Road to South Africa World Cup 2010

[Locke]

Originally Posted by VANFLAMESFAN

Doing it without their best player and their starting right back will help their confidence and going into a hostile enviroment like Bosnia should not be overlooked either.

Fair enough, but, they didnt do all that hot awesome with their best player and starting right back. Regardless of the playoff games, the Portuguese qualifying effort was within the slimmest of hairs of being an unmitigated disaster.

Originally Posted by VANFLAMESFAN

I do agree that if they play the way they've been playing in the qualifying, they stand no chance of getting out of the first round unless they get a really fortunate draw, but that's unlikely pending the seeds of course.

My expectations going into South Africa will be low, no doubt about it, but they were really low going into 2004.

At the end of the day, they didn't embarass themselves by not getting in and all this will be forgotten if they can put some kind of a run together. I'm not counting on it, but the World Cup will be a lot more interesting with a team like Portugal in.

Of course this will all be forgotten, unless they fail to proceed past the group stage, then heads will roll. Everyone should remember that Brazil had to win a playoff game to qualify for the 02 WC, and I think they did okay once they got there.

Make no mistake though, the fashion in which this whole thing is remembered hinges upon the ensuing results. Do well and all is forgiven, and heroes they shall remain. Fail utterly and they may as well move to Bosnia.

In my mind though, they did embarrass themselves, they went into this as group favourites and narrowly edged into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth against a fairly weak group. Thats pretty embarrassing, not as embarrassing as Russia missing the dance entirely, but embarrassing enough...

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by valo403

Careful, until the tournament starts there's no guarantee that the injury bug doesn't leave England with Owen in the mix. It's scary, but it seems to happen every 4 years.

Owen not being picked lately even with some injuries has quelled any fears I have that he will be next summer

still not happy that Heskey seems to be the first choice partner for Rooney, I think Crouch can do the same job and has better vision and can actually finish, but Defoe/Bent/Cole/Agbonlahor are all ahead of Owen at this point.

[d_phaneuf]

and the key pieces of England from 04 and 06 are drastically improved at this point

Rooney has gone from a solid striker to one of the top 5 in the world, and maybe the one with the most all around game. i.e he may not score as much as Torres but he is more of a box to box player

Lampard and Gerrard are both in their prime.

Lennon is miles ahead of where he was at the 06 world cup, and even further ahead of where Beckham was in 06.

Gareth Barry is a huge upgrade over Hargreaves/Carrick.

Glen Johnson is a massive upgrade over Gary Neville and gives the English team an attacking option at both RB and LB.

The Goaltending will be better than Paul Robinson was, that is a given.

The subs for attacking options they can bring on are all improved as well, and Capello won't be stupid like Sven to invite a 16 year old who had never played higher than league 2 as the 4th striker (especially when the 1st and 2nd striker were injured)

The only spot where they are not improved may be at CB, Rio Ferdinand is having a terrible season so far but if he gets back to his form of last year than him and Terry will be solid as a rock.

and in a potential match with Portugal just look at how Ashley Cole has handled Ronaldo over the last few seasons, just suffocated his offense or forced him to switch to the other side where he is far less effective

[Pastiche]

Originally Posted by VANFLAMESFAN

England supporters are like Leaf fans.....probably worse........just absolutely clueless.

I'm no Portugal supporter but this statement is dead on.

England are the Toronto Maple Leafs of international soccer. Endlessly overrated, shoved down our throats team that hasn't done ANYTHING since the 60s and routinely chokes on the bone. Guess what? It will be the SAME story again in South Africa.

[The Goon]

From reading this thread, it seems like the only two countries worth watching in RSA 2010 are England and Portugal. No love for Spain? Netherlands? Brazil?

...New Zealand?

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

I think Crouch can do the same job and has better vision and can actually finish,

That's great ... but the likes of Belarus, Andorra etc won't be in S.Africa.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

and the key pieces of England from 04 and 06 are drastically improved at this point

Rooney has gone from a solid striker to one of the top 5 in the world, and maybe the one with the most all around game. i.e he may not score as much as Torres but he is more of a box to box player

Lampard and Gerrard are both in their prime.

Lennon is miles ahead of where he was at the 06 world cup, and even further ahead of where Beckham was in 06.

Gareth Barry is a huge upgrade over Hargreaves/Carrick.

Glen Johnson is a massive upgrade over Gary Neville and gives the English team an attacking option at both RB and LB.

The Goaltending will be better than Paul Robinson was, that is a given.

The subs for attacking options they can bring on are all improved as well, and Capello won't be stupid like Sven to invite a 16 year old who had never played higher than league 2 as the 4th striker (especially when the 1st and 2nd striker were injured)

The only spot where they are not improved may be at CB, Rio Ferdinand is having a terrible season so far but if he gets back to his form of last year than him and Terry will be solid as a rock.

and in a potential match with Portugal just look at how Ashley Cole has handled Ronaldo over the last few seasons, just suffocated his offense or forced him to switch to the other side where he is far less effective

I'm not penciling England in for the final or anything, but this is easily the deepest England team in a long time. They have extraordinary depth in the middle, and the striking is the best it's been in at least a decade. I just really hope they leave Heskey at home. I'd even rather Bent or Carlton Cole at this point.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Pastiche

I'm no Portugal supporter but this statement is dead on.

England are the Toronto Maple Leafs of international soccer. Endlessly overrated, shoved down our throats team that hasn't done ANYTHING since the 60s and routinely chokes on the bone. Guess what? It will be the SAME story again in South Africa.

I don't think this is true. It's not like they choke and fail to make it past the group stage. They've been to the quarterfinals in each of the last two tournaments. They lost on penalties to Portugal in 2006, when they were down to 10 men, and to a stacked Brazil team in 2002. I would also argue that they kept pace with Brazil until Seaman terribly misplayed that free kick. Both of these England squads weren't expected to go much further than the quaterfinals.

I think Spain and the Netherlands are guiltier of being completely overhyped and then delivering nothing at the tournament. Spain were heavily favoured at both 2002 and 2006 and bowed out in the round of 16 to freaking Korea, and a really old French team respectively.

[Pastiche]

There is no one team that is more consistently overrated and overhyped than England. Everything in the Western media is about England. All the sideshow bs of who has changed their haircut, who's dating who, what someone said in practice. They dominate all soccer shows and news telecasts. And it is completely underserving. They have done nothing, to warrant being mentioned so much beyond the fact that they are 'England.'

I present you the Toronto Maple Leafs.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I would also argue that they kept pace with Brazil until Seaman terribly misplayed that free kick.

And I would argue that they didn't. They had a couple of periods of pressure one that resulted in a goal and that was it. Aside from those couple of periods Brasil controlled the whole game, even when they were at 10 men.

That they could hardly get a touch of the ball in the last half hour despite having an extra man tells its own story.

[The Goon]

I'm looking forward to the draw on 4 December. It's always wonderfully overdone as a ceremony, and then there's the "Which is the Group of Death?" discussion.

I suppose I'll support the United States of America in the World Cup, as they're our closest neighbour.

[Pagal4321]

Anyone have a video of the whole France goal fiasco?!

[atb]

Originally Posted by Pagal4321

Anyone have a video of the whole France goal fiasco?!

There are some YouTube vids, just search France Ireland. Saw it in HD on TSN Sportscenter and it's a brutal missed call. Apparently the ball into Henry was offside as well. Awful way for the Irish to lose.

[Cactus Jack]

Originally Posted by The Goon

I'm looking forward to the draw on 4 December. It's always wonderfully overdone as a ceremony, and then there's the "Which is the Group of Death?" discussion. I suppose I'll support the United States of America in the World Cup, as they're our closest neighbour.

The US is our only neighbour, but that's still no reason to support them. Football death to the USA!

The drawing is ridiculously overly elaborate and exotic but it's made more tolerable they have someone of Heidi Klum's talent hosting again. Regardless, when they get to the actual drawing, it is fun.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by atb

Apparently the ball into Henry was offside as well. Awful way for the Irish to lose.

There are 2 of them offside which IMO is more inexcusable than the missed handball considering it was from a free kick.

All the linesman has to do is line up with them and see where they are at the time of the ball being kicked. Something that is tricky in continuous play but that you'd expect to be picked up at that level on a dead ball.

I've a sneaking feeling that this incident might finally lead FIFA to introduce video review in certain situations.

But then again after the way Italy got jobbed in Korea ... maybe not.

Originally Posted by The Goon

From reading this thread, it seems like the only two countries worth watching in RSA 2010 are England and Portugal. No love for Spain? Netherlands? Brazil?

...New Zealand?

S. American or sub-saharan African countries for me have always been the most entertaining when it comes to the finals.

[The Goon]

Originally Posted by Bagor

S. American or sub-saharan African countries for me have always been the most entertaining when it comes to the finals.

I really enjoyed Australia's soccer style at the last World Cup, so I am hoping that the Kiwis play in a similar manner.

[Pagal4321]

I don't think there is any team in particular I'll be cheering for. Will probably just cheer for individual players, like I always do.

Can't seem to find a national team that I genuinely want to cheer for.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by The Goon

...New Zealand?

I'll be cheering for the All Whites right from today until the second they are eliminated. Huge underdogs, but I like cheering for the underdog.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by Pagal4321

I don't think there is any team in particular I'll be cheering for. Will probably just cheer for individual players, like I always do.

Can't seem to find a national team that I genuinely want to cheer for.

Same but I'll probably have a preference for Portugal, France, Cameroon, Ivory coast, Ghana and the Kiwis.

I'm going to have a bet on Cameroon.

[Bagor]

Uruguay claim the final place.

The match was stopped for around five minutes when members of the media got involved in a scuffle with the Costa Rica substitutes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...ls/8367646.stm