World Cup 2010

[Tambourine Man]

Hmmm...Those appear to be the faith-based tie breakers.

[greenback44]

•The third tiebreaker is points obtained in head-to-head matches. The US and England tied, so we move on.

•The fourth tiebreaker is goal differential in head-to-head matches. Again, a tie.

•The fifth tiebreaker is goals scored head-to-head. That's one apiece, so we move on.

Since there is only one head-to-head match, aren't all three of these exactly the same? And I don't understand the difference between four and five at all.

I believe these are intended to address three-way and four-way ties.

[lukethedrifter]

[lukethedrifter]

[greenback44]

KNYSNA, South Africa – France's World Cup team refused to train Sunday in protest of Nicolas Anelka's expulsion from the squad.

Anelka was kicked off the team a day earlier for a profanity-laced tirade against coach Raymond Domenech, whose tactics and management skills have been called into question.

"The French Football Federation did not at any time try to protect the group. They took a decision uniquely based on facts reported by the press," Domenech said, reading from a statement written by the players explaining their protest.

"As a consequence and to show our opposition to the decision taken by officials of the federation, all the players decided not to take part in today's training session."

The latest chaotic scene also led to the resignation of France team director Jean-Louis Valentin.

"It's a scandal for the French, for the young people here. It's a scandal for the federation and the French team," Valentin said. "They don't want to train. It's unacceptable.

"As for me, it's over. I'm leaving the federation. I'm sickened and disgusted," said Valentin, who walked away from the training field, got into a car and drove off.

[thrill]

In the highest levels of competition, I've never seen one person be so important to the cohesiveness of a team.

1998 - Zinedine Zidane leads France to win the World Cup.
2000 - Zidane leads France to the European Championship.
2002 - Zidane is injured in a meaningless friendly just before the World Cup, misses the first two games and despite being the tourney favorites, France fails to score even one goal and puts in the worst performance for a defending champion ever.
2006 - At age 34, he announced his planned retirement from football before the start of the world cup. In his last games as a player, he leads an aging French squad all the way to the final. He head butts Marco Materazzi, gets sent off and France loses in penalty kicks.
2010 - Chaos and bedlam. Embarrassment for France.

It's pathetic how mentally fragile that squad is.

[thrill]

Btw, this just makes the Ireland boning all the more disappointing. I guarantee Ireland would have brought miles more heart and entertaining soccer to this tournament that this disgrace of a squad.

[jim]

What is a team director?

[jim]

Btw, this just makes the Ireland boning all the more disappointing

Really? This is kind of fun to watch I think.

I love the French, if they don't like something ... [expletive] it. They ain't gonna do it. Go on strike. [expletive] 'em. Let them fly their own god damn airplanes, or cook their own god damn food, or play their own god damn soccer match.

lol.

Allez les bleus!

[TabascoElvis]

Port 7 - NKor 0

Really? Kim Jung Il will not be amused.