The official World Cup 2010 thread...

Dargone · 05-09-2010, 03:19 PM

It's almost here

I am very much looking forward to the tournament and I hope the U.S. does well. I think we have a good chance of advancing out of the group stage...

molarmite · 05-09-2010, 03:37 PM

I would be severely disappointed if we didn't move out of the group stage.

jbergey22 · 05-09-2010, 04:53 PM

I have Argentina winning it at 6-1 odds. Hopefully they get it together. I also have Messi as the leading goal scorer at 10-1 odds.

Spain is going to be tough to beat however.

Russ · 05-09-2010, 05:38 PM

I really think it's England's time. Capello has done a lot with the squad and usually puts the best 11 out there regardless of outside influence or ancient performance. As long as Rooney's groin is okay, England will win.

Jordan · 05-09-2010, 07:26 PM

I'm pretty psyched. I kinda want Bafana Bafana to go out there and have a magic run just so they don't get laughed at

mlyons · 05-09-2010, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ

I really think it's England's time. Capello has done a lot with the squad and usually puts the best 11 out there regardless of outside influence or ancient performance. As long as Rooney's groin is okay, England will win.

Win what? The group? Sure, I'd be surprised if they didn't. Anything more than that, though, is pushing it. They just don't have anything like the talent that nations like Italy, Spain, Argentina, or Brazil have, especially in midfield.

Jeremy Weimer · 05-09-2010, 11:19 PM

I'm excited but I wouldn't really say a month from now is close.

myasu · 05-10-2010, 01:45 AM

I am excited!
The only problem is the 7 hours time difference.
Lots of coffees, headaches and excitement!

Russ · 05-10-2010, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlyons

Win what? The group? Sure, I'd be surprised if they didn't. Anything more than that, though, is pushing it. They just don't have anything like the talent that nations like Italy, Spain, Argentina, or Brazil have, especially in midfield.

Frankly, I haven't seen such poor analysis since Dick Butkus commentated a Bears-Dolphins preseason game in 1992.

jbergey22 · 05-11-2010, 12:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ

Frankly, I haven't seen such poor analysis since Dick Butkus commentated a Bears-Dolphins preseason game in 1992.

Well hes not exactly wrong. England has great strikers but they arent as talented in the other areas of the pitch as the teams he mentioned. It would be shocking if England won it.

mlyons · 05-11-2010, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ

Frankly, I haven't seen such poor analysis since Dick Butkus commentated a Bears-Dolphins preseason game in 1992.

What do you want, a position-by-position analysis?

Keeper: terrible -- if your #1 is a guy who conceded nearly two goals a match for a club that lost 24 matches, you've got problems
Central defense: good, but I'd worry that Terry/Ferdinand/King can be exposed by quick strikers (such as Argentina/Spain/Brazil have)
Fullback: probably their strongest position, although if Johnson or Cole get injured, they've got problems
Wingers: I don't even know who their first choices are -- Walcott? Lennon? Cole, Gerrard, or Milner playing out of position?
Central midfield: Lampard's the only one in any sort of form, and he tends to be terrible playing for the national team
Striker: excellent if Rooney's healthy, scary otherwise

I honestly think getting to the quarterfinals would have to be considered a success for England this year. They would need some favorable draws and good fortune to get past that.

English_Ray · 05-11-2010, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlyons

What do you want, a position-by-position analysis?

Keeper: terrible -- if your #1 is a guy who conceded nearly two goals a match for a club that lost 24 matches, you've got problems
Central defense: good, but I'd worry that Terry/Ferdinand/King can be exposed by quick strikers (such as Argentina/Spain/Brazil have)
Fullback: probably their strongest position, although if Johnson or Cole get injured, they've got problems
Wingers: I don't even know who their first choices are -- Walcott? Lennon? Cole, Gerrard, or Milner playing out of position?
Central midfield: Lampard's the only one in any sort of form, and he tends to be terrible playing for the national team
Striker: excellent if Rooney's healthy, scary otherwise

I honestly think getting to the quarterfinals would have to be considered a success for England this year. They would need some favorable draws and good fortune to get past that.

Frankly, I reckon we have enough to make it through to the semi-finals at least.

We do rely a bit too much on Rooney for my liking, but he is one of the few genuinely world class players around, so as long as he does stay fit, we're good. And Defoe, Crouch and even Bent can certainly get goals on the international level, even if they don't have Rooney's all-around game.

Midfield, I don't really have any worries with - except over Gareth Barry. If he isn't fit, we aren't as balanced in the middle. The job he does is massively underappreciated. Gerrard, Cole and Milner are just fine playing out wide if they need to. Milner has been one of the top two or three players in the League all season - and he's equally comfortable playing left mid, right mid, centre mid, wherever. Then you've got Walcott, Lennon and even Adam Johnson as good options for a change of pace if we want to go with a genuine winger. Maybe some question marks with regards to consistency there, but they've got the talent for sure.

Defence is certainly more of a question mark, but I would hope that Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson more than make up for any perceived lack of pace from Terry and Ferdinand. To be honest, I'm fairly confident in the back four, just not quite so sure about the strength in depth - though Ledley King is top class if he can stay fit for more than a week.

Goalkeeper is definitely the worry, but David James is certainly not terrible. He's not one of the world's best for sure, but you can pretty much discount how many he conceded for Portsmouth this year - hardly a reflection on his abilities. In my mind he's not the best of our three keepers anyway - in fact I think both Robert Green and Joe Hart are better, and if it were up to me I'd give the nod to Hart. Wouldn't be too unhappy if Capello decides to go for experience though.

That's my take anyway. Like I said, assuming Rooney and Barry are fit then I'd be disappointed if we didn't make the last four.

mlyons · 05-11-2010, 01:08 PM

So, who do you see England beating to get to the top 4, then? Brazil? Spain? Argentina? Italy? Or are you expecting a favorable draw to knock one of those teams out?

rudel.dietrich · 05-11-2010, 01:43 PM

A page is turning in Brazilian football. Ronaldo and Ronaldinho are being left off the World Cup squad.

English_Ray · 05-11-2010, 01:47 PM

Well, for a start, we can't play Italy, Brazil or Spain until the semi-finals as they are in the opposite half of the draw. And we can only play Argentina in the quarter-finals if either us or them don't win our groups, which, frankly, should not happen.

But in any case, I think we can beat any of those teams if we play at our best. I certainly don't fear them.

You write of the Italians at your peril, but they are a weaker team than four years ago, and they weren't exactly overpowering then. Argentina are horribly unpredictable under Maradona, and I'd back us to beat them more often than not. Spain and Brazil are probably going to be the two best teams in South Africa, but are they unbeatable? No. The US proved that much last year.

mlyons · 05-11-2010, 01:47 PM

They haven't really played any major role for Brazil since Dunga took over, though, have they? Were either at the Confederations Cup?

mlyons · 05-11-2010, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by English_Ray

Well, for a start, we can't play Italy, Brazil or Spain until the semi-finals as they are in the opposite half of the draw. And we can only play Argentina in the quarter-finals if either us or them don't win our groups, which, frankly, should not happen.

But in any case, I think we can beat any of those teams if we play at our best. I certainly don't fear them.

You write of the Italians at your peril, but they are a weaker team than four years ago, and they weren't exactly overpowering then. Argentina are horrifically unpredictable under Maradona, and I'd back us to beat them more often than not. Spain and Brazil are probably going to be the two best teams in South Africa, but are they unbeatable? No. The US proved that much last year.

Meh. I think you're fooling yourself. I could certainly be wrong, though. If I were you I'd be scared to death by how out of form everybody in England's midfield is right now, especially Gerrard and Barry.

English_Ray · 05-11-2010, 01:59 PM

Certainly not worried about form - we've got a month till the first game yet!

mlyons · 05-11-2010, 02:16 PM

These aren't guys who have been off for one or two matches, though. Barry and Gerrard have looked like shadows of their past selves all season, Cole has barely played, and Carrick has looked terrible all season.

English_Ray · 05-11-2010, 02:25 PM

What can I say, I'm confident!

05-09-2010, 03:37 PM	#2
molarmite Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Minnesota Posts: 4,893 Blog Entries: 1	I would be severely disappointed if we didn't move out of the group stage. __________________ From the wise mind of Davey Eckstein "Now all you need is a signature. A quote or initial, perhaps." [

05-09-2010, 05:38 PM	#4
Russ All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Essex HON! Posts: 1,924 Blog Entries: 1 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	I really think it's England's time. Capello has done a lot with the squad and usually puts the best 11 out there regardless of outside influence or ancient performance. As long as Rooney's groin is okay, England will win. __________________ If you don't love Russ, you don't love America. This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

05-10-2010, 01:45 AM	#8
myasu All Star Starter Join Date: May 2007 Location: Tokyo, Japan Posts: 1,491	I am excited! The only problem is the 7 hours time difference. Lots of coffees, headaches and excitement! __________________ myasu Bill Spaceman Lee- "The other day they asked me about mandatory drug testing. I said I believed in drug testing a long time ago. All through the sixties I tested everything."

05-11-2010, 01:08 PM	#13
mlyons Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 3,725	So, who do you see England beating to get to the top 4, then? Brazil? Spain? Argentina? Italy? Or are you expecting a favorable draw to knock one of those teams out? __________________ Things can always be worse.

05-11-2010, 01:47 PM	#15
English_Ray All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: A big city near Basingstoke... Posts: 718	Well, for a start, we can't play Italy, Brazil or Spain until the semi-finals as they are in the opposite half of the draw. And we can only play Argentina in the quarter-finals if either us or them don't win our groups, which, frankly, should not happen. But in any case, I think we can beat any of those teams if we play at our best. I certainly don't fear them. You write of the Italians at your peril, but they are a weaker team than four years ago, and they weren't exactly overpowering then. Argentina are horribly unpredictable under Maradona, and I'd back us to beat them more often than not. Spain and Brazil are probably going to be the two best teams in South Africa, but are they unbeatable? No. The US proved that much last year. Last edited by English_Ray; 05-11-2010 at 01:58 PM. Reason: i can't spell

05-09-2010, 03:19 PM	#1
Dargone Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Interwebs Posts: 2,862	The official World Cup 2010 thread... It's almost here I am very much looking forward to the tournament and I hope the U.S. does well. I think we have a good chance of advancing out of the group stage... __________________ I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and glue them together again and tell myself that the mended whole was as good as new. What is broken is broken -- and I'd rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken places as long as I lived.-Margaret Mitchell

05-09-2010, 04:53 PM	#3
jbergey22 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Minnesota Posts: 3,481	I have Argentina winning it at 6-1 odds. Hopefully they get it together. I also have Messi as the leading goal scorer at 10-1 odds. Spain is going to be tough to beat however.

05-09-2010, 07:26 PM	#5
Jordan All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Chi Suburbs now... Posts: 1,910	I'm pretty psyched. I kinda want Bafana Bafana to go out there and have a magic run just so they don't get laughed at

05-09-2010, 11:19 PM	#7
Jeremy Weimer Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 3,411	I'm excited but I wouldn't really say a month from now is close.

05-11-2010, 01:43 PM	#14
rudel.dietrich Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Zürich, Switzerland Posts: 8,608 Infractions: 1/0 (0)	A page is turning in Brazilian football. Ronaldo and Ronaldinho are being left off the World Cup squad.

05-11-2010, 01:59 PM	#18
English_Ray All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: A big city near Basingstoke... Posts: 718	Certainly not worried about form - we've got a month till the first game yet!

05-11-2010, 02:16 PM	#19
mlyons Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 3,725	These aren't guys who have been off for one or two matches, though. Barry and Gerrard have looked like shadows of their past selves all season, Cole has barely played, and Carrick has looked terrible all season. __________________ Things can always be worse.

05-11-2010, 02:25 PM	#20
English_Ray All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: A big city near Basingstoke... Posts: 718	What can I say, I'm confident!