The *Official* 2010 FIFA World Cup Thread

Have you not been paying attention the 5 years I've been here? When it comes to football it's Germany first. I've even been known to root against the US when the ESPN announcers start getting on my nerves. Given that I don't want Germany to face England n the first knock out round, I'll probably even be leaning for England a bit so that they win the group.

EDIT: And more bad injury news for der Vaterland -- Heiko Westermann, who had a decent chance of starting, and was also the emergency backup at holding midfielder due to other injuries (Ballack and Träsch) is nowe also out. Löw may now have to bring in another defender, probably Mats Hummels of Dortmund. Who should have been on the team anyway, is an excellent young central defender who can also play holding.

 

Here..

http://satwentyten.wordpress.com/2009/12/28/2010-world-cup-wallchart-in-excel/

Filling it out..

 

Mwindu's from Australia, meaning his team vs yours is Australia v Germany, not England v USA.

 

yankee has obviously not been paying attention the eight years that Mr M has been posting here.


-JR

 

I hereby declare myself too stupid to live. Move along, nothing to see here.

 

I find it hard to believe that 45 minutes is long enough to judge if a player can be included in the squad, I am a avid Bent supporter but I admit he's not really international class. Should still have been given a full 90 minutes to prove himself. Which he has never gotten whenever he's included in England Game.

Anyway I think the last two friendlies performance wise are just red herrings, and very easy to worry over.

Capello's A game wasn't on show, it will be in time for June 12th.

 

Jogi Löw staying stubborn, will not not add bring in someone new to replace Westermann. To be blunt, I think he's being quite foolish, Mats Hummels probably deserved to be on the squad regardless, he was one of the best defenders in the BuLi this year.

 

this reducing the squad from 30 to 23 is pretty stupid to begin with. if Capello is relying on a couple of meaningless friendlies to make up his mind, he hasn't done a good enough job - same goes for all international managers. fact is they know fine rightly the 23 they intend to take. i hope Bent goes because i think he's better than Defoe but i think he'll probably miss out.

 

Defoe offers something to the team Bent does not. Thus, if England are struggling to break down Algeria (or perhaps when England are struggling to break down Algeria), Defoe offers something to the attack that neither Rooney, Crouch or He'skey does. Bent would offer many of the same attributes Rooney does - except not as good. So Defoe should go.

Also, the reducing the squad from 30 to 23 thing probably has as much to do with the training sessions as it does the warm-up games themselves. It allows the players to pit themselves agianst each other, thus laying out the options in as clear a terms as possible. Post season - so far less chance of new injuries to disrupt things - Capello can see his preferred 23 against the other options and make sure he's confident in his own mind. Makes sense to me.

Everyone places to much significance on the pre-tournament friendles as chances to 'try things out'. I'd go against that, and suggest that all they're really for is to give the players time on the pitch alongside each other before getting down to business. An exercise in regaining some familiarity on the pitch rather than a tactical test ground. You don't even need to play well to get that.

 

Hopefully blue but probably red.


**** you in advance, epic.

 

I suspect the training sessions have at least as much impact on who makes the cut as the friendlies, which it seems most top managers use more as a type of training to try out tactics.

 

BBC now has their pick of the goals from 1998 online. Just watched it and what a pleasur to be reminded of Bergkamp's goal against Argentina.

 

I don't think there's any doubt over who'll win this group:

Italy
Paraguay
Slovakia
New Zealand

... but who's going to be second?

 

Slovakia have a few good players, but for some reason I'm edging towards Paraguay.

 

I agree. Löw is not impressing me right now.

 

Whoever ends up second will end up being cannon fodder for the Dutch.

 

1. Italy
2. New Zealand
3. Slovakia
4. Paraguay

 

agreed. he's really hit a new low.

 

allegedly this is the English 23 man squad, altho not announced as yet.

GK:
Green
James
Hart

DEF:
Johnson
Carragher
Terry
King
Upson
Ferdinand
Cole, A
Baines

MID:
Walcott
Lennon
Cole, J
Barry
Lampard
Gerrard
Carrick
Milner

ATT:
Rooney
Defoe
Crouch
Heskey

so Bent, Parker, Huddlestone, Johnson, SWP, Warnock and Dawson miss out.

so real surprises there. tried and trusted.

 

Poor Dawson and Bent.

Crouch might have a chance at winning the Golden Boot given all the crap England should face before the semis (which god willing they will make). We all know that he's world class against crap teams.

 

The 30 to 23 thing is all about the training, for sure. It's the reason that Adam Johnson has come so close to making the final squad (although he probably won't go to SA), even though he only played five mins in the friendlies.

Sven never bothered with the 30, he'd just pick the 23 early and then get them to train together as a unit for longer (and actually, if you look at what the majority of the other current squads have done, they've done the same as Eriksson did). However, I have a feeling the reason that Don Fabio has gone the route of 30 first, is due to the injuries that were incurred by Beckham, Barry, Hargreaves, and to a lesser extent, those that still had/have question marks remaining over them - Ashley Cole, Ferdinand, Gerrard and Rooney of those that made the 30, and Jagielka, Lescott and Brown, who didn't.

Fact is, as a result of Capello going the 30 route, Joe Cole has most likely had the chance to prove his worth and book his place on the plane to SA - he may well not have made an initial cut of 23 - Huddlestone may have made it at the expense of Carrick and, unless the Italian makes the unlikely choice of going with only seven defenders, then, by all accounts, Adam Johnson has come very close to making the plane as the 'suprise package' player that opponents would know little about.

Either way, I don't think that it has been a waste of time if it has solidified things in Capello's mind about what his twenty three are capable of.

Where I DO have an issue, is with the horrible possibility that he may now think that Gerrard and Lampard starting together in the middle could be a good idea...

WTFF??


-JR

 

Oh come on. He's not even remotely fat.

 

One bright spot for Löw with all the injuries is that he now only has to cut one player. Most likely either Andreas Beck or Stefan Kießling. The latter would be pretty harsh, since Kießling was the leading German goal scorer in the BuLI this year. other possibilities would be Piotr Trochowski (my pick -- he's simply not good enough compared to guys like Kroos and Müller) and Mario Gomez. Gomez would be interesting because it would be the 3rd major tournament in a row where the biggest name cut was a player who had abandoned VfB Stuttgart for supposedly greener pastures, after Kevin Kuranyi (2006) and Timo Hildebrand (2008). Some thign for Sami Khedira to take into account as he decides whether to extend his current Stuttgart contract or move to Bayern next summer.

 

I'm guessing that you knew exactly what I meant and were merely bringing your usual humour to the thread, Georgey-Boy. However, just to clarify:

What The **** Fabio??

EDIT:

Sky is reporting that Bent has been told he's out...

EDIT, EDIT:

News Of The World Twittering that Carrick is IN

Looks like lil' e's (and The Guardian's) squad predo is coming into fruition - that means Huddlestone is likely out.

EDIT, EDIT, EDIT:

Express Twittering that Walcott is OUT.

All unsubstantiated at present.

I am shocked.
Shocked I tell you.


-JR

 

BBC confirms: Walcott is OUT

North East Echo twittering: Adam Johnson OUT

NOTW twittering: Wright-Phillips IN

Wow.


-JR