The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Thread

[charliepanayi]

Goal line tech, any time FIFA?

If you're lucky it'll be introduced for the 2022 World Cup or thereabouts.

[Croyles]

It won't happen because we bribed Sepp to not introduce it knowing before hand that it will happen during the England match.

[Cuchulainn]

Does anyone else feel sorry for Rooney?

He is being made the scapegoat by every english fan i see (Teamtalk Forums) despite there being 22 other members in the squad.

What part of 'recovering from an injury' do these idiots not get? He was crowbarred in by the English as they see him as the great white hope. Not only does he have to play not fully fit but he has to carry the weight of 50 million peoples expectations on his back while doing it.

They couldn't beat USA or Algeria, managed to scrape a win against the smallest nation at the Finals and are SHOCKED at getting beat by a proven class act that is Germany?

Rooney carried United by himself from August to March last season scoring 34. He scored 6 in qualifyers for England, he is usually the biggest heart on that field.

If all the England fanas dont want him picked ever again then smurf them. I'm only too glad to see him rested for United during international week. He's nothing to prove to any moron who would boo him.

[tailz]

I'm just ewaiting to August for the English morons to start booing Rooney when he gets the ball the same way they did other scapegoats from past tournaments (Beckham, Ronaldo etc).

Rooney's not fit. Rooney has not been fit since his injury in March. Rooney is England's last hope and if the fans turn on him now it'll be their biggest mistake. He just hasn't been right since that night in Munich when his ankle went.

If English fansa don't want him in the team anymore, I don't mind as he'll be fresher in a Red shirt with a devil on his chest but it'll be a huge mistake.

Argentina's keeper sucks, though.

please do explain, One of the few argentinean players i had nothing to say about today,

overall this argentina will probably not make it any further, todays matchs, as all before this was terible

What on EARTH are you talking about you confused little human? They have been the outstanding team so far. Have a word with yourself.


PS: ARGENTINA! ARGENTINA! ARGENTINA!

no not confused just demanding, as everyone in my country is.

holland as the first team to qualify for the knock out phase have had nothing but terrible games yet. we (the dutch crowd) expect to se great games, football on a high level, championsleague level if you will. so far the only team that has been able to satisfy me with their play was germany, and even they can't hold that level every game.

so no argentina has not been outstanding as of yet, they have had no challenge to prove they are worthy of winning this.

having expected the level of play from '98 i must say so far i am verry dissapointed with this wc

[charliepanayi]

Holland have won all their games so far and might well reach the quarter-finals today, frankly I wouldn't be complaining if I supported them (especially in light of Italy, France and England's demises so far). And if you don't think Argentina have been good so far you're watching a different World Cup.

Holland 1 Slovakia 0
Brazil 3 Chile 1

[Aerith's Knight]

Finally a good Dutch game, although the goals are lacking.

What the hell was that? The dude hooks himself on a keeper and gets a penalty? What a bunch of prissies. Jeesh, Stekelenburg doesn't deserve that.

[Pete for President]

Nice going! Holland's through, but I fear the worst for next game. Chances are they're facing Brazil.

[The Captain]

Here's an interesting article for ya:

TheGame - Times Online - WBLG: It's time to appoint Paul Gascoigne as Fabio Capello's successor


Something important to keep in mind with Rooney: United are a much better TEAM then England. The fact of the matter is, England are a collective group of stars, but they have no unifying force on their squad. They barely train together and they look like they're out there because their agents told them they should do it.

Contrast that with Germany, who, and this is another interesting point, allow their young players to cut their teeth in their league games as opposed to the Premiership, where instead of young English talents getting a call up, would rather import talent. Granted, every league is out to do this because it drives TV sales and revenue, but England's prospects moving forward are bleak because they have no young Ozil or Mueller who can be playing first team World Cup matches right out of the gate. Instead, they are blocked from ever getting a chance.

Take care all.

[Loony BoB]

I still think that they lost the moment they decided that SWP was better than Walcott and Johnson. In all honesty, England, while being one of the top teams in the world, still got beaten 2-0 at the height of even Rooney's showings in England colours. But put that aside and they haven't proved themselves yet. They haven't played the best teams in the world. In 2009, they beat Belarus, Croatia, Slovenia, Andorra, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Slovakia. They couldn't beat Holland, Spain, Ukraine (second game) or Brazil. The last time they beat a top team was Germany (2-1) in 2008. Mexico was a good result - 3-1 - but even then, not an established powerhouse in the world. Until they can beat Germany, France (yes, they lost to them in their last game, too), Argentina, Spain, Italy, Portugal et al on a regular basis, they won't be winning World Cups. They're definitely a good side in that you will expect them to qualify for the knockout stage. But they aren't to the point that you would put money on them winning (unless you read English newspapers/sites and don't gamble often, in which case, I'm sorry for your loss ).

Why don't they win? To me that doesn't matter, but I don't think it's about the Premier League, personally, I think it's about the decisions of the manager not to pick, motivate and play the correct team. That, and the quality of players. Fabregas is not sitting on the bench like he is for Spain. Nor is Aguero like he is for Argentina. But one would question why Heskey is brought on when they want to score goals. I don't know. Basically I just don't think England are good enough and I don't believe they really get the "do or die" mentality that they have for their clubs.

It might not help being booed by your fans when they should be trying to lift you, nor having the media swamp you and slam you at every opportunity, either, but that's England.

[champagne supernova]

You can't blame Premiership managers from signing sixteen year olds from overseas if they feel that there aren't any sixteen year olds of suitable quality within their academies. The question is: why aren't there any quality English sixteen year olds in the game?

And that comes down to the English FA. Cristiano Ronaldo played amateur football when he was 8, moved to a more prominent team when he was 10 and was in Lisbon's academy at 12. If the English FA isn't promoting football at these young ages, then the top clubs will either import talent at youth or higher level, and the English national team will deteriorate.

By curbing the number of foreigners in the English game, one is only deteriorating the league to a level where English players are good enough to compete, rather than trying to raise the level of English players so they are good enough to compete in the Premier League.

Look at the Spanish team. 6 of the players come from Barcelona. David Villa has obviously just been signed, but the remaining 5 (Busquets, Iniesta, Xavi, Puyol & Pique) all came through the Barcelona academy (yes, Pique went to Manchester United for a few years, but he's still a product of Barca). And in Spain, there are more coaches, the FA is more organised, and there is a focus on identifying and developing young talent. That is the problem with England.

[Psychotic]

To be fair, the England fans were really and absolutely behind the team until the fourth goal went in. They were fired up and furious about the goal. And then they just started singing "England's going home" rather than booing

[Loony BoB]

The main reason that PL teams sign young talent from around the world is because they can. What they can't do is sign young talent from around England (or is it the UK? I forget). There is a restriction saying you have to live within a certain distance of your team or something like that, and SAF always goes on about it being the reason all clubs sign overseas talent in masses.

Now, if you consider the geographic locations of the PL clubs at the moment, look at the amount of space there is which is not covered by the top league...

2010–11 Premier League - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Basically, if you don't live close to Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham or London then you're going to a lower level club. Is this fair? To the clubs, maybe. To the young players, I'm not so sure.

[Cuchulainn]

i's the english coaching style from youth to professional. You are discouraged from being a flair player. you are trained in the physical gameway above skills training. Too many cones to run around and not enough ball play.

You look at Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Argentina. Anyone in those teams can take on a player. You even look at South Americas smaller nations, half sometime three quarters the size of England and they pass and move with their eyes closed.

England's problem is its social culture and football culture and until that changes it will be a cold day in hell before they win things.

Regarding their nect coach, the fact remains there is nort an English coach good enough. I'd get in a foreign flair coach to build the essentials and basics with a youngf english coach beside him to learn & then take over.

If you appoint Redknapp or Hodgeson you will end up on the same heap.

[Psychotic]

Moving away from teams that aren't complete bollocks, how about them Brazilians then? It's bloody impressive seeing them put down a decent side like Chile like that.

[charliepanayi]

Even pragmatic Brazil have the ability to blow teams away it seems. Will be interesting to see if Holland and Germany can handle Brazil and Argentina.