So... no World Cup thread yet? (also featuring TTLG fantasy world cup game) - by D'Arcy
Shevers on 14/6/2006 at 17:22
Horray, transfers. Switched Huth for Puyol, and I feel better already :p Also, if Shevers himself had gotten around to scoring for Ukraine today then I'd be top of the TTLG league by a point... :(
Onto Germany vs. Poland. I still hold out hope that Poland will do something against the Germans - I'm banking on a score draw. It may all go to hell though if they insist on playing the 4-5-1 again :mad: I don't know whether they are planning to or not. Still, Zurawski's managed to pull performances out after being disregarded by the press last season, hopefully Poland as a whole can do the same.
Shevers on 14/6/2006 at 19:10
Early signs are not good for Poland - ball being given away too easily. There are one or two signs that the Poles can do better, certainly better than they did against Equador, but maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part :p
Matthew on 14/6/2006 at 21:10
It certainly was - never substitute anyone on the 90 minute mark! :p
Dainem on 14/6/2006 at 22:03
Yeah, Germany did it!
That was the first step for winning the tournament. The moral of the team was great, they fought till the end. I´m sure we can manage it to defeat any other nation.
Dainem
David on 15/6/2006 at 08:38
It's Bettin' Time at work for the England v Trinidad & Tobago!
Terry to score with his foot (what) @ 25/1
England to win 2-1 and Crouch to score first @ 30/1
And due to England's lackluster second-half performance: England to be leading the first half and draw at full time @ 28/1
zacharias on 15/6/2006 at 12:26
Spain will play some nice stuff but i really doubt that they will win it (they could teach england a thing or too about playing possession football though).
Ukraine might be a capable side ordinarily but last night they were absolutely dire, surely the worst performance we've seen thus far.
Oh yeah, Raul would've walked into any team a few years back but not now cause he's well out of form at the moment.
And the penalty was for blatant short pulling; the Ukraine defender had only himself to blame for getting a red.
Paz on 15/6/2006 at 15:14
He did definitely pull his shorts for a couple of seconds, but Torres got a decent shot away anyway. It seemed ludicrously harsh to give a penalty (compared to some of the ones we've seen turned down so far) AND send the bloke off. Contrast it with the Kuffour thing where he was saved by the offside decision - how can it be right that Ukraine get a double punishment for a fairly innocuous foul which has barely affected play, whereas Ghana get away with no punishment at all for what turned out to be pretty nasty challenge? (I realise that one was outside the box)
Nothing against Ghana by the way, but it seems a reasonable comparison. Mind you, the Spain penalty gave David Villa more Metro points so I was secretly quite chuffed.
What odds can I get on Wayne Rooney playing the last ten minutes and re-injuring himself going in hard on Carlos Edwards?
Good job ITV are there to remind me every two seconds that England are playing today - I might have forgotten otherwise, or foolishly thought I'd tuned in to watch Ecuador play. Wankers.
D'Arcy on 15/6/2006 at 15:26
Hey, I do recognise great value in the spanish team. I just trust their traditional ability to always fail in the decisive moments ;)
SD on 15/6/2006 at 15:57
This would be something they share with their neighbours to the West, no...
Inline Image:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/DannyClein/Smileys/whistle.gifHonestly, I know what you guys are saying about Spain choking every time, but I genuinely feel they are over this mental block. Perhaps it's because of Real Madrid's era of dominance in Spain ending, or Spanish teams having success in Europe, or Spanish players and staff enjoying success overseas, but they're playing with a swagger and confidence that I have never before seen in a Spanish national side.
D'Arcy on 15/6/2006 at 16:08
I don't think you can or should put the portuguese team at the same level as the spanish: we're not considered favourites in every single tournament, contrary to what seems to happen regarding Spain. We failed miserably in the final of Euro 2004, but then Greece just did to us what they did to every other team in the tournament. One occasion can hardly be considered a tradition.
As for your faith in Spain, I'm sure that the fact that Liverpool is now some sort of anglo-spanish team has got nothing to do with it ;)
