The Official World Cup Thread

[MissICT]

Come On South Africa :huh:

[Granty24]

France are fecked! Harsh decision for the red methinks :huh:

[MissICT]

Two Fantaic Goals From South Africe Today. Well Done To Them. ^_^

Gutter France! :blah01:

Now Lets See How England Do Tomorrow!!!

COME ON SLOVENIA!

:011:

[PullMyFinger]

I drove past a Burger King earlier this evening. Outside there was a big board advertising a promotion where you can win the chance to watch the World Cup Final (on TV) with Jimmy Greaves.

The place was empty.

Was "the knowledge" not there?

[Naelifts]

Haven't a scooby where Grosblie is Yngers but you can bet your bottom dollar Mantis (or what ever he is called now after his op) has spent a night there and has a tale to tell!

[latviaman]

Doesn't a consistent referee make a difference to a game , thought the german ref in the england game was good but fair , much better than the UAR ref who was card mad stopped the game to often to my mind as for the columbian ref .. dire

[Tug]

Doesn't a consistent referee make a difference to a game , thought the german ref in the england game was good but fair , much better than the UAR ref who was card mad stopped the game to often to my mind as for the columbian ref .. dire

England Germany in the last 16........oh well lol

[Renegade]

I know who I want to be the next ICT manager - Ricki Herbert!

Interesting to note as well, if you read Steve Paterson's book, he says that he and the current New Zealand manager were big friends during the time they had at Sydney Olympic. A Herbert/Paterson dream time...?

[Council Juice]

Had to laugh at the hysteria surrounding Englands win over Slovenia. Yeah sure they picked up. Much better. Deserved to win but it was like they had bloody won the tournament the way people were acting on the Tele box.

It was just Slovenia. Had Johnson and Barry been rightly booked for behind the man challenges early on it might have been oh so different. Johnson got away with 2 of them before finally being booked for seemingly thowing himself into the man looking for a free kick. Any other ref and he'd have been off. So lady luck smiled on them in the fact they actually got a fairly decent ref who let the game flow for once.

Germany, I suspect will be a whole different ball game. Can't wait to see it as a, ahem, neutral. Will be tasty!

[latviaman]

so someone agrees about the ref!! thought Johnston was *rap too many misplaced passes and some of his tackles he was lucky the ref didn't see them!!

[Renegade]

Well that's Italy gone, finished below New Zealand - unbelievable stuff. I know they had a couple of debatable decisions go against them, but they still deserved to go as they were pretty rubbish in each game. Well done to New Zealand though, they might be out on goal difference, but I thought they played well in each game and weren't the no-hopers many had them down as.

Chile v Spain tomorrow, possibly the game of the tournament?

[starchief]

I despise Italy. I'll even support England over them. Full of world class talent but content to sit out 1-0 leads against far poorer teams. I've no problem with the likes of Scotland or Austria playing defensively, as they don't have the players. Italy do (or certainly have in the past). They can always cite their success for keeping that system but, as a neutral, that means nothing to me. Italy bore me rigid. Glad they're out.

[+DoofersDad]

Enjoyed watching Japan tonight.

[CaleyMad]

Enjoyed watching Japan tonight.

Japaneasy

[Yngwie]

To be honest I didn't NZ really deserved to be there, when you consider the standard of opposition they faced to qualify.

Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji and Bahrain. Wow.

But you can only beat the teams that are put in front of you, and I'm pleased and surprised at how well they did at the finals against some pretty good opponents.

[+DoofersDad]

New Zealand could do what Scotland did a few years ago and become the only unbeaten side in the competition. I hope that doesn't happen because that would probably mean Germany would win the cup.

[Renegade]

I reckon the standard of the New Zealand team is higher of that of the current Scotland squad.

[ICTPaisley]

I reckon the standard of the New Zealand team is higher of that of the current Scotland squad.

I wouldn't say they had the same quality but they have done excellently well to stay unbeaten. They may well give us a tough game and could win but i think the way they set out their tactics with their heart and determination makes them a hard team to beat. They massively overperformed and this is probably down to being on the big stage for the first time in decades. I doubt they'd stand a chance against the same teams if it was a meaningless friendly.

[PullMyFinger]

I doubt they'd stand a chance against the same teams if it was a meaningless friendly.

Do teams raise their games for meaningless friendlies? :lol:

What a bizarre thing to say.

[Council Juice]

I reckon the standard of the New Zealand team is higher of that of the current Scotland squad.

How many bank clerks do we have playing for Scotland like? Man U, Birmingham, Old Firm, West Brom, Wolves, Blackpool, Tottenham, Sunderland and Wigan players and most are regulars but no bankers or league 2 stars. Yep I see what you mean there.

[Renegade]

I reckon the standard of the New Zealand team is higher of that of the current Scotland squad.

How many bank clerks do we have playing for Scotland like? Man U, Birmingham, Old Firm, West Brom, Wolves, Blackpool, Tottenham, Sunderland and Wigan players and most are regulars but no bankers or league 2 stars. Yep I see what you mean there.

I see your point, but it wasn't that long ago that Scotland got an embarrassing 2-2 result against a bunch of farmers and fishermen. Let's be honest, Scotland are not a good team, and have IMO zero chance of getting to any major competitions any time soon and I doubt would be able to get a draw against Slovakia, a good Paraguay and a not so good Italy, something New Zealand did. They also play excellently as a team, are very well organised and hard to beat, something I don't feel could be said for Scotland.

BTW - I had a wee look up the NZ team and I think they only have one banker, with the captain Nelsen playing for Blackburn, four players who were in the Championship last season, one guy in the Danish League, one at Motherwell, one at NY Red Bulls and a few at some of the higher Australian clubs (some of which will be the same standard as the SPL). So, not the most prolific team in the world, but not as amateur as you claim.

[The Mantis]

I think Yngwie's right- NZ are just playing out of their skins. Just like County.

I think Scotland have fewer good players than say 20 years ago, but on paper we can still put out a decent squad so it's down to staying injury free and having a decent boss.

Before Burley took over we were something like 12 in the world which was a false position. Now we're 43 which is also false, just as it was false when we were about 86 under that total numpty Vogts. We're probably in the low 20s and I expect Levein to take us back to something like that.

We've not had any luck with the draws for qualifying, yet we nearly got to Euro 2008 even with France and Italy in the group. This time we did poorly under Burley but it would have taken a miracle to get out of the group with the Netherlands in it.

Our luck has to turn one day so we get an easy group like England

Edited June 25, 2010 by Mantardo

[+DoofersDad]

Someone remarked today that the World Cup was turning out a bit like the 2nd World War. The French were defeated early, the Italians are running off home having achieved nothing, the Yanks have left it late in getting involved and so it's down to the English to take on the Germans.

[Council Juice]

I don't really know if you could call it spectacular underachievement. They've never really had a team capable of winning it, with the exception of Italia '90. The Dutch and Spanish have much more to answer for.

Well, look at it this way. Since 1966 when England fluked it with home advantage and a shocking decision, they've won FA whilst the WC and Euro winners have included:

France

Spain

Germany

Italy

(who we all acknowledge as good teams, but why should they fare any better than England, who have had the strongest league over the last 20 years and many superb players?)

But also:

Czech

Netherlands

Denmark

Greece

England haven't even reached a final in all that time, despite qualifying for the vast majority of tournaments.

I would also add that recent World Cup semi-finalists since England last got that far in 1990 include:

Sweden

Croatia

Turkey

S Korea

Bulgaria

Since Spain broke their duck a couple of years ago, there is surely no major footballing nation to have achieved so little.

The Premiership may be the most exciting league in terms of goals and pace to the game but La Liga is stronger in the terms that most players chose to play there over England (partly to do with weather fair enough but the best players are still there) But maybe it goes to show that having a strong league is detrimental to the national team. Spain are profiting now as there top teams are now full of home grown talent. It was not so long ago the top players for Barca and Real Madrid were Dutch or Brazilian and Spain got nowhere.

The Premiership is definitely one of the top 2 leagues, of that there is no doubt, but is full of foreigners. The lower end premiership clubs only have a few average English players but the further up the League you go the more foreigners there are. This is one of the many reasons France were so strong for a 4 year period. Most of their players were playing in Italy Spain of England(Arsenal) and they also had a good strong home based nucleus. Germany have always had a league with many Germans in their teams and Italians are also mainly home based. 2 strong leagues but have a better blend in the top teams.

So I don't think that because a league is strong (English 1st Div early 80s stong in Europe, though a rubbish England team as league was full of Scots!) it translates to having a good national team.

Underachievers perhaps but only the English and their media think that England are much more than a top 8 side and their form in getting to quarters and no further proves this. However if a team is hyped to win, win, win and ultimately doesn't, then it looks like spectacular underachievement where in reality it's probably about right.

I reckon the standard of the New Zealand team is higher of that of the current Scotland squad.

How many bank clerks do we have playing for Scotland like? Man U, Birmingham, Old Firm, West Brom, Wolves, Blackpool, Tottenham, Sunderland and Wigan players and most are regulars but no bankers or league 2 stars. Yep I see what you mean there. ;)

I see your point, but it wasn't that long ago that Scotland got an embarrassing 2-2 result against a bunch of farmers and fishermen. Let's be honest, Scotland are not a good team, and have IMO zero chance of getting to any major competitions any time soon and I doubt would be able to get a draw against Slovakia, a good Paraguay and a not so good Italy, something New Zealand did. They also play excellently as a team, are very well organised and hard to beat, something I don't feel could be said for Scotland.

BTW - I had a wee look up the NZ team and I think they only have one banker, with the captain Nelsen playing for Blackburn, four players who were in the Championship last season, one guy in the Danish League, one at Motherwell, one at NY Red Bulls and a few at some of the higher Australian clubs (some of which will be the same standard as the SPL). So, not the most prolific team in the world, but not as amateur as you claim.

The A- league is probably low end SPL. With the MLS top teams around about Rangers/Celtic. The Danish league again of similar stature to the SPL. And I don't know the standard of the Bankers league.

Those Farmers and fishermen also nearly embarrassed France (I know France are a little dodgy these days) And that result (2-2 against the Faroes) was for the Euro04 qualifiers over 6 years ago. Lambert was still playing. Vogts was in charge!

True our results of late have not been great but that is because Burley tried to make Scotland play expansive football - ain't gonna happen.

However if we play to our strengths which is normally good organisation and danger at set pieces coupled with direct fast paced football we can give anyone a game. World cup winners and runners up, a strong Ukraine team. Under McLeish we beat the Faroes 6-0 at home. In fact if we play like New Zealand then we can match anyone and they have shown that they can do it. Pretty sure I managed to name a premiership 11 of Scots last season which is alot more than I could do for NZ.

My point though is not a dig at them. And I don't want to come across in a patronising or contrasending way but they proved that by being organised and taking chances coupled with some luck, that you can at least match the big teams and I think we have more quality so we should see no reason as to why we can't.

[Yngwie]

Loads of England fans at the USA-Ghana match. ;)