The unofficial World Cup Thread,

[Moros]

Brazil: as always a strong team, yet not such a strong team for being brazil. Surprisingly not one of my favourites. A lot will depend of Kaka and how Robinho will play. Though they are in great form and have done great I think one of the other big powers of football will defeat them.
Italy: They always have a good defence and never leave holes. However for getting all the way they lack attacking power imo. Buffon and De rossi might get them there after all.

Argentina: I'm not convinced by the amount of depth the team has except for the front. They probably have the best offense of the world on paper (Messi, Higuain, Tevez, Aguero and Milito) and that might just do it. Messi can win games on his own sometimes and with the help of Milito, Tevez & co conceding some goals might not be such a problem.

Uruguay: A good squad that might surprise some other teams, with Forlan and Suarez they have two great and natural goalgetters. Second place in group A is something I can see them pull off. Who knows with a bit of luck they can even win a game after the groupfase.

Paraguay: Not a bad team, but I'd be surprised if they really get far. Probably a battle with Slovakia for second place in group F.

VS: For some reason a team that always gets underrated. Now I'd be surprised if they'd won the final, but I see them getting second place in their group and even possibly with some luck steal Englands 'logical' first place. They have a great goalkeeper some great rising talents (Torres, Altidore and Bradley) However their defense seems rather weak to me and will have to rely heavily on a perfect organisation, as they are lacking great players there. Key to defence I expect should be Onyewu, though he lacks much match practice after his lenghty injury. Donovan will be their keyplayer I'd expect.

France: Don't have any weak spots/players but are in a very long weak form. Barely made it and morally didn't even deserve it. Their main problem I think will be a lack in motivation, a too old and not too convincing attack. I wouldn't put having Domenech as the manager with the positive points. However the individual class of the players is big, Ribery is always a pain to play against and Anelka and Henry though not as fast as they used to be remain great forwards. Key here will be the motivation and a will to attack and counter agressively.

Germany: The ultimate tournament team and with Germans it doesn't matter how big your lead is, you're not sure you've won untill the final wistle is blown. Good overall team, though they miss that one true great player. Keymen will be Lahm and Gomez I'd say. I'm very curious to see Kroos and Müller which are some big talents on the rise.

England: They have some great players, a great midfield and except for one sport a good defense as well. However if you need to play teams like Spain, Brazil and Argentina everything has to work back there. And I have the feeling England will be able to cope such offensive powers. Their offense is mainly one man, Rooney, and while he's a great forward. But can he rather on his own he can prove to be enough to score enough goals to get really far?

Portugal: There are some really big guns in the team but a lot of it is mediocore. If they can football as a team they might pull it off and someone like Ronaldo can even get past the best defenses yet I think they will not get to play nor win the final.

Spain: If there's something that will keep them from winning this it'd mental or motivational problems, injuries but mainly hybris. The team almost soley consist out of stars. And we all remember the last big tournament.

Netherlands: talking about the last great tournament, if there's one team that amazed us and played very nice footbal except for Spain, it was the Netherlands. Sadly they didn't came far. They still have the same strengths a formidable attacking force (if you can leave people like van nisterooy at home...) but a weak to mediocore defense. The Netherlands remind me a bit of the Arsenal of the last years. Always beautifull football, great offensive players, but just not enough to take the big prizes in the end. Keyman will be Sneijder with van Persie as a good substitution for his inter teammate milito.

Greece and Denmark: might surprise if they can form a strong, motivated and organised collective. Having survived the European qualification groups they are always something to watch out for.

Slovakia, Slovenia and Serbia: Eastern Europe is steadily growing for years now in the footbal world. They might surprise like Croatia has done in the past.

Ivory Coast: Africa has some great footballers but most countries lack a full squad of great footballers who play in strong clubs from strong competitions. Thier actions and dribbling can amaze the most sceptical of men and inspire the smallest of children. Yet organisation, concentration and teamplay is smething they often seem to lack. Ivory coast might be the exception when it comes to this. They have a great selection of players who are have enough experience on such a high level. Ofcourse having Drogba as a foward doesn't hurt your chances either.

South Korea & Japan: They have proven it in the past, while they don't have teams full of stars they can surprise stronger teams and can form a good team that can go further than one would think at first. It'd surprise me a lot though if none of European or South American giants can kick their but out of their favourite tournament.

Australia: Kangeroos have big feet.

[Beefy187]

Japanese fans has no doubt the team will lose all three games... Our manager havn't been sacked despite the poor performance in the last few games (actually from the very start).
But we'll still support them. Its once every four years...

For the sake of Asians, I support the Socceroos and South Koreans. I hope they do well, but my moneys on England, Spain, Brazil and.... Netherlands. One of those four should get it.

[InsaneApache]

That post makes me feel sad.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Meh, unless you're born in Brazil, Italy or Germany, you are not ensured you will your team win it sooner or later. Even in medium powers, you probably just get to see it once in your lifetime. Spain has never been world champion. A world cup is very much a closed shop.

It's not true that there is one winner and 31 disappointed countries. That's too negative. With some luck, your team playes a few good games and then goes out against somebody whio's simply stronger. That is a good tournament. Plus you get to watch all the other teams, share in the excitement, pick some favourites.

It's all exciting, who cares if you win or not, or go out after three games or not. As long as you're not too rubbish, you'll live.

[naut]

It's not true that there is one winner and 31 disappointed countries. That's too negative. With some luck, your team playes a few good games and then goes out against somebody whio's simply stronger. That is a good tournament. Plus you get to watch all the other teams, share in the excitement, pick some favourites.

It's all exciting, who cares if you win or not, or go out after three games or not. As long as you're not too rubbish, you'll live.

[Beefy187]

Japan vs England test match friendly

1-2

Bad day for England. They suffered a early goal against and the two goals they managed to take was own goal.
I still love you England

And pretty good effort by Japan. Just do what you did tonight and you might make it through

[tibilicus]

Today's friendly is another reason to be concerned in my book. Considering the calibre of some of our defenders it really is inexcusable that in today's game and in the various qualifiers leading up to the world cup our defence has been simply embarrassing. Players failing to mark their man and a lack of basic coordination is just the tip of it.

Personally I don't think we have the players or the form to go that far. If we make the semi-finals I'll consider it a good tournament. After all, this team isn't as good as the one from 2002 or even 2006. Our strike force is basically Rooney and lets not kid ourselves; whilst Crouch is arguably a good performer in the international game, he isn't exactly a Messi is he? After all, you only need to look at his league form to see this.

The fact Charragher has been brought out of retirement (considering his and Liverpool's form this season) and Capelo even wanted to bring Scholes back, who was always awful for England, it seems to be were not even capable of filling a squad full of players worth their ridiculous premiership pay checks for the World Cup.

Then again, maybe I'm just a pessimist..