World Cup 2010

[otyikondo]

I hear Laurent Blanc is looking at Nicolas Mahut for his squad - basically ONLY Mahut. Probably all he needs.

Anyone who saw that "They Shoot Horses, Don't They" spectacle at Wimbledon today (the last couple of dozen games were on Canal+) will realise that there are some players who just won't quit. It was not awfully pretty, and it wasn't exactly great flowing ground-strokes tennis, but Mahut and John Isner (who was practically dead on his feet, poor sod - I really thought he might go collapso at any minute) laid down a marker for sporting feat of the year right there - and, sadly, whichever one eventually wins will almost certainly get slaughtered next time out.



Now back to the footy.

[Salopian]

Good to hear that big serves don't dominate matches so mu - oh, wait!

I truly despise Wimbledon and (almost) everything about it, but in this particular, isolated instance, I'll feel something for the loser of this epic battle of attrition. And then move right back on to football, whilst trying to ignore the fact that it's completely rotten on the inside.

[ajdias]

England-Germany will be fun

I hope England wins so they can play the Argies

South American teams are very strong: all five of them are still playing. I am betting Uruguay vs Brazil and Argentina Vs Spain in the semis.
Italy really surprised me, I didn't expected them to play better, but to go on.

Here's the game chart: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/index.html

[Oombongo]

Germany - England match = Battle of Britain in 2010

Anyway, here is some interesting clip from black and white game:

[MagicJ]

Germany - England match = Battle of Britain in 2010

The Quote

The Music

[pierrot]

Well, let's say that England has a very good chance to beat Germany today. The German team is young and has plenty of rather unexperienced players while England is full of Premiere League stars. If not now, when then?

[pseudo]

No offense to English here but

[simon]

Well, let's say that England has a very good chance to beat Germany today. The German team is young and has plenty of rather unexperienced players while England is full of Premiere League stars.

Sometimes I wonder about you Pierrot

[pierrot]

Well, let's say that England has a very good chance to beat Germany today. The German team is young and has plenty of rather unexperienced players while England is full of Premiere League stars.

Sometimes I wonder about you Pierrot

Well, just compare how many of the players in each team have played CL final rounds these last 5 years... I think the betting places were also in favor of England.
But then again no one was expecting that Rooney wouldnt play and that the defense would take a day off...

[MagicJ]

[otyikondo]

Well, let's say that England has a very good chance to beat Germany today. The German team is young and has plenty of rather unexperienced players while England is full of Premiere League stars.

Sometimes I wonder about you Pierrot

Well, just compare how many of the players in each team have played CL final rounds these last 5 years... I think the betting places were also in favor of England.
But then again no one was expecting that Rooney wouldnt play and that the defense would take a day off...

Most of the big betting offices mentioned were in the UK. They aren't stupid. A ton of hopeful flag-waving English money went on Ingerland, just as it used to do in Finland when Räikkönen was driving in F1. You couldn't get a decent price on Kimi for love or money, even if he had next to no chance of winning. Whether the punters knew what the hell they were doing in either example is quite another matter. As for comparing CL places, well, that's club football, innit, and we all know that England squads have had a nasty habit of underperforming relative to their illustrious exploits (alongside the cream of international football) at club level.
I'm just annoyed the goal was disallowed, as it provides a perfect "we wuz robbed" get-out-clause for a performance that was on the abject side of pathetic. 6-2 would have been fairer.

[pierrot]

Most of the big betting offices mentioned were in the UK. They aren't stupid. A ton of hopeful flag-waving English money went on Ingerland, just as it used to do in Finland when Räikkönen was driving in F1. You couldn't get a decent price on Kimi for love or money, even if he had next to no chance of winning. Whether the punters knew what the hell they were doing in either example is quite another matter. As for comparing CL places, well, that's club football, innit, and we all know that England squads have had a nasty habit of underperforming relative to their illustrious exploits (alongside the cream of international football) at club level.
I'm just annoyed the goal was disallowed, as it provides a perfect "we wuz robbed" get-out-clause for a performance that was on the abject side of pathetic. 6-2 would have been fairer.

Yes, indeed it is club football as you noticed, but you expect players who play there on regular base to be able to hold the pressure of international games more easily than a bunch of rookies.

[Rosamunda]

....pierrot's just upset cos I'm the only one on salutfinlande's "prono" who still stands a chance of getting the last 4

[otyikondo]

Blah blah blah... As for comparing CL places, well, that's club football,[/b] innit, and we all know that England squads have had a nasty habit of underperforming relative to their illustrious exploits (alongside the cream of international football) at club level. Blah blah.

Yes, indeed it is club football as you noticed, but you expect players who play there on regular base to be able to hold the pressure of international games more easily than a bunch of rookies.

At the considerable risk of opening a can of worm-infested Pedigree Premier Chum, the point is perhaps that the club game has now left international football in the dust: no self-respecting Barca, Man United, Chelsea, Bayern, Inter, Liverpool, Chelsea, Lyon, or [insert the usual suspects here] supporter really gives a tuppeny toss whether their star midfielder or free-scoring striker plays for his Namibian homeland in the World Cup, and they frequently complain like hell when he does turn out for a qualifying game for his country on the grounds that he might get his metatarsal bent out of shape and miss the upcoming game against City or Arsenal or AC Milan or Real or Marseilles. The St. George-waving hordes who go to big tournaments tend to carry tell-tale flags saying "Solihull FC" or "Lambeth Army" or "East Midlands Massive" (except they are Finnish... ), and not so often the names of big and successful clubs.

A good many would suggest heretically that Barcelona on a good day would bury most if not all of the teams on show in South Africa, not least because as well as containing something like 13 representatives of national sides playing at the tournament, they train together week in week out as a TEAM, and all have their well-tempered roles to play alongside other players who know their game inside-out and what they can and cannot do.

With a national team, they are often played out of position, alongside people with whom they do not and cannot gel, and for the most part their joint training sessions are squeezed grudgingly in between league responsibilities and turning out to please their sponsors. The situation is at its very worst in England, where no effort is made (c.f. Germany's winter break) to reduce the burden on tired players during a long and gruelling season, and where the money honey-trap has resulted in only 38% of the Premiership's playing roster actually being English.

[Salopian]

At the considerable risk of opening a can of worm-infested Pedigree Premier Chum, the point is perhaps that the club game has now left international football in the dust:

There are many problems with football in Britain, including a lack of top-level coaches (UEFA certified) compared with registered players, a conservative mindset as to how football is played and sho does what (big lads at the back, etc), as well as some pointed out by otyikondo above, but, taking the match in isolation, the problem yesteday was was the formation. A flat 4-4-2 meant Germany had an extra man in midfield, as well as space between the midfield and defence for Özil, the free attacking mid, to exploit. The lack of a deep-lying or defensive midfielder led Terry to step up to engage Özil (which he shouldn’t have done) and leave a gapping space behind him, as happened for the second goal.

Playing a second striker in Defoe was a complete waste of resources and his place should have gone to a third, deeper midfielder, that would have denied space, shield an exposed defence and help England dominate possession. The defence was gash as well, but that could also have eminated from the tactical mess. Still, Terry was at fault for the second and contrived with Upson to balls up big-time for the first. Glenn Johnson simply had to trip Podolski and accept the yellow card so that the third goal would have been prevented. However, he was clearly more concerned with missing a hypothetical next game than the plight of his national team. Yet, should England have bumbled through to the next round, with the consent of the linesman.

Löw was clever in playing a deep defensive line, stretching the distance between the English lines and/or forcing a very slow English central defence (bad squad selection also) to play suicidally high. Capello did neither anticipate nor react to these obvious, glaring tactical problems and means that he, in the main, is culpable, his genius consigned to the past, and that he should resign. £12m says he will not. The game has changed since Milan's mid-nineties halcyon days; Capello, in his 442/insistence on playing two strikers, has not. Exasperating.

Back to the wider picture, the ubiquitous talk of lack of both ‘pride and passion’ and ‘technical ability’ is erroneous. Yet, I wonder what comes after this...