Thought it might be a good idea, to start a thread on the goings on in the world cup. As no doubt most of us here are following it with close attention.
So interested to hear your thoughts so far. My money was on Argentina before it started and ive been very impressed with them. I think the South American teams are going to do very well.
England and France having nightmares. I'm loving the world cup!
I still think Spain will win it. Argentina are immense in attack but awful at the back. Don't think Brazil have enough to win it. Germany have looked impressive IMO. Robbed vs Serbia.
some of the reffing is diabolical though,but then again it always is at every world cup,when you are getting Refs from some of these small nations,who are used to reffing games that are played at a sunday league speed infront of a handful of spectaters,then are thrown in the deep end,reffing infront of packed stadiums and millions of viewers,while the game is played at a much higher speed and there are players with skills that these refs have never seen before,never mind reffed before.
Alot of them just can't keep up,panick and end up spoiling the matches with cards being handed out for basic fouls. (though Fifa do them no favours,because a few of the decisions, as shocking as they are,by the letter of the law,they are correct now) These games are just to big for them to handle.
they need to be looking into cloning 32 Collina's for Brazil
I'm declaring no comment on Englands unpassionate,prima donas,untill they are out
Argentina have a very good side but it could have been better. There defence is quite good, Samuel is an absolute rock at the back but im not quite sure how Maradona left out Zanneti. His performances for Inter against Barca and us was absolute class. Maradona is the biggest weakness for Argentina.
England unfortunatley have been quite shocking so far, Italy average, France abysmal.
Brazil have had a few nice momments but they did struggle to break down an unknown Korean defence. I don't think they have enough world class players.
Spain could still do it but Chile are a good team. Most attacking side in the compeittion. Spain need to get Fabregas in the team as well.
They won't win it but Ive been impressed with the US as well, they were completely ROBBED against Slovenia.
Germany were robbed as well but to be fair they still should have drawn the game, they had enough oppurtunuties.
I picked Spain before the WC, im not sure anymore.
Argie defence is awful. Demichelis is one of the worst CBs I've seen in a long time. Samuel and Heinze are both a minimum of 3 years past their best and will get destroy by teams with pace. And Gutirriez is a winger, not a fullback.
Standard of refereeing is disgraceful and is ruining matches.
How Argentina could do with a fit Roberto Ayala on his peak for this world cup, he would have carried this defense by himslef. Im hoping for an Argentina win. Although we will need to see their defense tested against Mexico/Uruaguay.
If Holland can get Robben fit and ready then they could be a team to watch out for, although if you look at their record in this competition they do tend to lose the big games.
I hope Japan get knocked out, they have been so dull, and just defend for the whole game. All their strikers are shit, their manager said so the day before the world cup started
Before the tournament started, I thought that England would be lucky to reach the quarters (although that looks very optimistic now). The two games that England have already played, could rank the worst in competitive history.
IMO, the likes of Holland and Germany could be decent bets to win. As a few have said, defence will let Argentina down. And Brazil haven't looked great, although that could change tonight.
I see the quarters being - England vs Uruguay, Holland vs Brazil, Germany vs USA and Spain vs Italy. I've already put a couple of decent sized bets on Holland @ 10/1 and Germany @ 14/1.
ChelseaQuinsfan wrote:Very harsh on Samual based on this season. His career has been messed up with injuries but he is still a top CB. Id say top 10, possibly even top 5.
Demichless is normally quite reliable, he just messed up royally against the Koreans. He is a decent CB.
Heinze is past his best but still solid.
Gutirez is very average, wing or RB. Not sure how he made it infront of CL winning RB Zanneti.
Zanetti is not the CL winning RB. He doesn't play RB for his Inter. He's too old and past his best. Guti is a bad pick at RB but to be fair, they have nobody else.
Heinze is average.
Demichelis is crap. Nothing more than crap.
Samuel's career has been messed up by injuries? Nonsense. He was amazing at Roma, poor at Madrid, good at Inter for his first two years but past his best now. Not even close to being a top 10 CB. He's not even top 5 in Serie A.
Yeah most time when i see Inter play, Zanetti is at LB.
Shocking ending to the Brazil match. Brazil look efficent so far, not quite the samba flair we have come to expect over the few world cups. But will be difficult to beat nontheless.
Dunga doesn't like Pato for some reason. I think he's a very good striker.
Zanetti only filled in at LB when Chivu was out injured. And even then Santon often got picked there. He's been a DM for the last few years and he doesn't do much of the leg work with Cambiasso beside him.
Ofc, he plays at LB, my bad. He could still do a job at RB though and is certainly better than Gutiriez.
Name 10 better CBs in the world than Samual.
Brazil could suffer a bit if Elano is out injured for too long, and Kaka is suspended for a game but that should have no effect. Outside those two there MF lacks any spark. Silva is all defensive and Melo has had a woeful season with Juventus.
I agree, Pato should have gone.
What Keita did was terrible but to be fair, aside from Elano (that could have been a red) the Brazillians were doing it all game. Also what comes around goes around, for what Rivaldo did in 2002.
I think the Koreans will snatch a draw against the Portugese.
I think Spain will beat Hondurus by a couple and I actually think Chile will beat the Swiss.
He only plays LB when others are injured. He's not a better RB than Guti although neither are much use there. He's a sitting midfielder, just as Gilberto Silva is for Brazil.
There's 15. And i could name more. Walter Samuel is not one of the worlds best defenders and hasn't been for a couple of years.
Kaka and Elano prob wouldn't have played anyway. Brazil are through, no need to risk them. Melo had a poor season but he's a quality player and he'll show his quality next season.
Domenech is a terrible manager to be fair and he as the support of none of his players. I know Benzema & Henry have been out of form but either one is better than Govou who has been comical.
Ill give you Vidic, Pique, Lucio, Nesta and Ferdinand on his good days
Terry? I watch him week in and week out and he has been very poor this season. Many people think its because he was caught boinking Bridge's missud but the real reason is that he doesn't have Carvhallio and Essien covering for him. Terry's a great leader and inspiration but he is a good CB in a great team.
Agger has great technique but his positioning is often poor and he is prone to the odd mistake, sometimes comical.
Players like Hangeland & Alves are good defenders in decent teams, if they were to play for top clubs they would be out of there depth and exposed brutally.
Kjaer has a lot of potentiol but far too young to judge right now.
Mexes, are you serious. Roma have one of the worst defensive records in Serie A and he can't even get into the French team.
Pepe and Mertasacker are very good but they have there off days as well and when they do, they are shcoking. Both are prone to mistakes. There not as consistant as Samual.
Chilleni has been AWFUL this season and Puyol is the Spanish Terry.
Samuel on the other hand has been an integral part of the successful Inter team, great defendive record with Lucio. Easily a top 10 CB.
terrible prediction meanie lol yeah the french are great i wonder whats gonna happen there i think thats the end of domenech after this world cup completly losed the respect of the team hard for a manager to come back from that
ChelseaQuinsfan wrote:Domenech is a terrible manager to be fair and he as the support of none of his players. I know Benzema & Henry have been out of form but either one is better than Govou who has been comical.
Ill give you Vidic, Pique, Lucio, Nesta and Ferdinand on his good days
Terry? I watch him week in and week out and he has been very poor this season. Many people think its because he was caught boinking Bridge's missud but the real reason is that he doesn't have Carvhallio and Essien covering for him. Terry's a great leader and inspiration but he is a good CB in a great team.
Agger has great technique but his positioning is often poor and he is prone to the odd mistake, sometimes comical.
Players like Hangeland & Alves are good defenders in decent teams, if they were to play for top clubs they would be out of there depth and exposed brutally.
Kjaer has a lot of potentiol but far too young to judge right now.
Mexes, are you serious. Roma have one of the worst defensive records in Serie A and he can't even get into the French team.
Pepe and Mertasacker are very good but they have there off days as well and when they do, they are shcoking. Both are prone to mistakes. There not as consistant as Samual.
Chilleni has been AWFUL this season and Puyol is the Spanish Terry.
Samuel on the other hand has been an integral part of the successful Inter team, great defendive record with Lucio. Easily a top 10 CB.
Complete shite. Samuel played in a defensive team where he has top players around him. He was one of the weak links in the Inter team over this past season.
One season means nothing but Chiellini had an excellent season for Juve. Puyol is on the slide but he's still better than Samuel.
Pepe is prone to mistakes but he plays at a higher level than Samuel. Mertesacker rarely makes mistakes. Immense defender. He's as good now as Samuel was in his prime and Mertesacker gets better by the season.
Mexes is the reason that defence was able to keep Roma in the hunt for the title until the 2nd last game of the season. A simply immense season. Far far better than Samuel has been for a long time. He's not in the french squad by choice.
Based on last season, Kjaer's first full season, he's better than Samuel right now and is on the way up.
Hangeland would be considered the best CB in England if he played for one of the top 4. A brilliant defender who has carried Fulham for the last two seasons. Alves is top class and could play for any team. Both are better than Samuel.
Agger very rarely makes mistakes. Certainly didn't make any this past season. Despite our finish he was one of the best CBs in Europe based on domestic form. Positional sense is brilliant as well.
Terry is brilliant. He had a rough season but his performances for Chelski, whilst carrying the awful Alex, were top class.
Samuel had an average season in a good team but it's not a great team. Italy is a one horse race. Milan and Juve haven't recovered from the Calciopolli scandal and Inter stumbled through the domestic season. And when you have Cesar(one of the top 6 or 7 keepers in the world) Maicon(worlds best rightback), Lucio(top 10-12 CB)and Chivu(top 5 LB at his best) around you, and Cambiasso, Stankovic and Zanetti sitting in front of you, it's very easy to look good. Samuel was the weak link for Inter and Mourinho was actively looking to replace him for 12 months.
Please show me who Mourhinio was trying to replace him with. Quite the opposite, there are rumors that Mourhnio is trying to get him to move back to RM.
Inter last season were a great team. Forget the leage, look at the CL. They Beat the English, Spanish and German double champions on the way to victory. Look at some of the players they had in the team as well, world class nearly everywhere.
Your right about Chilleni, I made a mistake on him. He has been excellent this season. I was thinking of someone else.
How does Pepe play at a higher level? Ok La Liga is far better than Serie A but both played in the CL as well and Samual was much more impressive.
The whole Roma defence is complete shit, they had one of the worst defences this season and Mexes was part of it.
Kjaer has played nowhere near the level Samual has. CL finals, world cups, Classicos, Milain derbies. Way too early to compare but he was very impressive last season.
No he would not, he would be exposed for what he is at Fulham. A good defender in a decent team. There is no way he is better than Vidic, Vermalen, Carvalhio, King, Fedrinand, Terry & based on last season Dawson. Thats just the top 4, there are others id rather have over him.
Are we talking about the same Alves? Great in the Portugese League where there are no world class attackers, but anytime he has been in the CL against a good team he has been absolutley comical. Against Manutd last season and this season against Arsenal. Nowhere near Samual.
Agger probably could be better, but his career really has been affected by injury. He would be better as a defensive MF.
Terry is no way brilliant. Good leader, commited, plays with his heart on his sleeve. But no way is he brilliant. He is reckless, prone to mistakes, very slow and has the first touch of an elephant. He has been carried by Carvalhio for a few years now and he has had the pleasure of Essien and Makalele infront of him. The reason Ashley Cole was poor when he first joined is because he had to stay back and cover for Terry. Alex is not awful, he isn't great but he makes his tackles. Prone to mistakes but far from awful. Monster of a right foot, you should know.
Niether of them have abything on Carvalhio though. Ledly King, when fit is also better than Terry.
Puyol is pretty much exactly the same as Terry. When you play for Barcalona, you barely have to defend because your team always has the ball.
Puyol is a completely different defender to Terry. Only comparison is that they are both captains. Puyol has a lot more to do at Barca because they are not a defensive minded team, which Chelski are.
Carvalho is past his best but still better than Samuel. Three years ago he was better than Terry. Not now. King is also better than Samuel.
So because Alex can hit a ball hard it makes him a good player? He's shit. Terry has been carrying him all season. Cole's struggles were due to the players ahead of him never tracking back. Nothing to do with Terry.
Agger is as good a defender as there is. He would not be better in midfield. Complete shite.
Alves was flawless in the CL! Carried that Porto team. Great for Porto, great for his NT. Keeps Carvalho out of the NT when Pepe is fit.
Hangeland has been better than all those in the last two seasons. He's carried FulhamTop class defender, would walk into ANY team in the premier league. You have no idea what you're talking about.
Kjaer hasn't played in tournaments that Samuel has been able to play in because he's 11 years older AND has only played in them because of the clubs he's been at. That means nothing. Kjaer performed better than Samuel last season which is the only season to compare them by.
Mexes was masterful for Roma.Roma had the second best defense in Italy last season! Ridiculous to even suggest their defense is poor.
Pepe's performances are of a higher level than Samuel's.
You may have been thinking of Cannavaro who was shocking most of the year.
Again, Inter are a defensive team who played a back 4, with 3 defensive minded players in front of them. Samuel's shortcomings were disguised.
Mourinho tried to sign Kjaer, Andrea Ranocchia(who he would have signed at Christmas only he got injured), Chiellini, Mertesacker and Carvalho to replace Samuel.
And no Mourinho is not trying to bring Samuel to Real. He's already said he doesn't want a centreback, he wants a right back. He has Pepe, Garay, Albiol and Ramos. Why on earth would he want Samuel.
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