LEN Teh Footy God's Footballodium

[Ferret]

Hart is definitely our best keeper, I'm hoping he'll play. And yeah the selection was a bit iffy, I would have rather seen Shawcross or Cahill picked ahead of Ferdinand or King, taking two big injury risks at the back is just not sensible, especially if Terry has injured his foot badly. The defensive midfield position is what really worries me though, Barry is a doubt, Lampard is much better at going forward (but still reliable), Carrick has had an awful season and Huddlestone doesn't exactly have bags of ability...

[naut]

Terry Breaks Foot. (Well probably).

Also, Maradona is an imbecile. He picked neither of Cambiasso or Zanetti. That's the heart of Inter, a CL Finalist!?! And he left out Lisandro Lopez, Player of the Season in France!?!? And he picks Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Gutierrez from Newcastle? Argies going home early.

But then who should Capello have taken? Who's left out?

Ok Louis I'll bite. If we put all injury concerns aside for fantasy purposes and drop down to the proper 23 man squad.

Goalkeepers: Robert Green, Joe Hart, Paul Robinson

All three had good seasons. Robinson, yes he had a prior chance, but on the merit of his performances this season should have been picked over James.

Defenders: John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Matthew Upson, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Stephen Warnock, Glen Johnson, Jamie Carragher

Drop both Sp*ds defenders. Leadlegs is too big of an injury risk to take, his ability doesn't outweigh his injury risk (unlike Rio's). Pick Cahill instead, younger, fitter, meaner. Drop that idiot Dawson, that lad couldn't defend in an U5's game.

Midfielders: Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry, Steven Gerrard, Scott Parker, James Milner, Theo Walcott, Aaron Lennon, Ashley Young

Drop the ones who performed abjectly: Huddlestone, Cole, Carrick. None played well enough to be heading to a World Cup. Pick Young over Johnson, because Young is straight up a better player. Drop W-P, because his only ability is to run into defenders and lose the ball, plus he had an average season.

Forwards: Wayne Rooney, Bobby Zamora, Darren Bent, Peter Crouch

Drop Defoe, over-rated. Drop Heskey in favour of Zamora, who has the size and class to link up well with Rooney.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Rumour has it that Titi picked the squad.

Why, of course Titi made the selection. Handpicked by him.



Maradona is an imbecile.

Part of me enjoys it all for the sheer sensation and entertainment of it all. And I am a firm believer in the magic of football. El Diego is the Chosen One.

Part of me just feels sorry for it all, for robbing Argentina of a decent manager, for subjecting the world's best player to this. What a circus.

[Craterus]

Ok Louis I'll bite. If we put all injury concerns aside for fantasy purposes and drop down to the proper 23 man squad.

Goalkeepers: Robert Green, Joe Hart, Paul Robinson

All three had good seasons. Robinson, yes he had a prior chance, but on the merit of his performances this season should have been picked over James.

Disagree, Green has looked shaky this season. Has kept out of the spotlight for the last month or two but some fairly stupid errors prior to that. Hart has been far and away the best English goalkeeper this season but England have a habit of throwing young goalkeepers in too deep, too quickly. We all remember what happened with Carson.

Defenders: John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Matthew Upson, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Stephen Warnock, Glen Johnson, Jamie Carragher

Drop both Sp*ds defenders. Leadlegs is too big of an injury risk to take, his ability doesn't outweigh his injury risk (unlike Rio's). Pick Cahill instead, younger, fitter, meaner. Drop that idiot Dawson, that lad couldn't defend in an U5's game.

Little bit of bias here? The England centre-backs have been set in stone for years. Personally, I think Ferdinand is totally overrated and he'll never be the player he was a few years ago but if he's fit, he'll play. Ledley King is in the squad as a back-up defender, he's being asked to play 1 or 2 games in the tournament and they won't be immediately after one another. Taking a gamble on him is justified. I'd say his ability outweighs the risk if Ferdinand's does. Upson...terrible, West Ham have had an awful time at the back this season. Not sure why he's put Carragher in the 30, he's had a disappointing season too. Just goes to show that it will be decided on reputation in the end. As for Dawson, he's put in some impressive performances this season, I remember him playing well when they beat Chelsea. Competent, nothing special, Upson in better form IMO.

Midfielders: Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry, Steven Gerrard, Scott Parker, James Milner, Theo Walcott, Aaron Lennon, Ashley Young

Drop the ones who performed abjectly: Huddlestone, Cole, Carrick. None played well enough to be heading to a World Cup. Pick Young over Johnson, because Young is straight up a better player. Drop W-P, because his only ability is to run into defenders and lose the ball, plus he had an average season.

Totally disagree on Young for Johnson. Johnson always looks dangerous in that City attack, even when it's not running particularly smoothly. Young, on the other hand...meh. Hasn't looked interested at all this year. Running on reputation, IMO.

Forwards: Wayne Rooney, Bobby Zamora, Darren Bent, Peter Crouch

Drop Defoe, over-rated. Drop Heskey in favour of Zamora, who has the size and class to link up well with Rooney.

Defoe's the third striker. He'll never be partnering Rooney and Rooney's not getting dropped. He'll be an impact sub. A job he can do perfectly capably, capitalising on tired legs etc.
Heskey was integral to England's strong performance in qualifying. I'll admit, taking Heskey to the World Cup doesn't make sense, but partnering him with Rooney worked marvellously in qualifying and Capello won't be changing too much from those tactics. More than willing to trust Capello's judgement on that one. Gambling by trying to play Zamora in that role would backfire, I think. As for Crouch, we all know he'll end up going but...oh dear. I'd rather Zamora was the reserve target-man.

Thoughts as they came to me... apologies for the complete lack of structure and/or sense.

[Afonso I of Portugal]

You've mixed up North and South Korea. North Korea face Brazil, Cote d'Ivoire and Portugal. South Korea, are in another group, but are overrated.

No i didn't, unless Fifa's website is also wrong...

[naut]

No i didn't, unless Fifa's website is also wrong...

Um. Dude. Korea DPR = North Korea in the group with Brazil, Cote d'Ivoire and Portugal. Korea Rebublic = South Korea in the group with Argentina, Nigeria and Greece.

[Afonso I of Portugal]

Yah, i know we will face them in the group and all that stuf...i was just talking about their previous matches with Mexico and Venezuela and the next ones against Greece and Paraguai...but never mind

[naut]

Yah, i know we will face them in the group and all that stuf...i was just talking about their previous matches with Mexico and Venezuela and the next ones against Greece and Paraguai...but never mind

Ah. Ok. I get you.

[naut]

[Secura]

Boys will be boys, eh?

[naut]

Boys will be boys, eh?

Maybe it's just the intense media coverage, but players always seem to be up to mischief.

[naut]

Totally disagree on Young for Johnson. Johnson always looks dangerous in that City attack, even when it's not running particularly smoothly. Young, on the other hand...meh. Hasn't looked interested at all this year. Running on reputation, IMO.

Hmmm. Young statistically was last season's most efficient crosser, and with two good headers of the ball up front in Heskey and Rooney it makes sense to include him.

[Craterus]

Johnson only played for half a season (unless your statistics include his time in the championship, though the same criticism could be levelled at his frontmen there, no doubt) and his main target was Tevez. Crossing isn't the only thing we can judge wingers on. I've been a big fan of Young since he arrived in the Premiership but I think he's stagnated this season. On second thoughts, I wouldn't mind either playing. But it'll probably be Gerrard who ends up playing on the left anyway.

[naut]

Johnson only played for half a season (unless your statistics include his time in the championship, though the same criticism could be levelled at his frontmen there, no doubt) and his main target was Tevez. Crossing isn't the only thing we can judge wingers on. I've been a big fan of Young since he arrived in the Premiership but I think he's stagnated this season. On second thoughts, I wouldn't mind either playing. But it'll probably be Gerrard who ends up playing on the left anyway.

True. It does help to be crossing to a big guy like Carew or Heskey.

[naut]

Is La Liga just a sunny version of the SPL? The 25pt gap between 2nd and 3rd indicates yes...

[Afonso I of Portugal]

Interesting article. It was the same this season in the Portuguese league. benfica with huge, huge, huge depts (more than Sporting and Porto combined) spend a lot of money buying players...where does the money come from? and how about their income? merchandizing and tickets are far from being enough...

[gaelic cowboy]

The Special One is a genius he has brought a middling team to the pinnacle there tonight an now he will probably win a champions league at Real now too I could see him winning with another big English club someday too.

[Afonso I of Portugal]

Mourinho all the way, best coach again!

[Louis VI the Fat]

Inter were way better. Bayern were fully dependent on Robben. Whom, whoever, for his part turned this into a one againts eleven match. He did too much and tried too hard.

How I hate Italian football! As always, the opponent had 70% possession, yet never looked like winning. So very frustrating, I'll never get used to it.
Grudgingly, though, perhaps I might admit there is an icy beauty about it. The game is not about ballet, it is about winning. If you can just sit back then destroy your opponent with two clinical breaks, performed to perfection, then there is not just sheer quality, but even a simple and elegant beauty to that too.



As for Maureen - indeed, it takes special talent to make 11 WC starters for Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Cameroon and Holland look boring.

[Afonso I of Portugal]

As for Maureen - indeed, it takes special talent to make 11 WC starters for Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Cameroon and Holland look boring.

Well, he won every titles in Portugal, England and Italy plus uefa cup and 2 CL's. Indeed a special talent. Like you said, it's about winning...not ballet.

[Secura]

Who cares about Inter Milan when humble Blackpool were promoted to the Premier League?

[naut]

Well. The amount of money Moratti has pumped into Inter it was about time they went all the way. Morinho has his good qualities, don't forget he learnt most of his trade under van Gaal at Barca in the late 90s. I feel bad for van Gaal though, he's one of my favourite managers of all time.

[InsaneApache]

Who cares about Inter Milan when humble Blackpool were promoted to the Premier League?

Aye, should be a belting away fixture. I just hope that it's a better game than the one I last went to at Bloomfield Rd. on the 24 August 1974.

Nice kit as well. I'm a bit partial to a kumquat.

[Secura]

Aye, should be a belting away fixture. I just hope that it's a better game than the one I last went to at Bloomfield Rd. on the 24 August 1974.

I think the stadium seats 12,500 people, though they're working on one of the stands over the course of the 2010-2011 season I think; it's officially the smallest stadium to have graced the League though.... I'd expect it to be packed for every Home fixture at that capacity.

Nice kit as well. I'm a bit partial to a kumquat.

[naut]

Didn't they concede some 50 odd goals this past season? It's gonna be a long, long season for them then...

[Jolt]

An honorable mention for Ibrahimovic's arriving statement when transfered to Barcelona:

"Ibrahimovic: I Want To Finally Win Everything With Barcelona"

[Craterus]

That Eto'o deal just keeps looking better and better. Then again, Eto'o has only scored 16 goals this season.

[naut]

My favourite (if true) was the semi-final where Ibra actually ran less than Valdes...

[Louis VI the Fat]

I think Ibrahimovic is overrated. Fantastic skills, but for some reason, he strikes me as always falling just a little bit short of an absolute superstar.

It is my understanding though, that Eto'o had a troublesome character, created dissonance in the dressing room, that Barça wanted to get rid of.
At any rate, Barça this seaseon has more goals and more points in La Liga than last year. It is simply exceedingly difficult to win the Champions League twice in a row - nobody has managed yet. This shouldn't cloud the appreciation for Barça's phenomenal achievements this season.



I'm going to root for Blackpool next season! Go on, lads, gimme some sensation!

[InsaneApache]

I'm going to root for Blackpool next season! Go on, lads, gimme some sensation!

Good lad. Now then, my home county of Lancashire has nearly 50% of the premier league.

Blackpool.

Bolton.

Wigan.

Blackburn.

Liverpool.

Everton.

Man Yoo.

Citeh.

Black puddings all around.