Whoop - England and the US in the same group!
I couldn’t think of anyway to skew the conversation around design so I had to stick it in here.
Any designers who are big footy/soccer fans from around the world ?
Please don’t beat us too badly. Looks like an easy draw for England. We’re hanging our hats on 1950.
I’ve been geeking out over the official match ball for the last week!
NYTimes has a sweet article on it an article on the making of it.
http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/meet-jabulani-2010-world-cup-match-ball/
oh yeah…Big into it…
Yep - that ball looks pretty sweet. I guess that it doesn’t have the little bumps that the goalkeepers were complaining about on the ball used at the Euro’s.
I’m definitely looking forward to June. (although I will quietly be cheering for England) My folks are from Liverpool so I grew up supporting the Reds… “You’ll Never Walk Alone” I think both the UK and US should progress from the group stages without too much trouble.
Excellent find Choto… I love nerding out on stuff like that. I remember a few World Cups back how I was impressing my friends with my superior knowledge of the whistles the referees were using 
Thunderer 6-60 if my memory serves me well 
I’m originally from the UK, I moved to Canada about 9 years ago, so obviously my heart is with England… and Canada are just so hopeless.
I agree that England & USA will both cruise through no problem. I’m predicting an England v Brazil final
Good thread, I’m glad someone beat me to it. I’m really excited to see the new football boots in action and even more excited to if their hype stands up to the players’ performance needs. If yesterday’s performance by Ibrahimovic in the uefa champion’s league is a prequel of whats to come, then its gonna be a one for the books.
I’m really feeling the new mercurial vapor superfly II. Check it out.
http://inside.nike.com/blogs/nikesoccer/2009/04/01/the-superfly-a-hattrick-of-innovations
In response also to the picture of the ball a while back…
I play soccer with a bunch of friends and one guy had the new ball… not a replica, the actual one and I tell you what, it moves in the air like you would not believe. I would not like to be a goalkeeper in this years World Cup, they are going to be left standing as the ball swerves from side to side, it’s going to be crazy.
The ball felt a lot like a kids plastic ball, cheap even. It has ridges molded onto outside of it that, I assume, give it this play when it moves in the air.
Mark my words… April 1st 2010… we are going to see some spectacular goals with this ball!
The exact same thing was said when the Teamgiest was released. But I do not doubt that there will be some crazy goals this World Cup
Not long now
Counting down the days
We should make a Fantasy League. Someone should get on that
from Core’s front page today…
“…[Julio] Cesar described the World Cup balls as “terrible,” comparing them with cheap ones bought in a supermarket. [Spain’s Iker] Casillas said the balls were “in an appalling condition.””
I called it!
We’re going to see a lot of gravity defying goals I think
When the Socceroos beat Denmark in the friendly a few days ago, lots of complaints about the ability to place long shots, both due to the ball and the altitude.
Australia manager Pim Verbeek refuses to join the chorus of complaints about Adidas’ new World Cup ball after his side tested it out in a 1-0 friendly win over Denmark.
The Dutchman admitted “it didn’t look good” after the match, where both sets of players struggled to adapt their long-range passing to the ‘Jabulani’ ball’s flight path.
“It didn’t look good, that’s clear,” Verbeek said. "Hopefully it will be better, (but) we’re not going to complain about field or balls.
“Those [high] balls are very difficult in this environment. We also were struggling when we had the ball.”
Indeed, varying altitude could have a further effect on the way the ball moves through the air at the tournament, though Verbeek chose to instead focus on a sound defensive performance from his men against the Danes.
"We did well defensively, playing a very compact game but we struggled when we had the ball.
“We still need time to adjust to the altitude.”
I wonder if the fact that it’s Winter in South Africa has an effect? Johannesburg’s weather forecast next week is between 0 and 18.
My bet, Argentina vs England Final, messi and rooney top players in this world cup, no match for them in this world cup.
Don’t beat us too badly? What!? Did we forget about the Confederate cup? USA over Spain to go to the finals against Brazil. Admittedly we lost to Brazil but not before we put a couple goals past them.
I think Saturday’s gonna be a great game.
I’m getting a little nervous about Saturday now.
With England’s ability to freeze up and fck themselves in the ase, combined with first game jitters and the US’s ‘got nothing to lose’ attitude… urgh, it could go so horribly wrong.
Donovan had a good run of things when he was playing at Everton before the MLS season started… he’s knows English defenders, he know’s how to beat them and he can score.
And we’ll likely have Jovy back, as well. Game on!
Edit: Sorry guess I had the link wrong. Thanks Nurb.
Bracket for all us Industrial Designers.
http://games.espn.go.com/bpredictor/en-us/group?groupID=46308
Sorry to be a bit dim…but where do I fill this out? This gave me the main page and there are 4 different types of brackets to sign up for.
I’d like to get in on the action
Ok I’m signed up!
My heart says England but my gut says Spain. Or Brazil…