ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER feast of World Cup football to enjoy. It all kicks off at 5pm as Germany take on Portugal in the Group G opener. I believe that calls for a WOOF!
Whether you’re still stuck in the office, on the way home or getting the dinner ready, we’ve got you covered.
Email us at sport@thescore.ie, tweet us @thescore_ie or with the hashtag #ScoreWCHangout, post a message to Facebook, or leave a comment below.
Let’s party.
Good evening or, as they say in Brazil (*flicks through dictionary*) — boa noite!
Welcome to Monday’s World Cup hangout. Let’s be honest, Mondays are so much easier to handle when there’s early-evening football to enjoy!
We’ll be here with you until 7pm this evening so if you fancy a chat about last night’s games (how about that Messi lad?), tonight’s games (is the Ronaldo fella really fit?) or anything else, drop us a message.
We’ve got ourselves a right doozy to start the day — it’s the Group G opener between Germany and Portugal.
They’ve played just less than 10 minutes minutes in Salvador where it’s still 0-0.
Here’s how they lined out:
GERMANY: Neuer, Boateng, Hummels, Mertesacker, Howedes, Lahm (c), Khedira, Ozil, Muller, Kroos, Gotze.
PORTUGAL: Patricio, Alves, Pepe, Veloso, Coentrao, Ronaldo (c), Moutinho, Almeida, Meireles, Nani, Pereira.
I’ll keep you posted here on all the big incidents but if you’re looking for a blow-by-blow account, join Paul Fennessy here.
GOAL FOR GERMANY! No sooner than I’ve typed that, Thomas Müller slots an early penalty to put Jogi Löw’s men a goal up.
The main talking point in TheScore.ie offices so far, among men and women alike? Raul Meireles’s beard!
Alright, alright — I know why you’re here, and it’s certainly not for my witty banter. Let’s get down to business:
We’ve got a snazzy Sony Xperia Z1 Compact smartphone to give away, thanks to our friends at Budweiser. Here’s what you have to do:
Submit a question for 1997 World Snooker Champion — and tomorrow’s very special hangout guest host — Ken Doherty. The best question, as assessed by TheScore.ie team, will win the prize.
Couldn’t be easier, right? Right?
Get your questions in via email, Twitter, Facebook or in the comment section. Ken will announce the winner when he rocks up to TheScore.ie HQ tomorrow.
Here’s the phone (or more accurately, here’s a picture of the box that the phone comes in).
Told you, snazzy.
Jack Freeman has been keeping a close eye on CR7 in the opening minutes against Germany. Here’s his take:
Doesn’t seem like Ronaldo is fully fit. He’s not really playing in a position which involves him with the ball a lot.
I suppose these tactics only really work if Ronaldo is fully fit:
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GOAL FOR GERMANY! Mats Hummels gets up between two Portuguese defenders and heads home a corner. Germany lead 2-0 with just over half an hour gone.
PEPE SENT OFF FOR BEING PEPE! It’s all kicking off in Salvador. Pepe kinda-sorta-nuzzles Muller with his big fuzzy head, which is classed as a) stupidity and b) a headbutt by most right thinking people, and he’s shown a straight red.
http://vine.co/v/MIdTOHlIvrF
Keep those questions coming for Ken Doherty. They can be football-related, snooker-related, whatever you want.
The first thing he’s going to do when he gets in is nail his colours to the World Cup mast. Wonder who has impressed him the most so far?
3-0 TO GERMANY! Müller scores his second in stoppage time. Bleak stuff for 10-man Portugal.
Paul Nicholson knows who really calls the shots in these games:
Never a red card, not even a yellow. Looks like Merkel has even more influence than we thought.
Müller joins a rake of players on two goals and Kevin Doyle reckons the 2010 Golden Shoe winner is a man on a mission:
If it was up to us, we’d get Miroslav Klose onto the pitch immediately and get him the two goals that would see him overtake Brazil’s Ronaldo as the all-time World Cup top scorer.
While Billo, Didi and Eamon pick through the carcass of that first half, let’s take a couple of minutes to look ahead to tonight’s games.
At 8pm, we’ve Iran vs Nigeria which is right around the time when I’m planning to take my imaginary dog for a walk unfortunately. Bad timing, FIFA bosses.
Then at 11pm we’ve the second game in Group G as the United States of America take on Ghana. We’ll be watching that one for sure, and not just because this video is class:
Shout out to John McLoughlin from Cork who has emailed us in with a little piece of World Cup trivia to keep the brain ticking over. He asks:
What is the smallest country (in population and size) ever to qualify for the World Cup?
I’ll see if I can find the answer but guess away in the meantime.
On John’s question, I would have thought Jamaica (1998) was a decent shout — but I warn you, my geography is appalling so I’ve no idea if that’s even in the right ballpark.
RONALDO WATCH: He’s just thumped a free-kick into the wall. That is all.
The good lads at Transfer Sources have “found” Pepe’s heatmap. I laughed anyway!
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Over in Rio the two Daniels, Welbeck and Sturridge, met the media to discuss the fallout from England’s defeat against Italy.
Sturridge spoke to his mam before kick-off on Saturday night. Her parting message?
“Mash it up, son.”
Can’t get better advice than that.
Tadhg Reddan: Think Trinidad and Tobago is smaller than Jamaica! Possibly smaller population too…
Told you my geography was woeful!
GOAL FOR GERMANY! Thomas Müller bags his hat-trick. A minute or two before, the referee waved away what looked to be a pretty strong penalty claim from Portugal. Not that it really matters at this stage…
http://vine.co/v/MIpZgUYX3dn
Here’s one to wheel out in the pub tonight (presuming you’re the kind of person who goes to the pub on a Monday night, of course!)
We’ll be wrapping things up shortly but as this game in Salvador winds down, it’s worth asking a few questions.
- We knew Germany were strong — but has the emphatic nature of their win bumped them up your list of World Cup contenders? Or is it too early to say?
- Are Portugal really that bad? Or can they still salvage the points to get out of Group G?
- How massive is tonight’s game between USA and Ghana now?
FULL TIME: Germany 4-0 Portugal
All over in Salvador. Penny for Ronaldo’s thoughts?
I’d also love to know what this man makes of it all:
STOP EVERYTHING. Rihanna has spoken.
Before we go, I’ll do a quick office whiparound for predictions on Iran v Nigeria which kicks off at 8pm.
- Paul Fennessy: Nigeria 2-0 Iran
- Fintan O’Toole: Nigeria 2-0 Iran
- Sean Farrell: Nigeria 3-0 Iran
- Eoin O’Callaghan: Nigeria 2-1 Iran
- Murray Kinsella: Nigeria 3-1 Iran
- Niall Kelly: Nigeria 4-2 Iran (seriously, it’s gonna be a classic)
Last thing before I go — a quick reminder of our competition:
We’ve got a snazzy Sony Xperia Z1 Compact smartphone to give away, thanks to our friends at Budweiser. Here’s what you have to do:
Submit a question for 1997 World Snooker Champion — and tomorrow’s very special hangout guest host — Ken Doherty. The best question, as assessed by TheScore.ie team, will win the prize.
Couldn’t be easier, right? Right?
Get your questions in via email, Twitter, Facebook or in the comment section. Ken will announce the winner when he rocks up to TheScore.ie HQ tomorrow.
That’s all for now. Thanks for your comments and for reading.
We’ll have lots of live coverage, analysis and reaction for Iran v Nigeria at 8pm (probably) and USA v Ghana at 11pm so stay with us throughout the evening.
