World Cup 2006

[DanK]

OK, just ONE more thing. I hope they'll be eliminated. They don't entertain me and Culina stating that the Aussies were "going to break legs" or something like that before the upcoming game against Brazil... Geez... As far as I'm concerned, there's no room on the pitch for such a philosophy. I totally don't want them to hack and slash their way to the knock out stage, with all due respect.

Of course there's no place for such a philosophy, but... who cares? Man, that's the part of modern football. I don't want to say that I like it or think it's good, but there are a lot of teams which do exactly the same. It's sad but I've noticed that during such a big tournaments as World Cup is, the only thing that reminds of fair play rules is that yellow flag on the center of the ground before the game... Look at Italians - they try to do everything to beat the rivals, including kicking, pushing etc. when the referee can't see. The teams like Australia, which are not consider as the greatest ones and - to be honest - with worse technique and players' abilities have to fight... And if you keep fighting it's easier to make a foul. Sometimes it works, because the players may be afraid of the next contact with rival. Psychological advantage is very important thing, so I can understand that kind of "tactic"...

LOL!!!! I think you may find that Culina's comments were made as a 'pun'. Or more to the point, more probably a dig at all the big baby teams who were politely ‘asking’ the referee to make sure Australia doesn’t hurt us because we get paid to much for that etc. Australia have always been a physical side and I have no issues with that (provided its fair – but unfortunately there are 1 or 2 in the side that like to go ‘studs-up’ so to speak which I do NOT agree with, but tell me a team that doesn’t have this type of player!!!).

AsgAarD_xxx – you make a great point I think. I have seen so many cynical, leg breaking fouls in this WC (and I will be the first to admit Australian’s included), its getting beyond a joke. Van Bommel, Grella, the entire Italian Team etc. I think its about time (I have preached about this before) that FIFA introduce after game video evidence. For example:

Grella was already on a yellow today, 1 more and he obviously misses the next match (Croatia). Early in the first half he “tacklesâ€

[carcajou]

OK. I watched the game against the Brazilians, it was OK. They play pretty well after all (kind of boring, but Holland and France are boring as well, so I won't be picky) and they didn't commit that many fouls. I guess I'm just a glutton for provocation :)

[jakobg]

If we're in the subject provocation ( ;) ), someone should mention France. It's crazy that nothing has improveds since the last World Cup. No one seems to care. Great players, but no one that takes the necessary long runs to break the opponent's defence line.

With many players being some of my absolute favourites, especially Henry and the coming star Ribery, it's really sad to see this team perform so poorly.

[ZoefdeHaas]

France...only decent players are Henry and Ribery. Tehyre still built on the old generation and it isn't helping, Zidan is piss poor tbfh

[Frans]

Maybe the french coaches are just crap. Too conservative, judging by their results/goalscoring record.

[jamcocteau]

As a little aside from the match comments, I would like to make a mention to the organisers of this tournament in Germany and the local authorities in towns where matches were being played.

I spent 4 days down in Germany last week and was the 6th major championship I have attended and has been by far the best organised in terms of making the fans feel welcome both in the stadia and in the towns where matches are being held. Sensible low key policing, information points in every train station, town centre and both inside and outside the stadiums. Multi lingual guides floating around outside grounds to answer any questions. In town centres lots of facilites laid on for those not attending games like big screens etc. Free camp sites also set up on the edge of towns. Free transport from town centres to and from the venues.

No matter what you think of the Germans as a nation I would have to say from my personnal experience they have done a fantastic job in the hosting of this tournament so far.

[Van der Vaart]

in the trainning , played Boulahrouz, Kew Jaliens, Tim de Cler, Rafael van der Vaart and Dirk Kuijt in the lineup .

Van Basten decided play with Boulahrouz cause Heitinga has a yellow card too,and is injuried

So lineup probaly will be with these players

[Cedric]

France...only decent players are Henry and Ribery.

Ribéry plays at 100% and is probably the only one that seems to be really interested in the game.
As for Henry : decent it depends, but the most stupid, that's for sure... :yes: This guy is always complaining about the referees but forget to say he is himself utter crap 90% of the time. :redcard:

[Over Pasanens Head]

I'm also looking forwars to the Sweden-England clash on Tuesday. England hasn't defeated Sweden in 60 years or something like that. Anything other than a draw would be the biggest surprise this far in the World Cup. ;)

It sure has been a long time but I have a feeling that we beat you in 1968 in the game where Bobby Charlton beat Jimmy Greaves goalscoring record. Which is linked to another English controversy when Garry Linekar was substituted in a European Nations Tournie in ..... Sweden and this put an end to him being able to beat the same record.

Looking at the results since 1979, you have won 4 and there have been 6 draws so it is about time the luck turned for England.

[AsgAarD_xxx]

If we're in the subject provocation ( ;) ), someone should mention France. It's crazy that nothing has improveds since the last World Cup.

With a lot of irony I could say that it has improved since last World Cup finals - they scored a goal ;) .

But it's really strange thing for me, too. I think that it's exactly the same as with Liverpool in a funny "If Premiership clubs were women". France - just like The Reds - could be Sophie Ellis Bextor: individually all the components look fantastic - just doesn't work when put together. They have solid goalkeepers (including Coupet and a bit excentric Barthez), good defence and just amazing offensive lines. I really don't know why they play crap...

And a few words about Switzerland vs. Togo. Did you enjoy it? For me it was the most boring game on this World Cup. It looked like they didn't want to play... Thank God that there were 2 goals and a few goal-situation.

PS: I'll try to put the rest of If Premiership clubs were women to the Pathetic Jokes Corner ;) .

[carcajou]

France - just like The Reds - could be Sophie Ellis Bextor: individually all the components look fantastic - just doesn't work when put together.

Good comparison, except that Sophie, unlike France, makes my pants feel small... ;)

[aveslacker]

FWIW, the only reason to rest starters is for rest. Yellow card accumulation does not carry over into the second round this time.

Just wanted to point that out.

Now, back to work.

[Feest]

FWIW, the only reason to rest starters is for rest. Yellow card accumulation does not carry over into the second round this time.

Just wanted to point that out.

Now, back to work.

BS. It does carry over!

Only if you have 1 yellow card after the group phase, it'll be absolished. If you get your second yelow in game 3, you're out for the round of 16.

[aveslacker]

FWIW, the only reason to rest starters is for rest. Yellow card accumulation does not carry over into the second round this time.

Just wanted to point that out.

Now, back to work.

BS. It does carry over!

Only if you have 1 yellow card after the group phase, it'll be absolished. If you get your second yelow in game 3, you're out for the round of 16.

Oops. Never mind.

Thanks for the clarification.

[Kowalczyk]

Re-posting...

I read a report on FT.com - New Dutch school selects pragmatism over disputes and there was an extract of real interest to me:

He must have enjoyed the kickaround at a recent Dutch practice. Van Basten appointed two keepers as captains, and made them pick players one by one as in street football. The last two men selected were Liverpool’s Jan Kromkamp and Ajax’s Hedwiges Maduro. The device raised tension, and got players thinking. Van Basten copied it from Cruyff

I'm assuming the 2 keepers were VanDerSar and Steklenberg but who were the players they chose?[/url]

K.

[saddlerian]

Looking at the results since 1979, you have won 4 and there have been 6 draws so it is about time the luck turned for England.

:headbang: :headbang:
It'll just be a "cooked up" result, just to avoid the Germans!

:xyxthumbs: :xyxthumbs:

[DanK]

OK. I watched the game against the Brazilians, it was OK. They play pretty well after all (kind of boring, but Holland and France are boring as well, so I won't be picky) and they didn't commit that many fouls.

Ah, thats where your wrong! According to the ref we DID commit a hell of a lot of fouls. Foul count: Brazil 9 - Australia 25!!! Yep, 25. Let me tell you, this didn't go down well with the players and staff, and one person in particular a Mr Harry Kewell. Not sure if you saw the footage, but he went absolutely ballistic at the German ref Markus Merk.

IMO the ref WAS was absolute shit. Even with Australia's aggressive style, he gave so many free kicks against us that either weren't there or were 50/50 decisions, it was a disgrace. (I didn't realise when the ball is passed to you and you stop it with your foot its a free kick to the other team, but according to Merk, it is. Just so you know...). I think he fell for the request from the Brazilian coaching staff to 'protect' their players.

Having said that, I found Kewell's verbal attack on the ref a stupid thing to do. He was lucky FIFA let him off. The Aussie squad does not have enough depth to cover someone of Kewell's ability. Sure the ref was shite, but big deal. Get over it. We had our chances to draw or maybe win the game, and we f*^ked up. Which had nothing to do with the ref.

I think what helped get Kewell off was the Merk wouldn't let Viduka (captain) talk to him during the game, something that FIFA has allowed (and encourages). So he may have got off on a technicality. Either way, he was bloody lucky.

I guess I'm just a glutton for provocation :)

LOL. And I guess I am a glutton to respond to provocation. So keep up the good work mate :D

[ZoefdeHaas]

Merk is one of the worst referees to come out of Germany, but it's not lik Graham Poll is any better :pukey:

If Germany draw/lose and England loses, they will avoid both Germany and perhaps Brazil later on. Sneaky?

[ZoefdeHaas]

BTW: possible line-ups for Holland's game

Holland (probable): Van der Sar, Kromkamp, Ooijer, Jaliens, De Cler, Landzaat, Sneijder, Cocu, Kuyt, Van Nistelrooy, Van Persie.

Argentina (probable): Abbondanzieri, Burdisso, Ayala, Milito, Sorin, Rodriguez, Coloccini, Cambiasso, Aimar, Tevez, Cruz.

[Van der Vaart]

BTW: possible line-ups for Holland's game

Holland (probable): Van der Sar, Kromkamp, Ooijer, Jaliens, De Cler, Landzaat, Sneijder, Cocu, Kuyt, Van Nistelrooy, Van Persie.

Argentina (probable): Abbondanzieri, Burdisso, Ayala, Milito, Sorin, Rodriguez, Coloccini, Cambiasso, Aimar, Tevez, Cruz.

No Van der Vaart ??? :nooo: :nooo: X'C X'C

[ZoefdeHaas]

Yeh I would put him up instead of Landzaat or Cocu.

What I dont understand is the position of Jaliens :eusa_liar:

[Ayman]

ZoefdeHaas said:

What I dont understand is the position of Jaliens

Jaliens has played in that position before, in his Willem II days or even in Sparta Rotterdam.

[AsgAarD_xxx]

Group A is over now. It was the monst important group for me, so I'll write a short summary of it.

Germany were the favourites since the beginning and there wasn't surprise that they've won all the games. But it doesn't mean that they are such a great team or that they are in very good form. On the contrary - I think that they won't qualify if they were in another group. They had a lot of luck during the draw and that's the only reason why they advance. As for more - Arne Friedrich (right back) - was definietely the worst player in our group. Germany didn't show anything, but - to be honest - they didn't have to. Only Costa Ricans were not afraid of them and were able to score 2 goals.

Ecuador - surprisingly (for me of course, maybe it was obvious for you) - finished on the 2nd place. They are solid, but not very good team and they proved it in their last game against Germany, where they had nothing to say. They've won against Poland (but I should say that Poland *have lost* this game) and Costa Rica. Pele said that Ecuador could be the black horse of this tournament, but I don't believe it will happen.

Poland - it happens again that we can't make a minimum plan. It was the same like in Korea/Japan 4 years ago. We had really good qualifies but lost the form just before the World Cup. Another thing is a stupid changing the tactic before such a tournament. I haven't seen such a decission during my whole life. Poland *always* play 4-4-2, but Janas decided to change it to 4-5-1. We played 4 games in that tactic and there was only one win. Unfortunately - it was just before the World Cup, in a friendly against Croatia... Our first 2 games we played in that tactic and... you know what happened. We couldn't score a goal or even good offensive action. Last game (2-1 against Costa Rica after 2 goals of defender Bartosz Bosacki) doesn't change nothing. We've f*cked up this tournament, and I really believe that Paweł Janas will lose his job. There are rumours that our new coach could be Henryk Kasperczak or Leo Benhakker. Good option!

Costa Rica - the worst team in this group. Zero points, 3 goals scored (more than Poland, but all the goals scored in lost games). They had a good moments in this World Cup (2 goals against Germany, a few actions against Ecuador and Poland), but... it will be better to see Canada in Germany.

[Dubbel]

Congrats with the win in the last match, AsgAarD_xxx. As a whole a very poor performance though. Time for a big swoop in the Polish selection I'd say. The days of Lato and Boniek won't return with this lot.

[AsgAarD_xxx]

Dubbel, it won't change as long as we will think in polish way. It's impossible to make a player by giving him a ball and saying: "Let's play". We have to completely re-build our coaching system. It's a very strange thing that we have a lot of successes in a youth competition, but we can't make the good first-team players from them. The biggest problem is money. Poland is one of the countries where youth academies are not supported by the governement or Polish FA. Clubs also don't have enough money to do that. In youth academies you couldn't find the most tallented, but the richest kids - those which can pay a lot of cash to become the players. We've stopped in the 80's and there are no signs that it will change in the nearest future...

Look at Czechs - they are well-organised, have a lot of government-supported youth academies where well-payed coaches have groups of tallented 180cm-tall kids. They have good training grounds (some of them better than our first division fields) and everything that the rest of the world have. I think that we have to do exatly the same as with voleyball - completely change our football system, starting from the youth academies, and finishing on the national team level. I think it has to be done, unless we don't want to be Faroe Islands for a few years...