joekicker

The Americans have really been the stars of the group play. Doesn't mean they're going anywhere, but hey, who can tell what will happen in one given game? Based on watching the group stage just before Group D take the field for Game 3, I've liked three of the top teams a lot - Portugal, Argentina, Germany. There's no prediction in there but if they keep doing what they've been doing they are going to be very hard to take down. Mexico will get Argentina, good luck to the 'xicans they'll need it. It looks at the mo like England gets Germany for the next match, I'm sorry but the English style versus what the Germans showed the first two games doesn't look highly competitive. But like they say, no one's ever won a game before the kickoff, and that's why the play the game. Who knows, maybe England will send back and bring Rooney in to play instead of that winner of the Rooney Lookalike Contest they've been using. That would be good. EDIT Jee Zeus I thought nidnoyham was out of control. Get this headline, from the Guardian: 'Furious' Sarkozy demands answers French president will quiz Thierry Henry about World Cup debacle and calls meeting of ministers .

Really the heart-attack kids. Right now, it's the Americans doing more for international soccer than anyone. Very exciting stuff indeed. Not to mention exposing refereeing down to its abysmal "standards". Not counting the disallowed goal which was a travesty, there were some really dodgy calls in that match, the missed elbow on Dempsey being only the bloodiest of many, both ways. Have they ever tried two refs, like hockey, one in front of the play, one behind? .

At the top level in the comparable tournament, 16 in the final round. But look, I'm not writing the book here, you are. For some obscure reason you REFUSE to discuss, you are somehow dedicating a World Cup thread to attacking sports that have nothing to do with World Cup football. Answer one for me, just once, okay? Why are you so relentlessly dedicated to knocking other sports in a soccer thread? Why don't you discuss soccer for a while? You can learn stuff here. Then you can find out about baseball in a baseball thread, hockey in a hockey thread.... What is WRONG with that, exactly? Why do you think your favourite sport is so weak that you have to dedicate yourself to annihilating sports you actively detest and don't even know the number of countries that compete? Actually you're not because it's totally untrue and you don't even realise how crazy and yes stupid your claims are because (as you admit with such basic questions as above) you know nothing about those sports, where they are played, how popular they are, and so on. What you ARE doing is insisting that soccer is so weak, so pathetic, so poorly followed that it needs other sports to be dumped immediately to save the Fifa World Cup. You're in a teensy minority. I can't even grasp it, it's so pathetic. You're crazy about this. Okay, I went out and asked a cross section of the world about it, an Indian, a Filipino, an Aruban, a Venezuelan, a Canadian, a Japanese, a Fijian, a Ghanaian and an Italian - in their own countries. Two of them knew about the English soccer team of today. Or claimed they did, maybe they just read a headline on the CNN crawler, I don't know. Anyhow, that's a long, long way from "everyone" and that's a FACT. Five knew the baseball question -- because their countries were in the world tournament, probably, but you didn't ask me to ask them that. So what? Pick another cross section, get another result. That cross section of world citizens that YOU stipulated, England lose 5-2. So what? How are you going to get ALL 6 billion to give the answer you want? Shoot the ones that like Aussie Rules more than soccer? WHY are you putting down soccer? Why do you think it needs such help so badly that other sports must be trashed immediately and as a matter of urgency before the World Cup can even go any further and finish the group stage? But it's true. It's like Americans, really, who try to GET TO GRIPS and even take some pride that they hardly ever win world-class baseball and basketball tournaments, and even will admit that they didn't invent basketball if you pin them on it, but they don't savage the World Cup over it. The Canadians HATE losing world hockey tournaments but they don't blame rugby for it. There are almost no Thai world champions of muay thai but Thais don't go berserk against baseball, and they are super-gracious hosts of big-time MT tournaments. You need to live with it and get to grips with it instead of taking rabid pills and blaming others, "you" in both senses, actually. You have to come to grips with the idea that it's not baseball's fault that the English seldom win a big soccer tournament. Baseball and English soccer failure have no connection, really they don't. any more than the Fifa World Cup caused "the best US national team ever assembled" to cank out of the equivalent international baseball tournament last year at the semi-final. Suck it up ferkhrissake. .

You wouldn't want any hint of racism against these special people just on account of their cleanliness or arrogance. Nor should anyone ever mention, let alone joke about women's hairy armpits. You are entirely right to be sensitive about hints that they all smoke disgusting Gaulois cigarettes and disgusting to mention that the way to confuse a French soldier is to give him a gun and order him to shoot it. It is beyond the pale to suggest that the French opposed the invasion of Iraq merely because it would break their own record for surrender. The French are very sensitive about that and don't get them angry or they'll be on their knees trying to hold you around the legs. .

I go by the American officiating standard: A good ref is the one you don't ever notice. .

Yeah, and the Canadian guy was.... um.... not Georges Vezina! .

England is now a shoo-in. Bet the house, car and definitely the wife on them. Why? Because they are going to play in ALL red. The players have insisted on it, apparently. Probably because they saw how well all-red worked out for the CCCP and the Canadian football teams. .

Well, I was much younger than now, but I scored eight my first time. Oh, wait, you mean golf, right? sorry. .

They should have practiced. You'd think they would have learned from World War Two what happens when you don't practice. What a shame. I feel so sorry for the French. They're like those poor North Koreans. It's not their fault they live in that countr.... Oh, wait, yes it is. .

Interesting math: Group C England v Slovenia, USA v Algeria Slovenia: Require only a point against England to qualify, but if USA win it is more likely that Bob Bradley's men would top the group on goal difference. If Slovenia draw 1-1 and USA win 1-0, or such a scoreline that places them with the same goals for/against, then they will have to draw lots. If USA win by more than one goal they would definitely top the group with a Slovenia draw. Slovenia can also qualify with a loss if USA and Algeria draw. Slovenia would still go through with a 1-0 defeat if Algeria win 1-0, 2-1 or 3-2. Any other Algerian win (other than on that same scale for the two teams), and Slovenia would go out. United States: Will definitely qualify if they beat Algeria and will certainly be out if they lose. They can also very likely go through with a draw if England draw too. As USA have scored more goals than England, and the match between the two sides finished level, England would have to be involved in a draw with three greater goals than USA to overtake them. If the difference is two goals (0-0, 2-2) then the teams will draw lots. England: Will definitely be through if they beat Slovenia and will top the group if USA fail to win, or win by a smaller margin. If England draw it must be in a high-scoring game, as stated above. If England draw and Algeria win then it will be Algeria and Slovenia in the second round. Algeria: Must beat USA to stand any chance. If England win by more than one goal then Algeria will go through with any victory over USA. If England win by one goal then Algeria must win by two goals, or a one-goal scoreline which leaves them with more goals scored than Slovenia.

"Nobody" huh? That's a HUGE ego you've got there. In Littleworld, "nobody" means, "I". You and Obama, I don't know anyone else that needs that big a hat. Once again, a sports "fan" who thinks his own sport is so weak and paltry and threatened that the only way to defend it is to knock down other sports. Once again, someone who only shows his own ignorance about other sports. Do you really think you're going to convince anyone to stop watching baseball because you throw out some stupid disinformation about it that any baseball fan knows is wrong? The Americans never lose at baseball, huh? Try this one: The Americans have NEVER won the international baseball championship among national teams, and the Americans send their very best, top, highly paid professional players, none are better in the county. Fact is YOU don't research these sports YOU don't care about, although it is so easy. GIYF. So if you don't know about them, why discuss them and look ... well, idiotic? The baseball version of the "world cup" and the basketball version of the "world cup" get as much or more international coverage, writeups and documentation as your chosen example of rugby. India, which gives NO coverage to the football World Cup and really detests football in all forms including soccer, does add to the coverage of cricket, no doubt about it. But I know enough about international cricket and rugby to know your can't insult them. Hundreds of millions love these sports. And why not? You are shocked to find there is even high-level international basketball and baseball WHICH AMERICANS RARELY WIN and you have very cunningly refused to include the MAJOR American sport of hockey at all. Why would that be? It is a major sport in the USA and of course like baseball and basketball has very big international championships which get very broad coverage and documentation that anyone can easily look up? Hundreds of millions watch and discuss and revel in the international championships of baseball, basketeball and hockey. Enjoy the hell out of your World Cup. It's quite a spectacle and there are always brilliant plus controversial moments, as in top-level tournaments in every sport. Why would I deny you? How COULD I deny that nearly half the world quite enjoys soccer, including millions and millions of people in the USA, who are quite interested in the national team's progress? By putting down other people's sports, you're just advertising your feeling of how weak and threatened soccer is - when it's not, not at all. I can assure you, I can GUARANTEE you that a billion sports fans in India don't care and are discussing ANYTHING but the England team to the World Cup. And all the sports fans in Pakistan. And all the commentators in Cuba. Plus Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Yukio Hatoyama in Japan, where the baseball season is well under way and in the Philippines where the top sports story is the decision by the detested FIBA to pick Lebanon over the Philippines as the site of the qualifiers for 2012 Olympics basketball and the second biggest sports story is the June 25 draft for the National Basketball Association of, yes, the USA. You really hate that, but it's true. You COULD confirm it so easily, but I bet you won't. .

Airbus is really on the wrong track here. There is nothing foolproof. There is an infinite supply of fools. Pilots Were Disoriented; Jet Appeared to Be Working Properly, Officials Say (Wall Street Journal, June 15) Disoriented pilots who failed to follow basic safety procedures are believed to have caused last month's crash of a Libyan airliner that killed 103 people, according to people familiar with the investigation. Preliminary data gathered by an international team of investigators, these people said, indicate the pilots lost control of the Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330 after breaking off their landing approach to Tripoli and starting to climb away from the airport. The accident, at the end of a flight from Johannesburg, is prompting Airbus to step up efforts to devise foolproof automated ground-collision avoidance systems, these people said. The enhanced safeguards are specifically intended to prevent the kinds of mistakes that apparently occurred in Tripoli, in which confused pilots got out of sync with the plane's computerized controls and ended up flying an apparently functioning commercial jet into the ground. ...

You want to get yourself one of these babies, real easy for you geezers, don't have to depend on those young smart-alec whippersnappers and their high-and-mighty tech: .

See, this is the problem, that you know absolutely nothing about these sports and their tournaments. By which I mean, literally, nothing. Lot of people in the US *wish* they could win every time. But they hardly ever win, all told, over the decades but most especially recently. .

Of course they can't!! Barring better archaeological evidence, they can play for Mongolia, though. .

Oh, wow, the nice Canadians® would be very angry with that if they ever got angry. .

Yeah. Which took two days of engineering and proved.... that no camera caught a foul. Nah, I'll stick with this, that cameras can't prove something DIDN'T happen. I knew immediately there was no call to make, I didn't need cameras. But after all the angles and views and dancing cameras, I didn't see anything else, either. Of course we are not actually certain that the ref saw a foul. He may have just had a hiccough and accidentally whistled. He may have been trying to frantically scratch a mosquito bite and people took it to mean the goal was waved off. So long as the officials are totally unaccountable, and so long as the execrable Fifa backs them up on it, who really knows what he did, except cancel the goal? If you're going to talk cameras, I think you have to talk officials. Hockey has two refs and two linesmen (who these days really have nothing to do but stand on the blue line, in addition to breaking up fights). Soccer has a playing area about 10 times as big or more. I think at least another ref, and maybe giving the linesmen a whistle. Hey, it's no more of a change than stopping the game for 10 minutes so everyone can take a break and can watch it on TV. .

They had to change a graphic on the main NBC feed to read that "Els is putting for the first eagle ON A PAR 5 HOLE since ..." 1980-something (in a US Open, that is). I thought that was cute. .

Seven spades, doubled and redoubled. On top of which Portugal gave new meaning to "comprehensive". I was wondering a few weeks ago why they weren't mentioned too often. No predictions from me, I don't know nearly enough, but they were quite marvellous in that commie putdown. EDIT The Chinese news agency report, before the match. Oops, must have been the dodgy noodles. Coach of DPR Korea says the team will erase regret of 1966 PYONGYANG, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Kim Jong-hun, coach of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), declared that the team would do their best to "erase the regret in 1966" before the match with the team of Portugal. The DPRK's embassy to the South Africa went to visit the national team with noodles made by themselves. "I wish the team can beat Portugal after eating the noodles," said An Heu-jong, DPRK's ambassador to the South Africa. In the London World Cup in 1966, the team of the DPRK reached the last eight but lost to Portugal 5-3 in the quarterfinals. .

I thought he'd say vuvuzuela. The Maradona-Henry hand balls are good arguments, but diving will ALWAYS be a judgement call -- EVEN if it seems in 2D replay that the guy wasn't touched, you can trip because the guy made a lunge at you. I don't see replays settling diving and penalties. Cameras are always only going to prove things like did the ball cross the line, did the guy (clearly) handle it. You can't prove the US did *not* make a foul on that horrible Slovenia call, not with a camera, only with your brain. And offside is often judgement too, whether the player is "involved". Cameras have their place as big-time hockey proves but they are very intrusive on the game as gridiron football shows. If you are going to use cameras, you have to define very carefully just exactly when you use them. I can't see cameras really helping against diving. I'm not clear here, apparently, on who can play for a team. I thought you had to be a citizen? How can Fifa get involved in that? Or am I (likely) missing something? .

So obviously Scotland is paying too much for police, and could cut the force, apparently quite substantially. The English are a race? A few of them seem to dropped out of the human one, I'll grant that. .

That's his personal problem, nothing to do with Skype. There are no security issues with Skype or with using Skype in Thailand. None. Skype is a telephone. The only security issues are what you might say and others might hear you saying. Even then, to be frank, it sounds like your friend has an awfully big head to think they'd be concerned about him. The people they're concerned with, they're, er, "assisting authorities" with inquiries at this time. AND there is nothing Thai about Skype itself. If you're worried that Skype will steal your information.... what the hell are you doing using open commo on your super-secret CIA contract assassination black-bag job anyhow? You have a Windows problem. Microsoft doesn't help the Thai censors, not that way anyhow. You should turn it off entirely anyhow. Instructions here. .

Don't watch the Olympics then, Little One? You skip all the international championships of baseball, hockey, basketball, race car driving? You don't watch the World Cup of football? That's weird. I thought you liked football. Yes nid, yes, soccer *is* a top sport in the USA, yes it is. It's a country with a *lot* of top sports, as amazing as that may seem to you. So is auto racing. Yes, nid, basketball *is* a world sport, and one the USA not only competes in, but frequently is beaten, sort of like England in its top sports. Yes, really, truly, baseball *is* the national sport of countries that are not the USA, and oceans (plural) away from the New York Yankees. Believe it or not, there are countries that are not the USA that play hockey, imagine that. Another one. You've got this Google thing. You've got archives up the arxe. But you can't beat a STUPID urban legend like "the US doesn't allow Cuban teams into the United States". Cuban teams and individuals (boxers, chiefly) play in the US like those from other countries. They don't play much soccer in Cuba, it's sort of like India about that. But their national sport is baseball and their teams play in the US, including for the world championship. .

Well, that's the point. You don't get a no-hitter by working 6 and two thirds. It's not that I disagree in general, it's that I want to emphasise that the honours don't really go to the set-up man or the 120-game catcher. They go to the guy who works nine, they go to the guy with a .625 on-base average and they go to the guy with 45 homers and 120 ribbees. The point is they are ALMOST obsolete, not obsolete. No-hitters happen. 30-game hitting streaks happen. If they happened 265 times a year, then they wouldn't be a big deal. Ubaldo has been out after the eighth inning several times this season, which is why he is Denver's most honoured resident at the mo and Tulo is just another shortstop. .

Yes and realistically this is 99.9% the worst scenario. In real life in the past, increases have usually been less than 100 per cent, but ALSO those already with visas have been grandfathered at the previous levels. Avoid anyone who says he *knows* what will happen but I'd say you've got the worst-case possibilities covered quite well and I'd bet that when-not-if it eventually happens, it probably will be less of a shock than you've planned. .