kuroishi Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Uh, hope being the one to start the new thread will bring some luck to France on saturday :P:rofl: Are those for real?No they're not, the address of the french consulate is fake. That's pretty funny though :)I'm so jealous Spain's midfield: Xaxi, Alonso, Fabregas, Iniesta, Silva...Give us one of those players. :lol:You know, I'm not sure this is only due to luck. Them having so many talented/technically gifted midfielders is also due to their formation efforts. Look at how many of them come from Barça's youth teams.This is the same reason why France now has so many tough defensive midfielders with stamina (Lassana Diarra, Alou Diarra, Flamini, Toulalan, Mavuba...). After the 1998 victory, based on players like Deschamps, it was decided (by the DTN - national technical direction ) to focus on this type of players.Just like the spanish sides (and especially the Barça) decided to focus on technical midfielders to go with the type of game they traditionally play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 On the 'who's favourites for the world cup' discussion, it has to be Spain, just because of the staggering depth of that midfield. Yeah, the Confederations cup went to Brazil, but as if Spain cared. The only thing that could really hinder them is an injury to Senna or Villa, since they lack top-class replacements (Torres being Torres is always good for a goal but he doesn't fit that well into Spain's system). And even with Senna, against the majority of teams Alonso could do a job there (it's rather overlooked that he made more tackles than any other player in the Prem last season). Brazil, Germany and England are the other teams I see with a chance of winning it. Brazil have solidity and are great on the counter but will struggle to get the ball off Spain and could also have a tough time if someone decides to sit tight against them, as their normal creative possession isn't quite as evident as it usually is. Although Kaka and Villa should do fine.Germany are Germany. No real world-class star names but a team unity no-one else can match. England are overly reliant on Rooney's form and fitness to keep their best shape (the 4-2-3-1) and the defence is prone to lapses but finall have the shape and method to get the best out of all their players. Holland, Russia, Argentina and Ivory Coast are the dark horses. Very slim chances though, unless Maradona suddenly gets lots cleverer or is replaced. They have loads of talent but, much like England, require specific setups to get the most out of it and Maradona doesn't have either the savvy nor the man-management to. His only recently abandoned reluctance to play Higuain, despite his being by far Argentina's best out-and-out striker (neither Aguero nor Messi being such) being one example, and busting up with Riquelme, who'd have been the perfect link between a midfield of Cambiasso and Mascherano and the attack, being another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraig Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 I don't see why Holland would have to be ranked below England and Germany. Player wise they are strong and they've had no problems qualifying either.I'd agree about the other teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Wizard Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Apparently Wayne Rooney might captain England tomorrow...:lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 I don't see why Holland would have to be ranked below England and Germany. Player wise they are strong and they've had no problems qualifying either.Mental fragility and some defensive frailty. They're probably the only team who can come close to Spain for attacking skill, but their defence is highly suspect, particularly on the counter, which they're vulnerable to because of the way they play. Plus, this is a big tournament and these are the Dutch.I could see them beating Spain, but not Brazil or Germany unless they have a serious off-day because of their styles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xray the Enforcer Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Apparently Wayne Rooney might captain England tomorrow...:lol: :wideeyed: Because nothing says "class" and "organization" like a temper tantrum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 To be fair to Rooney, he's matured a lot in the last few months - in both the CL final and the Liverpool game recently he was pretty much our only player not to totally lose his cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renasko Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 And so John Kennedy has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 26, after never recovering from an injury he picked up on his international début in 2004. :( Sad to see him never come back from that horrific tackle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 :( I don't know anything about him, but that's always sad. We could be hearing the same about Dean Ashton within the fortnight according to the BBC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renasko Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Yeah, read about that earlier in the week. Sad to see, as well. Ashton was a great goalscorer with shockingly bad hair colour choices. But we'll overlook that. :P Shame he never really got a proper break. He and Carlton Cole could've made a formidable front two. I feel sorry for not only the player, but also West Ham football club and their fans. Oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Shame he never really got a proper break.If one were feeling cruel, one would say that a proper break is exactly the problem... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJDonegal Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 To be fair to Rooney, he's matured a lot in the last few months - in both the CL final and the Liverpool game recently he was pretty much our only player not to totally lose his cool.Rooney has matured in the last few months? Only today he had to apologise for mouthing "12 men" at the camera last week after losing to Chelsea. Matured, no. Followed his manager's example, yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celtigo Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 On the 'who's favourites for the world cup' discussion, it has to be Spain, just because of the staggering depth of that midfield. Yeah, the Confederations cup went to Brazil, but as if Spain cared. The only thing that could really hinder them is an injury to Senna or Villa, since they lack top-class replacements (Torres being Torres is always good for a goal but he doesn't fit that well into Spain's system). And even with Senna, against the majority of teams Alonso could do a job there (it's rather overlooked that he made more tackles than any other player in the Prem last season).I don't think you can dismiss the Spanish loss in the Confed Cup on a lack of interest. They were better than us over the 90 minutes, but that was almost their entire first team out there with the chance to set a world record for an undefeated streak. Throw in the fact that Spain is still likely sensitive to the "can never win the big one"tag that was brought up again after their failure last summer, and I'm sure Spain took the competition quite seriously. The Confed Cup has truly evolved since its beginnings as a backwater afterthought hosted by the Saudis in the early and mid 90s or the joke of a tourney in 99' where Mexico won by never leaving the Azteca and several teams sent "B" squads.Part of the reason for the upset is that US tends to matchup well with Spain in some ways though (we lost 1-0 in Sevilla in 2008 where we actually performed fairly well and could have easily come out with a draw). We're not a technical team so we're not going to try and out Spain Spain, which can be an advantage in a number of ways. England plays a style in many ways similar to ours, they just play it a lot better than we do, and we subsuquently looked like crap when we went to Wembly in 2008.Finally, a UEFA team has never won the Cup outside of Europe, "I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fireball07 Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 I saw those letters last night as well, they were brilliant.Even the French midfield has so many better players than ours. People like Alou Diarra, Jeremy Menez, Rio Mavuba probably won't get into the French side and would walk into our team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon AS Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Finally, a UEFA team has never won the Cup outside of Europe, "I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin".Only Brazil have won the World Cup outside their own confederation, but every time they did so they faced a UEFA team. Just sayin'.ETA: Actually, Argentina won in Mexico. Bah, who can tell all those furrin' confederations apart anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Rooney has matured in the last few months? Only today he had to apologise for mouthing "12 men" at the camera last week after losing to Chelsea. Matured, no. Followed his manager's example, yes.Yeah, that's totally the same thing as lashing out at people and swearing at the referee non-stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celtigo Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Only Brazil have won the World Cup outside their own confederation, but every time they did so they faced a UEFA team. Just sayin'.ETA: Actually, Argentina won in Mexico. Bah, who can tell all those furrin' confederations apart anyway?It helps to supply half the field for a World Cup :P (disclaimer, yes I think UEFA deserves its allotment).I'm actually intrigued by Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire coming up. After South Africa's inevitable first round/round of 16 exit, I think the home crowd will switch to any African side that keeps winning. Both of these teams have the talent to make very deep runs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcelo Rebelo Firqoralas Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 I don't think you can dismiss the Spanish loss in the Confed Cup on a lack of interest.I think you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renasko Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Even teams that show lack of interest a lot of the time, still manage to win things. Just look at Manchester United. Most of the players in their teams couldn't give a shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mme Erzulie Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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