Image Heavy Round Up of the First Round on Group Games

[redfiona99]

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.


And now the reasons why I'm choosing to post these photos (ganked from bbc.co.uk)

1 - The stadium in Frankfurt before kick-off England v Paraguay, say what I will about England fans, they are at least enthusiastic.

2 - I just love the framing of this, Valdez being framed by the English players, with them just carrying on and him being annoyed with himself.

3 - Chosen just because I like how fired up the Argentine fans are, while 4 has been chosen just because it's the cutest picture ever. 5 comes close to being one of the coolest ever, it's just the look on Maradona's face, that when it comes to supporting Argentina he's not one of the greatest footballers ever, he's exactly like the rest of their supporters.

6 - again, mostly for the fun the fans seem to be having, and for the ridiculousness of their outfits.

7 - The Dutch football team engaging in what is either a goal celebration or a public orgy, I shall leave it to you to decide. (Robben, van Persie and van Nistelrooy)

More fans are to be seen in 8, the football/lucha libre crossover - I like it when my interests coincide, and even more when it looks cool like this. And more Mexican fans, who can normally be relied on to appear in some fantastic photos, appear in 9.

10 - This is the goal celebration for one of the Mexican goals, and it's the expression I imagine JK Rowling means when she says something about Riddle's face turning monsterous with delight (or however she puts it). The Mexican players are Zihna and Omar Bravo.

11 - It's an example of the new swatches of colour on the ref's shirts that I disapprove of, and the base for one of my icons.

12 - It's things like this that make me disapprove of the US team, they do things like this to Nedved. 13 is also a Czech player, but in a happier place. Seriously, I am amazed that Arsenal managed to buy Rosicky, because seriously if I were in charge of Chelski, I would have bought him rather than Ballack, but then again I've never rated Ballack as highly as most people do.

14 - One of the sights I didn't want to see - Totti limping off the pitch, because Pete knows that Italy need all the attacking options they can get. However when Italy do finally score, we get 15, another goal celebration/orgy except with more people.

And anyone that thinks that the football craziness only happens in Europe and South America, I give you evidence that world cup causes looniness everywhere - 16, poor unfortunate Japanese fans at the end of their match v Australia, 17, a large congregation of fans in Seoul, and 18, some Korean fans that are actually in the stadium. Also present is the South Korean Prime Minister doing a better job than El Presidente Blair ever does of convincing people that she gives a damn about football in photo 19.

Despite the things I say, I do like the Swiss fans, as they appear in 20, and the way they actually are quite peaceable, as are the French fans, as shown in 21, where they're enjoying themselves together. The French players in photo 22 however, are less pleasant, arguing amongst themselves, with Gallas and Thuram arguing with Zidane. This, when we were watching, lead to an interesting discussion as to what the responsibilty of the captain is - do you just want someone to look up to, or do you want someone who will tell people what to do?

Again, I like photo 23 because of the contrast between the Swiss player and Henri. 24 is an interesting save from Barthez.

While I may not be cheering for Brazil, 25 is a lovely photo of Kaka. Not that Croatia didn't do themselves and their fans proud. That being the advantage of the World Cup being in Germany, lots of fans find it quite easy to get to, especially Eastern European ones, like this set of Croatian fans (26). Not that there's aren't plenty of Brazilian fans too (27), who are welcome everywhere.

I have no idea what's going on in 28, but it looks interesting. I do know what's wrong with Voronin in 29, he's just missed a shot.

I'm quite fond of 30, not just because Puyol is one of the few Spanish footballers I actually like, but because it shows the brotherhood between the players. There's also a brotherhood between the fans, if we ignore some of the spikier match ups, like 31, a shot of Tunisian and Saudi Arabian fans enjoying themselves together.