Day 3

KdjaCL

Group C
Leipzig
Sunday, 11 June
Kick-off: 1400 BST
How to follow the game:
Live on BBC One, BBC Radio Five Live & the BBC Sport website
BBC big screens

Serbia and Montenegro are expected to play Goran Gavrancic at full-back because of Nemanja Vidic's suspension.

Midfielder Igor Duljaj will drop to full-back in a defensive reshuffle caused by Vidic's red card in the final qualifying game against Bosnia.

For the Dutch, Philip Cocu, Rafael van der Vaart, Gio van Bronckhorst and Wesley Sneijder should all be fit.

Ruud van Nistelrooy will lead the line with Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie out wide.

Serbia and Montenegro (probable): Jevric, Duljaj, Gavrancic, Krstajic, Dragutinovic, Nadj, Stankovic, Djordjevic, Koroman, Kezman, Milosevic.

Holland (probable): van der Sar, Heitinga, Ooijer, Mathijsen, van Bronckhorst, van Bommel, Sneijder, Cocu, van Persie, van Nistelrooy, Robben

Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)

Away with many many yellows , look who is ref.

Group D
Nuremberg
Sunday, 11 June
Kick-off: 1700 BST
How to follow the game:
Live on BBC One, BBC Radio Five Live & the BBC Sport website
BBC big screens

Mexico goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez is expected to start his side's World Cup opener against Iran on Sunday.

The player returned home after the sudden death of his father on Thursday but has since rejoined the team.

Iran welcome strikers Ali Karimi and Mehdi Mahdavikia back to the starting line-up after ankle and back injuries.

Midfielder Fereydoon Zandi is definitely out and Hadi Shakoury is on stand-by to replace left-back Sattar Zare, who has a knee injury.

Mexico (probable): Sanchez, Salcido, Pineda, Marquez, Osorio, Castro, Torrado, Naelson, Pardo, Borgetti, Franco.

Iran (probable): Mirzapour, Kaebi, Rezaei, Golmohammadi, Nosrati, Mahdavikia, Nekounam, Teymoorian, Hashemian, Karimi, Daei

Home with Daei to score a header.

Group D
Cologne
Sunday, 11 June
Kick-off: 2000 BST
How to follow the game:
Live on BBC Radio Five Live & the BBC Sport website
BBC big screens

Influential midfielder Deco is the only doubt for Portugal ahead of their group opener with Angola.

The Barcelona star injured his left foot after a clash with team-mate Costinha in training on Friday.

Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has indicated he will take a chance on Deco but will not name his team until just before kick-off on Sunday.

Angola have been weakened by the loss of defender Yamba Asha, suspended until August for a doping offence.

Angola (probable): Ricardo, Loco, Jamba, Kali, Delgado, Ze Kalanga, Andre, Figueiredo, Edson, Andre Titi Buengo, Akwa.

Portugal (probable): Ricardo, Miguel, Carvalho, Meira, Valente, Costinha, Maniche, Figo, Deco, Ronaldo, Pauleta.

Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)

Home


And the football continues Must do stuff now to ensure nagging levels are low come 2pm.

Down €15 so far Hopefully today will see me breakeven

kdjac

PHB

Holland to win convincingly
Mexico to win
Portugal to win

therecklessone

Same as PHB only without the convincingly bit.

Breaking even on the gambling front so far.

besty

Can't wait to see Holland and Portugal play.

God bless the World Cup!

MrJoeSoap

Same as PHB only move the 'convincingly' part onto Portugal.

fade2black

Just to let you all know....A treble on the highlighted 3 today will pay 77.54 to the 20.

evilhomer

Holland to win by one
Mexico to win
Portugal to win (but with lots of bookings and a good deal of passion from both sides, given the political history between the two)

Lemlin

I've a fiver on Serbia & Montenegro to win at 7-2. Looks like I'm the only one who thinks they will.

eirebhoy

Serbia look stronger on paper than I though they were. Strachan tipped Zigic (6ft 8) to star in the tournament and he's not even in Kdjac's probable team.

Free fiver bet btw:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054944576

Lemlin

eirebhoy wrote:

Serbia look stronger on paper than I though they were. Strachan tipped Zigic (6ft 8) to star in the tournament and he's not even in Kdjac's probable team.

Free fiver bet btw:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054944576

Yeah, Zigic is the only player taller than Crouch at the finals AFAIK. Arsenal are meant to be after him and some PL club, can't remember which, apparently had a 7 million bid turned down in January.

MrJoeSoap

But the pressing question is... does Zigic have a good touch for a big man?

eirebhoy

Lemlin wrote:

Yeah, Zigic is the only player taller than Crouch at the finals AFAIK. Arsenal are meant to be after him and some PL club, can't remember which, apparently had a 7 million bid turned down in January.

Strachan said in he enquired about him moving to Celtic but was too expensive.

Strachan's five to follow

1 Yaya Touré Midfielder - Ivory Coast Kolo's brother is an elegant midfielder who can look after the ball, get forward and have shots at goal. He played last season for Olympiakos.

2 Shunsuke Nakamura Midfielder - Japan Has had an incredible season at Celtic and has the best ability of anyone I have worked or played with. Good vision and free-kicks and can go one way and change direction.

3 Ruslan Rotan Midfielder - Ukraine A very clever and creative footballer who plays off the team's main striker Andriy Shevchenko and takes up good positions to collect possession. Can also threaten with free-kicks.

4 Lionel Messi Forward - Argentina A superb talent and I hope he is in shape to show that after an injury. I watched him one night in Barcelona and Ronaldinho was great but this kid was phenomenal.

5 Nikola Zigic Forward - Serbia & Montenegro A giant forward who can play a bit, like the Czech Republic's Jan Koller, and has an excellent goalscoring record. We had a look at him for Celtic but he was too dear.

mike65

Did anyone see Pauletas plea to Angola not to kick the crap out of thier ex colonial masters?

Mike.

Superdub2

besty wrote:

Can't wait to see Holland and Portugal play.

God bless the World Cup!

i second that, its the greatest show on earth!

Lemlin

besty wrote:

Can't wait to see Holland and Portugal play.

That's only if Holland get out of their group. I fancy Serbia & Montenegro and the Ivory Coast to cause a shock or two.

besty

Lemlin wrote:

That's only if Holland get out of their group. I fancy Serbia & Montenegro and the Ivory Coast to cause a shock or two.

Sorry, I phrased that badly. I am looking forward to them both playing their respective matches. Still, now that you say it, a match between the 2 sides could be something special.

mike65

quick prediction

Holland 2 - 1 S&M

Mike.

MrJoeSoap

Lineker: Wrighty, are you a fan of S&M?
Wright: Well... [realises the question]... S&M?????

MrJoeSoap

Any chance we can have a different thread for each game in future? I'll get to see this game (Holland -v- Serbia) but will miss the other two and want to watch them later tonight...

Yesterdays format was perfect.

MrJoeSoap

1-0 Holland, Robben!

Lemlin

Great goal.

el rabitos

c'mon serbia....stoopid dutch

MrJoeSoap

Van Persie really is playing well.

Pigman II

Without wanting to sound racialist I just noticed there seems to be no black players on the Holland team today (and only three i the entire squad I think?).

Is that just coincidence or is this Van Bastens way of solving all the divisions (rumoured to be primarily racially based) that have traditionally been in the Dutch Squad?

Guy:Incognito

OT but are any of the durrent crop of S&M players around since the last break up? With the imenant break up now they will have caps from 3 different countries.

I assume we have people with caps for Ireland and then either the rep or the north?

MrJoeSoap

Most of the ageing Dutch players have been left out - Seedorf, Davids, Stam etc... its probably just coincidence that two are black.

Are there any black Dutch players who would make the first XI or squad who aren't already in it?

- Great try by Robben there.

MrJoeSoap

Stekelly wrote:

OT but are any of the durrent crop of S&M players around since the last break up? With the imenant break up now they will have caps from 3 different countries.

I assume we have people with caps for Ireland and then either the rep or the north?

I'm sure there are a few, Stankovic and Kezman to name but two.

Apparently the goalkeeper is the only Montenegran (sic?) player in the squad, and even he considers himself a Serb. Will be interesting to see how the Montenegro side will do!

Guy:Incognito

MrJoeSoap wrote:

- Great try by Robben there.

Did they score the conversion?:D

My coats allready on.

MrJoeSoap

Stekelly wrote:

Did they score the conversion?:D

My coats allready on.

Don't let the door hit your arse.

eirebhoy

If only every player would show the determination and will to win as Robben (and Holland as a whole) has so far today.

Guy:Incognito

Whats with al the dodgy backpasses from the dutch. That one just there that resulted in a corner, a coupkle earlier where VDS had to take it on the chest and volley it, and a header that could have dropped short.

Guy:Incognito

Great to see Koroman getting booked for telling the ref to book the dutch player. Nothing I hate to see more. Now if only every ref will follow suit.

Pigman II

Stekelly wrote:

Whats with al the dodgy backpasses from the dutch.

I guess they're just not as used to making backpasses as we are.

mike65

Not entirly convincing from the Dutch I thought. Some nice fluid moves down the wings but S&M usualy did enough in the centre. On other other hand if S&M got thier act together upfront they might cause the upset I predicted in the Group Qualification thread.

fade2black

Listen, it's rare that you see a team in their first matches that will really impress you. Teams are always cagey early on in the tournament and they won't come into their own until a bit later. This whole thing about the argentines weren't impressive and Germany were poor and the dutch the same etc is a waste of time.

Although England didn't impress me at all.

zAbbo

RTE making a huge point of the impending split up of S&M.

Considering that 22 of the 23 man squad is Serbian, I don't think its the reason of the 'disjointed' display.

But Dunphy has great insight into the 'tension' in that area, heh, you'd swear it was a 50/50 split in the team with Serbians and Montenegroans(sp)

Guy:Incognito

zabbo wrote:

But Dunphy has great insight into the 'tension' in that area, heh, you'd swear it was a 50/50 split in the team with Serbians and Montenegroans(sp)

Dunphy is doing my head in lately. Last season all the way through Liverpool CL run, they were ****e and a bunch of journeymen. Now, since the win everytime he is looking for world class players to use for an example Alonso or Gerrard are used.

adox

fade2black wrote:

Listen, it's rare that you see a team in their first matches that will really impress you. Teams are always cagey early on in the tournament and they won't come into their own until a bit later. This whole thing about the argentines weren't impressive and Germany were poor and the dutch the same etc is a waste of time.

Although England didn't impress me at all.

You may have a point about Argentina and Holland but with the Germans it looked alot more serious than just a mediocre performance.
They look to have massive problems in defense,as they have done in the build up to the world cup,something that I cant see being fixed in the middle of a tournment(thats of course if Klinsman thinks theres something there to be fixed).

I cant see them competing against the bigger teams on this bases but I hope I`m wrong.The tournament needs the home team to have a decent run so lets hope they can have a decent run.

PHB

Just an aside.

Dunphy is doing my head in lately. Last season all the way through Liverpool CL run, they were ****e and a bunch of journeymen. Now, since the win everytime he is looking for world class players to use for an example Alonso or Gerrard are used.

A bunch of journeymen are journeymen with players of major talent. Dunphy thought the rest of the squad was ****e and Gerrard and Alonso were the players that carried them.

mr_angry

"The History of Football" on UKTV History makes for pretty good filler between the games by the way. I didn't know India had such a big footballing tradition. If it wasn't for cricket, they'd probably be better than they are.

Thank God they've got Robot Wars man commentating for the BBC on Mexico vs. Iran. Pity they've paired him up with the fairly rubbish Mark Bright. Better than Graeme Le Saux though.

Guy:Incognito

Was it me or did lineker introduce Leonardo as part of brazil's 1974 world cup winning team?


Why did the iranian guy try his Henry flick through the legs to score instead of meeting it with his instep when 3 yard sout? bloody showboating.

eirebhoy

I'd take the 5/4 on Iran beating Angola now incase the odds drop this evening.

mr_angry

The Iranians are a lot better than I expected. I'm not sure who's gonna win this one. Its a good open game too. Some truely shocking haircuts from the Mexicans though!

fade2black

Go on my Mexican son!
1-0

Pigman II

Keep that 5/4. Iran are rubbish. I'd say they'll come last in this group.

fade2black

I'd definitely take that 5/4. I'm expecting Angola to be truely awful. You can get some 2/5 about portugal beating them tonight, maybe even get involved in some handicap betting because I reckon if tonight's game was the last of the group games Portugal would be 1-6, Angola could be that bad....

C.Ronaldo to score first too...

Pigman II

I suppose I should wait to see Angola alright. But this iran team aren't up to much imho. (even if they have just scored for 1-1 )

mr_angry

Pigman II wrote:

Keep that 5/4. Iran are rubbish. I'd say they'll come last in this group.

Game back on! 1-1.

fade2black

Ah crap.

WarZoneBrother

no my prediction was Iran 0-1 Mexico damn it anyway hope mexico win tho...what will be the score in the portugal game tho will it be 2-0 or 3-0

fade2black

WarZoneBrother wrote:

no my prediction was Iran 0-1 Mexico damn it anyway hope mexico win tho...what will be the score in the portugal game tho will it be 2-0 or 3-0

Eh....my Crysal Ball says....

3-0.