NBA

[TrojanHorse]

No Laker love?

Kobe wins next year and what ya gonna say MJ fans? (this is rhetorical...I have already heard almost everything they have to say on the subject)

Will Buss and Jackson work out their differences?

[kidcarter8]

heard wrong i think

[kidcarter8]

Nice game to watch last night.

I heard some Celt fans bitching about the foul difference in the fourth quarter. Was it the refs?






No.




The plain fact of the matter is that the Celts committed more fouls in the fourth quarter. What are the refs supposed to do? Call some phantom fouls on the Lakers to "even it up"??

Ya got beat Celt fans. Deal.

No - players called their own

[bodiddley]

The US might not be the best team at the World Cup, but certainly one of the more exciting sides.  They really outplayed Algeria, botched some golden ops, and had another goal controversially disallowed.
Then a winner in extra time.
Yowza.

With the African teams failing and many Euroteams playing poorly, this is really the Americas World Cup ... so far.
Argentina, Brasil, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay all look strong and on top of their group.  US and Mexico in the next round.
Honduras will be the exception, though impressive enough they qualified.
Might be an impressive 7 of 16 teams in the second round from the Americas, 5 of 16 from South America.

[bodiddley]

US will play the second place team in the Germany - Ghana - Serbia group, with those matches starting in 2 hours.

If Germany beats Ghana (likely), then Germany plays England.
And the US would likely get Serbia (if they beat Oz).
Looks like Serbia needs to win, as a tie would give them 4 points which Ghana already has, and Ghana beat Serbia.
So only a Ghana loss and Serbian win knocks Ghana out.

Unfortunately, Germany and Australia are the opponents.
I should also add that if Serbia beats Australia, Germany would have to win to advance.  A Serbian win and Germany-Ghana tie, and Ghana goes through.
That Germany loss to Serbia made this group very interesting, but also made life perilous for Ghana.

Well, I'm hoping for a US v. Ghana matchup.
Be nice to see at least one African team get to the knockout stage.
Ivory Coast has a (not easy) chance as well.

[kidcarter8]

The US might not be the best team at the World Cup, but certainly one of the more exciting sides.  They really outplayed Algeria, botched some golden ops, and had another goal controversially disallowed.
Then a winner in extra time.
Yowza.

With the African teams failing and many Euroteams playing poorly, this is really the Americas World Cup ... so far.
Argentina, Brasil, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay all look strong and on top of their group.  US and Mexico in the next round.
Honduras will be the exception, though impressive enough they qualified.
Might be an impressive 7 of 16 teams in the second round from the Americas, 5 of 16 from South America.

Thanks for the sum ups.

US was again quite fortunate.  You're right though - they play an "exciting" brand of the sport -

Glad it was Donovan - and Dempsey WAS offsides, BTW.

[bodiddley]

Glad it was Donovan - and Dempsey WAS offsides, BTW.

I couldn't tell.
Didn't help that my eyes were usually in the wrong place on the replays.
US missed a number of excellent chances.
Uh-oh, I just realized that if both Serbia and Germany win, Germany falls into second place in their group (they'd be tied with Serbia, but lost to them), meaning that the US would have to play Germany next.  
Not good, as that is probably the most likely result.

One other unlikely way in which the US would have to play Germany next is if Serbia loses and Germany ties Ghana.  That puts Germany in second place.

[bodiddley]

Well, what do I know.
Apparently if two teams finish with equal points, the head-to-head match doesn't matter -- goal differential decides the tiebreak.
Seems pretty silly to me.
You beat a team and end up with an equal number of points, yet the the team you beat can advance if they scored more goals in other games, despite the fact that you beat them.  
I guess the winner of the head-to-head at least has an advantage as they are at least one goal up on the team they beat.

So my scenarios are a bit off.
Silly me, I thought beating a team gave you the tiebreaker.

So it looks like a German win and Serbian win puts Germany first due to Germany scoring a zillion goals against Australia (unless Serbia can best that).
Meaning, both Germany and Serbia win, and the US palys Serbia, Enguland gets the Germs.

Here's the complicated lowdown from Yahoo:

   * Ghana need only avoid defeat to qualify. If Serbia beat Australia and Ghana and Germany draw, Ghana finish second. If Serbia beat Australia and Germany beat Ghana, Ghana finish third.If Australia draw with Serbia and Ghana retain their goals scored advantage over Serbia in a one-goal loss, Ghana qualify in second; a larger margin of defeat results in a third place finish. If Australia beat Serbia and Ghana lose, Ghana qualify in second place.

    * Germany will qualify in first place with a win over Ghana, assuming Serbia fail to beat Australia by a three goal margin. A draw with Ghana will see them through in second if Australia and Serbia draw; or if Australia win without repairing their goal difference. Any other scenario results in elimination for the Germans.

    * Serbia will qualify with a win over Australia. They will finish second in doing so unless Ghana and Germany draw; or if Germany win and Serbia can repair their goal difference over them. A draw will be sufficient for Serbia to qualify in second place if Germany lose; or if Germany win and Serbia secure a better goal record than Ghana.

    * Australia will qualify in second place if they beat Serbia and Ghana beat Germany. They can also qualify in second if they win and Ghana and Germany draw, providing that Australia can overcome a mammoth goal difference margin of seven; or if Germany beat Ghana and Australia can overcome a their goal difference margin vis-a-vis the Africans. Realistically Australia need a win, and a Ghana win.

[bodiddley]

Wow, the last 25 minutes of Slovakia v. Italy offered up 4 goals, another Italian goal taken away due to slight offsides, and another Italian ball knocked away by a defender at the mouth of the goal.
Turned into a very exciting game once Slovakia scored a second goal to go up 2-0 and Italy went into supreme attack mode.
Slovakia scored the winning goal on brilliantly executed inbounds pass.
Slovakia had to win to go on and did.
If you have a chance to see that game on replay from the 70th minute on, don't miss it.  Hell, I'll watch it again if I notice the replay on Chinese Tv tomorrow.

Paraguay and Slovakia move on.
Italy knocked out.
NZ didn't lose a game .. didn't win one either.
Finished in 3rd, ahead of Italy.

[kidcarter8]

Yep - will try to catch that replay.

Thanks

[TrojanHorse]

So...there is a soccer forum...that's where some folks go to see if anyone else is interested. 

I actually came here looking to check out the NBA finals and draft talk...

[bosox18d]

There actually is a Soccer forum in "Other Sports"

[bodiddley]

There actually is a Soccer forum in "Other Sports"

Yeah, but it's only got a few little guys over there trying to trip you up.

I forgot the draft was coming up (since the Knicks were sitting out the first round), or I would have hijacked the moribund Nets forum for futbol talk.

Feel free to discuss the NBA draft here or next door in the Nix forum.

[bosox18d]

I know the soccer forum was dead for months.Just thought maybe you did not know but then I saw you posted in Boxing so you did know of Other Sports.It's just like Bankshot and I using the American League forum during the Celtics run because hardly anyone posted in NBA!

[bodiddley]

If you post in the NBA forum (or the Nets forum) all the Knick posters will see it and likely respond.  For the most part, NBA chatter goes on in the Knick forum, but most people will jump to the NBA thread if they see it is active.