Football Season 09-10/2010 World Cup Thread

[Patrick Bateman]

Worst game: Ivory Coast vs. Portugal

Best game (for sheer comedy value): England vs. Germany

Marks out of ten for this World Cup: 4

[CBA]

Funny / Surprise Results

England : 0 Usa : 0

I must have missed that one - and I thought I watched ALL England's matches.

[Parkol]

Best game was Germany - England for sure.

[Undertaker]

Not for me!

Slovakia and Italy were favourite teams in Group F (?).The result wasn't surprise For me!
Netherlands 2 Brasil 1. That's why I said The Netherlands was the surprise team of the world cup.I ve already added it to 'Interesting events' section in my list.I didnt want to put it under ' Surprising results' category
Spain 0 - 1 Swiss - Switzerland football team is a very good team. They have an amazing defense, but they just need some quality offense. And spain was unlucky. Not a surprise result for me!

The Brazil result was a surprise, not because Netherlands aren't a good side but because Brazil are such a fantastic side.

Whether Slovakia (or Paraguay) were second favourites, still doesn't mean they were much use. Slovakia were awful.

What were your fav top 5 teams pre world cup, Dave?

For me

1 - Brazil
2 - Germany
3 - Spain
4 - Italy
5 - Argentina


* Note : I am not against The Netherlands football team. the Netherlands is a very good team. They played better than many teams. They deserved to play the final match. But It wasn't favourite pre-matches!

* Note : It is my list. You can agree / disagree...

Pre tournament, i'd have gone ;-

1. Brazil
2. Spain
3. Netherlands
4. Portugal
5. England

At the end, i'd go ;-

1. Germany
2. Spain
3. Netherlands
4. Uruguay
5. Brazil
I thought the Germans were a better side than the Spanish. Sometimes in a knockout competition, you can have some bad luck and out you go. The Dutch played some good stuff but let themselves down in the final because they played like animals.

[Patrick Bateman]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010 ... intcmp=239

Hmm, the Capello Index is no 'Match Facts' is it? Heskey apparently had a better tournament than Cashley.

[Undertaker]

Heskey is a donkey and has taken a load of shit from supporters, journo's etc and you can see why he's retired from international football - He's probably embarressed that Capello keeps picking him. Afterall, it's not Heskey's fault he keeps getting selected but it's obvious Capello is obsessed with him.

Cashley was England's best player. Defoe got the highest mark and he was crap.

[Undertaker]

Anyway, not long to go now until the start of the 2012 Euro Championships, where England are going to win it and will have the same tossers in the squad. Republic of Ireland will remain unbeaten but wont make it. Northern Ireland will look good, then go get stuffed somewhere crap. Wales and Scotland will blame the managers for losing against complete junk and half the squad will refuse to play again.

Euro 2012 qualifying groups in full:

Group A: Germany, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan

Group B: Russia, Slovakia, Republic of Ireland, FYR Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra,

Group C: Italy, Serbia, Northern Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, Faroe Islands,

Group D: France, Romania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Belarus, Albania, Luxembourg,

Group E: Holland, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Moldova, San Marino,

Group F: Croatia, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia, Malta,

Group G: England, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales, Montenegro,

Group H: Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Iceland,

Group I: Spain, Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania, Liechtenstein,

[Danny C]

Liverpool have signed Joe Cole on a 4-year contract, subject to a medical.

Hmm. I'm in two minds about this. No doubt he's a good player, but he's only spent 33% of the last two seasons on the pitch. At £90,000 a week, it's some gamble.

[Undertaker]

I think he's a decent signing but he's not a top player anymore, mainly due to his injuries. Glad Spurs didn't get him because i don't think he would have improved us.

Liverpool need a few flair players, so it can't be a bad thing.

[Patrick Bateman]

Liverpool should have signed Cole when he left West Ham. He was exactly the kind of player who would have won them the title. If he can stay injury-free, he'll be a brilliant signing. He is England's most creative player since Gazza.

If Liverpool keep hold of Gerrard and Torres (and Mascherano although that looks less likely), and make a couple more signings like this, they'll be in with a shout next season for sure.

[Undertaker]

It's quite an achievement to beat Man City to his signature because they can blow everyone out of the water with wages. It looks like they will be signing Balotelli for 30 million. You can see a Real Madrid scenario here. Spend a fortune on god knows how many strikers and try to fit them all into a position.

[Kris]

Heskey is a donkey and has taken a load of shit from supporters, journo's etc and you can see why he's retired from international football - He's probably embarressed that Capello keeps picking him. Afterall, it's not Heskey's fault he keeps getting selected but it's obvious Capello is obsessed with him.

Cashley was England's best player. Defoe got the highest mark and he was crap.

I've always considered Heskey to be a decent player personally. I know his scoring record is toilet but the fact is he's played under four different England managers and continually got the best out of his partner, whether Rooney or before that Michael Owen, in a way than no other striker has managed. There was some kind of stat - apologies if it's a bit vague - that indicated that in Rooney's 20 caps prior to the World Cup, he played with Heskey 10 times and scored in eight of them but only twice in the other ten alongside a different partner. If you look at some of England's best wins in recent years - the two maulings of Croatia and the 3-0 win over Russia (arguably the only decent performance under Steve McClaren), for example - Heskey played in all of them and England scored 12 goals in the process. I don't think Capello was obsessed with him, just that he wanted to play a conventional front two and (in my opinion correctly) thought Heskey complemented Rooney the most effectively. England won nine out of 10 in the qualifiers playing this way.

For what it's worth, despite the above, I wouldn't have played Heskey in the World Cup and - like most others - would have gone with Gerrard behind Rooney instead. I hope this is what Capello will do from now on.

Looking forward to the Euro qualifiers now. Haven't had time to digest them yet but it shouldn't take too long as the World Cup wasn't particularly memorable.

[Undertaker]

I think Heskey was a decent player 3 or 4 years ago. Also, he's one of very few English strikers that can hold onto the ball. Quite a sad state really that a country as big as England can't produce 3 or 4 top class strikers. Same goes for the rest of the Britih Isles. Where are they all? In the 60's, 70's and 80's, all the top sides had a big old fashioned centre forward that was top class. They also had a few Scottish players as well. It's strange how such things can change.

I think Bobby Zamora will replace Heskey

[Danny C]

There was one season Heskey had with us when he was fantastic. At his best, he was literally unplayable, the guy was ploughing through defences like a juggernaut. Unfortunately, the guy suffers from a lack of bottle.

[York Minster]

Outdoor soccer bores me.