So... no World Cup thread yet? (also featuring TTLG fantasy world cup game)

D'Arcy on 26/5/2006 at 09:50

Well, the tournament starts in two weeks, so I'm surprised that there's still no thread about it.

One thing that I find amusing is just how many teams seem to actually believe they have a chance of winning. I suppose that Turkey and South Korea reaching the semis four years ago, and Greece's shocking Euro win must have something to do with it.

So who's your favourite? As usual, I'll be supporting both Argentina and Holland, and hoping that the USA get knocked out early (a country that calls football 'soccer' doesn't deserve to go far ;)) I don't believe my national team (Portugal) will go very far, and unfortunately Brazil seems to be the biggest favourite for the win (I'm beginning to develop a certain intolerance to Ronaldinho).

Shevers on 26/5/2006 at 10:56

What annoys me is that now that Wayne Rooney's injured, England have another excuse for when they get knocked out!

I'll be supporting Japan, Argentina and Sweden this year for various reasons, and all are teams I think will get pretty far but not to the final.

Brazil are obviously overwhelming favourites, and I've always liked them, but I can see what you mean about Ronaldinho actually. I've always liked him as well, but the Champions League final brought him down a peg or two in my book - it's great when his little tricks go well, but because he never does the simple passes, he broke down a lot of Barca moves in that final. Still, should be fun to watch.

I sense a good world cup this year.

Naartjie on 26/5/2006 at 13:13

I had a mate who got something like 180-1 for the Ivory Coast. Not that I think they're gonna win, but maybe the African teams can do something this year, which would be cool considering the hosts of the next tournament.

Hier on 26/5/2006 at 13:17

I'm all in favour of the African teams doing something. I became Senegal's biggest fan when they beat France in the opening game last time. :D

SD on 26/5/2006 at 13:30

Well, Pele always said an African team would win the World Cup one day.

And they did - in 1998.

On to this year's tournament, and it's probably the most open World Cup in decades. I don't think Brazil are anywhere near as good as some people think (it's certainly an inferior side to the one that won me £150 in 2002) while teams like Holland, France, Spain, Argentina and - yes - England are capable of beating anyone on their day. Serial spawny devils Germany will no doubt continue to enjoy the same kind of luck that has somehow won them three world trophies, and cannot be discounted on their home turf.

England's chances largely depend on whether Eriksson continues to waste the best midfielder in the world in a holding role, or whether he gives Gerrard the licence to roam that he enjoys at Liverpool.

My money this year has gone on Spain who, at 35/2, are an insanely good bet, given the quality of their squad. Spanish sides won this year's European club trophies, and I fancy them to go close here too. My dark horses are Mexico and Ukraine.

Shevers on 26/5/2006 at 13:42

Quote Posted by Strontium Dog

England's chances largely depend on whether Eriksson continues to waste the best midfielder in the world in a holding role, or whether he gives Gerrard the licence to roam that he enjoys at Liverpool.

Agreed there, if I was to pick between Gerrard and Lampard I'd take Gerrard every time - and not just because Lampard seems to have these games where he can't shoot straight. Plus Lampard's range of passing seems better, so surely he would be better suited to a holding role?

In any case, I can't really see England doing it this year. They looked much better 2 years ago.

Quote:

My dark horses are Mexico and Ukraine.

Yes, you can't discount Ukraine with a fair number of players capable of winning a lot of games, plus the mighty Shevers up front. :ebil:

Naartjie on 26/5/2006 at 13:53

Quote:

Originally posted by Shevers
Agreed there, if I was to pick between Gerrard and Lampard I'd take Gerrard every time - and not just because Lampard seems to have these games where he can't shoot straight. Plus Lampard's range of passing seems better, so surely he would be better suited to a holding role?

There was some talk of playing Gerrard as a striker for the games when Rooney's still out, which I kind of like the idea of. If he were to drop in behind the front striker he'd be able to pepper the goal with those trademark long range efforts as well as feed the ball to the front man.

Paz on 26/5/2006 at 13:57

For whatever reason, Brazil have a pretty ordinary record against European teams on European soil. It's something like "won 11, drawn 7, lost 12" with 24 goals scored and 23 conceeded. Even when reaching the final in '98, they struggled along the way against Norway (? I think, in the group stages) Belgium and Holland, then, of course, collapsed against France. Having said that, they did reach the final ...

Still, the last time they won it here was 1958, and I'd be pretty surprised to see them in the last match again - especially as that would make it four consecutive World Cup final appearances.

I was quite hopeful of Italy's chances, now Lippi has mostly undone the horrible work of Trapattoni. That was before Buffon started being questioned in connection with the Serie A shenanigans, though; although the last time there was a betting scandal surrounding the squad it was 1982, so what the hey. Also, I can't believe Lucarelli has been left at home. It should be him and Luca Toni up front. Not "Luca Toni plus some useless cock from AC Milan" :(

Can we use this thread to discuss possible World Cup Fantasy Footy too? The Premier League site are running a free one, but you can only pick players who also play in the Premiership (what's the point in that?), so that's a bit crap.

(http://fantasyfootball.metro.co.uk/) this looked ok, is free, and you can win CASH PRIZES(!!!) Plus some of the prices of players look quite amusingly erratic (why is the Argentinian goalie that expensive?)

I guess FIFA are probably running one - is that ever any good?

Naartjie on 26/5/2006 at 14:03

I'm already doing the METRO one, I think it uses the same software as the fantasy.premierleague one we did last season. Would definitely be up for another game if there's to be a TTLG league again!

Shevers on 26/5/2006 at 14:08

Quote Posted by Naartjie

Interesting. I'd like to see him in that role - it worked to some extent with Stillian Petrov and he plays a fairly similar game to Gerrard, so it'd be nice to see.

I'm signing up for the Metro fantasy football just now. I'm a newbie to this, but if a league is formed, I'm in.