The World Cup Thread *******

Ness Rowlah

Norwegian Wood
yeah England were poor in the second half, much thanks to
Sven's decisions and probably a bit due to the heat (it was
hard enough to sit on the couch, a cold drink within short reach).

Germany and Argentina have looked the classiest team
so far, with best management maneouvre award so far going
to Beenhakker for Trinidad&Tobago vs Sweden today.

Soon after going down to ten men vs Sweden what does
Beenhakker do? Instead of bringing on defensive cover
and play 4-4-1 he brings on an extra attacker and goes 4-3-2.
What a (chess) player - he does the unexpected (in a positive way)
and gives the Swedes something to think about as well as making
sure that the Swedes cannot go in full on attack mode. And almost
wins the game as well. Genius.

A move Sven would never think of, nevermind have the guts to do.
 
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alo

Well-known member
When Owen went off our attack was non-existent so if Walcott is good enough why didn't he come on? Our best two strikers aren't fully fit and the replacements aren't good enough

Its crazy: 4 strikers, 2 of them injured and 1 not likely to be used. Great.
Lets drop Lampard and get him out of Gerrards way, bosh Carrick in as a holding player and watch him rip up front.
 

Eric

Mr Moraigero
Had hoped for an Angola win ... anticolonial style. Oh well. At least Mexico beat Iran. (Nothing political there for me, just supporing Mexico.)
 

alo

Well-known member
Angola should have just gone for it in the latter stages, they had the quality to get a goal back for sure, just needed a bit of belief.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Um, I thought Portugal-Angola was a bit of a shocker all round, actually. Angola weren't abysmal, but weren't exactly very good either.

As for England: I'd rather hoped I'd never see us defending a one-goal lead so desperately again...Sven's tactics were abysmal by any standard, and the 'It's easier to say that from the armchair' line doesn't wash for a manager who took Jenas and Walcott to Germany over Defoe. It's just a matter of common sense, innit?

If he brings in Rooney against T&T, then it'll be just pandering to the masses. He's not invincible (look what happened vs Portugal), and if he gets crocked again in a match we should be able to win comfortably without him (no disrespect to the Soca Warriors, but Wales beat them recently. Being semi-Welsh, I know what this says about their standard).
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
...then Sven should be publically garotted. His absence will indubitably make us tactically stronger.

I almost want to weep knowing that Steve McLaren will be taking over after the WC. Four(?) more years of dour, dour England.
 

Rambler

Awanturnik
Note that throughout England games (including v Paraguay) it's McClaren writing things down in a notebook and showing them to Sven. Let's hope he wasn't writing 'Here, Sven, having dominated the first half, let's replace our best striker with a midfielder, and throw on a complete newbie on the left wing.'

Actually, the managerial substitutions aside, I thought we played pretty well, and nothing like as badly as the Sunday press were making out, who only seem to have watch the final half hour. My recollection of the first half is that the team was as balanced as I've seen England in some time - both wings working well, Lampard and Gerrard had their respective roles sorted out, Crouch did an excellent job holding the ball up (would have been better but for refereeing madness). We could have been sharper in attack, but as Owen (and Rooney) get fitter that should improve. Both Portugal and Holland dominated for much of their games against similar standard opposition to Paraguay and only got 1-0 results too, so we shouldn't worry too much.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
"defending a one-goal lead so desperately again"
I can't agree with that. England were lacking in ideas going forward and the midfield didn't get hold of the game in the second half but despite that it was nothing like desperate defending. The nearest Paraguay came was when Cole slipped in the first half and gave them the ball, in the second half despite having a lot of possession they didn't create anything better than a half-chance, in my opinion they could have played all day and never scored. Our defence is very very good.
 

D7_bohs

Well-known member
here in Ireland nobody has been resisting very hard the temptation to find less than flattering adjectives for England's performance on Saturday; but actually, if you're going to do well, history suggests it's good to start badly.....
sad to see Avery John sent off for T&T; as well as the fact that whole country has adopted them as the surrogate Ireland - we have self- image issues (and a chip on our shoulders about not qualifying) - he was (I think) the only player in the tournement to have played in the league of Ireland - and for Bohemians, my club .... he was every bit as hard then as well..
 

Lichen

Well-known member
baboon2004 said:
Um, not beign sarky, but the reason everyone predicts those teams is cos World Cup finals tend to be full of staggeringly predictable teams:

Brazil-Germany; Brazil-France; Brazil-Italy; West Germany- Argentina; Argentina- WG; Italy-WG; Argentina-Holland; Holland-WG; Brazil-Italy; England-WG
So you have to go back to 1962 to find an unfancied team in the final - Czechoslovakia.


My God. What a numbing record, almost negates any point of watching.
 

Ness Rowlah

Norwegian Wood
Lichen said:
baboon2004 said:
Um, not beign sarky, but the reason everyone predicts those teams is cos World Cup finals tend to be full of staggeringly predictable teams:

Brazil-Germany; Brazil-France; Brazil-Italy; West Germany- Argentina; Argentina- WG; Italy-WG; Argentina-Holland; Holland-WG; Brazil-Italy; England-WG
So you have to go back to 1962 to find an unfancied team in the final - Czechoslovakia.

My God. What a numbing record, almost negates any point of watching.

Agree that it takes out a bit of the romance (T&T the only little shock so far) of the World Cup knowing that most teams have no chance of winning it (much like most national leagues), but so far the big guns have played well - Germany and Holland were OK and positive. Argentina looked like real champs, as did Italy today. The Czech weren't bad against a very fit US team. And England well - they can only improve.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Oh, I presumed Lichen was being sarcastic.

Of course it doesn't negate the point of watching, but it does suggest that all the other teams have somethng to learn in terms of nous, because they're not necessarily that far behind in terms of skill, energy levels etc etc. I remember that in 1994, predictions of a Colombian or an African nation's victory were rife; three W Cups on, no 'unfancied' team has reached the final, let alone won the thing.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Ness Rowlah said:
Agree that it takes out a bit of the romance (T&T the only little shock so far) of the World Cup knowing that most teams have no chance of winning it (much like most national leagues).

To me, the WC seems eminently more predictable than a tournament like the FA Cup. The equivalents of West Ham and Millwall never seem to make it to the final.
 

jenks

thread death
maybe not the final but look at last tornament's semis and quarter finals - plenty of surprises in there
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
True 'nuff, but I really do believe it was a bit of a blip caused by 'major' countries' stars being overtired etc.

Despite the romance of it all, in 2002 SK were overachieving by a long way. Turkey were the one revelation to me, a team that played sublime football and really took the game to Brazil both times.
 

gabriel

The Heatwave
Freakaholic said:
I am now obsessed with this game.

http://www.miniclip.com/worldcupsoccer/worldcupsoccer.php

Ive done the "World Cup" now 5 times.

My productivity has gone to shite. Is this what the rest of the tournament will bring? If so, then maybe its a good idea to ask off work for a few mornings.....

great game, thanks for this... a bit too easy though - i won the world cup as england on my first attempt, beating brazil 7-5 in the semis and france 6-1 in the final... walcott scored 23 goals for me in about 6 games... an omen maybe?!

obviously i'm now going to try and win the tournament with saudi arabia or something... :eek:
 

Rambler

Awanturnik
I know it was said many times on commentary last night, but wow, if Ghana had a striker... Thought they were very impressive. As were the Czechs, who I've always had a soft spot for. Glad that Koller looks like he's going to be OK this morning.
 

Freakaholic

not just an addiction
Anyone try and listen on the "Listen to BBC Radio Five Live commentary"? I cant seem to connect in the US.

Speaking of.... the timing here is awful. I took monday off work and watched the 3 games, and on Friday took an extended lunch to watch Germany, but how long can i keep this up? I feel awful that Im missing Korea and Togo, and thats just Korea and Togo! I even got up early on Saturday! (in case you dont know, games in the CST start at 8am, 11am, and 2pm)

It seems the US cant put together a decent attack, or Czech just looked really really good. I could see them making the finals.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Well it looks as though Togo are just about to lose to Korea. Why is that despite looking good the African nations have been defeated in every game? Time to reach for cliches about naivety?
 
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