Arsenal at the World Cup
Article written by ChiGooner:
The esteemed football writer David Goldblatt wonders in the introduction to his fantastic book, The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football (found here on Amazon), if there is “any cultural practice more global than football? Rites of birth, death, and marriage are universal, but infinite in their diversity. Football is played by the same rules everywhere. No single world religion can match its geographical scope… the use of English and the vocabularies of science and mathematics must run football close for universality, but they remain the lingua francas of the world’s elites. McDonald’s, MTV? Only the most anodyne products of America’s cultural industries can claim a reach as wide as football’s, and then only for a fleeting moment in those parts of the world that can afford them.”
Over the 30 days beginning June 11th, virtually everyone on the planet will either take part in, or at least bear witness to, the single most concentrated and passionate manifestation of this global obsession with football. Football has conquered nearly every society it has come into contact with. Even Australia, China, India, and the USA—the last major holdouts—have now joined the global party. Despite football’s continuous hold over the global imagination, however, there is only one month every four years when the planet’s entire football community focuses its attention on one place and one competition simultaneously. That is during the World Cup.
The Final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup is estimated to have been either watched, listened to, or attended by around 3 billion people. That is nearly half of all humanity. In short, the World Cup is the single largest collective human experience in existence. Football has the power to transform players’ lives, to elate or completely dishearten fans, and to unite or divide nations. Nowhere is this power more visible or potent than at the World Cup.
But enough about the event’s significance. What about the football itself? The teams, the stars, the managers, and of course: the fortunes of that small group of players whose time at the World Cup forms the less important part of their duties as footballers, as a result of their being players for Arsenal Football Club.
The (rather long) short list of favorites includes many traditional powers as well as an array of teams hoping to join the group of seven nations that have already been immortalized in football history by winning the World Cup. Brazil are once again on the minds of many, though they have attained the status of favorites by making use of a style that—despite its prevalence and success in the modern game—seems distinctly out of place when used by the side that embodies the beauty of the “beautiful game”. Many are likewise hoping that the brilliance of Messi will be able to overcome the lunacy of Diego: 53 goals in 47 club matches would ordinarily speak for itself, but not in this case. England are once again seen as favorites by some, and—inevitably—as overhyped [WORD]s by others: can a non-English coach finally settle this debate in favor of the former group? Finally, despite their lack of star power, no one in the know would dare discount Germany or Italy at a major World Cup. When it comes to preparation and determination, these two sides are only paralleled by each other.
The Netherlands are—once again—hoping to extend the world’s most-exclusive club to eight members, but as always have many doubters. The most promising potential newcomers instead hail from Iberia. Spain possess a team so deep that Arsenal’s best player over the last three seasons, and this summer’s most sought-after footballer, Cesc Fabregas, is unlikely to secure a starting place. Some say the Spaniards are shaky at the back, but they are cemented by the solid Barca duo of Puyol and Pique, and could very well have the best depth in goalkeeping ever seen at a World Cup: Victor Valdes—statistically the best keeper in La Liga this season—is third-string, stuck behind Pepe Reina and the indomitable Iker Casillas.
And what of the African teams? This, the first World Cup to be played on their continent, offers a special opportunity, one that will undoubtedly take several decades to present itself again. Recall that Brazil are the only country to win a World Cup away from their home continent (counting Mexico as part of Latin America, and thus ruling out Argentina in 1986). The Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon look to have been handed the most manageable draws, while Bafana Bafana hope to avoid becoming the first host nation to fall at the group stage. The Desert Foxes of Algeria are beset by injury and poor form, while the previously-high hopes for Ghana’s Black Stars and Cote d’Ivoire’s Elephants have been tempered by injuries to Michael Essien and Didier Drogba, each widely regarded as the best player on his respective team.
Meanwhile, fans of every nation will be hoping that the light of stars such as Messi, Kaka, Ronaldo, Eto’o, and Rooney shine brighter than ever before. Spain are lucky to possess an array of flair players, with the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Torres, Villa, and Silva all in one side, while Holland possess Sneijder, Robben, and van Persie.
Speaking of Fabregas and van Persie, how does the tournament look to be shaping up for Arsene’s Army? Let’s begin with Group E, where three of the four teams possess key Gunners. Robin van Persie will likely be the focal point of the Dutch attack, being asked to play a versatile center-forward role, similar to the one he played for Arsenal in the early stages of the most recent campaign. His progression to the next round seems assured, and anything from the quarters to the final itself seems realistic. Alex Song and Nicklas Bendtner will also do battle, as both look to snatch second place from the other. Bendtner, who has a similar role with Arsenal as his mentor and senior Van Persie, will also be asked to replicate that role for Denmark, whereas Song—while still playing in the center of the pitch—will be asked to move further up field and play a more creative role than Gooners are used to seeing.
At first glance, Arsenal’s defensive record does not bode well for France, as their squad contains three Arsenal defenders (Bacary Sagna, William Gallas, and Gael Clichy), as well as Abou Diaby, a midfielder who may be asked to take on defensive duties. But if one places the blame for Arsenal’s defensive woes on poor coaching, then France look to have a tighter back line. No one can question the individual talents of Sagna and Gallas, who will likely start. On the other hand, Raymond Domenech is not widely considered to be a very astute manager at the moment either.
As mentioned, the man whose Arsenal shirt says “Fabregas,” but whose Spain shirt says “Cesc,” will play an important, though much less prominent role for his country than for his club. Look for him to be used as an impact sub, or starting in an advanced role if Vicente Del Bosque wishes to play with Torres or (more likely) Villa alone up front. The reverse is true of Arsenal bench warmers Emmanuel Eboue and Carlos Vela, who are likely to be integral pieces of their national sides’ plans. Eboue, a utility man who in a pinch can be used on either midfield flank, or across the back line, will likely start at right back. Vela’s superb technical abilities will be integral to Mexico’s fast-paced attack.
With 10 players in South Africa, Arsenal are tied for third among all clubs, along with Panathinaikos, Real Madrid, and the European champions. The European runners-up have 11, while Chelsea and Liverpool have 12 apiece, and Barcelona (who else?) top the list with a whopping 13.
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How many goals do you guys think Brazil will win by tomorrow? I would’ve said along the lines of 5 to 7 for and 0 against… but w/ their new look and the way the tournament has gone so far, it may ‘only’ be 3 or 4 to nil. Maybe N. Korea can recapture the magic of ’66 (NK 1-0 Italy), but somehow I don’t see it…
Watched Holland v Denmark. A bit boring really. Decided by a shonky own goal. Funny, a lot of Hollands play reminded me of Arsenal’s attacking deficiencies – lot’s of little guys without thrust. Bendtner was ok/average in a ‘solid’ type of way. Funny to hear even the international commentators referring to his big-mouth boasts.
Early days though, it would be nice to see the Arsenal boys make a positive impression.
No surprise to see Germany look a little daunting. World footballs big guns – the likes of Germany, Italy, Brazil and Argentina – have a history of knowing how to play in major tournaments and enormous national expectations to live up to.
Interesting that Song didn’t start yet Diaby did.
The thing to remember is that 5-week international tournaments aren’t a direct comparison to 9 month domestic seasons. National managers look for the right combination to play in a handful of well-policed games – it’s more chess-like. Domestic managers whilst also looking for winning combinations are very conscious that a core of the team has to be durable and sustain their performance over a long period of time.
That’s why the wily George Graham said he never judged a players value to Arsenal on their international form. He’s 100% right.
Nice work by Paraguay. Italy off to their traditional slow start, but still, credit where credit is due: Paraguay were one GK blunder away from getting 3 pts.
Stag, managers are at fault when the team they picked lose the match. Especially it’s against Japan, not Brazil.
But national team managers do tend to have their own agenda. They do not necessary always pick the best team.
For instance, Graham Taylor once picked Shearer ahead of Ian Wright going to Euro Championship. That was Shearer when he’s still a puppy, while Wrighty finished off that season as the league’s top goalscorer (with Shearer scoring less than half of Wrighty’s goal tally).
Taylor also picked Nigel Martyn and Tim Flowers go to that EURO and left Seaman behind (despite merely a year ago Seaman had conceded only 18 goals for Arsenal in 1991 championship season).
Taylor also picked Carlton Palmer and left Tony Adams behind.
He’s not the only one though. Remember Glenn Hoddle left behind Gazza at WC 98?
So personally I’ll never believe just because a manager picks a team going to WC, those left behind are automatically crap.
If anything, it only shows that the manager doesn’t like their faces.
And history tells me – once a national team manager doesn’t like your face, you would have to try 100 times harder… and may still not be able to get into his team. Just ask Ian Wright. Your only hope is to wait for the next national team coach takes over, and pray lord he likes how you look.
Tony Adams for example, though Bobby Robson handed him the debut, Tony had not really been in Robson’s plan. Taylor snubbed him. Until Veneble took over and all a sudden Tony became England captain! Remember, during the EURO 1996 when Tony was captain of England, he didn’t really have the form of his life. In fact, he was England captain when he’s still an alcoholic! Whereas when he was arguably the best center half in England back in the early 90s he was snubbed by England!
That’s the logic of national team selection!
A voice of reason well said Andez.
I don’t know why they all hating on Song anyway ;-)
DAG.
Can we get a new thread please?
WORLD CUP – part 2?
Working on it
The African teams have gone backwards with regards to actual skill and creativity.
In the 90s, they (especially Nigeria) used to create dribblers like Okocha, Kanu, Oruma, etc by the dozens. True number 10s … who could try to emulate Bergkamp. Guys who with proper training, discipline could become like Kaka, Ronaldinho, etc.
Nowadays, the continent only produces big, brawny strikers, fast brainless wingers and a surplus of defensive midfielders. They have pretty much abandoned dribbling, playmaking, and such, making them completely uninteresting to me.
No Fred you have got it all wrong!
It has nothing to do with production. The Cameroon and Nigeria teams of the 90s were a golden generation, true. You will get that with every team. Are the Brazil today as good as in 1978?
Are Italy “producing” skillful and creative players to the standard of Baggio or Germany to the standard of Hassler?
It would be unfair IMO to say that Italian and German football has gone “backwards” or claim they do not produce creative and skillful players anymore.
It is obvious the Nigeria and Cameroon teams were outstanding then, but not so good now.
I believe there are still a lot of skillful and creative players in Africa if there wasn’t they would not be coming to Europe.
Part of the reason for the apparent lack of skill maybe the emphasis on team work as opposed to indivuality in the way they are told to play. Also the fear of messing up, as the expectations from the folks back home has increased for the likes of Nigeria and Cameroon. However you only have to watch certain players for a decent amount of time to know the skill and creativity is far from dead in African football. Fienduno (can’t spell it), K.Asamoah, Odemwinge, Keita, Zidane of Eygpt and best of all Emanuel Eboue ;-) to name but a few. All creative players that can dribble well.
In fact you do not see most of what the continent produces but rather what Europe wants to import from Africa. If they want a big strong striker who can play football they go to Africa as they can get them cheap there along with loads of DM/CMs. I Must say I haven’t come accross much brainless wingers on the import list though.
I think Alex Song is definitely good enough to start for Cameroon, and most managers probably would start him. Le Guen is the same coach, remember, who sucked massively w/ both Rangers and PSG.
I dont buy that Le Guen is suddenly a donkey … (although the way Wenger and Cappello have gone recently it is definitely possible) … he did set up Lyon very nicely and was instrumental in their dominance early in the decade.
Some of the very best DMs have gone thru his hands, so I would imagine he knows a thing or two about DMs.
Then again, some of the best CMs have gone through Wenger’s hand too and he still seems clueless, so who knows.
why is the manager at fault if Song isn’t good enough to start for the team?
If he thinks he has better players, that’s his JOB…
He’s making decisions based on trying to win… and he got them into the WC.
Sorry for Song, but he’ll probably get his chance in the next few games.
It’s just my opinion that Song is good enough. It’s also my opinion that the manager is not exactly making a good case for his tactical acumen by starting Eto’o behind the front line instead of leading it.
Nasri, Walcott, now Song. Wenger’s opinion on players no longer carries the weight it once did.
Funny how the ‘truth’ regarding this overrated bunch is slowly trickling through the grape vine and getting exposed in this world cup.
———————————————————-
Yes Maz, that’s probably why France drew Uruguay… England drew US… Cameron, well, lost to Japan.
I think the less the Arsenal players play in the WC, the better it is for the club!
NO REST in the Summer, for a team that always has injuries anyway, is not a good thing.
Arsenal’s players frankly don’t deserve automatic spots on their WC teams, bar a few…
but with a lot of matches in a short time period, who knows what might happen, and who might play well or star for their country going forward…
Please, anyone would rather watch a 2-2 draw than a 0-0 draw,
———————————–
@Chicago,
Totally agree. Especially when we are watching the game as neutrals. I would take a 4-4 draw anytime than a goalless draw.
Whenever after watching an 1-0 win, I feel like I had just wasted 90 minutes of my life! Like that match Japan Vs Cameron.
obviously 4-4 is more fun to watch, but I never feel like I wasted 90 minutes of my life watching football.
in the first match of the biggest tournament of the world, of course players are likely to be tentative, don’t want to make a big mistake, and are going to lean towards caution…
but 0-0 or 1-0 can be a great match as well…
I also agree with Stag, it’s difficult to tell England’s fortune. They could get eliminated in group stage, they could go on and break into the semi.
I think one factor is widely overlooked in the WC Finals – the fact that the winning team need to play 7 games in a month.
That requires a great physical condition and stamina.
Throughout the history, only 7 nations had ever won the World Cup. Take Uruguay away (as they won it long time ago), the rest of 6 nations, 3 of them had a strong domestic league – Germany, Italy and England. While France did not win it until most of their national team players started playing in top European leagues.
Those players who play in the top European leagues, apart from skills and talent, they need to be in top physical condition as well. For the players who are used to play 2 or 3 games in a week in the Premiership/La Liga/Series A/Germany League, (and the Champions League) naturally they would cope with 7 games in a month far better than players from other nations.
(mind u though, I dont know anything about other leagues like J-League, maybe they play 4 games in a week there. Still, playing against top class opponents 3 games a week is rather different than playing against inferior oppositions 7 games a week).
Therefore IMO no matter how well other outside teams play in the early rounds, sooner or later they will be running out of steam.
Unless they are technically so superior like Brazil and Argentina, who do not have to run around too much in a match chasing the ball, as they always had the most of the possessions in a match.
So in the end, the winner will still go to one of the above 6 teams, with only Holland and Spain have the quality to seriously challenge them.
If there’s anything England do not lack of, it’s their physical strength and stamina. So if they have an odd from the bookie like 40-1 to win the WC, I would bet on them. but anything from 8-1 under I wouldn’t waste my money.
When first Cameroon, then Nigeria rose to the scene in the 90s, I really thought African football were going to be the force of future. Because of their athleticism. Pace, Power. The basic elements for modern football.
Unfortunately, for whatever reasons, African football seem to have stopped progressing.
It’s a sharp contrast to Asian and N. American football. The US team now are definitely stronger than before. It’s unthinkable they would be labeled as “group favourite” 10 years ago in WC.
Teams from Asian like South Korea and Japan, they will never win a World Cup because of their lack of physical strength. But technically and tactically they have kept improving.
And the difference between Asian football and Africa football IMO is – those Asian players who are playing in Europe,seem to have really learned and improved on their tactically awareness.
South Korea for instance, their first World Cup appearances was also the first full WC I watched. Since then they were in the WC Finals every time. I can really tell the difference. Whereas at the past, they would approach the game with sheer guts and hardwork, running around the pitch like headless chicken. But today they actually started playing with some poise.
The African teams on the other hand, are still heavily relied on their athleticism. There aren’t really any organization when they are attacking. Ghana 4 years ago their game play appeared to be “shoot on sight”. 4 years later I didn’t see too much a difference.
And I agree with Stag, Cameroon have been even more disappointing. If you look at their size, it’s almost like playing against a bunch of schoolboy when taking on Japan. Yet they lost, and hardly created any chance.
And yes, what a save from that Japanese keeper towards the end. At the TV replay it didn’t seem like such a great save. But in real time motion, it’s probably the best save so far in this tournament.
Andez did you watch the Ghana game? there was no shoot on sight policy.
All this talk about altheticism, pace and power stereotypical media fuelled nonsense.
No race of people monopolise any human attribute. It generally depends on the individual and probably the environment they grow up in.
Is Wayne Rooney less powerful, strong and athletic than Makelele? I don’t think so.
As for progress; of course African football has progressed. The demand for Africans across the globe has made that inevitable, they have access to better training facilities, coaching etc.
The problem is the personell, their attitude and tactics change, not always for the better.
Ivory Coast has a squad of Africans better than any other in African footballing history yet their attitude and cohesion falls far behind that of Egypt, the best team in Africa.
Sometimes I feel that the Africans are not playing like Africans and are trying to be too tactical by playing like Europeans which is not their natural game.
Ghana is not a team blessed with a load of talented individuals like Ivory Coast, Cameroon or even Nigeria, however they are a better than them as a team. Are the Ghanians more athletic, powerful than these? No the Nigerians are generally bigger and stronger than the Ghanains. Of course altheticism cannot be measured but I doubt that they are any faster either. Nevertheless Ghana has a greater work rate and team ethic than their counterparts and appear to have a better attitude.
Fear not ‘dez the Africans are still progressing they just need a another golden generation like Cameroon in the 90s, I hope that will be Ghana very shortly.
Cameroon in the 90s??
You mean Nigeria?
1990 was Cameroon’s Roger Miller generation, Fred.
Nigeria was 1994. I purposely overlooked Nigeria in 1994 not because they were not a brilliant side but because the coach dropped their African principles against Italy and tried to play a DF and cagey European game against the masters of “Cat and Mouse.”
That was a wrong move that backfired on them as I think Italy and possibly the World Cup was there for the taking.
Chelsea just got better.
They signed Benayoun from Liverpool.
I like the player a lot, I think he’d have been very good
for Arsenal… so they basically swap Cole for Benayoun.
Is this the start of the exodus at Liverpool?
Japan over Cameroon…
contrast in styles, cultures, height, speed… you name it.
Cameroon have played piss poor, and really have not deserved
even a draw… disorganized and with no real plan of attack.
They are athletic, but that’s about it.
Created very little, and put Japan under virtually no pressure.
Other than Eto’o, who has done nothing, what do they have?
(though its hard for Eto’o to carry the team alone)
GREAT SAVE at the end for the Japanese keeper, saved the win
for them.
They finish up the group with Denmark, then the Dutch.
It will take a small miracle for Cameroon to progress now.
The FIRST win for Japan in the World Cup EVER… away from their
own country…
Paul Le Guen is an idiot. He starts Eto’o behind the central striker… Eto’o is possibly the BEST CENTRAL STRIKER IN THE WORLD! I should’ve realized Cameroon would look poor w/ that ass-clown of a coach.
And meanwhile, the HORRENDOUS goaslscoring ability of literally every single team at this tournament continues. I’m getting very frustrated wasting my time on this shit football. Most of the games have had near-zero entertainment value for me. There is still only one game that has had more than 2 goals, and that was partially b/c of the Cahill red card. USA-England and SA-Mexico are the only two games that have really been exciting.
sorry you don’t enjoy football, unless there are lots of goals…
maybe they should make the nets bigger or play with two soccer balls.
that way it will be 11-9!
Eto did shit all match. The team was just very disorganized, and played with no passion or chemistry.
Please, anyone would rather watch a 2-2 draw than a 0-0 draw, so get off your high horse.
If you read my post again, you’ll see that I enjoyed some of the games, but I don’t think I’m alone in saying that most of the football has been very lackluster thus far.
LOL.
I wasn’t serious CG!
Though I have enjoyed pretty much all the games and the atmosphere in SA.
Sorry, it’s hard to gauge tone online. In terms of atmosphere, the only thing I miss is the singing from the fans. Its drowned out by the vuvuzelas. But I wholeheartedly disagree w/ the people who say it should be banned from the stadium. This is SA’s World Cup, and it would be ridiculous to ban one of the central elements of the their football culture just b/c a bunch of Europeans and Americans on TV don’t like them.
I enjoyed Ghana vs Serbia, but maybe that is because I want Ghana to win the world cup although I know it is near impossible.
@ nipuna: Didn’t figure you a Bundesliga follower. I respect your views a bit more now ;-)
Personally, I feel if you dont follow the Bundesliga you dont really know too much about European football in general. When you follow the league you get to know about a lot of upcoming players, tactics and trends. You also get a solid window into the Scandinavian, East European, Dutch, Belgian, Swiss football markets – through their imports into the Bundesliga or by UEFA cup play – which Germany seems to dominate. Plus it seems the German press is FAR more informative, and “journalistic” than say the … English press?
Sure the English, Italian and Spanish leagues are higher rated, but if you are looking for more goals, more expansive play, better in-stadium atmosphere, more of the old-fashioned playmakers, through balls galore, strong but fair tackling, sprinkled with African, South American and East European flavors then the Bundesliga is your cup of tea.
Ofcourse it helps I speak German, so I can listen to the commentators. And to seal the deal, the commentary is not as retarded as that of the EPL.
Am quite happy the Bundesliga seems to be gaining on the “Big 3” leagues. If Bayern had won the CL this May, Germany would actually have been promoted to four CL spots and Italy reduced to three! Germany fell short by ONE point. I hope Germany overtakes next season.
Not a great follower of German football but I watched Stuttgart a bit last season (for obvious reasons :) )and even they played nice football. Khedira looked impressive.
I actually prefer watching Germany to Holland. Play fluid football and good off the ball movement. Holland score some great goals but their general play has been overrated for years. Take Robben away and you have slow, static players.
“…but I watched Stuttgart a bit last season (for obvious reasons)…”
Hmmm … I hope you kept your pants on while watching!
Just saying :-)
LOL
Is it 18 year old Joel Matip who has replaced Song?
I have watched him in the Bundesliga and he looks quite a prospect.
Yes, it is.
He has been excellent at Schalke this last season.
He is tall (6’4″ i think), strong and fast. He also shows some smarts on the ball. He figures himself a future Pirlo.
I personally think he was too hasty choosing to play for Cameroon … I think with time he could start for Germany. (Then again maybe he never wanted to play for Germany).
He is somebody who the big EPL clubs would soon start sniffing at.
To summarize: Yes, our ONLY DM is sitting behind an Ajax benchwarmer and an 18 year old novice.
I think you may have it right in the brackets he sees himself as a African and not a German!
However I must say I did not see anything in his game that makes me think he is better than Song.
In your haste to deride one of our best players have you considered that he is just returning from injury if he is infact fully fit thus has not been called to play.
Alex Song was voted Cameroon’ player of the tournament in the ANC how he has fallen so far from grace?
Japan score !
Funny how Alex Song cant even start for the “mighty” Cameroon YET he is the SOLE defensive midfielder at Arsenal.
Buy a backup DM or someone to rotate or compete with him?
Noooo … he is one of those “potential” kids that must not be pressured in any way.
Any idea why he was dropped?
I imagine LeGuen figures Makoun, Matip and Enoh are better than him.
Makoun is obviously a better player … and the Matip and Enoh are arguably as good as Song… even though Matip is only 18.
Thats worrying for Arsenal.
We are WOWed by the basic defending of Song yet he really isnt that special in the grand scheme of things.
But ofcourse we still wont have a backup or competing DM.
Nasri, Walcott, now Song. Wenger’s opinion on players no longer carries the weight it once did.
Funny how the ‘truth’ regarding this overrated bunch is slowly trickling through the grape vine and getting exposed in this world cup.
Yes, but in 2016, you will see.
-Arsene Wenger
What make Makoun obviously better than Song. If Song is fully fit then the coach is a fool for not playing him. He has that get in your face attitude that Cameroon obviously lacked.
Maybe Fred you are wowed by his “basic defending,” but there is much more to his game to impress me, I have to wonder whether you have actually watched him play.
Overrated bunch ooh Mazza are you talking about England or Arsenal? I don’t think that as a team Arsenal are overrated at all as we consistently prove ourselves to be within the top four in the country nobody has rated us any higher than that. Neither are our players overrated as everyone thought they were not good enough for the top four last season.
‘truth’ is that our players are underrated especially by cycnics and ungratefuls like you ;-)
ESPN keeps talking about a “big” rivalry b/w Denmark and the Netherlands. Has anyone ever heard of this? Either I’m somehow totally ignorant of this “96 year old rivalry” as they put it, or they’re making something up that US audiences won’t know is fake, in order to spice up interest, as they seem to often do.
The Dutch and the Danes have had a few squabbles in the past but no modern person in Holland gives a darn about that especially from a sports point of view.
The only real rivalry the Dutch have is with Germany and Belgium … and even those two are very much on the wane.
Oh, and for those surprised by Germany’s opening match, recall they won 4-2 in their first game last time, and 8-0 in 2002. They’ve not lost a group stage game since 1986, going 12-4-0 in tournaments since, including yesterday.
Ah, first time I’m in the GDC and no one’s there…
Danes are stonewalling the Dutch so far, but you can see why the Oranje only allowed 3 goals in qualifying, or however many it was. Absolutely no possession for Denmark, similar level to what we had in the first half of our first game w/ Barca.
Germany played very well. If that highly-possible QF matchup w/ Argentina materializes, I know where my money is going. Unless I see some evidence that Messi’s brilliance is so phenomenal that it can overcome anything that Diego does to try and sabotage the teams’ chances. But look at the way the Germans totally marked Christiano out of the game at the Euros.
holland-denmark game is on. gotta watch for van der weil for holland and simon kjaer for denmark. they’ve both been linked.
The moment I saw Gerrard and Lampard together in a 4-4-2, I knew Capello had lost it.
Since 2004, we’ve all known that combo is unstable and unworkable … yet a tactical “genius” like him still reverts to that in a world cup game in 2010??? Embarrassing.
What really is the difference between what Fabio is doing and what Steve McClaren would have done?? Where is the difference in tactics? formation?
playing pattern?
He is still using the exact same 4-4-2 with the same players and the same idiotic tactics … mindless long balls.
The only difference is that England now has TWO plank wingers in Lennon and SWP. Before you could at least rely on Beckham for a regular cross.
PS: I have absolutely no time for Walcott, but after watching SWP, Milner and Lennon, one has to feel a bit sorry for him. These 3 players are small fry players who will never, ever be prime-time. They will play above average in the league but will never be international class.
Walcott compared to almost all the wingers I have seen in the past 20 years is pretty much as brainless as they come. But at the very least, he specializes in having one or two moments in the very important games.
In the end though, you English folks just have to face facts. You have a bullsh&t team.
how far do you see England going in this tournament?
QFs at most … and thats if they can avoid Germany in the 2nd round.
A two man central midfield of Gerrard/Lampard wont cut it against any serious team.
I think England can get to the Semi’s… with luck.
Gerrard – Lampard combination has simply never worked.
Some pairings you can’t force.
Even though its just one match, they look like the team who is over-rated again…
The notion that Gerrard and Lampard cannot play together is a fallacy that the media and certain pundits have hyped so much that every fool ;-P believes it now.
The truth is no matter who Gerrard or Lampard play with the England side always underperforms. They can play OK together once their roles are clearly defined or they execute their natural game in tandem with each other i.e Gerrard stays back when Lamps goes forward.
Lampard is the weak link defensively because he does not close down players enough and likes to stand off the opposition giving them too much time and space to pick their pass.
Absolutely LOVED the US drawing with England.
We actually outplayed them in the first half, despite
giving up the quick goal at the start.
But let’s not get carried away. ONE GAME, while it means something,
does not mean the tournament is over or won.
Italy won the last World Cup, and looked like shit at times
in their opening 3 matches. You just have to qualify… get out
of the opening round. How you look, doesn’t always matter.
While I quite enjoyed the gaff by Green, just because a keeper
lets in ONE horrible goal, doesn’t mean he is not a good keeper.
I find it funny that some Brits want James to be brought in… the
guy they call “Calamity James”…
He’s actually a good keeper as well, but all keepers make blunders.
When the stage is THIS BIG, it gets highlighted 100X over.
Unfortunately for Arsenal, our keepers made gaffs ALL YEAR LONG…
not just once or twice…
As long as we bring in a new keeper, I am confident it will
be an improvement on Almunia and Fabianski.
If we don’t bring in a new keeper… you can expect the same
type of crap goal-keeping we saw all season long.
Since most of us don’t follow West Ham (as we follow Arsenal), I’m wondering if Green doesn’t have his own trail of howlers.
nothing close to Almunia or Fabianski.
Sorry Stag that is pure fantasy USA never dominated that game at anystage but looked competitive throughout.
Truth is USA did not deserve a draw but England did not deserve to win either because they should have buried them.
Only a soccer newbie is at all surprised by Germany doing well at a major tournament. This is their thing, this is what they do. Their record of getting into Euro and World Cup semifinals and finals is incredible.
I personally think Ballack not being in the squad is blessing in disguise for them.
When he is in the team they inevitably rely too much on him. So when he inevitably gets suspended, injured or plays badly they derail. Ballack also makes them more defensive and a bit too static.
Without him they can return to the Euro 96 stereotypical machine model.
No real major player, but lots of good, well drilled players. Lots of well drilled, movements, great fitness, strength and “mercilessness” infront of goal.
In a way thats what Dunga is trying to do with Brazil.
Personally I think Germany is dead certain to reach the semis. Maybe even the final.
The only weak link I can see is Badstuber.
personally think Ballack not being in the squad is blessing in disguise for them.
————–
I too feel this way when watching the game.
sometimes it’s a good thing from the TEAM’s point of view when they are playing without a STAR in the side.
since Germany sent a young team to WC. Had Ballack been around, basic human instinct would have dictated the youngsters’ mind to let Ballack run the show. To let everything goes through him, the main man.
From what I saw from the Oz match, you can’t really tell who’s the man running the show for Germany.
They are indeed working like a well-oiled machine. It makes you feel good watching football like this.
Gotta say WC this year has been off to a decent start.
Korea Vs Greece, England Vs US, Germany Vs Oz, Argentina Vs Nigeria.
4 good matches so far from viewers’ point of view.
Ozil played really well and is an incisive player on his day. The problem is he “disappears” when it counts, frequently going AWOL when team is trailing or against top 8 Bundesliga side.
Arsenal cant afford ANOTHER player who is merely a flat track bully, pumelling the small boys and shrinking at showtime. Lets face it Australia is to Germany as Burnley is to Arsenal.
Then again he is 22, so still some room for growth in that area. But I would be careful buying another project. Wenger has not shown he can actually “fix” flaws in his players. We NEED ready-made products.
arsesession,
I don’t really remember when was the last time Germany fall apart in a major tournament though.
if any nation I dare not to underestimate, it’s the Germans. Those guys got an iron will. Even with a crap team, they just somehow still managed to get result. With a better team, who knows how far they can go.
If you actually watched the full game, you would probably agree with or without Cahill’s sending off, there’s no contest. A KO.
The result is less relevant to the performance, if we are going to judge how strong this team are. The Germans were in total control. Their midfield did not really play with a high tempo, and did not rush things. They were like slow.. slow.. pass.. pass, then all a sudden their attackers started to move into space (a few of them, together at the same time) and dish out that sucker punch.
Mighty impressive.
I agree they can never be counted out; but that lore is a fading mindset, as other countries have cut the gap in tactical understanding, physicality, skill, and coaching quality. If you review the past few WC’s-they destroy the weaker competition! They show no mercy with inferior teams.
They are still a major force in this sport; tremendous organization. Their players are physically strong…..mentally tough….and good skills; but this generation of players is not of the same caliber as those teams of earlier decades.
I did watch the entire match & you could see that this average Australian team were able to create some very serious threats – with and without Cahill.
I’m just saying the German performance was magnified by their opponents play. Australia lacked speed and physical strength and Germany made a meal of these weaknesses; AS ANY GOOD TEAM WOULD.
Wonder what Capello is receiving in salary for his stint as National coach? Wonder what Bob Bradley is making?
Oezil looks tasty, maybe there’s a ready made Cesc replacement right there.
He is only 21, a major selling point for Arsene, but he is already well-known. That’s cheating, you know.
The red card for Tim Cahill was the first bad refereeing decision I’ve seen so far, and let’s be honest- it didn’t change what was going to happen in that game, nor will it likely change either team’s group fortunes.
Refs tend to get a bit card-happy in World Cups, and all 3 matches had red cards today. One I agreed with (the Serbian guy), one I didn’t, and the other (Algerian guy) I didn’t see.
However, I was very glad to see Cacau and Ozil both booked for diving. IMO, any dive anywhere on the pitch should be punished w/ a yellow.
They all deserved a red card, Cahill too. Alright maybe Cahill could have got a yellow instead. He could have broken the guys leg, he tried to pull out of a challenge he should never have gone in for in the first place.
Look at it again and see if Cahill had a remote chance of getting that ball.
I would think that should have been orange card (more than yellow, but less than red). However, I also think Cahill got away with too many nasty stuffs in EPL. He probably thought he could get away in World Cup too. Not this time.
Orange sounds about right ACF.
and what can u say about Padolski and Klose. doesn’t matter how they did with the club form, when comes to World Cup, they always rose to occasion and score.
It’s true Oz aren’t exactly top class opponents, nor were Nigeria, US, Uruguay.
Wow what a performance from Germany! Textbook example of how the runners kill the opposition. Excellent off the ball movement from the Germans.
Germany for a period of time were dried of new talents. But now they are back. They have sent a young team to WC. These set of players are gonna be Germany’s future. Be afraid.
use two words to sum up their opener performance – controlled, matured.
Australia had an average performance and are only a average squad (v. past teams). Germany, a major power in this sport was faster, stronger, and tactically superior. Losing Cahill only made the margin inflated.
The socceroos miss the large target stricker, Viduca.
I believe once Germany plays outside of this bracket, and face competition that can match their speed and skill, they will fall apart. Their defense is not spectacular.
Ozil showing what being a playmaker is all about. Gourcuff take note ;)
Showing what a diver is all about too. He deserved that Yellow, as did Cacau.
the French coach is gonna regret leaving Nasri behind.
Definitely at fault on the second one.
Is this our new GK?
I hope not. We need to buy Tim Howard, even if it means paying a premium.
Because spending a lot of money on 30+ GKs is what Wenger does.
1) It is my opinion that we should look at Howard. 2) Wenger has said that he recognizes changes need to be made. We’ll see how far he’s willing to go.
I’m sure Wenger has names in mind and that Howard’s is probably not among them. Schwarzer’s name apparently is, but he doesn’t look like a league winner to me.
it’ll also depends on realistic situation though.
Apparently Arsenal already made a bit for schwarzer and were rejected.
And Arsenal duly back off instead of playing the tap up game.
since we hate Barca’s antic, we ought not be committing the sin we accused others for.
if we are going to play a fair game in transfer market, then be patient. It’s not easy to say just I want you, so you must come.
We are no Barca.
I thought Schwarzer should have done better on that goal.
@nip,
actually i don’t think Korea played well because Greece were crap.
The reason I believe S.Korea will be surprise package is not blind guess. You can tell the quality of their players by the South Koreans who are playing in Europe.
Man U’s Park JY not only got workrate and solid skills, but he got a steel of nerve to always pop up with crucial goals. He seems to always score important goals in big games when playing for Man U. I sure hell remember he had scored quite a few against us. And that goal he scored against Greece, he made it look easier than it was. It took nerve to convert the shot.
then u look at that guy he’s playing for Bolton, he’s arguably Bolton’s most creative player. I remember he did cause our left back many problems when playing against us last season.
They have more than these 2 players who are currently playing in Europe.
The Koreans had always been aggressive, hardworking and mentally tough. And the Asian players do not lack of skills neither. Nowadays, they have so many players playing in Europe. That made them more experienced and confident to take on the stronger nations in the world.
Their key weakness those is their size, their lack of physical strength. So the fact that they be able to overcome a physical side like Greece is some achievement in its own.
I don’t think they were a good team back in 2002. The fact they broke into semi that year was very much the result of once again a typical “home court advantage”.
But this current side look far stronger than 2002. You can tell from their passing game, very assured. and that number 10, he got real pace. I’m surprised to see he could get behind Greece’s defence with his pace.
Agree with Korea’s work ethic. They were fantastic. Didn’t mean to discredit their effort, but at the same time Greece sucked.
It was a bit like last night. Germany were good but Oz also sucked.
Korea vs Nigeria should be a good game.
I totally agree on Carragher. It doesn’t matter if he’s a good CB or bad CB, he quit on England because didn’t want to be backup.
Someone else trained with England, played for England during the qualifying round and eventually got England there in the finals. And now Carragher is back and nick the world cup place from them. He got the cheek to do that? What a classless prat.
I remember martin Keown used to go to two world cup without getting a single playing minute. you don’t hear Keown complains about it and decided to quit for England.
there are players like Beckham, who doesn’t go to WC for the publicity. Everyone knows how much he loves England, in fact, he’s one of the rare players once being criticized playing better for his nation than his club. Even knowing that he’s not in the squad, will never get to play, he still wanna be there with his country. You gotta respect players like that.
The likes of Carragher clearly cares about himself far more than his country. And he does not deserve to play for England, even if he’s England’s Paolo Maldini.
England! Haha. Where do I start? Capello. There was only three of us in the GDC yesterday and I dogged Capello the entire time. Why start a sick kid? Why depend on a guy who’s been cripple for the past five years and needs ten days to recover after every game? Why Jamie Carragher? Why bring a broke Gareth Barry when you’ve got a fit Scott Parker? Why is Heskey even in the team, let alone starting when you’ve got Crouch and Defoe? If Darren Bent were in the team instead of Heskey, maybe Rio Ferdinand would be fit. Lastly, why is Robert Green even in the squad, let alone starting a match when the other two keepers are clearly better than him?
When I saw Capello’s starting line-up, I thought to myself that we’ve got a chance to get all three points here. His first two sub were made because he started players who weren’t fully fit. Why would you pick a player for the World Cup squad if you didn’t have the confidence in their ability to play especially when your normal starter is sick?
Jamie Carragher quit England because he stopped getting call-ups. Why would you pick someone like that? I would pick Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka, Joleon Lescott, Scott Dann, or even Michael Dawson before Carragher.
Micah Richards is a better defender than Glen Johnson and he can play CB in a crunch.
Ashley Young is a better play maker than SWP and he plays on the left normally.
A fit Scott Parker or even Fabrice Muamba is better than a cripple Gareth Barry.
Kevin Davies, Bobby Zamora, Darren Bent, Carlton Cole, Kevin Doyle, and Gabriel Agbonlahor are all better strikers than Emile Heskey.
The only keeper worse than Green is Robinson.
The trend of downward goalscoring is once again showing itself at a World Cup. 2002 had the 3rd lowest goals per game average, while 2006 was the very lowest. In 7 matches so far, we have 9 goals, for an avgerage of 1.285 goals per game, and only one team (S Korea) has scored more than 1. Pathetic.
One of my predictions is already down the drain with Serbia going down today!
Yet another low scoring game. Will it change with Germany? I somehow doubt it. Hopefully Holland will spank Denmark tomorrow.
HT in the Serbia vs Ghana game and it has been very disappointing so far.
It has been a very low scoring World Cup so far and that is not good for entertainment although it does keep the competition tight and open.
I enjoyed the England vs USA game. Exposed how “good” England are even with Capello at the helm. Who was saying Green for Arsenal? No thanks!
Andez is right about the type of keeper a big club needs. But Arsene persists with Mooney and Flapianski. :(
The Argentina vs Nigeria game also exposed how “good” Maradona is. Nigeria could have snatch a point there.
No team is doing well so far. The most convincing win was Korea and that was only because Greece suck!
It should be a fun world cup!
I don’t think England were that “bad”. They played an organised US team without Rooney (seriously) and dominated the game… eventually.
Do not underestimate the States they are not a bad team. On a good day England should win comfortably on an average day anything can happen.
England is far more competent under Capello than they have been since Venables.
some comments about Eng / USA match – hilarious
especially the one where Almunia needs to apply for British citizenship……
http://www.football365.com/mailbox/story/0,17033,8744_6203491,00.html
As for Green’s blunder.
Basically I think if you are not playing for a top club life is bounded to be difficult for you to play in a major tournament.
The difference is – PRESSURE.
Green may have pulled off a string of brilliant saves for West Ham, but the pressure there is different. Fans do not except you keep everything out of goal. If you team are defeated 3-4, and you make 10 brilliant saves, you may still be deemed as a good enough goalkeeper to play for the club.
Playing for a top club is an entirely different story. More often than not, a keeper does not have much things to do. Probably the opposition team would only have 3 shots on target. And you are EXPECTED to keep them out.
That’s the reason you are employed by a TOP club, not by making 10 brilliant saves, but to keep the mistake to the minimum.
As Arsenal fans ourselves, we know it well enough how vital the ability for a keeper to handle pressure is.
For a keeper like Robert Green, who have never played for a top club, never played in Europe club competitions, and rarely started for England as well, all a sudden found himself starting in the World Cup… it’s like a time bomb, sooner or later disaster would happen.
I kinda feel for him. It’s not his false afterall England fail to produce another David Seaman.
That is a nice apologetic for Mr Green ‘Dez.
As he doesn’t play for Arsenal I will not make any excuses for him, he is an utter arsehole, just like Carson, Robinson and James, pathetic the lot of them.
Well, well, well. Atypical England result really but they played well though.
There was only one winner in this game the States, they would have been happy with the draw and hopefully it will be good enough to see you through.
Hesky was fantastic, Gerrard good bar a few errant passes, Johnson also another highlight. Rooney and Lennon were both under par and that was Englands biggest problem bar Green’s gaff.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s game
You say “Atypical England result,” but are you sure you didn’t mean to say…
“A typical England result”…?
This draw makes the group very interesting, if someone can win tomorrow. Everyone and his mother have been picking England-USA to go through, but Algeria or Slovenia could end up w/ 3 pts, while everyone else has 1, 1, and 0.
From a Yank perspective it is also exciting cause we have a legitimate shot to win the group. England are still favorites I’d say, but we’ve definitely given ourselves a shot.
MOTM: Tim Howard, definitely!
I was reading Sports Illustrated a few days ago (normally terrible ‘soccer’ coverage) and they had a group interview w/ the US’s 3 GK’s. Very interesting. I agree w/ them that man-for-man GK is the only position on the pitch where the US has more talent than England. And it may also be true that any of the 3 US GK’s are currently better than the 3 English ones- that’s a stretch though.
i’m impressed by that number 5 of US team, what is his name?
onyewu
by the way, agree with your analysis below about Green, playing in an environment of low expectation – WC brings with it a new level of butterflies……
That’s is more than a stretch. Hanemann is as bad as Green and Hart is better than all your GKs IMO.
Man of the match was Onyewu in MOTM in my opinion.
But then again I might have to agree with Josh the US’ best player was Rob “the Arsehole” Green.
Yep I meant “a typical”
Hesky WAS fantastic. The breakaway shot right into Howard’s stomach was of tremendous help. Typical.
LOL! Vibe I have resented Emile Hesky being in the England line up for innumerable years. So when he plays as good as he did yesterday I am close to estatic. He was probably England’s best player apart from Gerrard.
England was far better with Hesky than without yesterday, it’s a shame about the shot.
Ooh how I wish ade was an Englishman ;-)
Speaking of the great Adebayor, only he could have outdone Hesky’s offside count yesterday.
Maybe the big Dade can apply for British citizenship.
LOL!
“Speaking of the great Adebayor, only he could have outdone Hesky’s offside count yesterday.”
Too funny. At the bar yesterday, I made the same analogy to Adebayor/Heskey offsides ratio.
Heskey’s ball to Gerrard was pretty.
Josh’s actually right. Apparently the Americans bought more tickets than fans from any other country except for the host South Africans, so i think their are more American fans out there.
When i was watching SWP, i can’t help but feel sorry for Ian Wright. Footballers’ career really depends on a lot of luck and good(bad) timing. SWP must have less than 10%’s talent than his step dad, yet Ian never got the chance to play for England in World Cup.
Gotta say this is the most exciting game so far, in terms of goalmouth action at least.
and I gotta salute the Americans’ courage. In the 2nd half they hardly be able to keep any possession, yet when they did have the ball, they choose to go for it, go for counter attack instead of holding the ball and to waste a bit of time.
No way, never Andez. The Americans may have bought more from official sources. The English presence is massive not only from England fans from England but English ex-pats in South Africa.
I would estimate at least 2-1 in terms of England to US fans at this tournament.
I still think the dutch presence in SA should see them have more support than any other team other than SA themselves.
Ozi Remember the dutch don’t even acknowledge the Boers as being their spawn and the Boers don’t care for them either. so don’t be counting on home support for them I doubt if there are that many Dutch ex-pats in SA although you might find a lot of Germans.
Really? Hmm.. I must be misinformed then. Though from my 2 visits there there did seem to be more dutch then any other European nationality. Meh, we’ll just have to judge from TV noise and make arbitrary assumptions from what we see over the next month.
I have been there too Ozi.
I didn’t mix with the regular white people to know whether they were Boers or real Dutch but I did meet a lot of British ex-pats and there.
If they are Boers as I suspect I cannot see them supporting the Dutch not until South Africa is out at least.
I told you guys green was no better than almunia.
Common Josh that’ a bit much I would say a tittle bit better than Al on an off day
they’re the same, dude. i’ve watched green do that all year. we’re just more familiar with almunia because we watch every arsenal game. if you watched every west ham game, you would know.
I know quite a few West Ham fans they rate him highly, I don’t watch every West Ham game though but I know has been prone to the odd gaff, but I would tend to agree with the West ham faithfull he is a decent GK, but still an Arsehole
if green’s a descent keeper, almunia is descent too.
Al’ is decent just not decent enough for the Arsenal
Oh darn 1-0 already!
NO WAY will American support be more than the English anywhere but the States, this our sport.
2-0 England? We’ll see
Tonight’s game will be interesting. England are, obviously, favorites but we’ll probably have more fans in the stadium than England. Not only that, but surely more neutrals will be rooting for the underdog. We’ll see.
Being objective, I think the US team will miss Charlie Davies too much tonight. He was the difference in the Confederations Cup last year. If not for him, we wouldn’t have beaten Spain. Defenses being forced to cope with Davies’ pace made a little more room for Altidore and others.
Anyway, my prediction, 1-0 for the yanks with Edson Buddle with the goal and Terry receiving a red card. Really, Lennon or SWP are going to kill us down our left flank. Crouch is too tall as well.
I really admire the battling spirit of the little South koreans. Take Park JS’s 2nd goal, our “current” Arsenal side probably would never score a goal like that. Park didn’t care if he’s wasting his energy, he just went and closing down the opposition center half. And boy did the effort pay off for him or not!
It reminds me what Ian Wright used to do. Just kept closing down on everything. Run run run.
Greece are so one dimensional, the same dimension that won them Euro 2004 without the defensive solidity.
Korea are looking quite good playing a neat passing game.
Go Korea!!
What, no one watching Korea take on Greece ???
Oh and on yesterday’s opener, outstanding finish by the south african (forget his name). Could not have hit it any better. My prediction of a LOT of goals doesn’t seem to be coming to fruition just yet. Hopefully hte Argies can change that tonight.
Well, spot on on the likely wrong predictions being damn fun. These a to re mine, mixed in with hope:
1. The Oranje to win the WC
2. Agree, SA to go thru grp stages
3. Agree with Nip bout Serbia. Mentioned it in the last thread, a back 4 of Ivanovic, Vidic, Subotic and Kolarov if used with the right gameplan (counter attacking) should yield results
4. England to blitz through the group stages and the second round to crash out against the hype in the QF
5. RVP to be top scorer
6. RVP to get injured and nullifying predictions 1 and 5 in one swoop
Ok, my predictions.
1. Brazil will win the World Cup beating Spain in the final.
2. First team to be knocked out – New Zealand.
3. Surprise package – Serbia. Hoping they will knock off England in the 2nd round.
4. England will NOT progress beyond Q/F.
5. Top Scorer – Torres or Luis Fabiano?
6. France to not progress beyond group stages.
Rumor has it…
Arsene is inquiring about Everton’s Phil Jagielka, since we
only have Vermaelen and Djourou as CB’s… that might be a good idea
to get an extra one!
and…
West Ham is inquiring about Thierry Henry!
so if TH14 wants to play another year in a real league, before
retiring to the MLS.
Interesting.
Early predictions:
1. Argentina to win WC.
2. South Africa to qualify from group stage.
3. South Korea will be the surprise package.
4. van Persie will be the golden boot winner. (and causing Barcelona not sure if they should stick to going for Cesc or RvP)
5. Hondorus the first team to be game over.
6. England will win a penalty shootout (law of average saying – it’s about time).
7. I will be getting all my above predictions wrong.
1. Spain to win WC
2. South Africa play well, but don’t qualify for the next round
3. South and North Korea, elminated early… Chile is the Surprise!
4. Golden Boot goes to Fernando Torres!
5. North Korea gets beat down in all 3 games and out first.
6. England will have a good tournament, after struggling with the US, but they ain’t winning…
7. most of us will get the predictions wrong, but its fun!
I’m joining in…
1. Argentina to lose to eventual champs Spain in SF
2. SA for 2nd in Group A
3. SKorea out, Nigeria for the surprise.
4. Golden Boot to David Villa.
5. Honduras to finish above Swiss in the group; NK to have worst GD of group stage
6. England out to Dutch in SF… the 2 worst penalty shoot-out sides!
7. I will get 1 of these right, but no more.
turned out Diaby was the only shining light in an extremely dull French side.
Sum the France team up in one sentence – the parts are better than the sum.
Which means the biggest problem is the coach.
You could blame the players and their big egos, but this is a major national team, all of which are loaded with big egos. A team of that caliber should have a coach that can control the egos, a la Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany, and maybe even Holland this time around.
agreed, the individual talent might be there, but they are NOT at “team”…
it can be overcome, but the comraderie has to grow… usually with WINS.
Diaby starts out wide instead of Malouda.
Henry and Malouda dropped.
Ribery plays in the Zidane role.
Abidal continues at CB.
Life is never boring with Domenech as coach.
Will be in GDC for the second game. Rooting for Uruguay.
The first game was fantastic. Watched it at a friend’s place. Not some huge sized TV, but a projector onto a huge wall. Great experience!
Mexico dominated the first half but South Africa did pretty well in the second. Carlos Vela was typical Arsenal – looked good but failed to deliver when it mattered. Dos Santos (who was sent on loan to the Championship by Spurs) looked so much better.
ESPN commentators kept saying that the first-half offsides call on that Mexican corner kick was wrong. Took them forever to realize that the offsides rule states you must have TWO opposing players b/w you and the goal. Since the GK came way off his line, Vela was past him, and thus the sole defender on the back post was not enough. Normally one defender is enough to keep you onsides, b/c in 99% of cases, the GK is also b/w you and the goal. Correct call.
Watching ESPN this morning and the very first image of a “live” player (after the canned intros, etc.) was our own Carlos Vela. “The Mexican team is used to playing in big stadiums, blah, blah, blah and 21 year old starting striker, Carlos Vela, with 30 international appearances, has played in some big matches, but never in an atmosphere like this….” or something to that effect. Anyways, kick off is coming and it’s fairly exciting…
I guess I’ll see if anybody is in the GDC…
Vela didn’t do much, came off for the old dude Blanco.
1-1.
Good match… with Mexico dominating the 1st half, and SA playing better in the 2nd.
Still can’t see either of these two advancing.
If Uruguay beat France and USA beat England – that would be a great start to the tournament.
I believe South Africa will beat Mexico in the opener.
Know nothing about South Africa. But I believe FIFA will somehow find a way to let the host at least to qualify for 2nd round. Football is corrupted man.
someone should start a campaign “Kick Sepp Bastard Out of Football”.
I doubt FIFA will have a say in whether South Africa qualify for the next round.
They have some decent players, and will be driven by a football mad country, starving for a winning moment.
I just don’t see them beating out France or Uruguay.
Eh, home advantage, like we have seen this season is HUGE. Add to that they are playing not just in a different stadium (like a daytrip the gunners have to Ewood park or so) but a whole new country. I think it makes a big, big difference. I don’t think you can attribute the host nation having qualified for the second round every time down to history.
They have the best physical attributes of the group, the best support, I would bet they have the biggest hunger, not up there talent wise but we all know that football is soo much more than just talent.
I can see them getting the majority of 50-50 decisions and that should help. I wouldn’t categorize it as corruption though.
I don’t think you can attribute the host nation having qualified for the second round every time in the history of WC, down to corruption*
I think Andez is referring to 2002 when it was more than home support that got Japan and Korea far in the tournament.
I still don’t think there was any corruption there. I know they got more than their fair share of decisions there, manuresque proportions some of them. But by that kind of evidence (we only have a sample of about 5 games for each team to judge), than the EPL is corrupt as well.
Maybe I’m missing some incidences? It’s possible, it’s gone a bit hazy. Remind me…
The S. Korea vs. Spain game springs to mind.
Okay, put my $20 on…
1. Spain
2. Brazil
3. Netherlands
32. North Korea
31. Japan
30. South Korea (Gotta keep the Koreas separated, obviously)
Tie-breaker, NK gets only 6 goals scored against them before they’re bounced.
I have no confidence in any of this and hate myself for not picking the Orange to win. But I didn’t want to spend another $20.
Pumped…here we go, Nip…the SHOULD be official anthem ;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utl-uOdX12w
Ke Nako – It is Time.
Wave you flag, wave your flag …
An Ozil is more likely than a Gourcuff imo. The irony is Gourcuff needs to have a stinker at the WC for Arsene’s interest to be aroused. He needs to feel he hones the player – no ready-mades.
The France thing is so not a surprise. France and Holland have some similar inherent national characteristics that are relevant in this regard. For whatever reason they have this advanced ability to implode over relational issues. Holland is the prime example, they have had a number of rarely talented and touted sides at the bi-annual major football tournaments who on almost every ocassion self-destruct over off-field disharmony. It happens so regularly, you almost need to factor it in to your planning! You have to accept that the ‘drama’ is more/as exciting to the country(s) as the football.
Senderos needed to go. The crowd got on his back – he became a target for e-abuse every week. The genesis of his demise was the unplanned arrival of Gallas. Pre-Gallas Senderos had become a starter (even got the revered no.6 shirt) and was forming a complimentary partnership with Toure that looked ok – imo a lot better (more sensible) than Gallas/Toure. When Gallas came, Wenger’s seniority thing meant Gallas/Toure was the preferred partnership. That was it. AC Milan was the wrong move, he needed a modest journeyman team in which to refind himself. Even Everton was probably too high. Senderos is another side to the youth approach. At the end of the day relatively few ‘youth stars’ actually make the grade Arsenal needs.
yeah, ozil is a very weak minded player and probably cheaper too so, i guess he is more likely. too bad.
Ummm.
France won the Euros AND World Cup.
When’s the last time the Dutch won anything?
keh?
no, thats just stag getting off the reservation again.
“France and Holland have some similar inherent national characteristics that are relevant in this regard. For whatever reason they have this advanced ability to implode over relational issues”
France WON the Euros and WC…
their “implosion over relational issues” is not relevant…
If you are good enough, you find a way to WIN.
The Dutch, haven’t done it. Don’t think France should be lumped in there.
I think they’ll advance from their group, and France will be a threat, just like last World Cup.
I know that’s hard to follow Fred, I’ll try and dum it down for you going forward.
France had an exceptional team during that short window. Other than that I don’t think they have won anything at all. What Fred is saying is that both teams have a tendency to implode. You can’t put more than 3 Dutch soccer players in a room together without having internal strife and France seems to be the same way.
” …. i’ll try and dum it down for you going forward”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH!!!!!
Interesting english you’ve got there staggy. And what does “dum” mean???
that’s called irony you jackass.
I would prefer Mesut Ozil to Gourcuff though. A left-footed playmaker.
Ozil is a fragile minded player, who wilts under minimum pressure.
We already have more than enough of that.
He is not an upgrade on someone like Nasri. Infact he is not that far ahead of someone like Wilshere.
PS: Why do you “hate” Gourcuff so?? ;-) He is a 23 year old who has carried his team to a title in a top 5 euro league. His technical and physical qualities are excellent.
Thats more than you can say about most.
If Gorcuff is so good, why would Diaby be threatening to play ahead of him?
Gorcuff is pretty good, I don’t think anyone “hates” him, he’s just not worth close to the 22million GBP needed to get him.
Carried his team?
Not this year.
Diaby is not “threatening” to play ahead of him …. the French team is rife with cliques along ethnic and other lines and a whole bunch of players dont like him because he isnt in their group. Its the big story in the French press.
And yes, he brought Bordeaux their first title in a long while … and no, a playmaker doesnt have to “carry” his team to a title EVERY season, staggy boy, if so then Ronaldo and Kaka are not very good.
Thats how absolutely idiotic your last two sentences are.
—————————–
How can Gourcuff be too expensive at 22 m, he is 23 and has actually WON something.
Nasri hadnt won squat and we paid 15 m for him.
Walcott: 12 m
The average 17 year old we sign for our reserves and to send out on loan costs about 5 m.
Fred, you said he CARRIED his team.
He did NOT have a good season this year.
You might not like that fact, but its true.
He “brought” the team the title the year before? really? I don’t think that’s very accurate either.
I know you like YOUR facts, but that doesn’t mean they are true.
We DO NOT PAY 22 MILLION for players, and certainly not one’s who get 6 goals, and whose team he allegedly carries, finishes what… 6th? in a weak league?
If he gets the credit for carrying the team to a title, why doesn’t he get flack for failing to do much this year?
A player cant carry a team to a title EVERY season.
If you are going down that imbecilic logic path then is Gerrard a poor player?? They finished seventh. What about Kaka and Ronaldo?? What about Rooney?? According to your moronic logic those folks should also get flack for not bringing it for their team?
Retarded argument point.
you’re the one who wouldn’t want Gerrard!
Sorry, your boy Gorcuff isn’t good enough for Arsenal, not at 22 Million.
funny u dont attempt to defend your moronic logic.
gerrard would cost 50 million, so i dont see your point.
ofcourse you dont have any.
I never understood what people liked about “left-footed playmakers”??
Is a left footed dribble, feint, assist or goal any better than a right-footed one?? ;-)
PS: We had a left-footed Merida, who was technically excellent and we let him go for free … while Diaby and Denilson continue to receive their paycheck every week.
probably because they are not as common as right-footed players.
A good left-handed pitcher in baseball, is certainly a hotter commodity than a good righty…
there just aren’t as many out there.
its easier to get the righty.
question still left unanswered: is a left-footed feint, dribble, throughball, assist or goal any better than a right-footed one???
Well in a way I guess. NOt overly so.
But you can imagine that defenders would have more experience defending against a right footed player so someone who favours their left foot more would be putting the defender at their weaker side more often.
But I don’t think it is that big a deal. The good players like Robben and Ronaldo vary their play enough that the defender is second guessing anyway. Then you have freaks like Messi whose left foot is so strong that you can’t do anything about him even if you know what he is most likely to do (and he’s improved his right as well).
All in all maybe adds a bit of balance to the side. F*ck it, let’s just get an ambidextrous player (are there any?)
I understand your point … but I dont think left-footers are more difficult to defend against.
Remember a left-footed winger on the left wing faces a right-footed rightback … while a right footed winger faces a left-footed leftback.
That is why wingers like to switch wings so they can face full-backs on their weaker foot.
Thats why Rivaldo, Messi, Robben, etc like coming in from the right.
Outside of the wings, the foot a player uses is pretty much irrelevant.
Fred I think ppl like left-footed players more b/c, like Ozi said, the defender has much less experience defending against them and is therefore much less prepared for what he will see.
I can see why left-footed players are valued for play at LB and L mid/winger, since they are harder to find than are righties for the right flank. However, I don’t see why this is better in a playmaker, or anyone who plays in the middle of the pitch; the good defenders and GK’s are ready for everything.
In baseball lefties are extremely valuable, b/c which way you pitch/bat makes a big difference, and they are simply so rare. But I think football is more like basketball: a lefty guard may fool a defender early in the game and dribble past him, but that’s it. A competent defender will adjust quickly.
well said by Ozi and ChicagoG…
I am with Andez… I hope the US STUFF England.
I don’t think its far-fetched for them to get a draw or
even a win.
It would be very enjoyable, and it would be very embarrassing for
England. It would be delicious.
But for me, the favorites are … the best.
Spain is absolutely loaded.
The best team in the world.
And, I’d be shocked if they didn’t make a run to at least
the Semi’s… anything else would be a huge dissapointment.
I see Spain winning the World Cup.
Cesc playing a star.
Can’t wait for tomorrow… when all the fun begins.
And when its over, we’ll have the same Arsenal squad
as before… without Sol or Gallas at the back.
The players should know each other well. Including Altidore (who is technically back w/ Villareal) the US have 7 EPL players, plus Jay Demerit of Watford. If you want to include Donovan’s stint w/ Everton, then you’re up to 9.
It’s good strategy on Bob Bradley’s part to favor a physical, high-tempo style, since so many of his players are used to it already.
With all the EPL-based players on both sides, plus both teams’ natrual styles, I wonder if we will see a level of physicality comparable to a typical EPL match, and if so, how will a non-English ref react to this. Add in the fact that the ref (as always at the WC) will be under tremendous public pressure from FIFA to ensure a clean game.
The recent passing of the French Captaincy from Henry to Evra lends credence to the suspicion that Titi will come off the bench in SA. I for one have tipped Mexico and SA to advance from that group. I bet Vela could score a hat-trick at the Cup, and still not be given a shot by Arsene. What if he scored one against France?! Arsene would probably ship him off immediately!
As for my pick of SA, people seem to forget that their coach (Carlos Alberto Parreira) has won the World Cup before. I’m not saying a coach good enough to win it w/ Brazil is good enough to win it w/ SA; I’m saying a coach good enough to win it w/ Brazil is good enough to get 2nd in his group w/ SA.
Look at Japan and S. Korea: both had WC track records as bad as SA before they hosted, and both continued their track records in 2006. But when they had competent foreign coaches and the home support, they qualified to the Round of 16.
Hmm… this was supposed to be its own post, not a reply. Oops.
I don’t think Mexico OR South Africa will advance.
Uruguay is GOOD, and France is GOOD ENOUGH.
I like South Africa to get a point or beat Mexico. The crowd will be like an extra player.
@ Mazza: The people clamoring for Diaby to replace Gourcuff are Anelka, Abidal and Ribery. Not the French people or the press.
Gourcuff is not a member of the clique, they dont like him at all and they have made that abundantly clear. A lot of players in the team are already giving him the “Reyes treatment”, and according to the French press, Anelka refused to pass to him on several occasions in their last friendly.
My feelings on Anelka and Ribery are well-known. Overhyped players who dont show up when it really matters. So I really dont care about their opinion.
You and I know very well the type of “qualities” Diaby brings … so you can already guess that this politicking is complete bullsh%t.
The good thing is if France bomb out in the group stage due to lots of infighting, as I think they probably will, then Gourcuff’s price might actually come down from the quoted 22m to maybe 15m!
This is intriguing, indeed. Gourcuff and Nasri have something in common. Another gripe is that Henry will start on the bench with Govou preferred. The French are a bunch of drama queens.
Domenech has always made some questionable selections. Abidal at CB? Govou is your starting striker when the likes of Trezeguet and Benzema couldn’t even make the squad? I remember a time when Pires couldn’t even get into the French squad.
I mentioned back in January that if France were to have a good World Cup, I thought Diaby would play a big part. Should he be preferred to Gourcuff? I haven’t seen them in training matches but we all know what Diaby is capable of on his day; especially in the attack.
As for Gourcuff, I don’t think we can judge him too harshly if he doesn’t have a good tournament. He’s on the biggest stage in his career and he’s already behind the 8-ball because he doesn’t have the support of his teammates. That’s gotta be tough for anyone, let alone a young player at his first World Cup. Domenech has to remain objective and get this decision right or France are going home early.
Another one is he needs to check Anelka. If Nico has any ideas of repeating his “no-passing” policy to any teammate, he needs to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he’ll be on the first thing smoking out of SA. What Anelka did was absolute bullshit.
Diaby has NEVER produced in any major match.
He is flat track bully who sometimes plays well against the smaller teams.
He is also brainless.
Wrong. League cup final vs Chelsea. The best player on the park until he lost it after kicking JTs head of his shoulders and getting subbed.
Also Frances best player in their first game surprisingly.
Yep, Phillipe Auclair has said that relations in the French team are a complete mess. Ethnic cliques and divisions.
Goal.com has announced that Joe Cole has signed a 3 year deal with Arsenal.
Like I said in the last thread, I long for the dream final of Spain vs. Holland. If they both win their groups, they go on opposite sides of the bracket, so it could happen. If everyting goes according to plan (which of course it doesn’t), here’s the road each would need to get to the final:
Holland
16: Paraguay/Slovakia
QF: Brazil
SF: England
Spain
16: Portugal/Ivory Coast
QF: Italy (tho I’m hoping for Cameroon to upset them)
SF: Argentina/Germany
I am henceforth banning Chicago Gooner for a period of 1 week post-Blackhawks win over my beloved Flyers.
Just Kidding. . .
Chi – I like your finals matchup. Probably has the likelihood of one of the more exciting finals in a while
I’m not even a hockey fan, and- surprise, surprise- no one else in Chicago was about 3-4 yrs ago.
As for banning, I wish I could ban all the fairweather fans from public areas. 4 years ago the Blackhawks averaged 13,000 fans a game. This year it was over 22,000. Gee, I wonder what accounted for that massive increase… But I’m told if you call in to one of the two 24-hr sports radio stations and complain about the bandwagoners, they get all defensive, as they themselves are (un-admittedly) bandwagoners.
Ha Ha.
I wish I could ban fair weather fans from ANY sports.
People who have no long-term interest in a club suddenly coming out of the word work when they are front runners.
I despise those types.
For all my sports teams I have been on the bandwagon forever. I don’t intend to get off – even when they are poor. Hey I live in Philly that is more often than not.
The sad thing is the bandwagoners don’t know what they’re missing. Yeah sure, I bet its fun to celebrate with the rest of the fans when the team wins, even if you weren’t there all along. But it’s nothing like the feeling of your team winning it all after you’ve endured years of ups and downs with other serious fans. You feel like you’re part of a community, even if sports fandom is only a superficial community at best.
By the way, forgot to mention in the last thread, I think the Oranje will probably have the most support behind the home team. They bloody full of dutchmen in South Africa. Should bode well for them. Got my money on them anyway. And like I said, Spain doing well should liven up my trip there.
Can’t wait…
For me it’s pretty simple on who to watch in the tourney:
100% American – so have to root for the good ‘ol US of A
50% Dutch by ancestory – so the Oranje get the nod as well
25% Enlgish by ancestory – so the three Lions also get a mention
after that I just want to see good competitive games and a few surprises. keep an eye on the big boys and enjoy the next 30 odd days.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8730940.stm
Maradona’s innovative methods of training. ;)
Don’t know much about Schwarzer – could someone in the know please let me know if he is a better option than what we currently have.
Schwarzer was absolutely dynamite in the UEFA Cup for Fulham. If not for some fabulous performances from him, Fulham don’t make the final.
For Fulham to make the final says it all. Their defense ain’t that good. He’s made a few blunders as well but what keeper hasn’t? For my money, he’s better than what we’ve got; certainly better than West Ham’s Green. I think Green’s at the same level as Almunia.
Green is way better than Almunia.
Yes. He is.
Arsene finally responds to the Cesc innuendo:
‘What is important is that Cesc has a great World Cup and what is also important is that he comes back to Arsenal and has a great desire to do well for the club,’ he said.
‘We want to keep our best players, that is my huge determination. I have built this team for years, from 16-17 years of age with most of the players, and we want to continue to work with them because we feel they are very close and the team has many strengths in many ways.’
Full story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1285525/Barcelona-forget-Cesc-Fabregas-Arsenal-boss-Arsene-Wenger-vows-hang-captain.html#ixzz0qRddi1p3
Grand Old Man of Arsenal has confirmed that we have asked Fulham for Mark Schwarzer but they have said no.
And he says Joe Cole was not discussed in a long meeting between him, Ivan and Arsene.
Best of luck to Senderos. I must say I don’t really understand why he fell so hard out of favor. 1) He is a strong young centerback that has shown spells of solid play (2006 CL run) and could’ve provided depth at a very important position. 2) He is certainly a better option than Silvestre. 3) He seems to have been given little room to error while others (like Diaby & Clichy) seem to be able to commit howlers yet still hold their place.
Losing him probably won’t change the fortunes of the team, but I do see some inconsistencies. There must be some issue we don’t know about. Regardless, I think he will do well at a Fulham Club that establishing itself as a solid performer in the EPL.
I too will miss Sendyu. I liked him a lot (despite his howlers). Arseblog has a nice article
http://beta.oleole.com/blogs/arseblog/posts/the-official-arsenal-centre-half-exodus-2010-begins-in-earnest
“Why was Wenger so harsh with Senderos and Lehmann, for example, and so soft on Fabianski and Almunia? Why would he think a Man United cast-off was ever good enough for us? It’s weird, really.”
Hopefully, Arsene is cleaning house so he can make room for another Vermaelen-type signing. Am also hopeful Sol will come back for another season.
Both have attitude problems and issues with other team members, they had to go.
If you remember, when Senderos first went out on his loan to Milan, he had a lot of bullshit to say about how much better Milan was than Arsenal. He burned his Arsenal bridge that day.
As for Lehmann, he had plenty to say too but he was released for a different reason. I’m sure Wenger thought Almunia would come in and do at least as good a job as Lehmann. In fairness, he did for one season. Lehmann was already far from young and aging. His best days were clearly done. It wasn’t until after Lehmann left, that we began to see the Almunia we all know and love more consistently.
As you guys surely know, I was not a big fan of “Cindyros”, but I do think he’ll get better with age. Fulham is a team where I’ll expect him to play ahead of Baird and we’ll see his best with regular game time. However, he’ll never be good enough to be considered a top BPL CB. Drogba still has Sendy’s heart in his back pocket and Fernando Torres ended his Arsenal career in that CL game a few years back.
Speaking of that CL game, poor Theo. Everytime he did something really good, it was always oversahdowed by a more sensational event. That run against Liverpool should have made him a legend for winning that game, except we found a way to lose. In the Brimingham game where Eduardo got his leg broken and Gallas threw the fit, guess who scored Arsenal’s two goals? I can assure you that Theo wasn’t anybody’s headliner that for that game.
While others have sort of discounted Theo, I still have faith. I view him as a 21-year-old player with game-changing potential, but who should not have world-conquering expectations placed on his shoulders yet (Capello’s decision will be a beneficial reality check). At a top club (like Arsenal), he should be coming off the bench when we need to mix things up while at the same time gaining experience – didn’t he come off the bench in the Liverpool game? By the time he’s 25 or 26 I think we’ll see him be significantly more consistent and composed.
My final pick sheet for the pool I’m in is due in 2 hrs, 30 min. I might do worse than usual since there’s a lot of Polish people in the pool (since there’s a lot of Polish people in the Chicago area in general, and they’re mostly football fans), and the Polish guys usually end up ranking Poland pretty high, which screws them. But since Poland will not be present this time, rationality will govern their picks for once.
The pool has an interesting format. Since you can’t do a straight bracket for the World Cup (a la NCAA basketball), you rank every team 1 thru 32. Every time a team wins a game, you get that # of pts. I am giving 32 to Spain, 1 to N. Korea.
What I’m stuck on is the Semis. My research shows that 40% of all spots in the WC Semis have been filled by Brazil, Italy and Germany. (Those same teams account for 20 of 36 spots in the Final, and 12 of 18 WC championships- Int’l football mirrors club football, doesn’t it.)
But my research shows that a semifinal round where all 4 teams are European has NEVER occurred in a tournament held outside of Europe. The problem is- with the way I’ve filled out my theoretical bracket thus far (which I will then use to assign the points), I have to chose b/w an all-Euro semis, or one w/o any of the Big 3 (Ger, Ita, Bra).
We have just signed someone!!! A goalie!!!
Dont get too excited though … he is a 17 year old Argentinean.
He will immediately be first choice Reserve team goalie.
We have given him a 1.5 million pounds contract for good measure too!
You know to ensure his loyalty ;-)
Wenger hasnt learnt sh&t.
Just looked at the fixtures beyond the group stages.
Spain have the toughest draw. If everything goes according to rankings, they could face Portugal in the 2nd round, Italy in the Q/F, Germany or Argentina in the S/F and Holland or Brazil or England in the Final.
Guess who has the easiest? England !!
Possibly Serbia/Australia in the 2nd round and winners of Group A (France or Mexico or Uruguay) in the Q/F. Only in S/F, they are likely to face Holland or Brazil. Wow!
Still wouldn’t surprise me if they screw it up. :)
you don’t always know who’s tough and who’s easy!
once the tournament starts, that changes.
http://www.marca.com/deporte/futbol/mundial/sudafrica-2010/calendario-english.html
One stop page to all WC2010 games.
Absolutely love the Wavin’ Flag track by K’naan.
And it is not even on the official soundtrack of the World Cup!
Big k’naan fan, nip. Love the Wavin’Flag remix he did for the WC. Not sure what you mean, tho. It’s the official FIFA song for the WC, no?
No, it is not. The official song is Waka Waka by Shakira.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listen_Up!_The_Official_2010_FIFA_World_Cup_Album
K’naan’s song was adopted by Coca Cola for their WC adverts and it has become so famous that everyone thinks it is the official track. :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wavin%27_Flag
Nice write-up Chicago!
Getting pretty excited about the WC coming up….Hoping our boys can make some good impressions while not getting maimed. I’ll try to spend some match time in the GDC, but I’ve got various projects (work you could even call it) cramping my style….
Arsenal players and other coincidental elements make me hope that the Dutch (RVP) and Mexican (Vela) teams do well and that maybe Cameroon (A. Song) is the African team that gets the big boost from playing on the home continent (I prefer Eto’o to Drogba-in-a-cast, as the talismanic African goal-scoring machine….)
It could be very interesting if Diaby actually gets some pitch-time and helps France get to the final 8 or 4 (which would equate to a reasonable success for them). Like Mazza above, I’m a bit skeptical about pretty-boy Gorcuff, always having wondered why Milan didn’t just keep him on loan at Bordeaux. Suddenly he’s worth 20 million plus, yet Lyon have bowed out….
So, two more days and we were gonna have all our transfer business concluded by the start of the tournament?….Chamakh in, Senderos, Merida out, Ramsey’s contract extended? Somehow I think this deadline will prove to be a soft one and we’ll be sweating all the way until September (and maybe not starting the season as nicely as last year)….
My major worry with Senderos leaving is that neither Gallas or Campbell has been re-signed, and hopefully Silvestre will also be gone.
That leaves us with Vermaelen as the only signed and tested starter, Djourou coming back from injury and the young guns of Nordveit and Bartley in the wings.
Hardly a confidence boosting back line as it currently stands.
I am sure Arsene would have plenty of confidence in that back line.
I think this deal with L’Orient has legs, and I wouldn’t be completely surprised if it’s settled before the end of the week (i.e., before the World Cup). I think maybe they’re trying to iron out how a loan with sell-on options for Coquelin might figure into keeping the # of Euros/Pounds down for this Koscielny fellow so as to keep pressure off him (and the club) if he turns out to be the #3 CB (behind Djourou and TV5) or otherwise a work-in-progress. Getting Sol back for another year seems key to me, esp. if we’re standing pat with our current goalkeeping options. :o
I read somewhere that Bartley’s gone.
Thought he was just out on a short term loan.
I can’t see them getting rid of him as he is their best home grown CB prospect to date.
Cole and Ballack released from Chelsea.
Both will have trouble getting new clubs.
If Chelsea cannot afford their wage demands, who else can?
We can….(it’s the product of our prudent financial approach…)
Cole has a great chance to show his worth at the World Cup or get crocked again trying.
Ballack’s already hurt and will likely be Bundesliga bound. (Does his worth increase if the Germans do poorly in South Africa?)
We can, but we won’t break our strict salary structure to accommodate a 28-year old with injury problems.
Unless Cole agrees to a huge pay cut, I don’t see him at Arsenal.
Agreed. We also need to consider just how many players with “injury problems” we can carry given the new “Home Grown” player rules.
If Cole can have a strong world cup, at the expense of, say, Gareth Barry, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him end up at City.
Ballack will probably end up at Real Madrid under Mourinho. He was a Mourinho signing at Chelsea and we all know the promised one loves to have experienced leadership on his teams.
Terrific write up DAG.
I’m (also) hoping to see the Dutch lift the trophy.
I’d like to see the USA win their group, but don’t fantasize further advancement – as their defense (excluding GK play) is WEAK. I like what Bradley has achieved with this team, but only see him as ‘one of the good ol boys’ in the USA coaching club. I see the team struggling to control midfield against any major football power. I don’t consider England as a major football power – and don’t see Capello’s influence as a cure all for the problems for their 44 years of WC drought.
The advancing teams will exhibit strong GK and back four play – essential for success at the WC and so we’ll just have to sit back and see how each round plays out.
There is much expectation for Spain and Brazil. Spain has proven for decades that they are under achievers in big tournaments, the exception being Euro 2008. I’m curious to see how they handle a favorites role.
First, I wish I could take credit for this article but alas I can’t – ChiGooner wrote it.
I think US will surprise and could have a good run. Defeating Spain last year showed what they are capable of.
England are better. That’s not saying much considering their success (or lack thereof). However, Capello has shown by how he handles the club that he is the ultimate X Factor for this club. I still think even with Ashley Cole in the lineup they are so weak at the back compared to the attacking nature of the squads they will face off against in the later rounds.
But for me it is the Dutch. I think they have the best attack in the World Cup and even though their defence is suspect it is lining up as one of the better units. None of the WC squads look awfully skilled defensively.
Yup like I said in the prev article, I believe the dutch had the tightest defence in qualifying, relying on playing as a unit. That and the fact that they keep so much of the possession that that in itself makes it difficult for the opposition to score.
@ Chicago Gooner
accolades to you, nicely written……
Dag, I’m with you for the Orange. That’s where my money’s going in the pool (with another $10 on Spain or Italy). Concerned about Robben’s hammy, tho. Hopefully, that turns out to be minor.
Yeah, sure, Brazil’s probably the right call. But then you’re splitting the money the most ways. If I’m going to gamble, might as well get odds.
Willie G is petulant again –
Decides not to speak to the press in protest to Domenech not naming him Captain of the French squad.
haaaa!
way to go Willie. Glad to see the back of him, the more that comes out…
not who I want in my team.
Really Stag? No Gallas and Campbell would mean we have lost a lot of tried and tested experience in the Premiership.
Oh well at least we still have Silvestre :-D
Is that really true or have we only heard a part of the story?
You know what the press is like.
I am rooting for the Dutch.
Nice article.
Apparently the clamour in France is growing for Abou “scooby doo” Diaby to replace Gourcuff as attacking midfielder. As I said, I remain extremely unconvinced that Gourcuff is as good as projected by many. I think the fact that he looks the part (tall, good-looking etc) is the reason why he’s getting such rave reviews. Fans want a superstar, as shirt-seller, an icon and he fits that bill.
Brazil are my faves. They’re dour in comparison to what they were but they are physical beasts, and are very efficient. In a trying, testing, attritional tournament, they should grind their way to victory.
“I remain extremely unconvinced that Gourcuff is as good as projected by many”
Well as you said something along the same lines about Cesc I think I will that with a slight pinch of salt ;-)
Sendy joins Fulham.