Considering Groups G and H

Video of this "wonder" goal after the jump.

In which we are disappointed with Ronaldo, curse the Swiss, and bash a generation of players through no fault of their own.

Jeremy Spitzberg: over macho grande?
Neal Thurman: huh?
Jeremy Spitzberg: never mind
Jeremy Spitzberg: thought it was just different than "COS?"
Neal Thurman: lol
Neal Thurman: not COS
Neal Thurman: assuming you're not
Jeremy Spitzberg: no
Jeremy Spitzberg: only seen por/nk
Neal Thurman: how do POR score 7 and CRon only gets one in the dying moments
Jeremy Spitzberg: and in comedy style
Jeremy Spitzberg: i don't know
Jeremy Spitzberg: wanted to ask if i was wrong to be disappointed in that return
Neal Thurman: I'd have been incredibly bitter about it
Neal Thurman: Quieroz should be fired for still having CRon in the match at that point too
Neal Thurman: see, Kaka v. Ivory Coast
Jeremy Spitzberg: should NK be proud of the 90mins of good football they've played against good teams?
Jeremy Spitzberg: or ashamed of their collapse?
Neal Thurman: or worried that they'll all be executed upon their return home?
Jeremy Spitzberg: lol
Jeremy Spitzberg: there is that
Neal Thurman: in general, I think they should feel pretty good about themselves and still a chance to get a point/win against an IC squad who really has little to nothing to play for
Jeremy Spitzberg: IC just needs to beat them by 8 clear goals, right?
Jeremy Spitzberg: no fernandez for chile?
Jeremy Spitzberg: wtf?
Neal Thurman: he just went off after picking up a YC
Jeremy Spitzberg: oh hell
Jeremy Spitzberg: and clearly should have started benaglio
Neal Thurman: apparently the Swiss just broke the record for most consecutive WC minutes without allowing a goal so yeah, would have been a good call ;-)
Neal Thurman: or maybe it was an overall record including qualifiers or something
Neal Thurman: but over 500 minutes since they conceded
Jeremy Spitzberg: 552 - On 69 mins Switzerland set a new record for consecutive minutes without conceding at the #worldcup finals, 9 hrs & 12 mins.
Neal Thurman: btw, shocked that there hasn't been even a peep about anyone being interested in Benaglio so far
Neal Thurman: guess they must have gone out in a shootout last time around
Jeremy Spitzberg: or didn't get out of the group
Jeremy Spitzberg: maybe they didn't score either
Neal Thurman: or that - 3 nil-nil draws :-)
Neal Thurman: seems like that would have been more of a story but maybe not since I was reading that sort of story in German (badly) last time around
Neal Thurman: guess we jinxed them
Jeremy Spitzberg: clearly
Jeremy Spitzberg: WORLD CUP 2006
Swiss go out on penalties
Ukraine beat Switzerland 3-0 in a penalty shoot-out to go through to a quarter-final against Italy.
Jeremy Spitzberg: 0-0 v france
Jeremy Spitzberg: togo 0 swi 2
Jeremy Spitzberg: swi 2 skorea 0
Neal Thurman: there you have it
Neal Thurman: Chile to win the group?
Jeremy Spitzberg: ha
Jeremy Spitzberg: not yet
Jeremy Spitzberg: reto zeigler
Jeremy Spitzberg: another spurs wingback
Neal Thurman: hard to see SWI not conceding another now that htey have to chase the match
Neal Thurman: Chile has looked the more likely all match
Neal Thurman: wonder if LIV will try to buy Gonzales back now ;-)
Jeremy Spitzberg: just the move to bring back the fans
Jeremy Spitzberg: mcmanaman still looks in good shape
Neal Thurman: lol
Jeremy Spitzberg: this is crazy - http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/blog/dirty-tackle/post/France-continue-infighting-refuse-to-train-dir
Jeremy Spitzberg: pick SA to beat france?
Neal Thurman: wonder how the odds have changed?
Jeremy Spitzberg: i've got tsabalalah (sp?) on the bench
Neal Thurman: I figure that they'll manage to turn things around and win 3-0 vs. SA
Neal Thurman: seems like a typically contrarian French thing to do
Jeremy Spitzberg: out of spite
Neal Thurman: pretty much
Neal Thurman: maybe they'll go all Varsity Blues and do it with Domenech NOT on the sidelines having been banished via a powerplay in the locker room with TH14 playing the James Vanderbeek role
Jeremy Spitzberg: sure could use benzema about now
Jeremy Spitzberg: but they have gignac (sp?) so they'll be fine
Neal Thurman: not sure how Chile HAVEN'T scored a 2nd - they've had a bunch of great chances in the last 10 min
Jeremy Spitzberg: he and govou surely will power them into the 2nd round
Jeremy Spitzberg: ooooooo
Neal Thurman: yeah, don't know if Benezma is the real article or not but certainly seems like it would have been worth finding out
Jeremy Spitzberg: france will be interesting come euro12
Neal Thurman: SWI missed the proverbial guilt-edged chance to tie it up
Jeremy Spitzberg: totally different team
Neal Thurman: hopefully with a different manager
Jeremy Spitzberg: blanc
Jeremy Spitzberg: i think it's already done
Neal Thurman: not sure I see THAT much rising French talent that has been left out
Neal Thurman: Benzema, yes but who else?
Jeremy Spitzberg: floma
Jeremy Spitzberg: um...
Jeremy Spitzberg: ;-)
Neal Thurman: FloMa at least got in the last match
Neal Thurman: but the "nexts" are all there...Gourcouf, Touloulan, etc
Neal Thurman: Loris
Jeremy Spitzberg: yeah... those guys
Neal Thurman: Sagna
Jeremy Spitzberg: diarra
Jeremy Spitzberg: touloulan is old, or is it just the gay hair
Neal Thurman: just the hair
Jeremy Spitzberg: i don't care for lloris
Jeremy Spitzberg: haven't seen him come up big in the CL or WC
Neal Thurman: I think he's relatively young
Neal Thurman: no, but he's supposedly the young guy (as opposed to being the old holdover like Gallas, TH14, Govou, etc)
Jeremy Spitzberg: diaby ;-)
Jeremy Spitzberg: maybe they can get some of those 8 or 9 algerians to come back to the france set up
Neal Thurman: seems a lot like Italy this time around - the old guys are the only option because the young ones just aren't that good
Jeremy Spitzberg: how would we know?
Neal Thurman: well, they'd probably be on better club teams
Neal Thurman: Inter has precious few Italians and they're clearly the class of the league
Neal Thurman: Roma/AC/Juve have more Italians but aren't very good
Neal Thurman: a couple here and there (De Rossi, Di Natale, etc.) but no next generation of rock solid defenders at Milan leads me to believe they just don't exist right now - heck, they employ an American as a CB
Jeremy Spitzberg: lol
Neal Thurman: sort of like England right now - not sure there's a next Rio, Terry, Carra, Sol ready to step in at that level. Cahill? Dawson? Upson? just don't seem to be up to the previous standard
Jeremy Spitzberg: you sound like a grumpy old man
Neal Thurman: lol - not grumpy at all as it is making for a great tournament - just odd that so many of the "traditional powers" don't seem to have young guys coming up to fill in the gaps as their stalwarts get longer in the tooth
Neal Thurman: or maybe it is that many of the young guys coming up for club are from other places and that the number of other places just keeps increasing
Neal Thurman: btw, apparently UEFA killed the home-grown talent rule on the day before the WC (hoping that the headline would be buried in all the hype)
Jeremy Spitzberg: mission accomplished
Jeremy Spitzberg: but have you heard that the south africans have this horn they blow during the matches?
Neal Thurman: ha
Neal Thurman: bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

And now, as promised, Ronaldo's all juggling, all bumbling duck-breaking goal.