World Cup 2010 Thread

[METALMAN]

missed the last page

[Colossus]

Nani's out. Bust his shoulder in training.

So basically, England is safe from being eliminated by us

Totally gutted for Nani, he was going to be the breakout player from our team. Glad by his substitute (Ruben Amorim, from Benfica) who had a great season and can basically play everywhere. The only position he didn't play was striker and goalkeeper. Great player. No Nani though

[HailtotheYo]

I'm just looking forward to seeing Rooney get booked for nearly killing a Serbian midfielder, call the referee a cunt and get his second yellow in record time.

I realise Serbia aren't in our group, but we'll need to wait for the second round to see Rooney after he's banned for two games for beating the shit out of Michael Bradley inside ten minutes of the game against the USA.

100 bucks Torres shanks him before he's ever able to lay a hand on him

[Rich]

100 "bucks" that you're talking out of your arse HTTK

Bradley's about as tough as any of you namby-pamby yanks who strap on helmets and shit loads of protective padding to play a protracted version of Rugby League.

[EddieG]

I also love it that everybody was saying Torres was going to miss the world cup due to injury, he scored tonight against Poland.

[Rich]

There's time for him to break down injured yet , enough players have already :/

[METALMAN]

I hope Ribery gets injured.

[HailtotheYo]

100 "bucks" that you're talking out of your arse HTTK

Bradley's about as tough as any of you namby-pamby yanks who strap on helmets and shit loads of protective padding to play a protracted version of Rugby League.

Yeah because "shanking" has anything to do with the bullshit you just spewed. What's funny though, is I talked about Torres ... not Bradley.

I'd rather be namby-pamby like we supposedly are, rather than the tough - diving/whining little bitches like you guys ... two can play the "completely unfounded and retarded" insult game.

I would love to see you on a football field though ... that'd probably be rather amusing. About amusing as you taking seriously, what was obviously a joke response to a joking initial post.

[METALMAN]

to be fair the more a country dives and whines the cooler they generally are. See France/Italy.

[Rich]

100 "bucks" that you're talking out of your arse HTTK

Bradley's about as tough as any of you namby-pamby yanks who strap on helmets and shit loads of protective padding to play a protracted version of Rugby League.

I'd rather be namby-pamby like we supposedly are, rather than the tough - diving/whining little bitches like you guys ... two can play the "completely unfounded and retarded" insult game.

I would love to see you on a football field though ... that'd probably be rather amusing. About amusing as you taking seriously, what was obviously a joke response to a joking initial post.

Dude, I am not Italian, or Didier Drogba

Oh hahaha, hahaha, I get it you're old, and mature and since you've lived longer you know more and are therefore always right. Yet to me it still seems funny that you can be older with all this experience can still talk more bullshit and be wrong more than anybody on this board, and thats neither completely unfounded or retarded.

*Edited out the shit I want to say but probably shouldn't*

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Absolutley gutted for Nani as well. Cant believe how many people are actually getting injured, just really hope this is the end of it all. Here's still hoping Drogba can recover in time to play a part in it all too.

[The Quasi Juice]

I just want this fucking cup to start, been waiting too long

[Farmer Reil]

Aye. Too much hype and warm-up these days. TV stations should be banned from showing World Cup themed adverts until at least the start of the month. I'm sure they were earlier than most Christmas ads usually are this time around.

In other news, Andres Injuryesta apparently has a "minor injury", but I don't think anyone noticed, they must be used to it by now . Spain don't play until Wednesday though, so he should be fine. Again. Besides, it's not like Spain are short of awesome playmakers.

[Dynamite]

What's Spain's starting team nowadays? Is it Villa up on his own with Silva and Iniesta on the wings and three in midfield or does Torres start in a 4-4-2?

[Farmer Reil]

Against Poland it was just like you said, 4-3-3 with Iniesta - Villa - Silva up front. Though apparently Alonso and Busquets both started (along with Xavi), which is odd. I would've thought Busquets was more Alonso's understudy than his partner. Fab came on for Xavi in the second half, so Busquets/Alonso obviously works.

Mind you, they did win 6-0. So it was hardly a test.

Will be interesting to see what happens now that Del Bosque is sure Torres is fully fit though. Maybe he only played 4-3-3 because he wasn't sure Torres was ready yet?

Edited June 9, 2010 by Farmer Reil

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

I'd be in utter disbelief if a fit Torres wasn't in the starting line up come the World Cup. He's only arguably the best striker in the world when fit. Surely a 4-4-2 with both Villa and Torres up top.

[Farmer Reil]

Mind you, the last thing a defence wants after running around for 70 minutes is a fully rested Fernando Torres to come off the bench... If I was del Bosque I might be tempted to rotate. Villa starts one game and Torres comes on later, then swap for the next game.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Farmer Reil

[Lineker]

The problem with a 442 for Spain is that they have a stupid amount of world class central midfielders - Fabregas, Xavi, Iniesta; as well as others who are well worth a starting place such as Busquets. It's a good problem for Del Bosque to have!

[sahyder1]

Who created the EWB Group for ESPN Bracket Predictor. Can someone PM me the password.

I also just created a group for the Pick'em Game which is different from the other one. The group name is EWB. Pw is "ewb". Perhaps someone should edit in both of these groups into the first post of the thread?

[brenchill]

I just filled out a wall chart with my predictions. I've got the two semi-finals down as England vs Holland and Argentina vs Spain. I don't know why but I've got a feeling Argentina are going to win this one.