World Cup Only Weeks Away!

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201

Another “friendly” update:

Last night in Melbourne Australia defeated Greece 1-0. They looked very solid and totally dominated the first half, encouraging signs, especially without key players Harry Kewell or Tim Cahill in the squad due to injury.

Next game is against Netherlands in Rotterdam which will be a very interesting test for them.

[quote]dcb wrote:
Spreaking of friendlies, I just finished watching a tape of the England v Belarus game. Do you know why this is a “B” game for England? I understand that they don’t have their best 11 on the field, but they still have 5 probable starters out there which isn’t much different from what many teams are doing in their pre cup matches.

1-packlondoner wrote:
dcb wrote:
The U.S. lost to Morocco 1-0 last night in a very uninspired performance. Actually it’s not a big concern at the moment because Bruce Arena has been pretty good in the past at finding the right players to put on the pitch. He’s got two more warm-up games to do it.

Didn’t look too promising but friendlies are never a true representation of a team’s quality. Apart form the recent Argentina game pretty much EVERY England friendly is painful to watch.

[/quote]

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[quote]UtahLama wrote:
Of all the people I have run into on this site… HeadHunter might just be the biggest Asshole I have seen.

Oh well, good with the bad you know.[/quote]

Ignore the retard. He’s just compensating for his small penis. You know, that’s why he has to vigorously assert the “manliness” of Tae Kwon Do vs. “Soccer” -

funny how everytime I’ve seen someone use Tae Kwon Do in a streetfight they get their ass handed to them. I mean if you’re gonna study a martial art - study one that won’t get your ass kicked in a streetfight.

203

[quote]bg100 wrote:
Another “friendly” update:

Last night in Melbourne Australia defeated Greece 1-0. They looked very solid and totally dominated the first half, encouraging signs, especially without key players Harry Kewell or Tim Cahill in the squad due to injury.

Next game is against Netherlands in Rotterdam which will be a very interesting test for them.

[/quote]

Well, I might chime in as well:

Croatia trashed Austria 4-1 in the away friendly, with Ivan Klasnic scoring two goals in the first half.

Also, Bosko “the worst acquisition in the history of Aston Villa” Balaban scored a superb free kick. It seems that all of our strikers are in form, and our manager Kranjcar got carried away and announced we’ll start against Brasil with a 4-3-3 lineup. This is definitely going to be interesting.

My only concern is that we’re playing Brasil first.

Knowing our Croatian mentality, we’ll put a superb display against the Brasilians, narrowly lose and then proceed to royally fuck up the remaining two group games.

204

[quote]loppar wrote:
bg100 wrote:
Another “friendly” update:

Last night in Melbourne Australia defeated Greece 1-0. They looked very solid and totally dominated the first half, encouraging signs, especially without key players Harry Kewell or Tim Cahill in the squad due to injury.

Next game is against Netherlands in Rotterdam which will be a very interesting test for them.

Well, I might chime in as well:

Croatia trashed Austria 4-1 in the away friendly, with Ivan Klasnic scoring two goals in the first half.

Also, Bosko “the worst acquisition in the history of Aston Villa” Balaban scored a superb free kick. It seems that all of our strikers are in form, and our manager Kranjcar got carried away and announced we’ll start against Brasil with a 4-3-3 lineup. This is definitely going to be interesting.

My only concern is that we’re playing Brasil first.

Knowing our Croatian mentality, we’ll put a superb display against the Brasilians, narrowly lose and then proceed to royally fuck up the remaining two group games.

[/quote]

The Australia-Croatia game is going to be huge as presumably we should both win against Japan and it is more than likely that Brazil will beat both of us, meaning that it will come down to the final game to decide who goes through.

Australia has a very large Croatian migrant population so there are going to be a lot of people with split loyalties during the game, but at least they come out a winner either way in the end! Unfortunately for me it’s Australia or nothing.

Cheers,

Ben

205

[quote]dcb wrote:
Spreaking of friendlies, I just finished watching a tape of the England v Belarus game. Do you know why this is a “B” game for England? I understand that they don’t have their best 11 on the field, but they still have 5 probable starters out there which isn’t much different from what many teams are doing in their pre cup matches.

[/quote]

Hi,

The ‘B’ match is something England haven’t done in a while but that I’m glad to see making a return. It’s bascially an international reserve team match, giving a chance to all the players that normally would only 10mins at the end of a regular friendly, or allowing previously injured players like Cole, Campbell, Owen etc to get a runout. It’s a nice idea and because it is a B match, there is no pressure on the result.

That said, it’s embarrassing that we lost but unforgiveable that they scored after our keeper collapsed in agony after rupturing his groin after trying to goal kick.

It was only a friendly and the guy really should have put the ball out of play or picked it up a la Paulo Di Canio. Ah well… Better it happens now than at the WC.

206

[quote]bg100 wrote:
loppar wrote:
bg100 wrote:
Another “friendly” update:

Last night in Melbourne Australia defeated Greece 1-0. They looked very solid and totally dominated the first half, encouraging signs, especially without key players Harry Kewell or Tim Cahill in the squad due to injury.

Next game is against Netherlands in Rotterdam which will be a very interesting test for them.

Well, I might chime in as well:

Croatia trashed Austria 4-1 in the away friendly, with Ivan Klasnic scoring two goals in the first half.

Also, Bosko “the worst acquisition in the history of Aston Villa” Balaban scored a superb free kick. It seems that all of our strikers are in form, and our manager Kranjcar got carried away and announced we’ll start against Brasil with a 4-3-3 lineup. This is definitely going to be interesting.

My only concern is that we’re playing Brasil first.

Knowing our Croatian mentality, we’ll put a superb display against the Brasilians, narrowly lose and then proceed to royally fuck up the remaining two group games.

The Australia-Croatia game is going to be huge as presumably we should both win against Japan and it is more than likely that Brazil will beat both of us, meaning that it will come down to the final game to decide who goes through.

Australia has a very large Croatian migrant population so there are going to be a lot of people with split loyalties during the game, but at least they come out a winner either way in the end! Unfortunately for me it’s Australia or nothing.

Cheers,

Ben
[/quote]

I have no idea these days, who would be the bookmaker’s favourite for an Australia-Croatia match these days?

They seem relatively evenly matched on paper.

207

[quote]bg100 wrote:

The Australia-Croatia game is going to be huge as presumably we should both win against Japan and it is more than likely that Brazil will beat both of us, meaning that it will come down to the final game to decide who goes through.

[/quote]

I wouldn’t discount Japan so easily. They are a good side that could cause problems for both Australia and Croatia.

This is very a very interesting situation. There are many players of Croatian origin in the Australian squad, most notable being Mark Viduka and Joseph Skoko.

On the other hand, we’ve got our share of Australians in the Croatian team - Joe Simunic (changed his name to Josip), Anthony Seric and Joey Didulica, for example.

So this will definitely be interesting :slight_smile:

208

Poor England…You had better hope your draw is as easy as it looks with old Rooney out until the knockout stages.

And this is how the U.S. preps…shitty. We had a horrible time before Japan/Korea and that turned out all right.

What this means is…could be 98’ could be 02’. I only hope Keller can channel Frank Borghi. God help us.

209

[quote]UtahLama wrote:
Poor England…You had better hope your draw is as easy as it looks with old Rooney out until the knockout stages.

[/quote]

With the exception of Brazil, even without Rooney, I would not swap the England squad for any other in the tournament.

Whether we win or not is another matter, but on paper we have a brilliant squad.

Robinson, A Cole, Ferdinand, Terry & G Neville at the back.

J Cole, Lampard, Gerrard and Beckham in the middle.

Owen and Nosferatu up front.

Devastating!

Seriously, who has better?

France might have Henry but both Viera and Zidane have been made to look like amateurs by baby Fabregas in the Champion’s League this year - their time is gone. Trezeget is good but well overrated. And Cisse? ha ha ha ha… Plus any team with Barthez in goal will have problems.

Holland have a good squad on paper but their troubles are well documented and they are in transition. Maybe an outside bet for the Euros?

Spain again have a good squad on paper but again not of the quality we can boast.

Rooney’s absence, if it proves true (which I doubt) will be a blow, but one we can overcome. Hate to bring up 1966, but we won the WC once before when our star striker, Jimmy Greaves was out injured!

210

[quote]1-packlondoner wrote:
UtahLama wrote:
Poor England…You had better hope your draw is as easy as it looks with old Rooney out until the knockout stages.

With the exception of Brazil, even without Rooney, I would not swap the England squad for any other in the tournament.

Whether we win or not is another matter, but on paper we have a brilliant squad.

Robinson, A Cole, Ferdinand, Terry & G Neville at the back.

J Cole, Lampard, Gerrard and Beckham in the middle.

Owen and Nosferatu up front.

Devastating!

Seriously, who has better?

France might have Henry but both Viera and Zidane have been made to look like amateurs by baby Fabregas in the Champion’s League this year - their time is gone. Trezeget is good but well overrated. And Cisse? ha ha ha ha… Plus any team with Barthez in goal will have problems.

Holland have a good squad on paper but their troubles are well documented and they are in transition. Maybe an outside bet for the Euros?

Spain again have a good squad on paper but again not of the quality we can boast.

Rooney’s absence, if it proves true (which I doubt) will be a blow, but one we can overcome. Hate to bring up 1966, but we won the WC once before when our star striker, Jimmy Greaves was out injured!

[/quote]

Mate dont get carried away…

when was the last time a English club won a European Trophy with predominantly English players?

There are a fair few as good. Paper means fook all.

JMO…

211

[quote]supermick wrote:
Mate dont get carried away…

when was the last time a English club won a European Trophy with predominantly English players?

There are a fair few as good. Paper means fook all.

JMO…[/quote]

Hiya mate,

Not saying we’ll win it or even get close but as of right now, the only starting teamsheet I would rather have than ours is Brazil’s and I think the reality is that no-one has an all-round stronger starting 11 than us bar Ronaldinho’s lot.

Just a response to the doom and gloom merchants.

We’ll probably get our arses kicked by Hungary in about an hour!

Laters

212

So post-England v Hungary (3-1) and what have we learned?

Err… That Gerrard can play in most positions better than most people and that when Lampard is forward of him, he must cover - and vice versa.

That Owen needs another 90mins to get sharper.

That Beckham is the best right-footed crosser of the ball in the world.

That Crouch does the best goal celebrations. Like ever.

That Campbell deserves to be on the bench. Gives away a free kick, nearly concedes a goal and gets booked all inside 60secs of being on the pitch.

That Terry is the new Tony Adams. Can’t kick a ball or outrun a lazy 3-toed sloth but Jeez, can he tackle, head and command his area? Err… Yes he can.

That Sven doesn’t like Carrick. Shame.

That Carragher is solid if a little too defensively minded.

So basically nothing new really, except for Crouch’s celebrations. Hopefully he’ll do the caterpillar up to the corner flag if he scores in the tournament!

There. My finely honed match report is over. I’d be interested in what others have garnered from their team’s warm-up friendlies.

213

Crouch Kicked it old skool

we need a petition for the other old skool moves like the ‘clock’ (i have a copyright on it though) and the caterpillar to be done after goals by Big pete.

214

It was awsome. Go on the lanky Nosferatu!

215

Update from the hosts:
Definitely the worst German squad in WC history. Only the football gods can save us now! (You guys know they are on our side:-))
Defense is a pure joke!
Still with Poland and Costa Rica in the group, it will not be a problem to survive the group round. I hope Poland keeps the goalie!!!

216

Lol, that definately is the best goal celebration ever! The fact that it’s gawky Peter Crouch doing it makes it even funnier! haha

Do you think he’s got a decent sense of humour?

217

Nuff respec to tha man crouch.

Think that dance has been done somewhere before…

218

Yeah, he seems like he can have a laugh. My opinion of him has gone up a lot, even if he does play for Liverpool!

Let’s hope he gets some more jammy goals in Germany.

219

[quote]supermick wrote:

Nuff respec to tha man crouch.

Think that dance has been done somewhere before…

Mick, once again you are the footie vid master.

That man always annoyed the hell out of me as ‘good feet for a big man’ always equated to ‘average feet for a normal man’ to me but he is officially my new hero.

220

[quote]hotsauce wrote:
Update from the hosts:
Definitely the worst German squad in WC history. Only the football gods can save us now! (You guys know they are on our side:-))
Defense is a pure joke!
Still with Poland and Costa Rica in the group, it will not be a problem to survive the group round. I hope Poland keeps the goalie!!![/quote]

Ha ha… YOu ALWAYS have the worst squad in WC history and you ALWAYS do well. Bastards!

See you in the next round.