confederation cup 2013

[frederic38]

just a little thread about that friendly competition, because i can watch it on monaco's channel :rockon:
it will be like a little preview of a world cup
so since i can rarely see live football on TV i'm going to watch it

there are 2 groups

in the first one the hosts brazil won the first match against japan 3-0
and mexico is tying 1-1 against italy, with balotelli, goals scored on a penalty by javier hernandez, and by pirlo on a wonderful free kick

the team to root for is spain :thumb:
spain will face nigeria, uruguay and tahiti :icon_lol: in the second group


as for the current match, i'm hoping that balotelli won't score and i'll root against italy

 

[Europe]

just a little thread about that friendly competition, because i can watch it on monaco's channel :rockon:
it will be like a little preview of a world cup
so since i can rarely see live football on TV i'm going to watch it

there are 2 groups

in the first one the hosts brazil won the first match against japan 3-0
and mexico is tying 1-1 against italy, with balotelli, goals scored on a penalty by javier hernandez, and by pirlo on a wonderful free kick

the team to root for is spain :thumb:
spain will face nigeria, uruguay and tahiti :icon_lol: in the second group


as for the current match, i'm hoping that balotelli won't score and i'll root against italy

Italy is unwatchable. They are worse to watch than England, the Netherlands and Germany even though they have fewer blacks.

The only forward Italy can come up with is an African refugee, who plays up top alone?

Rossi should have played for the US. At least he would have played in several WC's and would have been the star. He might never play for Italy.

 

[frederic38]

balotelli scores and italy wins :icon_lol:

europe, to answer your question from the mario balotelli thread, the confederations cup is not taken seriously at all, it's a few friendly matches put together
i remember watching the confederations cup for example when marc vivien foe died on the pitch from an heart attack
to tell you how important it is, i remember that france was in the tournament, and i think that they won it, but i'm not sure, i can't remember if france won it or not, because winning the confederations cup is nothing

but at least there will be a few matches to watch

 

[MilanClass]

I love watching Spain play but I think I'm going to root for Uruguay just because I want to see a different country win. The match coming up is going to an epic display of possession soccer.

I'm also going to cheer for Tahiti as my 2nd team. I had no idea where Tahiti was so I had to look it up on Google Maps...LOL. Population: 178,000. It's going to be so funny if they can beat Nigeria.

 

[TBProdigy]

I agree that I heard Balotellis name mentioned way too many times, but you guys are acting as if Italy has turned into Nigeria.

Its a majority white team only the media star is the overrated black inconsistent Balotelli.

 

[frederic38]

I agree that I heard Balotellis name mentioned way too many times, but you guys are acting as if Italy has turned into Nigeria.

Its a majority white team only the media star is the overrated black inconsistent Balotelli.

but the whole team plays for him
well, at least he let pirlo take the free kicks:

it's the classic thing, when the non-whites are a minority in the team they get too much praise, then the number of non-whites raises and the results start getting worse, the team has zero technique and zero intelligence
it's already the case for italy, because they don't just have a black fullback or defensive middlefielder, but a black "star player" and every body play for him

as a french, i already went throught all that, so i don't want to watch it happen again, except that italy is 15 years late compared with france

 

[Jack Lambert]

Italy may still play 9-10 whites in addition to Ballotelli, but besides Pirlo, the only players who will get attention are El Shaaraway when he plays, and Ballotelli. Here in the US, Ballotelli is really overrated and overhyped here. Every victory Italy gets in the World Cup will be because of Ballotelli next year. I do not think there is one person I have loathed more than him. I will also be cheering for France or England over Italy, and of course the Dutch and Germany. (I personally think the Netherlands will be like in 2010 and be starting 8-9 whites.) I think Germany will start Ozil, and either Khedira or Gundogan(Boateng will lose his spot to either Badstuber or Mertesacker.)

 

[frederic38]

on the french TV it was all about balotelli too
pirlo scored a great free kick but it wasn't so important
my favourite thing is how everytime balotelli touches the ball they say "BALOTELLI" with a very angry and deep pitched voice, like the guy is about to score the goal of the century

 

[Freethinker]

Pirlo's goal was a thing of beauty while Ballotelli's was an ugly brute-force goal against undersized Mexicans who played him soft.

The gap in skill on the 2 goals is enormous.

 

[Europe]

This is why it's bad that he is on the team.

He gets all the attention. Let's have the whole Italian team hug him.

 

[Jack Lambert]

View attachment 800



This is why it's bad that he is on the team.

He gets all the attention. Let's have the whole Italian team hug him.

Yes. This is why I'd rather see England than Italy. The media would make this buffoon the primary reason Italy wins anything now. I can't cheer for any team with Ballotelli on it. Frederic, the commentators do the same thing in America. You'd think he just won the World Cup for Italy with that goal, or any goal he could potentially score for that matter.

On a side note, it was awesome watching Tahiti score against Nigeria today!!

 

[frederic38]

BBC coverage of nigeria vs tahiti:

Oh dear! A clanger for Nigeria keeps it at 2-0. Ahmed Musa skips right through the heart of the defence, keeps his balance beautifully to round keeper Xavier Samin, but then kicks his own foot when he had an open goal and falls in a heap.

That should have been three.

Nigeria play a ball through, the flag stays down and Anthony Ujah is completely free. He has support and oceans of space but tries to go round the keeper - who stays big and keeps it out! Poor play from Ujah though.

Sunday Mba is clean through on the keeper - but he loses his footing at the vital minute and falls into Xavier Samin.

A new name for us all to follow - Tahiti winger Steevy Chong Hue. What a cracking first half for the AS Dragon man. He had Celtic defender Efe Ambrose on toast at times.

Nnamdi Oduamadi cuts the ball back from the left to Ahmed Musa, who comes inside to open up the angle but then shanks his shot wide of the near post. Poor finish again and coach Stephen Keshi is not happy.

Nigeria bring on Dynamo Kiev forward Brown Ideye for Anthony Ujah. Can he provide the killer touch the African side have been lacking at times?

:huh:

Nigeria sub Brown Ideye gets in behind the Tahiti defence but he runs out of turf after taking it around Xavier Samin. Again, he was selfish there with men in the middle.

They've only gone and scored, and deservedly so! It comes from a corner, a deep delivery to the back stick and Jonathan Tehau gets above Celtic defender Efe Ambrose :grin: to slam home a header. Great scenes!

Tahiti are bossing it at the moment, that is no exaggeration as they keep the ball neatly in midfield and continue to push men forward. If they get another then Nigeria will really start to panic...

Brown Ideye is the latest man to pass up a chance though as he overhits his touch and loses it.

Brown Ideye is in again for Nigeria as the Tahiti defence threatens to fall apart but again he dithers and loses the ball.

Always had doubts about Ambrose & tonight he's convinced me just how bad he really is - wouldn't even get in the Tahiti side!

if you remember celtic vs juventus in champions league you'll have more than doubts about him

"Some of those chances that Nigeria missed were awful and at this level you might only get one chance against the likes of Spain and Uruguay."

i remember vahirua (tahiti's only professional player) from when he played in france, but he's way too old now

 

[Matra2]

Yes, compare Nigeria's pathetic finishing to the first half of the U21 final between Spain and Italy. Three well taken goals in the first half hour. Remember Tahiti are amateurs and the third goal for Nigeria was a goalkeeping nightmare.

 

[MilanClass]

BBC coverage of nigeria vs tahiti:











:huh:











if you remember celtic vs juventus in champions league you'll have more than doubts about him



i remember vahirua (tahiti's only professional player) from when he played in france, but he's way too old now

Thanks for the BBC transcript Frederic. That was hilarious! :icon_lol:

I can't wait to see Uruguay and Spain play the "Super" Eagles.

 

[Matra2]

I don't know how to display tweets here but Tancredi Palmeri quoted Andrea Pirlo saying:

"I told Mario before the game not to take off his shirt. He wanted to show his muscles. Told him about the rule. Well 1/2".

"2/2 in post-match interview Balotelli said he wasn't aware of the rule.."

 

[TBProdigy]

One of the Tahiti players collects coconuts for a living, the fact that they actually managed to score against Nigeria is embarassing enough

 

[frederic38]

i don't even get how they are a FIFA recognised team, they are part of france

 

[Jack Lambert]

Watching Brazil and Mexico, the Mexican national team seems to have a lot of white(European) players on the pitch for them. I looked them up, and I would count 6 of the Mexican players as being white.

They are: Javier Hernandez, Andres Guardado, Gerrardo Torrado, Hiram Ricardo Mier Alanis, Hector Moreno, and Francisco Rodriguez.

All of the others except Dos Santos, Salcido, and maybe Jorge Torres seem to be mostly of European descent as well. Mexico also just brought on another white player, Hector Rubio. Strange, Mexico plays more white players than the US does at times.

 

[frederic38]

neymar had a great match...but it was a friendly match
i would feel bad for him if he flopped at barcelona because it could be one of the biggest flops ever considering the expectations and neymar doesn't seem extremely annoying like balotelli, only the way he always dives is very annoying
yet, the way he plays, i can see him flop in europe
he could be the new robinho or the new alexis sanchez

 

[Jack Lambert]

Well, Ballotelli scores again for Italy (penalty kick) and Italy scores 3 goals in the space of around 15 minutes to take the lead on Japan,, 3-2. Here's yet another reason why Italy continuing to win is bad: after Ballotelli scored, commentator Adrian Heely(I believe) proclaimed: "The Mario Show continues in Brazil!" If Italy wins, it always seems to be because of the "great Ballotelli."

Frederic, I don't mind Neymar either.

 

[Europe]

The Mario Show continues in Brazil!"

He scores a penalty kick and that's a show?

I can't stand Adrian Healy and Ian Darke as announcers.

 

[Matra2]

My earlier post - Ballotelli as the media's chosen Cassius Clay for Europe - seems to have vanished.

Have there been site problems here tonight?

 

[Europe]

Spain 10 Tahiti 0

Not bad for Tahiti.

 

[Matra2]

Looks like there have indeed been site problems. In my disappeared post I was agreeing with Jack Lambert that the Italian national team, the Azzurri, are now enemy #1. Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali is the template the media are using in promoting Balotelli as part of their jihad against traditional Europe. And just like Clay is trotted out to this day, some three decades after his last fight, to lord it over European America and to rub salt in its wounds Balotelli may some day play a similar role in Europe.

Down with the Azzurri:thumbdown:

On a much happier note Diego Forlan celebrated his 100th cap for Uruguay with the winning goal against Nigeria:

[video=youtube;hoxZk_4IE6Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoxZk_4IE6Y[/video]

 

[frederic38]

forlan

what is incredible about balotelli is the %age of penalties amongst the goals he scores
50% of his goals are scored from penalty kicks this season at AC milan, and it's the same so far at the confederations cup
i can't recall a player who had such a high %age of penalty kicks amongst his goal, even amongst midlefielders
i already said it at the 2012 euro champs, but i repeat it in case somebody missed it: scoring a penalty kick has nothing to do with skill, virtually every professional player has the same chance to score a penalty kick because it's a very easy thing to do, the difference is mostly about the ability of the player to handle the pressure, and luck