Group F

They will still qualify, as their squad is still quite distantly better than those of Slovakia and New Zealand.

I still remember Iaquinta was also deployed as a right wing in the last World Cup, and he was also terrible at it. Can't believe Lippi still puts him on the wing..

Gilardino is awful in front of goal...Pazzini is much better choice .....With this team it will be good if Italians qualify for 1/4 finals...

I'm off to watch the countdown to today's first match and the match too. Hopefully it will be a good match.

Again, many empty seats in the stadiums

Yuko said:

Again, many empty seats in the stadiums

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Too much. I don't think even the 3/4 of the seats were filled. That's a real shame for a wc.

Anyway, do you guys notice how stupid the gk of Slovakia is? He's even worse than Green, Algeria's gk and Paraguay's gk. Can't stop laughing at him really

Btw, not a boring match as I excepted, but not a great one ofc. Nice match by both sides so far, even though Slovakia has a better team there.

Yuko said:

Again, many empty seats in the stadiums

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Do you really expect slovakia vs new zealand to have a big crowd?? Iran vs Angola at 2006 was hardly a sell out either.

Denmark vs Holland yesterday had about the same attendace as the opening game.

Facts are currently this wc has a higher average attendance then germany 2006.

Since the start of the tournament, South Africa has recorded an average attendance of 53 019 while Germany stood at 52 019 for the same period.

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http://www.buanews.gov.za/news/10/10061512551001

Jnr said:

If Italy fail to get 1st place in the group they will draw Holland in 2nd round..If 1st, then it will be probably Japan(after Holland most probably) ..We all know how they toyed azzurri in Euro08 winning 3-0..

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What the hell does that have to do with 2010? They just played in a friendly match not too long ago and it ended 0-0. How does a result from 2 years ago mean anything today??

Man oh man, lets get out of the group before we start analyzing match ups in the knockout round.

oh wow. what a shocker. Best shocker for me so far.

Wow. Dramatic end there thanks to a headed goal by NZ. They didn't really deserve this point as Slovakia played a much better second half but they didn't use the chances they had. And that's what you get if you don't use the chances. In the other side NZ had only this chance lol.

btw, this is the best result Italia could think from this match. They'll take the first spot 99.99% sure.

Will be interesting to watch Paraguay v. Slovakia though, can't wait.

Poor game, both sides gave away too much possession.

NZ clearly lacked some basic passing skills and creativity, there came one cross and they scored before the game ended. NZ did look like they were stronger aerially throughout the game, and was always looking most likely to score from a header.

Pity that Slovakia couldn't hold onto their lead.

Stefan, yes in a World Cup, that is advertised for 7 years, I expect full packed stadiums.
It's not my concern if stadiums are too big this time. If they wanted to build huge stadiums, they should have adjusted the prices so that more people from the region could attend or more people from other continents.

It's very ugly that there are empty seats, even if it's a 75.000 capacity stadium .

Stefan said:

Do you really expect slovakia vs new zealand to have a big crowd?? Iran vs Angola at 2006 was hardly a sell out either.

Denmark vs Holland yesterday had about the same attendace as the opening game.

Facts are currently this wc has a higher average attendance then germany 2006.



http://www.buanews.gov.za/news/10/10061512551001

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Interesting facts there. But I still think the stadiums in a wc match should be full of attendance. Doesn't match who the hell is playing.

Here's a comment from a poster @ fbtz:

I remember someone on the forum said that he took a month off to to go to the World Cup, but cancelled because it was too expensive. Then they lowered the prices of hotels, tickets and whatnot drastically that I think it was too late to travel.

Financially, it was always going to be a problem for the host nation to fill the spots, whether or not it's Fifa's fault that a price drop was too late is anybody's guess.

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We aren't going to agree on this so I will just agree to disagree. The figures are fine for me. All the big nations games are selling out and the average attendances are good.

Yuko said:

Stefan, yes in a World Cup, that is advertised for 7 years, I expect full packed stadiums.
It's not my concern if stadiums are too big this time. If they wanted to build huge stadiums, they should have adjusted the prices so that more people from the region could attend or more people from other continents.

It's very ugly that there are empty seats, even if it's a 75.000 capacity stadium .

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both countries have a combined population of 10 million.in new zealand rugby is the most popular sport and in slovakia its ice hocky.and they wont attract so many fans from other countries because they are not well known or either teams do not have stars.so i think it was a good figure.

thorn said:

both countries have a combined population of 10 million.in new zealand rugby is the most popular sport and in slovakia its ice hocky.and they wont attract so many fans from other countries because they are not well known or either teams do not have stars.so i think it was a good figure.

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Marek Hamsik
Martin Skrtel

Did anyone notice how bloody great Montolivo was against Paraguay, this player is definitely the future of Italy.

So the (South) Africans are picky when it comes to the first World Cup they host?

The organisation was terrible in terms of marketability, there's nothing that can prove otherwise.

The USA back in 1994 didn't know what FOOTBALL was, it was a girls sport for them, and yet, they filled their stadiums regardless of the teams playing. And they didn't NEED the World Cup tbh. South Africa NEEDS the World Cup. It's something that will help them a lot.

But instead of holding onto that, the WC organisation has managed to have excessive prices for a product that is mainly followed 10.000miles away, and have managed to ruin the atmosphere for those who just want to watch through their television(by not banning the vuvuzelas or doing something to stop them in the past 1 year)

So, despite of what you think, this World Cup is a FAILURE so far. Even the players can't play under these circumstances, and if I had the chance to go to the World Cup, I would wear earplugs in the games or demand a full refund from FIFA.

Wanna check the attendances with the previous World Cup?

2006:
Costa Rica-Poland (might argue that Poles were near by)
43000/43000

Ecuador-Costa Rica
50000/50000 interesting....

Trinidad & Tobago-Sweden
62000/65000

Paraguay-Trinidad & Tobago
46000/48500

Iran-Angola
38000/44000 (slightly more than Serbia vs Holland!!!)

Ghana-USA
41000/48000

Australia-Japan
46000/48000

Croatia-Australia
52000/52000

South Korea-Togo
48000/48000 hmmm...for real? Who knows anyone from Korea or Togo?

Tunisia-Saudi Arabia
66000/66000 hahaha come on...nobody can argue that it was one of the biggest group games ever!!!

This World Cup has probably worse attendance % than 2002. Attendance in World Cup games is the last thing that should concern people, because it's obvious that each game should be viewed at full capacity.
(off topic maybe, but I see more low attendance games in this Group: Paraguay-New Zealand, Slovakia-Paraguay)

As already pointed out currently this wc has a higher average attendance then 2006. Also bear in mind there was no global recession in 2006. A lot people that may have travelled didn't because of the global financial trouble.

Also if you have an issue with attendances please open a seperate thread. There is no need to have this discussion in the different group threads.

Average attendance is not comparable to attendance/capacity %. Anyway, most people understood my point, no need for further discussion (unless knockout stage is at similar levels)

Well, after the Aussies goal, if there's a lesson to be learned in this WC it's to have a go at the keeper with even long range shots...Keepers are bobbling the ball left & right

Boateng having a very good match...Aussies continue to think they're playing Aussie Rules football