"Bobby Zamora won't be England's third choice 'keeper.": South Africa 2010, World Cup Finals Anticipation Thread

Not because I'm particularly interested in it, you understand. This is merely an impetuous attempt to hurry this premiership season into distant memory.

He wouldn't be the worst choice.

MON AE URUGUAY. If club statistics tell me anything they ought to score at least five goals a game.

COME ON HONDURAS

EFF OFF SPAIN

i knock ju hunduras you fuckin cock-a-roach

Forgot to include an appropriately mirthful image in the initial post, as is the convention. mea culpa.

thread is premature, and this is a shameful political stroke imo

also imo-

we should have started a thread for each entrant.

if we are not given ILFootball, we must take it by force.

sry darragh but season 09/10 is ovah. chelsea finished top, man united second, spurs probably finished fourth and deservedly enjoyed their open-top bus ride through edmonton. happy w/ that?

if we are not given ILFootball, we must take it by force.

I thought about starting this on the church but opted against it. ooh look who's here:
http://www.theoffside.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/lalas-1994-world-cup.jpg

jesus christ the man just said 'probably' i will hunt you down and nail yr jinxmouth shut FOREVER DO YOU HEAR ME

ooh look who's here:
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/6527/lalas.jpg

^^^ESPN panel t'other day was him and Robbie Mustoe - my heart sang

sry darragh but season 09/10 is ovah. chelsea finished top, man united second, spurs probably finished fourth and deservedly enjoyed their open-top bus ride through edmonton. happy w/ that?

― snakebite and a passable pinot noir (Upt0eleven), Sunday, 18 April 2010 23:51 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

2pts between Bayern and Schalke, 1pt seperating Roma and Inter, 1pt between Barca and Real btw.

But to World Cup matters- we are all agreed that 66/1 on Suarez is the best bet we'll ever put a £1 on right?

Sam's five point guide to [World Cup team] pt. 1: Why Spain won't win the world cup-

1. No Torres? Of course, when Torres can't play Spain go for a more relaxed 4-5-1 bringing Cesc into the fold...

2. No Cesc. And Iniesta is struggling with injuries too.

3. Would you trust their full backs against the likes of Robinho, Ribery or Robben?

4. Ummm... Spain are cursed at World Cups? That's reason, right? I'm clutching at straws here, the first three are enough.

5. Why did I make this five points? Ok... no European team has one a comp outside Europe. Spain couldn't even beat fucking USA at the Confeds Cup! How are they gonna win it if they can't even within stand the water swirling a different direction and USA beating them, huh?

Prediction- 3rd place.

xp

if it's the last time i hear '66' mentioned on ilx until after the final then yeah, w/e.

if you mean top scorer then i reckon villa

Well I successfuly went for Villa at 14/1 at the Euros but I dunno, its never the same player to do it, is it?

^^^pretty stupid way of thinking about these things, i know.

Bookies don't lose money at this stuff, so go with value if you see it. Can't be convinced about Suarez just yet tbh, lol Kezman, Kuyt, Van Nistelrooy, etc.

yeah lol dutch football but the damage for top goalscorer is done in the group stages and uruguay's group involves south africa, mexico and domenech's france. expect dude to score hathatricks against all 3 tbh. After that it doesn't matter.

well hot damn if he's guaranteed nine goals then i'm on that action

On that same note, Rooney (if fit) and Higaiun looking good to pwn the group stages.

look u guys need to get over rooney now before the inevitable happens. this year has been his marcus stewart year, everyone gets a marcus stewart year. niall quinn had a marcus stewart year ffs. leave the poor fat bastard alone, can't you see the pressure is tearing him apart?

can't put money on argentina to do anything, tbh- they could win it, they could crash at group, either's as likely.

Sam's five point guide to [World Cup team] pt. 1: Serbia, the first of possible wildcards-

1. What a defence! Vidic! Ivanovic! Subotic! Dragon-dude-I-cannot-spell-the-name-of-who-plays-for-Sevilla! Pretty fucking hard to break down is my bet.

2. An exciting and creative midfield, incl. Kuzmanovic, Football Manager 2008's 7th favourite signing.

3. Zigic, he's got to finally live up to his potential at one point of his career, right?

4. <3 Stankovic, nary a classier midfielder in this world.

5. Srs, would you wanna piss off Vidic? Really?

God knows what I'm gonna do when it comes down to North Korea and New Zealand.

1. will suffer from suspensions when big 4 badge/prem refereeing bias removed.

2 ....

3 hmm big men strikers do ok at world cups, in my head. maybe.

4. yes i so like this guy.

5. it's basically a golf question- it's all about judgement of distance & pace

fancy a small bet on Humberto Suazo myself, about 80-1 at the moment. top scorer in the South American qualification, great scoring records at club level, first round matches against Switzerland and Honduras (although 2nd round probably against Brazil, who beat them home & away in qualifying. hmmm talking myself out of this now)

talking yrself out of things = not a bad way to spend a life, tbh, regardless of what motivational speakers would have you believe.

i am still determined to write the 'negative thinking' self help book, and really it's about time for it- 'Feel the fear and cop yourself on ta fuck'.

Switzerland renowned for being hard to break down as well. Will cover it in my five point 'why the fuck couldn't Big Phil play like this for Arsenal'.

Newcastle's Argentina defender Fabricio Coloccini faces a race to be fit for this summer's World Cup finals after he was almost certainly ruled out for the rest of Newcastle's Championship season with a hamstring injury.
Full story: Daily Mail

wtf maradona, why are coloccini and jonas still anywhere near yr team, srsly?

jonas- because he's class.

Jonas is kind of a dude.

I've turned this into an anticipation thread because at this rate the thing will be thousands of posts long by the time we get to the opening ceremony. New thread just before the tournament I reckon.

so fucking stoked for these guys:

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0gchehA521eyu/610x.jpg

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/06le02Fcb1bV1/x610.jpg

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/00da9l11Nj4xV/610x.jpg

the captain looks bad ass

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0ehC7L91Q2aPP/x610.jpg

I'm certain that North Korea are going to unleash a team of genetically modified supermen on us.

last I read they had to borrow kits to play a friendly in Venezuela

Sam's five point wall chart pt. 3: Picking a random team before I go watch The Damned Utd for the first time-

1. lol denmark. Remember back when the Laudrup bros and Schmiechal used to run the shop?

2. Yeah well now Bendtner is their best player! Bendtner!

3. It's a team full of hacky hack hacks incl. all the gang- rommedahl, kroldrup, other shitty players.

4. Some good 'uns as well though- Sorenson, Agger, Kjaer, Erikson...

5. Eto'o is going to make them his sexy fun time slave.

I'd quite like Denmark to win it, just for the worldwide bewilderment. I'd feel like it was a joke I could be in on, which I couldn't if it was Greece or Australia.

btw I worked out my starting England team for the WC

Rooney
Walcott Lennon
Barry Huddlestone Lampard
Cole Terry Ferdinand Johnson
James

subs
Hart Dawson Milner Gerrard ColeJ JohnsonA Defoe

also in squad
Camp Baines Parker Crouch

this is going with the wing-forward 4-3-3 theory, rather than a Heskeytastic 4-4-2, which requires a rather different squad

idea being that England need to play three in the middle and utilise the pace of breaking wing-forwards for best effect, as Lampard powers into the box at every opportunity and either Barry or Huddlestone moves forward to support depending on shape of play

the pace of our wing-forwards and powerful passing-range and presence of our central midfield are our tactical strengths and a Heskey-flavoured system would not work against the top sides IMO

Andy Johnson?

actually, cut Parker and include Shaun Wright-Phillips - CM is covered well, but we need more pace for if Lennon breaks

very funny a hoy hoy but Andy Johnson no longer exists :(

omg have you called fabio

you could prevent him making a terrible mistake with these informations

you approve, right

rly tho

        Rooney     Bent
         
 J Cole     Gerrard        Lennon      
A Cole     Huddlestone      Johnson
    
     Ferdinand       King       
             James    

Against smaller teams.

Gutierrez at rb actually makes sense considering how much he needs a dani alves. would love the teamtalk "don't bother defending or attacking, just run around like a confusing twat until leo has some space"

dan m (and other americans): are all the games on network tv this year? like i can watch them by just turning on any tv? or might i need to go to a bar somewhere?

ESPN and ABC afIk.

Yep. Espn, espn2, and Abc. Check Univision too, they're usually all over it

Univision is good, too, if you get sick of the commentary (and your Spanish isn't good enough to follow it there).

That Argentine team looks awesome.

still bummed about the lack of cambiasso and riquelme.

okay we're all crying at that dmail thing

um from the other thread

Mexico v Argentina was the best game I remember in the last World Cup. Awesome shit.

Actually France vs Brazil was clearly really exciting as well but England had just gone out and I was watching in a state of complete disinterest.

I was supporting Zidane, that game was fantastic

That was the moment he won his second world cup, iirc.

Italy-Germany was the best game of the whole 00s I reckon

If Cambiasso, Zanetti and Riquelme were in that team, or at least that squad, they'd be in with a chance. Even if Riquelme isn't very good these days, I have no idea.

Agree. France were mediocre apart from the Brazil game.(xp)

France v Spain and Germany v Argentina were both v good games

France Brazil was awesome. Australia-Italy v.exciting til Italy made me ;_;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI3tcD8yIyM

I remember Germany v Argentina being good as well, but possibly just for hazy afternoon beering with friends in front of the biggest screen in the world.

Oh and otm Mexico Argentina. (xposts)

ismael otm^ italy - germany one of the best games i've ever seen

that argentina xi looks ridiculous, mascherano to cover the midfield alone sounds like a pretty bad idea

I remember Germany v Argentina being good as well, but possibly just for hazy afternoon beering with friends in front of the biggest screen in the world.

Another good game plus punch up / LOL Mad Argies @ end

what's the dmail thing btw??

on the wc most hated nation thread

I remember hating the germany-argentina game, cause pekerman taking off riqueleme for a defender made germany's equalizer inevitable

I don't think I saw Mexico-Argentina. :( Or even worse I just don't remember it.

Riquelme is still awesome supposedly. It's not like his game is built on, you know, ever moving, so its not like he'll ever have to retire. Veron at 36 has also supposedly had a great season but this is lol argentina football we are talking about for both of them over cl winners.

pirlo out of the first two matches makes sam sad.

why the fuck are bbc liveblogging the day before the wc starts?

ok this is the funniest football-related video I've seen in a LONG time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3_NABDDen0

best team ever, folks

i dunno, i think maradona's first xi has a reasonable risky logic to i - gutierrez doing a dani alves/ramires shuttling cover job for veron etc - but the madness of the dude is in the betting all his squad chips on it working out without cambiasso or someone like lucho to fall back on. and no zanetti is straight-up baffling considering he's still a better option on the left than heinze; surely just him asserting his power over the older sceptical pros.

The problem is not if Verón is covered or not, the problem is that he nowadays can only play well by slowing down the whole game and keeping the control of the ball. And if he slows the game with Di Maria and Gutierréz to play with him(not so much Di Maria, but Gutierréz has ONLY his speed) there's not much to do. Argentina's midfield stays completely unbalanced and discoordenated, if Maradona loves Gutierréz so much he should just stick another fast fucker in the place of Verón.

Are you Argentine? This sounds like the sort of in-depth knowledge we need - basically, are they contenders or not?

Not Argentina, Brazilian. But off course they are contenders, hell, most brazilian press not happy with Brazil's counter-strike tactics puts them as favorites. I just think it's clear from Verón's last two seasons in Estudiantes that he's more at ease with ball and speed controlling of the midfield and not running around from left to right like Maradona puts them to play.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2010/6/10/1276191877936/-Diego-Maradona-006.jpg

What about Brazil xp? Looks to me like this is set up for a Brazil victory - what are the complaints in the press at home?

xp I didn't know Fernando Meirelles was remaking The Smurfs.

Secret Smurfs Origin Movie

http://filenetworks.blogspot.com/2010/06/where-to-find-football-world-cup-2010.html

the thing that strikes me, in general, is that - unlike people posting above about Holland vs Portugal (1-1? 2-2? red cards?) or Argentina vs Mexico (really don't know the score, though ARG must presumably have won) or Argentina vs Germany (ditto but Germany must have won) - I have reached a point where I can no longer remember most games from recent tournaments (had entirely forgotten all those games happened), though I'm interested and touched by the hazy idea that they happened (and I did watch almost of them, and probably then watched highlights also), and though I can still remember games from the 1980s in detail.

I think maybe I have just been around too long and watched too much and run out of space to take it in anymore.

^ all of this for me too

speaking of games from the 80s, watching a recap of the 86 wc on tv right now. brazil - france in the quarter must have been a pretty epic game? platini sure was awesome back then.

I remember that one, staying overnight at my grandparents and watching with my grandad. It was a thrilling game, was amazed to look it up years later and see it was actually quite low-scoring. 1986 also had games which were on too late for me to watch, which was also quite an exciting concept.

Overheard last night: a girl complaining about all the teams she had in sweepstakes, but how it was all right because she had all the teams with Chelsea players in like England and Holland. But she also had rubish teams like Ivory Coast, who's ever heard of them? She's one of The Chelsea's bigget fans ever, because she makes a point of going to The Stamford Bridge once, or maybe even twice a year, and was watching on television when they won the Champion's League last season.

I later had my quite football astute friend who has just passed 40 (so youthful naivety is no excuse) tell me when I asked in all honesty whether Bobby Moore was actually that good or whether everyone just says he is, 1966 and all that, that there wasn't any footage of him so we had to believe people who saw him.

All in all, not a very successful evening.

Was Bobby Moore actually any good though? The film I've seen makes out he's a decent stopper and could play with the ball at his feet. A bit like Rio Ferdinand.

a friend and i made a wall chart, gotta be nearly 15 feet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ECgk77qKyU

mexico argentina was the best game of the last wc and one of the best games of any wc i've seen. lots of corkers in last wc tho...

SO excited for this year's tournament tho, last time around I was massively depressed due to chronic illness and wasn't drinking or going out really. I have a TV on my desk at work and since we are a sports show I am legitimately able to watch every game! plus working on world cup content and stuff for the last 3/4 weeks really has got me looking forward to it all.

anyone put on any bets?

i put a tenner on n korea, s korea, honduras, n zealand, australia, s africa, japan, and algeria to finish bottom of their group, at 85-1. and i put 20 quid on all those teams not to qualify at 4-1.

I'm off to chuck a couple of quid at Spain, have a proper think about an unlikely semi-finalist for an e/w, and throw some money at a few potential top scorers.

Also have a William Hill fantasy football thing in my bag which I'd better go and hand it.

I've taken England to lose to Brazil in the semi's at 8-1. The more I think about it the more I think that may have been a mistake.

Hope Diego isn't going to head that ball with his tongue sticking out, gnfffff

New thread time, I think. Anticipation is over.

WORLD CUP 2010