The *Official* 2010 FIFA World Cup Thread

So I guess the starting XI is:

Green
Johnson
A.Cole
Terry
Ferdinand
Lennon
Lampard
Barry
Gerrard
Rooney
He'skey

 

Could that not be a coincidence? How many of those goals did Heskey actually contribute to?

Heskey is a striker, he's meant to score goals, not just help Rooney score. If Heskey won't score then drop him (bent is far better and was dropped for not scoring). Crouch can help Rooney score goals and score a few of his own.

Heskey blows.

 

He'skey.


-JR

 

Bent has never contributed anything to England. His appearances have been characterised by a lack of goals, and no integration with his team mates. At least He'skey does the latter. It's not all about goals.



EDIT: Remember, France won the World Cup with Stéphane Guivarc'h in their squad.

 

Upson has consistently played for England under Capello. Dawson has not. no surprises there.

unlucky for Johnson but he'll definitely be there next time round. i would have preferred either him or Walcott to SWP though. but at the end of the day we're talking about reserves so it's not that crucial.

He'skey was always going to go. and he'll start, too purely because of his effect on Rooney.

i'd agree with the starting 11 E listed above. only change might be if they play Rooney as a lone striker with Gerrard playing off him and J Cole out wide. would prefer the former though, obviously.

 

Maybe we could try starting with 13 in the first game, thereby finding places for both Joe Cole and Milner.


-JR

 

Shame that England don't have a world class keeper anymore. It would make the team look so much more impressive.

 

We do. His name is Joe Hart and hopefully he will be starting instead of Green.


-JR

 

I'd actually start with Hart, myself, as I think he has serious potential.


EDIT: I actually think Hart will be the third choice in Capello's mind. Alas.

 

i think Hart is the best of the three... but Green has done nothing really wrong to warrant being dropped. he's the custodian and i would stick with him. Hart will be there in 4 years time. i would be the most disappointed if he goes with James.

 

Hart doesn't seem to have to try as hard as Green to make equallty good saves. Just seems to happen.

 

The thing with James is that if he's having a good game (i.e. no **** ups) he can be world class on the day. If only we had a crystal ball.

 

Right. I am sufficiently nerdy about the WC to have a stab at predicting England's squad numbers.

1. Green
2. Johnson
3. A.Cole
4. Gerrard
5. Ferdinand
6. Terry
7. Lennon
8. Lampard
9. He'skey
10. Rooney
11. Barry
12. Upson
13. James
14. Milner
15. Carragher
16. King
17. Carrick
18. Defoe
19. Wright-Phillips
20. Warnock
21. Crouch
22. J.Cole
23. Hart

 

Maybe in 4 years.

 

Team playing really well in pre-tournament friendly - witness Holland.

 

My predictions for the WC:

QF:
England vs France
Germany vs Argentina
Brazil vs Netherlands
Spain vs Italy

SF:
England vs Netherlands
Spain vs Argentina

Final:
Spain vs Netherlands

Spain to win

Although I think England may go out to France. I think France have a superior team, but they have Domenech as the man in charge while England have Capello.

Oh, and another prediction, which appears to be universally accepted.. Portugal to be eliminated in the first round.

 

While I find it certainly very possible that the Portugal national team will be eliminated in the Group Stage; I, for one, believe it's a little bit more likely they will be out in the Second Round.

 

Sir David of Moyes disagrees with you. Speaking in the Sunday Times WC supplement, he suggets that an unexpected player always comes to prominence in the tournament for each team. And he believes Hart to be that player for England.

We shall soon see.


-JR

 

I'm Reading about Maradona - and his potential jealousy of Messi, which may or may not have manifested itself through his comments about Messi not being committed to the Argentinian colours - and in amongst the article, I discover that before he became Argentina manager, Maradona's record at his only two previous clubs as manager reads thusly:

Games Played: 23
Games Won: 3

How, in the name of all that is holy, did this man become the national manager...?!!


-JR

 

It's worth noting he's already done better than that. In fact Argentina have still won more than losing and drawing with him in charge. I'm not saying he's necessarily a good coach or anything, but they've still won a few key games. Including the one that took them to South Africa over Uruguay.

 

Yep, his record as Argie manager is:

Games played: 18
Games won: 13
Games lost: 5

But I was asking how he got the gig in the first place.

It's also worth noting that he has fallen out spectacularly with Riquelme (who will no longer play for him), when he made his comment in 2008 that "Mascherano is more Argentina than Riquelme or Messi."

Messi continues to play for him, despite Maradona also having previously made these public statements:

"I think Messi lacks character."

"Messi sometimes plays for Messi. He is so full of himself that he forgets his teammates. He is Messi Football Club."

And he has also accused him of being a "chupon", a schoolboy term for players who hog the ball.

Which is all a bit rich, really.
Besides being terribly bad management.


-JR

 

Australia beat Denmark 1-0 in its first warm up, so I'm happy although the Socceroos aren't looking particularly dangerous.

 

I am thinking Cote d'Iviore will be the bust in this world cup. They have a hard group and have been hyped as better than Portugal. Not true I say

 

Not only will they get out of their group (in 2nd place), they will also provide the shock exit of the WC by dumping Spain out in the Round of 16. You heard it here first.

 

Latest injury casualty -- ME!

Bruised my ribs going for a high ball lastnight. Hurts like hell, couldn't even sleep much last night. May have to miss the second most important footie tournament this June -- our corporate tournament on the 26th. Anyone have Dr. Müller-Wohlfahrt's number?