World Cup 2010

(Just subscribing.)

Ah, its coming up quickly, at last. Robert Green looked awfully good in goal for England against Mexico yesterday. I'd be surprised if he didn't earn the #1 shirt by their first game against USA.

We'll see how the USA looks this evening against a tough side tonight.

I dig the commercial, especially The Simpsons part.

Regarding Ronaldinho:Sports Illustrated had a profile on Kaka that talked about Brazil's move away from "The Beautiful Game" to a more hard-nosed, results-oriented style. Hence cutting Ronaldhino, who (apparently) played around too much in 2006 without focusing on practice.

BlackSheep wrote:

Ah, its coming up quickly, at last. Robert Green looked awfully good in goal for England against Mexico yesterday. I'd be surprised if he didn't earn the #1 shirt by their first game against USA.

We'll see how the USA looks this evening against a tough side tonight.

"Awfully good" ? Well, one of those words fits, given his penchant for letting the ball bounce off him and his laughable performance at the corner for Mexico's goal.

Not as funny as Leighton Baines freeing himself up for a summer beach holiday, mind you.

Brazil's strategy is completely in line with that favoured by their manager, Dunga. I was surprised by Ronaldinho's omission, but then if Dunga is clear that he only wanted one gutless, over-rated show pony then Kaka, being younger seems logical, despite his complete failure to make any impact at Real Madrid this season.

Anyone else watch the 4-2 loss last night?

Gooch didn't look too good. USA needs a him though so he will make the team.

23 man roster will be set today at 1:20 EST.

Roster is up and there a few questionable entries and omissions. Findley gets a nod when he hasn't done a lick in his caps and Ching gets left off when he's been playing well as a holding forward. Pearce and Bornstein get nods and both are garbage. Id rather see a midfielder back there. And, ill say it again, Davies should be on that plane regardless of what % he's playing at.

WC Prediction: 2nd in group (barely) followed by 5-1 loss to Germany. Bradley gets fired and Klinnsmann comes in.

93_confirmed wrote:

Roster is up and there a few questionable entries and omissions. Findley gets a nod when he hasn't done a lick in his caps and Ching gets left off when he's been playing well as a holding forward. Pearce and Bornstein get nods and both are garbage. Id rather see a midfielder back there. And, ill say it again, Davies should be on that plane regardless of what % he's playing at.

WC Prediction: 2nd in group (barely) followed by 5-1 loss to Germany. Bradley gets fired and Klinnsmann comes in.

Buddle and Gomez have been playing better than Ching. Although Ching is not bad. Just not as good as those two.

I am more worried about the D. Hopefully Bocanegra and Gooch are healthy by the WC. And Tim Howard needs to play lights out. I think he can do it.

Here is the detailed 23 man roster.

http://www.ussoccer.com/Tournaments/...

DEFENDERS (7) - Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United).

MIDFIELDERS (9): DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers), Michael Bradley (Borussia Monchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Jose Torres (Pachuca).

FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Pachuca).

davet010 wrote:

Brazil's strategy is completely in line with that favoured by their manager, Dunga. I was surprised by Ronaldinho's omission, but then if Dunga is clear that he only wanted one gutless, over-rated show pony then Kaka

Does that mean show pony extraordinare, Mr. Robinho isn't going?

davet010 wrote:
BlackSheep wrote:

Ah, its coming up quickly, at last. Robert Green looked awfully good in goal for England against Mexico yesterday. I'd be surprised if he didn't earn the #1 shirt by their first game against USA.

We'll see how the USA looks this evening against a tough side tonight.

"Awfully good" ? Well, one of those words fits, given his penchant for letting the ball bounce off him and his laughable performance at the corner for Mexico's goal.

Not as funny as Leighton Baines freeing himself up for a summer beach holiday, mind you.

Brazil's strategy is completely in line with that favoured by their manager, Dunga. I was surprised by Ronaldinho's omission, but then if Dunga is clear that he only wanted one gutless, over-rated show pony then Kaka, being younger seems logical, despite his complete failure to make any impact at Real Madrid this season.

Are you kidding? We watching the same game? Let's not forget he's playing for West Ham who has the innate ability to not bother playing defense, usually leaving him with screamers that are awfully difficult to corral anyway. In the game against Mexico, he had two absolutely brilliant saves on breaks and you can hardly lay the blame for the corner kick goal at his feet as it were. His post-man gave that one away by putting it at Green's old teammate on the Hammers. Yikes. This is why we Yanks have hope against you Brits Way too overly critical. Sometimes it seems like England is playing with the weight of their nation upon their shoulders and they're just looking to be the least terrible performer on the pitch sometimes. Too much talent for that, but that's certainly what the first half looked like.

93_confirmed wrote:

Roster is up and there a few questionable entries and omissions. Findley gets a nod when he hasn't done a lick in his caps and Ching gets left off when he's been playing well as a holding forward. Pearce and Bornstein get nods and both are garbage. Id rather see a midfielder back there. And, ill say it again, Davies should be on that plane regardless of what % he's playing at.

WC Prediction: 2nd in group (barely) followed by 5-1 loss to Germany. Bradley gets fired and Klinnsmann comes in.

Please, oh please? I really think that Bradley would make a much better U-21 coach with his penchant for experimentation and all. I would love to have Klinnsmann running our show. I love his commentary the other night. Completely level and unintentionally funny.

UCRC wrote:
davet010 wrote:

Brazil's strategy is completely in line with that favoured by their manager, Dunga. I was surprised by Ronaldinho's omission, but then if Dunga is clear that he only wanted one gutless, over-rated show pony then Kaka

Does that mean show pony extraordinare, Mr. Robinho isn't going?

No, somehow I imagine Mr. "Flee at the first sign of any adversity whatsoever" will still somehow be in South Afrca, and immediately say the Vuvuzelas are throwing him off his game.

UCRC wrote:
davet010 wrote:

Brazil's strategy is completely in line with that favoured by their manager, Dunga. I was surprised by Ronaldinho's omission, but then if Dunga is clear that he only wanted one gutless, over-rated show pony then Kaka

Does that mean show pony extraordinare, Mr. Robinho isn't going?

I hope not - we've still got his registration and I don't want the sack of sh*t getting injured before we sell him to whichever club is blind enough to his past history. He won't be staying at Santos though unless they pony up £20m, which seems unlikely as supermarkets had to chip in to pay his wages...and if he tries to push that one, City will point out to Blatter that they still hold his registration and hence cannot play for anyone else in a FIFA member state.

Still, on the plus side, I'd rather pay £32m for a gutless waster than £68m, all things considered....and ours isn't in the form of debt.

Build up here is starting to get intense, also helped by the fact that our team is starting to suck a little less. They managed to beat Columbia last night which is impressive. Carlos Alberto Parreira has helped in the short time he's been with the team.

The best news is that we are becoming less goal shy, we did a lot of keeper challenging last night.

FIFA are hoping it gets even more intense - intense enough, perhaps, to actually sell out any of the games. I must admit to being surprised that they haven't done at least one yet, after all there are enough freeloaders turning up.

o.O

You're getting very different media reports to us. The opening, semis and final are sold out, and every game involving Brazil, Portugal, Italy and, I believe, England. It's the clashes between small teams that they are struggling to sell.

And of course it doesn't help that Match reserved huge blocks of tickets, air tickets and accommodation, tried to charge ludicrous prices and have since released those at the last minute for independents to try sell.

*edit*

Oh and FIFA, with all their experience are actually unable to actually sell the tickets.

Johannesburg - About 700 people pushed and shoved and organisers threatened to shut down a Soccer World Cup ticket centre as fans scrambled for a last chance to watch the tournament's biggest games - only to discover that FIFA's systems had crashed.

Two hours into Friday's final release, no one had been able to buy any of the 160 000 tickets still available for the world's biggest football tournament.

FIFA said ticket service provider Match was experiencing "significant delays" due to technical problems across all sales channels, which include FIFA's own ticket centers as well as local bank branches.

FNB, the bank which acts as a World Cup ticket distributor in South Africa, said FIFA's ticketing system crashed again on Friday morning due to a volume overload.

"This is despite guarantees and promises given to FNB from FIFA's ticketing agent Match, as well as from FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke ... that there would be no further ticketing issues," FNB's 2010 marketing head Vicki Trehaeven said in a statement.

Trehaeven said FNB had no indication of when FIFA's ticketing system will be operational again. She said FNB was "as disappointed as the fans."

Chief organiser Danny Jordaan said he wanted to "sincerely apologise" to the fans, some of whom had been queuing for two days, for Friday's problems.

Valcke said FIFA had demanded a full report from Match.

Earlier, hopeful supporters at FIFA's ticket office in the upscale Johannesburg suburb of Sandton had jostled for position as 90 000 additional tickets, including seats for both semi-finals and more than 800 for the July 11 final, were about to be added to the main batch.

People forced their way into the queues, according to fans, and some were pushed up against the doors of the ticket centre. Police were present and an official told impatient supporters that they would not be allowed in if they did not calm down. Queues spilled out of the building and down the sidewalk.

Daniel Shalem, an 18-year-old football fan from the nearby Melrose suburb, said he had been waiting since 21:00 on Thursday night.

"There is chaos here," he said. "It's disorderly. People are pushing in."

FIFA's last ticket release, on April 15, was also hampered by technical problems and long delays and resulted in police being called in to some of the 10 FIFA ticket centres across the country. FIFA finally gave in and made tickets available over the counter in South Africa in the April 15 release, which caused an upsurge in interest from local fans who prefer to buy football tickets with cash.

FIFA has said it was worried by poor ticket sales before the over-the-counter release, but now hopes to match sales figures for the last World Cup in Germany - where between 97 and 98 percent of tickets were sold.

Organisers say they have sold 96 percent of the 2.88 million tickets available for the 2010 tournament.

*edit again*

Rescanning that article I see that they released more semi and final tickets. There is so much bullsh*t in the media right now nobody has any idea what's going on.

FIFA did originally announce that the Semis and Final were sold out months ago.

Prices are just stupidly high. It's supposed to be a game for the people bla bla. But we all know better

Anyway, watch out for the Dutchies! I am gambling for a spot at the semi finals!

Yeah, and prices were set in 2007 by adding 10% to the prices of 2006. Right before the economy tanked.

And they didn't account for the higher costs of internal travel in a country 3 times the size of Germany, and costs of travel to actually get here.

The university I work at is renting beds, but agents have tripled the prices the university is asking for.

It's just a cycle of ridiculous greed and stupidity that started with our even running for the hosting.

I could go on, but I won't drag this thread to P&C.

Sparhawk wrote:

Prices are just stupidly high. It's supposed to be a game for the people bla bla. But we all know better

Anyway, watch out for the Dutchies! I am gambling for a spot at the semi finals!

yeah, with Robben in his current form, van der Vaart and van Persie hitting ball like he was against Mexico, you have a pretty good chance. Tell me, what's your back four right now and is it any good?

A 4-2 loss to the Czechs wasn't good, but a 2-1 win over the Turks was nice. I don't think anyone sane's expecting the USMNT to contend for the Cup, but I think we can say that getting out of the group should be the least we can do.

That 2-1 win over Turkey was especially nice considering the way the US rallied in the 2nd. I'm not sure what to expect in the friendly against Australia - intensity to gear up for the tournament? Or playing it safe to keep everyone healthy?

Australia under Pim Verbeek will give you a good warm-up for playing England as he appears to be training them for proper English 10-men-behind-the-ball tournament style =/

One thing Australia will do, though, is match you for fitness. They were great to watch last World Cup - ran Italy into the pitch.

ENGLAND'S 2010 WORLD CUP SQUAD:

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green.

Defenders: Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock

Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Forwards: Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney

1600: Breaking news: The seven England players to miss out on a World Cup place are: Leighton Baines, Michael Dawson, Tom Huddlestone, Scott Parker, Adam Johnson, Theo Walcott, Darren Bent.

Let's see, I'd have

Baines over Warnock
Dawson over Upson
Parker over Carrick
Johnson over SWP
Bent instead of Heskey (see what I did there ?)

Other than that, I can't see owt wrong with it

Bit worried that if Shrek goes out, there is no natural goalscorer. Defoe flatters to decieve and chickens out in the big games, and Heskey has scored less goals than Rene Higuita and that Paraguayan nutter goalkeeper, in not many fewer caps.

And Carrick - for God's sake, what's he doing there ? It was interesting also to observe that the media who were piling onto City for paying £12m or whatever for Gareth Barry were convinced yesterday that England would go nowhere without him. How strange.

I'm still stunned at the inclusion of Heskey. Just... why?

Prederick wrote:

I'm still stunned at the inclusion of Heskey. Just... why?

Because there needs to be a scapegoat for every team. Capello is just looking out for egos now

Prederick wrote:

I'm still stunned at the inclusion of Heskey. Just... why?

He gives you that presence blah blah blah blah.

Dave, for me Crouch is pretty prolific striker. Not that he's similar player type to Rooney but you should be all right with him as a striker.

UCRC wrote:
Sparhawk wrote:

Prices are just stupidly high. It's supposed to be a game for the people bla bla. But we all know better

Anyway, watch out for the Dutchies! I am gambling for a spot at the semi finals!

yeah, with Robben in his current form, van der Vaart and van Persie hitting ball like he was against Mexico, you have a pretty good chance. Tell me, what's your back four right now and is it any good?

Mathijsen, van Bronckhorst, van der Wiel en Heitinga seems to be the names for now.
Against Ghana they made a stupid mistake. Costing a goal. Better now then in the WC of course. But I am not confident that it is a strong defense yet. Maybe one will be replaced with Boulahrouz, who played very solid on the EC.

UCRC wrote:
Prederick wrote:

I'm still stunned at the inclusion of Heskey. Just... why?

He gives you that presence blah blah blah blah.

Dave, for me Crouch is pretty prolific striker. Not that he's similar player type to Rooney but you should be all right with him as a striker.

Scored 7 last season, I just don't know whether he can do it on his own.

Heskey scored 3. Apparently Rooney scores more with him in the team. If that's the case, maybe Sir Alex should sign him up - his price would surely fit even their available resources.

As for the Netherlands, I'm never sure about van Bronckhorst as an out and out defender, and Heitinga is a bit limited. Good throughout the rest of the team though, they'd be among the favourites except for their tendency to self-destruct with pointless internal arguments.

Are all the games going to be broadcast on ESPN?

davet010 wrote:
me wrote:
Prederick wrote:

I'm still stunned at the inclusion of Heskey. Just... why?

He gives you that presence blah blah blah blah.

Dave, for me Crouch is pretty prolific striker. Not that he's similar player type to Rooney but you should be all right with him as a striker.

Scored 7 last season, I just don't know whether he can do it on his own.

Well, but he's not going to be on his own. If Capello's playing Lampard, Gerrard and, say, Lennon you've got an overkill of attacking power no matter who plays upfront

I saw a bit of pre-WC friendly Serbia-Poland and:
1) Serbia is poorer than I've thought, they were outplayed even by us and lost their last game against... New Zealand. Serious.
2) They've got probably the most stupid fans around: they've interuptted Serbia's last friendly by storming the pitch for no reason and today some guys tried the same, not sure why.