World Cup South Africa, 2010 Thread

[Poison]

Originally Posted by NBC

Nice. My paternal grandfather was from Slovenija.

Always nice to find a fellow Slovenske even if the bloodline is very watered down at this point for ya!

Ive been decking myself with all the gear from the motherland which isnt easy, especially when youre not a big name team, cant just pop by sportchek for it.

[NBC]

Even more so as my paternal grandmother was from Croatia! I gotta say that neither side of my family there cares much for the other.

[Poison]

LOL that doesnt surprise me to hear at all...

Both my parents are from Slovenia and aunts uncles etc so its full blown over here for me.

[NBC]

My grandfather had 12 siblings and my grandmother had 11. Most had children and only a few emigrated. There is a village south of Ljubljana that just may be exclusively populated by my relatives!

[ipuckedyourmom]

Very interesting/funny article of all the unusual requests by countries for the hotels they will be staying at...

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-c...cc=null&ver=us

[Poison]

Well back then its was all Yugoslavia anyway, now Croatia is trying to take over our ports!!!

[wpgflamesfan]

Another Slovenian here. My moms side is all from Slovenia (Breginj & Murska Sobota). Been looking for some Slovenian gear up here in Edmonton with little success.

[chris_yk]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Bent had his chance to impress and failed to do so. Johnson could've perhaps gone ahead of SWP, but he was really competing with Joe Cole, who is the better option.

Ah yes his chance of 45 whole minutes against Japan with no service from the midfield, never mind an entire season of being the most consistent English forward beside Rooney. Face it if England needed a goal with 10 or 15 minutes left in the match DB would be the best striker to bring on.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by chris_yk

Ah yes his chance of 45 whole minutes against Japan with no service from the midfield, never mind an entire season of being the most consistent English forward beside Rooney. Face it if England needed a goal with 10 or 15 minutes left in the match DB would be the best striker to bring on.

Disagree on that, watched every game Darren Bent played for 2 years, and quite a few this year

He isn't in the same class as Defoe, I would take Carlton Cole and Agbonlahor over him as well

if you look more in depth at things other than goals,

http://footballstats.telegraph.co.uk...e=career#stats

http://footballstats.telegraph.co.uk...e=career#stats

Defoe created 4 more attacks/chances, in 800 fewer minutes on the field

Defoe had an accurate passing percentage of 78%
Bent's was 66%

Defoe had 47 shots on target, which was a shot on target every 54 minutes
Bent had 55 shots on target, or 1 per every 61 minutes.

Bent had 1 assist on a goal, Defoe had 4 in 800 few minutes

Defoe is a much more complete player and plays a better style that can not only compliment Rooney, but would also be better if heaven forbid Rooney was injured. Defoe makes better runs and can stretch the defense better than Bent.

Defoe's goal numbers would also have been much higher if he wasn't injured for the last 8-10 games of the season, where he became more of a set up man with Pavlyuchenko up front as the target man

[d_phaneuf]

that being said he should be going over Heskey, who barely played all season for Villa

"Emile Heskey, striker, 58 caps 7 goals. Rene Higuita, keeper, 68 caps 8 goals. Jose Luis Chilavert, keeper, 74 caps 8 goals..."

[chris_yk]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

Disagree on that, watched every game Darren Bent played for 2 years, and quite a few this year

He isn't in the same class as Defoe, I would take Carlton Cole and Agbonlahor over him as well

if you look more in depth at things other than goals,

http://footballstats.telegraph.co.uk...e=career#stats

http://footballstats.telegraph.co.uk...e=career#stats

Defoe created 4 more attacks/chances, in 800 fewer minutes on the field

Defoe had an accurate passing percentage of 78%
Bent's was 66%

Defoe had 47 shots on target, which was a shot on target every 54 minutes
Bent had 55 shots on target, or 1 per every 61 minutes.

Bent had 1 assist on a goal, Defoe had 4 in 800 few minutes

Defoe is a much more complete player and plays a better style that can not only compliment Rooney, but would also be better if heaven forbid Rooney was injured. Defoe makes better runs and can stretch the defense better than Bent.

Defoe's goal numbers would also have been much higher if he wasn't injured for the last 8-10 games of the season, where he became more of a set up man with Pavlyuchenko up front as the target man

Obviously I don't disagree with your stats but the facts are, for one, Defoe scored 5 goals against friggin Wigan Athletic, and only 3 goals against the top 5 teams in the EPL, whereas Bent scored 7 against the top 4 and only once went 3 League games in a row without scoring. Add to this the quality of players surrounding each player and Bent looks even better. In the end goals are what you need and Bent brings them and I'm confident he could've made a difference off the bench in South Africa. Either way it's not going to happen now, I just hope he doesn't think he has to leave Sunderland to get the international opportunities he deserves!

[united]

Originally Posted by Cactus Jack

Unrelated by does anyone know of any good places to get jerseys? I'm looking for a Chilean national team jersey and saw on the main WORLD CUP 2010 ESPN SOCCERNET page they have them for a total of $100. Does anyone know of good places in Calgary to buy them for less? I know you can find Brazil/Italy/Spain/England/Argentina jerseys at Sportscheck or Jersey City but not the more obscure teams. Thanks

http://www.onionbag.com was recommended to me by another poster and I have used them. Shipping is a lot, but you will want the shirt/kit quickly anyways. Worth a look.


Great choice of shirt, You Need a Thneed! Looks great, I agree.

[rubecube]

All in all, I think the Defoe/Bent/Heskey debate could be a moot point anyways. I think, based on recent form, that Peter Crouch should be up front with Rooney.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by chris_yk

Obviously I don't disagree with your stats but the facts are, for one, Defoe scored 5 goals against friggin Wigan Athletic, and only 3 goals against the top 5 teams in the EPL, whereas Bent scored 7 against the top 4 and only once went 3 League games in a row without scoring. Add to this the quality of players surrounding each player and Bent looks even better. In the end goals are what you need and Bent brings them and I'm confident he could've made a difference off the bench in South Africa. Either way it's not going to happen now, I just hope he doesn't think he has to leave Sunderland to get the international opportunities he deserves!

I don't think he leaves Sunderland, he seems to really like it there

The quality surrounding the players is important, but Bent had many of the same Spurs players last year (Modric, Huddlestone, Lennon etc.) and he could only score 12 goals in 33 games

I think, sadly for him, he is just at that level of being a very good league player and a step below international player

There is also the familiarity of players within the team who always seem to make it, there is no logical reason why SWP made it over Adam Johnson when Johnson has outplayed him the last 6 months and has taken his minutes away at Man City

And Bent, who only has 6 caps, hasn't quite broken through to that group like SWP who get picked because of familiarity

if you look at the whole team, Capello took most of the veteran guys who have played for England before. He doesn't seem to take a lot of risks

[united]

As for England...

I would have preferred Bent to Hesky but I understand the reasoning based on Rooney's incredible play with Hesky on the pitch. Tough to not have the 24 goal man even on the roster, though.

I am a Michael Dawson fan and would have liked to have seen him there over Upson but the selection isn't of great magnitude, he will be on many squads future tournaments.

Far in the past now, but I am somewhat surprised and disappointed Ashley Young didn't get more of a look. Felt he deserved it and would have been a good option off the bench.

It's already been said many times, and everyone knows, England will heavily rely on Rooney to be in his superb form on the pitch. So many times he's ended up leaving the pitch early due to undisciplined play, or ended up in the medical hut. This is his moment to shine and I have all the confidnce he will.

I am excited to see what Capello can do with Gerrard/Lampard. If those two can play at their club form and not normal international form the sky is the limit.

Edit: I am also about to begin attempting to prepare myself mentally for the inevitable English goal keeping blunder. Makes me shudder just thinking about it.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Finally, Portugal has shown up to play. Very entertaining game so far with Cameroon. Portugal has been th better team and I've been pleasantly surprised by their ability to keep up with their speed. I was really worried about that going into today's game.

Great build up lead to a goal by Raul Mereles, but it was all in the build up. Samuel Eto was sent off for a high foot on Duda(who rolled about 6 times, embarassing). It was a dangerous play, but I'm afraid to say the embelishment got him the red. Maybe, maybe not.

1-0 at half, Ronaldo has been strong and has had 3 shots on goal so far.

Complete opposite feeling to last week's debacle vs Cape Verde.

[Jagger]

You have to wonder, crazy as this may seem, whether Bent would have been selected if he played for the likes of Man U or Chelsea. I think he would have been. Bent is the only real surprise to me and should probably have been the plane. He is in form and is the type of player I would like to have coming on when a goal is required.

After saying that, I like Defoe, so if it was a direct choice between the two I'd take the Spurs striker. Heskey is a different player than the rest of the strikers. Sure he had trouble hitting a barn door while playing for Liverpool but he did bring intangibles to the table. He is a little underrated actually. Rooney plays very well with him and that, for me, is the single biggest reason that he's going.

That's a pretty strong squad if everyone plays up to snuff and injuries are kept to a minimum. Barry is an important player in that mix. They need him to get healthy quickly.

I have huge anticipation for the finals to begin. Funnily enough I have *almost* as much anticipation for the World Cup as I do for my latest baby to be born! It's due to be born mid July so you never know perhaps the little blighter will choose July 11th as its birthdate. Now if England by some miracle happens to be playing then and somehow win, that would be quite the birthday present.

(As an aside I was born a month before England won the World Cup. God I'm flippin' old! Anyway, here's to history repeating itself. Hope springs eternal!)

[NBC]

Originally Posted by rubecube

All in all, I think the Defoe/Bent/Heskey debate could be a moot point anyways. I think, based on recent form, that Peter Crouch should be up front with Rooney.

This obviously isn't about current form, because if it was Carrick stays, Huddlestone goes, etc. Arguably, there weren't many central defenders that were in better form at the end of the season than Sol Campbell, and he wasn't in the reckoning at all. Current form for club is much different than being in form during a tournament like this.

I'm not convinced that Crouch is anything more than a late sub for England. He's definitely not in my starting 11. England have played with one dominant striker and one target man for as long as I can remember. It is probably why Shearer and Owen, the 2 best England strikers at the time, weren't always starting. A guy like Teddy Sheringham provided Shearer with the latitude he needed to poach goals, which he did in abundance. Heskey provides Rooney with the same sort of intangibles.

I'd be in favour of anyone being picked, regardless of club, history or goal-scoring record, if it meant a successful tournament for that side. If Rooney shines with Heskey alongside, then who really cares? If he doesn't then you can guarantee the knives will be out.

Guys like Crouch, Defoe and Bent would be great off the bench as they provide a different style of play from the others. Unfortunately some guys have to miss out.

Capello knows what he's doing better than anyone else around. He'll find something that works. It might not be popular (Heskey) but if they are winning, then who is going to complain?

[GirlySports]

all the squads are in!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_squads

EDIT: Everyone except Italia! Italia is slow because they've requested time to re-access Mauro Camoranesi who twisted his kneww this morning.

[Poison]

Originally Posted by wpgflamesfan

Another Slovenian here. My moms side is all from Slovenia (Breginj & Murska Sobota). Been looking for some Slovenian gear up here in Edmonton with little success.

Wish i could help ya with local stuff but afterall you are in Edmonton....
As for online you can get a jersey here : http://www.foxsoccershop.com/shop-by...ccer-team.html

I had to do a bit of scouring down here in Calgary but got the jersey, scarf and car flag set to go!!!!