World Cup 2014

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crackerjack

Well-known member
There's a lot of apathy about this, isn't there? Maybe just because England fans have given up even pretending to be excited. Or maybe just cos the PL (and CL?) has been so absorbing people have been distracted. Anyway, at the risk of this just sitting here unloved, here we go with England's squad named very early – don't understand why the standbys have been told they're standbys instead of the old method of picking 30 and then chopping 7. But here it is, pinched from Guardian's rolling thread, which is why it's upside down.

Quite promising for England, I'd say - promising as in 'might be good in 2 years' time'. For now, getting thru the group will be a win for this lot.


2.03pm BST
And on standby (it's as expected)

John Ruddy
Jon Flanagan
John Stones
Michael Carrick
Tom Cleverley
Andy Carroll
Jermain Defoe
2.02pm BST
And for the tweet averse:

Joe Hart
Fraser Forster
Ben Foster
Glen Johnson
Phil Jones
Gary Cahill
Phil Jagielka
Chris Smalling
Leighton Baines
Luke Shaw
Steven Gerrard
Jack Wilshere
Jordan Henderson
Frank Lampard
James Milner
Ross Barkley
Adam Lallana
Raheem Sterling
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Wayne Rooney
Daniel Sturridge
Danny Welbeck
Rickie Lambert
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IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
I'm looking forward to the world cup for sure. I always do. I think I enjoy the group games most when there are just millions of games and you can check everyone out. I'm also always pointlessly excited about England. They're definitely not one of the best sides but they aren't as weak as Denmark or Greece were when they won the Euros. That's what I always tell myself.
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
IdleRich said:
I'm looking forward to the world cup for sure. I always do. I think I enjoy the group games most when there are just millions of games and you can check everyone out. I'm also always pointlessly excited about England. They're definitely not one of the best sides but they aren't as weak as Denmark or Greece were when they won the Euros. That's what I always tell myself.
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I'm not excited, but I think we'll (just about) achieve our usual of going out in last 16 or q/f, probably at expense of Uruguay. If there's one thing Roy H does well it's plodding his way to respectability.
 
hucks

hucks

Your Message Here
I'm well up for it. I just like the sheer volume of football - 3 games a day in the group stages. It's brilliant.

That England squad is a huge improvement on the 2010 squad - Upson! Wright Phillips! Warnock! - and quite a radical change from the 2012 one, too. It's obviously full of problems defensively tho. The two first choice centre halves are OK, the 3rd and 4th are hopeless. There's also no defensive midfielder to speak of. Gerrard might be playing deeper than previously but he didn't seem to be offering his back 4 much protection against Palace, for instance. And if he gets injured/ suspended, there's literally nobody apart from Phil Jones so there's literally nobody.

Going forward we might be quite tasty tho.
 
trza

trza

Well-known member
I've been able to visit Brazil a couple times over the past year. The idea of Brazil failing to win the whole tournament is a complete unmentionable thought crime. It just cannot happen, it cannot be allowed to happen. Any suggestion of failure by "a seleção" is met with complete disbelief.
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
i don't follow football, just excited that it's actually going to happen there...

Queues, traffic jams, missed deadlines and other delays have been so ubiquitous for so long that “Brazilians have become anaesthetised to them”, says Regis Bonelli of Fundação Getulio Vargas, a business school. When on April 12th the boss of the state-owned operator suggested that large chunks of the airport in Belo Horizonte that will not be refurbished in time for the football World Cup in June should simply be “veiled”, his remark elicited no more than a shrug of resignation.
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http://www.economist.com/news/ameri...-unproductive-economy-grow-they-must-snap-out
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
hucks said:
The two first choice centre halves are OK, the 3rd and 4th are hopeless.
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Unless I'm missing something we're only going with 7 defenders too, rather than the usual 2/position, presumably cos Jones and Smalling are equally hopeless whether at right- or centre-back.

That England squad is a huge improvement on the 2010 squad - Upson!
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That's no way to talk about the joint top scorer in 2010 (and Brighton's player of the year 2014).
 
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paolo

Mechanical phantoms
I predict that Brazil will win and England will go out in the group stage

Will do better than expected - Bosnia

Will not do as well as expected - Germany
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Presumably Spain are only fourth favourites with the bookies because they risk facing Brazil in the second round if they slip up against the Netherlands? Otherwise it seems a bit ungenerous. Belgium as fifth favourites - interesting.

England's squad does promise more flair than usual (not tricky). But how much game time will Sterling, Barkley etc actually get?
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
baboon2004 said:
Presumably Spain are only fourth favourites with the bookies because they risk facing Brazil in the second round if they slip up against the Netherlands? Otherwise it seems a bit ungenerous. Belgium as fifth favourites - interesting.

England's squad does promise more flair than usual (not tricky). But how much game time will Sterling, Barkley etc actually get?
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Sterling will start, won't he?

I was trying to figure this out. Assuming England play something like 4-2-3-1, which seems sensible, then it's
Johnson-Cahill-Jagielka-Baines
Gerrard-Wilshere
Sterling-Llalana-Rooney
Sturridge

Of course I could just be looking at this too optimistically, and it'll wind up being Gerrard and Lampard all day every day, same as usual, with Milner doing the work rate on the wing.
 
hucks

hucks

Your Message Here
crackerjack said:
Sterling will start, won't he?

I was trying to figure this out. Assuming England play something like 4-2-3-1, which seems sensible, then it's
Johnson-Cahill-Jagielka-Baines
Gerrard-Wilshere
Sterling-Llalana-Rooney
Sturridge

Of course I could just be looking at this too optimistically, and it'll wind up being Gerrard and Lampard all day every day, same as usual, with Milner doing the work rate on the wing.
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I can imagine Welbeck starting the first game as we try not to lose but otherwise the team you've proposed is more or less it, with the possibility of Henderson for Wilshere and maybe Wilshere for Lalana. I do hope it's Sturridge up top and Rooney in behind but fear it'll be the White Pele leading the line with Sturridge wide.

To be fair to Roy, he hasn't really started Gerrard and Lampard together in qualifiers. So fingers crossed.
 
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Phaedo

Well-known member
i think theres a decent argument to say that we'd have a better balanced team without Rooney. not that its likely Hodgson would drop him.
 
droid

droid

Well-known member
Despite the flaws, I think that was the best, most positive English performance Ive seen at a major tournament in a long time. Certainly for a first game.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
Yeah, it's been great so far and that was the best England peformance for a while. Normally when they lose I'm tearing my hair out but this time it was different. They were a lot more creative, trying different things and breaking more quickly. Each time they were unlucky to be behind and actually deserved something from the match. They did lose concentration for the goals though and that will always be a problem. Italy aren't much cop at the moment but they are that much more ruthless than England.
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
IdleRich said:
Yeah, it's been great so far and that was the best England peformance for a while. Normally when they lose I'm tearing my hair out but this time it was different. They were a lot more creative, trying different things and breaking more quickly. Each time they were unlucky to be behind and actually deserved something from the match. They did lose concentration for the goals though and that will always be a problem. Italy aren't much cop at the moment but they are that much more ruthless than England.
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The thing that disappointed me from the performance (apart from the defending) was the lack of real chances created in the last half-hour. I found myself longing for a big man in the middle (unusually), not that it would've mattered cos our crossing late on was poor.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
You can't have it both ways! Although if we're losing I do start shouting "Get it in the mixer!" every time we have the ball from about the twentieth minute.
 
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