FIFA World Cup 2014

[ILovecycling]

A few high profile no shows. Riberry not playing for France. Falcao very doubtful for Colombia as is Suarez for Uruguay after knee surgery and there are others of course. Ranaldo not training at the moment but sounds like he will be okay. Poor Aussies have to face Spain, Netherlands and Chile. The obvious group of death.

imo the group of death is Uruguay,Italia and England (+ probably Costa Rica iirc),but both are really competitive groups

Tevez for Argentina.

and Nasri for France

 

[Pricey_sky]

Reus out of the world cup now too. Big loss for Germany I feel as I think he's class.

 

[kingjr]

Reus out of the world cup now too. Big loss for Germany I feel as I think he's class.

Could have been worse. We need defenders more than we need attackers. Reus can be compensated I think.

 

[movingtarget]

imo the group of death is Uruguay,Italia and England (+ probably Costa Rica iirc),but both are really competitive groups


and Nasri for France

Yes either group extremely tough.

 

[kingjr]

imo the group of death is Uruguay,Italia and England (+ probably Costa Rica iirc),but both are really competitive groups


and Nasri for France

england...ahahaha

 

[Hawkwood]

england...ahahaha

When I was a young kid my parents dragged me out of bed so that I could see some ghostly black and white images of some blokes kicking a football about, apparently it was the World Cup final in 1966. What they didn't tell me that it would be the first and last time in my lifetime that England won!

 

[gooner]

imo the group of death is Uruguay,Italia and England (+ probably Costa Rica iirc),but both are really competitive groups


and Nasri for France

There's a new book out in France and it apparently says that Koscielny and Lloris were two players who weren't happy with Nasri in the squad and told Deschamps he was a disruptive influence. Michael Landreau the sub keeper is also meant to have pushed for his exclusion.

I watched a bit of their game last night against Jamaica and turned it off when it went 3-0 but it seems a happier camp. You see the goalscorers going to the bench celebrating with the staff and subs.

Many were saying the team last night was probably his closest if not Deschamps's best 11 that he will start the World Cup with. This isn't me talking with my Arsenal shirt on but how is Koscielny behind Sakho in the pecking order. Look at Liverpool's defensive record with him in the line up and Koscielny was on a different level to him this past season. He's a classier defender. The same to a lesser degree with Debuchy starting over Sagna. I can't understand it.

France will still get through their group but I know who I would have in my team when they come up against the bigger guns later in the tournament.

 

[Tournesol]

I tip Argentina or Spain ftw.

At this altitude no team wants to be chasing the ball around,this could be a tournament where tiki-taka wins.

 

[oliveira]

The host cities are preety much at sea level, many of them actually by the sea, so altitude won't be a factor here.

To win the WC I think the favourite is still Brazil. Only thing Scolari is good at, very good indeed, is to motivate a buch of footballers in a 3-4 week period. His teams always perform much better in finals than classification / friendly games, so we should expect this brazilian team to perform better than ever now. Also I predict the South American teams to do well. Argentina is a very strong contender, and I wouldn't be surprised if Chile and Uruguay both get through their groups. My team, Portugal, is in a very tough group, (the toughest imo) as the whole 4 teams are strong. Cristiano's knee forced him to stop which is bad for the group phase but good if we get trough. Preety much everything is possible for us, KO at group and win the thing if Cristiano has time and condition to be near 100%.

Anyway I still remember as a child those times before Figo & Rui Costa generation when we had to find another team to cheer to in WC (almost everybody and in a very fanatic fashion for Brazil) so I can see the 3 group games as fun enough!

 

[footballWC2014]

Hi ,

Thanks for the post about World Cup. Just a tip about those who don't live in countries that stream world cup online. You can use UnoTelly to remove the geoblock and stream World Cup 2014 in your country free worldcup.unotelly.com

 

[movingtarget]

Vidal out for Chile.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

I tip Argentina or Spain ftw.

At this altitude no team wants to be chasing the ball around,this could be a tournament where tiki-taka wins.

Contrary to common believe tiki-taka actually means a lot of running. And more even a lot of sprinting. Getting into perfect position is essential as well as counter pressing is. Which is pressing the guy the ball was lost to in an instant, very often extremly high up the pitch, as there's where you loose the ball mostly. Which means not even the attakers get a rest of defensive work. I don't tiki-taka will be the way to go. If any form of possession football it'l be slow dominance. I think quik changes in pace will be more essential then a mass of posession in this world cup (not meaning to give up the ball entirely). It's not a coincidence Del Bosque said that Spain are not limited to tiki-taka at all (most famously demonstrated in the Euro 2012 Final against Italy where they aplied a pretty direct approch).

I think it's quite hard to predict this one. A lot of teams are good, most of them can addept strategy. This also is a reason why Germany can go all the way I believe, if the team manages to incorparate both approches in a good fashion. There are players who suit both styles perfectly. Also it's football anyway so everything could happen. But that what's makes it so great isn't it?

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Vidal out for Chile.

Oh no! What's the source on that? I haven't find one, I very much hope it's a false alarm!

 

[l.Harm]

The host cities are preety much at sea level, many of them actually by the sea, so altitude won't be a factor here.

To win the WC I think the favourite is still Brazil. Only thing Scolari is good at, very good indeed, is to motivate a buch of footballers in a 3-4 week period. His teams always perform much better in finals than classification / friendly games, so we should expect this brazilian team to perform better than ever now. Also I predict the South American teams to do well. Argentina is a very strong contender, and I wouldn't be surprised if Chile and Uruguay both get through their groups. My team, Portugal, is in a very tough group, (the toughest imo) as the whole 4 teams are strong. Cristiano's knee forced him to stop which is bad for the group phase but good if we get trough. Preety much everything is possible for us, KO at group and win the thing if Cristiano has time and condition to be near 100%.

Anyway I still remember as a child those times before Figo & Rui Costa generation when we had to find another team to cheer to in WC (almost everybody and in a very fanatic fashion for Brazil) so I can see the 3 group games as fun enough!

No way. USA should be easy to beat and Ghana isn't that good. Only Germany is tough. At least two groups are way tougher (B and D), because there are at least three good teams.

 

[Amsterhammer]

Absolutely not to be missed! John Oliver destroys FIFA!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlJEt2KU33I

 

[Semper Fidelis]

wire £5mil to my account I will ensure your team of choice wins the world cup.......................honest!

meanwhile in the real world I just hope england score

Mark L

Understand about your England hopes. You should hope that someone with a large bank account drops some serious coin on England to advance.

Not sure if you believe it or not but FIFA is unbelievably corrupt. Shocking some of the **** that they say when interviewed. Just for this world cup they strong armed Brasil and told them that their law "no beer sales at games" was not going to work. Only because Budweiser is a major sponsor!

You ask them why they have a billion dollars in the bank when they are non profit....the response is ....rainy day fund. WTF ....lmao

Having the world cup in Qatar could turn out disastrous for them but I guess we have to wait for that drama to start after we watch them rake the pockets of Brasil and expose their economic failures. What a shame.

As for the world cup. I hope the USA does well. It will be difficult but they still have to play the games so who knows. Maybe some Bizzillionare in the USA has dropped some coin into the USA going far into it??? probably not because the USA population will not be glued to the tube in large numbers for the games.

Love the game Hate the FIFA.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

I don't think World Cups per say are decided through match fixing.

Individual games are targeted and like in the case of the Nigerian football agent above, he mentions the players still playing domestically in Nigeria as guys who are easy targets for this due to lesser finance they earn. When you have respected journalists like Declan Hill putting a cloud over the Brazil v Ghana game, that can't be dismissed. Conte, the Juventus manager was banned because even though he wasn't involved in arranging fixes when he was manager at Siena, he still knew the club was doing it but didn't report it. Fenerbahce had their problems with match fixing in Turkey recently.

I think the lower leagues in England are very suspect. Recently the 6 players with Preston and the spot fixing that they were accused of. I even know one of the players personally and was shocked to find his name linked with it.

Dismiss it if you wish, but this is a serious problem to the game.

Not being dismissive with you or trying to ruffle your feathers but to the part I bold above. "Keep dreaming".

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Absolutely not to be missed! John Oliver destroys FIFA!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlJEt2KU33I

Watched this over the weekend. So true. I like the part where they asked the question regarding beer sales.

You can't make up comedy like that.

Oliver's show a lot of fun to watch. He makes some very good points.

Did you like the way he went after Asad/Syria? Right said Fred?

 

[thrawn]

Understand about your England hopes. You should hope that someone with a large bank account drops some serious coin on England to advance.

Not sure if you believe it or not but FIFA is unbelievably corrupt. Shocking some of the **** that they say when interviewed. Just for this world cup they strong armed Brasil and told them that their law "no beer sales at games" was not going to work. Only because Budweiser is a major sponsor!

You ask them why they have a billion dollars in the bank when they are non profit....the response is ....rainy day fund. WTF ....lmao

Having the world cup in Qatar could turn out disastrous for them but I guess we have to wait for that drama to start after we watch them rake the pockets of Brasil and expose their economic failures. What a shame.

As for the world cup. I hope the USA does well. It will be difficult but they still have to play the games so who knows. Maybe some Bizzillionare in the USA has dropped some coin into the USA going far into it??? probably not because the USA population will not be glued to the tube in large numbers for the games.

Love the game Hate the FIFA.

Well if it's Bud being sold, it still means there is no beer at the games

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Well if it's Bud being sold, it still means there is no beer at the games

Very true.

The Bud-wiper most likely tastes different in Brasil.

 

[Amsterhammer]

Watched this over the weekend. So true. I like the part where they asked the question regarding beer sales.

You can't make up comedy like that.

Oliver's show a lot of fun to watch. He makes some very good points.

Did you like the way he went after Asad/Syria? Right said Fred?

I knew you must have seen it when I read your comments. No, I don't get him 'live' only when clips are posted elsewhere. Did you see his truly epic "Net neutrality" rant? I'll post the link if not.

Apropos Bud et al.....

Why is drinking American beer like making love in a canoe?







It's ****king close to water.

 

[gooner]

Not being dismissive with you or trying to ruffle your feathers but to the part I bold above. "Keep dreaming".

Glenn, I'm not dismissive of the issue. I read up a lot on this and I mentioned Declan Hill's recent book on this which was an eye opener on it. Coincidentally this morning I just bought Brett Forrest's new book on the topic which was released in the last month to coincide with the World Cup on the way. Looking forward to reading it.

For instance, for Holland v Spain at the last World Cup final, I don't think you can pull off a fix bribing guys like Sneijder, Xavi, RVP, Iniesta, who are on astronomical wages. 100,000 euros like the Nigerian fixer mentioned as an incentive isn't going to work with these guys to throw a game when they are so well off financially.

Look at it in England at the moment, the lower divisions and non-league football are the ones that have been targeted by the Asian fixers. As we see above with the Nigerian fixer, he said for this very reason that players still plying their trade in Nigeria are more easy to convince of participating in anything of this note.

I think it's in the early rounds of the tournament that games will be targeted with lesser teams and players that don't have the big earning wages of their elite counterparts.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

I knew you must have seen it when I read your comments. No, I don't get him 'live' only when clips are posted elsewhere. Did you see his truly epic "Net neutrality" rant? I'll post the link if not.

Apropos Bud et al.....

Why is drinking American beer like making love in a canoe?







It's ****king close to water.

That Net Neutrality rant was epic. You should post it anyhow somewhere around here.

Love the beer joke. It is so true. But all over the USA the craft beer market has expanded and really makes a difference. I'm not sure what type of effect it has on the BIG 2 but I don't drink those products unless they come without any cost to me.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Glenn, I'm not dismissive of the issue. I read up a lot on this and I mentioned Declan Hill's recent book on this which was an eye opener on it. Coincidentally this morning I just bought Brett Forrest's new book on the topic which was released in the last month to coincide with the World Cup on the way. Looking forward to reading it.

For instance, for Holland v Spain at the last World Cup final, I don't think you can pull off a fix bribing guys like Sneijder, Xavi, RVP, Iniesta, who are on astronomical wages. 100,000 euros like the Nigerian fixer mentioned as an incentive isn't going to work with these guys to throw a game when they are so well off financially.

Look at it in England at the moment, the lower divisions and non-league football are the ones that have been targeted by the Asian fixers. As we see above with the Nigerian fixer, he said for this very reason that players still plying their trade in Nigeria are more easy to convince of participating in anything of this note.

I think it's in the early rounds of the tournament that games will be targeted with lesser teams and players that don't have the big earning wages of their elite counterparts.

What you post makes some sense. Well maybe they can get to the USA squad, they don't make as much. Even our Germans don't get paid that much, only because they are not that good.

The game has a LONG way to go here in the estados unidos. Us Nortamericano's have no appreciation or love for the game. I can remmember being called a "F.." for playing and watching "soccer". That was only back in 1984-86. I was always trying to get others to like it and tell them how much fun it was to play a game that never stops. Oh well. I'm old yeah ....I still love the game, even with the corruption with FIFA / match fixes.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

There's a new book out in France and it apparently says that Koscielny and Lloris were two players who weren't happy with Nasri in the squad and told Deschamps he was a disruptive influence. Michael Landreau the sub keeper is also meant to have pushed for his exclusion.

I watched a bit of their game last night against Jamaica and turned it off when it went 3-0 but it seems a happier camp. You see the goalscorers going to the bench celebrating with the staff and subs.

Many were saying the team last night was probably his closest if not Deschamps's best 11 that he will start the World Cup with. This isn't me talking with my Arsenal shirt on but how is Koscielny behind Sakho in the pecking order. Look at Liverpool's defensive record with him in the line up and Koscielny was on a different level to him this past season. He's a classier defender. The same to a lesser degree with Debuchy starting over Sagna. I can't understand it.

France will still get through their group but I know who I would have in my team when they come up against the bigger guns later in the tournament.

There are a number of reasons why Sakho will start and Koscielny won't. Koscielny might play better for Arsenal than Sakho for Liverpool but Sakho's matches with the French side have been much better than Koscielny's. Koscielny has been pretty poor for France throughout his career and it's only the lack of quality defenders that have made him such a regular figure on the French team. In fact, him getting sent off was the only good thing from the first leg against Ukraine, because it forced Deschamps to start Sakho in the second leg. Up until those matches, Sakho wasn't ahead of Koscielny in the pecking order. But when the chips were down, one guy conceded a silly penalty, was MIA on the first goal and got sent off while the other scored two of the three goals needed to qualify for Brazil. So which of these two guys would you rather start against the big guns in high pressure matches, the one who choked or the one who played the best match of his season when his team desperately needed him to do so ?

Besides, when healthy, Varane is a clear number one and Sakho complements him much better than Koscielny. Also, you have to remember that France are also building their team for the Euro 2016 at home and the plan was always to have Varane/Sakho as a stable, well established basis for France's defense by then. Honestly, I'd rather see Mangala than Koscielny play for France if it ever came down to that. Koscielny is a fine club player but is way too erratic when he plays for France.

Debuchy and Sagna are a more tricky problem. Sagna is probably more solid defensively but Debuchy is better offensively. I think that ultimately it just comes down to the fact that Debuchy is more integrated in the team than Sagna. Sagna seems to play alongside the rest of the team as opposed to Debuchy who seems to play with the rest of the team (especially Cabaye and Sissoko). Of course, it might just be that Sagna was part of the team that embarassed itself in South Africa and Debuchy wasn't, and Deschamps has never seemed too keen to take the players from the 2010WC back and only did so when he felt it was absolutely necessary.