Zidane's Headbutt Discussion and also some stuff on that FIFA World Cup 2006 thing

[Croyles]

btw, how do i get into the fantasy football thing? when i try to sign up in yahoo using that ID and password it just doesnt work...
nevermind that i found out how.

[Psychotic]

England v Hungary thoughts:

First, the bad. Little Mickey doesn't look sharp, does he? But I'll say more about that in a moment. And Frank Lampard, well, other than the penalty miss, just what did he do? He went missing. It's often the same in matches against good opposition (eg Barcelona and indeed my lovely lovely Liverpool) as well. He sort of reminds me of Luis Garcia - does absolutely smurf until he pops up and scores a vital goal. Watch what he does on Saturday vs Jamaica (goals not incuded ) and compare it to Gerrard. As for Owen Hargreaves, well...what more can you say on the subject that hasn't been said 10,000 times before?

The good. Gerrard looked lively, as did Joe Cole. Beckham was on fine form with his crossing, and it was good to see John Terry get his first goal. And even before he scored his goal, I thought Peter Crouch was having a great game, producing nice flick ons and passes for his team mates.

The okay. Ashley Cole and Gary Neville looked uncertain at times, but did alright. I thought Carragher did pretty well while being played out of position, as he allowed us to defend fairly high up the pitch, and we saw Terry and Ferdinand being allowed to go forward more. Carra would be fine in the holding role if we were defending a lead, but until then, no. Theo Walcott showed glimpses of what he's supposedly capable of, but he'll have to do more if he's to be our secret weapon.

This formation is based on England's second best player, and current best fittest player, Steven Gerrard. And rightly so, when you watch how he's dragged Liverpool (who are inferior to England, although not by much) kicking and screaming to victory. The main problem with it is Michael Owen. He looked lost, and absolutely does not fit this formation. If you're going to play like that, the ideal man to fill Owen's role would be Peter Crouch. Sure, Owen is the better player, but using Owen is trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole. It doesn't work. Also, Carrick for the holding role kaythanks!

[DK]

As for Owen Hargreaves, well...what more can you say on the subject that hasn't been said 10,000 times before?

Nothing, but that doesn't stop it from being fun to say he's <img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif">. :D

[Strider]

Okay, so now I'm curious. What's your take on the American team?

[DK]

All I know from the top of my head is that McBride is pretty good. And sometimes Brad Friedl is invincible. But I don't know if he's in the squad or not. (Tim Howard is crap.)

Edit: Duh, Claudio Reyna. He plays for Man City and that therefore makes him the best player in your squad. :}

[Strider]

Kasey Keller is still our starting goalie.

Also, don't forget about Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley. You can't sleep on the U.S., buddy.

[Psychotic]

Brad Friedel is not in the squad.

I think Landon Donovan is terribly overrated in the USA. Just look at his time at Bayer Leverkusen: He just wasn't good enough to play in Europe. Remember the Champions League game against Liverpool? I do. He was utterly terrible.

But yeah, McBride, Reyna and Beasley are good, and look out for Brian Ching. USA are in an extremely tough group, however, and it'll be tough, but not impossible, for them to progress.

[Loony BoB]

I don't understand how the US of A could be ranked #5 in the FIFA world rankings and not have a good chance of making the quarterfinals. They must be doing something right.

[DeathKnight]

MEXICO!

[DK]

I don't understand how the US of A could be ranked #5 in the FIFA world rankings and not have a good chance of making the quarterfinals. They must be doing something right.

Already been explained, they're dumping on the other teams in the north american group:

* Anguilla
* Antigua and Barbuda
* Aruba
* Bahamas
* Barbados
* Belize
* Bermuda
* British Virgin Islands
* Canada
* Cayman Islands
* Costa Rica
* Cuba
* Dominica
* Dominican Republic
* El Salvador
* Grenada
* Guatemala
* Guyana
* Haiti
* Honduras
* Jamaica
* Mexico
* Montserrat
* Netherlands Antilles
* Nicaragua
* Panama
* Puerto Rico
* Saint Kitts and Nevis
* Saint Lucia
* Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
* Suriname
* Trinidad and Tobago
* Turks and Caicos Islands
* U.S. Virgin Islands
* United States

Only really good team in that group is Mexico, everyone else is not that great. The FIFA ranking system is dum

[Russielloyd]

The US are ranked 5th because the only team they play teams like Canada, Honduras, Jamaica, all the time, which are the worst teams in the world and are easy to beat, the only challege the USA have is Mexico, which are a better team anyways. They also have a much better chance at winning the "Gold Cup" and which also places them in the "Confederations Cup" which raises their rank.

There are more great teams in Europe than in any other Confedertaion making Europe is the hardest place to compete for and higher rankings harder to obtain.

There's far superior teams in Europe than the USA, USA shouldn't really be in the top 10, nevermind top 5!

FIFA Rankings are false, except for top spot.

[Croyles]

Yeah Brazil is about the only rank i agree with!

[Cz]

I don't understand how the US of A could be ranked #5 in the FIFA world rankings and not have a good chance of making the quarterfinals. They must be doing something right.

World ranking isn't really relevant as it includes the results of qualifying matches, and so an above-average team playing Guatemala and Panama once a year is obviously going to do well, whereas a team of the same quality playing in UEFA against the likes of France or Spain will have a much lower world ranking. That said, the US aren't a bad team, and you're right to suggest that in an average tournament they would probably qualify from the group stage. The trouble is that they've been drawn in a horrible group against Italy, the Czechs and Ghana. There aren't many teams that could qualify from such a group, and the USA certainly aren't one of them.

Still, that's not to say they're a bad side. They've got a top striker in Brian McBride, as well as the likes of Claudio Reyna and DaMarcus Beasley. But they'll really come into their own in the next couple of years, as Freddy Adu starts to establish himself in the side. He'll be a revelation for the sport in the US.

[Russielloyd]

Forget about Embrace's World Cup England song "World At Your Feet"

This is deffinately the song to be singing...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/hampshire/realm...undercover.ram



Quality!

[Croyles]

Forget about Embrace's World Cup England song "World At Your Feet"

This is deffinately the song to be singing...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/hampshire/realm...undercover.ram



Quality!

NO THANKS! :mog: