Netherlands - Argentina: 0-0

[Curry]

Must say I've really enjoyed watching this match :) The Dutch failed to impress in the previous 2 matches in my opinion, but tonight I really felt like I was watching 2 of the top teams in the world battling it out on the field, and even though I would've liked seeing some pretty goals a draw was the fair result to both teams. The favorite for the championship (Argentina) played terribly well and one of the best outsiders (Netherlands) gave them some wonderful football to compete with. Any draw would've been fair, but 0-0 did illustrate the balance of the match correctly. Neither was playing with a real backup team despite the fact that the match was "pointless" to the championship, Argentina stars Messi and Riquelme played great and Dutch top players van Persie and van der Vaart made it worth watching on the other side. So, I had a good evening :Y)

Who else was watching? :)

[MrMoen]

I was watching. No goals, still a pretty good game of soccer IMHO

[Nino]

That match sucked. Too bad Robin van Persie didn't get the chance to shoot that last free kick. Thank god our suckage didnt get punished with a goal. Dirk Kuyt was awesome though, I had faith in him and was surprised when Van Basten didnt use him in previous matches. Too bad he got a yellow card.

[kidkit]

I was only able to catch the first 20 minutes. Wow though, lots of corner kicks. It looked like it was turning out to be a really good game. Wish i could have watched it :(

[Nino]

Yeah Argentina had like 3 corners right after eachother. Which team are you supporting Kidkit?

[Rival24]

He's supporting the team that doesn't result in you banning him :P

[Curry]

In between: awfully cool that the crown prince was just on TV commenting on the match :) Out with the stiff uptight royalty, bring on the soccer opinions from a king with an orange tie! :P

[Curry]

I was only able to catch the first 20 minutes. Wow though, lots of corner kicks. It looked like it was turning out to be a really good game. Wish i could have watched it :(
That was mainly due to Riquelme (my candidate for man of the championship actually since before it started) always using an inside curve for his corners from the left. Those often result in a new corner kick as they did in the first half hour, although there wasn't too much real danger from every individual corner kick.

[Nino]

He's supporting the team that doesn't result in you banning him :P
:D No I'm not that hardcore when it comes to soccer.

I feel sorry for my dad, he was so excited when he heard he was going to this match Thuesday but he didnt get to enjoy the experience of the supporters going nuts after a goal...

[MrMoen]

In between: awfully cool that the crown prince was just on TV commenting on the match :) Out with the stiff uptight royalty, bring on the soccer opinions from a king with an orange tie! :P

Damn, I missed that one =S

[kidkit]

:D No I'm not that hardcore when it comes to soccer.

I feel sorry for my dad, he was so excited when he heard he was going to this match Thuesday but he didnt get to enjoy the experience of the supporters going nuts after a goal...

I'm in Canada, and 3rd Generation so I'm out of touch with my English Roots. I'm supporting Argentina, but only because I'm betting my roommates in a friendly wager. There are 3 of us, we all got to pick one team to win it all but kept Brazil out of the options. I have Argentina, and the roomies have Czech (haha) and Germany.

I really like watching England, France, Sweden, Argentina, Netherlands and Germany. But I'll chear for any nice goal!

[Curry]

Well can't say France or Sweden did anything enjoyable so far :P

[kidkit]

Well, France did allow one of the ugliest goals of the tournament to spoil a sure win, I'd give them that!

[Studley]

I've watched every match in the tournament so far - not easy at this stage when there are 2 games on at the same time - but I have two TVs ;)

Assuming England's remaining players can squeeze past Ecuador, and you can pull off a victory over Portugal (I expect you will), should be a nice quarter-final clash between our two countries. I think the scoreline could be quite close to the Euro 96 match... only this time 4-1 to you :(

(I've also got a pretty good knack for predicting results (http://studley.wordpress.com/2006/06/09/world-cup-predictions/) - although it went a bit wrong today, bah)

[Rival24]

You made over £12! :P

[Studley]

LOL, yeah I kind of didn't expect myself to get so many results right. Otherwise I would have put £10 on each match instead of £1, then I'd be £120 in profit, but never mind. I just want to end with a good record, and if it buys a few beers then great

:drunk: :drunk: :drunk:

[Studley]

I spent most of the match trying to work out where Maradona was :D Whenever they cut to a close-up of him, it looked like he was in some sort of garden, there were hedges everywhere, but he was clearly in the stadium somewhere. What kind of crazy VIP box has its own hedge-row??

[Nino]

Well can't say France did anything enjoyable so far :P
1-1 against the Korea Republic was enjoyable enough :D

[Curry]

1-1 against the Korea Republic was enjoyable enough :D
That was not enjoyable, that was funny :+ I'll wet my pants if they get kicked out first round again tomorrow :P

[Curry]

I spent most of the match trying to work out where Maradona was :D Whenever they cut to a close-up of him, it looked like he was in some sort of garden, there were hedges everywhere, but he was clearly in the stadium somewhere. What kind of crazy VIP box has its own hedge-row??Yeah I noticed that as well :D Wacky Germans.... was a lot of celebrity folks too, with our PM, crown prince and princess, Franz Beckenbauer, Maradona and everything.

[MrMoen]

For the Dutch dudes:

http://frontpage.fok.nl/nieuws/65825

OMFG pwned 8)7

[undeadkid]

Why didnt Robbin play last night? I live in Holland but do not speak it yet, so I missed it if they said anything during the game as far as why he was benched the whole night.

[MrMoen]

Why didnt Robbin play last night? I live in Holland but do not speak it yet, so I missed it if they said anything during the game as far as why he was benched the whole night.

Wasnt it because someone else needed to complete at least 90 minuten of game time?

[Curry]

Why didnt Robbin play last night? I live in Holland but do not speak it yet, so I missed it if they said anything during the game as far as why he was benched the whole night.
During the whole championship there is the rule that if you get your second yellow card in different matches you're still excluded from the next match. After the initial rounds the yellow cards are reset to 0 though.

Because both Argentina and the Netherlands were already in the next round essentially they didn't play with anyone that already had a yellow card because it would've been too risky for them to have to miss the next match where they are required again. Also, gives the players some rest to prepare to the really important matches :)

[undeadkid]

Cool, thanks for the info

[bluehefner]

USA is now eliminated.

[Studley]

Booo :( I was hoping a few of the underdogs would make it, although I suppose Ghana getting through is quite good.

I'll be cheering on Australia tonight :+

[Curry]

Aussieland needs all the cheers it can get right now.... 20 mins to go, and 1 goal gets them into the next round.

[Cage]

Guus did it again _o_ with the help from a seriously bad referee.. damn, he really lost it there lol :)

[Studley]

:D :D :D

Classic English refereeing. Three players sent off, and he gave THREE yellow cards to Simunic :D :D

Good ol' Aussies. Not that they have a chance against Italy, they've got spirit but that's about it.

Nice to see Ronaldo back on a bit of form tonight too, although he's still 100% unfit.

[Curry]

Guus did it again _o_ with the help from a seriously bad referee.. damn, he really lost it there lol :)
And another statue for the Dutch guys, this time on Circular Quay :Y)