Well, the current expected winner seems to be Spain, so I suppose that's who I expect to win.

I will want the USA to do well, but I realize it's unrealistic to expect it to win the World Cup. I will be ecstatic if they make the semifinals, happy if it makes the quarterfinals, satisfied if they make it out of the first round, and bitterly dissapointed if they are eliminated after just three games. I mean, all they'd need to do would be to come ahead Algeria and Slovenia, for gosh sakes!

Random side note: I thought Nike's 3-minute ad for the Cup was exceptionally well done. I can't imagine how much it must have cost to produce. (Link:

)

I feel similarly about the US, and I'll root for them first, but Spain has a very special place in my heart. 2 years ago my sister and I just happened to be in Paris during the UEFA EuroCup and we both randomly picked teams to root for. I chose Spain. I had no idea they would win it all! So after following them, I now know all the players and since I have no faith in USA, I hope they win it all. I also will root for England (when they're not against Spain or USA) because they're the mother country.

I got chills watching that ad. It's so funny to see all the players acting. Rooney, Donovan & Dempsey, Fabregas, Ronaldinho, and there are some faces I didn't recognize that I was clearly supposed to, so hopefully I'll become acquainted with them during the cup.

I also love watching the Dutch. They play such a wonderful style of soccer. And they're orange.

The opening starts in a couple of hours!

I am loving the fact that soccer fever is spreading here in Australia. Usually the World Cup has been enjoyed almost exclusively by European & Eastern minorities in Australia (fanatically) every four years. However since Australia did so well in the last world cup; soccer's taken on a noticeable prevalence. It's not taboo anymore to say it's a far better game than Australian Mindless Stuff they call AFL.

I've grown up in a minority group; so having relatives over during the Cup and seeing even the quietest in the family have passionate monologues aimed at the television during the games is usually what I associate the Cup with. However I think I'm more excited about it than I've been in a long time -thanks to Australia doing comparatively well last Cup has really made it feel more 'homey' I think; the whole country is on board now. And we all support our home team, right? (Even if they're not that good)

I LOVE the ads that different companies come up with during the Cup. Have you seen the Coca Cola ones this time round? (Or the Monty Python Philosopher's Match? )

I'm also excited it's going to be held in South Africa; I think they deserve to host it -I think it's the first time on the continent or something. I was lucky enough to visit the Stadium they'll be using last year and boy was it run down -I'm interested to see how they've shaped it up. Will anyone here be going to visit a match or two?

Ok, I'll stop ranting, I'm actually excited for the games to get started and the following discussions!

p.s., not sure if you all call it soccer or football; I know the proper term is football but over here soccer's the go.

I actually don't care much for soccer. And I don't even care who wins

/edit: And then there's the very dark side of it with Hooligans. Is there actually anything similar for other sports?

I am the same. I really hate playing soccer because I am really bad at it. basketball> soccer. I don't want the next world cup to be in Australia because we will have a heap of soccer supports crowding sydeny.

I would love it if we actually won the bid to host it! I think Melbourne is trying out for it, don't know about Sydney. The atmosphere would be incredible wherever the World Cup is hosted. I think it's the whole 'world' connotation -it implies total competition and universal...unity? Hehe I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say.

p.s., not sure if you all call it soccer or football; I know the proper term is football but over here soccer's the go.

I didn't know that! I thought the US were the only people who called it soccer. I think football makes more sense, but I can't help how I've been brought up and what dialect I speak.

I watched most of this morning's game between South Africa and Mexico. I honestly thought it was a little boring. Mexico was not playing particularly well and the players didn't seem to be taking risks or forcing action. They mostly played really predictably. Let's hope for some more exciting soccer in the future.

It's really hard to get behind our national team Matette. I'm glad to hear that Australia's success has triggered more interest. The US never even got out of the first 3 games last time, so there's not a lot of respect for our team here. If you watch the World Cup, it's not really because you are desperate for USA to win. But maybe they'll surprise us.

Well, the first two games were pretty mediocre, two draws and not much excitement. All the Yahoo.com articles got trolled into oblivion by people saying how boring soccer was.

Fortunately, tomorrow looks very promising. The England vs. USA game is sure to be intense, and the Argentina vs. Nigeria game will be interesting if there is an upset. Generally games are more interesting if there are upsets.

England vs. USA wasn't nearly as intense as I was hoping that it would be. Both teams seemed to be totally honed in on their defensive skills, leaving very little for the offense. USA had some awesome shots towards the end though (pity none of them connected). Oh well, pity it ended in a tie, but it was still fascinating to watch.

I'm of course rooting for the USA, but I know that it's nothing more than a pipe dream. I have always LOVED watching soccer (it's the only sport that I watch), and if the USA won the world cup, I think that the sport would gain a lot of popularity in this country. As that's not likely going to happen, I'll probably be rooting for Australia or England (although England wasn't so hot today ).

Yesterday's match between Uruguay and France was pretty good (at least better than the USA vs. England game). Both of those teams seemed to be pretty good (although it ended 0,0 45 minutes in). I had to watch it broadcast on the Spanish network though, because none of the main networks were broadcasting it. I had no idea what the commentators were saying .

Tomorrow afternoon, ABC is broadcasting the Australia vs. Germany game at two o'clock EDT. Can't wait!!!!!

The BBC has a very nifty and snazzy game tracker/predictor. My predictions are here. They are somewhat realistic and somewhat very hopeful that Spain will win it all.

Digs: Haha. I've been watching online at ESPN3 and the quality is usually terrible. We should hope the US wins just so we'll be able to watch more soccer on regular television! I'm of German heritage, so I'll root for them, but I won't mind too much if Australia wins.

The England v. USA game was exciting. I felt so sorry for Robert Green, England's goalkeeper. What a heartbreaking and embarrassing mistake. I'm glad the US scored, but it was sad. Digs is right, England will need to step it up if they want to go very far.

All the Yahoo.com articles got trolled into oblivion by people saying how boring soccer was.

The World Cup is sadly an occasion for haters to come out of their shells. I'll admit though that the first day of the World Cup was rather boring.

I would love to watch all of the games online, but we have dial-up still, so I doubt they'd be visible to cave-people-computers like ours

It's really hard to get behind our national team Matette. I'm glad to hear that Australia's success has triggered more interest. The US never even got out of the first 3 games last time, so there's not a lot of respect for our team here.

I understand what you're saying; that's how it was here for the longest time! However, the US surprised a few people drawing with England; so don't despair! I didn't catch the match, but I'm interested to see how they play. Interesting tracker, Kate, that'll be handy when I want to sound like I know something useful about each team.

As for trolling and haters; the world cup seems to have taken over the face book world; it's really funny to see (and join) the nation rivalry going on. A game's only boring if you don't watch it with the right-obsessed people. I'd love to be in South Africa right now pretending I don't have a TV just to crowd around a shop window for a different look at the game.

Tomorrow afternoon, ABC is broadcasting the Australia vs. Germany game at two o'clock EDT. Can't wait!!!!!

Yes! This is a match I'm excited for. Pity it'll be on SBS at 4 in the AM though (and I'm in the middle of exams...but...but maybe I'll get my brother to record it ) I wish we weren't playing Germany to begin with though; the first match is really the tone-setter for the rest of the games and Germany is going to be a tough nut to crack! (Apparently they had a few less-than-complimentary things to say about Australia's team, so it'll certainly be interesting to see how we respond on the playing field!)

I had to watch it broadcast on the Spanish network though, because none of the main networks were broadcasting it. I had no idea what the commentators were saying .

Ahaha that's too bad! (Although Spanish is a beautiful language to listen to; commentating is probably not the best way to listen to it, hehe) I love the guys at SBS (don't you have that station?)

In other non-world-cup soccer news, while we were watching the South Africa v Germany match I found out my little brother is trying out for our state team next week! (I think I'm a little behind the times. )

No we don't have any cable stations of any kind. We live about half a mile off the main road, and the cable company won't run a wire back to us for less than 3,000 . We'd looked into getting a dish, but that wasn't going to be practical either.

So we just get by with an antenna that picks up most majour networks.

*revives the thread*

I've watched a bit of the World Cup since I was last in here. I saw Denmark and Netherlands, Brazil and North Korea, Italy and Paraguay.

Tomorrow is one of the games I've been waiting to see: the debut of my team the Spanish. *Continues to feign loyalty to US* They'll be taking on the Swiss. Spain is considered the favorite and they claim an incredibly unfair proportion of the tournament's best players. If you watch the game, keep an eye on Torres, Villa, Xavi, Fabregas, Casillas, Xabi, well... you get the idea. I would be very sad but not surprised if Spain doesn't end up doing that well. There is a lot of pressure riding on them.