don_quixote
Trent End
poor south africa 
World Cup 2010
- Thread starter scottdisco
- Start date
crackerjack
Well-known member
They were great together 2 years ago til Villa got injured.
don_quixote
Trent End
thought that was a blog post, didn't realise it was written by a bona fide newspaper journo. very pleased others are outraged by that shearer comment.
scottdisco
rip this joint please
poor SA. horribly limited and when Forlan is purring, one of the best strikers of a ball on earth.
his space for the first was similar to an Ivorian cock-up yday when Ronaldo made something tidy for himself and then stung the left-hand woodwork.
Josephs' throw out on 85, very muscular technique, like a rocket, interesting.
Navas definitely worth a go (dispossessed cheaply on occasion mind IIRC) but to-the-point, like Hucks says. (interesting about his anxiety attacks.)
Sui started to flake at the back, play higher up, even before the substitutions; was worried for them when he and Torres came on.
before Senderos came off, i was actually enjoying his performance, and how often can you say that!
been enjoying it all so far; the organisation and excellent discipline of what we might call the, cough, cagier teams, is something to admire for me, so i had no problem cheering on Suisse like a bastard earlier.
i admit what someone called anti-football upthread is easier to take in stride when i know we've only just finished Game 1, you really would imagine Greece '04 was a freak; give it a few more matches and more positive teams should be able to assert themselves a bit more.
Esp - Chile could be a cracker. Honduras are hardly shy in coming forward, either. (though no cop on that evidence, granted. seven semi-pro players is it, they have?)
his space for the first was similar to an Ivorian cock-up yday when Ronaldo made something tidy for himself and then stung the left-hand woodwork.
Josephs' throw out on 85, very muscular technique, like a rocket, interesting.
Navas definitely worth a go (dispossessed cheaply on occasion mind IIRC) but to-the-point, like Hucks says. (interesting about his anxiety attacks.)
Sui started to flake at the back, play higher up, even before the substitutions; was worried for them when he and Torres came on.
before Senderos came off, i was actually enjoying his performance, and how often can you say that!
been enjoying it all so far; the organisation and excellent discipline of what we might call the, cough, cagier teams, is something to admire for me, so i had no problem cheering on Suisse like a bastard earlier.
i admit what someone called anti-football upthread is easier to take in stride when i know we've only just finished Game 1, you really would imagine Greece '04 was a freak; give it a few more matches and more positive teams should be able to assert themselves a bit more.
Esp - Chile could be a cracker. Honduras are hardly shy in coming forward, either. (though no cop on that evidence, granted. seven semi-pro players is it, they have?)
don_quixote
Trent End
i'm glad it's chile - switzerland next, so i hope chile beat switzerland. i really want spain and chile to both go through. made a lot more difficult by today's results.
i envisage this;
uruguay - south korea
argentina - mexico
england - ghana
germany - usa
holland - slovakia
italy - japan
brazil - spain
chile - cote d'ivoire
that's hopeful btw
then oooh
uruguay - england
germany - argentina
holland - brazil
chile - italy
then ooooh
england - brazil
germany - chile
then oooooh
brazil - germany
i envisage this;
uruguay - south korea
argentina - mexico
england - ghana
germany - usa
holland - slovakia
italy - japan
brazil - spain
chile - cote d'ivoire
that's hopeful btw
then oooh
uruguay - england
germany - argentina
holland - brazil
chile - italy
then ooooh
england - brazil
germany - chile
then oooooh
brazil - germany
computer_rock
Well-known member
phillipe senderos basically is loefah.
benjybars
village elder.
Slothrop
Tight but Polite
Bloody injury time goal keeps me at the bottom of the office predictor sweepstake.
So what's going to happen tomorrow? I'm currently in danger of losing out to a random number generator and somone who predicted scores on the assumption that we were talking about rugby matches...
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IdleRich
IdleRich
I enjoyed Switzerland v Spain - I think that Switzerland played well, defended great obviously but they looked pretty tidy in attack, the (admittedly poor at defending - 'cause they don't have to do it often) Spanish defence was caught out again and again by their neat one-twos - given the amount of time they had the ball the Swiss forward line had a lot more penetration than the Spanish had. I think the onus is on the "better" side to produce something special and if you can't do that you're not good enough. Can't see why anyone would moan about that result. Sets up some tidy ties as well.
scottdisco
rip this joint please
nicely summarised Rich.
Senderos, Loefah, lol
really amused by what Routes said about Linker ^
three potential pivots today, not least Nigeria in Group B, who really need to go for it, to perhaps set up what could be an epic tie against S Korea next. they will know what SK and Arg have done before they take the field. will be interesting to see how Greece organise themselves. i imagine they play the same game whatever the opposition (unless the other team are substantially weaker). could be doing them a disservice there, of course.
Senderos, Loefah, lol
really amused by what Routes said about Linker ^
three potential pivots today, not least Nigeria in Group B, who really need to go for it, to perhaps set up what could be an epic tie against S Korea next. they will know what SK and Arg have done before they take the field. will be interesting to see how Greece organise themselves. i imagine they play the same game whatever the opposition (unless the other team are substantially weaker). could be doing them a disservice there, of course.
crackerjack
Well-known member
That may have something to do with them facing the customary 4-man defence (often less given how far forward Pique and Ramos went) rather than the 8- or 9-man one Switzerland used.
scottdisco
rip this joint please
from the handful of matches so far where it is quite obviously attack versus defence (as opposed to some games which have been more defence v defence!) defending teams are having some success by keeping out attacking teams simply by pushing them wide and trusting they can deal w crosses, w a greater margin for error on the defending part than if they simply invite it down the middle.
as the commentators said yday when Torres came on, he is good in the air * (well one of the better Spaniards in the air i think, Puyol seems good too, knows when to head and when to leave it for defensive purposes as well).
it's not the same as what N Korea did against Brazil but Cameroon sort of shot themselves in the foot the other day, when they left Eto'o out on the right, because in that match the Japanese defence was not necessarily restricting the attacks to wide attacks. there's a big difference between Eto'o playing wide for Inter, with all their stars and people who can use it down the middle, and Cameroon letting their best player get stifled in a position he couldn't do much good in, especially frustrating given there were occasions when the Lions broke but whoever they had out front in centre (sorry, can't remember off top of head) just wasn't up to it, i am sure we might have seen a draw in that game w different tactics from Cameroon. they had that cracker against the woodwork late on, which is probably w Ronaldo for the best near-miss thus far, thunderous stuff.
* i nearly wrote 'he is good in the hair', but i don't like the shorter hair, he looks about 12
as the commentators said yday when Torres came on, he is good in the air * (well one of the better Spaniards in the air i think, Puyol seems good too, knows when to head and when to leave it for defensive purposes as well).
it's not the same as what N Korea did against Brazil but Cameroon sort of shot themselves in the foot the other day, when they left Eto'o out on the right, because in that match the Japanese defence was not necessarily restricting the attacks to wide attacks. there's a big difference between Eto'o playing wide for Inter, with all their stars and people who can use it down the middle, and Cameroon letting their best player get stifled in a position he couldn't do much good in, especially frustrating given there were occasions when the Lions broke but whoever they had out front in centre (sorry, can't remember off top of head) just wasn't up to it, i am sure we might have seen a draw in that game w different tactics from Cameroon. they had that cracker against the woodwork late on, which is probably w Ronaldo for the best near-miss thus far, thunderous stuff.
* i nearly wrote 'he is good in the hair', but i don't like the shorter hair, he looks about 12
scottdisco
rip this joint please
context of the above rant is that i do quite like Japan (i like all three Asian teams and wish them well) but i have had a real soft spot for Cameroon since 90 (my 'first' WC) and so am pretty much a fan, also my man Luka got fam
scottdisco
rip this joint please
that's a spectacularly simple-minded post from me above, in hindsight!
teams have to cross the ball! really? thank you scott!
teams have to cross the ball! really? thank you scott!
hucks
Your Message Here
No, it's a really interesting post. In any analysis of football in England "width" is basically seen as the be all and end all. See every column David Pleat writes in the Guardian, every week.
Is the implication, then, that eg England would not struggle so much if they were forced out wide because, with two attacking full backs and at least on nippy winger, the width is built in? (Conversely, England's shortcomings are exactly the type of ball and shape retention issues that Spain excel at). Spain got noticably better when they brought on Navas, who got out wide and took the full back on.
The first choice Brazil and Spain teams don't have much natural width. It makes them v compact and difficult to beat, but there are ways to combat it from a defensive pov.
Is the implication, then, that eg England would not struggle so much if they were forced out wide because, with two attacking full backs and at least on nippy winger, the width is built in? (Conversely, England's shortcomings are exactly the type of ball and shape retention issues that Spain excel at). Spain got noticably better when they brought on Navas, who got out wide and took the full back on.
The first choice Brazil and Spain teams don't have much natural width. It makes them v compact and difficult to beat, but there are ways to combat it from a defensive pov.
matt b
Indexing all opinion
The fantasy team I picked are currently top of the mini-league they are entered in, so if you want any help from an expert (approx 3 hours worth of football knowledge), just holla
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
you could be fairly near here, i think, and that's a HELL of a quarter final line-up, imo. Chile-Italy is the biggest revenge fixture in world football, surely, holland-brazil will be both a brilliant football match and a chance to purge demons from 98, germany-argentina has more history than most world cup fixtures (plus they're both very tidy footballing sides), and england-uruguay has obvious 66 overtones, as well as the opportunity for diego forlan to purge his own demons once and for all.
Plus, of course, it's Europe-SAm in every fixture. I'm hoping there can be one representative from outside the two continents, but sadly i can't see who it might be. Didn't see SK's first game, so not sure how capable they might be of upsetting Uruguay?
I have a strong feeling that the knockout stages of this tournament will be the best for some time (although 2006 was pretty damn good, to be fair)
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
can't remember who on here keeps repping for this blog, but it is blatantly the best blog int he world:
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/06/17/spain-0-1-switzerland-tactics/
"Behind those two, they (SWITZ) kept two banks of four but didn’t defend particularly deep, nor keep it tight between the lines. Instead, their game was based around preventing the flair players getting time and space on the ball, by immediately harrying them when they received a ball to feet."
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/06/17/spain-0-1-switzerland-tactics/
"Behind those two, they (SWITZ) kept two banks of four but didn’t defend particularly deep, nor keep it tight between the lines. Instead, their game was based around preventing the flair players getting time and space on the ball, by immediately harrying them when they received a ball to feet."
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