World Cup 2010!

[capt. scotty]

I dont follow soccer at all, but the World Cup is great...I'll be watching

Do we still have Alexi Lalas and Coby Jones?

[iLikeBeer]

Do we still have Alexi Lalas and Coby Jones?

Yeah.  Only they work for ESPN now.   :P

[IHL]

I reckon Spain could go quite deep into the tournament - they might win it - class players all over the pitch.

I like the fact we've got Capello as manager, at least he can change things if it's going wrong during a match - unlike previous managers who ran out of ideas.

Argentina could do well too.

If B. Munich win the CL this saturday Germany will be pumped for the tournament.

[Ruckus]

I reckon Spain could go quite deep into the tournament - they might win it - class players all over the pitch.

I like the fact we've got Capello as manager, at least he can change things if it's going wrong during a match - unlike previous managers who ran out of ideas.

Argentina could do well too.

If B. Munich win the CL this saturday Germany will be pumped for the tournament.

I don't think there is a more talented squad than Spain, yes not even Brazil this year.  To think that a player like Fabregas can't get in because of Xavi and Iniesta and well as the likely best striking tandem in Torres and Silva.  I haven't seen much of Pedro Rodriguez but I hear he's great.  Just saw clips of him on some FSC reruns.

As for Capello, it's hard to imagine that one coach can make such an immediate difference on an international side but he has transformed, who for the most part are the same core from 4 years ago, and made them legitimate contenders.  Will they be able to overcome an early deficit and get a little more aggressive and creative when necessary?

I will be routing for Bayern Munchen.

Ahhhhh, the wait is agonizing.

[ynwa]

totally psyched for this!  got big plans for june 12th @ a little place called nevada smiths  :D  anyone else???

of course i'd like to see the us do well, we should at least make it out of the group stage.  the team has improved quite a bit since '06, so hopefully no walk of shame this time round.  it truly would be a walk of shame as we are good enough to make it out of the group stage AT LEAST.  no charlie davies is a huge blow & i'm wondering who can fill his boots.  who is going to be our main goal scorer?  donovan is good for a few but, who else?  there is comfort in having tourettes tim in goal.  he is phenomenal.  so that's a big comfort.  i had the pleasure of being @ giants for the us vs argentina (who were ranked either #1 or 2 in the world @ the time) in a "friendly" & he came up BIG in that match.  we drew w/ argentina, beat fucking spain (?!?!?!) and did very well against brazil.  us soccer has made massive improvements.

favorites to win is a tough one for me.  i'd love to see england take it -they've got a fantastic squad & capello certainly has transformed them into a more positive side.  they've got a really good squad, there's quality all over the pitch.  i think they've got some solid guys to help out w/ their injury problems in defense.  probably, their biggest trouble area is in goal.  so that's a bit of a worry.  but, rooney is a menace & he's been on fire in the prem this past season.  look for him to have a great tournament.  yes, i really like to see england take it.  plus, i want my boy gerrard to show that he is truly one of the best players in the world  ;)

spain are insanely good.  just look at the names who aren't in their 1st team!  any other country would gladly have those guys.  of all the teams competing, this one has the best team on paper.  i think they've got the best player in the world for almost every position.  they are spoiled with talent!  it's just crazy.  when they are on, they play beautiful football.  the question is, can they perform to their potential?  if they do, i think they will come out winning the whole thing.  and i wouldn't be upset about it either.  oh, and i'd love to see my other boy torres take the golden boot  8-)  

[Jon T.]

 no charlie davies is a huge blow & i'm wondering who can fill his boots.  who is going to be our main goal scorer?  donovan is good for a few but, who else?  

Donovan is definitely vital in setting up the pace of our play.  As far as goals, I'm hoping for and expecting a big tournament from Dempsey!

[Race of Robots]

 But, with that said, anytime you have a Lionel Messi on your roster, you are a team that is going to have to be reckoned with!

True dat!  He is on a whole other level right now.

Danny Milito gave a little more late reverence to his name and team yesterday. Did Bayern ever stand a chance? Only TWO shots on target with 2 goals  :D

[ynwa]

 no charlie davies is a huge blow & i'm wondering who can fill his boots.  who is going to be our main goal scorer?  donovan is good for a few but, who else?  

Donovan is definitely vital in setting up the pace of our play.  As far as goals, I'm hoping for and expecting a big tournament from Dempsey!

i, too, hope that dempsey can turn it on.  he's good but gets caught in posession too much for my liking.  i want him to prove me wrong & will gladly eat my words if he does.

what about jozy?  he didn't have the best spell with hull but he didn't really get the chance to play consistently.  he's still young and i don't think he's one for the lone striker role, not yet anyway.  but i watched him play many a game for the red bulls & i know mls isn't rated too highly, but that kid terrorized defences when he was playing week after week.  that's how any player, especially a striker, finds their form.    

[Paulie_Walnuts]

In reply to the original post, without ever wishing injury on any player, I guess it's a bit of righteous karma that Ballack has been ruled out of the tournament. Injured by a nasty tackle the likes of which he has dished out for years. The loss of an arrogant, dirty player like him is no bad thing.

Reality check for all England fans (and I am one):

Every time it comes to the World Cup we hear that England has a great chance of victory. Someone here said that England has a squad with "quality" right through it. I'm sorry, but your knowledge of football must be sadly lacking.

How many of the current England squad do you think would actually make it into the starting line-up of Spain, Argentina, Italy, Brazil? I would say that Wayne Rooney is the only possibility. Yes Capello has made a good impression, turning the team into a proper team rather than a bunch of prima donnas, but he has a limited quality of player to work with. No way would the likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard or Steven Gerrard make it into those teams. And as for the mediocrity around them.....forget it!

I don't expect England to get beyond the quarter final stage (again), but I sincerely hope they prove me wrong and you can all come back here and slate me afterwards.

Totally agree that Spain and Brazil must be the two favourites; and I also agree that Ivory Coast could be dark horses. Obviously with it being in Africa it's a great chance for one of the African teams to step up.

One of the key things I think will be the condition of the playing surfaces. African Nations Cup tournaments are traditionally made up of pitches with hard / poor playing surfaces. If they are then skillful players will always prevail (another negative against England). I'm assumimg it will have been made clear to SA that playing surfaces need to be of a high standard for a World Cup but it could be a key factor if they aren't.

[Ruckus]

Nice to hear from you on this one Paulie.  Have you gotten back into the swing of baseball yet? ;)

As for Ballack, while he has scored big goals for Germany in past competitions, I never really understood his fame.  He has always been strong in the air and takes free kicks well.  However, he seems extraordinarily slow afoot, both straight ahead and laterally, and thus seems to leave himself in horrible defensive positions, thus leading to many of his poor tackles out of frustration.  At first, I thought his loss wouldn't be the end all for Germany.  After watching Schweinsteiger bumble around in the middle for Bayern Munchen in the CL Final, I think I've begun to understand the value of Ballack for Germany.

As a Cubs and Jets fan, I am well versed in disappointment.  That said, don't you think that you have a better chance than you have had in the past, even if you think that still means you'll be out by the quarters.  I agree with your assessment that only Rooney would make squads such as Argentina, Brazil and Spain.  I would disagree that the likes of Lampaard would not make a squad such as Italy.  Besides Capello, at least you won't be relying on the likes of Peter Crouch (I hope) and while I don't know what you're final 23 man squad will look like, hopefully you'll have a little more pace on the wings.  Could someone enlighten me on how England was so successful in the qualifying stages?  I only read the results and I was curious as to how they went about thoroughly deconstructing their qualifying group.

As for the quality of the pitches in South Africa, I imagine that they will be of high quality.  I'm not sure that FIFA would allow a half assed resurfacing of pitches to be used.  That said, you say that poor pitches will always benefit the more technically skilled team.  Couldn't it be argued that teams that play conservatively and might rely more on long balls down field and crosses to create their chances to would be less affected by a poor pitch just as much as say a skilled, technical squad such as Brazil might find their passing in tight spaces negatively affected?

[Paulie_Walnuts]

Ha, no I haven't gotten back into the baseball at all yet! I noticed that the New York Mets beat the Yankees the other day but that's as far as my knowledge goes this season.

In answer to your question, apart from the Capello factor, I think England have worse players this time around than the last time. We only have one world class striker in Rooney. The rest of the attack is pretty weak. Gerrard is the pick of the midfielders, but he's hardly shone for Liverpool this season. Lampard may cut it in the Premier League with Chelsea but he's no world class midfielder in my opinion (too slow and not that skilful). Walcott is exciting and could be the surprise.

My major concern though is the defence. Did you see the friendly tonight against Mexico? This was a home game for England and Mexico could have had four goals by half time! If you compare England's back four now to previous teams it's way weaker. Goalkeeper is a weakness - personally I'd go for James. We have really struggled to replace Gary Neville at right back. He got a lot of bad press from non-Man Utd fans but he was a fantastic defender, as well as being a superb crosser of the ball going forward. I'm a West Ham fan for the record. We used to have Ferdinand and Campbell at the peak of their powers, now we have one of them who has struggled with injuries all season, John Terry who is quite frankly a one-paced donkey, or Ledley King who can barely manage to play one game a week! Ashley Cole is coming back from a broken ankle and isn't the player he was four years ago. As a group of individuals the England team reeks of mediocrity. Yes Capello has done a good job, but the qualifying group England steamrollered through was a very poor one. Beating all those teams should be the norm.

Yes you're right a poor playing surface could play into the hands of a direct long ball team. I don't know enough about the other teams in the competition to know if there any teams like that though. All I'm saying is that skill usually rises to the top in these situations, and England are by no means at the top of the tree in that department.

I do hope I'm wrong, but I think people get carried away by the hype of the Premier League and the press in this country. We ain't as good as we think we are.

By the way, I reckon Peter Crouch will be in the final 23!!

[ynwa]

Someone here said that England has a squad with "quality" right through it. I'm sorry, but your knowledge of football must be sadly lacking.

How many of the current England squad do you think would actually make it into the starting line-up of Spain, Argentina, Italy, Brazil?quote]

yes, i said that england has quality throughout their squad.  in my opinion, the epl is the toughest league in europe & i believe the majority of england's national squad play in the epl.  it may not be the most attractive football, but it can be effective.  england qualified for the finals with relative ease.  if they are in-form & stay injury free, i think they will progress pretty far.  i'm not saying they are favorites to win, but i would like to see that happen.  (i would really, REALLY love to see the us win.  what can i say - hope springs eternal!)  so, i stand by what i said previously.    

however, i did not say that any of the guys on the england squad would make it into the starting line-up of any other national team.  hopefully you were not inferring that i did but if so, please don't put words in my mouth & then say that my knowledge of football must be sadly lacking.  that just ain't right.

having said that, i do think a few of them could; if they were in-form, fully fit & had trained with (insert country's) national team  ;D

when it comes down to it, spain & brazil are clear favorites.  they are the 2 in-form teams.  argentina can't be counted out but they had a shockingly poor qualification so... that's a bit shaky.

the thing about sport is that on any given day, the underdog CAN beat a higher ranked team.  stranger things have happened.  all i know is that i'm really looking forward to seeing how this all pans out!

[Paulie_Walnuts]

I certainly didn't mean to put words in your mouth. I asked the question about how many of England's players would get into those four top teams to highlight the fact that I don't think England have "quality all over the pitch." I think they have it in a few positions only.

Sorry if I was bit strong in my generalisation about your knoweledge of football being sadly lacking. It was lazy writing on my part, and an ill-considered generalisation.

Sport divides opinion all the time and I guess that's one of the great things about it. Like I say, I think Gary Neville was one of the best right backs England has ever had, but I know plenty of people who thought he was useless. I think John Terry is massively overrated in England. In my opinion he is way too slow, not good in the air, and lacks skill. He's probably saved by his reading of the game and his positioning in the Premiership. But I believe it will be exposed when he comes up against better players. Lots of people think he's a great player though, including many journalists.

I personally think the English Premier League is in one of it's weakest states for a long time. With the exception of Torres and Drogba the world's best players still prefer to play in Spain or Italy because the quality is better. I wish more England players would try to improve themselves by playing in Spain or Italy, but the lure of the money in England is too great. Mediocre players in England can earn shitloads more cash than anywhere else.

It's not often England get to play the USA in any sports that matter so it will be great for the game over there. I hope it's a good game....with a narrow England victory!

Out of interest, what's the perception of David Beckham like in the USA?

[iLikeBeer]

I'm not getting the buzz surrounding Spain.  Sure, they have one of the most talented squads out there.  But like England, I feel like Spain is one of the biggest choke artists going in the World Cup.

The more I think about it, the more I like Argentina.  They just thumped Canada 5-0 in their last tune-up minus Messi and Inter's CL hero Diego Milito!

And really, how can you argue against Brazil.  Brazil had made 3 straight finals (winning 2) before not even making the semis in Germany.  

Does anyone have an opinion on how well France will do?  They are probably my LEAST favorite squad in the tournament right up there with Italy, but you can't argue with the success that both Les Bleus and The Azurri have had in recent World Cups.  France struggled in qualifying and if it wasn''t for the 'Hand of Henry' may not even be playing in South Africa.  But as always seems to happen, the French not only qualified, but they also got a more than favorable draw...  ::)  I'm really hoping that karma gives France a swift kick in the ass in this World Cup!  

[iLikeBeer]

i, too, hope that dempsey can turn it on.  he's good but gets caught in posession too much for my liking.  i want him to prove me wrong & will gladly eat my words if he does.

what about jozy?  he didn't have the best spell with hull but he didn't really get the chance to play consistently.  he's still young and i don't think he's one for the lone striker role, not yet anyway.  but i watched him play many a game for the red bulls & i know mls isn't rated too highly, but that kid terrorized defences when he was playing week after week.  that's how any player, especially a striker, finds their form.    

I think Jozy is really going to have to step up now that Davies isn't going to make the 23 man roster.  

And speaking of finding your form from playing week after week, how about Edson Buddle?  He's tearing it up with Landon Donovan out in LA for the Galaxy.  He's coming into camp in excellent form.  I'm kind of hoping he can continue that form enough to at least make the squad!

Anyone tuning in tonight to watch the US take on the Czech Rep. on ESPN?  With Bradley announcing the 23 man roster tomorrow, tonight's match is do or die for several players.

[Paulie_Walnuts]

I don't think you need karma to discount France. They aren't the team they used to be. I'd put them on a par with England....quarter-finalists at best.

Spain used to be the biggest choke artists but I don't think they are anymore. They have such technically gifted players, and players playing at the top of their game. They deserve to be favourites. And you're right, don't rule out Brazil or Argentina. My doubt with Argentina is that they have Maradona in charge. It would be hard to find a worse candidate for a football manager than that!

Do we need to have some sort of fantasy World Cup predictions going on in this thread?

[iLikeBeer]

Spain used to be the biggest choke artists but I don't think they are anymore. They have such technically gifted players, and players playing at the top of their game. They deserve to be favourites.

Sure, Spain winning Euro 2008 may help them remove the 'chokers' moniker they've been branded with.  But let me see how they perform on the World stage before I'm fully ready to dismiss them as choke artists...

[Paulie_Walnuts]

I just went through a World Cup wall chart to predict all the results. There's me saying England and France being "quarter-finalists at best" and according to my fantasy predictions they meet in the quarter-finals!! Oops! If it happens you can toss a coin for that game.

My fantasy predictions end up like this for the knockout stages (winners in bold):

Last 16

France v Nigeria
England v Ghana
Germany v Algeria
Argentina v Uruguay
Holland v Slovakia
Brazil v Chile
Italy v Cameroon
Spain v Ivory Coast

Quarter-Finals

Holland v Brazil
France v England
Germany v Argentina
Italy v Spain

Semi-Finals

France v Brazil
Argentina v Spain

Final

Brazil v Spain

You might say it's a conservative prediction, but World Cups tend to pan out that way!

Let's hear your predictions.......

[Penny Lane]

hmmm okay

i see Engerland bowing out early because a lot of their hawtness is gone

France v Argentina

Argentina (Boca! Boca!)

[Ruckus]

I don't think you need karma to discount France. They aren't the team they used to be. I'd put them on a par with England....quarter-finalists at best.

Spain used to be the biggest choke artists but I don't think they are anymore. They have such technically gifted players, and players playing at the top of their game. They deserve to be favourites. And you're right, don't rule out Brazil or Argentina. My doubt with Argentina is that they have Maradona in charge. It would be hard to find a worse candidate for a football manager than that!

Do we need to have some sort of fantasy World Cup predictions going on in this thread?

I agree with all of this.  Why don't you think Euro '08 was enough Beer?  There' really only two international competitions worthwhile for top Euro sides and Spain won the last one.  I find it unfair that a group of players from a current generation be continually subjected to an undeserved reputation/stereotype (from a past generation) that they already have overcome.   I find it unfortunate that should they somehow not advance to the semis, they will again be tagged as such.

I would love to do some WC fantasy.  Someone wanna set it up?