World Cup 2010 - The draw is settled

[Black Wizard]

The Queen is German but also owns Australia. Who will she support?

[The Iceman of the North]

The Queen is German but also owns Australia. Who will she support?

Why? Italy of course.

[Fireball07]

I'd be saying Chile, but I don't think she likes football much.

If anyone wants some more football conversation, check out http://www.somethingfootball.com/home/index.html . It's a new site, but has a good user base and intelligent football conversation.

[kuroishi]

OK, I don't know my futbol all too well, but I watched a highlight video of Messi today and was completely floored.

In other news, a saw a quick guide to the WC suggest Argentina was really hard to predict. They said they could win the entire thing or flame out in the first round. They didn't give much of an explanation as to why.

They have great players (especially the forwards : Messi, Aguero, Tevez, Milito, Higuain are some of the finest there are, and they all had a very good 2009-2010 season), but they struggled in the qualifications, maybe in part because Maradona is not the best coach they could have.

[Narayan]

Their head coach is a bit insane and there's a lot of question if he will be able to keep it together for these weeks.

[Alcibiades]

Argentina were already struggling when Maradona took over, having one win from seven matches. And those fixtures under Alfio Basile were easier. Maradona IS a little crazy, but I don't think we can pin all Argentina's troubles on him.

They're going to have a back 4 of 4 centre backs, which will leave them a bit ridged. I think Maradona aims to hit teams on the counter attack. But I don't know what he'll do against teams that pack in on defense a bit themselves; these are situations where you need fullbacks to provide a little width and an extra avenue of attack.

[kuroishi]

Argentina were already struggling when Maradona took over, having one win from seven matches. And those fixtures under Alfio Basile were easier. Maradona IS a little crazy, but I don't think we can pin all Argentina's troubles on him.

They're going to have a back 4 of 4 centre backs, which will leave them a bit ridged. I think Maradona aims to hit teams on the counter attack. But I don't know what he'll do against teams that pack in on defense a bit themselves; these are situations where you need fullbacks to provide a little width and an extra avenue of attack.

Well, with Basile, Argentina's record was 4 victories / 4 draws / 2 defeats, and with Maradona : 4 victories / 4 defeats (including the 6-1 by Bolivia), and they played against more or less the same teams (Maradona didn't have to play against Chile, and Basile had a 1W/1L record against them).

I'm not sure he really helped his team go to the WC...

As for the 4 centre backs-defense, Heinze at least has a formation of fullback (and he played a lot in this position this year at Marseille, all the 2nd part of the season in fact), so he should be able to add some movement on the left side.

[Fireball07]

Not the best coach they could have?

That's a bit of an understatement. He's an overweight, egotistic madman. He has possibly the most talented group of players at his disposal, won't bring half of them, and will just wreck their chances.

6-1 to Bolivia...that's just unbelievable. They have a chance if the players take control, as the French did in 06.

[Padraig]

Well, with Basile, Argentina's record was 4 victories / 4 draws / 2 defeats, and with Maradona : 4 victories / 4 defeats (including the 6-1 by Bolivia), and they played against more or less the same teams (Maradona didn't have to play against Chile, and Basile had a 1W/1L record against them).

I think most people agree that Basile is a proper coach, although he did have problems getting the team to play as well as they should. Maradona is passionate, egotistical and insane. The last person you'd want managing a team.

One of the main problems is trying to find a way to make the best out of Messi. Unlike Barcelona, Messi doesn't have a great midfield to help me. Maradona fell out with Riquelme and is now relying on a rather aged Veron.

[Paxter]

Don't blame Lizbet II Saxe-Coburg von Gotha for your parochial backwater state trying to differentiate itself from the rest of the country in stupid un-Roos-friendly ways.

Bah. When the Perth electorate finally succumbs to its latent secessionist desires, the might nation of Westralia will make NSW look like a backwater :commie:

[Horza]

I doubt he's clinically insane, but if there's a football coaching DSM IV he'd have a whole chapter. Throughout the qualification phase he did an insane amount of tinkering, debuting 36 year olds and shunning top players like Cambiasso and Zanetti. He turned Argentine qualification from a formality to a nail-biting showdown all the while running his mouth off and acting a buffoon.

How he got the job... I guess the Argentine FA went into the back room and huffed paint for a few hours until their frontal cortices dissolved and the idea of putting an egomaniac recovering cokehead ex-legend in charge of their team seemed like a great idea.

[polishgenius]

And if so, how did he ever get the job in the first place?

Argentines don't think straight when it comes to Maradona.

There's fair reason too - you might have been floored by Messi's highlights but Maradona was better. He did what he did in comparatively average teams, too.

But he's a crap coach.

[Horza]

Which isn't surprising as he has almost zero coaching experience. Yanno, the sort of stuff you'd want in a World Cup coach if your brain hadn't been melted by industrial solvents.

[mormont]

One of the main problems is trying to find a way to make the best out of Messi. Unlike Barcelona, Messi doesn't have a great midfield to help me. Maradona fell out with Riquelme and is now relying on a rather aged Veron.

Not to mention he left out the two Argentinian midfielders who just played in and won the Champions' League Final (Cambiasso and Zanetti). OK, Zanetti is 36, but Maradona picked a 35-year-old forward. But this is one of the main problems: Maradona's approach to selection is scattergun. Even putting aside the favouritism and falling-out with players, his team is a seemingly random mix of old players, young players, players from the domestic league and Europe-based players. Even the four centre-backs strategy was stumbled into by accident. Maradona has basically no strategy at all and very little idea what he's doing: hence why Argentina could be brilliant and could be awful, and probably will be some mixture of the two.

OK, I know that Maradona is an absolute legend of the game, but is his "not so stable" personality also itself a thing of legend? And if so, how did he ever get the job in the first place?

He went on Argentinian national radio and asked for it, basically. And who was going to tell him 'no'?

[polishgenius]

Which isn't surprising as he has almost zero coaching experience.

That doesn't necessarily mean that much - Pep Guardiola had arguably the most successful year of any manager in the history of the sport in his first season.

The problem is simply that Maradona has the tactical acumen of a particularly stupid tree.

[Calibandar]

So no Iniesta in Spain's final team? I am susprised and disappointed. Iniesta and Senna were both important in the Spain EC 2008 team, and now both are missing.

Upfront they have selected Navas and Mata, who I have never seen play before.

[baxus]

maradona has called over 100 different players to play for argentinean national team since he started his current job

since he's a national team manager for a year or two, i'd find that extremely discomforting if i were argentinean

maradona has no system of his own, he's just: "ok, this week we'll play these 11, and next i'll keep 2 of those eleven and replace the rest with random 9 guys. i don't know who those 9 will be, but when i know it, i'll tell the rest of you."

if argentina goes far in this world cup that will almost certainly mean that players told maradona to sit down, shut up and act a bafoon for the press while they'll take care of everything else

either that, or maradona is a tactical, coaching and psychological genius that was only pretending to be raving mad in order to confuse opposing coaches and players

[polishgenius]

Iniesta's in the squad, unless something's changed just now, which could only be an injury...

It's a bit odd that Navas and Mata have been selected as forwards, being wingers, but I suppose it makes sense with Spain's massive depth in midfield and comparative weakness up front beyond Torres and Villa.

[Black Wizard]

Is Guiza in the squad again? He did ok off the bench in Euro 2008. Once Francisco Sandaza is fully fit again I expect him to be in the Spain squad and keeping David Villa out of the team. Barcelona? Pah.

[Jon AS]

Güiza didn't make the team. Llorente did and he offers something a little different, namely height, but he isn't exactly the greatest goalscorer.

And what's with the Slovenian obsession with Scottish football?