So er its all been a bit crap so far.

[craigcwwe]

A potential match could be Brazil/I.Coast or Portugal vs Spain though in the last 16, that will be interesting

[Martin Allen]

A potential match could be Brazil/I.Coast or Portugal vs Spain though in the last 16, that will be interesting

Portugal vs Ivory coast today, two decent sides who you'd expect to give a decent match and was another dull game.

[craigcwwe]

Portugal vs Ivory coast today, two decent sides who you'd expect to give a decent match and was another dull game.

Yep, but with the group they are in you can`t really blame them, they know that they have to beat N.Korea and then maybe get 2 draws against the other 2 teams and it will come down to GD

[CPS]

I think one thing that has changed in modern football is that even the minnows now are quite organised defensively. Sure it is dull to watch a team play with ten men behind the ball, but barring Australia, none of the so-called minnows have been giving up chances easily. I watched the analysis on RTE of the game tonight and Johnny Giles said that no blame could really be attached to Brazil in the first half due to the intensity and effectiveness of the North Koreans defending and I feel that's right.

Its easy to be nostalgic of past World Cups, especially Italia 90 in the UK/ROI. Look at the results from England's group in that one:

England 1-1 Ireland

Holland 1-1 Egypt

Ireland 0-0 Egypt

England 0-0 Holland

Ireland 1-1 Holland

England 1-0 Egypt

Everyone in Ireland went crazy for that tournament but the games were terrible, the country scored two goals, didn't win a game but still got to the Quarter Final. There's a consensus in England too that this was a great World Cup and England could've won it, despite the fact they were actually quite poor other than in the Holland and West Germany games, neither of which they won. Add to the fact that the Final was truly awful....

Let's give this one a bit more time before we write it off.

[PMLF]

I think one thing that has changed in modern football is that even the minnows now are quite organised defensively. Sure it is dull to watch a team play with ten men behind the ball, but barring Australia, none of the so-called minnows have been giving up chances easily. I watched the analysis on RTE of the game tonight and Johnny Giles said that no blame could really be attached to Brazil in the first half due to the intensity and effectiveness of the North Koreans defending and I feel that's right.

The cliché about this in Brazil is that não tem mais bobos no futebol atualmente.

Something like that there are no fools in football anymore.

But Brazil's difficulty was hardly a surprise, Brazil nowadays always struggle against teams that defend well.

[Qolumbo]

In 2000, there was also Holland trashing Yugoslavia and then getting eliminated by missing a ridiculous amount of penalties against Italy.

1990 will always be a special tournament for me, because it was the first one I followed properly.

[CPS]

But Brazil's difficulty was hardly a surprise, Brazil nowadays always struggle against teams that defend well.

Especially with Kaka well off his best form. Unfortunately Robinho and Maicon look like the only two players capable of producing something to open up a tight game for Brazil as things stand.

[tomtuck01]

Domenech is to blame.

You blame him for the common cold no doubt?

It's been pretty ordinary to say the least. Teams going out not to lose rather than going out to win is the main factor, as has already been said. I suppose it's like having Rafa Benitez in charge of everyone.

[dimmel]

The first round of the group stage is usually the least attractive of the tournament, as lots of teams just go out into the field with the objective of not losing. In the second round (and esp. third round), things are ought to get more interesting as some teams actually need a win.

I find it strange though that players seem to be blaming the ball, the fact that they're playing 1700 m above sea level, the vuvuzela's, etc. They never mention the fact that some of them have already played 60 games this season and they might just be tired or overstretched: it's no coincidence that there are so many injuries and that Klose (having hardly played for Bayern this year) suddenly starts scoring again.

[The_jagster]

Personally, I'm liking this tournament, but I'm a freak who actually finds the way a team defends interesting. With ever-increasing pressure on teams do well, there's no point in losing your first game though, and the mentality is understandable. And the top leagues all have their fair share of bad matches.

[Ruud van Nistelrooy]

I'm a fan of proper defensive football too but this really hasn't been. There haven't been a lack of goals due to great defending, it's been poor attacking, poor ball retention and a lack of imagination.

[nistelrooy_uk_10]

I'm a fan of proper defensive football too but this really hasn't been. There haven't been a lack of goals due to great defending, it's been poor attacking, poor ball retention and a lack of imagination.

Agree with this. Teams have been very wasteful going forward, and a lot of team have been giving the ball away far too easily. There's been hardly any goalmouth action. Not a lot of good counter-attacking football either.

[H.O.V.I]

Football over the last decade has become more and more a conservative game where teams go into matches set up not to lose rather than go out and win.

My Favourite world cup is still USA 94.

[jmr]

4 points for a win, 1 for a score draw, 0 for a loss or no score draw, do it Fifa!

[PMLF]

4 points for a win, 1 for a score draw, 0 for a loss or no score draw, do it Fifa!

Maybe extra points depending on the goal difference as well (if it's just based on how many goals they score they will just agree on letting some goals in).

[Ceching You Out]

Just about every team besides Germany has looked extremely mediocre so far, including some of the bigger boys like Italy, England, Portugal, Ivory Coast, and Brazil. Here's hoping that things will liven up once some of the smaller countries realize they need to win to advance.

For example, I can see the next round of US - Slovenia & England - Algeria games being more open after the way the first round of games set it up.

[aggressive minor]

Part of the beauty of football is that a 5-0 win gets you the same points as a scrappy 1-0 win. I love attacking football, but extra points for goal difference is stupid in my opinion.

Same with no points for 0-0 draws. Ridiculous, so if N.Korea held Brazil to 0-0 today, they'd get no points?

[PMLF]

Part of the beauty of football is that a 5-0 win gets you the same points as a scrappy 1-0 win. I love attacking football, but extra points for goal difference is stupid in my opinion.

Same with no points for 0-0 draws. Ridiculous, so if N.Korea held Brazil to 0-0 today, they'd get no points?

I think changing that in any way would be stupid, but if you want to encourage teams to play attacking football (which I also disagree with), then the goal difference is a good thing to be used to affect the points you get.

[Samamatara]

quit all this whinging

[Rafalution]

4 points for a win, 1 for a score draw, 0 for a loss or no score draw, do it Fifa!

Uh, what would stop teams putting in a goal in each others nets in the last few mins if it was 0-0. what abouit when a team loses its first two games and so doesn't bother trying for its third one?

[Duffman]

It hasn't been great

I have football manager on the computer and the football on the tv, but most of my attention usually goes to FM since there arn't many exciting moments in the football

I still love it though, 3 matches a day with most matches including some of the best players in the world is as good as it gets

[jmr]

Uh, what would stop teams putting in a goal in each others nets in the last few mins if it was 0-0. what abouit when a team loses its first two games and so doesn't bother trying for its third one?

Haha I literally spent 5 seconds thinking that up whilst trying to find a way for teams to think "win this first game and we've got an excellent chance of going through" rather than what they are currently thinking "don't lose this game or we might go out". I don't know what the answer is.

[Qolumbo]

If you really want to encourage teams to go for wins, then a good way to achieve this is to not have teams competing for the same place playing each other. Instead of "everyone in group A plays each other", you'd have "everyone in group A plays everyone in group B". Of course, such a system would have its own problems, but it would reward wins slightly more, since teams wouldn't care how many points their opponents get.

[Icondacarver]

Am i the only one who thinks people are disappointed because they hoped to see the "BIG" teams lay some drubbings on the minnows.

World football is changing and with each World Cup the gap is closing too, so the drubbings will become less and less frequent.

The smaller teams are learning from the styles of smaller clubs in league football who come into a game with the aim of keeping it tight and nicking a point if possible.

[Kill Rock Stars]

yes, you are the only person who thinks that

[ham_aka_stam]

Am i the only one who thinks people are disappointed because they hoped to see the "BIG" teams lay some drubbings on the minnows.

World football is changing and with each World Cup the gap is closing too, so the drubbings will become less and less frequent.

The smaller teams are learning from the styles of smaller clubs in league football who come into a game with the aim of keeping it tight and nicking a point if possible.

I'm with you there. If there are going to be any drubbings, it'll be once the minnows get confident and start attacking a bit more, but whilst the goliath team is confident and playing well. I.e. not the first round of games.

[HL7]

4 points for a win, 1 for a score draw, 0 for a loss or no score draw, do it Fifa!

Why not just disregard the goals against part of goal difference? Then a 4-3 win is +4 for the GD and a cagey 1-0 is only +1.

[DJ]

People are simply looking back on past WCs with rose tinted spectacles, is all.

This one is probably going to be more exciting than several past ones. No drubbings means no teams are really out of it yet.

[headshotbg]

I'm with you there. If there are going to be any drubbings, it'll be once the minnows get confident and start attacking a bit more, but whilst the goliath team is confident and playing well. I.e. not the first round of games.

True, true.

But the big teams didn`t play well and that`s not only because of the other teams I mean... Germany - OK, Brasil... A couple of individual sparkles and that was about it. Everyone else was simply poor. I was simply expecting better football, it`s not about the amount of goals or the results

[Leppard]

Don't remember Euro 2000 as I was only 7 but Euro 2008 was pretty awesome. Possibly because we weren't there

Yeah Euro 2008 was amazing .

It's been a bit disappointing up till now but I'm happy because it's games of football a day. Just hope that Spain kick ass today.

[Samba Magician]

As long as there a games on the television, I'm happy but yeah, I'm waiting for the second round of games when certain teams have to win their games.

[CPS]

The European performances so far have been a bit worrying, think we're definitely seeing the 'lesser' continents catching up. Serbia, Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia, Greece, etc. all look fairly anaemic and that's not to mention France, England, Italy & Portugal. But UEFA still think a bloated 24 team European Championship is a good idea. The 16 team format was perfect really.

[gunner4eva]

Judge after we've had the 2nd round of matches, the 1st matchday's are always tentitive.

How would a 24 team tournament work in terms of groups and qualification?

[Razzler]

People are simply looking back on past WCs with rose tinted spectacles, is all.

There is that but I heard some stat about number of goals at this stage compared to 2006 and 2002, 2006 was considerably higher and 2002 almost double I believe

[CPS]

How would a 24 team tournament work in terms of groups and qualification?

Not quite sure how qualification would work, but 24 nations isn't far from half the continent. I'd imagine the Finals will follow the same format as the like of Mexico '86 and Italia '90 i.e. 6 groups of 4 with the top 2 to going through + the 4 best third placed teams.

So you will be looking at 36 games to eliminate one third of the field. Ridiculously bloated format.

[JP Woody]

Ive seen a good few World Cups now. Mexico 86 was the first one i really got into. So far this has been the worst World Cup ive seen by some distance. I dont know why, ball, altitude , who knows. I just hope it picks up as the games become more important.

[Razzler]

24 teams in 1982 was the worst format ever, groups then into 4 groups of 3 and then winners into the semis, that cost England, well that and an unfit Brooking and Keegan but ended up Spain and West Germany when Norn Iron who *shocked* Spain ended up with Austria and France. It was just stupid, we didn't lose a game in that tournament.

1986 they did a bunch of 3rd placed teams qualifying, groups were all over the place though so it was a lot more fun in not quite knowing who would play who next, unlike now where you can map it out

[Butts]

Spain to make this tournament good:cool:

[gunner4eva]

4 3rd best teams is a wierd way of deciding who goes through.

For me, the more games the better because it means more football on terrestrial telly but i can see the Euro's getting a bit silly with a lot more crappy teams.

[chopper99]

It has been a little negative and boring so far. You can't really blame the smaller teams, and I found myself rooting for North Korea last night after their gritty defensive display. But it does take some of the excitement out of the early games, and that coupled with those god awful vuvuzeles is making this year a bit disappointing for me so far. Definitely less goals and less excitement than other tournaments that I can remember at this stage.

Here's hoping for a better 2nd round of games.

[Icondacarver]

yes, you are the only person who thinks that

Guess im not the only one who thought that. wp.

I'm with you there. If there are going to be any drubbings, it'll be once the minnows get confident and start attacking a bit more, but whilst the goliath team is confident and playing well. I.e. not the first round of games.

People are simply looking back on past WCs with rose tinted spectacles, is all.

This one is probably going to be more exciting than several past ones. No drubbings means no teams are really out of it yet.

[Qolumbo]

From first round matches in the world cups with the current format:

2006

Germany 4-2 Costa Rica

2002

USA 3-2 Portugal

1998

Spain 2-3 Nigeria

There's been nothing like that this time.

Incidentally, I noticed that this is the third world cup in a row, where Germany has scored more goals in the first match than anyone else.

[tony_cfc]

I fear the smaller sides stout defensive performances so are only going to make it worse. Its been show quite clearly that going one up top and packing the midfield has been really hard to break down and can see it happening more and more.

The big teams are looking so inept at creating anything.

[Butts]

I will now jump on the this world cup ifs bandwagon. Knockout stages going to be full of negative teams at this rate.

[Icondacarver]

I will now jump on the this world cup ifs bandwagon. Knockout stages going to be full of negative teams at this rate.

Best chance for a team outside of footballs usual elite to MAYBE win the World Cup so i am loving it.

[Eoghan_M]

I will now jump on the this world cup ifs bandwagon. Knockout stages going to be full of negative teams at this rate.

Nah quite liked that, two teams being scared to attack is crap but something like that is just a brilliantly organised display.

[jmr]

That was the best game of the tournament, how could people not like that?

[Butts]

Yeah was happy enough with that game, just now having seen the amount of defensive teams think the rest will be crap:D

[jmr]

4-5-1 taking over as the #1 tactic for pretty much everyone bar England is pretty bad for the sport I'd say, it's not bad when it's like Barcelona and they make it more of a 4-3-3 with loads of fluid movement but 99% of teams can't pull off what they can.

[Divinity]

Only 25 goals from 16 matches.

At the same stage, the worst World Cup in history, Italia 90 (holy **** that was boring) had 27 goals scored, and from four less matches.