now, I happen to have a pretty big bet that the US wins the division, so I personally care that we not just advance, but finish first. That can happen with a US win, and an England win, IF we beat Algeria by more goals than England beats Slovenia, OR, if we beat Algeria by the same amount of goals as England beats Slovenia, but England's goal total isn't 2 more than ours. I can also win my bet if we win and if England and Slovenia draw (which means we're then tied with Slovenia, not England) AND that we outscore Algeria by more than 1 goal.

If Slovenia beats England, the US can still advance to the knockout round by winning, but we can't win the Group.

Clear as mud?