Have seen quite a few of the late night games. A couple of things come immediately to the fore.
Most of the players in almost every team seem so much larger, stronger and physically capable than Scotland.
The skill levels of most are way ahead in terms of simple ball control and distribution.
The level of commitment has been good throughout with only a few hiding.
I think that once again Scotland would have been valiant exiteers at the group stage only missing out at the last minute from a fluke goal elsewhere.
I would never have said the group of death contained Sweden, Mexico, South Korea and bye bye Germany!
Really disappointed with how bad Germany have been and they should never have beaten Sweden. Players have to have more pride than these guys have shown.
The news broadcasts since yesterday have been minter-tastic. Some of the reports on Germany's exit have been akin to Funster obsession with United - i.e. celebrate someone else's demise rather than any of your own team's efforts. I'm still sticking by my original post - I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this, not because Ingerlund are in any way world class (far from it), but because our usual best bets seem to be rubbish so far and they have managed to get a draw that they couldn't improve on even if they did it themselves.
And, as per, the media is starting to get unbearable.
James panic ye not. In some world cups you see favourites emerge in the opening round games but in others top teams emerge only in the knockout stages when they start to play to their full potential. I seem to recall Italy doing that several times. Have to agree about the media down south though - an injury time goal needed v Tunisia and smash a pub team and suddenly the frenzy is on again. Unbelievable Jeff.
Totally agree and being of an ABE persuasion really beginning to worry. The smug looks on the faces of the pundits, nearly all of them, about Germany's demise is cringeworthy especially Linekar (there's a face that you'd never weary of punching) and Wright (what a tube). They are acting in exactly the same way that the Scots have regarded English defeats (I admit I enjoy little better than seeing the English media led bubble burst) but the English "could never understand our attitude towards them" and thought we would be right behind them at previous tournaments. I don't dislike the English players or their current style of football, just the hyped up media attitude that makes them unbearable. I still hope in my lifetime we will see Scotland back into a major finals tournament and performing with a liklihood of perhaps getting through a group stage. If we do then no doubt the Scottish media will hype everything up like Argentina 78 but that does not make the current antics of the English press and pundits any better. I thought this time they were all going to take a laid back, we do not expect much attitude but a scraped draw against an ordinary Tunisia and a thrashing of a totally out of their depth Panama and they are back to script of putting huge pressure on their team with their we are the best side left, we can win this attitude.
I work in england a lot and was yesterday when SK scored the office went mental - folk hugging each other. I couldn't believe it. Defo a funster type obsession
A presenter on a morning show today in a pub pulled down a German flag and wiped the bar with it. If that was an Engerland flag they'd probably be calling it a hate crime.
The easy group they are in wont do them much good in the long run. The first heavyweight team they meet will absolutely shut their collective pus.