I missed most of Uruguay/Costa Rica and all of Italy/England because of work, which is a shame because I would have loved to watch Costa Rica stunning Uruguay.
Ivory Coast beating Japan 2:1 was a surprise while Italy beating England was nice because I took a bet on that game and i won.
Verratti and/or Motta will get a red card and Sirigu will miss something easy. It's written somewhere
We're both not old enough to have witnessed England beating Italy in the past. So I'm not sure why you're surprised.
I just enjoy supporting the team and exuding a healthy sense of optimism and confidence. I dislike people who follow football only when a World Cup rolls around as much as I dislike people following the "public opinion" of the day (which, at the moment, is being overly pessimistic despite all evidence to the contrary. People just repeat what they've heard somewhere). So, yes, I'm optimistic that we have a chance to go really far, if not all the way.
I'll be rooting for Germany if (or once) Italy is eliminated. Unless of course the German media annoys me as much as it did in 2012. It's funny how winning a world cup in recent memory kinda makes you all soft and relaxed when it comes to expectations. The memory of celebrating the world cup win on Piazza Maggiore in Bologna with thousands of others is still fresh for me even though it was 8 years ago. I won't be crushed if Italy doesn't make it this time. I'd say it's Germany's turn but for some reason I'm enjoying the Germans less now than I did in 2010. I also find Jogi Löw increasingly irritating. I personally want Spain to go out asap since they've won too much shit in the past years. Not keen on seeing that again. I also think Brazil has won enough world cups already.
Even though we lost (forgone conclusion, really!), I'm glad that we showed even a little bit of fire at times - unlike last time out when we were atrociously awful.
Really? I thought the win against England was pretty much a sure thing. I would have foreseen more trouble against Uruguay but after yesterday, I'm not so sure about that anymore. England was much better than I had expected, though. I'm glad to see that they're actually playing good football again. Nice goal. And Stirling is certainly a discovery. I hope they can keep this up and don't let this loss bring them down. Who knows? They might actually make it into the knock-out round. Which, of course, it invariably will. And if not them it'll be the fans. I'm looking forward to Argentina vs Bosnia tonight, weirdly enough. I've heard people praising the Bosnians who might be good for a surprise in this World Cup.
I usually have insomnia on sunday evening so today shouldn't be a problem. I will be over excited anyway, whatever the result of France-Honduras will be. I discovered that except my natinal team, I don't have a favorite but I have a very long list of teams I don't want to see winning this cup
That's me then. I made a concious decision to give up pretending to follow club football a while ago as I just wisn't interested or enjoying it anymore. I am, however, pleased to discover that my enthusiasm for the international game (which I always preferred) remains unaffected. Also unaffected was my enjoyment of Manchester United's first post Ferguson season ! P.S. - I fancy Germany to win it.
I used to be very much into club football as a teenager but I lost interest over the years to the point where I look at the league results but not much else. I still like international tournaments, maybe because they're more to the point. Due to my not following club football anymore I'm clueless about many of the players, though. Everyone except France?
No. There is also a list of teams I don't care about, for example the Netherlands. I don't mind if they win. Italy is on my "mixed feelings list" with Brasil because they have some important Parisian players. Without them, they would be on my "no-list". Germany is a big NO because it's our personnal football nemesis
Germany is everybody's nemesis. And club football surely sucks if you aren't really a fan of one specific club. Because imo, unless you're a fan of Bayern or Real or something, the truth is that the majority of football games really are boring most of the time, so I don't really understand the point of watching if you aren't rooting for one side or the other.