Here Today... Gone To Hell!

In case anyone's interested, they are drawing the team groups for next summer's World Cup tonight.

I really hope England do NOT draw in the same group as Brazil. I'm not even sure if this is possible - are England seeded...?? :confused:





Edit: New subject. /jarmo

POT ONE (SEEDS)
Germany (hosts)
Brazil (holders)
Argentina
England
France
Italy
Mexico
Spain

POT TWO
Australia
Angola
Ghana
Ivory Coast
Togo
Tunisia
Ecuador
Paraguay

POT THREE
Croatia
Czech Republic
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Sweden
Switzerland
Ukraine

POT FOUR
Iran
Japan
Saudi Arabia
South Korea
Costa Rica
Trinidad & Tobago
USA

Special pot: Serbia & Montenegro



/jarmo

Ah good.

So England cannot draw Brazil or France. That's a relief

Trinidad And Tobago and Serbia made it?? But Scotland did'nt?  :'(



I hope England get the group of death  :yes:

Let's take a guess...

Spain will have Paraguay, Poland & USA

It's great that they made us seeds, but in all honesty we haven't done anything yet. We may have a better FIFA quotient, but we are yet to win a world cup. The question is, will Spain go any further than the quarters this time?

I hope Ecuador wins the group ;D
Now in real life I will team once again for England  : ok:

Yeah, they had to qualify by playing play off games against Slovakia. 

I don't expect them to go any further than quarter finals.


I hope the Netherlands gets an "easy" group...  ;D



/jarmo

Ecuador Vs Germany Group A  :nervous:
Also Poland  ;D Even though Poland beat the shit out of us last month in a friendly match
NOw Costa Rica, shit next month was going to be a friendly match in my city with them but I think thats not possible  :-\

That's a fairly good draw I guess.  Sweden will give us a tough game as always but we should be able to get through it.

Most of the groups only have one very strong team.  I'm looking forward to Holland/Argentina, that should be a cracker!

We have such an easy world cup group - god bless the weak football nations that clog up the world cup and mean its the quater finals before we see anything approaching good football :confused:

Nah you English are dead! Mon The Swedes!

GROUP A


Germany
Costa Rica
Poland
Ecuador


GROUP B


England
Paraguay
Trinidad & Tobago
Sweden


GROUP C


Argentina
Ivory Coast
Serbia & Montenegro
Holland


GROUP D


Mexico
Iran
Angola
Portugal


GROUP E


Italy
Ghana
USA
Czech Republic


GROUP F


Brazil
Croatia
Australia
Japan


GROUP G


France
Switzerland
South Korea
Togo


GROUP H


Spain
Ukraine
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia

Got to be happy with that, could not of gone much better for us, now if that's not an easy group i don't know what is...

My boys from Trinidad are gonna fuck you up!  ;D

Group C is the Death Group...Good luck jarmo? :P

I'm very happy with our group; Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia..I think this is the easiest one.? : ok:

You must be joking. England will play a draw with Sweden, struggle with Paraguay and win over Trinidad & Tobago.






I know.? :nervous:

Holland should beat each one of them, but that's just in theory....



/jarmo

If your to believe all the press about us having even half a chance of winning then a group like that SHOULD be a walk over, fine it probably won't be but it should be.  It could of been much worse, we managed to avoid the likes of Holland thank God....

I don't think England is a favorite. Yes, England won 1 world cup but that was 40 years ago? Since then they've done nothing...Just like Spain. Always get seeded but then lose in the quarters, same as England.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike England, as a matter of fact, They have a very solid team this time, but media in our countries puts too much pressure on our teams when there shouldn't be.

Humm, not so strong for us, brazilians. That's cool, but I really hope Croatia isn't as strong as in '98.

I thought we were 2nd seeds, and looking at the odds in the paper we are one of the favoured teams.  Obviously everyone knows deep down Brazil will win...

I really don't want to think like that. Last time we did this, we lost for France... :nervous:

England isn't even the best team in Europe. That would be Holland.? ;D

I don't have anything against England either, but you have to be realistic. It seems like the English press and the fans always have huge expectations on the team. They have some great players, like many other nations, but you need to work as a team.

Greece managed to win a championship because they worked as a team.

That seem to be a problem for many teams in a championship, among them Spain.



/jarmo

Yeah but that's the thing we have the talent to do well if we work as a team, in all fairness we won't win the competition but i still believe we should get through our group.....we're not that bad? :nervous: are we?

Edit: Are we meant to discuss WC2006 stuff in here or the footie thread, i just noticed there's conversations in both on it...

We meet again..

Sweden are happy with this group, T & T will pick up 3 defeats, Paraguay might be a little tricky and England mostly means at least 1 point to us.

Too bad Swe-Eng will be played i Cologne, where the arena has a capacity of about 40'000 in attendence. It would be a lie to call the chances of picking up a ticket for that macth "It's So Easy".

England and Spain will both advance. Spain has the easier group, but they will both pass. England will probably pass with 4 or 5 points as they usually do.

Talented players? yes, Lampard, Gerrard, Owen...but maybe is not enough. Spain has a very talented team as well, but we'll see if that puts us up there.

I don't think the African teams are so dangerous as people believe. People are afraid of them cause God knows what they can do. In all honesty, african teams are overrated. I've been hearing since 1994 world cup in the USA than the African teams were gonna be a major force. So far, none of than has happened. Senegal reached the quarters or semis 4 years ago but that's the farthest an african team has ever gone.


Edit.- I think we should talk about the world cup here. The other footie thread is more focused on the Premier league more than anything.

Dude.....

You forgot Rooney....

He's the guy the whole of the media over here is pinning our hopes on.

At least Ecuador has Poland which we played before and we know the rival, it would've been cool to play against costa rica but that's not gonna happened, and Germany is too confident they will kick our butt but I think we can win Germany ;)

You forgot Ferdinand, Terry, Campbell, Ashley Cole and your captain, David Beckham.

England have the best 11 at this world cup, in my view even better than Brazil, but they can't play together! Or maybe they can, but Sven doesn't know how to make them play together.

There shall be no problem for Mexico to get into the next round...  how?s Angola playing?

I don't understand why most of you don't think we are good enough to win this.  We are definately one of the top 5 teams in the world, in my opinion we're the second best.  There's nothing wrong with getting excited about a World Cup, y'all should have a bit more optimism.  After all, if the country doesn't believe we could win it then how are the players meant to believe it?

England have the second best team in the tournament - and thats from a Scotsman. They are good enough to win the whole thing.

However, Sven is so good at taking brilliant players and turning them in to shite that they wont. I hope.

No way is England better than Holland!  :P




/jarmo

Yes way, dude.  I'd say the top 5 teams in the world is

Brazil
England
Holland
Argentina
Spain

I think the bad thing of Brazil is the Defense only roberto carlos and lucio are quite great the rest is just not at the level of maldini or Rio Ferdinand.

Brazil will always do well. First of all cause they always have a good team, have the most popular players and cause they will sell out any stadium. In the end, the world cup is a massive income machine and the more money generates, the better. The furthest Brazil advances, the more FIFA makes.

Barring injuries, England could easily win this world cup. I know every major competition for the last 8 years or so we've been saying that, but seriously, look at it like this.

Name a better left back in the world than Ashley Cole.
Name a better central defense than: Terry, Campbell, Carragher, King, Ferdinand, Woodgate.
Name a better midfielder than Steven Gerrard (past or present...).
Name a single team -  international or club - that Wayne Rooney wouldn't instantly command a first team place.

People go on about how we need a holding player in the centre of midfield. That's just bullshit. Lampard and Gerrard would be any managers dream partnership. I can't think of two attacking players who cover more ground than them, and get back when the need to. Let's not forget Steven Gerrard managed to win the European Cup with Djimi Traore in it. Come on people, that's more impressive than Jeses rising from the dead.

Maybe we haven't got as much depth to our attacking play as Brazil, but we have, without a doubt, the best defense in the world. Finally we've got a goalkeeper who can catch, and has a decent haircut. With Lampard and Joe Cole on their current form, I don't think theres a team in the world that we couldn't beat.


/rant

P.S. does anyone else think Ronaldinho looks like a horse?

holland is an exciting team. they have become a popular pick to win it.

many are saying the US got a tough draw. i'm not familiar with the teams in their group. is italy a top 5? top 10? and what about the czech republic and ghana?

i'd be interested to hear everyone's predictions for who will come out of this group.

Agree on all points, including Ronaldinho

However Rooney would never be included in any team of mine - thats not because of his ability/or lack thereof - but i think he's a truly disgraceful human being and would not play him due to that.

Italy has won 3 world cups & always a favorite in these kind of tournaments; they are top 3. Italy plays the ugliest football (with Germany) but the manage to reach the semis / final everytime.

Czech Replublic played the Eurocup final a while ago. Strong team as well.

Ghana, don't know anything about them.

So yeah, the US has a tough group



Some of you guys need a a reality check. Quite honestly, how many of you can name 4 players of any team other than England and Brazil? Saying England is the second best team is hilarious, however, this was even funnier  Name a single team -  international or club - that Wayne Rooney wouldn't instantly command a first team place.. I could give you Barcelona, Real Madrid, Milan AC, Juventus, Chelsea...that's 5 right there.

Some of you remind of me of all of us here in Spain thinking we are going to win the World Cup. I'd love for that to happen, but quite frankly, I don't see it. Also, we always lose in the quaters (same as England) despite having a great team each time, so I tried not to get too excited.

i still can't believe mexico got a #1 seed. and ultimately an easy draw.

Rooney would get in Chelsea's team easily - it's not like Drogba would keep him out! :hihi:


That's easy.  I could do that for Holland, Italy, Argentina, Czech Republic, France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and probably loads more if I had more time to think.  I've compared them and still think England have one of the best teams, it's really not that mental.

That, my friend, would be the exact point.

If someone says to a random guy on the street, name a basketball player...you say Michael Jordan.
If someone says name a boxer...you say Mike Tyson or Ali.
If someone says name a golfer....you say Tiger Woods.

Now what do those people have in common. They are at the complete top of their sport.

Try and find someone in Italy who follows football who doesn't know who Steven Gerrard is.
Now go to Liverpool and try and find someone who knows who Luca Toni is.

Real? Becuase they're doing so well?
Barca? Because Samuel Eto'o is better than Rooney?
Milan? Because Vieri and Inzaghi are soooo in their prime. And Gilardino is NOT better than Rooney.
Juve - Maybe on Trezeguets' current form, but lets be honest, how long will that last?
And, well, like Danny said...Didier Drogba?

And I didn't say we were the second best team, I said we were the best.

i dont find it that unnusual, concidering in the N. American division Mexio pretty much owns it, save for America. Quite honestly, no other team in the division can even do aything about it. The centeral american teams are too poor to be able to spend heavily on thier soccer program and Canada can't play for shit.

the US should be ranked higher than mexico. i'm nto saying the US deserved  a top seeding, but if they wanted to give one to a NA or CA team, it should have been the US.

we have surpassed them IMO. our W over them in the last world cup was a major point in US soccer. 

Today's tasks:

Name a better left back in the world than Ashley Cole. Gianluca Zambrotta
Name a better central defense than: Terry, Campbell, Carragher, King, Ferdinand, Woodgate. If you're only picking two from a WC-country, I'll say that Nesta-Cannavaro is a better central defense than any combination from England.
Name a better midfielder than Steven Gerrard (past or present...). Past: Maradona, Zico, Matthaus...... Present: Lampard, Deco, Emerson.....
Name a single team -? international or club - that Wayne Rooney wouldn't instantly command a first team place. Can't decide if I'll choose Bar?a, Chelski or Juve.

It's So Easy...

We are talking player by player here...Ronaldo, Raul, Zidane,...some of these maybe old to you but I'll take them anyday before Rooney.



Obviously! Are you gonna tell me Rooney is better than Etoo? A guy who scored 25 goals last year, who currently is on 16 (just on the spanish league) and who's nominated to the FIFA world player of the year along with Lampard and Ronaldinho??His credentials are enough...don't you think?? Yes my friend, Etoo is way better than Rooney.

You forget sombody there...Just an unknown player who happened to win "France Football magazine" best player of the year trophy last year; Shevchenko. Yeah, Rooney is better than Schevchenko? ::)


I just love the way you measure things...you talk about how Real Madrid is playing now and now you say Trezeget is good but only because he is in shape. I wonder if Rooney is always in good shape. He sure is at the bar...he'd beat the shit out of Ronaldinho drinking those pints!



Drogba happens to play in the premier's best team. He may no be as known as Rooney, but surely he's proved to be more effective than him.


Rooney couldn't even win the trophy for best european player under 21 years old. That trophy was awarded to a Barcelona player, Leo Messi. Do you know who that guys is?

This guy is 18 years old and yes, appearantly, he is better than Rooney as well.  :o


http://elentorno.com/noticia/23432/

I'll give you that, that's true. So he's the second best left back in the world...oh well...

Cannovaro is so incredibly slow. Both are past there prime. Italy have had the best defence in the world for the past 10 years but there is no way they are as good as they were.

Maradona, Zico and Matthaus...ok maybe, but being second to Maradona is hardly a bad thing?
But Lampard, Deco and Emerson though??? Are you on drugs??? :rofl:

Well that's fair enough. Ronaldo was never the same after his injury. Raul has never, ever performed for his country and Zidane is waay too old. Robinho is better than all three of them. But I'd still take Rooney.

No, he's not.
Personally, in a league where Diego Forlan can be top scorer, I have to say the defences must all be shit. I couldn't possibly with good conscience say that 25 goals is that much of an achievement in la liga. Diego Forlan. Come on!! Put Eto'o in the premiership and see how many he scores.

Yes, Milan play two strikers. And no, I would not say Rooney is yet Schevchenko's has been. But there is not a chance in hell he wouldn't start. No way.

Yes, I know who Lionel Messi is. Yes, he's fucking incredible. No, he's not as good as Rooney.

........... :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Paolo Maldini is also better than Cole, but third he is..   congrats...


Even if you think Cannavaro is slow you can never deny that John Terry is even slower. Even if you think they've had their prime time, they're still better than any combination from England.


Second to Maradona is your way to watch football. Fourth at the moment after L, D & E is my. Personally, I think you're the one on drugs if you laughs at it.

Miz wrote:

WHAT?? ?? ??  :o

He?s the top scorer in the HISTORY of Spain!!

What in the world has Rooney proved so far?...

I can't understand why you are so infatuated with Rooney. You must be a diehard Man U. Fan because everything you say is senseless.

You say Etoo woulnd't score much in the Premier...well, there's not really any way we can figure that one out, can't we? Etoo has come 3rd in the FIFA player of the year, where was Rooney? probably at the bar drinking a few pints.

How many goals has Etoo scored this year in the champions league and how many has Fooney, ejem..Rooney scored?

Your comparission between the liga and the premier is ridiculous. Just becaue Forlan scored the most goals last year doesn't really tell anything about or defenses. Forlan was a bench player in Man u, he is the main forward in Villareal and a key player along with Riquelme. Look at Toni Luca, the guys scores 17 goals in like 15 matches cause he is the biggest offense priority. Same as Forlan in Villareal.

By the way, Owen was top scorer in the Premier 4 years ago and he couldn't even start in Real Madrid. Truth is, they really never gave the guy a chance, but same goes to Forlan in Man U.

Yeah, so Messi is not as good as Rooney. Apperantly, there are some people who do think is better. You, biased Man U fan, would even think Rooney is better than Ronaldinho.

There's no point in discussing with anyway. It doesn't matter what I say, you'll still believe Rooney is God anyway.

Who will be the surprise of this edition?
I hope Ecuador gives a great performance

Well I hope Brazil wins again, the best latin american team with the best player of the world Ronaldinho, the best futbol player Ive seen, even better than Pele and Maradona in my opinion.

Well, to be honest, the earliest memory I have from World cups is the final on '94 were brazil played against Italy...and, since then, every world cup's final has Brazil against any other team, it's becoming a tradition  :hihi:

Hope the 2006's final be as easy as it was in 2002 when We beat germany :peace:

Yeah sad but true, the best team is the brazilian and the best players are also from that country. 

well if you put it like that in the last years Brazil and Germany were on final
86 - Argentina - Germany
90 - Germany - Argentina
94 - Brazil - Italy
98 - France - Brazil
02 - Brazil - Germany

I put the first as the one who won the championship

That's a horrible fact.  I really hope we knock out Brazil in the quarters. : ok:

A few things...

1.  You can't leave out Roberto Carlos, so I guess Cole is the 4th best left back...

2.  Rooney has earned all this praise he is given, he consistently works hard and plays well.  He has already made a huge impact on an International tournement once so he is known and praised all around the world, not just on the back of our tabloids.  Rooney is absolutely our key player in this world cup; he's the kind of player who could do something special just when we really need it and he gives our attack the fear element because defenders shit themselves whenever he's got the ball.  Without Rooney, Man Utd would crumble to pieces but with him they are getting an annoyingly good run together - he is definately worthy of the hype.

3.  Eto'o is a really good striker and he would do brilliantly in the Premiership.  I think it's unwise to compare him to Rooney because they are very different kinds of strikers but i'd rather have Rooney in my team I think, if only because Rooney is still young and will probably get even btter.  Very close one, though.

I really though England had a great chance to win last cup in korea, but somehow rivaldo, ronaldo and ronaldihno make some mischief  :hihi: , what the hell happened to seaman?  :nervous:

Well, you can try  : ok:

But I'm pretty confident that we are gonna win this cup too, if we won 2002's cup, with that crappy team, we can won in 2006 with this kick ass team!!!!

And then, when we win the 2006 soccer world cup, i am gonna scream: "IN YOUR FACE, ARGENTINA!!!" :hihi:

Why do you think Brazil lost the final of the 98 cup, when they were better than France. I think there was something dark in the middle.

It's possible I guess - the way Brazil just crumbled in the final like that was a bit wierd.  I think it had more to do with Ronaldo falling sick right at the last minute, that probably shook the team up a lot just before the game.

Hey, what if Ronaldo was poisoned...  :o

I think holland or Croatia should've won that World Cup

I think that's why they didn't play all they could on that game...actually, it seemed that Brazil's wasn't on field that day...imagine the situation: You are about to play the most important game of your life, and the best guy on your team has some problems right before the game? That fucks with enyone's mind!!


A lot of people still think that was the reason, and I'm one of them!!

Just like in 1990, when Brazil played against Argentina and them put some weird drug on the water's bottle and just gave to some brazilians players during the game...those fuckers! :rant:

I dont know about that specific case man, but it might be possible, remember the trouble Brazil had with Argentinian football players, poisoning water and then give it to one of the Brazilian players, Branco, being Belardo the D.T. couch/ trainer, its sad how sick those people were.

No, they are not sick, they just borned in Argentina :hihi:

Cheers :beer:

I read an article on Bilardo a while back. He must be the most competitve coach Football has ever seen. The things he did, moral or unmoral, legal opr not legal, to win matches were unbelieveable.

Brazil and Argentina's rivalry is even worst than Madrid and Barcelona's. Even on friendly matches, both teams hate each other to death. I believe we are gonna see a match up between these two next year, maybe in the semis...

Yeah, we HATE each other...and even a silly jo-key-po between a brazilian and someone from argentina can end in fight, or even death!

And that's all because they think maradona was the greatest soccer player ever, he is better then Pel? and stuff like that...no one is better then Pel?!!! He is like Beatles and Maradona is like Oasis :hihi: :rofl:

I think you are right man, Maradona is the Oasis of Futbol, compared with Pel?, maybe he became more famous for "the hand of god" -- la mano de Dios -- what a ridiculous situation, and just remember what happened days ago, when he was arrested in a Brazilian Airport, then the guy denies it all, thats a typical Maradona behavior, acts like a stupid and then pretends that nothing really happened.

ahahhahaahahhahaha!!

Well even better than pele is garrincha, come on guys!
Agree with Charlie, that hand of god is nothing, is just a big deception on futbol, that means that you can win a game by cheating and that is not fair.

but thats selective memory. in that very same game he scored as good a goal as you'll ever see.

I think Ronaldinho has scored better goals than Maradona and Pel? together.

so is that your way of saying you disagree?

bottom line, we beat them in the last world cup. and we've beaten them on a number of other occasions as well.

i think there's a reason you chose not to actually make a point. the truth hurts sometimes. and the truth is that while we were outplaying germany in the second round in 2002, mexico was watching us on TV.

Wow..we had a little fight here between an american and a mexican...

Bring it on guys!  :P

Well first of all, I'm not even Mexican, I'm Brazilian...

Second, I thought it didn't need a reply. But instead I'll ask you a question: Which Championship has the USA National Team EVER won?

can't live in the past.

the us are my dark, dark horses for the world cup.

You are damm right  : ok: great goal

Thats right, but never in a world cup, so if he do any wonder in the world cup, thats gonna be defenitely the best.

i'm not saying the U.S. is gonna win the world cup, or that they should be ranked in the top 5 or anything. but they are a team that has consistently improved over the last 15 years.

and i think they can be a dangerous team to face in 2006. the U.S. has no pressure on them, since they still are not expected to win, and there's not a ton of interest from fans at home. we have a great goalie and are very well coached.

in 2002, we defeated heavily favored portugal in the first round, 3-2. then went on and beat mexico handily in the second round, 2-0. we lost to germany 1-0 in the quarters, ?but we dominated them - we had a ton of scoring chances but khan robbed us. he was phenominal.

and IMO, we have surpassed mexico.

- mexico lost in the second round in each of the last 3 world cups (including the loss to the U.S. in 2002).
- they have only made the quarterfinals twice in their history (both on home territory).
- the U.S. finished ahead of them in recent qualifying
- the U.S. won the Gold Cup.

IMHO, well, USA is a very underrated team, they have improved in the past years like Sandman said, and maybe the problem is that no team is really worried about playing against the States in Futbol, and if there is no fear there is no respect.

The US have a decent team although an England team mainly full of reserves made them look very bad over the summer. If they get out of the group this time round then they should be very pleased with their performance.

As for the winners of the World Cup? Well, Brazil are head and shoulders above the rest of the world in terms of their attacking players and their defence is better than it has been in the past. If Brazil play to their potential they'll win the World Cup very easily.

Italy have a good chance of doing well as do the Dutch if Van Basten can keep the squabbles in the squad to a minimum between now and July. However, England could do the best out of the European teams and be the team closest to Brazil if they actually fulful their potential. Rooney is a very special player (the best we've had since Gazza at Italia 90) and if our midfield of Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard and Joe Cole can all produce the form they produce for their clubs then we'll have a great chance of doing well.

I can understand why people have been writing off England's chances... appalling performances in the latter part of the group stages made the team look very average. However, I happen to believe that the embarrassments against Northern Ireland and Denmark and the frankly dire performance againt Wales have actually helped the squad get their act together. The performance against Argentina whilst hardly convincing was a step in the right direction and if we stay injury free we could peak at the finals in Germany.

Whatever happens I'll be in Germany at the England group matches (as well as one of the Brazil matches) and however much potential I think this England team has I can't see anyone beating Brazil if they get into fifth gear during the summer. Ronaldinho and Kaka are both unbelievable players that no other country can come close to matching.

And to those who have been criticisinv Rooney - he didn't win the FIFPRO Young Player award by accident. Add the 2nd place Lampard got in the World Player of the Year award and Lampard and Gerrards "podium" finishes in the Ballon D'Or and we have a stronger squad than going into any World Cup since 1990.

Agree with sandman there, actually i cheered for USA las world cup, but it was a pity that Germany won 1 to 0, I really think USA could be a great surprise.  : ok:

Among the weak ones, Id like Iran to be the surprise of this cup.

What the hell does that mean?

You are saying Messi didn't deserve it?

Look, I don't have anything against english players but some of you need to observe other championships as well. Just because Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney...play in the premier, doesn't mean they are better than any other players who play in any other championships.

What did Gerrard do this year? Yes, his team won the UEFA champions league, but had Liverpool lost in the quarters, Gerrard wouldn't even have finished in the top 20.

You answered your own question there didn't you?

What did Gerrad do this year? Captain the team that won the highest regarded club tournament in the world.

We'll see what England can do this summer but I'm quietly confident which makes a change since we've been weak since 1990.

I think messi is just discoverd but Rooney since last season is proving that he is good  : ok:

No doubt about it Messi is a great player and playing with Ronaldinho at Barca will only help him get better but he as good as Rooney at the moment in my opinion. Maybe in a few years he'll be better but at the moment Rooney is a better player. Week in, week out Rooney is running the show for Man Utd.

I think Argentina are more dependant on Riquelme anyway, if he plays well Argentina play well.

I do agree on that dreafully for Argentina thats bad, cause is Riquelme dependent, I only hope they can manage a well replacement for Riquelme

That's a team accomplishment. He was just a part of the team. He didn't win the cup himself, did he?

The reason why that was brought up is because France Football tend to give the trophy to a player whose team has done well in the Champions league or if his nation team has done well in the Euro or World cup. This year though it was far too obvious that Ronaldinho was miles ahead from anyone else.

One of the world cup winner's players, will win the France Football trophy next year.

You obviously didn't watch the 2nd half!  :hihi:

If you watch the final then you will notice that when Gerrard is playing in the holding role in the first half he was dreadful and Kaka ran riot. In the 2nd half Benitez brought on Hamann allowing Gerrard to move further forward and he ran the show whilst Hamann kept Kaka in check.

Gerrard had a fantastic season last year... no doubt about it. Ronaldinho was miles ahead of everyone but Stevie G was brilliant too (and before you ask, no I'm not a Liverpool fan, in fact I hate Liverpool!)


That's true but then again it'll probably be Ronaldinho again... let's be honest!  :rofl:

It seems to me that you are in actual fact fairly anti-English and the Premier League (which by the way I happen to think is 2nd to La Liga) and the only way you defend your opinions is by claiming that English people don't know anything about any other leagues and are therefore ignorant when in actual fact you have no proof of this because all that has been discussed in detail is the English team and the Premier League.

You're more than welcome to start a debate (notice I said debate not argument) about any other League/nation in the world. My main vice is that I spend far too much time watching football (in fact I pretty much watch any match on TV!), so being told by someone who doesn't know me that I only know about the Premier League seems rather foolish to me.

Pretty much yes.

I watched the Liverpool Champion's League Winner's DVD last night. By far and away livepool's most important player throughout the tournament. If it wasn't for him they wouldn't have got out of the group stages and if it wasnt for him they would've lost the final.

For all the people outside Sweden who're saying their teams will win, here in Sweden some are actually believing Sweden is capable of winning.

That's a scary thought....  :nervous:





/jarmo

I actually had a bet on Sweden winning Euro 2004! I thought they were quite a good side at the time, however whilst other teams have improved Sweden appear to have gone backwards.

I'm with you!! : ok:

Sweden will always be a hard match for Brasil, IMO.

Yeah, but not as hard as Norway! We've never beat them at world cups!!

Even though Brazil and Argentina has a huge fight to see who is better and all thi shit, beat them is like take candy off a kid's mouth.....except when the game is on Argentina, then it's as hard as take a candy outta a fat kid's hands, I mean, it's impossible  :hihi:

hehehe, that was funny, but I think Brazil is a harder team to defeat.

Wrong impression. Actually, if anything, it'd be the opposite. I'm half english myself so I have no ulterior motive to critize the Premier League or the english players. I've just expressed my opinion about Rooney and about England's UK team. I've also replied to some other poster who said Rooney would start in any team in the world. I thought that was a bit too much and replied. Statements as such, lead me to think that person doesn't watch any other league on TV cause they are so biased. I gave that poster an evidence in which I based my opinion on whether Eto'o is a better player than Rooney. Then, I brought Messi into this discussion cause he was selected (ahead of Rooney) the best european younger player of the year.


Are you kidding me? If I start a debate about German / french / spanish football leagues two thinks could happen:

1.- That thread would have no replies. Most of the posters who post on the other football thread talk about the Premier League. I don't think they give a shit about other european leagues. As a matter of fact, They sure don't watch anything but The premier league.

2.- That thread would be merged onto the other one and will be lost gone forever.

Sweden vs England = Draw.

It's always that way.

Ukraine will be a tough competitor, watch out.

I wasnt aware of what Countries were in the coup, until the day before yesterday when I casually saw it on tv. hehe

Come ukraine?? Sheva, Rebrov, kaladze (<---- I think) its gonna be tough

Let's express your thoughts, group by group..

We'll start with group A, and I'll start:

First of all, Costa Rica will be an easy match for the other three. Germany should move on without playing well, cause they're Germany.
Poland and Ecuador will have a hard fight to move on with Germany. Southamerican teams are mostly underrated, but I think Polen will make it cause in one country their rated as Europe's second best team when finishing second in the group.   ;D

mmm Swede Child I read your forecast and even when I dont like it for Ecuador, I think thats what is going to happen.

You dont like Ecuador or you dont like the group that Ecuador is in?  :nervous:
Anyway I think Ecuador is gonna have a good participation, lets hope Im right

No Mr Dick I meant that,  I dont like the situation where Ecuador is in right now... with two of the strongest teams of Europe.

Germany and Poland two of the strongest teams in Europe? I guess you're meaning they're with two of the strongest inte the same group, and that is totally wrong.

Germany is like nr 5 or 6 in Europe, mostly because they're the host of this tournament.
Poland is among least good teams from Europe in the WC, maybe the least good.

WADAFU!  Here weve got another perception of those two teams.

once england dont win il be happy

Well here we only have the perception that Germany is very difficult specially for us that is our 2nd World cup, but I think if we have a good strategy we can get a good result  : ok:
Poland is winnable and Costa Rica too, but both are very difficult teams specially cause they have more participations in previews world cups, so I think is a lets wait and see what happens.

I haven't been watching the England games of late.. has Joe Cole been playing on the left?

Last world cup I was crying out for him to come on, on the left side. He isn't the perfect crosser etc but he is naturally suited and looks comfortable, he can dribble and is lively. Seems he is playing really well at Chelsea and finally maturing. We may have finally found a good fit for the role?

With Lampard and Gerrard in the middle and Rooney up front, I am really excited for England this time around.

Hope Beckham on the right hits some peak form for the World Cup. He played his best football at Man Utd linking up perfectly with Neville on the RHS, providing inch perfect crosses before he decided to think he is a central midfielder.

Joe Cole has been doing pretty well on the left, he's definately my first choice in that position.  That way, Sean Wright Phillips can come off the bench in the second half if we need a bit of pace.

After the scandal, I can't see england players respecting their coach.....

Go spain!!!

Yup, can't really find Svennis' sense of logical thinking and with no suspicion tells some Sheik secrets about England players.

But the anglosaxian journalist-method really stinks.

U.S. is No. 7 in FIFA rankings
 
January 18, 2006

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) -- The U.S. national soccer team advanced one place to No. 7 Wednesday in FIFA's rankings for January.

Brazil maintained the top spot it has held since July 2002, a month after it won its record fifth World Cup. The next three teams also were unchanged -- Czech Republic, Netherlands and Argentina. France shared fifth with Spain.
 
Mexico, which was tied for fifth last month, dropped into a tie for seventh with the U.S. England remained ninth, ahead of Portugal.

The next 10 places were almost the same: Turkey was No. 11, followed by Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Japan, Greece, Germany, Uruguay, Iran and Croatia. Only Germany changed places, dropping to 17th from a tie for 16th.

Among teams in the top 20, only Turkey, Denmark, European champion Greece and Uruguay failed to qualify for the 32-nation World Cup, which begins in June 9 in Germany.

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-fifarankings&prov=ap&type=lgns

Moving on to Group B:

I'm leaving my bet blank, can't speculate when it comes down to Sweden. But I dare to say that T & T won't win the whole competition.

What do you think, is there an open road for England, how will Sweden do, how underrated are Paraguay?

Paraguay is seriously underrated there, but here in Latin America I must tell you that they are considered as one of the best teams, this is the way they are rated:

1.- Brazil
2.- Argentina
3.- Paraguay

Yeah Paraguay should be taken really carefully cause their defense is the base of the team and they are know for leaving every single drop of sweat in the field.  : ok:

Sadly Chilavert is retired now... damn he was rough as a dog.

Yeah but I didnt like the guy too arrogant, thank to humble people he got kicked sand in his face a lot of times

Does someone have a direct link to the latest FIFA world rankings?

http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/index/0,2548,All-Jan-2006,00.html

Was it too hard to check out FIFA's homepage?  ;)

Interesting list. How come Mexico and USA are at shared 7th position, while Italy for example is only 12th?

mmm I dont like that list...

Yeah that list is always so INCORRECT. I'd like to know the criteria they follow to rank each country. It blows me away that Spain's been in the top 5 year after year but we are yet to win something. We've haven't made it to the semis in more than 20 years!

Funny how we are always ahead of Germany, Italy, France, even Brazil, but we never win shit and they do. ::)

Strange doublepost Ignatius   :D

Back to group B,  what are your thoughts?

haha,..yeah thanx for that.

Group B should really be a no brainer; England and Sweden should advance. However, Paraguay is always a strong contender in this qualifying system. I remember in 98 Paraguay kicked us out. T & T are not a threat. But watch out with Paraguay, if England or Sweden need a victory in the last round against Paraguay to advance to the last 16, they may not get it.

Sweden & England play each other last round of group stage so your theory has already fallen.  :P

Eriksson to vacate post after World Cup

Sven-Goran Eriksson is to step down as England head coach after the World Cup.

The sensational announcement followed a day of intense negotiation between the Swede and Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick.


The FA confirmed that once England have competed in the World Cup finals in June and July, Eriksson will part company with the national side, two years before his contract was due to expire.

It follows successive weekends of damaging revelations in the News of the World, who duped Eriksson and his advisers into believing an undercover reporter was a rich Arab sheikh who wanted to give the Swede a new job.

A statement on the FA's official website said: 'The FA can confirm that Sven-Goran Eriksson will leave his post as England head coach after the World Cup in Germany.

'FA chief executive Brian Barwick reached agreement with Sven and his advisors after discussions today.'

Barwick said: 'The FA and Sven felt it was important to clarify his future. This is for the benefit of everyone connected with English football, especially the fans.

'There has been so much speculation surrounding this matter in recent weeks and months, it was important to resolve it now.

'This is the right outcome and I would like to thank Sven and his advisors for their tremendous co-operation.

'As I have said before, our main objective is giving Sven and the England team the best chance of achieving success at the World Cup.

'Sven is definitely the man to lead us in Germany.

'Now is the time for everyone to get behind the team as we prepare for a tournament that presents us with a genuine chance of success.'

Eriksson said: 'I am happy that we have reached this agreement and can now continue our preparations for the World Cup.

'I know that I have the full support of the players and the FA and it is important to stress to everyone just how committed I am to achieving success this summer.

'I care passionately about this job and I want everyone to know that. I have always enjoyed the incredible support of the fans and I know how important they will be to us in Germany.

'This summer is the culmination of everything we have been working towards over the last five years. Let's go and win the World Cup.' 

www.soccernet.com

Because they're part of America. Therefore, while teams like England and the like are playing 85% of what makes up the best teams in the world in the Europeon Cup, the American teams are able to desimate what little resiliance they come up against...

Bear that in mind of who they meet in qualification for the world cup, and take into account that competetive wins and the like all come into the equation, and you'll see why teams like the 2 that you mentioned are placed so highly...

Also, an easy (well, easier) run of matches at a Championship that takes you to something around the quarters or above can shoot you up the table.

Don't read too much into it though. The FIFA rankings mean nothing outside of who is number 1...

But we all knew that anyway.  8)

So, lets express your speculations about group C.

After a quick look, my mind just says that Holland and Argentina should move on. But when you look at the other two teams; Ivory Coast and Serbia & Montenegro. These ain't teams that you just put your shoes on the field and crush. IC has showed in ACN that they're a team who doesn't have the "Africa weak point", the defense. And SM only let on goal in in the WCQ, that's shows your defense is class.

But with all respect for IC & SM, who really are 2 good teams, Holland and Argentina are too good and will advance.

Am I wrong or is there a point in my theory - express your thoughts in this thread.

I'm hoping England do play Germany I think they would meet in the quater finals it would be great to knock out the germans on their home patch :hihi: :rofl: :hihi: :rofl: :love:

Wednesday the whole A group lost
Ecuador lost against Holland 1 to 0
Costa Rica lost to Iran 3 to 2
Germany lost to Italy 4 to 1
Poland lost to USA 1 to 0

Man I think Ecuador and Costa rica did great but couldn't fisnish the goals situation, on the other hand Germany and Poland wasnt to great in their performance  :-\

5 players to watch in the World Cup:

Wayne Rooney (Can change a game with one touch)
Lukas Podolski (Germany's ONLY hope)
Lionel Messi (Could do what Rooney did at Euro 2004)
Ronaldinho (Even though we already know alot about him)
Robinho (Small Brazillian lad with a lot of pressure and expectations weighing on his shoulders)

I think robhino will be out of pressure cause behind him is ronaldhino, I mean just in the front you have ronaldo, robihno, ronaldhino and kaka, and Im not includin adriano thats scary  :nervous:

I will express my thought about the group were my country is (Argentina)

Argentina WILL defeat Ivory Coast and Holland, and will tie/draw (I don't know how ''empatar'' is in english) against Serbia And Montenegro.

Serbia will defeat Ivory Coast and Holland.

Holland will defeat Ivory coast, and lose against Argentina and Ivory Coast.

Ivory Coast will lose all three matches.

Serbia will score more goals than Argentina, so Serbia will be 1st in the group, and Argentina second. Out Holland and IC.

Argentina will face Portugal in 16/32 (Argentina, only with history, has to defeat Portugal) and Serbia will face Mexico (tough match, pronostics reserved)

That's all I can say.

About the ''5 players to watch in Germany 2006 World Cup'' I will say:

01) Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United / Portugal)
02) Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona / Argentina)
03) Kak? (AC Milan / Brazil)
04) Joaquim (Real Betis / Spain)
05) Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal / Spain)

who will win the world cup? who knows, hope England not  ;D (it has to be said, I'm from Argentina)

We will see About that I think England will meet Argentina in the 1/4 Finals and I predict an England Victory :beer: :beer:

England will win!

Rooney gona get ya!!

 ;D

England won't win shit, they'll scrape to the quarters and go out with a whimper

that's would be a nice way to conmemorate the 20th anniversary of Maradona's ''Goal of all times'' and ''The hand of god''. Same teams, same instance, same results, but 20 years after.

Re: MandyGNR:


yes, germany has really good goal keepers though. but right now they've not even decided yet who's gonna be in the goal in the world cup. either oliver kahn (the one from 2002) or jens lehmann (arsenal). and that's a huge deal here...

Jens Lehmann has earned his place this season for sure.  While every other Arsenal player has been inconsistant, Lehmann has always played well.  Plus, Kahn is like 50, so it's clearly Lehmann's turn.

I'm serious about that name changing jazz. Your boys won't win shit. It's like Henman in tennis, can't get past quarter finals at best  :hihi:

believe, if lehmann is going to be goalie for the WC, all hell will break loose in germany. that'll be fun ;)

Germeny are awfull they just got smashed up by the ltalians,
and they ant that good!

Any way we will soon find out soon who be the best!!

I think England need to drop one the big 2, gerrard or lampard, and have Carrick sitting in that holding role, I just think it give us more balance!



My tip for star player Peter Crouch.............mark my words!

 :peace:

I dont think thats gonna happen after all last tournament England defeated Argentina, it's payback time  : ok:


I dont think people should celebrate the hand of God, after all it was cheating  :no:

i seem to remember england fans celebrating a certain goal in 1966 that clearly never crossed the line.

Cheating too, shouldnt be celebrate that takes out all the merit that the players left in the field, thats horrible!! is like saying I can do whatever I want cause nobody saw me and you (the other team) sucked.  :no:

i'm sorry if i seem rude (maybe my complete lack of sleep in the last 24 hours plays a part) but i can't really understand what you've just written.

Anyway, being scottish, i think the hand of god is hilarious. Second greatest world cup goal ever. maradona's other in the same game being the best.

I mean thats cheating too and shouldnt be a celebration

So who did Scotland draw in the World Cup?  :hihi:

Winning international football matches is tough these days. Or is it?

I?m sure it was Sir Bobby Robson who first told us that ?there are no easy matches in international football any more?. This would have been after an abject display by England against the Soviet Union at Wembley in June 1984 when he was manager.

Or maybe it was Graham Taylor who said it after England lost 2-0 to the US in 1993.

Whoever it was, their claim seems to be truer now than it ever was.

Modern coaching techniques have helped nations much weaker than the US or Russia to find ways of defending effectively against better teams for 90 minutes. Instead of being thrashed off the pitch, these minnows (think Lichtenstein, Luxembourg etc) can now doggedly resist the might of heavyweight opposition and go home ?over the moon? with a narrow defeat. Occasionally they can sneak the odd draw.

Recent examples of this phenomenon in the European qualifiers for this World Cup include Azerbaijan losing 1-0 to England; the Faroe Islands losing 2-0 to France and Malta holding Croatia to a draw. In years past, all three matches would have ended in a severe drubbing for the underdog.

So Bobby (or Graham) was right. There are no easy matches in international football these days.

Wrong.

So wrong.

Pull the other one
This lame excuse has been trotted out by England managers whenever their team produces a poor performance and is now being increasingly adopted around Europe by both coaches and players. Here?s a recent comment by Serbia & Montenegro striker Savo Milosevic: "In a World Cup there are a lot of things that influence what happens. There are no easy matches." Yeah, right.

We?ll take a look at the statistics in a moment but first let?s decide what constitutes an ?easy? match in international football.

If a World Cup qualifier ends 3-0 that?s usually quite a big margin these days (I?m sure Bobby, Graham and Savo would agree), so 4-0 would be a sound beating and 5-0 a damn good tonking. Thus by any reckoning a match in which a team scores at least six goals and concedes none or perhaps the odd one must qualify as a thrashing, which is otherwise known as an easy game.

If there were no easy matches in international football these days we should expect that no match would end with one team bagging at least six goals. So, how many qualifiers for this World Cup do you think involved one team scoring at least six times? None? A couple? Seven or eight perhaps? Could it be as high as ten?

The correct is answer is 51.

Easy matches everywhere
As there were 847 World Cup qualifiers that works out as an average of one easy match per 16.6 games. If a team was in a group of six in the qualifiers it will have played 10 matches - five home, five away. That would give it a 60% chance (10 divided by 16.6, as a percentage) of playing in one easy match, though it could have been on the wrong end of the scoreline.

The score in the easiest match during World Cup 2006 qualifying was 13-0, perpetrated by Bermuda on Montserrat (John Nusum and Damon Ming both got a hat-trick), with the Maldives? 12-0 thrashing of Mongolia a close second. In the Oceania zone there was an easy match once in every four games.

Now that?s all very well for matches in far-flung countries but surely European fixtures must be a lot closer?

Well, it turns out that there are easy games a-plenty in Europe too.

Europe has it easier than Africa or S America
Thirteen European qualifying matches ended with one team scoring at least six goals, including Poland?s 8-0 demolition of Azerbaijan (that?s the same team England beat 1-0) and Portugal?s 7-1 annihilation of Russia.

There were more easy matches in European qualifiers than there were in the African zone (five) and in the South American zone (none). The easy match ratio for Europe (one easy match per 21.7 games) is also lower than for Africa (one per 38 games).

So when Sven or another European coach whose team plays poorly in June 2006 suggests that there are no easy matches in international football, do rant and rave as much as you like at the TV screen. You?re right, they?re wrong.

They may have Celbrated a Goal that wasn't but it didn't make a difference to the result England won 4-2

Izzy, since when did it matter how many you win by?  It's fun to thrash teams but what is important is consistency, and England had that in qualifying.  I don't think they deserve any criticism yet - let's see how the World Cup pans out and then have another look at things. : ok:

You are from Argentina. Riquelme plays for Argentina, not for Spain  :)

......

the point was that there IS such a thing as an 'easy' game and atleast 1 in 10 games finishes 6-0 or more, i.e is a total joke of a game

That wasn't a post about England - but i suppose they are an easy team for other nations to beat, so i can see how u linked the two

An easy team to beat? Certainly not.

Our problem is that we can't kill off a game, not that we just roll over.

He is talking about the Spanish Football team Villareal, aka (also known as) Yellow Submarine, Riquelme plays there and also a Bolivian football player... cheers

He is listing players, clubs and national teams. I'm from Spain so I know where Villareal is... cheers...



Anyway, it's obviously just a mistake? :)

I agree with that ,I've said loads of times I  don't care how England win the world cup as long as they win and they stand as goo a chance as every other country going into the competition

You are right... Graciela... didnt read the previous quotes...

England lost its chance last tournament against Brazil they should've won that game if it wasnt for that lame goal on free kick  :no:
This tournament I don't have high hopes on them

portugal will win the world cup  : ok:

bank on it! :peace:

No way, I don't see that happening.

I reakon Italy could pull it off if they find form at the right time.? Obviously Brazil have a great chance, and Spain have an excellent squad I reakon.? Holland won't win it and neither will Argentina.

England are the best team in there, but I guess we'll see how that turns out...

I feel  A Eurppean team will win It England Or \Germany : ok:

Spanish will never win a World Cup. They have a good soccer league, but their national team always sucks....

History isn't relevent.  Spain have a really good team so there's no reason why they can't have a crack at it.  If they don't play Reyes they could go far. :yes:

the world is the best thing on earth with rolland garros.

man i hate sport on tv, but i just adore the W cup.

portugal .... why not.

Because they lack that Henry, Ronaldino or Rooney. A player of that quality, in a world cup, gives the team a huge boost, knowing that they are competing with the best in the word, and that they have...one of the best in the world.

Just like Spain.

That's the reason that you can't take either of them as serious contenders, even though they're both great teams.

I just feel like, at a major tournament, you need that standout player.

Unless you're Greece.................

yeah, in the end, brazil's winning anyway :)
au contraire, it think world cup can lead to some surprise.

like....  France ..... (sike ! ) :)

everton will win the worldcup. :nervous:

vince noir. rock and roll star.

No comment on football today. Just loving watching vince do his thing. Mighty Boosh in edinburgh next friday. get in.

Not even in your dreams!! Liverpool all the way  :P

I dont think Brazil is gonna win this one, they ended first on the eliminatories and last tournament they almost didnt clasified so I think the next champ will be Holland they have a more compact game

ofcourse liverpool all the way! : ok:

I hate the blue scum.  : ok:

Now you are talking  :yes:  :yes:  :yes:

Don?t be naive, you can?t analyze things like that. A goal changes everything in a match, and you can?t just say "oh it didnt make a difference, the game would?ve been 3-2.

Spain doesnt have a good team because they don?t invest in the young talents there. I mean, they just contract foreign players, and don?t give a chance for the young spanish ones. That?s the main reason why Brazil is so good. We barely have foreign players here, so there?s a great motivation for young players to give football a shot, and many talents are discovered that way

I don't think It's being Naive just telling it as I see it,anyway it was 40 years ago let's concentrate on 2006 C'MOn England : ok:

it is being naive as to change one event in a game changes the entire outcome.

And i'll stop complaing about it when the english media stop bringing it up incessantly.

Yep,Its bound to get a few mentions this summer since it is the 40th anniversary of it :rofl:

whenever england play it gets mentioned. ever.

That can be right, but I rather want England win a world cup than being mention a lot  ;)

I don't think Rooney is a standout player either. Way too overrated. England has - at least - a few other players that are better than Rooney. I take Lampard, Cole, Gerrard before Rooney any given day.

With Spain there's always a question mark. Will it finally be this time? As the world cup approaches, I feel more optimistic than what I felt two months ago. I know I'll be very, very dissapointed if I see Spain being kicked out early, but, hey, that's our stigma. Hopefully, that will change.

I disagree with the statement you made about Spain doesn't have a standout player. I think we have the best midfielder in the world. Xavi. It's a shame he's injured now, but he is the heart and soul in Bar?a (alongside Ronaldinho) He's without a doubt, the best player I've seen in the past 5 years in that position. He's so talented. If you observe the way Bar?a plays now and how Bar?a played before Dec'05, you'll see a huge difference. Now it's more like, give it to Eto'o, Ronnie or Messi, and done deal...last year it was more a team effort cause Xavi was in charge.

If he manages to recover before World Cup, he will sure be one of the big names.

Your opinion, sir, is officialy redundant. Cole over Rooney? You're also officialy insane. Rooney is anything but overrrated. Already he is one of the best in the Premiership, and providing he doesn't go down the road of the drink or the drugs (his rage isn't a real problem) then he definatly has the chance of being one of the all time greats. I am willing to admit that Cole has greatly improved, even if I do still dislike him, but he lacks that knowledge of the game that Rooney has. Cole's assesment of people around him still isn't great; he isn't quite sure when to play the shot himself, or try to play somebody else in. On the other hand Rooney's awareness of the game is outstanding, and your comment makes me wonder if you've ever seen him play in a full game outside of an international? Although, if anything, even that should be enough to confirm in somebodies mind Rooney's vast superiority over Cole.

Jimbo, I don't watch every Arsenal game so I couldn't tell (gotch?...Yeah, Man U). As said, I dont' follow every Man U game but I've seen him played on numerous ocassions and I still think he's way overrated.  I would definitely signed up Lampard, Cole or Gerrard instead of Rooney. He's young and has a lot of room to improve, but he's not all that.

What do you think of Xavi Mr.?

I do think that you're right, from what I have seen he is very good. But I was talking more about Spain's failure to win a major tournament previously, I guess he is right up there though.

Of those three, I would probably say that Gerrard is the only one that I would sign before Rooney. Lampard is great, but Gerrard is just that bit better. And Rooney is somewhere in between the two. The problem I have with Cole is that, for me, I think that his vast improvement is due to the fact that he is now the finished product. The finished product of a player that is just above being average. I just don't feel that he is ever going to achieve legendary status, unlike the other three, who practicly have already.

as great as lampard, gerrard and cole are, wayne rooney (if he continues his development) could be as good as maradona or pele. he could singlehandedly win the world cup for england this summer.

Anyway, england currently have a huge surplus of midfielders and very few strikers. Actually they've only got two.

I'd pick Rooney over Messi.

I am from Croatia, and i can say that now we have a great team. Maybe we don't have the greatest stars of world football, but it is a strong team and don't be suprised if Croatia comes very far in the WC. We have won Argentina in a friendly match a month ago, and we played 1:1 against Brasil last year in friendly matches, and we won Sweden twice in qualifications. It will be very hard against Brasil in the first match, but we are better than Japan and Australia, so we should get in second round, and then is everything possible. Players like Robert Kovac, Dado Pr?o or Dario Srna are very good. We'll see in June how good they are.

I was reading a bit this topic, and I am fascinated about the hating between English and Scottisc people. Well, you live in the same country, Great Britain, why are you always waiting for the bad result of England (or Scotland) and then make fun of them? :o
Question for English (and Scottish) people: Are you celebrating for example the gold medal of Scottish (English) player in the Olympic Games, where you are appearing under the same flag, the flag of Great Britain?? ???   

(Sorry for my weak english, I hope you understood everyhing)

i don't see myself as british so no. the Union Flag means nothing. britain is just an idea i choose not to subscribe.

I do celebrate under the flag of great Britain,But I will always see myself as English first :beer: :beer:

I consider myself British when it suits me - like when Andy Murray's playing. : ok:

Even after that stupid shit he did against Arsenal last weekend? man  :nervous:
Anyway I'd pick Gerrard too  :P
But rooney over Messi? I think messi has shown more potential in less games than Rooney

What's that all about?  I don't remember anything happening.

Messi is clearly a special talent, but I think Rooney's much more of a complete article.  Rooney's strength is a massive advantage and he's fast and good on the ball as well.  He works hard, scores lots of goals and can change a game in a moment.  Yeah, i'd definately take Rooney. :yes:

Gerrard gave a pass to the goalkeeper but near was Henry and he took the ball and score.

(your gift of a goal)

What Do my Fellow English People Think about England's World Cup Starting 11?


I'd go for

Keeper-Paul Robinson

Back Four-Ashley Cole Gary Neville Sol Campbell Jon Terry

Mid Field- David Beckham Joe Cole Frank Lampard Steven Gerrad

Skrikers-Micheal Owen Wayne Rooney

Well, yeah. Although, Rio rather than Campbell. Though, if it were down to me I would have King and Terry (biased? I guess so... But I do feel like I'm being honest!).

the starting eleven pretty much picks itself. if i was english (or swedish depending on my job) i'd be more worried about how i'd change it if its not going right.

Ledley king would be a good Choice he has always performed well when he's played for England

In case noone of you has heard yet..Jens Lehmann is going to be Germanys keeper no.1, instead of kahn  ;)

Hmm, is that a good thing or a bad thing? I've been rooting for Germany since 1990, but lately I haven't really followed the scene. I thought Kahn was considered some sort of savior over there...

It's a big surprise,since Kahn is something like a titan in germany. it's very likely that he is going to retire now, there'll be a pressconference in one hour...

people in germany are talking about this since three days straight :D

It's the right choice.? I haven't seen Kahn play in a little while, but Lehmann's form this season has been absolutely top draw and he's definately earned his place.

Go Germany!? NOT

Kahn won't retire, je just announced it

and kahn pretty much lost his. too many fuck ups.
sad tho, he was, like, a *classic*.

I think Lehman has a great chance to shine with his own light on this one  : ok:

Just my opinion but without Rooney we do not stand a chance.

We have world class players throughout the team. . that is true. But Rooney brings the word 'genius' into play.

Joe Cole has the skills but not the finishing ability of Rooney.

But most of all without Rooney we will lack a player in the centre of the pitch with true VISION.

Gerrard and Lampard are fantastic players but they do not have the awareness of Rooney in the hole behind the Striker.

Lampard is a neat player who has an very good eye for goal and will get you out of trouble by arriving in the right place at the right time.

Gerrard is a driving force kinda player who is an all round superstar but is so much better coming from deep than being the second striker. He is a player who has to think about defence as well as attack its in his nature. He has to be involved in everything.

I still think that ever since Paul Scholes retired we have lacked a player like him with True Vision. Rooney has that and Now England wont!

I think semi's are best we can hope for. But i fear a second place group finish and a quarter final dismissal.

Personally i would play crouch with Owen and keep the midfield the way it is. I would definaty leave Joe Cole on the left coz we have no one else who can play there.

AAron Lennon should definatly go. If he does i'm sure he could be  secret weapon in the last 15 mins of games.

END OF RANT

Aaron Lennon vs. a guy who (beyond all sensible suggestion) went to a club that he is little more than a bit part player. Scratch that... He's less than a bit part player. I am a fan of Wright-Phillips, but I feel that it was his fault for being stupid enough to move to Chelsea then he can have no complaints if he sacrificed his place in the England squad.

As far as Crouch and Owen, Crouch just does no fill me with confidence. Not in the slightest. And, to be perfectly honest, he's fucking embarrasing. I would much rather see Gerrard playing behind Owen, with Carrick in the holding role of a diamond just behind him.

Well the squad is here and i think its obvious what eriksson plans on doing now.

If owen and rooney are not fit, it looks like Crouch and Gerrard up front for England.

No place for Wright-Phillips or Englands top scorer in Darren Bent. But Theo Walcott is in despite not playing a premership game this year. That could be interesting!

Why have we picked Jermaine Jenas . . . . I just dont get that. Why not take Fowler, Bent or Defoe coz if Rooney and Owen are not fit then our squads strikers consists of a player who is not a natural goalscorer (crouch) and a kid who despite the undoubting talent has not played against a top defense ever!!!!. . . just think fowler, bent or defoe are all qulaity and if you dont give them a chance they will never show us what they can do

Good On Sven He made some bold Choices i just hope they pay off for him we are banking on the Fitness of Rooney and Owen But eben if they are not fit Dosn't mean We can't win ,Didn't france win the 1998 world cup without a recognised striker? Most of their Goals came from Midfield

Theo Walcott, Jermaine Jenus and Owen Hargreaves all included, while Jermain Defoe and Sean Wright Phillips are omitted.

That's just stupid, dude.

Try ever.


It's Hargreeves who is taking the fifth strikers place, not Jenas.

I'm really made up with the squad, if only because it shows that Sven does have some bollocks hidden away.

Gutted that Ledley didn't make it, but by 2010 he should be first choice anyway... As for Defoe's ommision... Not what I would have done, but it wans't a suprise in the least. Neither should Wright-Phillip's have been. He's been a bit part player and best, and it's his own fucking fault for letting the pound signs cloud his eyes. If he thought that he was going to be a regular player for Chelsea this season then, well, he's too stupid to go to Germany anyway.

I rate hargreaves. Jenas is just pants. He cant defend and cant attack. He is third choice in every position.

Behind J.Cole and Downing on the Left

Behind Beckham and Lennon on the right

Behind Lampard, Gerrard, Carrick in the middle. Whats the Point?

Seems like a big gamble taking Walcott but I don't see any other options really and you never know it might just pay off. Trouble is the current England first eleven is very good but there's no depth after the first eleven, the reserve players are all very ordinary, we have an abundance of good centre backs and that's it. With no adequate cover for Rooney and Owen we will always struggle. Can't see past Brazil myself fairly unoriginal tip but there you go.

I just wish Sven Had But Jermaine Defoe In The Squad We May need Him :yes:

Look at it this way... Hargreaves is anything but an impact player. Yes, he is all right; though, to be honest I haven't seen him play any time recently. I thought he wasn't getting a game, there was talk of him coming to play in England during both previous transfer windows.

Hargreaves is always going to be starting on the bench. He is there for cover (for Joe Cole on the left I guess, although Bridge is on the team so..........), and if he is bought on it will only be to defend a lead. Which would be typical Sven. Jenas can come on the last fifteen and have an impact, he can score goals and he can create chances. Hargreaves would come on and help sit on a 1-0 lead.

Arron Lennon though, seriously... When he does come on, say for the last fifteen, surely whoever we are playing is going to have to bring on some fresh legs either down the wing or at the full back position..............

I just hope the kid gets a chance to shine. Fifteen minutes would be enough.

Do you think Rooney will make it?

I've heard he may be suitable to play if England advances to the last 16th...what's the word in the UK on this?

Well when he got injured they said 6 weeks and it was exactly 6 weeks til our opening game against Paraguaybut all the experts are saying he's no chance of being back by then. It is possible he could be fit after the group stages because he's had another 2-3 weeks by then but I wouldn't count on seeing him play cos it's still a long shot he'd be fit then.

What's the general view on Rooney abroad, is he a feared player like Ronaldinho or Henry or is he just seen as another player?

... If Rooney wants to play in the first game, he has to break the world record for fastest recovery from a broken metatarsal (no, seriously, he does!).

It's very unlikely that he will play before the second round at the very earliest, so nobody is expecting him to. Over here, nobody is really expecting him to play period. So preparations are pretty much focused arround the assumption that he won't be taking part at all....................

Rooney is seen like player with lots of potential but yet to achieve anything.? He's pretty young so he's got plenty of time, but he's not in the same league as Henry, Kaka, Schevchenko, Ronalidinho, Lampard...I guess since Man U. have not been successful in the last 2-3 years, the impact Rooney's had has been overlooked.

i'd say rooney is currently as good as anyone one earth with the exception of ronaldinho.

well, not currently. currently he's a cripple.

Bah!  Henry's better than Rooney, even when he's not a cripple.

Hargreaves is a hard worker and a defensive midfielder and a different type to carrick. and if ledley king is not going he is probally our toughest tackler out of the midfielders. . . thats why IMO he is a better player to take than Jenas.

AAron lennon on the break, with walcotts pace could be a dynamite last 15 mins duo. Just think we are 1-0 up and the opposition are leaving 2 on 2 at the back chasing the game. With Lennon and Walcott coming on fresh . . . their pace will destroy anyone. Thats why i think he has taken both of them ahead of Defoe and Wright-Phillips

I wouldn't even say Rooney is the best player in the Premiership nevermind the world, I'd put Henry and Gerrard both ahead of him from the Premiership!

Well... Yes, but in regards to the England team Gerrard is droppable, Rooney isn't. The team can shift around and be pretty much as good without Gerrard (Carrick in a holding, let Lampard push forward); the same can't be said without Rooney.

It's like if you have the three best full backs in the world and the rest a team of mediocre players. One of the full backs has to be dropped, rather than be played out of position, for the good of the team... Your best starting XI isn't necesarily your best eleven players. Do you ken?

So while Gerrard may be a "better" player than Rooney, Rooney is more important to England.......

Gerrard is only droppable to someone who has never seen a football match.

Gerrard is by far and a way England's best midfielder.

I see what you mean in the fact that we have no other options if Rooney is out, but just because Carrick and Lampard exists, it doesn't make Gerrard droppable, it just means stupid idiots might think it's not that much of a loss to the team, when in fact it is.

The reason Rooney is more important to England is because
   a) his performance at the Euro's
   b) Sven is a retard who previously played Gerrard wide on the left
   c) Sven left Bent, Defoe and Ashton out of the sqaud which means that our striking alternative has the worst balance, worst shot, no heading ability and is the most uncoordinated, weak player in the premiership.

about a week to go. i can't wait!!

Group of Death is Group E.

U.S. will have a tough time advancing, which is a shame, cause this team has some serious talent on it.



 

I believe Group B is the "death group". But groups E and F together can be a "death group" because we might have Brazil X Italy or Brazil X Czech Republic after the group stage

B is somewhat tough. but i would rank Group C above it - two teams with legitimate shots at winning it all.

the thing about Group E is that the U.S. is the 3rd best team in the group, and they have MAJOR upset potential. and Ghana is no pushover either. i have a feeling the U.S. will pull an upset, but lose their final game to them.

i'm scottish. therefore any group we encounter is always a "group of death".

When I said group B, I meant C :P
The one with Argentina and Holland

You always seem to get piss easy groups for qualifying but never qualify...

How many times have you played the Faroe Islands in the last few years?

Get a clue mate Gerrard dropable, you must be the only man in country with that point of veiw, so you not have sky sports?

Well in that case I have a question for you, mate.

Say that Rooney is fit, as is Owen. You're playing against an attack minded midfield that are going to put your back four under a lot of pressure. For the good of the team, you want to start with a holding midfielder, somebody who can keep on top of their defensive duty while providing quality distribution. Obviously your first choice is going to be Carrick, though it doesn't have to be. Maybe you're a Hargreaves man... In any case, who are you going to drop?

Gerrard is the better complete player, while Lampard is the better going forward. Who do you opt to take off in order to change the formation......

But of course, you're probably of the thinking that your best eleven players make up your best team for any given situation. Yuk yuk yuk.

a local pub is gonna show this tourney but they want a $10 cover charge cuz rights to show it are so expensive.... :o

Jim,

How is lampard more attacking than gerrard? who scored more goals this season?(gerrard) and which player is surrounded with better quality team mates(lampard)

I'm pretty sure that Gerrard didn't get more goals than Lampard...........

I'm certain at least that, in the Premiership, Lampard scored a fair few more than Gerrard did.  Lampard has also scored more for England. I think that today was his eleventh, but I'm not sure. Lampard is a pretty useless defender (see him get done up a treat today?) but, in my opinion, is superior to Gerrard at surging forward. His record for England speaks for itself, and he is by far the more effective of the two, so far, on the international stage...........

Gerrard scored 1 more goal than Lampard this season, but bare in mind, Liverpool's season started in like July last year as they had to play the Champions League qualifying matches pre-season. I think Gerrard only scored more than Lampard because he got like a hat-trick against TNS in the qualifying (which, lets be serious, isn't a major achievement).

I cant wait!  Im a huge football fan and will be cheering for Italy and for once, our neighbours Australia!(they'll need all the support they can get)

Brazils warm up game against my country, New Zealand, starts in 3 hours!

a midfielder to score a hat-trick in a professional match isn't a big enough achievement? no its not major, but it's still a pretty good achievement! TNS didn't get to play Liverpool by sitting on their arses the whole of the season, prior to the game.  :hihi: they weren't a terrible side, same goes for any other team that earns the right to try to qualify for the champions league!

anyway!

on topic!!  :hihi:

 :beer:  Come On England  :beer:

You're KIDDING me, right? TNS were absoloutely awful! Sure, they could probably beat a gang of us lads....... But by Champions League standards they were a disgrace!

I stand by what I said, and think that, on a strictly attacking level, Lampard is superior to Gerrard. It's that Gerrard is so much better at everything else that makes him the better player.

they didn't make it into the champions league! so you can't compare them to champions league standards! i agree with the lampard comments tho. gerrard is the better player but i guess lampard is the better attacker of the two. its hard to tell though. i'd love to see them both swap clubs for a game and see how they'd play  :hihi:

I would take Gerrard in a holding role any day of the week over Carrick. I'd take Gerrard over Lampard 120% of the time as an attacking player. You said yourself, Gerrard is a better all round player, so what would you rather against a good attacking opposition, a midfielder who can defend and attack, or one who can just defend?

Say you're playing Brazil and Rooney and Owen are both fit, they are no-brainers for starting. Why would you play Lampard (who by your own admission can't defend) with Carrick leaving Carrick to defend against the best offensive midfield in the world. Surely it would be a much more sensible idea to play Carrick and Gerrard, both where Gerrard is just as good (ok matter of opinion, I personally think he's better than lampard attacking, you don't, but you can't say there's a lot in it, or that he's inneffective in the role) at going forward, but he can defend as well.

Lampard has had a couple of good seasons, after coming to prominence after being shit for west ham for years. Gerrard has been club captain for over 3 years in a shit side consistently outperforming every other midfielder in the league.

Gerrard has also shown time and time again that he, is a big game player. He steps up when it's needed of him and he never gives up. Lampard has shown that he's hunch-backed and can't take penalties.

I say enough of this craziness.  Start with Gerrard AND Lampard, only bringing on Carrick if we have a lead to defend.  If Sven wants to play the diamond formation he can just place Gerrard further back - he'd still have the chance to charge forward every so often or have a shot from distance.  Both players bring a lot of quality into the team and it'd be a shame to have to drop one of them.

I don't understand why Hargreaves and Carrick are both in the squad.  Couldn't Sven choose between the two?  We have Carragher as well so that's three players who can fill that hole.

Ciss? broke his leg...again! I feel really, really sorry for him.

Get well Djib, YNWA.

 :no:

poor djib.

When does the World Cup start? Today?
And what's the first match?

germany costa rica
today at 6pm cet

i cant believe they called govu
i mean anelka ... giuly ... too bad they got so pissed after their non-selection

Id like Iran to win... something unexpected...

like bolivia :)

Germany is winning 2 against 1 to Costa Rica

yeah that's too bad I would like to see those damn germans lose ;)

lahm fucking cunted that ball in. postage stamp mother f.

What a brilliant opening game.

Being a Charlton fan you NEVER see 6 goals in a game...you rarely even see 1!! lol

god, the '66 mentions are becoming unbearable.

What, jealous?

If you're getting sick of '66 mentions, you better hope and pray and pray and hope that we don't win it this year.................................

trust me i dont need to pray, God's a jock. he'll see yous fail.

he was on holiday in '66 but has been making up for it since.

Well the germans won 4 agaisnt 2
And we are winning 2 against 0 YAAAAAAAAAAAAY  ;D
hope it stays like that
I mean Ecuador!!!  :D

I think you mean 2 against 0  :P

I said that but what the heck!!!! YAAAAAAY

grrr you edited your post? :rant:? ;)

Whatever we are winning!!!!  ;D

Congrats Mr. Dick Purple  :beer:

For crap sakes WE WON!!!!!  :D  ;D

two really enjoyable games so far.

the balls do seem ridiculously light tho. it will favour long-distance screamers but it makes the game feel like your playing FIFA or Pro Ev. unauthentic and hollow.

That means that people must control better the ball. I think it will favor to england they play in long distance.

Yeah, I agree, there is something unsettling about them... They reallly do look like volleyballs. But that's probably that I've got it in my head that they're those light weight things, I guess I'll get used to it....


Can you imagine if you progressed? Boy. I just hope we wouldn't be too complacent........

new york yankees rule

there's already a thread for baseball. only an idiot would confuse the two. please go away, there is no need for you to stay here other than to incite hostility.

easy there  nazi,  no need to get angry

For fucks sake why hasn't this guy got any negative karma?, please fuck off with your baseless nazi comments it's just making you look naive

Tomorrow you'll see the next world champion

GO ARGENTINA!

2 good games though today. as opening games mostly suck. germany had luck they played a crappy team. they're defense is just plain awful, except of lahm and mertesacker. i'm happy for ecuador, never would've believed it.

i'm so happy the world cup started

Hehe you wish they first have to beat us (The Netherlands)? ;D and they won't? ;)

I think Italia or Brasil will win the world cup.   Home team usually does well in the World Cup  so you can't count out germany even though i don't think they will get further than the Quarter finals.

thats unnecessarily offensive. and incredibly wrong too.

please grow up.

Germany impressed me a bit with their offensive skills today. they were horrible in defense though.
I do admit, I was cheering for Costa Rica. never liked the Germans style of playing ;D
but they have gotten more entertaining to watch for sure.

I think as Jim said we can progressed and make a good world cup, but on the other hand even if pass to the second round I think we have to play against England and that would be very difficult i think more than Germany.

England just won 1 against 0 i think it was very difficult to England to win

That was an absolute fucking disgrace.

Eriksson has had 5 years to sort this out...he still can't make any decent fucking substitutions!

Owen was pretty poor but after he went off we had no-one to aim for, leaving poor old Crouchy up front trying to do everything on his own. Then bringing on Owen-Fucking-Hargreaves when Joe Cole was having a great game.

He took Walcott to the finals yet he won't even play him so we only have 3 strikers. We needed Jermain Defoe or Darren Bent (of course I would say Bent, but still, top english goalscorer in prem).

If we play those negative tactics against even Trinidad and Tobago, we have every chance of losing.

Pathetic second half, and the referee was an absolute joke at times. I'm going to end up with grey hair by the end of this tournament - watching that match was frustrating.

Well actually Paraguay began a little cold then Paraguay started to play but it was kinda boring game specially cause the game was played in the midfield and the only tactic was to shot from long distance

Slow and boring second half in the England game...my guess is Sven tried to rest his players, by taking the huge gamble of killing off the game.

 ? But there was no counter atack !! It was imposible with only Crouch out front...instead of playing with Walcott in the place of the tired Owen, Sven threw in Downing, a horrible player with no real qualities.
 ? And the other flank wasn't doing better either, because Sven also tried to rest Becks, by sticking him to the side line.

 ? We'll see the real England in the first knock-out stage...no team that has World Cup winning aspirations impresses in the group stage, becasue of the risk of burning out. My guess is a win against Trinidad, and a reserve team game against Sweden.

Wow it surpised me how weak England played, if they played like this against any other big team (Brazil, The netherlands etc...) they would've lost with big numbers

England will play better against better teams, that's my guess.
Sweden playing now, fuck Ibrahimovic is awesome!

England have always been slow starters. It was a boring game and nothing to worry about. While we weren't great, we weren't awful either and we just showed a lack of any end product.

We definitely missed Rooney but there is nothing to be concerned about............

Sweeden 0 Trinidad y Tobago 0
Boring game too
I only hope the match between Argentina and Costa de Marfil is better

Boring game too, seriously?

I've just come into it, but I watched the half time analysis and they all were enjoying it, plus my dad and brother said that it's been a good game.

T&T tied Sweeden, heh.

Really? Sweeden and Trinidad and tobago??
In the second half a T&T player was shown the red card, so They play with 10 player the whole 45 minutes, it was a monologue of Sweeden from that time to the end. The goalkeeper Hislop was great, but I think it was boring cause it wasn't too much shots on T&T arc. It was one team playing and the other one defending.
I saw it that way

thanks sven for reminding me why england wont win the world cup. you're a shite bag.

... Not a fan of watching Brazil play, then?

argentina 2 - ivory coast 1  : ok:

i almost cracked the windows with laughter there!!!!...they were pish today

The reason why England will not win the World Cup is down to the tactics and substitutions of Sven.

There is nothing wrong with the players, but there are too many square pegs trying to fit into round holes when Sven sends a team out.

The England players have been complaining that it was hot. Fair enough. But if you play matches in continental Europe in the summer, you run the risk of playing in hot conditions. So constantly lumping balls for forwards to chase was absolutely pointless. Keeping the ball and progressing up the pitch gradually would have worn the Parguayans down and may have paid dividends in the long run.

Poor tactics by Sven.

Sven is just SOOOOO bad, i just cant believe the world accepts him as a ''football manager'' - he's some guy dragged off the street and impersonating someone else

The man has zero talent - why havent people relaised that?

We realised that ages ago.? Unfortunately, he's in charge whether we like it or not.

We have a very good chance in this tournament but we'll need to play a whole lot better than that.? I know people are talking a lot about Gerrard playing well and Rooney coming back and such, but I think our trump card at the moment is David Beckham.? His crosses alone could take us quite far and he's hit top form at just the right time.? Lampard and Gerrard both need to improve but they don't really need to worry about it until after the group stage.? The tactics were terrible today but a win and clean sheet is hardly a bad start.? Fuck Sven - we'll win the World Cup without his help.

Sometimes I feel Sven doesn't want us to win the world cup. This was especially shown when he brought on Owen Hargreaves...seriously...if you want to break up play, bring on Michael Carrick or Carragher to play there.

For the second half of that game, we had such negative tactics. If he isn't prepared to play Walcott, why bring him?

Good point about Becks...some always complain that he's an overrated player, that can't do anything else but cross the ball, but his efficency in setting up goals is second to none. When the attack doesn't work thanks to Sven's shitty tactics, he's the man to create a goal

The games were very entertaining today  except Paraguay va. England  .


best game of the day : Trinidad & Tobago vs. Sweden. I am so happy for T&T and were deserving of  the tie  , amazing accomplishment  being able to pull that off with only 10 men on the field.
 

Worst game .  England Vs. paraguay.   (no explanation needed)

best team of the day:  Argentina

Worst team of the day :  England without a doubt.  They are a bore  and are underachievers.  To win on an own goal is nothing to be proud of . 

biggest choker :  Sweden  of course.   They had like 100 chances to score  and failed to do it, no excuse for not scoring against such a lesser opponent.  The reason I didn't pick them as worst team is because  they atleast forced  the action  unlike England  that put me to sleep.

Can't wait till monday  when my team ( USA) kicks some ass.   It is not going to be easy,  thery are in a tough group.   My 2 favorite teams are in the same group   ( italia and USA)    I am an american    My  dad is Italian  .  It's going to be interesting watching both of them play against each other.  I'll still be rooting for the USA.

I just cant wait to ?beggins the storm ? on the ?wold cup .


That storm has a name ....... B R A S I L .




Note this name K A K A ? he wil be the MVP in this wold cup , he is flying ?..

Kaka would be a great player if he unmderstands that he needs to pass the ball , he wants to do everything and waste so many oportunitys.

SWINGTRADER i hope USA does a good world cup , they eliminate Mexico (my country) last world cup , but well i like them , their group is very difficult because Italy and Czech Republic will be pretty difficult to beat but they have a good chance.

It is going to   be a good game tomorrow between mexico and iran.  Iranians are pretty good  so it should be interesting.

Mexico vs Iran, by heart I will go for Mexico, unfortunately we don?t know anything about Iran.

And I think that the best match today was Argentina vs IVC.  Those africans played with a good formation and they run like hell. 

trinidad vs. sweden was a fuckin awsome game. i am impressed.

and argentina played like a world champion!!!

Brazils first game is on Tuesday vs. Croatia at 21:00CET so it will be 8pm in UK. Tuesday should be a good day because France vs Switzerland is on before that at 18:00CET (5pm BST).

My prediction

Brazil 3 - 1 Crotia
France 0 - 0 Switzerland

anyone watching serbia vs The Netherlands right now?

Saw the first half 1-0 to Holland last time I looked. Robben looked world class.

Yeah i'm watching.? Sneider is playing really well, as is Robben who looked class in the first half.? Van Persie started well and played a great ball for the goal but has since faded away.? Van Nistelrooy's been poor from the start.? I'm very suprised that Makaay and Stam haven't been included in the squad, though i'm a little less suprised about Seedorf and Davids.?

Holland have a really good team here - I can't wait to see them play Argentina.? I'll be in Amsterdam! :beer:

Stam has retired from playing international, and makaay hasn't been included because we simply have too much "world class" strikers? :-\ the defense is the real problem with our team

Yeah, your attack is as good as anyone's but a better team would've scored a few against you today.  Sneider is your key player I reakon - he was fantastic today!

You're absolutely right, we kinda had the same problem as England.

And about sneider? He really wasn't good today IMO. ?ou sure you're not talking about robben ?

i thought sneider actually had an alright game. dictated play pretty well if i remember. robben needs to improve his final ball especially from wide.

well done angola, i thought after ten minutes it was gonna be a whitewash but they actually learnt how to defend luckily.

Holland not taking Makaay was like England not taking Darren Bent.

Makaay was the top goal scorer in the Bundesliga and Darren Bent was the top English goalscorer in the Premier League. It's a joke.

Sneider ran the midfield well I thought, his first touch and his passing was impressive.? Robben was the man of the match but the goal was all about VP's pass. :yes:


Is anyone watching England/Germany on channel 5 now?? It's some ex players and a few crap celebs playing out a proper game and they're taking it dead seriously.? England were losing 2-0 but we just pulled it back to 2-2.? Paul Merson scored! :D? Also playing for England is Matt Le Tissier, Lee Sharpe (who scored the equaliser), Chris Waddle and Angus Deiton.

i love the world cup. it even makes the gnr tour secondary right now
i think i'm gonna kill myself after the final

Good matches so far...I've watched a few of them and I like what I see.

Can't wait to see Spain on Wednesday (or is it tuesday). If anyone watches the game, pay special attention to spanish midfielder Xavi. He'll be one top players in this edition.

Slightly off topic (and probably mentioned already) Have any of you heard the UK "World cup" Song? It's simply hilarious. I heard it this morning on the way to work... "We are gonna win the world cup" ..."And cheer for "Roo"and all the things he can do"? :rofl:

i've watched every game so far and i'm intending to watch every single game in this world cup. as i always do.
spain is tomorrow, but i don't think they're gonna get far. they just don't have a very good team.

The Wold Cup rules hahaha is the biggest? Sport event in the wold , countrys around the glob stop to whatching ...


RC an ITALIA today, tomorow Brasil beggins the show? :beer:

Hmm. I don't know. I'm not clued up this year (I still haven't given Embrace's number a listen.......), but every time a major tounrament rolls around we get a whole host of pub men making England songs, songs that are good for a laugh. They're never sung in the stands or anything, of course. I doubt it was our actual song..........

But, hey. Maybe it was........

Wow the US got massacred today.  They played horrible, beyond horrible. 

What just because we got no shots on goal in 90+ minutes?

That was pathetic. Anyone still think that #5 ranking was justified?

i dont think anyone ever thought that rank was justified. the fifa rankings are a joke, with the exception of brazil it cant be taken seriously.

Two superb goals from Tomas Rosicky.

Another masterful signing by Professor Wenger, because if Rosicky continues playing like that, his value would have gone well above the ?7 million we paid for him a couple of weeks ago.

He looks a super player, and dovetailed beautifully with Nedved.

I can't wait to see him at the Emirates Stadium next season, and for many seasons to come.

The 2002 UK song was quite different... "Stop Crying Your Heart Out..."

 :hihi:

You said it man! :drool:

Czech Republic were ace as always and it's a damn shame about Koller.? USA were pathetic, they totally bottled it.? Maybe we'll see more of them in matches to come but I doubt it. :hihi:

Italy are playing Ghana now and are looking quite shakey.? Ghana are fast and strong but Italy's passing is better - it's shaping out to be a really good game!

I was disappointed in the USA performance yesterday.   They are not out of it yet , all they have to do is tie against Italy and beat Ghana by 6 goals lol   and they should advance .    :hihi:

France look awful. Something seriously drastic needs to happen or they are not going to do anything in this tournament.

Shame about the heat - its led to some, well - awful matches, cant blame the players - in those kind of temperatures i can barely crawl...

I am quote myself  ;D

He score a goal whif left foot .... lets see the second half  :peace:

Brazil is having a bad time, Croatia is playing very good lets see how Brazil hangs on. Adriano just missed a goal unbelievable  :o

kudos for Croatia team give to us a hard time 6 match's to go  :beer:

Wow not a very good game by Brazil however the Croatians played a very good game? :)

Brazil is not gonna win the world cup playing like this, is it just me or are all the big teams struggling a bit? :-\

Brasil usually doesnt start good at world cup's them grow during the competition and Ronaldo isnt in a good shape  after
his replacement for Robinho things get a little better ... lets see...  :peace:

I dare to say that Brazil won't win this World Cup, because their defence is much much worse than in 2002. Then they looked like a complete team, but now if they don't improve dramatically, teams like Holland, Italy, Germany, Argentina or even England will rip their weak defence apart, no matter how many clown tricks Ronaldinho makes

That's absurd and way over the top!

You can judge nothing based on the first game of the group stages. Not least because it takes a lot of the teams a short while to find their footing, but you've also got to remember that for the number 1 seeds their opening games are not exactly do or die. Even if you did lose, which none of them did, it wouldn't be the end of the world, because six points would easily see you through.


HA! Good one. Now that would be some match. Given that both have below acceptional defences, it would go down to who is going to score the most goals in what would likely be rugby score. Surely I need not ask who you'd have your money on?

That said, Brazil's defence is nothing compared to the woe that is Germany.

Dont judge us (Brazil) by the first game. In 2002 we played much worse against Turkey. We had a penalty shot made up by the referree and won by 2-1.

The team will grow, so will Ronaldo

Se you on July 9th  : ok:

Any other Aussies watch Australia v Japan? I was literally about to turn off the TV at the 80 minute mark but thank God Tim Cahill scored... once... twice... then bring on John Aloisi :D What an amazing match, 3 goals in 8 minutes, you bloody legends!

Also considering the idiotic Egyption referee made a mistake (and admitted it later) when he didn't call the foul against our goalie Mark Schwarzer... it should have been 3-0!

I don't think we'll beat Brazil this coming Monday night (2am our time, yet my brother and I are going into Federation Square in the city to watch it on the big screen), but if we can beat Croatia it will set us up nicely for the next round. I'm a bit torn as my mum is Croatian, and my dad Australian, so really, I can't lose when they play each other  :hihi:

What Ronaldo did yesterday was nothing but refusal to work. If i was Parreira i would'nt let him play the next match, but Robinho.
I hope these arrogant bastards don't get far this time.

France was awful aswell, I just think they're best players are to old to be able to compete with today's young players. they won't get far either

Well, I would hope not...

... Don't you think he's fat enough as it is?

lol i think it's funny the brazilians talk about ronalods body weight and kaka's new hair cut. they're crazy

In todays Herald Sun newspaper they had an article about Ronaldo's weight and how the president of Brazil had commented on it. Ronaldo came back with, "Just as he says I'm fat, everybody knows he drinks too much".  :rofl:

yea i know. they've showed it here on tv too. ronaldo sux anyways.

CRESPO!!!

Germany are at home, don't forget that when you write them off...

I'm not writing them off yet, because they can score goals. I am not however about to say that the home advantage is going to improve their defence...........

When (... IF) Germany come up against any of the decent teams, I'm sure that they are going to have to count on scoring more goals than them rather than keeping any out.

My point was that to speak of Germany taking advantage of a team with a weak defence is kind of ironic.

Spain looked impressive today.

Still, if they are true to their usual tournament form they'll probably lose to Tunisia or Saudi Arabia.

Unless Aragones has found the magic formula...

I don't think Germany's defense is as bad as people are saying.

Ronaldo was a big disappointment, but let's not forget he won the World Cup for Brazil 4 years ago. He could easily recover, but if he doesn't I hope Parreira doesn't take too long to realize it.


Not once did I hear anything about Kaka's hair here in Brazil.

Jealous?

pff I now officially hate the Germans even more, those lucky bastards always score in the last couple of minutes in these kind of games? :rant:

Lucky?? Germany dominated, and deserved to win.

now all the teams played nad I can say: the best teams are Brazil e Czech Republic. Brazil with your powerfull attack and Czech Republic with great defense. But evryone knows that Brazil will be the champion.

p.s: for the 6 time....lol

Against a very poor 10 man Poland team they got a goal in injury time, yes they did deserve to win but if that's the best they can manage I'm not overly worried. Spain's quite interesting as they got very litttle attention in terms of possible winners but people might take a bit more notice now, I missed the game so I can't say how good they looked but beating anybody that well in world cup is a good omen. Spain may well be the dark horses of this tournament.

Yeah they deserved to win, but they always are so fucking lucky in these kind of games? :no:

i really don't know where brazil were the best. they were the worst team of all the favorites. if they continue playing like that, which i hope, they won't get any far.

and poland was just weak! i don't know how they were so good at the qualifying. they must have lost the ability to play football.

wrost team of all favorites? I don't think you watched France X Switzerland, Portugal X Angola, or even England X Paraguai.
I can't say that Brasil played that good but a team with Kaka, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo( I know the didn't played anything, but wait for the next matches) kick any Rooney, Zidane or Figo ass

Brazil wasn't that bad. But if you haven't noticed none of the better teams played that well in their first game, which is absolutely normal for a  World Cup.

And by the way, Ronaldo had headaches tonight and he went to a hospital for some exams.  :no:

France and Portugal aren't really favourites for the World Cup in my eyes. They could make it to the quarter final,or semi final with luck, but non of them will win it.
England didn't play that bad though.

I disagree about Portugal, they almost won Eurocup only 2 years ago. Plus Scolari is a very good coach, which is something England badly needs. I thought France would be better, but still I would not want to play against them.

I dont know if you remember, but in 2002 Brazil played MUCH worse in the 1st game. We struggled to win turkey. Everybody was expecting an awesome game from Ronaldinh0o and all the others, but off course thats not gonna heppen often. I dont expect them to in easily against Australia either... The World Cup is a very Difficult competition and any victory is valid

Haha, Ronaldo probably couldn't buy a transfer to a decent club, that isn't stupid, right now, while any club in the world would kill to have Rooney. Also, Zidane is way past his best and I don't think that you'll find anybody, French or otherwise, that would disagree.

I'm not sure if you watched the match, but Ronaldo didn't just have an off day, but he looked like he just didn't give a shit.


Yes, but they then lost to Greece. Twice! Don't discount the home advantage that the team had. Germany, for example are about 7-1 (or something like that) to win right now. But if this tournament were in any other country in the world then you would be looking at at least odds of 14-1.

France look shot to bits and the dude's right, neither they nor Portugal should be counted as favourites. That isn't to say that they don't stand a chance, just on paper you probably wouldn'y back them to go all the way.

What do you people think about Brasil - Croatia match?
We (croatia) played a great game against the world champions, i think we deserved at least a draw, but it ended in 1-0 brasil, Kaka scored a great goal. We need to win our next two games in order to progres in the next round, i belive we can do it.

I believe Croatia will pass to the next round. You have a good team

I'm impressed by Ecuador.

ECUADOOORR!!!! hell yeah.. What a great game... It was a surprise due to the fact they dont have so much history, But I am happy for them. Colombia could not make it, But at least our neighbors are doing a grat job.. GOOO ECUADOOOR!!!!  :peace:

oh boy england? :no: I'm sure they will win this game but they've got to play better than this? :nervous:

ENGLAND SUCK  :yes:
I HOPE THEY LOSE

Yeah we do, the only weak player in the team is Niko Kranjcar, the manager's son.? :rofl:

Ecuador classified!!! YAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!  ;D
I hope we can manage the germans well

You English can't expect to win the Cup if you keep on like that.

Agreed, i think they played poorly agains Trinidad & Tobago, and it wasn't a deserved win IMO.  :P

Well I hope we classified in first place so we can avoid England but we turn out in 2nd place and england play that way I think we can make a surprise  ;D

I watched some of your team earlier Dick, pretty impressed.

It's hard to play a good game of Football against a team that defends for almost 90 minutes...Becks saved the day again in my opinion...after a few perfect passes wasted by Crouch and Owen, Crouch finally netted one of them.

Crouch would get a 4 out of 10 from me, regardless of the fact that he scored. He was absoloutely useless, we just can't expect to win the world cup with him playing. It's all Liverpool's fault. Why the fuck did they have to bring him back up to the Premiership.

I was made up to see Lennon make an appearance, the boy done good, he did exactly what was needed.

As I said last time, we weren't good but, hey, weren't awful, nor even bad, either. It's difficult to play any team that are playing ten at the back. They played so tightly that it is hard to be effective. I have no fears about comming up against teams that are actually going to play the game.

Oh, and Lampard was rubbish.

Crouch should play basketball.  :rofl: :rofl:

I saw the game I think becks and gerrard play well crouch lampard and Owen lots of goals I don't know if they understimated the rival or they think they need to win every match playing bad, but it wasn't a good performance I want England to win the cup but if they keep playing like that they will need a miracle  :-\

Thank God that Sweden made that goal in the last minute, I almost had a heart attack.

Kaka's goal was his fault.  He was supposed to be marking him... you even saw Kaka standing there all alone pleading for someone to pass him the ball.

I hope Niko Kovac will be back.. he's too important to lose...

Today it's time for some serious asskicking for Serbia & Montenegro

I watched Paraguai x Sweden today and I need to say: I felt ashamed for watch such a ridiculous match. I was expecting more about the swedish team. it was a deception, I'm sure they won't pass the next round.

I think Croatia will beat Japan, and then draw with Australia. If that's the case then I don't think they will make the next round... Australia wont beat Brazil, and the coach Hiddink has even said he may rest a few players since they have already collected some yellow cards, and save them for the Croatia match, which is a must-win game.

Yeah, Niko Kovac left the field minutes before Kaka scored the goal, if he was still on the field i don't think they would have scored. Next match is against Japan, it's a must win game for us.

Ecuador RULES!!!

Hasta ayer ser Ecuatoriano era un orgullo, hoy es un lujo!  :beer: :beer:

Next match: Ecuador - Germany
I wonder how will this one finish.  ;D ;D

"Are you West Brom, are you West Brom, are you West Brom in disguise..................."

Argentina leading agains Serbia & Montenegro 2:0, argentina going to the next round.  :beer:

Agree compadre!  : ok:
I think we can win the germans but we should rest some players anyway we are going to play against England or Sweeden that's also big tough games, I hope that tenorio, delgado, valencia and mendez rest and instead put kaviedes, lara and urrutia from the start.

Argentina is kicking Serbia & Montenegro ass, that's really unexpected, not cause Argentina can't win but I was expecting a tough game or at least a better Serbia & Montenegro game, well we know who's the next classified.  :yes:

argentina were pretty awesome.

The Dutch are looking good as well. And now the Cote D'Ivorie have scored this could have a corking finish.

This is the first year that I have really followed every game. So far I'm loving it. As an old time hockey fan, I dont mind a good defensive 1-0 game, but I am ready to see a game where both teams can put it past the keeper. Maybe this Holland-Ivory Coast game will be it. 2-1 so far in the first half is a good start

Damn Almost had a couple of heart attacks during the second half, Ivory Coast were attacking like crazy? :nervous: probably because they had nothing to lose and we had everything to lose. Ivory coast really have a good team, but hey WE WON? :beer: :beer: :smoking:

argentina  rules!!!

6 - 0

Sorry I cant stand Argentina's "hinchada" but the team owned today...

Argentina is gonna beat Holland in the next game and they will play either Mexico or Portugal in the next round, i think.  :yes:

Mexico is so overrated  .  They will get destroyed by Argentina  if they play in 2nd round.

Damn right!  :rofl: :beer:

What's with Argentina's hinchada? they put a good show, I've been to the Cupa Libertadores final between Boca Jrs and Santos 2003 and it was the best thing I've ever seen  : ok:

Portugal going to the next round with a win against Iran 2-0, Deco scored one of the best goals of the tournament so far.  :peace:

Tonight Italy is going to beat USA. :smoking:

hey Ghana rules! Czech Republic just watched them playing. excellent match. and I was thinking Czech Republic could win the tournament.....
I guess Ghana will be in the next round, but is possible it be against Brazil. It would be a pitty, Brazil would destroy Ghana.

Yeah I was wondering why nobody was talking about this match, it was one of the best of the tournament  :beer:

1-1 usa italy and two sendins off work collegue will be most upset  :rofl:

What a game!

The US a man down (well, technically two......) and they were the team with the most intent going forward? Against ITALY?

This will take some getting over. I feel all faint.

What a game!

thatll be the blue jeans you wore today

Aye. They were pretty tight.

Worst....referee.....ever!

I hope we never see him again.  Great game by both teams, DESPITE the U.S. getting the shaft.  (Italy's red card was well-deserved, but most of the yellows they got were complete BS).

I don't know, there is a good argument for the US red card, too... It was pretty reckless.

Showing a yellow so soon after the break was absurd though! That's one thing that can be said for referees over here in England; so long as they can, they will let the game run on. It is very unlikely to be booked directly after the start or after half time; the referee will have a quiet word. The referee's at this tournament are way too card happy......

Jim, have you never watched Italy or an Italian team play? Even if they were three men up they would still sit back and wait to beat a team on the counter attack. Its what they've always done. Its the italian way.

The referee was a total shite-bag. Although i cant really remember one game this tournament where i've been happy with the ref.

Brian McBride was elbowed intentionally.  It happened right after the "lucky goal."  He got bloodied by the Italian player.  That's a red card well deserved.  The first red card the U.S. got, it was off of a simple tackle.  There was nothing dirty there.  And Eddie Pope's second yellow, erm, well, after 2 minutes?!  Players win games, coaches lose them, and referees ruin them.  ;)

I just can't understand the italian team, they have a player in hand for the whole second half and they don't go forward, i just don't understand it, i had the feeling they just wanted to secure a point from the game, they should have pushed to get a second goal but no they go on defence  :confused: :confused: :confused:

btw my friend lost 400 ? couse' of italy  :drool:

Worst referee ever?
I?d rather say best referee ever. All of his decisions were perfectly right. I hope he does the finale.
All teams (and players) knew that the referees had new guidelines, set by FIFA for this World Cup, and he perfectly followed them. It was an outstanding perfomance of him.
The teams were great, too. USA greatly improved since the match agains Czech Republic and Italy did a very good match, too, except the last half hour.

it was a 2 footed tackle showing his studs...its a sending off offence

"If that is the law sir, then the law is an ass"

As much as i saw on this world cup in every game the referee made 1 or 2 mistakes that could changed the game totaly, it just sucks

Well, Serie A certainly stinks of it, but the national team tend to assert a degree dominance over lesser opponents. Even if you are sitting back, there is no way that the USA should have had that much possesion given that they were a man down.

You are most certainly correct Jim.  And at the end of the game, Keller just kept launching the ball over to the Italian goalie!  :hihi:

I'm an american   of Italian  father.  Thursday is going to be perfect for me,   Italy  needs to win  for the U.S  to have a chance  and the U.S needs to beat Ghana.     I will be the biggest  Italian American fan  on thursday.  GO  USA   GO ITALIA!!!!

I'll drink to that buddy!  :beer:

But what if they both lose??  :rofl: :rofl:

the czechs and italy are frauds. ghana can easily win this group now - what a shocker that would be.

based on two games they are frauds? nah. the african teams simply dont have the quality nor experience right now. i'm not gonna say ghana will fail to qualify but italy are a real world class team.

how many games do you need??? this is the world cup. it's deliver or go home. the Choke Republic got completely outclassed by a team from Africa. i am not impressed by them at all. italy will play for a tie and will probably get it.

Ghana controls their own destiny - win and they're in. 

IMO Ghana is goin' in the next round, they are going to beat USA.  :yes:

And again not a good game from Brazil? :-\ some good chances for australia though? :)

You've heard it here first, Argentina is gonna be the next world champion? :beer:

its not gonna happen... wait and see   8)

That's typical Brasil.

It looks as they can't even beat "low class" teams, and then next thing you know - they are world champions. ?

What really was bad today is Croatia's game.

Bad, very bad. I have a strange feeling we won't even score a single goal on this championship.

But then again - there is still a match with Australia.

We will beat Australia dude  :peace: :peace:

I think Croatia will be beat Australia. I was born in Australia, my dad is Aussie, but my mum was born in Croatia, so it's a win-win situation for me ;) However, I think Australia will choke thanks to the big occasion, afterall this is our first appearance at the WC for 32 years.

Viduka is a dud. He has scored something like 6 times in 32 appearances in international football, and Kewell promises so much yet never delivers.

This will be a big match, as there are probably about 5 players in the Australian team who have Croatian heritage (Popovic, Viduka, Skoko, Bresciano and others I can't remember), and even the Croatian team has a few Australian born and raised players.

I can't wait :D ... but I think it will be Croatia 1 Australia 0

Actually i've said it from the beginning. But good to see that people are with me now :)

kaybee, its not vidukas job to score goals. he's a target man. and hes one of the best in the world at his job on his day. kewell is just an arse.

Let's hope you are right  ;D

So the striker isn't there to score goals?

Losing Robert Kovac will be a problem; he's been their best player.  And it looks like Niko's ribs are still bothering him. 

I was very discouraged by their performance against Japan.  How can you have 12 corners against a short team and not score one goal?  The strikers are terrible... Klasnic has no touch and Prso moves like he shit his pants.

Spain tonight...my second team...i predict a large windfall of goals...ok a 3-1 victory for the Spanish!

If its not that score, it will be a lot larger...come on Spain!

 :smoking:

well Spain is loosing right now , they will probably win at the end , but i think that people is making a big deal for Spain , yeah they will qualify easy in the weakest group of the world cup , then they will be out in the next round or in the next.

i think Argentina has a good team and they can do well in this tornament , i dont think they will be the champions. Argentinians every world cup say they will be champions .

Ye wise stoner! Good call :yes:

Super Cesc Fabregas :yes:

Good call Anselmo!  :hihi:

It looked pretty hopeless for a long time, then the onslaught came about!

It's all about patience.


Keep playing your game, keep the tempo up and the other team will get tired running after the ball. That will give you more scoring opportunities and in some cases an advantage of having more players on the field.....



France stopped playing against South Korea and look what happened...




/jarmo

I still think the French got robbed, but they stopped fighting in true French fashion...  the Koreans are still going nuts over here.

The Ukrainians totally demolished the Arabs.

Ecuador vs. Germany is the best game tomorrow, while England vs. Sweden will be interesting to gauge those teams' performance, as they are top-notch teams.

It is going to be a hard game without Robert Kovac on defence, but i'm sure our manager can find somebody to replace him, maybe Stjepan Thomas

England to 6-0 victory! Trinidad & Tobago to victory!

= Sweden to go home! :peace:

It also looks as though Australia will be out Harry Kewell, thanks to his little confrontation with the referees after the game. Not that he ever does anything anyway  ::)

English fans have rioted in the city of cologne last night ;)

You also said Spain didn't have a good team but to they've managed to play the best football so far....

I know it's too early to say anything...besides, history shows that the spanish team have a special talent to ruin things for them in the last 16 or the quarters, so I'm not gonna predict anything since it's always a question mark with us. However, So far, I'm yet to see any other better team than Spain. Argentina's played good too up against stronger (in theory) squads, but that's about it.

Hmm. But, as we know, the first two matches mean absoloutely nothing going into the knockout. While I think that Spain have a good chance to go far, I wouldn't worry at all if we came up against you, and I certainly can't see you winning it.

Maybe that's my prejudice towards my Spanish friend comming through there.......

Well, the first two matches mean nothing if you win them both, mean a whole lot more if you lose them both. Every match means something cause it puts in a better position to face the forthcoming matches. Had England or Spain lost any of their matches, we wouldnt be having this conversation.

I don't know what the possible match-ups are in the quaters or semis (I think Spain will play France, S. Korea or the swiss in the last 16) but if we are up against England, I have no doubt that we would play better football. That doesn't really matter afterall if we lose, but so far, England's not playing that well. The match against Paraguay had to be the most boring match of the World cup to date and against T&T although there was some slight improvement, it was against T&T. Tonight's match against Sweden will tell if England has any real chances or not.

I think that the earliest we can meet you is in the semi's. So......

I guess we won't be meeting each other then..............

 ;D

Markus Merk is helping us big  :rofl:

It's going to be a big loss if Kewell doesn't play, but who cares as long as we score a goal or two we can win it with him playing or not  ;D

Kewell didn't get a ban, so he's available for the next game.

That sucks big time :rant:

there are some GREAT games over the next three days with major implications for second round seedings.

sweden - england
germany - ecuador
argentina - netherlands
usa - ghana
italy - choke republic

this is a fun week.

I hate Ambrosi and Guagua, they both suck big time I wonder why, anyway Germany is playing better than Ecuador in every line, we can even make a decent pass to get throught the defense I hope is only cause the changes in the line up cause if we play like this against England or Sweeden we are going home  :no:

grrr, its four o'clock in the afternoon and i've not see a game of football yet.

Man germany is beating the shit out of us!  :'( 3 goals down

Germany won 3-0, great game by the home team, they are one of my favorite teams in the World Cup

Go Germany!!  :beer:

yes it's sad we're just gona see 2 games a day from now on.
i will miss the group phase

Well I hope Sweeden wins so Germans will match England  :hihi:

Looks like England may finally beat Sweden. :o

Or not!  Sweden scores in stoppage time to secure the tie!

32 years and counting...

I cannot believe how a defence where every player has Champions League experience can fail to deal with basic set pieces.

Ecuador won't be quaking in their boots.

Damn it. Sweden was great the second half. They should have win.

Germany will not be an easy match, but we can win.

Great goal for England , amazing shot by Cole beatiful ... nice game . ?
Sweden was better than England on  the second half, They should have win .


Tomorow ?ARGENTINA X HOLANDA that wil be a nice game two..  : ok:

Next round ?ENGLAND X EQUADOR

 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?GERMANY X SWEDEN

GERMANY will beat SWEDEN, i'm so sure i could bet a house on it  :yes: :peace:

hmm don't count on it The netherlands will be keeping alot of their best players on the bench, it will be a totally different team, I think that the same goes for argentina? :-\

Hooray for Sweden and England advancing!

agree. lucky England.....
If Englad keep playing like this they won't go anywhere, I'm expecting a hard match between Equador x England, both have a regular team....

Germany have really much pressure.

I'm sure it will be a tuff match

england smply arent good enough to win the world cup. first time they meet a good team they'll be heading home.

Fuck no. I'd rather see two/one fucking quality game a day than three mediocre games.  :yes:

The knockout is when the tournament begins!!!!!

You may be right, but England have a tendency to play as well as their opponents...whoever their opponents are ;)

Oh who am I kidding? They're doomed!

England will reach the semi's. You'll see! :peace:

BTW... I won some money yesterday, I bet on draw.

IMO they will play alot better when or if Owen returns and when Gerrard plays

Well, Owen's out for the rest of the tournament so that doesn't bare well. :-\


It definately looks like it was a bad idea to bring in Walcott and drop Defoe.? Only Sven would make such a reckless gamble with so much at stake.? We still do have a good chance of winning the competition but i'm not feeling all that confident at the moment.? I'd say Argentina, Brazil, Italy and Holland all have a much better chance right now, but maybe i'm wrong.? I do tend to be. : ok:

It'll be interesting to have another look at Portugal later on...

If Sven had the balls to pick Walcott, he should play Walcott.

Sven has no idea. He said when he picked the squad that Joe Cole could play the second striker role, despite never having played the position in his career. Then, 8 days later when a journalist asked him if he was considering using Joe Cole in the second striker role for one of the friendlies Sven said that Joe Cole has never played there and that he hadn't considered it.

Sven says Crouch and Gerrard won't play any part in the Sweden game. Well, we know what happened there. He clearly has no faith or confidence in Walcott or Carrick, so why didn't he go for the tried and trusted in the squad and pick Emile Heskey and Nicky Butt? ::)

According to Sky Sports News, Owen has a cruciate ligament injury and is out for 5 months.

Knowing how slowly Owen seems to recover in comparison to other players, I doubt we'll see him playing again before 2007.

As far as I'm concerned, Walcott was a goood gamble, and it was Hargreaves who came instead of Defoe. We should have taken five strikers! Taking four, with one of them being Walcott, was always going to be a fucking joke.

Though, mayb Walcott really is that damn good that Sven doesn't want the world to see him before the group stage is over, doesn't want the later, much harder, opponents getting a look at him...

Clutching at straws, I know.  :-\

If Owen hadn't have landed on his leg like an idiot, and the Crouch substitution wasn't forced, I wonder if Lennon would have come on again.


Oh come on. Sven didn't have a choice about bringing on Crouch, Owen would certainly have played 90 minutes otherwise, and the Gerrard substitution was a good one. I don't give a shit if Sven changes whatever tactics he tells the media, so long as they work. And they almost did........

But not playing Carrick was a crime.

whilst i do think walcott is a cracking player, if he was THAT good (like you say/hope/pray/clutch at) then wenger would've played him at some point in the season or thrown him on with ten minutes to go in paris.

he'll be forced to play him now that and i think he'll surprise a few of the doubters as i really rate walcott.

I hope so dude, but it's a phenominal amount of pressure to put on a kid who's never played in the Premiership.  Even if he is *THAT* good he'll need to have balls of steel if he's gonna raise his game against the big teams.

Gutted for Owen - just gutted

5 months out- and then the rest,  means he'll have played one Premiership game by the time 2006 closes - and he's now 26, he cant heal like he did

Damn shame - cos he's twice the goal scorer Rooney is

All the best Owen - and i'd really hoped he'd return to Liverpool soon


....as for Walcott.... :rofl:

Of course he's that good :confused:

Wenger couldn't use him in Paris because he let Sven take him to Portugal with the rest of the squad for training in how not to deal with set pieces and give the ball away.

I've seen Walcott in the flesh for the Arsenal reserves twice. Whilst it may only be the reserves, the boy is quite clearly cut from a different cloth. Or for those from north of Watford, he's different gravy. :rofl:

I remember seeing Fabregas for the first time, and I got a similar feeling when I saw Walcott. He's a little bit special. :yes:

Personaly the mistake in the squad for me is Jenas. I'd have dumped him and brought in Bent, Defoe or Ashton.

Well.... Yes, but only because he's part of the Van Nistelroy school of attack. He's a predator. There is nothing wrong with that, but the reason that Rooney is one of the best players in the world right now isn't because he's scoring goals.

Why, why some of you keep saying that? He's definitely got great potencial (and he's young), but one of the best players in the world right now? C'mon...

Not one of the best in the world, I agree. Is he even in the top 3 of England?

I wish Portugal to win!

Fernando Meira  :drool:   ;)

Do you mean in the Premiership? I'd rate him third behind Henry and Gerrard.


The boy is incredible, and you'd be a fool to not consider him for a world 11. His role is behind the striker, he isn't a natural goal scorer in the sense that somebody like Owen is; mainly because that isn't his job! His reading of the game is second to none, and I don't think that you can possibly begin to appreciate his style of playing if you look at him as just being a striker.

Man i have pain for Owen , cruciate? ligament injury is hard and painful injury , i have the same trouble last year .. dont like to remenber? :no:

He injury by him self ... ungly scene .

Gerrard, Henry, Lampard even Joe Cole (what a goal he scored last night) are better in my book. I'd pick many other players on that position before I'd pick him; Ronaldihno, Kak?, Shevchenko, Messi...

Either way.....


About last night's match,? I was watching the game in a bar with some friends. Where I live is almost a british colony since there are many xpats living here. I was trying to have a disussion with some drunken brits (golf business men...) and it was funny cause right before Sweden scored one of them told me, it's been 32 years or whatever since we beat Sweden for the last time, today we are changing history. One second later, Sweden scored and we all made fun of him. It was all in good spirits though, we had a fun time arguing about football with english tourists!? : ok:

Rooney is over rated but he is one of the best players in the world

Thing that annoys me though is people only really talk about strikers and fancy players as the best in the world, surely it should be measured as to how good someone is in their posistion, I see John Terry as as good in his posistion as Rooney is in his, yet defenders never get mentioned, sad really as defending is as much a part of the game as attacking

I don't use to watch english soccer( I never liked it) so I can't say anything about how they play off-World Cup, but I can say that in the World Cup the 4 main players of England (Rooney, Owen, Beckham and Lampard) are just disappointing. A team full of millionaire stars should play a lot better than this. I still think that England won't reach the semi...

Argentina is definately the most impressive team Ive seen so far in the world cup!
Riquelme is friggin incredible! also Messi, Tevez was great today.
Im allright with the 0-0 for this match cos I like Holland too.
anyways, if Argentina keeps this up, they'll win the cup!

Hehe it's good fun. All the taxi drivers I got during Guns Hammersmith and Download dates asked me how I felt their team would do. "You won't get past the quarter finals" provoked so many hostile reactions! Hilarious  : ok:

Gerrard, Gerrard, Gerrard, Gerrard, Gerrard, Gerrard, Gerrard.

There you've got Englands most important player.

Spot on

And Evo although you think its fun it probably added a few quid onto each fare!  :P

of course argentina is better than brazil. brazil is shit, they're all about nice tricks and all that shit. argentina plays more european.

I couldn't agree more, brasil is shit compared to argentina  :yes:

"Plays more european" is supposed to be a good thing?

When was the last time Argentina won a World Cup anyway?

Yeah sure  Brasil is so shit they are 5 times Wold Champions , you are so jealous ...

How can you not?

Maradona wasn't actually one of the best players in history. He was all about nice tricks and shit, but I wish he played more like the Europeans! Not to mention Pel?, that clown.

It's complete bullshit that is. Brownstone, honestly, where are you from? The only thing I see you have in common with most other Argentinians is the blind faith in their team.  :hihi:

Since play like European's is better? (no offense)
What team was in the last 3 world cup's  final and won 2?
What team in the world is 5X world champion i think u're full of shit....  :hihi:

One more thing more respect when u talk about my team (country) u could be more "european" and show some respect...

 :smoking:

WOW I cant believe it but I have found myself watching a shit load of this on TV.

That Spain win over whoever it was when Torres had 2 goals and they came back from being down 1-0 for like 60 minutes and won 3-1 was an incredible game.


United States are ranked 5th? How the fuck did that happen we suck.

I saw the last little bit of England vs Sweden I think, the 2-2 tie


Having never watched a bit of Soccer/Fotbol I am very impressed and find it pretty damn exciting.

Now NBA basketball is over and my beloved Dallas Mavs got ass raped by the refs, Im gonna root for Germany in the World Cup seeing as my USA team sucks as previously stated.

I would just like to say that mexico sucks the big one  and I expect Argentina to beat them 5-0  on Saturday.   The  FIFA rankings are a joke.   How can a team that plays all of their games in the concacaf  be ranked #4??   absolutely ridiculous.  I hate FIFA.

Lets dont get crazy now.

Its nowhere as exciting as NFL football to me, but I do like it.

D knows his football... : ok:

Hilarious avatar by the way...will be interesting to see how Kujo and SLC reply to that.

Brazil's domination over the last 10-15 years coincided with the massive export of players to Europe. If all Brazilians would had played in their own country, they would be eaten alive by big european teams. Playing in Europe teaches them that Football is also about tactics, not only clown tricks and wasting chances.

i don't know if playing european equals better or not,but it definetely means more disciplined playing, in my opinion. and argentina has a way more organized way of playing than the brazils.

and i am not being disrespectful to your country dude, i just dislike your national team. and i am sorry but we will have to destroy you in the semi finals.
and the reason why they won the world cup last time was because argentina was really bad and they had germany in the final. anyone could beat them ;)

hasn't brazil always dominated??? haven't they won more world cups than anyone???

that's a bold statement saying that brazil would not dominate if players didn't migrate to Europe. i think they would have found a way to be a top team, no matter where their players play professionally.

brazil plays that was cause they can. they have the skill at every position, and the quickness on D to recover and limit good scoring chances.

don't be a hater...brazil is just that dominant. with that said, i hope someone pulls a major upset and beats them. it's certainly not impossible.

brazil have won alot more cups than anyone but they had a near fourty year spell where they won nothing. And its not a bold statement to say that - its widely accepted as fact by both europeans and brazilians. basically, they have the flair and individual talent, we have the organisation, physical presence and the defensive know-how. unfortunately the learned the defensive part in the early 90's and have been kicking ass ever since.

even the best brazilian teams (1970, etc) would struggle against most modern international teams simply because of the difference in tactics and the organisation. never mind conditioning.

2Na, Brazil never had a 40 year spell. Things were ugly between 70 and 94, but Brazil had very good teams in between. 1982 was amazing, 1990 would have been better if the Argentinians hadn't drugged some of Brazil's players.

Of course the 1970 team would struggle against today's modern teams, they're all old now.  :hihi:  But seriously, any team from that time would struggle against any team of today. Football has changed and Brazil has kept up with it.

A team doesn't win 5 World Cups without tactics, sorry.


And why did Brazil play the last 3 WC finals? And how come Brazil killed Argentina last year at the Confederations Cup final (4-1)?

i said a "nearly 40 year spell where they won nothing" - this is true. 34 years being nearly 40. i never said the teams weren't good, but sandman asked "hadnt they always dominated" - which they hadnt.

as for the 1970 not being a match for nowadays teams due to football moving on...well my original point was that it took brazil time to blend their individual style based game with the european defensive counter attack game which is just what you've said.

Italy and ghana in the next round, if croatia wins tonight we play against Italy :nervous:

fucking crap, I hate Italy ;D (the team, not the country, haha)
really wished Nedved and the boys would advance, but it's been looking ugly since Koller got injured.
dream final would definately be Argentina-Brasil. but Im getting scared of Germany, think they just might get to the final! I really really hope Sweden kicks their asses, but Im doubting it.
I don't think England will get much further, I actually like Germany better than England in this world cup....and Im no fan of the Germans! ;D

Edit: looking forward to Brazil-Japan later, lets hope Ronaldinho and Kaka brings the magic!
anyone know if Ronaldo will get a third chance btw?

Don't worry dude, if Germany wants to get to the finals, they have to pass Argentina, and they're never gonna bet them in 10 years. I'm really excited about Portugal vs. Netherlands.

ohh i see now that you ar alittle jealous right? we know that your country fail to qualify , get over it .   i have to say that Mexico its allitle bit overated and they will be probably going home in the next match against argentina, but you cant deal with Mexicos team been better than USA .

Maybe USA should stick to Baseball and American Football ;)

just kiddin

yep, should be a damn good match! but who knows, it might turn into a huge snoozefest as well. though both teams play pretty nice football, always liked em both. think I'll be rooting for Holland though.

Holland used to play nice football until 2004 (holland vs.czech at the european cup? god that was the best game ever). now they play like the italians used to. boring and defensive

I remebering a certain game now, S?o Paulo x Liverpool, I guess you remeber wich team won.
If Brazil decide to have a national team only with players that play here(Brazil), I'm sure that this team would be as good as the actual team, or even better. Brazilian players shows to Europe the magic of the soccer, something that Beckham, Rooney, Zidane, Del Piero, etc. can't do.

1994 - 1970 = 24  :peace:

I feel so down that lots of people think Ecuador can't win against England, I know England have better players and even played better in their last game but, Ecuador also had great game and did a great impression saying that England is already in the next round is looking to low to Ecuador I hope we can do a great game and if Possible be in the next round and not England.

good point, estranged. the game of soccer has evolved and brazil has kept up.

2na - obviously i didn't mean "always dominated" literally. no team will dominate consistently for many years.   ::)

who is the greatest team of the last 75 years? it's brazil. it's not even debatable.

they have been consistently good. so why try to give Europe credit for Brazil's recent success???

Despite being English, I think Ecuador have a superb chance of beating England on Sunday.

Ecuador beat Brazil AND Argentina in the qualifying for this tournament and easily beat Poland who England historically struggle against.

Any English fan who thinks the game will be a walkover should think again.

Brazil 4 - 1 Japan

Thanks You very much  : ok:

I guess we should thank the Europeans, who apparently taught us how to play  :rofl:

That was the most stupid comment ever

US sucks.

Man what a bunch of pussies.


Our top guy gets a little boo boo and goes out.

How in the hell did he get that ball stolen from him anyway?


And that penalty was ridiculous.

Ghana got that bullshit penalty shot during the extended first half and it was a horrible call.

Its something cause all week Ive watched Germany,Spain,England and Im so excited about Fotbol/Soccer cause Im thinking "WOW, this is great"

I watch the US play today and have never been more bored in my life.

Our team is passionless, spoiled and weak.

I am officially a German as of today and will cheer Germany till the end. : ok:

blegh, my maths is shit but my point remains completely the same.

it was actually my point that brazil do not play the way the same was as they did 30 years ago. they have adapted to the european style. because if they hadn't they wouldn't be winning world cups nowadays.

i never claimed that brazilian success was down to europe. you've got a chip resting on your shoulder because i never made that point.

nor did i anywhere claim that brazil were not the best team ever. because they are. you're making things up and attributing them to me.

oh, and eduardo can you point out where i or anyone claimed that the europeans taught brazil how to play football? cos i cant see it. for "the most stupid comment ever" it doesnt actually exist, does it? makes your comment seem pretty, well, stupid.

although it was an englishman who brought football to brazil if we're being tecniqual.

Did I mention your name? I was commenting on something someone said 3 pages back, which was completely stupid. I don't even know who made that comment.

Anyway, no team plays nowadays like they did 30 years ago. That's obvious. Do you think Holland plas the same way today like they did in '74? No. The game evolved, so did the players

Brazil didnt addapt their game to the european style, which is all about crossing the ball. We did'nt learn tactics from the Europeans. In fact, the only thing that changed in our game is the defense, which used to be bad.

And that wasn't because of Europe either

the european game is based on crossing? well, you obviously know the game inside out dont you. The last time arsenal won the league in england they never scored one single goal from a cross all season. not one. pretty strange huh. there's your theory blown to shit.

And how do you explain the gap in brazil's winning world cups if not on them adapting to the european, aggressive, defensive counter attacking style?

(id still like to see the quote that says europeans teaching the brazilians how to play)

First of all ?I posted that comment after Mexico lost to portugal ?and before USA vs. Ghana ?so I how could i be jealous ?? The USA game ?had not been played yet. ? I would never be jealous of Mexico ?, they suck. they barely got passed ?an easy group. ?They played Iran and Angola , that is pretty weak. ?USA on the other hand ?was in the group of death . ? I'm not saying the USA had a chance to win the WC ?because they didn't ?they would have been destroyed against brasil ? but i know they would have gotten out of your group if they had played there. ?no concacaf team will ever win the World Cup ?. ? I will be rooting for Italy to win the world cup since I am Italian American ?. ? GO ITALY ? !

BTW ?I PREDICT ARGENTINA WINS 6-0 AGAINST MEXICO ?

Here's the quote he was responding to:

That's because not every time the best team wins, thats why football is so exciting

well its not saying europe taught them how to play football is it? its saying that for all the individual flair in the world a well drilled team is vital. huge difference.

its just saying it in a nasty way.

for a quarter of a century eduardo?

seems strange that brazil were unlucky for 24 years, yet when more and more brazilians started playing in europe they started to win it again. your theory is based off of random luck, mine is actually intellegable.

We won 3 WC in 58, 62 and 70 and 90% of our team played in Brazil

yes, i know that. They won them because the european teams couldnt match their flair defensivly. After 1970 the european teams picked up your individual flair - best, cruyff, platini, etc - and won more world cups.

In brazil's barren spell their game evolved to learn the european defensive, counterattacking style and from then on have been dominant.

I seem to keep saying the same thing, yet you're not picking it up.

Actually, you can't just say "Europe" and put all the leagues in the same bag. The Spanish league is one a Brazilian fan can actually enjoy and it's where most players that go to Europe go to. Italy is completely different and I don't think any of the major Brazilian players ever played in England.

When you were watching Brazilian's game today were you thinking "aggressive, defensive counter attacking style"? What exactly did Brazil pick up from Europe?

And by the way, out of the cups that Brazil didn't win, Argetina won 2. So you can't just say Europe took it all.

blah blah blah. we know.

if you wanna do a dick measuring contest for sports start up a thread about it. otherwise don't. just dont.

AND brazil finished in 4th place and 3rd place in 1974 and 1978. so it's not like they weren't an elite team all through the 70's.

yes, brazil's game has evolved and improved. but you can't just give all that credit to europe for influencing brazil's style.

in fact, you can make a better argument that Europe has adopted more of brazil's style. as 2na said...

"After 1970 the european teams picked up your individual flair - best, cruyff, platini, etc - and won more world cups."

brazil was dominant, then europe caught up. brazil is dominant again....will europe catch up?

we'll find out if they have in the next few weeks.

estranged, i never said the brazilians play in that that style. they evolved and adapted to it. if they hadnt they wouldnt be doing well. which has always been my point. not that brazil play in a european way.

i understand english may not be your first language and i don't want to condescend, but you're reading things that i;m not writing.

USA came up small today. donavon was a bust in all 3 games. he was supposed to be one of our better players, but he played very tentatively. and he constatnly turned the ball over. he was awful.

still, the US has made nice strides. we have a young nucleus with some rising stars coming up. the group of death was even tougher than anyone could have imagined. BY FAR, the most difficult group to advance out of.

sandman, i never said brazil were not a good team in the tournaments they didnt win. once again youre misrepresenting me. My point was that there must be a reason a team is dominant (3 out four from '58) then nothing for 6. then 3 outta 4.

And european teams still play in the same style. It is the individual players who have, on occasion, changed. Not to say that weve taken nothing tho.

i see what you're saying know. i totally misunderstood your point.

although i think you're kinda stating the obvious....all teams must learn to defend opponent's strengths.

I'm guilty of that. But:


I agree that Brazil adapted to the European style (and vice-versa). But still, Brazil plays the game almost the exact same way as 30 years ago. (Italy showed the same thing today by the way, I thought).

i may be stating the obvious, but it was to answer a question of why  the dominant team in world football should go through a barren spell of a quarter century. pretty huge "failure" and there must be a reason.

more like looking at the historiography and the social evolution of football, if you will.

Also, History (in every sense) always repeats itself. Be it a revolution, depression, enlightenment or the change in style of a now global football world. By understanding the past you can predict the future.

Maybe i should've just made a joke about how the referee in the Australia v Croatia game gave the same player three yellow cards instead. That would've been easier.

Australia 2 Croatia 2 aaaaaaaand thanks to Brazil v Japan, Australia is in the next round  ;D

Some of the umpiring decisions were absolutely phenomenal in this game. Australia got one deserved penalty but there was another clear one that wasn't awarded, one of the Croatian players was given 2 yellow cards yet stayed on the ground. I am not a huge fan of Mark Viduka but there were some clear free kicks that were not awarded to him, and yet when the same thing happened to another player, they were given the free kick.

Anyway, bring on the Italy match. I don't think Australia can win, but its a great thing for football in this country  :peace:

Some of the what? Steady on love, this isn't tennis............







 ;D Seriously though, I was cheering on you Aussies big style! I don't know what it is, but recently I've always had a thing for the Australians. Probably because of Emilie de Ravin..........

(no, seriously, it's isn't....................)

Croatia vs. Australia was the most exciting match so far, and what does german fucking free tv show? Japan vs. Brazil.
Fucking ridiculous.

Not at all. Unless you have clairvoyants, why wouldn't you show the Brazilians?  ::)

What a fool you are.

Haha sorry, I know some of my terminology isn't the best. I'm a fairly new, converted fan. I need to be brushed up on football terminology (but at least I'm calling it football, and not soccer, like 99% of Aussies!!)

Your umpire reference was all in good fun, bit of a laugh.

But, seriously, if you had have said soccer, I would have had to kick your ass for real.