Football
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Maybe this way they can suprise Brazil and their other opponents during the WC.
Have you heard that Messi signed a deal with Barca and his buy out price is 150m EUR?
Yeh I heard about Messi's new contract.
Maybe Barca're learning after Arsenal picked up Fabregas and Manyoo picked up Gerard Pique.
I'm watching the WYC Finals at the moment.
Mikel Obi and Messi are absolutely stunning.
The Nigerian on the whole is really really impressive...they play very nice football, great build-up play. I like them more than Argentina.
Also, I don't really like the Brasilian tactics used in Confed's Cup. They look good on a good day but they suck every other day. There's no stability and I feel that having 3-5 players constantly on one end of the field can only harm their chances come the World Cup. Not saying they play badly, but they're gonna lose to an outfit with a decent defence.
Also, given that Argentina are missing a few regulars (Ayala, Mascherano, Veron, Aimar, Tevez and Crespo among them), plus, the Argentinians had one less day's rest and had to play overtime against Mexico, I don't think Brasil should get carried away by their victory.
However, I do concede that during the match, Argentina was outplayed in every way shape and form. Brasil produced some of it's best attacking and defensive displays we've seen from them during the whole tournament and they have a good chance of winning the WC 
(even if I'm not too fond of the tactics <_<)
Well, at least the BRazilians have a weak point.
I want competition during the WC, I don't want them just to go there and take the trophy without sweating for it!
True that. Other teams don't seem to set very high standards.
Lippi and Italy seem content with draws. Such a low standard for a team with so many stars. I guess not much can be expected of a team that explains it's on-field shortcomings with excuses like "the threads our socks are made of were too rough" and "our boots were too hot" 
Then there's England and Spain, the perennial underacheivers.
France is young and lacking all their stars.
The Dutch are going well, 10 games unbeaten. Van Basten seems to know what he's doing. All the better considering I go for the Dutch and the Czechs. Hell the Oranjes are even beating the Czechs, now that Van Basten is in charge and doesn't take crap from anyone 
Germany seem alright attacking, but defence-wise they're a mess. 15 goals in 5 games.
I think Argentina might be the only superpower that has a chance against Brasil. But we'll see. There might be another suprise yet 
I love the Dutch and the Czech too. Both of them play attractive, attacking football and I expect a lot from them.
The Germans weren't strong in 2002 either...
yeh the dutch are great... I just didn't like how the stars used to rule the team instead of the coach. But it's all good now with Van Basten. He's takin' it back to the basics; select the players based on their form, not their reputation. Every coach should learn that lesson Hopefully they'll give us some good football next year, fingers crossed
I just didn't like how the stars used to rule the team instead of the coach. But it's all good now with Van Basten.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>
After all, he is the biggest star among them...
wow good point...
never thought about it like that
there are so many players in the Dutch line-up that aren't "stars" now. e.g. who would've thought he'd call up Hedwiges Maduro from Ajax under-20s. It was a piece of genius!!!
more people should post in here, get some heated debates going :evil:
I can register under a diff. name, but my opinion would be the same.
How can we recruit for fanatics...
btw, GERRARD WANTS OUT!!!
opinions?
My view is: I love Xabi. Though Gerrard's a fantastic footballer and I'd rather he stay, Gerrard can leave because NOBODY is bigger than the club.
We offered him STG 100,000/wk, waited for negotiations the whole of last year and won the Champion's League. If he wants to leave then I wish him the best of luck, but we did everything possible to keep him.
Clubs-wise, hopefully he'll go to Real Madrid, Barca, Juve or Milan. If he goes to Chelsea it'll just make winning the Premiership impossible.
Replacements-wise, I think we should spend well with whatever money we get. But we'll definitely need more than one person to replace him. My thoughts are that we should start by buying Aimar (if he's cheap), Possibly Baraja. Suddenly, it's hard to name players that can fill the void left by Gerrard 
Yeh I heard...
the boy is confused...
but better he be confused at Liverpool than at Chelsea 
I wonder if Barca would've wanted a piece of the action? I know they have Van Bommel, but... 
Sure they wanted him, which team wouldn't?
But they won't cry now that they won't have him. That's for sure.
unlike Chelsea and Real...
hehehe losers
Just watching highlights of Vicente and Joaquin. Absolute class.
I just realised the future of Spain is in fine hands players-wise.
They have Yeste, Vicente, Joaquin, Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Fernando Torres, Puyol, Fabregas, Gerard Pique, Reyes, Villa, Marchena, Del Horno, Casillas to name a few off the top of my head. And those players can make up a team
^^They always had a strong team. The problem with the Spanish is not the quality of the players. It's rather weak team play and that they are weak fighters.
never really sat down and ever watched the Spaniards play. I haven't analysed them before, all I know is that they seem to make the easiest games seem like a struggle of titanic proportions.
I guess it makes sense that they don't have teamplay...I mean hell, their whole country is divided, let alone the team.
EDIT: just remembered to add Jesus Navas and Barrigan on to the list
Quickly back to 'Pool.
Do you know how Liverpool can play in CL?
I mean to play in CL, the team needs an opponent. Did UEFA throw one team out and replaced them with Pool, or they allowed one more team to enter the competition?
They allowed us to enter the competition in the first round, we play Total Network Solutions (TNS), the Welsh Champions.
We got a high seeding (in the top tier), so one team, I think the Czech runners up or something, got displaced from the seeding arrangements, where previously they were meant to receive a seeding in the competition.
We receive the least money amongst the English clubs including TV revenue and prize money.
We get no country protection either, so we can end up playing our 3rd qualifying round against Everton and/or end up in the same group as Chelsea in the group stages (since they were only seeded in the second-tier)
There were a few other conditions for our entry as well, but they're the major ones as far as I can remember