Football Thread!

[Prolet]

England is shithouse but they can do something with Capello he is a top coach, they did loose a game to Ukraine i believe it was at the very end when they qualified anyway.

Warrior, Australia played England at Upton Park not Craven Cottage, i can even tell you the goal scorers Popovic,Emerton and Kewell.

Believe it or not Sven Goran Ericsson did extremely well with England, all the times he lost was in a penalty shootout vs Portugal and he lost 2-1 against Brazil in WC2002 Korea/Japan but that was to a Brazilian side who won all its games and if you recall they scored the winner with that Ronaldinho lob over David Seaman from about 35 meters it was a wonder strike, not only that Michael Owen scored first for England and they were the last side to score against Brazil as they ended up hammering everybody in the finals and they kept clean sheets.

Warrior, Whats your opinion on Artim Shakiri's freak goal against England in Southampton?

[makalek]

I'm not big on Argentina. Diego Maradona was a great player but that doesn't make him a great manager. Argentina doesn't play as a team so I can't pick them. I'm going with Spain vs England in the final and Spain to win at all. They have everything needed to win the world cup: well coached, great keeper in Casillas, solid defense, best midfield in the world with Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, and Alonso, and then 2 world class strikers in David Villa and Fernando Torres. My sleeper is Switzerland. They have a lot of talent and a proven big time coach in Ottmar Hitzfeld.

[Warrior]

England is shithouse but they can do something with Capello he is a top coach, they did loose a game to Ukraine i believe it was at the very end when they qualified anyway.

Warrior, Australia played England at Upton Park not Craven Cottage, i can even tell you the goal scorers Popovic,Emerton and Kewell.

Believe it or not Sven Goran Ericsson did extremely well with England, all the times he lost was in a penalty shootout vs Portugal and he lost 2-1 against Brazil in WC2002 Korea/Japan but that was to a Brazilian side who won all its games and if you recall they scored the winner with that Ronaldinho lob over David Seaman from about 35 meters it was a wonder strike, not only that Michael Owen scored first for England and they were the last side to score against Brazil as they ended up hammering everybody in the finals and they kept clean sheets.

Warrior, Whats your opinion on Artim Shakiri's freak goal against England in Southampton?

My apology Prolet, i was going on my shonky memory recalling the game being at Fulhams ground becuase that is home away from home for the Ozzies. But you might be right...Nonetheless great win by the Oz's.

In term of Shakiri's goal, i would say that Seaman was a spastic keeper!! It was nothing special, a half decent keeper would have dealt with it. It was a poor cross that went for goal. Usually when you cross the ball so close to the keeper the keeper takes the ball away. So Shakiri was extremely lucky for Seamans blunder....

Remember how he copped the goal agasinst Brazil at the 2002 WC? He was known for being a poor keeper and the English still have a problem with keepers...

[Warrior]

Overnight results of warm up games...

http://soccernet-assets.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=all&cc=3436

Interesting to note that Carlos Hernandez scored the first goal for Costa Rica against France.....

[Warrior]

Spartan i hope now you realise that your suggestion of Pandev and Eto not being able to play together as being wrong. You were so strong in your opinions that he was going to be a bench player and that he can only play as a striker....

Pandev is not a striker and he only played at Lazio as a striker because he was the next best thing in that position. He is a deep attacking midfileder, whether he plays on the left or central it doesn't matter...Thats where he was most successful as a player in Macedonia and also in the youth team of Inter. He plays the peripheral striker in the NT because there is no one else that can be effective upfront. Hopefully Ibraimi in the Bundesliga can make a name for himself and he can be our striker and let Pandev dictate the game from deeper....I am sure then we will qualify for a major comp.

His position is where Mourinho played him and i guess the results speak for themselves!!! After all not a bad move for Pandev.....

[sydney]

not bad for a tard

[Spartan]

I like Spain to win this tournament.

My darkhorse is the Ivory coast, although i dont think they can win the tournament, I think they will make some noise.

Portugal and italy will disappoint (imo)

England has a good shot with Cappelo as coach...

[Spartan]

Pandev in my opinion did not have a big impact in inters CL run.
I will concede your point about where mourinho played him when he did, however Eto is clearly way more valuable.
I still think Pandev is of high quality...just not 'superclub' quality

[Rogi]

Ivory Coast need to get through their group first and that's the group of death.

[Spartan]

^^Like I said, I anticipate a weak Portugal
We'll see....
The 'group of death ' label could be premature
For some reason i see Brazil and IC coming out of that group

[Rogi]

The only thing I see coming out of that group is 11 North Koreans seeking asylum in South Africa after they lose every game and realise they don't stand a chance of staying alive back home.

[Spartan]

Nice one

[Prolet]

Goran Pandev played defense pretty much and he did a fantastic job to cover Robben who didnt do much in the end. Pandev is a complete team player and some of his passing abilities are out of this world, he is a top team player and thats very important for a team like Inter.

Spartan, I'd rather question your Greekness then your football knowledge, you know alot about football thats for sure. But when it comes to Goran Pandev, Warrior is right.

[makalek]

Pandev in my opinion did not have a big impact in inters CL run.
I will concede your point about where mourinho played him when he did, however Eto is clearly way more valuable.
I still think Pandev is of high quality...just not 'superclub' quality

I disagree. Pandev had a big influence on Inter winning the Champions League. He ended up only scoring 3 goals for Inter in all competitions which amounted to 27 games but it goes beyond stats. Pandev sacrificed his game and so did Samuel Eto'o as they both played as wingers but they were asked to play defense and that's the first time either of them have done that. It shows that they are unselfish and want to win badly. The thing Pandev and Eto'o did is limit the effectiveness of the wing backs for Bayern Munich, Barcelona, and Chelsea, three teams that Inter defeated along the way. Each of those teams had wing backs that are great at going forward but because of Pandev and Eto'o being dangerous on the counter attack, they stayed back and posed no threats to Inter. Jose Mourinho is a winner but he is a defensive minded coach that puts a lot of emphasis on tactics. His departure from Inter to Real Madrid should allow Pandev to return to being a striker or playing the trequartista role and Goran should get back to scoring goals more frequently.

[Spartan]

I hear what you are saying, and agree completely about the mourinho/defensive tactics rationale, I truly do.... but i just didnt see Pandev being the 'difference maker' in his time with Inter so far.