World Cup 2014 Super Thread copyright warning #1645

Oat23

Lucas Hood wrote: »

Landon Donovan has been left out of the US squad. Shocked at that.

It's hilarious that he has left out Donovan but is bringing a German regionalliga player. Klinsmann was desperate to get Green to commit to the US.

Beefy78

Lampard was always going to be no.8. That has been his England shirt for a decade. It doesn't mean he'll be starting.

FatherTed

Oat23 wrote: »

It's hilarious that he has left out Donovan but is bringing a German regionalliga player. Klinsmann was desperate to get Green to commit to the US.

It's a shocker alright. I'd say something if Klinsmann was building for 2018 but bringing in Davis who is older than Landon and Wondolowski who is 31 doesn't point to that(useless fact: Wondolowski is the first player of native American descent to be part of a WC). Yes, Donovan is older and does look a bit out of shape but as I heard on the radio this morning: Ronaldo, Rooney, Ibrahimovic, Messi have scored a grand 3 goals in 31 games at the WC, Donovan has scored 5 in 12. It's a stupid decision by Klinsmann.

I think there is some feud going on between Klinsmann and Donovan since he took 3 months off after the MLS season in 2012 and refused some callups. Also, there was this tweet by Klinsmann's son last night, his account was since deleted:

MD1990

Donavan had to be left out.This is from 3 weeks ago.

Dont be at yourself

Jaysus if Donovan had been called up in that shape, there'd have been hope for us all!

Nuri Sahin

Ever since Klinsmann pushed for the Donovan loan deal to Bayern, things have between them have been icy between them ever since leading to now for the UMSNT. When he was with Bayern Munich some of their coaches said he wasn't good enough for their reserves, and this was before they became the best team in the world - so much for his greatness. I remember reading that some of their coaches said he wasn't good enough for their reserves.

Seaneh

MD1990 wrote: »

Donavan had to be left out.This is from 3 weeks ago.

That's a serious gut...

Gringo180

Italy not getting much of a mention. Last time they werent fancied they went onto win it. 25/1 its worth an each way bet.

ebbsy

Gringo180 wrote: »

Italy not getting much of a mention. Last time they werent fancied they went onto win it. 25/1 its worth an each way bet.

Everybody always writes off Italy and then its "oh look, Italy in the final".

Corholio

ebbsy wrote: »

Everybody always writes off Italy and then its "oh look, Italy in the final".

That's a pretty good way of putting it

klose

Gringo180 wrote: »

Italy not getting much of a mention. Last time they werent fancied they went onto win it. 25/1 its worth an each way bet.

Will be interesting to see how they do alright and what way their attack lines up, rossi,cerci,cassano and balotelli all had very good seasons aswell as some others.

weldoninhio

shrewdness wrote: »

That's one of the more ridiculous reasons I've heard for a player not being selected for a national squad.

Didn't Domenech leave Pires(I think) out a few years ago because he was a Scorpio??

Also didn't Maradona pick a 35yo who had no caps for the last World Cup squad because he had a dream that Argentina won and he remembered seeing the defender in his strip celebrating.

Moneymaker

Wouldn't write off Italy either. Lot of good young players, a good coach and a lot of heart that you normally get from an Italian side.

Last four isn't beyond them imo.

Holy jaysus at that Donavan pic.

I am pie

shrewdness wrote: »

That's one of the more ridiculous reasons I've heard for a player not being selected for a national squad.

Also completely untrue. He refused to be a sub & attacked the manager in the press. Basically he's not too sharp and badly advised. If he would bide his time he could easily have played his way in..but no, played up to his loony tunes reputation, mouthed off and basically is the black sheep of Arg football.

sawfish

Decent program about Rio on BBC2 now. Three part series (part one)

Shane St.

Not long to go now. Can't wait!!

Corholio

Didn't think it was worth starting a new thread over, but can people post if they spot World Cup Wallcharts in the newspapers?

Kirby

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

When he was with Bayern Munich some of their coaches said he wasn't good enough for their reserves, and this was before they became the best team in the world - so much for his greatness. I remember reading that some of their coaches said he wasn't good enough for their reserves.

You probably read it earlier in your own post.

aodea

Corholio wrote: »

Didn't think it was worth starting a new thread over, but can people post if they spot World Cup Wallcharts in the newspapers?

Saw one advertised for the sun on saturday

mike65

Potential food poisoning, flood risk its all happening!

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27584410

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2014/05/28/48112/flood-alert-in-host-city-for-englands-first-world-cup-game.html

grumpymunster

Prof Hawking on how to win the world cup

http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Professor-Stephen-Hawking-taken-swipe-8220/story-21152602-detail/story.html?

Love his comment on Suarez

DubDani

Van der Vaart has been ruled out for the Netherlands due to injury.

Dozen Wicked Words

mike65 wrote: »

Potential food poisoning, flood risk its all happening!

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27584410

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2014/05/28/48112/flood-alert-in-host-city-for-englands-first-world-cup-game.html

Not the Royal Tulip surely!

mike65

Van Der Vaart out with thigh injury, Nico Kranjriarre (sp) also out

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Hard to give a flying f%#k about the last 2 days of work before I jet off. Spending the day giving pointless exercises to students and letting them play games while I read football articles on the classroom computer.

keith16

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

Hard to give a flying f%#k about the last 2 days of work before I jet off. Spending the day giving pointless exercises to students and letting them play games while I read football articles on the classroom computer.

Is that you, Roy Keane?

kfallon

grumpymunster wrote: »

Prof Hawking on how to win the world cup

http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Professor-Stephen-Hawking-taken-swipe-8220/story-21152602-detail/story.html?

Love his comment on Suarez

Pfffffft......some expert, never kicked a ball in his life that fella...... :pac:

Nuri Sahin

Kirby wrote: »

You probably read it earlier in your own post.

New phone. Leave me be :pac:

patmac

The latest FIFA World rankings shows how different in terms of difficulty the groups are, Group G including world ranked 2&3 Germany and Portugal has a combined ranking of 57, closely followed by England's group on 60, compare that to Argentina's on 114 and Belgium's on 111. England's group is made tougher by the fact that Group G has no South American team and Belgium's Group easier for the same reason.

Ormus

patmac wrote: »

The latest FIFA World rankings shows how different in terms of difficulty the groups are, Group G including world ranked 2&3 Germany and Portugal has a combined ranking of 57, closely followed by England's group on 60, compare that to Argentina's on 114 and Belgium's on 111. England's group is made tougher by the fact that Group G has no South American team and Belgium's Group easier for the same reason.

Interesting, but the world rankings are very hit n miss.

weldoninhio

patmac wrote: »

The latest FIFA World rankings shows how different in terms of difficulty the groups are, Group G including world ranked 2&3 Germany and Portugal has a combined ranking of 57, closely followed by England's group on 60, compare that to Argentina's on 114 and Belgium's on 111. England's group is made tougher by the fact that Group G has no South American team and Belgium's Group easier for the same reason.

The rankings are a joke, no way Portugal are 3rd in the world.

SM01

Tariq Panja tweeted this link to some protest graffiti appearing to coincide with fifa rolling into Brazil:

http://www.repubblica.it/sport/2014/05/29/foto/il_brasile_che_odia_il_calcio_tutti_i_murales_anti-mondiale-87556220/1/?ref=HRESS-20#1

Rayne Wooney

Portugal are 3rd ranked wtf?


They barely qualified

mike65

Guardian are MbM-ing the 1966 World Cup Final from 11 am

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/may/30/world-cup-final-1966-england-west-germany-live

Fudge You

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Portugal are 3rd ranked wtf?


They barely qualified

But is that not what helped them get third, beating Sweden twice in competitive games and Sweden are fairly highly ranked too.
The rankings are very strange.

Had a quick look there. Ireland is 66
Armenia 33
Wales 47
Scotland is 22.

roanoke

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Portugal are 3rd ranked wtf?


They barely qualified

Well, I wouldn't go that far, but I was surprised to see them in 3rd place too.

Portugal were actually 3rd at the end of Euro2012 and dropped as far as 14th thanks to a less than perfect qualifying campaign. Wins against Russia and 2x against Sweden seem to have shot them right back up.

I guess it really demonstrates that if you can consistently qualify and register a handful of big wins along the way then occasionally dropping points to minnows doesn't really matter that much.

Andersonisgod

I don't know where else to post this as there isnt a dedicated pre world cup friendlies thread so I'll post it here.

Spain up against Bolivia. 0-0 at half time bit the score doesn't reflect Spain's dominance. They've looked sharp tonight and their aggressive pressing from the midfield and Azpilicueta and Moreno has been a welcome return. Torres has done alright but it's been Santi Cazorla who has shone brightest, he's been electric on the ball.

Paully D

Andersonisgod wrote: »

I don't know where else to post this as there isnt a dedicated pre world cup friendlies thread so I'll post it here.

Spain up against Bolivia. 0-0 at half time bit the score doesn't reflect Spain's dominance. They've looked sharp tonight and their aggressive pressing from the midfield and Azpilicueta and Moreno has been a welcome return. Torres has done alright but it's been Santi Cazorla who has shone brightest, he's been electric on the ball.

13/2 on them to win the World Cup is far too generous IMO.

Andersonisgod

Paully D wrote: »

13/2 on them to win the World Cup is far too generous IMO.

Needless to say I will be betting on them even though I'm not normally a betting man.

Hulk Hands

Paully D wrote: »

13/2 on them to win the World Cup is far too generous IMO.

Keep the powder dry until about 2 days beforehand. Prices will get very very competitive before it begins, as well as moneyback offers etc. Ill be on Spain too. Ill wait for 8s though or full money back if Brazil win

mike65

I take it Bolivia have 11 men behind the ball?

70% Ball Possession 30%
16 Goal Attempts 1
7 Shots on Goal 0
9 Shots off Goal 1

Andersonisgod

Ye Bolivia with two lines, a 5 and 4. Spain's performance has stepped up a gear in the second half, coinciding with the arrival of Iniesta and Silva and the false 9 being unleashed.

MD1990

Spain could do with more penetration on the wings. Jese if fit I think would have a great option for Spain as he is a better goalscorer than Navas.Callejon is a player who I think would have been a good player to have in the squad instead.

Andersonisgod

A knife through butter, he jinks, he feints, he strikes a deadly blow to Bolivia. Andres Iniesta is ready for the World Cup.

Meglamonia

Andersonisgod wrote: »

A knife through butter, he jinks, he feints, he strikes a deadly blow to Bolivia. Andres Iniesta is ready for the World Cup.

Jesus.

Ormus

Andersonisgod wrote: »

A knife through butter, he jinks, he feints, he strikes a deadly blow to Bolivia. Andres Iniesta is ready for the World Cup.

What a player

Oat23

Uruguay v Northern Ireland on BBC red button now if anyone is interested.

eagle eye

Watching the Northern Ireland game after watching the Spain game earlier.

Just on the Spain one, the squad is just realistic, to have leave out some of Costa, Negredo, Llorente, Torres, Villa and then the midfield is ridiculous with Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Iturraspe, Fabregas, Silva, Mata, Cazorla, Koke and Navas. Some of these won't be going either and then there were the likes of Ander Herrera, Thiago Alcentara, Isco and Illarramendi who didn't even make the provisional squad.

At the back like everywhere else Del Bosque has the right sort of headaches as in who to pick. You have to pick two full-backs from Azpilicueta, Jordi Alba, Moreno and Juanfran. You have to pick two centre-backs from Javi Martinez, Pique and Ramos. Then the goalkeepers with Casillas, Reina and De Gea. Its just a ridiculous squad before its even cut down.

I just can't see them not making the final once they top their group which is the key. The Netherlands will be a danger to them in the group stages but if they top their group I think they will go all the way.

MD1990

Ronaldo could miss the World Cup with a knee injury.
http://www.insidespanishfootball.com/110697/cristiano-ronaldo-could-miss-the-2014-world-cup-with-knee-injury/

greendom

MD1990 wrote: »

Ronaldo could miss the World Cup with a knee injury.
http://www.insidespanishfootball.com/110697/cristiano-ronaldo-could-miss-the-2014-world-cup-with-knee-injury/

Ribery is struggling too