Group A-France and Mexico will do well; Mexico will probably get farther. Group B-Argentina will get the farthest. Group C-England and USA; England will probably get farther. Group D-Germany obviously. Group E-Netherlands and Denmark. Group F-Paraguay and Italy. (I'm Italian so I want them to win again this year.) Group G-Brazil (unfortunetly) and Portugal. Group H-Spain and Switzerland.
No your absolutely right. I don't even consider Landon MLS anymore because of the Everton loan that should lead him back to England come August or next January. I have a question for everyone though. I'm a big Yanks supporter and I'm trying to figure out which days off to take from work so I can see the games (I have no internet at work). I would like to think that I don't have to take all the group games off (besides England seeing that its on a Saturday), but I feel like if I don't its a big risk that they won't go through. Thoughts? Should I just pray USA will go through and take off the round of 16 date?
<a class="postlink" href="http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/792492/ce/uk/p?cc=5739&ver=global" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/ ... ver=global</a>
The only two possible dates for group C in the round of 16 are Saturday the 26th and Sunday the 27th, so if we make it through you should be good. Again assuming you can only skip one day of work during the group stage, personally I'd want to be watching when the US had an opportunity to clinch a spot in the next round. Barring a surprise against England, that's probably going to be the third game on the 23rd (Wednesday). I'd say go with that. If I'm not able to get both days off, that'll be my plan at least.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/04/rio-ferdinand-injury-england-world-cup" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010 ... -world-cup</a>
I laughed myself silly at both of those. Rio is now ruled out. Couldn't have happened to more deserving cunts. Good for Dawson getting his deserved call-up, even if he plays for Sp*rs. IF (and that is a big IF) King can stay fit, England will be better off without Rio the Sicknote. I hope he's forced to retire (I hate Sir Fat Cunt and most of his players. Fuck Man United). This is also karma coming to bite Drogba in the ass - you don't stamp on players week in and out without incurring the Flying Spaghetti Monster's wrath.
Looks like Drogba may make it back in time. Even if he is back lets see if he could hold of defenders to get shots. <a class="postlink" href="http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5255490/ce/us/ivory-coast-didier-drogba-hopes-play?cc=5901&ver=us" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/ ... 901&ver=us</a> ESPN.com news services ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba has hope of playing in the World Cup after having surgery on his broken right arm in a Swiss hospital Saturday. The Ivory Coast football federation (FIF) said in a statement the operation at the Lindenhof Hospital in Berne was a success and Swiss doctors and the team's medical staff are confident that the Chelsea forward will make a "speedy recovery." The federation did not give further details about the time required for Drogba's recovery. Ivory Coast's first game is June 15 against Portugal. "The FIF thank the sporting world and all those in the Ivory Coast, in Africa and throughout the world who have shown their support to Didier Drogba and the Ivory Coast," read a statement on the FIF website. "He's not at all out of the World Cup. He can still play. We don't know if he will be able to play the first game -- that depends on the verdict of the medical team. But he's definitely not out [of the tournament].'' Drogba broke his arm in an exhibition match against Japan on Friday.
I recall something like this happening to a player in the Premiership a year or two back. The F.A. wouldn't clear the player to play because the cast could cause massive injury to another player when competing for the ball in the air, despite that the player with the broken arm was able to play (i.e. match fit, besides the broken arm). Accidents happen. Maybe someone with better google-fu can find out who the player was? I think FIFA may exercise a similar sanction.
Oh man, I can't wait for this tomorrow. There's so many teams that could win the title. For fun, I'll pick the US to take it all, but realistically I'll say Germany. This is either the first time, or one of the very times the US has actually been expected to advance.
Without Ballack? Doubtful. I'd put England, Netherlands, Spain, and Brazil into a hat and try and pick the winner. There is no clear favorite this year.
I enjoy rooting for some of the African teams, mostly Cameroon. Why? Not real reason, just wishing someone would pull an amazing "How did they do it!?" story. Realistically, I hope the US does well, but I think Spain or Germany might take it. On the other hand, I hope Argentina loses every game. I hate to see Messi not do well, but I much prefer that fat bastard Maradonut doesn't get any more recognition.
I was watching some US sports coverage today (NBA Finals) and at halftime, they went on and on about the supposedly big-fucking-deal US/UK rivalry. Citing the 1950 match, which the announcers themselves were probably ignorant of until they looked at Wikipedia page 5 minutes before airtime. Looking around here in London....doesn't it take two teams to make a rivalry? The Brits are only marginally aware of USA soccer's existence. It's like the Kansas City Royals deciding they have a historic rivalry with the New York Yankees. The mere idea that they have a rivalry with us would probably make most English soccer fans smirk.
Don't sleep on Argentina. Does anyone know if all the games on ESPN/ABC are live, or are some of these tape-delay? I'm not trying to accidentally run into a score on yahoo.
That's it, I'm here in England at the moment and to most people, the notion of USA football is a joke. Your teams are called silly things like the New York Bears or the Philadelphia Fairies. Those aren't football team names. That mixed with the general arrogance USA'ers are perceived with over here and the US team isn't being taken seriously. Now, if you win on Saturday all that is going to change in an instant, it would be a huge set back for English football, but come on, it's not going to happen. I am really excited however for tonight's games though, cannot wait. Oh and while I'm here, fuck France.
The thing with English fans is that on match days, their 'big rivals' are just whoever they're playing and if they win the game, then it's forgotten. If they lose, and it's critical, then the rivalry is established. 1950 was too long ago, so the USA just haven't done anything to annoy England - yet. Though I don't think even a US win tomorrow would kick off a proper rivalry. Ask the average England fan who their biggest rivals are and you'll get Argentina, Germany, Portugal - teams who have dumped us out of various major competitions, without payback. Anyway, I am ridiculously excited. What is there to do until 3pm? And while I'm here, I concur with Solaris' 'Fuck France' - hoping for SA and Uruguay wins today.
I don't know if that's necessarily true. With players like Dempsey, Altidore, Howard and Donovan familiar to most English fans, along with a few more UK based players, I don't think you can say we wouldn't take them seriously. Personally I can see the US beating England tomorrow, obviously I hope they don't, but I'm still gonna put a bet on USA 2-1 England. As for the winners I was told today something I hadn't realised: the last 7 world cups have only had 5 different finalists. Brazil, Argentina, Italy, France and Germany. And of those 5, Argentina hasn't been in a final since 1990. That could be a good indicator right there. But for me, I can't see past Spain, they are just full of stars front to back, and have such strength on the bench. Just an hour to go till the first match. I'm going for South Africa 1 - 3 Mexico
England might as well take us seriously considering we're their toughest competition in that group. I'm not saying USA is better (they're not), but if we can beat Spain we can beat England. I had always heard Germany was England's biggest rival. In other news, Mexico is looking decent. They got hosed on a bad call, but South Africa has missed some opportunities too. Can't wait for the France/Uruguay game later. I would love to see the frog nation get crushed.
The first goal of the tourney was a beauty. What a crack to finish! I could do that 1 try out of a 100, he made it look easy.