World Cup Warm-ups

[m_vaughan]

It was a friendly and Portugal very terribly unlucky. One of those days when nothing was going in. I don't see the point in taking Benzema since he has hardly played this season and Gignac has been in really good from what I've seen of him.

 

[treva]

I read that Portugal looked unthreatening in attack, so you can't really say they were unlucky. A 0-0 against Cape Verde is always sign for concern.

 

[m_vaughan]

Unthreatening in attack? They had several chances but just the ball wouldn't go in.

 

[Lee1981]

Lee, can you get any sourer? Jesus man, lighten up. England are still one of the best teams in the world and yet you are acting like they are terrible, at least they will certainly make it out of their group and actually have a shot of winning the tournament. The way you are behaving it's like they are ranked 150th in the world and never try every match...

Be proud for your country. Right now all you are doing is telling everybody how bad they are but nobody wants to listen to a whiner, particularly when they come from a country that are far better than many that we support. Australia are going to find it very tough to progress but still I'm going to be supporting them 100%... why don't you just do the same and find some national pride?

Im not saying im not proud of my country, im probably to patriotic which is why im so irate about our performance on monday night.
How i feel is not just a quick reaction to one poor performance but the build up of watching england over 20 plus years, and all im trying to is be realistic and in this country lots of people get sucked into world cup fever and have there blinkers on and will do anything but accept anything negative in our performances because we have such good individual players surely we must win the world cup.
We wont win it and believe me that is not a nice thing to say, ive played a hell of alot of football myself and alot of it in the semi pro circuit so i wasnt a bad player so i think i can tell when i watch a team play if they were ████ or not.
I have been guilty for many years for getting sucked into world cup fever, saying to my mates "this is our year" and getting let down so badly, however now i have accepted we are just no where near good enough to even get to a final, when the pressure is on we buckle and cant cope with the huge pressure the top sides embrace.
Take Rooney out the team and we have no idea how to create or score a goal in open play.

 

[treva]

Unthreatening in attack? They had several chances but just the ball wouldn't go in.

Several chances against Cape Verde sounds unthreatening to me. You should be battering their goal so often that at least 2 or 3 go in. I am just going by what the match report on the Sky Sports website said.

 

[m_vaughan]

I would say England are contenders but behind Brazil, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain and on par with France and Argentina.

m_vaughan added 1 Minutes and 29 Seconds later...

Several chances against Cape Verde sounds unthreatening to me. You should be battering their goal so often that at least 2 or 3 go in. I am just going by what the match report on the Sky Sports website said.

I suggest you youtube it. Regardless if Portugal aren't in good shape for the WC, thats one less team for Spain to bother about.

 

[treva]

Now that was unthreatening. All their shots came from outside the area, bar one, and they were all easy to save or off target. The keeper had it pretty easy. The best chance they had came from Ronaldo's attempt at 'the hand of God' which hit the bar (Cheating scumbag).

I would not put them ahead of any of the major teams in relation to chances of winning this World Cup. They only just qualified for the competition and they cannot beat Cape Verde. I wish them good luck with a group of Brazil and Ivory Coast.

 

[Auwais]

I don't see the point in taking Benzema since he has hardly played this season and Gignac has been in really good from what I've seen of him.

Maybe last season but just 8 league goals this season.

 

[m_vaughan]

Now that was unthreatening. All their shots came from outside the area, bar one, and they were all easy to save or off target. The keeper had it pretty easy. The best chance they had came from Ronaldo's attempt at 'the hand of God' which hit the bar (Cheating scumbag).

I would not put them ahead of any of the major teams in relation to chances of winning this World Cup. They only just qualified for the competition and they cannot beat Cape Verde. I wish them good luck with a group of Brazil and Ivory Coast.

Well I don't know all this about outside the box, which they were but I wouldn't necessarily call them easy saves for the keeper. I saw this game live on TV and there was only one side in it. Cape Verde should be on cloud nine with the result.

Also as Ronaldo said after the game it was just a practice game and walk in the park and players did not want to risk getting injured.

Yes that group is tough but I expect both Brazil and Portugal to make it through in the end. I feel bad for Ivory Coast as I remember they had a tough group in last world cup as well.

m_vaughan added 3 Minutes and 56 Seconds later...

Maybe last season but just 8 league goals this season.

He scored 25 last season in all competitions if I remember correctly, and also I think he was injured for a while this season. I particular remembering him scoring a brace against Marseille, although I am not sure if it was this season or last?

 

[Auwais]

He scored 25 last season in all competitions if I remember correctly, and also I think he was injured for a while this season. I particular remembering him scoring a brace against Marseille, although I am not sure if it was this season or last?

He missed most of February and March with a thigh problem but otherwise was a guaranteed starter.

The brace against Marseille was towards the end of last season. (08/09)

 

[CG123]

Great win by New Zealand overnight against Serbia.
One of New Zealands biggest football wins ever, and only our second in Europe.
Serbia are rated 15th in the world, while we are like 75th, so must be a massive boost to our chances, considering we also only lost 2 - 0 to Mexico (17th), and 2 - 1 to Australia (20th).
This must give us a real chance to pick up points against Paraguay and Slovakia, considering I think they are both outside the top 30.

 

[m_vaughan]

Serbia are certainly better than Paraguay and Slovakia. I think NZ could shock atleast one of them.

 

[Chewie]

Great win by New Zealand overnight against Serbia.
One of New Zealands biggest football wins ever, and only our second in Europe.
Serbia are rated 15th in the world, while we are like 75th, so must be a massive boost to our chances, considering we also only lost 2 - 0 to Mexico (17th), and 2 - 1 to Australia (20th).
This must give us a real chance to pick up points against Paraguay and Slovakia, considering I think they are both outside the top 30.

Wooooooo read the news and saw this :happy

 

[mattfb]

Was going to stay up and watch it but ended up sleeping. Anyone here watch it and can tell me if Serbia were just poor or NZ great?

Hopefully Serbia were good but NZ were just better. Gives me confidence with Australia...

 

[blake]

Hopefully Nemanja Vidic got stretchered off in the 4th minute... out for the tournament. That wouldn't be so bad.