2010 Soccer World Cup

[IcePick88]

WOW! We made history last night!

Well done Bafana!

[Stuart]

My Facebook status voices my confusion over the pride felt for Bafana right now.

[ADT]

My Facebook status voices my confusion over the pride felt for Bafana right now.

+1

[IcePick88]

My Facebook status voices my confusion over the pride felt for Bafana right now.

Also cannot understand how the whole of SA is sooo proud of Bafana with their historical group stage exit.

[KALSTER]

WOW! We made history last night!

Well done Bafana!

My Facebook status voices my confusion over the pride felt for Bafana right now.

Also cannot understand how the whole of SA is sooo proud of Bafana with their historical group stage exit.

[Stuart]

WOW! We made history last night!

Well done Bafana!

My Facebook status voices my confusion over the pride felt for Bafana right now.

Also cannot understand how the whole of SA is sooo proud of Bafana with their historical group stage exit.

They did perform pretty well in the first half last night. Not so much for the whole competition. At least we have the distinction of being the only host nation that has failed to progress beyond the group stages.

[GreyWolf]

They did perform pretty well in the first half last night. Not so much for the whole competition. At least we have the distinction of being the only host nation that has failed to progress beyond the group stages.

Considering that the only team with a lower rank in the WC is North Korea, you seem to be coming down a bit hard on the SA team.

Well done to England for scoring a goal against Slovenia.

[naughty]

My Facebook status voices my confusion over the pride felt for Bafana right now.

Also cannot understand how the whole of SA is sooo proud of Bafana with their historical group stage exit.

come guys - beating France is a big deal - whichever France team was out there - you have to look at the rankings of the country you play - and to be honest i expected SA to lose 3 games and to be honest they managed a win and a draw - so that was totally exceeding realistic expectation

im also a Bafana sceptic but to be honest they were just a goal and managing to defend an opposition goal short of continuing on this was an achievement considering their world rankings and comparatively dismal team that we generally have in terms of world class football

as for England - yes they did win and qualify - but really it was a bit poor in terms of performance - Rooney is not playing like he should - milner is really slow in combination with johnson - and i reckon leaving rooney on and replacing milner with joe cole would have been a better experiment to try out - but end of the day they go on - so well done

well done USA as well - this was probably the most important goal that Landon Donavon has scored in his whole life - and they also top the group because of the goal difference

[Stuart]

Considering that the only team with a lower rank in the WC is North Korea, you seem to be coming down a bit hard on the SA team.

I don't mean to come down hard on them at all. Stating that they are the only host team to have failed to have successfully navigated the group stages is a statement of fact, not a criticism. My beef with the whole situation is NOT that people are proud of Bafana as our national team. My beef is that when other equally South African sports teams put in similar performances those performances are decried as shameful.

Take just a couple of months ago. The Proteas went crashing out of the first round of the T20 World Cup? Did you read South Africans on Facebook talking about how proud they were of the team for trying so hard? No? What did you read? Fire the captain! Fire the coach! Sack the aging wicket keeper!

Same with our rugby team.

If you support Bafana because they are our national team regardless of their performance, surely you should do the same for the Proteas and the Boks?

Bafana certainly exceeded my expectations in this Cup. I fully expected them to go crashing out in the group stages. But I also fully expected them to lose to all three teams in the group. They didn't. They exceeded my personal expectations for them, and for that I must give them their due. I don't think they played well enough last night to have realistically had the chance of scoring another two or three goals, as I have heard many saying. But, over all, they played a better fame than the French did. Well done.

But they still went out in the group stages. And I don't hear anyone calling for heads, as you can be sure would be the case if we were talking about the Boks or the Proteas.

[naughty]

the difference is look at SA's rankings in those other codes of sport - they are supposed to be amongst the elite in rugby and cricket - so they wouldnt usually be the underdogs in any of those other codes until maybe a final or semi-final

[GreyWolf]

Once again, Serbia disappoints...

I am so pissed off...

Well, at least now I can turn my full attention to Germany.

[DeanMF]

I was watching the interview with that guy from Ghana after the match... damn... I wonder if these people even go to school?

lol - Three different questions all got the same answer - "All that matter is that we are through to the next round and we must concentrate on the next game" *sigh*

[Tel]

Stuart, it's all about world rankings.

The Proteas and Boks have consistently been in the top 3 for the past few years. That brings a certain expectation.

Bafana are 83rd in the world. They had the 9th, 16th and 17th ranked teams in their group. Even with home advantage, it was a huge ask for Bafana to make it through that group. In the end they ended up level with Mexico. Not too bad...

[Tribble]

I agree with naughty. When Cricket and Rugby play badly, we are upset because they usually play well. Going into this world cup, Bafana Bafana were terrible. Even last year they were terrible. So yes - when they played slightly worse than one of the top teams, we were thrilled as they usually played much much worse. The ranking tells it all.

The match against France was fantastic. (Well the first half at least). Our team worked well together, showed talent and gave the French a beating. Although we had hopes - we were not under the illusion that we would ever win. But now we know what the guys are capable of and they know how they will have to play next time if they want to qualify. So when we say we are proud of our team - it is not for their performance against Uruguay. It is because they faced some of the top teams, and when the odds of getting to the next stage were incredibly high, they didn't quit but played better than they ever have. That is the reason we are proud of them.

[Stuart]

Yes, but to be fair we're talking Number 2 world ranking for the Proteas out of 12 (ODIs) or 9 (Tests). It's a little easier to be amongst the elite when there aren't 208 "official" nations in the world.

Fact is, if it's fair to call for heads when the Proteas lose, it's only consistent to do so when Bafana lose. Even better, how about we support both teams win or lose?

[GreyWolf]

how about we support both teams win or lose?

or all 3 even! Don't forget die Bokke!

[IcePick88]

Considering that the only team with a lower rank in the WC is North Korea, you seem to be coming down a bit hard on the SA team.

I don't mean to come down hard on them at all. Stating that they are the only host team to have failed to have successfully navigated the group stages is a statement of fact, not a criticism. My beef with the whole situation is NOT that people are proud of Bafana as our national team. My beef is that when other equally South African sports teams put in similar performances those performances are decried as shameful.

Take just a couple of months ago. The Proteas went crashing out of the first round of the T20 World Cup? Did you read South Africans on Facebook talking about how proud they were of the team for trying so hard? No? What did you read? Fire the captain! Fire the coach! Sack the aging wicket keeper!

Same with our rugby team.

If you support Bafana because they are our national team regardless of their performance, surely you should do the same for the Proteas and the Boks?

Bafana certainly exceeded my expectations in this Cup. I fully expected them to go crashing out in the group stages. But I also fully expected them to lose to all three teams in the group. They didn't. They exceeded my personal expectations for them, and for that I must give them their due. I don't think they played well enough last night to have realistically had the chance of scoring another two or three goals, as I have heard many saying. But, over all, they played a better fame than the French did. Well done.

But they still went out in the group stages. And I don't hear anyone calling for heads, as you can be sure would be the case if we were talking about the Boks or the Proteas.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[SykomantiS]

<snip>

I don't think they played well enough last night to have realistically had the chance of scoring another two or three goals, as I have heard many saying. But, over all, they played a better fame than the French did. Well done.

<snip>

I don't agree. Not that that I know much about football, but there were some really close calls in the second half, and with literally a few centimeters to spare, quite a few of those could have been goals.

Now, granted, even a near miss is still a miss, but they played well enough to keep France on edge. And this coming from someone with no love of football, it's just my 2c.

[ADT]

I cannot wait for this game, gonna be So Epic ...

25 June Portugal v Brazil 16:00 Moses Mabhida Stadium

[D3PART3D]

Youtube now has a vuvuzela button.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB4wS10mgWg

[Stuart]

<snip>

I don't think they played well enough last night to have realistically had the chance of scoring another two or three goals, as I have heard many saying. But, over all, they played a better fame than the French did. Well done.

<snip>

I don't agree. Not that that I know much about football, but there were some really close calls in the second half, and with literally a few centimeters to spare, quite a few of those could have been goals.

Now, granted, even a near miss is still a miss, but they played well enough to keep France on edge. And this coming from someone with no love of football, it's just my 2c.

You have to at least get your shots on target if you're going to consider scoring goals.

[SykomantiS]

Yes, obviously. But still, on several occasions we were in position to score, more so than France. But I agree, like I said, even a near miss is still a miss. My point being that I think they did play well in the second half.

[Jonboy]

Youtube now has a vuvuzela button.

Your link goes to a trailer of Scott Pilgrim vs the World???

[D3PART3D]

Nothing about it on the youtube blog.

[ADT]

Youtube now has a vuvuzela button.

Your link goes to a trailer of Scott Pilgrim vs the World???

Also went to that same trailer as JonBoy