FIFA!! World Cup! Yahoo!

[Nicole Marie]

Ola Stradi-<P>I agree, if Portugal had been on the ball (pun intended!) they would have won the match. They didn't play like the top team they are until the second half when they made a big come back. We'll have to wait and see how they play vs. Poland. <P>I visit Porto often when I'm in Portugal. I really enjoy your city. Wish I was there!

[Nicole Marie]

Excellent weekend for football!<P>Brazil easily beat China 4:0. Portugal beat Poland this morning 4:0 in an exciting game on the National Day of Portugal! If you're in Portugal today you are having an excellent time! This means Poland is out of the World cup games.<P>Mexico beat Ecuador 2:1 in a heated game. And the US and the Korea Republic tied 1:1. The crowd was unreal in this game! The riot police were on standby just in case! Eek!<P>Games to look forward to: Germany vs. Cameroon, Mexico and Italy and keep an eye on France. They are not playing as the number one ranked team in the world should. And with injuries hitting the team, it's not looking good.<p>[ 06-10-2002: Message edited by: Nicole Marie ]

[Nicole Marie]

Here's your FIFA World Cup Update today:<P>Big News! France is out of the World Cup! The number one ranked team in the world is out of the games. They lost to Denmark in a big upset. The rest of the games went:<P>CAMEROON 0 : 2 GERMANY <BR>SAUDI ARABIA 0 : 3 REPUBLIC OF IRELAND <BR>DENMARK 2 : 0 FRANCE <BR>SENEGAL 3 : 3 URUGUAY <P>This entire world cup match has had some suprising twists and turns. Many suprise teams have popped up and defeated the top ranked teams. Interesting to see how it'll play out. <P>Games to look for: Argentina vs. Sweden, England vs. Nigeria and Russia vs. Espana.

[alejandro2003]

World cup is great.. I usually don't watch sports but WORLD CUP is the most important sporting event in the world. I'm very happy because all of my teams are in the second round. MEX USA SPA IRL in that order all made it. My favorate game so far was the tie between Ireland and Germany. The germans scored early on, but the fighiting irish continued their offensive until the end, scoring a beautiful goal in the last 30 seconds of the game. I guess being in an Irish pub at the time, I was quite jubilant! Being a latin american myself, I'm happy to report that Argentina is OUT of it. The favorate at the beginning of the world cup is out in the first round. Looks like Mexico might be the only Latin American country in the second round. VIVA MEXICO!! :p

[A. Senna]

ENGLAND!!!!<P>They have an awesome chance now!! Denmark will be a tough challenge..... who thinks the Brits can take Denmark? I think Owen has to bust out to advance further and possibily win the whole thing!! I'm guessing that Spain could be the favorite now, they are playing some good futbol. Who does everyone think the favorite is now in lieu of all the upset performances???

[EJA]

One thing I don't understand is how it is that one team comes out of the running when the game ended in a tie. Is that because the team that is out lost a previous game?

[Nicole Marie]

Hello All!<P>To EJA: Yes you are correct. If a team ties with another team then to decide who will advance they look at the overall number of wins and loses from that team. And if there should be two teams that win, loose or tie the same number of games then they look at overall number of goals scored. A similar situation is happening in Group D. If the US looses or ties with Poland AND if Portugal wins against Korea then we will have this type of situation. Then you must look at who scored the most goals overall and that team will advance. I hope that made sense.<P>And this morning here is how some games played out: Spain beat South Africa (3:2), Nigeria and Argentina tied (0:0). Some big names that will advance: Spain with 9 points, Denmark with 7, and Germany with 7. We are still waiting on Groups C, D and G. Time will tell!<p>[ 06-12-2002: Message edited by: Nicole Marie ]

[EJA]

Of course it makes sense. So the US v. Portugal contest might be ultimately decided by the total number of goals scored, presumably in the FIFA series, right?

[Nicole Marie]

Yes as long as the US ties or looses with Poland and as long as Portugal wins against Korea.

[Nicole Marie]

Big news in FIFA! The coach for China quit after loosing to Turkey 3 to 0! It just goes to show you that some people take football extremely serious. I was talking to some friends in Europe to get their take on why emotions run so heavy and they said it's about your country. If your team wins or looses it's reflects on your country as a whole. I can see that point. Any other ideas?<P>Other news, both Mexico and Italy will advance on to the next round. And here's a link that explains what will happen based on the games tomorrow morning (7:30 AM EST) between US vs. Poland and Portugal vs. Korea: <BR> <A HREF="http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/en/020611/2/wts.html" TARGET=_blank>http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/en/020611/2/wts.html</A>

[EJA]

Oh my. Just got done reading the article at that link. Now <I>that's</I> complicated. I really don't like the lot drawing thing. If I was one of the players, I sure would want a play-off. <P>Go USA!!

[colindopson]

Peter in the UK, you were great in correcting the futball to football, but then you blew it with you new (incorrect) version of "idiosyncrasies".

[EJA]

Uh oh. Nau Peter lukes leik and ideot.

[Nicole Marie]

Funny boys. I used the spelling for football in Spanish (futball) so there would be no confusion between American football. It seems no one caught on or maybe you're having to much fun?!

[EJA]

Nicole, that's <I>too</I>, not "to." <P>Sure I caught on; I know you know how to spell.

[Nicole Marie]

Big day for Football!<P>The US will advance into the next round because Portugal lost to Korea. Portugal played a great game against Korea with only 9 players against Korea's 11! Portugal's temper got them two red cards during the game. But since they lost then Korea and the US advance.<P>But the next round is tough! Once you loose you are out! The US will play Mexico and they need to be on their game. Poland, the worst team in group D, beat the US in this mornings game 3-1. If the US can not play well against Poland then how are they going to do against Mexico? We shall see!

[Nicole Marie]

Big news this morning...the US are moving on to the final 8 after beating Mexico 2:0. Looks like they got there game together.<P>Brazil beat Belgium 2:0! (As I've always said...My heart is with Portugal but my money is on Brazil.)<P>And big games coming up are England vs. Brazil (must watch!).Korea vs. Italy and Germany vs. US. <P>This has to have been the strangest World Cup in history. Once it's all done I'm drinking some Terra Boa and going to bed for 3 days.

[jcruz]

Thank you Nicole! Thank you for bringing World Cup news to us. Growing up in Mexico, I don't think the American public realizes just how huge this morning's victory over Mexico was. How baffled would we be if, for example, Mexico sent a team to play our Superbowl…and won! I’m so happy soccer is finally being recognized in the US. We should all be proud!

[Nicole Marie]

I quit. What the heck is going on?! Turkey is moving on, Italy is out of it! What! And that was a s*#^ call on the part of the ref in the Italian game?! <P>I'm going to bed. So Turkey and Korea move on. And we are waiting to see on the US vs. Germany and Brazil vs. England (both on Friday). I'm shooting for Brazil and the US. Germany is an excellent team but they have been as lucky as the US. Someone buy me a drink.

[Jeff]

I agree with you, there are a lot of incompetent referees in this Cup.