The One & Only 2010 World Cup Topic

I noticed pazke gave his prediction on how the tournament will line out. I have got it going something like this:

To progress beyond groups (first place first, second place second).

A
France
Uruguay

B
Argentina
Nigeria

C
England
Algeria

D
Serbia
Germany

E
Netherlands
Denmark

F
Paraguay
Slovakia

G
Brazil
Ivory Coast

H

Spain
Chile

Final 8
France
Argentina
England
Serbia
Denmark
Netherlands
Spain
Chile

Final 4
Argentina
England
Netherlands
Chile

Final 2
Argentina
England

Winner
Argentina

WOW Maradona is a joke :) firstly - not one class GK..... second - 2 defenders only Samuel and Demichelis. Midfield is ok. Attackers - anyone taller than 1.80? it should be fun to watch

P.S. I'll be cheering for them btw. I always liked Argentina. When I was little I was for Argentina at the european championship also

Wow Caxi, I know Italy won't make a huge impact but there's no way they'll get knocked out in the group phase.....surely.

Caput Mundi wrote:

Wow Caxi, I know Italy won't make a huge impact but there's no way they'll get knocked out in the group phase.....surely.

I fancy it to be Brazil and Italy to bomb rather than Argentina or France as many expect. If Italy turn up and play as they did in the Confederations Cup then I have severe doubts. Paraguay are very, very decent and Slovakia are the big improvers of Europe in recent years. With Hamsik calling the shots, Slovakia already have the most creative player on the park as long as he's fit.

Caput Mundi wrote:

Wow Caxi, I know Italy won't make a huge impact but there's no way they'll get knocked out in the group phase.....surely.

Let me be fair, Caxi was the same person that said Brazil is "just above average team" which then subsequently went to Argentina and won 3-1 in Rosario with Luis Fabiano scoring a brace while great attacking players like Tevez and Messi did practically nowt.

Caxi wrote:

Caput Mundi wrote:

Wow Caxi, I know Italy won't make a huge impact but there's no way they'll get knocked out in the group phase.....surely.

I fancy it to be Brazil and Italy to bomb rather than Argentina or France as many expect. If Italy turn up and play as they did in the Confederations Cup then I have severe doubts. Paraguay are very, very decent and Slovakia are the big improvers of Europe in recent years. With Hamsik calling the shots, Slovakia already have the most creative player on the park as long as he's fit.

You can take that logic and say if Argentina play like they did in the qualifying phase such as losing 6-1 to behemoths Bolivia then one must have severe doubts. Maybe that is one of many reasons why people expect to Argentina to "bomb". There are so many more that to list, to quantify and debilitate would take more energy then in the core of the Sun. It is just so obvious that in reality there is no need to go through them.

lazio365 wrote:

Personally im not writing them off at any stretch but they've already been done a disservice by the fact that two inspiration lynchpin players have not been selected. Not just on the pitch quality but geniune leadship on and off it.

Whilst Pele, Maradona, Zidane, Ronaldo, Muller have all been pivotal in world cup wins as the best player at that moment, the likes of Cruyff, Puskas, Van Basten and Platini did not so Messi waiting in line does not guarantee, even if obviously he adds serious quality. Ultimately, for me, this is a totally wide open tournament.

Ultimately I can not see as a really wide tournament. I think Brazil, Spain and to a lesser extent England have very squads much ahead of the other countries. These countries have got quality first XI and then quality players on the bench. In 2006 it was much closer with many of the traditional favourites having better squads. Comparing Italy, France and Argentina 2010 for example to their 2006 squads for me there is a decline in quality.

Roman_Eagle wrote:

WOW Maradona is a joke :) firstly - not one class GK..... second - 2 defenders only Samuel and Demichelis. Midfield is ok. Attackers - anyone taller than 1.80? it should be fun to watch

P.S. I'll be cheering for them btw. I always liked Argentina. When I was little I was for Argentina at the european championship also

It could have been worse on the goalkeeper front...there was Abbondanzieri or even Carrizo...

On the midfielders front there is only four centrel midfielders in the 30 man squad. One will be omitted leaving three proper centrel midfielders, Javier Mashcerano, who has had a poor season at Liverpool, Bolatti, who has been awful ever since arriving Fiorentina and Juan Sebastian Veron, who was a pariah in the Argentine set up for nigh on six years. Good luck with that. I still can not fathom why Maradona has called up so many poor to mediocre wide players. Unless he is going to be playing 442 which is complete stupidity. The squad is just so unbalanced.

On the defenders side of things, not one single decent fullback. And two shocking inclusions on Heinze and Collocini with Heinze looking like the first choice on the left side.

Martin Palermo is over 1.80m.

I'd choose Pato over those gk 3 any time.

And if Maradona keeps palermo who will he snub? Milito? Messi? Tevez? Aguero ?

wasnt Sebastian Bataglia argentinian ?

for the midfield I'd play Palacio Veron Mascherano Di Maria
in frot Messi and Milito. In the back no doubt Demichelis and Samuel. the other players..well hope some of the players that are from the home championship surprise me

Roman_Eagle wrote:

I'd choose Pato over those gk 3 any time.

And if Maradona keeps palermo who will he snub? Milito? Messi? Tevez? Aguero ?

wasnt Sebastian Bataglia argentinian ?

for the midfield I'd play Palacio Veron Mascherano Di Maria
in frot Messi and Milito. In the back no doubt Demichelis and Samuel. the other players..well hope some of the players that are from the home championship surprise me

The goalkeeping situation is dire. None really inspire confidence.

Latest information is that Maradona will keep Palermo in favour of Milito and Lavezzi. Aguero, Messi, Tevez and Higuain are certainties so that leaves one more and it looks like Palermo to make the cut. That is the impression I got from Argentine press and friends from Argentina.

Bataglia is Argentinian.

Palacio is not called up. Gutierrez will most likely play on the right flank.

Insurralde and Garce are the only home based defenders since Clemente Rodriguez played for Espanol and Spartak Moscow. I do not think either of them will make the grade so we are left with a host of centreback playiing across the back four. Like I said before I think Heinze is going to be starter at leftback and that is worrying if you are Argentina fan.

I do believe Maradona has already stated that he will play without full-backs which suggests a 3-4-3.

And in a 3-4-3, with Demichelis, Samuel, Mascherano, Veron, Aguero, Tevez and Messi all likely to start, I cannot see where the problems are going to lie against Greece, South Korea and Nigeria.

Brazil won the WC in 2002 with unknowns based in Brazil (Marcos, Rogerio Ceni, Belletti, Anderson Polga, Kleberson, Gilberto Silva, Vampeta, Juninho, Ricardinho, Edilson, Luizao).

Italy won the WC in 2006 relying heavily at times on relative unknowns (Grosso, Zaccardo, Barzagli).

Bear in mind that Argentina in '06 lit up the tournament but were dumped out when tactically outwitted. Perhaps the fact that Rodrigo Palacio was the only out-field Argentinian never to play in Europe made them easy to predict tactically.

Now, take note that Dunga has selected a squad of players who have all played in Europe at one point or another. I genuinely believe they will be found out tactically, in the same way USA exposed them in the Confederations Cup. But this time, a better side will see it through.

It is the exact reason why England haven't won a WC since '66; their players are the most watched in the world and are easier to prepare against tactically. You can argue that Maradona doesn't have the tactical capacity to open the door of his house but Argentina have such an easy group that he has 3 cracks at that particular whip...and I firmly believe he will strike gold.

hmm I thought I saw Palacio in the list. and snubbing Milito for any of the forwards (except Messi) is just stupid. http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/cristian-ansaldi/profil/spieler_55854.html now this dude made some very good games in the CL.

P.s: found my mistake :) I meant Pastore on the right wing :)

Roman_Eagle wrote:

hmm I thought I saw Palacio in the list. and snubbing Milito for any of the forwards (except Messi) is just stupid. http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/cristian-ansaldi/profil/spieler_55854.html now this dude made some very good games in the CL.

P.s: found my mistake :) I meant Pastore on the right wing :)

Ansaldi is awesome. He is already one of the best Argentine centrel defenders and should be a piller in their national team. Now and for the future. Should being the important word since Argentina coaches are retards mostly.

Pastore probably will not make the 23 man squad.

All the prelims: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/01/20/86/87/provisional1305.pdf

I don't get why England are so highly rated? FOr me the squad is barely better than previous failed campaigns, bar the fact that they actually have 1 genuine world class player in Wayne Rooney. For me, when Eriksson took England to the quarter finals he achieved well, as that is the best the squad could actually do. Somehow though, everyone, above all the English themselves had some sort of idea that they were among the favourites to win it and thus what should've been considered a solid tournament was branded a huge failure. Capello is even better than Eriksson but I've got a feeling that his World Cup will be considered a failure when England don't make it as far as the press expect them to. I'll be very stunned if they win. It'll surely take a golden ball performance from Rooney.

PS. On the Brazil squad, anyone find it ridiculous that Dunga selected Doni (who is a joke) ahead of Julio Sergio (who is a good keeper and actually ahead of Doni at Roma)?

Just curious to know.... Does anyone here give the Socceroos a chance to make the 2nd round?

Taib wrote:

Roman_Eagle wrote:

hmm I thought I saw Palacio in the list. and snubbing Milito for any of the forwards (except Messi) is just stupid. http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/cristian-ansaldi/profil/spieler_55854.html now this dude made some very good games in the CL.

P.s: found my mistake :) I meant Pastore on the right wing :)

Ansaldi is awesome. He is already one of the best Argentine centrel defenders and should be a piller in their national team. Now and for the future. Should being the important word since Argentina coaches are retards mostly.

Pastore probably will not make the 23 man squad.

well IMO it will be a huge mistake cutting him off

Caput Mundi wrote:

PS. On the Brazil squad, anyone find it ridiculous that Dunga selected Doni (who is a joke) ahead of Julio Sergio (who is a good keeper and actually ahead of Doni at Roma)?

Possibly the strangest selection in the Brazil squad but I think I understand it. It is unlikely that either would be ahead of Julio Cesar or even Gomes in the pecking order so I believe he opted for experience in this situation. Someone who is less likely to succumb to the pressure and can maybe add more in the dressing room.

That is the only logic I can see as some would argue Julio Sergio should even be numero uno.

Kris wrote:

Just curious to know.... Does anyone here give the Socceroos a chance to make the 2nd round?

Why would anyone do that?

In my opinion, that squad looks horrid compared to 2006 when wonders were worked. For sure, Serbia could collapse as they often tend to but I would be expecting Ghana to pick up the pieces instead of Australia should that happen. I like the Aussies of course but that squad looks to be one of the weakest in the competition and Kim doesn't inspire confidence either.

Yea, I also don't think this Aussie squad can clean the boots of the 2006 side.

Key players from 06 are not as good (Bresciano, Grella, Chipperfield, Moore), Kewell is under a major injury cloud, Viduka is gone. Then some players that have come in are just not international standard.

Plus, the route one stuff they are playing is just not gonna work here. Pumping long balls to Kennedy or relying on Tim Cahill to get in the right place works well against Asian sides with 5ft backlines but against the Germans, the Serbs like Vidic and the big Ghanaians, you need an alternative route. Pim (not Kim, Caxi, he is Dutch not Korean ) just doesn't have one.

I'd be inclined to try a counter attacking style with Kewell, McDonald and maybe even Bresc trying to hit the opposition on the break.

The defence is also a worry. Severe lack of quality at CB. Neill, despite however much the Aussie media pumps him up, has always been garbage, and Moore is ageing. The quicker strikers will test this backline a lot.

The disappointing thing is, in 2006, no-one here expected them to do well. I did, and they made the 2nd round. This time, there's greater expectation in the media among those who dont understand football, so when the team fails to advance, they will probably be branded failures when they have probably put in a decent effort.

Kris wrote:

Just curious to know.... Does anyone here give the Socceroos a chance to make the 2nd round?

That group for me is the trickiest. Germany are my favourites to progress probably in 1st place, but 2nd is totally up for grabs. I would slightly tip Ghana ahead of Australia though, sorry Kris, and Serbia to come last.

Caput Mundi wrote:

Pim (not Kim, Caxi, he is Dutch not Korean )

Haha, it's the whole Hiddink link between South Korea and Australia, I just got into the habit of calling that chap Kim. Actually, I'm going to stick with Kim because I will forget again anyway...

i realy think that maradona is the best player of all times but his decions for the team(whithout cambiaso-zaneti,heinze in) and the tactic(he declared that he will play 4-4-2 no matter that messi is hard to find himeslf in this tactic)are strange.
a lot of teams are whithout their best players for the coachs funny decions,argentina-riquelme.france-nasri,italy-cassano,brazil-ronaldinho etc.

Caxi wrote:

I do believe Maradona has already stated that he will play without full-backs which suggests a 3-4-3.

And in a 3-4-3, with Demichelis, Samuel, Mascherano, Veron, Aguero, Tevez and Messi all likely to start, I cannot see where the problems are going to lie against Greece, South Korea and Nigeria.

Brazil won the WC in 2002 with unknowns based in Brazil (Marcos, Rogerio Ceni, Belletti, Anderson Polga, Kleberson, Gilberto Silva, Vampeta, Juninho, Ricardinho, Edilson, Luizao).

Italy won the WC in 2006 relying heavily at times on relative unknowns (Grosso, Zaccardo, Barzagli).

Bear in mind that Argentina in '06 lit up the tournament but were dumped out when tactically outwitted. Perhaps the fact that Rodrigo Palacio was the only out-field Argentinian never to play in Europe made them easy to predict tactically.

Now, take note that Dunga has selected a squad of players who have all played in Europe at one point or another. I genuinely believe they will be found out tactically, in the same way USA exposed them in the Confederations Cup. But this time, a better side will see it through.


It is the exact reason why England haven't won a WC since '66; their players are the most watched in the world and are easier to prepare against tactically. You can argue that Maradona doesn't have the tactical capacity to open the door of his house but Argentina have such an easy group that he has 3 cracks at that particular whip...and I firmly believe he will strike gold.

Honestly, I do not want you to be offended but it is posts like this that border on the ridiculous that make it very difficult for me to take seriously anything you write. I am going ot keep it simple as possible without explanations since I believe you do not take onboard anything I write.

I have not read Maradona saying he would play without fullbacks. As another poster pointed out he said he would play a 442 system, a system has fullbacks. Furthermore in his last five competitive matches Maradona has played with a flatback 4 which has fullbacks. If you are privy to where Maradona saying he would play without fullbacks then I would like you to show me.

Brazil won the World Cup after getting a carte blanche when their main rivals went out in the early stages of the competition. France, Portugal, Argentina, Italy never got into the quaterfinals and Spain went out in the quarter finals. The only good teams they played were England and Germany and even then they were not great teams.

The only thing Italy relied on Zaccardo to do was score the only goal Buffon conceded from open play in 2006 World Cup. He subsequently never played in the tournament again. Barzagli played one half against Australia and against Ukraine. Grosso is the exception.

If that was really the case then why not choose the entire team of home based players? Why not? Argentina's best players play in Europe.

Or maybe the reason why England have not won a World Cup since 1966 is because they never have had a team good enough to win.

Well Maradona has had 18 cracks at the whip already and still not struck gold so even more likely scenario is that he will not find the gold in the next 3 attempts since he has not got the technical capacity to open a shoebox never mind give tactics on the World Cup stage.

Roman_Eagle wrote:

Taib wrote:

Roman_Eagle wrote:

hmm I thought I saw Palacio in the list. and snubbing Milito for any of the forwards (except Messi) is just stupid. http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/cristian-ansaldi/profil/spieler_55854.html now this dude made some very good games in the CL.

P.s: found my mistake :) I meant Pastore on the right wing :)

Ansaldi is awesome. He is already one of the best Argentine centrel defenders and should be a piller in their national team. Now and for the future. Should being the important word since Argentina coaches are retards mostly.

Pastore probably will not make the 23 man squad.

well IMO it will be a huge mistake cutting him off

It is a huge mistake cutting of Zanetti, Cambiasso, Lucho Gonzalez, Ansaldi, Banega, Aimar, Lopez, Garay from the squad. All those players should be in.

Taib I think we should fill an aplication for the coaching position at Argentina