davieG Posted 26 June 2006 Posted 26 June 2006 living up to your expectations? We've just reached the QF and all the talk is about how crap the refereeing and the majority of the football has been. I know there have been exceptions with a few exciting games and some people are genuinely happy with the England performances. As a football spectacle I think it stinks and I've never been so underwhelmed at reaching the QF, I almost waiting for it to be over so that we can get on with the upcoming football season in the Championship, I ask you how weird is that? . Now is this just me getting old and having seen too many WC or do others feel the same.
Head Honcho Posted 26 June 2006 Posted 26 June 2006 Too many below par teams in the group stages means the seeded teams don't really have to try too hard to qualify for the knock-out stages. This surely devalues the World Cup as a whole!
Knighton Matt Posted 26 June 2006 Posted 26 June 2006 living up to your expectations? We've just reached the QF and all the talk is about how crap the refereeing and the majority of the football has been. I know there have been exceptions with a few exciting games and some people are genuinely happy with the England performances. As a football spectacle I think it stinks and I've never been so underwhelmed at reaching the QF, I almost waiting for it to be over so that we can get on with the upcoming football season in the Championship, I ask you how weird is that? . Now is this just me getting old and having seen too many WC or do others feel the same. I know what you mean davieG considering how much I was looking forward to it, the tournament so far has been a bit of a let down. I think this is mainly down to two factors: a) Games are massively punctuated by sharp blasts of the referee's whistle. Soon football will be a non-contact sport I can't stand the current trend for players going down very easily and grabbing the ball before the ref has even blown. It's total gamesmanship. More bookings should be given out for deliberate handball as it seems all a player needs to do is fall over and grab the ball and the ref will give them a free kick 99% of the time. b) The lack of really topsy-turvy encounters where it could go either way (Croatia v Australia springs to mind and that wasn't even on terrestrial). Maybe the heat has something to do with this as teams don't have the energy to play high tempo counter attacking football. Most games so far have been entirely predictable.
Bert Posted 26 June 2006 Posted 26 June 2006 The african nations that were missing, Cameroon, Nigeria with a good world cup pedigree would've made it better. Teams like Angola, Saudi's and Iran just devalue it imo.
Sparky Posted 26 June 2006 Posted 26 June 2006 does anybody think seeding should be abolished and if a group of brazil , argentina , spain and italy was drawn then it would liven the group stages up a bit . i dont think its been a bad tournament as yet , but saying that i sort of fancy myself as a bit of a tactician , i can watch a 0-0 draw without much action in it and still be enthralled
Chairman of the Bored Posted 26 June 2006 Posted 26 June 2006 davieG, agreed mate. It's being spoiled by preposterous refereeing, cheating, diving, 'book that man', con artists. Roll on the 5th August and some proper football. Whoever wins this one will have won a lottery.
Ultra Posted 26 June 2006 Posted 26 June 2006 The african nations that were missing, Cameroon, Nigeria with a good world cup pedigree would've made it better. They're missing because they didn't qualify - simple as. Ivory Coast were just unlucky to be drawn in a tough group and Ghana have made an impressive debut so far. Both have brought more to the competition than some of the more "established" nations [resists temptation to name names] Teams like Angola, Saudi's and Iran just devalue it imo. They were there on merit because they won through their continents' qualifying stage. A World Cup should mean exactly that. Whether 32 is too high a number for teams reaching the finals is a valid point, but given the vast finances involved, I can't see FIFA reducing that figure..
Bert Posted 26 June 2006 Posted 26 June 2006 They're missing because they didn't qualify - simple as. Ivory Coast were just unlucky to be drawn in a tough group and Ghana have made an impressive debut so far. Both have brought more to the competition than some of the more "established" nations [resists temptation to name names] They were there on merit because they won through their continents' qualifying stage. A World Cup should mean exactly that. Whether 32 is too high a number for teams reaching the finals is a valid point, but given the vast finances involved, I can't see FIFA reducing that figure.. Some good points brought up there Ultra, but you have your opinion and i have mine.
ooh Tommy Posted 26 June 2006 Posted 26 June 2006 Worst World cup I can ever remember. So much hype and expectation leading up to it, but it has just not lived up to it. Listening to Hansen, Lineker & crew, you'd think it was the best one ever. Even Brazil look dull.Someone crap is gonna win it !! Maybe it is Englands year after all. Roll on the championship.
Head Honcho Posted 26 June 2006 Posted 26 June 2006 They're missing because they didn't qualify - simple as. Ivory Coast were just unlucky to be drawn in a tough group and Ghana have made an impressive debut so far. Both have brought more to the competition than some of the more "established" nations [resists temptation to name names] They were there on merit because they won through their continents' qualifying stage. A World Cup should mean exactly that. Whether 32 is too high a number for teams reaching the finals is a valid point, but given the vast finances involved, I can't see FIFA reducing that figure.. That's a fair point, but you can't deny that it devalues the World Cup. They are there on merit by qualifying to represent their continent only. Teams 20/30 places above them in the rankings don't qualify because they are drawn in far superior qualifying groups to anything they would have had to encounter in qualifying.
Benji Posted 26 June 2006 Posted 26 June 2006 The best is still to come, you can only hope Teams will play better against better oppositions. As stated, there have been a good number of under-average teams invovled in the early rounds, let's hope for a better last 3 rounds
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