World Cup!!

Hi Jo Ann,

I thought we could start a topic about football but you did it before

I am not a big football fan (I prefer rugby) but of course I'll watch the world game

I am not sure France is ready for the competition ... I might support Spain too!

What's good in football is that it's played all around the world. I was recently on a very small island near Madagascar and young people had not that much distraction. Fortunately they had a stadium in every village! And when you're in a foreign country, you can make friends just by playing football with them

AAARGH ! If there is a sport I hate, it's football (soccer)
Seriously, I'm more a fan of tennis or ski or judo... The only game I watched was in 1999, when France won. And that's all.

Although I'm not a big soccer fan (anymore), I'm planning on having a lot of fun during the world championships. The Dutch Club here organized 'viewing parties' in pubs.
The best party will be next Friday, when Holland plays againt the Ivory Coast team. Over 200 Dutch Navy people will be there to watch the game with the Dutchies here.
Seeing all those people dressed in orange (Holland's national color) is just great!

Two years ago we were watching the games of Holland during the European Championhip - we had a great time : Click for some pics!

Manu... wasn't it in 1998?

Gary! My Dutch cousin appeared on Portuguese News saying he was going to support Angola.
Ha!

Jo Ann wrote:

Gary! My Dutch cousin appeared on Portuguese News saying he was going to support Angola.
Ha!

I'm not a huge soccer fan either - coming from North America, it's never been a big sport (at least as far as watching it - lots of kids in Canada play it). But, compared to a lot of the other sports they show on tv here (rugby, Aussie rules) at least I understand what's going on. So I think I'll watch a game or two.

And, of course, I'll be cheering for the Aussies. Canada certainly doesn't have a team.

For me, Canada and Australia so rarely compete against each other in sports. And if they do, one of them is a huge underdog (like when Canada was in the rugby World Cup a few years ago). But they competed against each other for a few things during the Commenwealth Games. I'll always cheer for Canada. Then Papua New Guinea (in the few international competitions they might be in). And then Australia. In the middle comes all the other teams competing. And for me, the States will always be last. (I'm such a typical Canadian - hoping for the Americans to lose!).

Jo Ann wrote:

Manu... wasn't it in 1998?

Oops ! Yes, you're right, I'm not even good with the date

Well, I'm supporting Japan... which is fun while I'm temporarly based here in Australia (it was good fun watching the Japan-Australia game last night... Melbourne went crazy!!!).
If any of those teams progress past the group stage, I'll support them.

Even though I'm British, I don't support England. I would support Wales if they had qualified.

I guess I'll also follow Brazil. Always like that team

I always suprise myself how I get into footy every 4 years. Usually, I'm a rugby man.

Here I go!
I'm going to Germany, Hannover, to support Angola vs. Mexico! I'm so excited!
And after that, I might go to my family in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Maastricht).

I'm already gone!

As a french I'm supporting France, but I hope secretly that Germany would win. It's so pleasant when the host country wins the cup. Like in 1998 with France :-)

ps : I don't like soccer, only the spirit in the streets and everywhere, specially here in Germany, the host country.

TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!!!!!!!!!!! (Goal in German)

Je suis allée à Hannover, je suis à Paris, et ce que je peux dire c'est... vive l'Angola!!! Le match vu du stade était... sans mots!

Hey Jo-Ann, sunday it's Portugal-Holland . What do you think??

Well, the only moment I was for Portugal, it's cause if they could win, Angola could pass. Now that Angola is going home, let the best one win!
I didn't see one single ame by the Dutch, I don't know how they play.

The Dutch did pretty good. The won the first two matches ( Serbia - Montenegro and Ivory Coast) and the last match to Argentina was a 0 : 0 draw.
Let's see where they get I'm going to watch the game with the Dutch Club on sunday - gonna be fun!

What a stupid stupid game! Portugal vs. Netherlands!
I was for the Dutch, but boy, it was time they ended that non-sense!

Go Germany!  LOL

I was rooting for Australia yesterday and have only one thing to say, the Italian players are a bunch of bums.  Now I am left with only Brazil to root for.

My two favourite teams played against each other yesterday Spain vs France ... and France won

Sorry CLGinDE but they'll have to win against Brazil Saturday

Just a small question about your country: during the TV news, do they speak about the football results before the other news or not?

I just think it's a little bit too much here in France ... looks like football is more important than anything else. Reminds me the sentence: "give them bread and games and they'll be happy"

It's not just first on the news, on days Germany is playing, all public broadcasting is centered around football. I cut them some slack, the World Cup is being held here after all.

And Julien, if Brazil continues to play the way they have been, you are likely to be celebrating Saturday.  I still predict that England wins it all (I never pick the team I'm rooting for as the winner, then at least I have two chances of happiness at the end).

I'm looking forward the final Germany vs. Brazil!

Oh! Let the English win against the Portuguese!
Portugal, go home!!

Oh geez...

Another victory for France vs Brazil : 1-0 :p

Now it's up to France to kick Portugal out of there.  Go France!

I'm sure you french frogs will get your arse kicked by Portugal!

Go Portugal!

Naw...  The final will be Germany - France

On est en demi !!!!!!!!!! We are in Semi-finals!!!!!!! Wir sind in Halbfinale!!!!!!!

Berlin, wir fahren nach Berlin.

Ich träume von eine Finale : Frankreich gegen Deutschland !

Mes favoris ont toujours été Angola > Brésil > France. A présent, les Bleus, après les Espangols et les Brésiliens, vous pouvez bien renvoyer les Portugais à la maison!

Moi? D'origine portugaise? Et alors :p Je suis aussi d'origine allemande, vive l'Allemagne!

Wir fahren nach Berlin :-)

5 hours left before the final ...

Allez les bleus! Allez les bleus!

nobody except italians happy with this result;, very interesting world cup. I am sorry for Zidane's unlucky quit, he should have finished it better. What possible could have happened between him and the italian guy there, could it be a racist verbal attack or what?

Sench wrote:

What possible could have happened between him and the italian guy there, could it be a racist verbal attack or what?

Whatever it was, his reaction was not right. A sad end of a great carreer.

It was a great game. Both teams played well and I really enjoyed the show.

Zidane's gesture is quite inexplicable, and whatever Materazzi told him, no matter how nasty, his red card was well deserved.

I like Zidane very much but at that level of professional sports there is no excuse for such poor behaviour. I am sure that after the fact Zidane feels much more sorry than I do

Anyway, there had to be a winner and tonight it was Italy

Such a good game shouldn't finish with penalties! (I hate these ends)

Not sure we'll know what Materrazzi told Zidane but of course Zidane's reaction was wrong. Nobody expected such a reaction from a great player!

Never mind, we'll win next time

Viva Italia!

Kicou wrote:

It was a great game. Both teams played well and I really enjoyed the show.

Zidane's gesture is quite inexplicable, and whatever Materazzi told him, no matter how nasty, his red card was well deserved.

I like Zidane very much but at that level of professional sports there is no excuse for such poor behaviour. I am sure that after the fact Zidane feels much more sorry than I do

Anyway, there had to be a winner and tonight it was Italy

Zidane got a statue 1-2 years ago.
France was not meant to win ...

Julien wrote:

Such a good game shouldn't finish with penalties! (I hate these ends)

Not sure we'll know what Materrazzi told Zidane but of course Zidane's reaction was wrong. Nobody expected such a reaction from a great player!

Never mind, we'll win next time

Viva Italia!

By now, the whole world knows Materazzi told Zidane. 
World Cup 2014 is here.