The National Teams thread (European championships, etc...) [Archive]

Evilo

08-09-2006, 12:57 PM

First piece of news, Domenech has announced his new list to play against Bosnia in the middle of this month :

Gk : Coupet, Landreau
No surprises. You can consider Frey and Itandje as the unofficial contenders for #3 (Frey should be second, but he has a conflict with Domenech).

Dmen : Abidal, Bousmong, Clerc, Gallas, Givet, Mexes, Sagnol.
Let's hope Mexes starts over Boumsong and replaces Thuram (who hasn't retired yet). Clerc is surprising though, as Reveillere and Chimbonda are better, or at least more experienced.

Midfield : A. Diarra, Faubert, Malouda, Mavuba, Toulalan, Vieira
No surprise, except if you consider Faubert one (I don't). I still think Bodmer should be there above all except Toulalan, Malouda and Vieira, but.... I'm sure Bodmer would be starting for France if he was playing on a team under the spotlight.

Forwards : Henry, Ribery, Saha, Trezeguet, Wiltord
No surprises here either. Let's hope Domenech will start David and Titi together.

My line up :

------------Coupet-----------
Sagnol-Gallas-Mexes-Abidal
--------Vieira--Toulalan------
Ribery----------------Malouda
-------Trezeguet-Henry-------

Domenech's probable lineup :

--------------Coupet-------------
Sagnol-Gallas-Boumsong-Abidal
--------------Diarra--------------
-------Vieira-----Toulalan-------
Ribery--------------------Malouda
------------Henry---------------

Belgian Fan

08-09-2006, 01:02 PM

Ah, good idea for a thread.

The Belgian Red Devils will go for their first competitive game under new coach René Vandereycken next wednesday. He stayed with mostly the same selection that has had some encouraging results in the firendlies:

Goal:
Stijn Stijnen (Club Brugge)
Geert De Vlieger (Zulte-Waregem)
Davy Schollen (Anderlecht)

-> Silvio Proto is injured, Stijnen looks like he'll start though I'm not overly confident in him. De Vlieger is only just back from a long injury so I don't expect him in goal.

Defense:
Carl Hoefkens (Stoke City)
Vincent Kompany (Hamburger SV)
Gill Swerts (Vitesse)
Daniel Van Buyten (Bayern München)
Jelle Van Damme (Anderlecht)
Anthony Vanden Borre (RSC Anderlecht)
Thomas Vermaelen (Ajax Amsterdam)

-> Swerts has been injured in training and replaced by Wim Dedecker (RC Genk now - both of them are former teammates of mine!)

Midfield:
Karel Geraerts (Standard)
Timmy Simons (PSV)
Bart Goor (Anderlecht)
Koen Daerden (Club Brugge KV)
Steven Defour (Standard)
Thomas Buffel (Rangers FC)

->Nothing earth shattering here.

Forwards:
Moussa Dembele (AZ Alkmaar)
Stein Huysegems (Feyenoord)
Luigi Pieroni (AJ Auxerre)
Kevin Vandenbergh (KRC Genk)

-> Sonck is injured so Dembele and Vandenbergh can stay.

Not sure yet how the team will line up, I'm thinking the back is pretty set but I'm not sure about the rest:

---------------------- Stijnen --------------------

VD Borre - Kompany - Van Buyten - Van Damme
-------------------------------------------------------
---------------------- Simons -------------------------
------ Buffel --------- Goor -----------Daerden ----
---------------------------------------------------------
-------------- Pieroni ------- Huysegems --------

I'm having trouble sorting the midfield out personally. Daerden and Goor both are natural left midfielders and we don't really have a natural guy for the right midfield position. This is how I think Vandereycken might solve the problem. Either way I like this team and especially this coach, even though we are in a very, very tough group I could see us sneaking trough, Poland should not be considered unbeatable and neither should Finland. Even Serbiais a team we could handle on a very good day.

By the way the U-21's are playing France next tuesday, here's their selection:

Goal: Michael Cordier (Brussels), Glenn Verbauwhede (Club Brugge)
Defense: Steve Colpaert (Brussels), Nicolas Lombaerts (AA Gent), Martijn Monteyne (Roeselare), Landry Mulemo (Sint-Truiden), Günther Vanaudenaerde (NEC/Ned), Jason Vandelanoitte (Club Brugge), Jan Wuytens (Heracles/Ned)
Midfield: Jonathan Blondel (Club Brugge), Laurent Ciman (Charleroi), Alessandro Cordaro (Bergen), Faris Haroun (Genk), Maarten Martens (AZ/Ned), Mohamed Messoudi (Willem II/Ned), Killian Overmeire (Lokeren)
Forwards: Tom De Mul (Ajax/Ned), Stijn De Smet (Cercle Brugge), Dieter Van Tornhout (Roda JC/Ned), Jeanvion Yulu-Matondo (Club Brugge).

Apart from goalkeeper Logan Bailly and F Kevin Mirallas not being there this looks like a pretty decent selection.

Evilo

08-09-2006, 01:23 PM

With Toulalan and Mavuba with the men, here's Girard's U21 list :

Gk : Steve Mandanda (Le Havre/L2), Simon Pouplin (Rennes)
No surprise here.

Dmen : Lucien Aubey (Toulouse), Jérémy Berthod (Lyon), Grégory Bourillon (Rennes), Albin Ebondo (Toulouse), Younes Kaboul (Auxerre), Olivier Veigneau (Monaco), Ronald Zubar (Marseille)
Very solid line here. Kaboul, Zubar and Berthod are a tremendous trio. The RB is up for grabs.

Midfield : Yohan Cabaye (Lille), Jérémy Clément (Glasgow Rangers), Lassana Diarra (Chelsea), Yoann Gourcuff (AC Milan), Blaise Matuidi (Troyes), Samir Nasri (Marseille)
Nasri is called even though he's much younger, which is very rare in France's selections. Good thing because Gourcuff was the only good offensive threat in that midfield, who should be very solid defensively (Diarra, Clement, Cabaye).

Forwards : Hatem Ben Arfa (Lyon), Karim Benzema (Lyon),Jimmy Briand (Rennes), Nicolas Fauvergue (Lille), Florent Sinama-Pongolle (Liverpool)
Le Tallec may join when he has a team, and that line look spectacular, with Girard calling the two phenoms from Lyon (Ben Arfa and Benzema). Sinama and Le Tallec have proven their value at this level, and Briand should be excellent too. The only surprise is the absence of Gouffran, which is highly surprising after his great start and his interesting performance in the U21 Euro. He's quite a notch above Fauvergue, and he's more versatile.

FlyHigh

08-09-2006, 01:54 PM

Not too much news out of England really. It's going to be either Gerrard or Terry for the captaincy. I personally hope that it will be Gerrard, but McLaren will probably give it to Terry.

And yes, Theo Walcott is now in the U-21 team.

Bubbles

08-09-2006, 02:01 PM

This is Dunga's "experimental" Brazilian squad against Norway on the 16th of August.

Goalkeepers: Gomes (PSV Eindhoven), Fabio (Cruzeiro);

Defenders: Cicinho (Real Madrid), Maicon (Internazionale), Gilberto (Hertha Berlin), Marcelo (Fluminense), Lucio (Bayern Munich), Juan (Bayer Leverkusen), Alex (PSV Eindhoven), Edmilson (Barcelona), Luisao (Benfica);

MF: Gilberto Silva (Arsenal), Elano (Shakhtar Donetsk), Daniel Carvalho (CSKA Moscow), Morais (Vasco da Gama), Jonatas (Flamengo);

F: Duda Cearense (CSKA Moscow), Fred (Lyon), Robinho (Real Madrid), Vagner Love (CSKA Moscow), Julio Baptista (Real Madrid), Wagner (Cruzeiro).

I would keep an eye on Wagner and Vagner Love. Wagner is second in scoring in the Brazilian championship and Love is an underrated striker. I'm surprised none of the major European teams have snapped up this guy.

HajdukSplit

08-09-2006, 02:20 PM

Croatia have a new manager in Slaven Bilic and he has called up some new guys on the team, but some players definetely don't deserve to be called up. Croatia play the world champs next week and they have an extremely difficult qualifying group, but I think they will be able to get the 2nd spot, won't be easy though

Evilo

08-09-2006, 02:28 PM

Forgot to say Vieira will be France's new captain.

HajdukSplit

08-09-2006, 02:28 PM

Croatia's squad to play Italy

Goalkeepers: Stipe Pletikosa (Shakhtar Donetsk), Joey Didulica (AZ Alkmaar)

Defenders: Dario Simic (AC Milan), Goran Sablic (Dynamo Kiev), Igor Tudor (Juventus), Robert Kovac (Juventus), Josip Simunic (Hertha Berlin), Dario Knezevic (Rijeka), Hrvoje Cale (Dinamo Zagreb)

Midfielders: Jurica Vranjes (Werder Bremen), Niko Kovac (Red Bull Salzburg), Jerko Leko (AS Monaco), Marko Babic (Bayer Leverkusen), Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk), Milan Rapaic (Standard Liege), Niko Kranjcar (Hajduk Split), Luka Modric (Dinamo Zagreb)

Forwards: Ivan Klasnic (Werder Bremen), Mladen Petric (Basel), Ivica Olic (CSKA Moscow), Bosko Balaban (Club Brugge), Eduardo Da Silva (Dinamo Zagreb)

The new names are Cale, Knezevic and Petric. Cale is a U21 player but this season his form has dropped but he is a natural left back. Knezevic was in the U21's a few years ago and is the best central defender in the Croatian league. Petric is a Swiss born Croat who is one of the top scorers in the Swiss league

Also Rapaic gets a call back because he has been doing well in the Belgian league, Sablic for some reason got the call.

U21's, you won't know any players, only three play abroad: Stiven Rivic (Energie) Mladen Bartulovic (Dnipro) Josip Tadic (Bayer Leverkusen juniors) and the rest play in the Croatian league. It's a good generation of young players but they are in a difficult group

NyQuil

08-09-2006, 03:16 PM

Ah, what would England be without the Canucks to show them the way...:sarcasm:

"Bayern Munich midfielder Owen Hargreaves has been voted England's best player at the recent World Cup."

"Canada-raised Hargreaves received more than 35,000 votes - just under a quarter of those polled - beating Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, David Beckham and John Terry."

"And the versatile midfielder, subjected to ridicule for much of his international career, has been identified as the most impressive player in Germany in a Football Association poll last month."

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=375409&cc=5901

Juni

08-10-2006, 09:06 AM

John Terry has just been named captain of the England team, which I'm delighted about.

Steve McClaren's first squad is due soon, Dean Ashton is expected to get a callup in the absence of both Owen and Rooney.

yarre

08-10-2006, 09:11 AM

Some info about Sweden:

Fredrik Ljungberg has been named new captain (finally Mellberg the loser is gone).

We are switching to 4-5-1.

sensfan5666

08-10-2006, 09:16 AM

Terry was a good choice, I have a feeling Neville would've been better.

Least Worthy: Frank Lampard.

The guy does wonders for Chelsea and has never played like he belongs for England.

sensfan5666

08-10-2006, 09:23 AM

As for Hargreaves, he was well-hated up until he really impressed this world cup.

I have to admit, when he got his first start I swore and swore. He had done nothing in any other competition or friendly leading up to the world cup. But he proved himself worthy of his playing time. I look forward to seeing him in Euro now, he was easily the star of the Portugal match.

Juni

08-11-2006, 04:43 AM

Only a friendly but rumours are that Beckham's been dropped from the squad.

Confirmed tomorrow.

Juni

08-11-2006, 06:19 AM

and Holland...RVN and Van Bommel 'dropped'

Doel: Van der Sar en Timmer

Verdediging: Ooijer, Mathijsen, Heitinga, Emanuelson, De Cler en Jaliens

Middenveld: Landzaat, Sneijder, Van der Vaart, De Jong en Schaars

Aanval: Huntelaar, Robben, Van Persie, Kuijt en Vennegoor of Hesselink.

Hellström

08-11-2006, 06:30 AM

Roster for the friendly against Sweden

Goal: 1 Jens Lehmann (FC Arsenal), 23 Timo Hildebrand (VfB Stuttgart)

Defense: 3 Arne Friedrich (Hertha BSC Berlin), 24 Manuel Friedrich (FSV Mainz 05), 2 Marcell Jansen (Borussia Mönchengladbach), 16 Philipp Lahm (Bayern München), 21 Christoph Metzelder (Borussia Dortmund), 6 Jens Nowotny (Dinamo Zagreb)

Midfield: 5 Sebastian Kehl (Borussia Dortmund), 13 Michael Ballack (FC Chelsea), 7 Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern München), 18 Tim Borowski, 8 Torsten Frings (beide Werder Bremen), 19 Bernd Schneider (Bayer Leverkusen), 22 David Odonkor (Borussia Dortmund), 15 Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart)

Strikers: 14 Gerald Asamoah (Schalke 04), 9 Mike Hanke (VfL Wolfsburg), 11 Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen), 20 Lukas Podolski (Bayern München), 10 Oliver Neuville (Borussia Möchengladbach)

Juni

08-11-2006, 08:57 AM

England squad named

Robinson (Tottenham)
Kirkland (Liverpool)
Foster (Man Utd)

Bridge (Chelsea)
Brown (Man Utd)
Carragher (Liverpool)
A Cole (Arsenal)
Dawson (Tottenham)
Ferdinand (Man Utd)
G Neville (Man Utd)
P Neville (Everton)
Terry (capt, Chelsea)
Young (Charlton)

Downing (Middlesbrough)
Gerrard (Liverpool)
Hargreaves (Bayern Munich)
Jenas (Tottenham)
Lampard (Chelsea)
Lennon (Tottenham)
Richardson (Man Utd)
Wright-Phillips (Chelsea)

Ashton (West Ham)
Bent (Charlton)
Crouch (Liverpool)
Defoe (Tottenham)

Juni

08-11-2006, 09:11 AM

Tricolore#20

08-11-2006, 09:17 AM

Seems Beckham's dropped for a while, McClaren at a press conference now

"I want to go into a different direction and David isn't part of that. I haven't closed the door on him, it's not open, it's not closed. At the present moment it's a new beginning, i've decided not to pick Beckham."
This truly signals a changing of the guard. After seeing Aaron Lennon at the World Cup, and his pace and creativity, I think he is the new right sided MF that brings a completely different element. Lennon imposes himself in the game extremely well (something that Beckham hasn't been able to do for several years), and both he and SWP are two dangerous threats who can play that position.

However, that said, I still think that Beckham could be very useful as a substitute, especially when England is desperate to find some goals, because he still delivers good set pieces. I'm not sure whether he would be willing to play the role of a specialist, considering he was the England captain, and is viewed as the most popular footballer in the world, but that would be the only way he makes it back on the team, IMO.

It's also nice to see Dean Ashton get the callup. After the entire Theo Walcott fiasco at the World Cup, I hope that McLaren truly gets to see every possible striker play for England, before they go to a major competition. To this day, I cannot comprehend why Eriksson would have taken Walcott, and how he could have sabotaged a great chance at a World Cup (pretournament. The team was awful during the WC).

Volcanologist

08-11-2006, 12:50 PM

mr gib

08-11-2006, 12:52 PM

Telecaster Fanatic

08-11-2006, 12:53 PM

Hmm. Interesting that Nowotny's back in again.

What do you think the starting lineup will be?

Telecaster Fanatic

08-11-2006, 01:03 PM

Swedens squad vs Germany

Andreas Isaksson G Stade Rennais FC
Rami Shaaban G Fredrikstad FK
Mikael Antonsson D Panathinaikos FC
Mikael Dorsin D Rosenborg BK
Petter Hansson D SC Heerenveen
Mikael Nilsson D Panathinaikos FC
Fredrik Stenman D Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Karl Svensson D Rangers FC
Niclas Alexandersson MF IFK Göteborg
Marcus Allbäck A FC København
Daniel Andersson MF Malmö FF
Kennedy Bakircioglü MF FC Twente
Fredrik Berglund A FC København
Johan Elmander A Toulouse FC
Kim Källström MF Olympique Lyonnais
Tobias Linderoth MF FC København
Markus Rosenberg A AFC Ajax
Anders Svensson MF IF Elfsborg
Christian Wilhelmsson MF FC Nantes Atlantique

big boi

08-11-2006, 01:08 PM

England squad named

Robinson (Tottenham)
Kirkland (Liverpool)
Foster (Man Utd)

Bridge (Chelsea)
Brown (Man Utd) UGGH!!
Carragher (Liverpool)
A Cole (Arsenal)
Dawson (Tottenham)
Ferdinand (Man Utd)
G Neville (Man Utd)
P Neville (Everton) REALLY?
Terry (capt, Chelsea)
Young (Charlton)

Downing (Middlesbrough)
Gerrard (Liverpool)
Hargreaves (Bayern Munich)
Jenas (Tottenham)
Lampard (Chelsea)
Lennon (Tottenham)
Richardson (Man Utd) WHY?
Wright-Phillips (Chelsea)

Ashton (West Ham)
Bent (Charlton)
Crouch (Liverpool)
Defoe (Tottenham)

big boi

08-11-2006, 01:19 PM

This truly signals a changing of the guard. After seeing Aaron Lennon at the World Cup, and his pace and creativity, I think he is the new right sided MF that brings a completely different element. Lennon imposes himself in the game extremely well

Would have been nice if he could have put away that sitter against portugal though. Would have liked to see him rise to the occasion a little bit more, he really could have made it his coming out party. His talent is undeniable. Probably makes SWP surplus too, as good as he is. Would prefer to see Parker get a call up.

It's also nice to see Dean Ashton get the callup. After the entire Theo Walcott fiasco at the World Cup, I hope that McLaren truly gets to see every possible striker play for England, before they go to a major competition. To this day, I cannot comprehend why Eriksson would have taken Walcott, and how he could have sabotaged a great chance at a World Cup (pretournament. The team was awful during the WC).

Completely agree.

FlyHigh

08-11-2006, 01:41 PM

I think that Richardson gets selected purely because he's a Manu player. I think Kevin Nolan deserves a look just to see how he does in England colors. He's showed that he can actually play some decent stuff at Bolton.

Nice to see that Lennon has pretty much become the starter. It'd be nice if SWP could play on the left, but I'm not sure how realistic that really is. I do feel a little sorry for Beckham. He's made his mistakes, but overall, he's done very well for the NT and it must be tough for him getting cut.

Gwyddbwyll

08-12-2006, 03:39 AM

Richardson has done well every time he's played for England - I think that's a bigger factor than being a Man U player. You could be right about some of the other players with a Man U connection though. Richardson was unlucky to miss out on the World Cup - Downing being a regular starter for his club was probably decisive.

Not very impressed by McLaren so far. Gerrard has proven himself as a better captain than Terry and is less likely to lose his place. Terry is a good captain too, but not the best one.

I fear McLaren's actions have been out of inadequacy. He brings back Venables (which I like) because he doesnt feel like a big name. I think he feels concerned he wont inspire the team so he picks Terry over a better captain because of his passion. Now he drops Beckham to make a statement about who is in charge. Beckham will definitely play again for England or at least he should. Picking SWP over Beckham is a silly move. Maybe a year ago, but not right now with SWP out of form and out of the team. And bringing back Phil Neville too.. man.. talk about playing favorites.

Also he wants to cut Peter Taylor who has been very successful managing England U21's. I dont remember the exact quote but he talked about how "crucial" the position was and how it needed "expertise". Then he said he wanted to bring in Alan Shearer. ***? A totally green rookie manager who couldnt be wetter behind the ears to replace one of our most experienced and successful U21 managers? Really makes sense. Not to mention he's completely disrupting the U21 team right before some very important qualifiers.

Haha didnt realise that w.t.f. has hit the swear filter..

Evilo

08-12-2006, 03:47 AM

Losing Beckham means that today's english squad has lost its best weapon : set plays.

Think about it : what would have happenned in the last WC without Beckham's set plays and crosses?

Juni

08-12-2006, 06:20 AM

His set pieces are a fantastic asset, sure, but if they're worked on then you can still be highly effective without him. Lampard takes Chelsea's (for the most part) and there have been spells the last two seasons where we've scored tons of set piece goals because the delivery has been good and more importantly the scheme has worked to perfection.

FlyHigh

08-12-2006, 08:24 AM

Losing Beckham means that today's english squad has lost its best weapon : set plays.

Think about it : what would have happenned in the last WC without Beckham's set plays and crosses?

That's what I said, but I got bashed pretty badly for it, even perhaps by some posters around here. :amazed:

I personally agree with pretty much every part of Gwyddbwyll's post. I would also add on that Gerrard didn't become the player he is for Liverpool until he got the armband. Gerrard is much more inspirational than Terry and he's won more than Terry too.

Richardson isn't a bad player, but I don't see how he gets in the squad ahead of Nolan. I'm not a Nolan fan, but he scored 9 goals from midfield in one of the most defensive systems in the league. If he played for a bigger club and didn't have Fat Sam as a manager, I think he'd get a lot more attention, he's a pretty decent footballer.

FlyHigh

08-12-2006, 08:24 AM

Westlander

08-12-2006, 09:05 AM

Losing Beckham means that today's english squad has lost its best weapon : set plays.

Think about it : what would have happenned in the last WC without Beckham's set plays and crosses?

That's a fair point, but what would have happened if Lampard had put away even half of the chances that he normally would have with Chelsea? It might have been a different tournament for England. You have to take the good with the bad. Without Beckham they would have likely played Lennon on the right side, and I'm not sure they'd have been any worse off.

I think Beck's will be back though, but perhaps in a reduced role if he'll accept that. I think (and hope) that he will.

IMHO giving Terry the armband is the right move. He's a couple years younger than Gerrard, and as a defender I suspect that his career with England will be longer. I also remember that when Rooney got injured before the WC, Gerrard was quoted as saying something like 'it will be impossible to win' without him. Not the words of a captain I thought. Maybe I'm making too much of a foolish comment, but I don't care much for his diving either. Still, he's Englands best all-around player, and the team should be built with a mind toward maximising his impact as well as Rooney's.

mole

08-12-2006, 01:11 PM

Danish 23-man squad for the friendly against Poland in Odense on August 16th.

Notes:
-MO has ignored whether or not these players are likely to play regularly at the club level, but admits that later on, players could be dropped due to this factor.
-First national team game in Odense since 1991, when Parken was being rebuilt.
-Excluded/left due to injury: Christian Poulsen, Morten Skoubo, Søren Larsen, Daniel Jensen, Jesper Grønkjær, Jon Dahl Tomasson.

GK:
Thomas Sørensen, Aston Villa
Jesper Christiansen, FC København
-These two are the clear no. 1 and 2 choices, so there's no need to call up a 3rd. However, it will be interesting to see how Stephan Andersen does in Charlton during the season, a possible future starter.

DF:
Brian Priske, RB, Club Brugges
Lars Jacobsen, RB, FC København
Daniel Agger, CB, Liverpool
Michael Gravgaard, CB, FC København
Per Krøldrup, CB, Fiorentina
Thomas Helveg, CB, Münchengladbach
Niclas Jensen, LB, Fulham
Jan Kristiansen, LB, FC Nürnberg
-Weak right side, decent centrally, questionable left. Jan Kristiansen is normally a midfielder but has played a few NT friendlies at left back and done fairly well. If N Jensen spends another season on the bench in Fulham, expect JK to stay as starter. A glaring omission is Leon Andreasen, who I feel should be there. Krøldrup is a lock to get one of the two CB spots, but any of the other three could start alongside him. I'm going with Helveg, even though his call-up was a surprise.

DMF:
Rasmus Würtz, DCM, AaB
Thomas Gravesen, DCM, Real Madrid
-No Poulsen and D Jensen (injured) means that these two are the only natural CM's left. Maybe we will see Kahlenberg og Claus Jensen tried in this position?

W/FW:
Claus Jensen, ACM, Fulham
Thomas Kahlenberg, ACM/LW, Auxerre
Martin Jørgensen, ACM/W, Fiorentina
Dennis Rommedahl, RW, Charlton
Peter Løvenkrands, LW/FW, Schalke 04
Nicklas Bendtner, FW, Birmingham
Mads Junker, FW, Vitesse
-Bendtner continues his fast ascension in the footballing hierarchy. MO's words on the call-up: "Nicklas is a young player, who we believe has a future on this team. He has some useful tools, and therefore we felt it was important to get a closer look at him." And: "We have not guaranteed him playing time, and even though he would maybe have played 90 minutes for the U21-team, we feel that the senior team is the most important and therefore we consider it right to bring him into the squad." The same Bendtner has played 210+ minutes for Birmingham in the Championship in the past 7 days, so in my opinion it would be just fine if he got a little rest and only featured minimally, if at all, in the Poland game. However, no Skoubo and Larsen make him the only natural lone striker (in this system), so chances are that he will play some role.
Update: On monday Jesper Grønkjær left the squad, Mads Junker was drafted in and MO commented on Bendtner, "I can almost promise that he will play, but I can't tell you how much. We haven't decided whether he will start or not, either." Junker is a natural striker so could be used in the top position instead of Tomasson (who has a minor injury) or Bendtner, but he, too, has never been capped before.
Updated 2: Tomasson has withdrawn with injury today, so now we're practically sure to see the two debutant strikers play. I assume that they'll get to split the 90 minutes (i.e. a direct sub sometime in the 2nd half), but Løvenkrands could perceivably get some minutes there, too.

My guess at a starting lineup:

------------- Sørensen -------------
Priske -- Helveg - Krøldrup - N Jensen
------- Gravesen - Würtz -----------
Rommedahl - Jørgensen -- Kahlenberg
-------------- Junker ---------------

With sub action for: Agger, Kristiansen, C Jensen, Løvenkrands and Bendtner.

Edit: several updates, two players out, one in.
Edit 2: Tomasson out.

Bubbles

08-12-2006, 01:52 PM

This is Donadoni's squad against Croatia. As expected, he left a lot of the WC squad out to rest them.

Goalkeepers
Marco Amelia (Livorno), Flavio Roma (Monaco)

Defenders
Daniele Bonera (Milan), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Giulio Falcone (Sampdoria), Manuel Pasqual (Fiorentina), Christian Terlizzi (Sampdoria), Luciano Zauri (Lazio), Cristian Zenoni (Sampdoria)

Midfielders
Massimo Ambrosini (Milan), Gennaro Del Vecchio (Sampdoria), Massimo Gobbi (Fiorentina), Fabio Liverani (Fiorentina), Stefano Morrone (Livorno), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Franco Semioli (Chievo)

Forwards
Andrea Caracciolo (Palermo), David Di Michele (Palermo), Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Mauro Esposito (Cagliari), Cristiano Lucarelli (Livorno), Tommaso Rocchi (Lazio)

Regency

08-12-2006, 04:15 PM

Gwyddbwyll

08-12-2006, 04:35 PM

I also remember that when Rooney got injured before the WC, Gerrard was quoted as saying something like 'it will be impossible to win' without him.

Good point.. that's the first thing that has made me reconsider that Gerrard might not be the best choice. I remember I didnt like that quote much either, even if it was how I felt too.

Belgian Fan

08-13-2006, 03:55 PM

So is Belgium - Kazakhstan the only competitive match then this week? Seems like everyone else is playing friendlies.

HajdukSplit

08-13-2006, 06:45 PM

if Croatia doesn't win, they don't deserve to go and qualify for Euro 2008, although half of Croatia's defenders are injured and we will go with younger players

Hellström

08-14-2006, 10:57 AM

Jan Kristiansen is normally a midfielder but has played a few NT friendlies at left back and done fairly well. If N Jensen spends another season on the bench in Fulham, expect JK to stay as starter.

Kristiansen has been used as a LB with Nürnberg in the pre-season and in the first match, so he´ll might stay at that position (especially since there´s no big competition in Nürnberg).

Hellström

08-14-2006, 11:01 AM

Ballack, Kehl and Metzelder are out of the squad for the friendly against Sweden.

Coach Löw added LB Malik Fathi (Hertha BSC) to the squad - well deserved :)

mole

08-14-2006, 03:17 PM

LB Malik Fathi (Hertha BSC) - well deserved :)
I remember him dominating in a U21 game in the spring.. or was it U20? Anyway, clearly Germany's best on the day. But bad news for Cagara, I presume.

Kristiansen has been used as a LB with Nürnberg in the pre-season and in the first match, so he´ll might stay at that position (especially since there´s no big competition in Nürnberg).
Interesting. Have you seen him in any of these games?

I've updated my Denmark post a little with the latest changes. Playing time for Bendtner is now very likely.

Hellström

08-14-2006, 03:36 PM

But bad news for Cagara, I presume.

He´s clearly the back-up. Fathi has been a solid player last year and become a real force in spring. His first game was so-so, but overall Fathi is a lock IMO.

Interesting. Have you seen him in any of these games?
[/QUOTE]

I´ve watched about 30 minutes of the game and the highlights. Overall Kristiansen played well, but there were no big problems for Nürnberg overall....
The only competition nowadays is Havier Pinola, but he´s a inconsistent player.

kacz

08-15-2006, 01:09 PM

So is Belgium - Kazakhstan the only competitive match then this week? Seems like everyone else is playing friendlies.

Estonia vs F.Y.R. Macedonia and Faroe Islands vs Georgia also take place on the same date in groups E and B respectively.

mole

08-15-2006, 01:33 PM

big boi

08-15-2006, 02:22 PM

Danish post updated again. Tomasson is out, so Bendtner could easily get 45+ minutes, now.

What is your impression of Bendtner? How soon would you expect him to be a regular at Arsenal? He seems like a very good prospect.

FlyHigh

08-15-2006, 04:57 PM

What is your impression of Bendtner? How soon would you expect him to be a regular at Arsenal? He seems like a very good prospect.

I think he could be a regular by next year. It'd be fun to see him spearheading a 4-3-3 with Henry and RvP.

mole

08-15-2006, 07:24 PM

I think he could be a regular by next year. It'd be fun to see him spearheading a 4-3-3 with Henry and RvP.
Something like that. I'll have my prospect list out (with, I can reveal now, him at #1) sometime around the weekend. I'm impressed by him every time I see him. He could probably make Adebayor obsolete next year if he continues his current development. On the other hand, he would probably start making serious noise about leaving if it doesn't look like he'll be at least getting some time.

Can't wait for the game tomorrow.

FlyHigh

08-15-2006, 11:34 PM

Walcott scored in the 3rd minute for England in a U21 game against Moldova, but the game ended up as a 2-2 draw, nice to see Theo doing well though.

kacz

08-16-2006, 10:50 AM

Team Ukrainian team played well on route to a 6-0 trashing of Azerbaijan

Lineup:
Kernozenko
Husiev (Vorobei 46') - Kucher - Rusol - Nesmachny (Svidersky 55')
Tymoschuk (Shelaiev 46') - Rotan (Mykhalyk 55') - Tkachenko - Nazarenko (Rykun 46')
Voronin (Husyn 54') - Bielik

The Imp

08-16-2006, 12:26 PM

Bendtner will start for Denmark, vs. Poland.

Keep in mind that Søren Larsen, Morten Skoubo and Jon Dahl Tomasson all pulled out of this game, though.

DevilFisch

08-16-2006, 01:18 PM

In other news, Defender Jamil Fearrington will appeal to FIFA to be able to play for the United States and not Denmark. (http://www.yanks-abroad.com/content.php?mode=news&id=002051) He has played for the Danish U-19 team, but I don't think ever got capped in a game that would tie him to Denmark. He is a dual citizen of the United States and Denmark, that could help him in his appeal.

Hellström

08-16-2006, 02:02 PM

Germany leads after 10 minutes in the friendly against Sweden.

Schneider + Klose

FlyHigh

08-16-2006, 02:18 PM

Bendtner has scored on his Denmark debut...

FlyHigh

08-16-2006, 02:23 PM

And Terry scores on his captain's debut for England, perhaps I was wrong about wanting Gerrard to be captain.

Hellström

08-16-2006, 02:32 PM

Klose makes it a three to nothing...excellent header

FlyHigh

08-16-2006, 02:38 PM

And Defoe sets up Lampard for his 2nd. Nice for England to see Lampard score.

FlyHigh

08-16-2006, 02:46 PM

And Huntelaar already has 2 for Holland, I'm beginning to wonder if he ever has a game when he doesn't score.

The Rage

08-16-2006, 02:51 PM

Terry was a good choice, I have a feeling Neville would've been better.

Least Worthy: Frank Lampard.

The guy does wonders for Chelsea and has never played like he belongs for England.

Lampard had a sub-par world cup, but his goal scoring record for England speaks for itself.

FlyHigh

08-16-2006, 02:52 PM

England are up 4-0. Greece sound like they're disinterested and Gerrard is apparently having a monster game. I'll be interested to watch this game, I only can listen right now.

Italy down 2-0 to Croatia :amazed: and Modric has a goal.

Arsenal's Hleb also scored the deciding goal for Belarus in a victory over Andorra.

The Rage

08-16-2006, 02:57 PM

Danish post updated again. Tomasson is out, so Bendtner could easily get 45+ minutes, now.

Meanwhile, Steve McClaren has announced the England starting lineup for tomorrow:

--------------- Robinson ---------------

Neville --- Ferdinand --- Terry ----- Cole

Gerrard - Hargreaves - Lampard - Downing

------------ Defoe --- Crouch ----------

This is a formation I really wanted to see (with Ronney, Owen, and J.Cole in when they're available). Gerrard and Lampard together CAN work--you just need a holding player like Hargreaves there to let them fly. The only change I would make is playing Gerard on the left (and J.Cole on the right). Ashley Cole and J.Cole would then be able to provide the width from both sides.

Bubbles

08-16-2006, 03:02 PM

Italy down 2-0 to Croatia :amazed: and Modric has a goal.

That's because Italy is fielding what can be considered a C team.

FlyHigh

08-16-2006, 03:08 PM

That's because Italy is fielding what can be considered a C team.

Yeah I saw the roster, it's still interesting though. Modric seems like a name to keep an eye on, I was really impressed with him when Zagreb played Arsenal.

Ajacied

08-16-2006, 03:30 PM

Oranje beat Ireland 4-0 in a pretty entertaining game. I didn't think anyone played bad really.

It was also Huntelaar's debute and while he looked shaky, he was involved in all 4 of the goals (2G, 2A). He actually scored his first after only a few minutes but the goal was wrongfully disallowed due to offside. He wasted no chances on a corner not 2 minutes thereafter, placing it nicely in the corner with the head. Had an awesome backheel pass to Robben for the 2-0, a nice little stift for the 3-0 while giving a nice through ball at van Persie (who roofed it bar and in) for the 4-0.

Still he looked shaky, he was unfortunate in his passing at times and wasn't selfish enough. Two goals and two assists, quite a stunning debute. He's a superstarstriker..

Other observations:

Van Persie was awesome. Ireland had two man on him but he just went by them whenever he felt like it. I just love the fact how he can suddenly go from a slow dribble to MAG 4 in two seconds. Had a sweet goal and an assist, but might have been a little too inexperienced on some occasions (ie trying to rocket an open net shot from 4 meters out). He also just loves to play with Robben and van der Vaart (who played very good), and it showed. It seems like Huntelaar fit in well, completing a nice, young foursome on offense whom we can build on for years to come.

Landzaat played with full confidence and is looking to have a wonderful season for Wigan. He looks in excellent shape.

Van der Sar was flawless, just perfect. Was involved a lot and had one stunning save.

Schaars, Janssen and Emanuelson also made their debutes. The latter didn't really play any different than he does for Ajax. He did well.. Schaars had a few overenthousiastic plays at times but fought well. Janssen only played about 10 minutes.

Overall, while it was only one (meaningless) game, but it showed that the EC U21 winners fit in well with some of the current stars. I expect some veterans to remain with the squad, but our line-up features some promessing players at every position now..

------------------- Huntelaar -------------------
Robben ------------------------------- van Persie
-------- van der Vaart ------ Sneijder -----------
------------------- Maduro ---------------------
Emanuelson ---------------------------- de Jong
---------------- Vlaar - Luirink -----------------
-------------------- Vermeer -------------------

Hellström

08-16-2006, 03:42 PM

Final result:

Germany - Sweden 3-0

Typical friendly. Sweden with a B-squad, Germany without Ballack and some others. Manuel Friedrich with a good debut, Fathi with his (late) debut as well.

Belizarius

08-16-2006, 04:19 PM

France wins 2-1 in Bosnia.
Good game overall, both teams a little inconsistant but some good plays, a lot of skills and scoring chances.
Barbarez scored 1st, putting home an header off a free kick. France tied it just before the end of the 1st on a similar goal, with Gallas concluding.
The final goal was in extra time (90+1) on a counter attack, a cross came on Julien Faubert's feet. His shot was deflected in. First cap, first goal. :)

Solid game by Vieira, Henry and Gallas. Sagnol as well.
Mavuba was really good, great progression. Saha was interesting, but still missed 3-4 scoring chances including 2 one on one. Bosnia keeper was really good.
A good game for august, with most of the players still in training camps. :)

pavlako11

08-16-2006, 04:27 PM

What time's the Greece/England game tomorrow?

oh... I guess the Greeks thought the same thing... :shakehead :cry:

Belgian Fan

08-16-2006, 04:28 PM

Tricolore#20

08-16-2006, 04:40 PM

I watched the Greece-England game, and it was somewhat interesting to watch. Greece defending was questionable throughout the first half. England exposed them frequently, and they had chances to go up more than 4-0 in the first half. Greece definitely defended better in the second half, but England looked disinterested at the beginning. It was only until England made a series of substitutions that they regained some of that first half form.

England players that impressed me include:

1) Owen Hargraeves, who was named man of the match. He was everywhere on the pitch, doing a great job in shutting down the Greek attack, but also creating quality chances.

2) Peter Crouch: 2 goals (that weren't that impressive), but he seems more and more comfortable on the pitch. He played the entire 90 minutes and didn't really look out of place, like he often did during the World Cup.

3) Kieran Richardson and Aaron Lennon: Played for only a quarter of an hour or so, but both had brilliant opportunities. They both have good pace, and create fits for the defense. I love these youngsters for England, and hope Lennon gets more time, since he seems to generate something everytime he is on the pitch for England. Richardson, who looks better for England than for Man Utd had some quality chances.

4) Ashley Cole: outstanding on defense. He cut out a few Greek through balls, and was absolutely brilliant in clearing 2 guaranteed goals off the line. He truly proved is he one of the premier LBs in the world tonight.

mole

08-16-2006, 04:45 PM

Denmark U21 2 - Switzerland U21 3 Notes:

14' S.B. Poulsen
16' J. Esteban
29' M.D. Rasmussen
55' M. Jakobsen (OG)
75' M. Maric

- Good games for S.B. Poulsen (1 goal), Thygesen, Bergvold and Kvist Jørgensen. Duncan got the other goal and did fairly well. Theis Rasmussen was ok in goal.
- Impressive Swiss team, never gave up (twice came back to tie, and then took the lead lateish) and looked dangerous every time they went forward.
- Danish defence was very poor. Two debutants at left and right back (with the right back normally being a midfielder) and two center backs who have predominantly played at full back for the U21's. Particularly Troest looked in poor form, and the communication was lacking big time.

Denmark 2 - Poland 0:

'32 Bendtner
'63 Rommedahl

Starting lineup:
---------------- Sørensen ----------------
Jacobsen - Gravgaard - Agger ---- N Jensen
------------------ Würtz -----------------
---------- Gravesen - Jørgensen ----------
Rommedahl --------------------- Kahlenberg
---------------- Bendtner ----------------

Player ratings:
Sørensen: 5 - Little to do. Did look shaky when there was something, though.
Jacobsen: 6 - Was OK. Had a few decent forward runs.
Gravgaard: 7 - Good at the back.
Agger: 6 - Not at his best defensively, missed one good headed chance, put another one onto the crossbar.
N Jensen: 8 - Lively all game long, good runs into space, moved the ball very well and passing was top notch. Close to being MotM.
Würtz: 7 - Handled the assignment as lone DM well. Made a few bad decisions but was very effective overall. Hurt his back and was subbed.
Gravesen: 9 - Controlled everything and made 2 wonderful assists. This will hopefully shut up the critical media for a while and give him some rest to find a new club.
Jørgensen: 8 - Very active, surprisingly so considering his season isn't even close to starting, and had a hand in most of the offensive moves.
Rommedahl: 7 - Tried hard most of the game, got the second goal on a breakaway, but was a bit anonymous.
Kahlenberg: 6 - Had some bad luck with his early moves, and didn't look very confident. Was subbed at half-time.
Bendtner: 7 - Youngest debutant & goalscorer since Michael Laudrup. Played exactly as expected: With hunger, optimism and a touch of nerves. Showed bravery in scoring the goal, lunging himself into the path of the ball despite an oncoming goalie. Found open space well (highlighted by the goal), showed some good moves, but also made a few "rookie" mistakes. Overall a very promising first 67minutes. Depending on his fortunes with Birmingham in the coming weeks, I could definitely see him playing a role in the Portugal friendly and opening qualifier in Iceland in early September.
Claus Jensen (sub) : 7 - Good offensive creativity, cute little moves and touches and excellent passes, looks like the old Claus is still there despite injury layoff.
Thomas Helveg (sub) : 7 - Despite explaining only days ago that on the national team he was only a defender, he replaced Würtz in the holding role very well and played a nice, safe game.
Mads Junker (sub) : 5 - Didn't get involved enough, is probably not going to get a recall anytime soon.
Løvenkrands & Kristiansen also subbed on, getting stuck in and doing alright for themselves.

Overall on of the most positive danish NT games in a long while. Many players impressed and proved themselves as worthwhile options.

kacz

08-16-2006, 05:06 PM

Juni

08-16-2006, 05:19 PM

Greece were terrible tonight, England didn't really have to work for any of their goals. Nice to see the Chelsea lads crucial as ever, Gerrard was impressive too.

Regency

08-16-2006, 06:24 PM

Rossi was impressive in Italy's U21 friendly yesterday against Croatia....he even caught Donadoni's attention....hopefully he continues to progress.

Gwyddbwyll

08-17-2006, 03:54 AM

Theo Walcott scored after just 3 minutes on his England U21 debut.

Dave Nugent was also impressive.. a lot of teams are tracking him now.

Ajacied

08-17-2006, 05:21 AM

And Huntelaar already has 2 for Holland, I'm beginning to wonder if he ever has a game when he doesn't score.

Huntelaar has scored 59 goals in his last 58 games.. Just insane.

big boi

08-17-2006, 10:16 AM

Huntelaar has scored 59 goals in his last 58 games.. Just insane.

Ridiculous!! Do you expect someone (a rich club) to move for him soon? How did Van Basten leave him off the Dutch squad?

Every time I see Ajax highlights.... he scores. What a game he had for holland yesterday.

Hope for Ajax sakes they can keep him.

Ajacied

08-17-2006, 10:26 AM

Ridiculous!! Do you expect someone (a rich club) to move for him soon? How did Van Basten leave him off the Dutch squad?

Every time I see Ajax highlights.... he scores. What a game he had for holland yesterday.

Hope for Ajax sakes they can keep him.
Marco van Basten wanted to bring 3 strikers with him, one of them had to be a pinchitter, automaticly ruling out Huntelaar. That left Kuijt, Makaay, van Nistelrooij and Huntelaar for the final two spots. Kuijt was selected due to his tremendous workethic and he had a very good qualification series whereas it's still hard denying a player of Ruud's calibre.

Huntelaar went on to play the European Championsship for Oranje U21, winning the title and even MVP honors with the most goals of the tournament.

I was dissapointed Huntelaar didn't go to Germany, but I could see van Basten's reasoning. Just recently however, van Basten said he was wrong in that decision and admitted that not taking Huntelaar with him was a mistake.

Best thing about Huntelaar is his down to earth mentality. By no means does he feel he's already a top level striker. He keeps pushing hard to be the best someday. He also stated how he'd like to play in the Eredivisie for at least two more years before considering himself ready for a bigger club. Though I just can't imagine Ajax keeping him for another year. He'll remain an Ajacied for this entire season though, I'm 100% sure of that.

HajdukSplit

08-17-2006, 11:12 AM

Croatia will never get respect, true it was a C side but all of them play regularly in Serie A, one of the top leagues in the world while Croatia fielded 5-6 players from the HNL (the Croatian league, which is probably 30th in Europe). Croatia didn't field it's strongest side either and we easily won but still no respect.

Also the Croatian U21's drew with Italian U21's, one of the best if not the world, defeintely Europe.

Doesn't matter, Croatia will never get any respect, heck I see many people think Croatia are a horrible team :shakehead

BMann

08-18-2006, 04:46 AM

I doubt that Hadjuk Split.The area is renowned for producing technical players.Its just that the players with that little bit extra are missing at present ie a Boban or Savicevic.

For Argentina run by a bunch of crooks called Renova a Russian asset management company) who dictate to Basile who they would like to see play call ups for Delgado (Cruz Azul)Clemente Rodriguez(Spartak Moscow) Somoza(Villareal) Insua (M-Gladbach).Otherwise unchanged line up for the most part.Still no Cavenaghi :shakehead

No likelihood of any Brazil or Argentina based players being calledup or released as the season is in progress so no Gago Battaglia Ustari etc. Meaningless waste of time v Brazil at the Emirates Stadium.

Sampe

08-18-2006, 04:32 PM

This was not funny: Belgium drew 0-0 aainst Kazakhstan in their first competitive game. Awful performance, no width , no tempo, nothing. A few chances from scrimmage type of plays but Buffel, Dembele, Geraerts and Pieroni all missed.

Really not funny :cry:

I almost know how you feel. Finland went and actually lost to Northern Ireland 2-1 at home. Roy Hodgson's plan to improve the national team's defensive play failed miserably and in the process he nearly managed to erase their ability to keep the ball and create chances.

Not that the starting lineup made any sense to begin with, though. With Mika Väyrynen on the bench for some reason, Jari Ilola and Aki Riihilahti in central midfield, a full back as a winger and a central defender as a full back in a 4-4-2, the Finns had no more than three players who could do something in the attacking zone. Of those three, Joonas Kolkka hardly even got the ball, Mikael Forssell was still a mere shadow of his former self and Alexei Eremenko Jr tried/had to do everything by himself (once he ran to literally steal the ball from Kolkka near the penalty area instead of moving into a good scoring position).

Fortunately Väyrynen came on at the beginning of the 2nd half and after a shaky start, managed to provide exactly the kind of support Eremenko desperately needed. However, it wasn't until Väyrynen's goal in the 74th minute that Finland really woke up and started playing, and Northern Ireland took care of the rest with their hard battle.

Aside from the 'legendary' draw with Andorra, this one was among the worst games from our supposed A team this decade. Only Hyypiä, Väyrynen, Eremenko Jr and to a degree Kolkka could call themselves footballers after a performance like this.

The best thing about the match? It was only a friendly. ;)

The Imp

08-18-2006, 04:41 PM

Croatia didn't field it's strongest side either and we easily won but still no respect.

Also the Croatian U21's drew with Italian U21's, one of the best if not the world, defeintely Europe.

Doesn't matter, Croatia will never get any respect, heck I see many people think Croatia are a horrible team :shakehead

What was the deal with the crowd trouble? Seems they made some... unpolitically correct... gestures?

HajdukSplit

08-18-2006, 05:09 PM

Evilo

08-19-2006, 06:41 AM

So let me get this straight :
Croatians are paranoid towards UEFA and Italy.
Italians are paranoid towards FIFA, UEFA and other nationalities.
Other nationalities are paranoid towards each other and towards Italy, since their club teams won more arguable ref calls than any other teams in the last 20 years.

Welcome to football, the world game! :D

SerbianEagle

08-21-2006, 12:07 PM

they were provoked but of course UEFA will go after the Croatian fans because Croatia is not Western Europe, while the provokers (Italy) will recieve no punishment, not even a fine

I read Croatia may play a match without fans and they are close to losing their 2012 joint bid with Hungary for the Euros

They were provoked? Who are you kidding.

they made a swastika. its time UEFA went after croatian fans and FA. every other Fa whose fans have created trouble has been punished, only croatia seems to be getting away with little monetary fines.

at every home game, there are signs that support the ww2 nazi regime and signs that say Death to _____(insert any minority group living there).

Quit your crying.

Sanderson

08-24-2006, 07:46 AM

If that isn't a bit risky, Löw only nominated two CBs for Germany's games against Ireland and San Marino.

Juni

08-24-2006, 08:17 AM

Maka and Thuram have been named in the French squad. Apparently Domenech hasn't had confirmation off Maka that he's willing to un-retire again...

Evilo

08-25-2006, 09:36 AM

Meaning Mexes and Toulalan have been left off the team :shakehead

Domenech is a dumbass.

Juni

08-25-2006, 11:41 AM

England squad to face Andorra and Macedonia

Robinson (Tottenham), Kirkland (Liverpool), Foster (Man Utd), A Cole (Arsenal), Young (Charlton), P Neville (Everton), Bridge (Chelsea), Terry (Chelsea), Ferdinand (Man Utd), Brown (Man Utd), Dawson (Tottenham), Lampard (Chelsea), Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Carrick (Man Utd), Gerrard (Liverpool), Jenas (Tottenham), Wright-Phillips (Chelsea), Richardson (Man Utd), Downing (Middlesbrough), Lennon (Tottenham), Defoe (Tottenham), Bent (Charlton), Johnson (Everton), Crouch (Liverpool)

screams underwhelmingly meh

xalcyx

08-25-2006, 12:35 PM

Vidic5*

08-25-2006, 02:36 PM

They were provoked? Who are you kidding.

they made a swastika. its time UEFA went after croatian fans and FA. every other Fa whose fans have created trouble has been punished, only croatia seems to be getting away with little monetary fines.

at every home game, there are signs that support the ww2 nazi regime and signs that say Death to _____(insert any minority group living there).

Quit your crying.

http://www.sportskacentrala.com/fudbal/navijaci/hrvat-livorno_kukasti_krst.jpg

BMann

08-25-2006, 03:15 PM

foster screams.......:huh:

That should be Foster(Watford) even if its only a season long loan. Its no surprise cosidering the paucity of young English keepers in the top flight compared to a decade or more ago. Hes a solid athletic performer & deserves his call up.Ashley Young also made it at last in the u21. :) Hands off Tottenham !

And yes Domenech is a real dumbass. He hasnt got a clue about preparing les Bleus for the future.

HajdukSplit

08-26-2006, 02:38 PM

http://www.sportskacentrala.com/fudbal/navijaci/hrvat-livorno_kukasti_krst.jpg

:biglaugh: and what makes you think they did that? they were provoked by the "Italian fans" and lets be smart here, Livorno don't support Italy, they almost boycotted this match

You think these fans went to the stadium wanting to do this? you can't just fine Croatian FA (I know Croatia will be fined) you have to fine Italy's too for the provoking

The Imp

08-28-2006, 08:08 AM

NyQuil

08-28-2006, 08:56 AM

Makelele has apparently been called up to play for France, though he has announced his "les Bleus" retirement, in writing, to the French FA.

Fifa rules stipulate that if he fails to show, he'll get a two day suspension in the Premiership, per game missed. How **** up is that? I thought we abolished slavery and such?

Mourinho is pissed, calling Makelele a "slave" in his usual animated style, while the more diplomatic Claude himself clarified that this was a bit too strong.

It comes down to the fact that Domenech is covering his ***, selecting proven veterans in order to assure that, should France lose, he doesn't look like an imbecile for selecting two of the long-standing and talented players on the squad.

However, it does show that he's more interested in ensuring that he isn't held accountable than transitioning to a more youthful squad.

Bubbles

08-30-2006, 03:44 PM

It appears that Donadoni is set to use a 4-3-3 system for his Azzurri. The midfield was made up of Daniele De Rossi, Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso, while Cassano and Marchionni fanned out around Inzaghi at the centre of the attack. Inzaghi is the hottest striker at the moment, he's just scoring goals like mad. He hit 6 in a friendly with a junior team.

helicecopter

08-31-2006, 07:42 AM

One more tragedy in soccer:
http://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Estero/Primo_Piano/2006/08_Agosto/31/egitto.shtml
couldn't find a link in English yet.

:(

HeHateMeFrisbee

08-31-2006, 02:03 PM

Anyone know of any websites that will have the England game available to watch? listen?

BMann

09-01-2006, 03:10 PM

For anyone whos interested this will be the Albiceleste starting line up tomorrow

---------------------Abbondanzieri------------------------
Zabaleta(?)----Fuentes(:shakehead )--Milito.G---Rodriguez.C(??)
---------------------Mascherano-------------------------
-------Somoza----------------------Insua---------------
-----------------------Riquelme--------------------------
--------------Messi--------------Tevez------------------

Its a makeshift line up.How Fuentes & Rodriguez (Spartak) are near the line up is a mystery & Delgado on the bench. Zabaleta has never played before at right back & has a poor start ot the season with struggling Espanol. Somoza & Insua deserve their chance & have impressed so far in Europe.

Interesting to see how the 2 small strikers work upfront.Basile will adopt his usual ground football 100% motto.But he does prefer to have a target striker. Cavenaghi is his choice but as he is unsettled he wasnt chosen nor Figueroa to placate Genoa. If Frutos continues to impress this season he may force his way into the reckoning.

Hopefully Aguero will get an outing as will Bilos who will now never play for Croatia. This tall elegant midfielder played well for Banfield & Boca over the last 2 seasons. Havent seen him 'live' in Ligue 1 as yet.Evilo would have seen him.

Its a inconvenient fixture organised by the crooks of Renova but with any match v Brazil its more than a friendly.

Wonder if the watercarrier Dunga will take the same pragmatic approach to the NT as he did with his own play.Rafael Sobis may make his debut as well.

FlyHigh

09-01-2006, 07:10 PM

Bendtner scored the last goal for Denmark in a 4-2 win over Portugal. So that's two goals in two senior internationals for him, not a bad record so far, I would love to see him in the squad for the 2nd half of the year, he scores goals wherever he goes.

Evilo

09-02-2006, 02:45 AM

as will Bilos who will now never play for Croatia. This tall elegant midfielder played well for Banfield & Boca over the last 2 seasons. Havent seen him 'live' in Ligue 1 as yet.Evilo would have seen him.

I have and I liked what I saw.

littleD

09-02-2006, 03:57 AM

Casiraghi got his first win as Italy U21 manager yesterday.

Iceland 0-1 Italy
56' Montolivo

Italy U21: Gianluca Curci; Alessandro Potenza (Simone Padoin 74), Marco Andreolli, Andrea Mantovani, Giorgio Chiellini; Antonio Nocerino; Alessandro Rosina, Alberto Aquilani, Riccardo Montolivo, Francesco Lodi (Giuseppe Rossi 46); Gianpaolo Pazzini (Graziano Pellè 28)

U21's next game is against Austria on the 5th.

helicecopter

09-02-2006, 05:18 AM

Regency

09-02-2006, 09:14 AM

How can Giuseppe Rossi not be considered a starter is still missing to me. Well, still better than with Gentile that apparently didn't even know who he is..
Let's hope Lupoli gets soon better consideration as well.

Did you see his backheel pass to Chiellini in mid-air....it was pure class. He will be starting against Austria since Pazzini got hurt and Lodi was useless. Casiraghi called in 2 more players today because of the injury and the Nocerino suspension but surprisingly Lupoli wasn't one of them.

Juni

09-02-2006, 11:15 AM

England lead Andorra 2-0 early, Crouch and Gerrard, this one's done, just a question of when England get bored.

HeHateMeFrisbee

09-02-2006, 11:44 AM

England lead Andorra 2-0 early, Crouch and Gerrard, this one's done, just a question of when England get bored.

make that 3-0, Defoe just scored.

HajdukSplit

09-02-2006, 11:45 AM

it will be tougher in Macedonia but I expect England to win that one too

Scotland won their match 6:0, can England match that? :D

Ajacied

09-02-2006, 12:22 PM

Gio, Sneijder, Robben, van der Vaart, Boulahrouz, Ooijer are all unable to play tonight. Robin van Persie is a questionmark as well which means they will miss 7 starters. Luckily the opponent is Luxemburg, but still.. There's no van Bommel or Ruud anymore, either. We might see some new faces tonight.

Evilo

09-02-2006, 12:43 PM

Ribery is singlehandedly giving France the 3 points in Georgia (3-0 as I write).

Juni

09-02-2006, 12:59 PM

England won 5-0. Crouch 2, Defoe 2, Gerrard. Pretty uninspiring.

BMann

09-02-2006, 01:17 PM

England won 5-0. Crouch 2, Defoe 2, Gerrard. Pretty uninspiring.

Are you a member of Her Majestys Gutter Press ? ;) If McLaren hadnt won they'd be all over him & when he does win its only 5-0 & an uninspiring performance. Who would want to be the England manager ??

littleD

09-02-2006, 01:26 PM

littleD

09-02-2006, 01:32 PM

Italy lineup against Lithuania...

Buffon; Grosso, Barzagli, Cannavaro, Oddo; Perrotto, De Rossi, Pirlo, Gattuso; Inzaghi, Cassano

Perrotta instead of Marchionni. :shakehead

Telecaster Fanatic

09-02-2006, 02:26 PM

Latvia - Sweden 0-1 25 min to go

Källström with the lone goal.

Tricolore#20

09-02-2006, 02:49 PM

England won 5-0. Crouch 2, Defoe 2, Gerrard. Pretty uninspiring.
Even though this performance was against a minnow, Peter Crouch still continues to score for England. He has an impressive rate, and is certainly first choice with Rooney it appears now.

Jussi

09-02-2006, 03:12 PM

Litmanen just scored his second of the match to give Finland 2-0 lead in Poland, it was a penalty and he never misses those.

Volcanologist

09-02-2006, 03:41 PM

1-0 Germany defeats Ireland.

Only several great saves from Given kept it close, although Ireland played a decent first half, especially the first 20 minutes.

pavlako11

09-02-2006, 04:04 PM

Greece won! 1-0 vs. Maldova (thank God)

Ouch Italy 1-1 Lithuania, a little World Cup hangover there... if they lose to France on Wednesday things could get interesting in that division.

kacz

09-02-2006, 04:05 PM

I said earlier, about a couple months ago to watch out for the Fins.

Poland just can't seem to get it right, they bring back Dudek and Frankowski who sat out the World Cup, and it didn't work. At home, of all the places.

Italy slips up, perfect situation for the Ukrainians.

Sampe

09-02-2006, 06:08 PM

Poland-Finland 1-3
54' Litmanen 0-1
76' Litmanen (pen) 0-2
84' Väyrynen 0-3
89' Gargula 1-3

What a difference a couple of weeks and a couple of players can make! After the catastrophic loss against Northern Ireland, Finland including their head coach had clearly learned from their mistakes. This time the starting lineup actually made sense and as a bonus nearly all of our best players were available for the match. Not all of them were in their finest form to begin with, though, but you can never have it all.

Many were expecting Poland to start strong, but they were surprisingly cautious and Finland in turn felt comfortable sitting back and thus followed their new game plan. For the first ten minutes or so, the tempo was enormously slow. Then Poland started to move the ball quicker and caused some minor problems, but Jääskeläinen didn't really have to do much in goal. As the game went on, the confidence of the Finns went up and for the last 20 minutes of the first half, they were clearly the better side. Tainio had an excellent chance in the 36th minute and the screened Dudek could only watch as his placed shot went a foot wide of the far post. Johansson had another great chance near the end of the half after intercepting a dreadful pass by a Polish player, but waited a fraction of a second too long and lost the ball. He had also been robbed of a penalty earlier in the match.

Poland finally woke up at the beginning of the 2nd half thanks to a couple of substitutions and Finland had some serious trouble finding their game again, but a lucky break in the 54th minute changed everything: Dudek failed his opening kick and the ball hit a Finnish player, bouncing straight to Jari Litmanen who calmly chipped it past his former Liverpool teammate. 1-0.

Poland did not quit, however, and forced Jääskeläinen to make a brilliant save right before Eremenko Jr came on for the red hot Jonatan Johansson, who had caused plenty of problems for Poland's defense throughout the night. Although Finland were now basically playing without a single striker, the substitution proved to be successful just 8 minutes later when Eremenko Jr took the ball brilliantly down with his right foot near the penalty area, got past Glowacki with another fabulous touch and, although failed to get a shot off, forced Glowacki to take him down, concede a penalty and earn a straight red card. That of course meant 2-0 for Finland as the coolest penalty taker of our era tried his 'luck' and completely fooled Dudek - again. Second goal of the game for Jari Litmanen.

Then, in the 84th minute, Tainio's superb pass and Väyrynen's perfectly timed run beat Poland's offside trap and Väyrynen had more than enough time to lob the ball over Dudek. 3-0 for Finland. Poland got one back in the 89th minute as Lukasz Gargula hit the prettiest of the 4 nice goals by taking the ball down with his first touch, fooling a Finnish player with his second and releasing a thundering left footed shot with his third that left Jääskeläinen no chance whatsoever. But fortunately for us, it was too little, too late. Yay!! :yo:

It's difficult to find a man of the match for us as almost all of the players did their part and then some. Jääskeläinen was close to making a similar mistake that led to Finland's first goal, but he also made a very important save as we were up 1-0. Hyypiä was rock solid virtually throughout the match. Markus Heikkinen battled hard in midfield and even joined the attack every now and then. Tainio and Väyrynen were excellent as usual, Väyrynen in particular since he got to play in central midfield while Tainio played slightly out of position on the right. Jari Litmanen was his old self; flawless playmaking despite his recent string of injuries and two goals that simply oozed coolness. Jonatan Johansson showed why he's scored 8 goals in his last 7 games in the Swedish Elite League. Alexei Eremenko Jr displayed his disgusting habit of diving whenever someone touches him, but he also showed his outstanding technique whenever he got the ball.

The match against Portugal will be a much tougher test, but at least we have nothing to lose in that game. For once we've managed to start the qualifying well!

Jersey Fresh

09-02-2006, 06:46 PM

:biglaugh: and what makes you think they did that? they were provoked by the "Italian fans" and lets be smart here, Livorno don't support Italy, they almost boycotted this match

You think these fans went to the stadium wanting to do this? you can't just fine Croatian FA (I know Croatia will be fined) you have to fine Italy's too for the provoking

How exactly do you provoke someone to form THEMSELVES into a swastika in the stands? :dunno:

BCCHL inactive

09-03-2006, 01:47 AM

1-0 against ****ing Luxembourg. What an embarassment.

I see Marco van Basten is holding a grudge against Ruud van Nistelrooy. What an a$$hole.

BMann

09-03-2006, 03:27 AM

1-0 against ****ing Luxembourg. What an embarassment.

I see Marco van Basten is holding a grudge against Ruud van Nistelrooy. What an a$$hole.

3 POINTS though ! :) Italy only managed the one & they'd swap places just like that.And it wasnt the full first XI line up either.

Btw do Poland still have the same chap from the WC as coach ? Great result for Finland.Nice to see Litmanen working his old magic.

Couple of changes to the Argentina line up for todays match v Brazil. Lucho Gonsalez will replace Somoza for more of an attacking threat down the right flank & Insua will be replaced by Bilos(who Basile knows very well).

Sampe

09-03-2006, 05:39 AM

Btw do Poland still have the same chap from the WC as coach ?

No they don't, which is probably why they failed to impress. Hodgson for instance started with a 7-game winless streak for Finland (easily our longest this decade), but managed his first victory at the best possible time.

polako

09-03-2006, 08:11 AM

Greece won! 1-0 vs. Maldova (thank God)

Ouch Italy 1-1 Lithuania, a little World Cup hangover there... if they lose to France on Wednesday things could get interesting in that division.

Well, its an away victory, which is nice...and they had almost all of the possession. But still, this is not the kind of performance that will advance them from the group. Bosnia and Norway both won big, and away from home as well.

Sampe

09-03-2006, 09:01 AM

The highlights of the Poland vs. Finland match (starting at 05:14).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k6NMGK6Hxc

There's also a better view on Gargula's goal at 04:30.

BMann

09-03-2006, 12:06 PM

The highlights of the Poland vs. Finland match (starting at 05:14).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k6NMGK6Hxc

There's also a better view on Gargula's goal at 04:30.

Thanks for the info Sampe.

Disaster for the Albicelestes.0-3. :shakehead

The game wasnt a 0-3 scoreline by any means but it means that we will have to wait until the Copa to shove it down the throats of the samba scoundrels when Gago Heinze & perhaps Gonzalo will be back with Ustari in goal.

Main points. Clemente Rodriguez should never be asked near the NT again .He can run but so can I & at fault for goal 1 completely out of position. Roman was disappointing again.He never once actually ran with the ball or tried to turn an opponent.Aimar should be recalled immediately.

Zabaleta did quite well for a newcomer to the fullback position & should have scored a gilt edged chance for the equaliser when we were dominating posession 80/20 from 45-65 minutes. Insua also missed a sitter after Agueros wonderful little chip pass(naughty rake down Lucios calf as well).

Everyone did well who came on Bilos looked out of sorts on the left(better in the centre) & the 2 short strikers approach didnt work at all.Cavenaghi & Figueroa to the ready ASAP to bring in the cutting edge alongside Tevez or Aguero.

The referee missed a handball by Gilberto & should have sent him off for 2 fouls & overall the Brazilians pushed shoved & were more physical.Masche picked up a knock & Tevez had an excellent game . Messi needs to release the ball more quickly still when his team mates are in a better position.

Not to worry(but bitterly disappointed) the real deal is the Copa & the World Cup 2010. :( Dont feel like watching Boca v Estudiantes tonight.

Ajacied

09-03-2006, 04:00 PM

Litmanen.. :bow:

In my entire live I've never seen such an Ajax fan favorite. Rumours have it he will follow a coaching career and start out as an intern with Ajax..

kacz

09-03-2006, 08:31 PM

3-0 win for Brasil, a Ukrainian domestic player, Shakhtar Donetsk's Elano scores 2 for the Samba boys..

Elano actually leads the UPL with 4 goals in 3 games played,

HajdukSplit

09-04-2006, 08:59 AM

Ajacied

09-04-2006, 12:59 PM

Holland played one of its worst matches I've ever seen. Granted it was with a lot of reserves and players who made their debute's but Luxemburg? I mean..

Interesting dicsussion popped up afterwards, as we could probably create a team with non-internationals which would just destroy our current one.

------------------- Makaay ---- Nistelrooij ------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------- Kluivert ---------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
--------- van Bommel ------------------ Seedorf ------------
-------------------- Davids ---- Boateng---------------------
Tiendalli ------------------------------------------ Kromkamp
-------------------- Bouma --- de Zeeuw -------------------

Talk about bad management.. I'm starting to get fed up with van Basten. And I'm not even going to talk about the fact how he has so much confidence in Babel, but has yet to give the likes of de Guzman and Boussouffa a shot. He just makes no sense..

Tricolore#20

09-04-2006, 05:08 PM

Canada beat Jamaica today 1-0. It was nice to see some of our big players come out and play in this friendly in Montreal. Canada dominated for much of the first half, and got a nice goal off a head. The second half was extremely boring though.

NyQuil

09-04-2006, 05:35 PM

DayWalk3r

09-04-2006, 06:30 PM

Croatia manager kicks out three players before their qualifier against Russia. Bosko Balaban, Ivica Olic and Darijo Srna were all out partying at a nightclub way past their curfew. This means now 6-7 players will be missing for the Russia match but Croatia now actually have some depth, something we haven't had in the past 4 years

The same goes with the Swedish manager(Lagerback). He did the same thing today by kicking out 3
of the players(Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Olof Mellberg and Christian Wilhelmsson) before their quailifier against Lichtenstein(sp?) now on wednesday. Dont know the exact reason why he did it tho.

HajdukSplit

09-04-2006, 08:28 PM

its kind of a shame, that these guys have no passion for their national team, it should be an honor but now a days people have more heart for theur clubs because thats where they make their money

Tricolore#20

09-04-2006, 08:56 PM

its kind of a shame, that these guys have no passion for their national team, it should be an honor but now a days people have more heart for theur clubs because thats where they make their money

Regardless of how much they make, I can understand their apathy. Having to switch your focus at the start of a club season to a tournament that doesn't happen for another 2 years is difficult to do. This is especially true, considering for many nations, qualifying is a given where they play weaker nations. FIFA or UEFA (or whoever is in charge) should take out all international fixtures during the year, and have the year end earlier. Then at the end of the season, the international matches could be played (in a different format, to reduce the number of games). As of right now, the qualifying process is far too drawn out, and hurts everybody involved (the clubs, the players and the fans, who are forced to see apathetic perfomances from their fatigued players).

As a fan, personally, I hate this international week just 3 or 4 weeks into the season, especially in a World Cup year. I want to watch club football, and could care less how badly England beats Andorra, or how well Italy plays against Lithuania.

helicecopter

09-05-2006, 03:40 AM

This is especially true, considering for many nations, qualifying is a given where they play weaker nations. FIFA or UEFA (or whoever is in charge) should take out all international fixtures during the year, and have the year end earlier. Then at the end of the season, the international matches could be played (in a different format, to reduce the number of games).I think the first thing they should do is making nations like Luxemburg, Andorra, San Marino.. play a pre-tournament.. with only one out of these teams advancing to the qualifying groups. This way the number of teams and qualifiers played along the season could be reduced eliminating the useless games.

As a fan, personally, I hate this international week just 3 or 4 weeks into the season, especially in a World Cup year. I want to watch club football, and could care less how badly England beats Andorra, or how well Italy plays against Lithuania.So let's talk about it! :D
Italy didn't have luck on their side missing too many chances, but there were some good news out of this game. Donadoni chose a pretty sharable lineup and started Cassano despite his ankle (twisted two days before). The crazy genius was amazing for most of the game and was easily the best man on the pitch. (After the game his ankle bloated, i hope he will be able to recover to play in France).

HajdukSplit

09-05-2006, 08:04 AM

for me its country over club because my club won't be doing anything in Europe thanks to UEFA and their western Europe love

anyway, this pre-tournament will never happen for the smaller countries because they want to play the big teams, thats how they make money. I don't know how many of you read the quotes after the Euro 2008 qualifiers but the interviewed Andorra's manager and he basically said "its not an attractive draw for us, we will play England but the other nations won't generate big interest"

U21's qualifiers do this, and countries like Malta, Kazakhstan, San Marino are out before the qualifier groups start

Muscle Bob

09-05-2006, 09:13 AM

Hi HajdukSplit !
What do you really waiting from the upcoming game ? People in Croatia wants to win, or they will be glad if there will be a draw ?

HajdukSplit

09-05-2006, 01:11 PM

well reading the papers and forums, many feel a draw would be an excellent result. We have 6 first teamers missing: Balaban, Srna, Olic (kicked out of team) Tudor (injured) Simic and Simunic (suspended from the World Cup, Simunic for his three yellow cards :biglaugh: )

We will have a young team out there but Bilic will play an attack minded team.

Basically the fans believe we will win all our home matches (Croatia have never lost a home qualifier) but will struggle in the away games. Some fans even think we should use this as a "rebuilding" period to prepare for the WC 2010

Tough group, but I don't think Russia will advance :)

NyQuil

09-05-2006, 01:13 PM

Tough group, but I don't think Russia will advance :)

Has Hiddink taken over yet?

helicecopter

09-05-2006, 01:19 PM

Italian U21 squad will play a key game (they need at least a draw) against Austria tonight in order to qualify for euro 2007 finals and to the Olympics..

Giuseppe Rossi should finally start!

Here is the expected starting lineup:

---------------------Pellé-----------------
-------------Rossi----------Rosina--------

---------Aquilani---------Montolivo-------
-------------------Padoin---------------
Chiellini---Mantovani---Andreolli---Potenza
--------------------Curci------------------

Considering the important missing players (Pazzini is out with a muscular strain that should keep him out for two months :banghead: Canini still recover from his torn ACL and Palladino not 100% ready yet.) i like this lineup aside from the fact that i think Lupoli should be there instead of Pellé. However with the assistance he should get there are decent chances the tall striker will be able to score.

HajdukSplit

09-05-2006, 01:33 PM

Has Hiddink taken over yet?

yeah he is the manager but lets just say Russian players are not known for their work ethic :D

Australia and South Korea, those players give 110% every match, run their *** off and are fit, Russia....:sarcasm:

Belizarius

09-05-2006, 01:36 PM

Here's France U-21 roster vs Slovenia (a tie is enough)
(Mandanda is injured, called up Pouplin)
(Kaboul injured)

------------------H. Lloris--------------------
A. Ebondo - G. Bourillon - R. Zubar - J. Berthod
------------L. Diarra-J. Clément---------------
S. Nasri--------------------F. Sinama-Pongolle
----------K. Benzema - J. Briand--------------

Bench
Y. Gourcuff, Y. Gouffran, J. Menez, S. Pouplin, M. Ciani, O. Veigneau, B. Matuidi

helicecopter

09-05-2006, 01:47 PM

------------------H. Lloris--------------------
A. Ebondo - G. Bourillon - R. Zubar - J. Berthod
------------L. Diarra-J. Clément---------------
S. Nasri--------------------F. Sinama-Pongolle
----------K. Benzema - J. Briand--------------

Bench
Y. Gourcuff, Y. Gouffran, J. Menez, S. Pouplin, M. Ciani, O. Veigneau, B. MatuidiNo Ben Arfa? Why?

Evilo

09-05-2006, 03:28 PM

No Ben Arfa? Why?
He's still injured from the mean tackle he received in the first half of the second game of the season (against Toulouse, tackle by Mathieu).
He was subed then, and isn't healed yet.

Evilo

09-05-2006, 03:30 PM

S. Nasri--------------------F. Sinama-Pongolle
----------K. Benzema - J. Briand--------------

Bench
Y. Gourcuff, Y. Gouffran, J. Menez,

Now, that's what I call offense. Even with Ben Arfa sidelined and Le Tallec coming off injury and not ready yet, this offense seems absolutely unstoppable.
I'm having a headache thinking about all the combinations you can make with these players.

Belizarius

09-05-2006, 03:46 PM

Benzema was replaced after 30 minutes by Gourcuff (tactical choice).
After dominating the game, France won 2-0 in the last 15 minites, goals by Gourcoff and Sinama (assisted by Gourcuff), with great work by Briand on both.

Bubbles

09-05-2006, 04:12 PM

helicecopter

09-05-2006, 04:29 PM

They should get a good result from this lineup. Aquilani looks to be in midseason form and Montolivo should help out with the attack. Can't wait to see Rossi start!1-0 win with another nice shot by Montolivo. The game was still scoreless with 10 minutes to go though and Austria had a pretty good chance few minutes before Montolivo sealed the deserved victory.

The team lacked rythm, but that's not a surprise considering the heat is suddenly back in Italy and the fact the season basically has yet to start in Italy.
I like the idea of play this team tries to accomplish and Casiraghi's comments after the game were honest and encouraging (he was satisfied only of the result)

Muscle Bob

09-06-2006, 12:13 AM

yeah he is the manager but lets just say Russian players are not known for their work ethic :D

Australia and South Korea, those players give 110% every match, run their *** off and are fit, Russia....:sarcasm:
We will see it today :)

Evilo

09-06-2006, 12:21 AM

And Sinama's goal was a heck of a beauty.
And what a game by Berthod too.

vitogor

09-06-2006, 01:40 PM

Ukraine 3-2 Georgia

A real thriller in Kiev, with the lead going back and forth. A good win for Ukraine, showing character and coming from behind.

Ajacied

09-06-2006, 02:07 PM

van Persie with a nice goal to put Holland up 1-0..

And Sneijder again with a perfect long, curving haul but it hit the post and Kuijt scored on the rebound but was wrongfully diasllowed due to offside.

Edit: 2-0 again van Persie and again with a nice goal.

Edit: 3-0 Kuijt with a smart header, assisted by van Persie.

End result: Oranje 3 - 0 Belarus

My 3 stars of the evening:

1) Robin van Persie - Just awesome and I don't think he even played at more than 70% of his abilities. I'm beginning to believe he might overtake 'the best winger in the world' title from Robben, if he hasn't already.

2) Dirk Kuijt - Was everywhere. Scored a goal and hussled all night long. A continues threat.

3) Wesley Sneijder - He just continues a very strong season.

NyQuil

09-06-2006, 02:18 PM

Germany up 2-0 on San Marino.

Goals from Podolski and Schweinsteiger.

EDIT: Now 3-0, Frings.

EDIT: Now 4-0, Ballack.

EDIT: Now 5-0, Podolski with his 2nd.

EDIT: Now 6-0, Klose.

EDIT: Now 9-0, more goals from Schweinsteiger (2nd), Podolski (3rd) and Hitzlsperger.

EDIT: Now 10-0, Podolski (4th).

EDIT: Now 11-0, Hitzlsperger.

EDIT: Now 12-0, Friedrich.

RorschachWJK

09-06-2006, 02:19 PM

Finland vs. Portugal just ended: 1-1

Keeping in mind that we trampled over Poland 3-1, I'd say we've done surprisingly well so far :)

Sampe

09-06-2006, 02:46 PM

Finland vs. Portugal just ended: 1-1

Keeping in mind that we trampled over Poland 3-1, I'd say we've done surprisingly well so far :)

Yeah, but still...we had so many great chances while Portugal only had two or so. :pullhair: :ipeace

Safir*

09-06-2006, 03:20 PM

NyQuil

09-06-2006, 03:25 PM

OMG they are killing them.:biglaugh:

It's too bad goal differential counts. ;)

NyQuil

09-06-2006, 03:33 PM

Germany earned a penalty in the 89th minute.

Jens Lehmann was asked to take it, but the opposition fans didn't appreciate it much, so he turned it down.

Schneider converts, 13-0.

Sanderson

09-06-2006, 03:47 PM

I think it were the players from San Marino who asked him not to shoot. There were three of them talking to him right before he declined to shoot.

It was the right decision, no need to humiliate the opponent even more, the score was beating enough.

Ajacied

09-06-2006, 03:50 PM

Safir*

09-06-2006, 04:13 PM

It was the highest DFB away win in it's 106 year-old history, beating the old record of a 9-1 win in Luxemburg in 1934. The last time a German team beat an opponent by the score of 13-0 was 1940 (Finland.) Sure it's San Marino, but beating 66 and 72 year old record is something.

Adoooo

09-06-2006, 04:15 PM

Northern Ireland beat Spain :biglaugh:

Sampe

09-06-2006, 04:20 PM

The last time a German team beat an opponent by the score of 13-0 was 1940 (Finland.)

Wow! The top teams sure are a lot worse these days! :eek: ;)

Northern Ireland beat Spain :biglaugh:

...as evidenced by this! Thanks! Makes me feel better about our own loss to them.

Evilo

09-06-2006, 04:20 PM

Well, France really kicked Italy's *** tonight. Convincing win.
Govou scored twice, both nice goals. Henry and Gilardino also scored.

I wonder who of Coupet and Buffon had the better game? :D

helicecopter

09-06-2006, 04:36 PM

I wonder who of Coupet and Buffon had the better game? :D:shakehead

Well, France really kicked Italy's *** tonight.Obviously a deserved win, but..
maybe it would have been more difficult for them without a goal off a big offside after one minute and with a penalty shot against.

NyQuil

09-06-2006, 04:40 PM

Games like this are only a burden moreso than a real measurement. San Marino is arguably Europe's worst soccernation, if you can even call it a nation that is. Their biggest victory was a 1-0 stumping they put on Liechtenstein.

Well, here's what one analyst had to say before the game:

Take Germany's next match, on Wednesday. The ground may be called "Stadio Olimpico", but we're talking about a place here that barely holds 5,000. And about an opponent who has won only one game - ever. It really doesn't take a crystal ball to predict that Löw's team will disappoint under these circumstances, given that anything shy of seven or eight goals will be considered a letdown by the public. That despite the fact San Marino have only once conceded more than six goals at home in the past decade. (Not to mention that the Belgians still shudder at the thought of their narrow 2-1 win last year.) Playing such a side is almost guaranteed to get people who are floating on a cloud back to earth in a hurry, so Ballack should get his wish fulfilled.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=378073&root=euro2008&cc=5901

Guess they didn't let anyone down.

Sure it doesn't mean anything, but better to win by a large goal differential than not in a competition where it actually counts.

Safir*

09-06-2006, 04:42 PM

Northern Ireland beat Spain :biglaugh:

:biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh:

Sanderson

09-06-2006, 05:45 PM

:shakehead
Obviously a deserved win, but..
maybe it would have been more difficult for them without a goal off a big offside after one minute and with a penalty shot against.

The goal was offside, but the Fandel was completely right in not giving Italy a penalty. Coupet missed the ball, but Gilardino was already falling way before Coupet had the chance to touch him. If he had been one step faster than yes, it could have been a penalty, but the way it happened, no way.

Fandel makes many weird decisions, had quite a few of them in his last Bundesliga-match actually, but in this scene he was right.

helicecopter

09-06-2006, 06:10 PM

The goal was offside, but the Fandel was completely right in not giving Italy a penalty. Coupet missed the ball, but Gilardino was already falling way before Coupet had the chance to touch him. Gilardino anticipated Coupet, the keeper was late and fouled him, Gilardino of course exaggerated the fall.

the way it happened, no wayThe way it happened you can say Gila didn't deserve that one for the attitude he showed (he was just searching for the keeper's foul to fall), but no way you can say "no way" on that one.

helicecopter

09-06-2006, 06:12 PM

Forgot to point out that Vieira had a fantastic game.

The whole French team played well though, Henry being another one to mention, of course.

ParisSaintGermain

09-06-2006, 06:19 PM

Volcanologist

09-06-2006, 07:34 PM

Okay...so San Marino isn't too good, I take it? :sarcasm:

A little note...21-year-old Lukas Podolski now has 35 caps and 20 goals.

Regency

09-06-2006, 08:08 PM

The fact that Italy has not yet started its championship is a real problem and most italian players don't look match fit yet for this kind of high intensity game. There is no shame to it, the calendar has made a favour to France as Italy will only get better and it was the right time to play them.
Can we have the trophy back please?;)

It's mind boggling how the Italian Federation doesn't see a problem with this as their domestic league is always the latest to start.

Kudos to France today.

kacz

09-06-2006, 08:47 PM

Ukraine 3-2 Georgia

A real thriller in Kiev, with the lead going back and forth. A good win for Ukraine, showing character and coming from behind.

Indeed, a good attitude victory. Georgia is underrated.

HeHateMeFrisbee

09-06-2006, 09:09 PM

England beat Macedonia 1-0, Crouch got his 11th goal in 14 games. Just a fantastic scoring record for the freak.

The game was awful though. Macedonia were very scrappy, not letting England play their game at all. To be fair though, it should have been 2-0 or 3-0, England had some good chances they just couldnt put away.

That Germany score is stupid. What reason can there be for these small countries to play these games? No fault to Germany at all, but what good does being humiliated like that do for San Marino? And now Gibraltar wants a team?

I think the calls for a 'B' tournament are fair, It would make the Andorra's, and San Marino's actually have meaningful games to play.

Evilo

09-07-2006, 12:36 AM

and with a penalty shot against.

:biglaugh:
Oh my Helice, don't tell me you ever thought it was even close to a penalty???
Wow, don't ever use the word bias again!:eek:

As for the Coupet/Buffon joke, I thought it was funny to see Coupet making several nice saves while Bufofn had trouble stopping anything.
I thought you'd be happy to see how Coupet makes mistakes, as you've insisted the past year while us that see him every week tell you he hasn't made one in over a year and a half.;)

Evilo

09-07-2006, 12:38 AM

Gilardino anticipated Coupet, the keeper was late and fouled him, Gilardino of course exaggerated the fall.

He "exaggerated the fall"?
He fell BEFORE Coupet was even close to him!!!!
Coupet didn't touch him until he had both feet off the pitch, arms in the air and screaming!

BMann

09-07-2006, 02:44 AM

I wouldnt read too much into the results yesterday.Credit to Finland & a win was merited but they have been playing their season domestically & Portuguals players are still in a post WC trough like Italy & Spain.

Spain always do this recently slipping up to a minnow in the qualifiers.N.Ireland can expect a thumping when they make the return .

As for Italy it was a closer game than the scoreline suggests though France were deserved victors. The NT is paying for the fact the season hasnt even started yet plus there are changes in the make up & formation of the squad.

Its time to remove the real minnows from the qualifiers altogether & I'm making a population qualification here ie population less than 500000.These countries can never expect to field a decent side ever.

Hellström

09-07-2006, 04:12 AM

I wouldnt read too much into the results yesterday.

Missing out on adding 3 points is an ordinary thing, eh ? I think the teams that missed out are satisfied, cause the media and the soccer association aren´t going to read too much into the results. :rolleyes:

helicecopter

09-07-2006, 04:14 AM

:biglaugh:
Oh my Helice, don't tell me you ever thought it was even close to a penalty???
Wow, don't ever use the word bias again!:eek: ..
..He fell BEFORE Coupet was even close to him!!!!
Coupet didn't touch him until he had both feet off the pitch, arms in the air and screaming!I knew this would have come commenting on that play. You are saying it was not even close to a penalty and i am the one biased? :biglaugh:
Fact is, your beloved coupet was late on the ball, in fact he never reached it and fouled Gila. The fact Gila played dirty, waiting for the contact and starting to go down one centisecond before the foul doesn't make it a clean play, sorry. I think it was a reverse angle camera replay that showed well the thing.

As for the Coupet/Buffon joke, I thought it was funny to see Coupet making several nice saves while Bufofn had trouble stopping anything.
I thought you'd be happy to see how Coupet makes mistakes, as you've insisted the past year while us that see him every week tell you he hasn't made one in over a year and a half.;)It's not like adding a nice smilie should let you telling crap and putting words in my mouth. It was last season when i saw with my eyes Coupet going for butterflies on a long cross coming from very far and letting the striker scoring into the open net..
Besides, i've never said Coupet make often mistakes; actually i think his forte is consistency whereas is not as good as some other top keepers in making top saves (not the ones when the striker shoots on him, that you usually sell as outstanding saves).

Belizarius

09-07-2006, 04:25 AM

It wasn't a penalty kick.
Gilardino pushes his ball too far, start to fall and in falling Coupet touches his leg. If Gilardino had the control of his ball, it would have been a penalty kick. Not here.

The offside was there though... But France dominated this game, had more scoring chances, more speed, more skill. Clean victory. Italy had 3 scoring chances overall, with a goal on a free kick, a shot on a free kick and only ONE good play, saved on the line by Coupet.
France had chances by every player and Buffon made at least 5 tough saves.

France had a better game, and Italy wasn't probably at his best... though most of the forwards were invisible, the midfield outplayed (even Pirlo) and the defense shaky.

helicecopter

09-07-2006, 04:35 AM

It wasn't a penalty kick.
Gilardino pushes his ball too far...For what i remember, he didn't.

Buffon made at least 5 tough saves. My memory failing again here?

France obviously deserved the win as i already stated, but for this Italian side it was too much going down after one minute on an offside play and being down 0-2 on the next shot because of an unlucky deflection.

Evilo

09-07-2006, 05:19 AM

I knew this would have come commenting on that play. You are saying it was not even close to a penalty and i am the one biased? :biglaugh:
Fact is, your beloved coupet was late on the ball, in fact he never reached it and fouled Gila. The fact Gila played dirty, waiting for the contact and starting to go down one centisecond before the foul doesn't make it a clean play, sorry. I think it was a reverse angle camera replay that showed well the thing.

It's not like adding a nice smilie should let you telling crap and putting words in my mouth. It was last season when i saw with my eyes Coupet going for butterflies on a long cross coming from very far and letting the striker scoring into the open net..
Besides, i've never said Coupet make often mistakes; actually i think his forte is consistency whereas is not as good as some other top keepers in making top saves (not the ones when the striker shoots on him, that you usually sell as outstanding saves).

:biglaugh:
Incredible.

Gilardino sent the ball so far ahead it actually was a goal kick before Gilardino even hit the ground.
If Gilardino doesn't dive with his feet lying on the ground, Coupet doesn't touch him (in fact he had his hands close to his body to show he didn't try to reach for the ball.
It was not even close and I'm sure even your italian bias can't be that blind.
It was not last season, we already told it was two seasons ago that Coupet made ONE mistake.
And you don't think he made any outstanding saves yesterday???:biglaugh:

helicecopter

09-07-2006, 05:38 AM

(in fact he had his hands close to his body to show he didn't try to reach for the ball.)I think he fouled him with his body, not with the arms.. anyway, not a big deal, not a clear penalty shot (even if more yes than not imo) and the score was already 3-1, so probably didn't affect the outcome of the game. More important for the game was the mistake on the offside play resulting in the first goal.

But again, bottom line is France was celarly the better team and deserved the win.

It was not last season, we already told it was two seasons ago that Coupet made ONE mistake.I think it was last season.

And you don't think he made any outstanding saves yesterday???:biglaugh:No.

Feenom

09-07-2006, 06:11 AM

Good result and a deserving one for France. They controlled the flow and the midfield.

Canavarro actually looked very human out there. He was not his WC self. He was beaten badly to many balls. If it wasn't for Buffon, the score should've read something like 5-1 or even 6-1.

Italy looked a bit disorganized out there.

Evilo

09-07-2006, 06:15 AM

I think it was last season.

No.

About last season : you said the same thing 9 months ago, and Beli and I confirmed you it was the season before.

And Coupet made one outstanding save (Semioli) and a couple of hard one yesterday.

BTW for the italians, I was impressed by Cassano, Zambrotta, like everytime I see him play and Gilardino.

helicecopter

09-07-2006, 06:43 AM

And Coupet made one outstanding save (Semioli) and a couple of hard one yesterday.I think the one on Semioli (probably he didn't touch the ball though, i think the defender anticipated him) would have been made by most keepers, since for his luck some good time passed before the ball reached the goal line. The other two? One is probably the one on Di Michele lob..the other? :huh:

BTW for the italians, I was impressed by Cassano, Zambrotta, like everytime I see him play and Gilardino.Quite surprising comment on Cassano. He had a disappointing game, even if i must say that was the hardest situation he can find: Makelele and Vieira on top form cutting down spaces in front of the defensive lines. Also, he had that ankle little problem..
He only showed his talent in a couple of play completed with amazing passes, i guess that's where he impressed you. I would like him to use more the power HE HAS in his legs to protect the ball and not hoping for the whistle when challenged.. that's not going to happen so easily on the international stage, especially on the road.. he should play with more decision especially in an environment like the one of yesterday.

Belizarius

09-07-2006, 06:44 AM

Evilo

09-07-2006, 06:46 AM

Yeah what I liked about Cassano were these amazing through passes that few in the game today can make between William "I'm not a top 200 CB" Gallas and Lilian "I should be retired" Thuram. :D

Hellström

09-07-2006, 06:58 AM

I haven´t seen the whole game, but i was atleast surprised in those snippets about Cassano.
Can´t say that he impressed me, but he looked better than most times i´ve seen him - overall he looked a bit matured and more focused.

Feenom

09-07-2006, 09:59 AM

Sampe

09-07-2006, 10:33 AM

Jonatan Johansson's goal against Portugal, featuring Litmanen's ingenious pass and some excellent play by Joonas Kolkka. The camera angle ain't the best possible though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vye8F1KROWQ

NyQuil

09-07-2006, 11:42 AM

One French fan boy's opinion:

I thought it was funny to see Coupet making several nice saves while Bufofn had trouble stopping anything.

Another French fan's opinion:

France had chances by every player and Buffon made at least 5 tough saves.

So which is it?

Make up your minds folks!

You can't simply tailor the game to prove a predetermined argument.

Evilo

09-07-2006, 12:15 PM

The way I see it, all the other dangerous actions for France were shot just wide, that Buffon didn't touch.
On the other hand, Buffon was not out of question in all 3 french goals.
No big mistake, but the best goalie in the world (and I must stress that I think he is just that) should have stopped at least one.

big boi

09-07-2006, 12:57 PM

France looked excellent yesterday. Very entertaining game. Goivou (sp?) sure looks good. France might be the best team in the world right now... their golden generation are advancing toward retirement, but they seem to have an endless amount of young talent coming through the ranks.

Who do they have at CB, after Thuram retires?

For a guy who supposedly can't cross a ball, and is useless going forward, pretty nice (admittedly offside) cross by Gallas.

big boi

09-07-2006, 01:01 PM

Cassano??? He didn't touch the ball... wasn't impressed at all.
Zambrotta as usual, and Gilardino had a good game... better than the WC IMO.

EDIT : Coupet has a very good save on a header late in the game.

Thought Cassano looked pretty good too...good skill, some excellent through balls.

Zambrotta is unbelievable.

BMann

09-07-2006, 01:07 PM

Missing out on adding 3 points is an ordinary thing, eh ? I think the teams that missed out are satisfied, cause the media and the soccer association aren´t going to read too much into the results. :rolleyes:

I think the sense of irony didnt come across well. Bearing in mind Liga is 1 week old & serie A has yet to start. :shakehead

Needless to say when all is said & done Spain & Italy will still be there in Switzerland come summer 2008.

Evilo

09-07-2006, 01:29 PM

Who do they have at CB, after Thuram retires?

Mexes in the upcoming months.
In the long run, Kaboul should become quite a player.

Evilo

09-07-2006, 01:30 PM

Needless to say when all is said & done Spain & Italy will still be there in Switzerland come summer 2008.

I wouldn't be sure about Italy.
France is ahead by 5 points, same with Ukraine and Scotland.
This is a tight group, so everything's possible, but I sure wouldn't like to be 5 points behind.

kacz

09-07-2006, 05:46 PM

France and Ukraine in the end!

..a long road still ahead,

NyQuil

09-07-2006, 09:08 PM

France and Ukraine in the end!

Really...well, that's not what my friend Kramer thinks!

Ha ha, the Ukraine. Do you know what the Ukraine is? It's a sitting duck. A road apple, Newman. The Ukraine is weak. It's feeble. I think it's time to put the hurt on the Ukraine.

kacz

09-07-2006, 09:54 PM

Really...well, that's not what my friend Kramer thinks!

What's the Ukraine?

Some sort of wrestler or TV show?

NyQuil

09-07-2006, 11:08 PM

What's the Ukraine?

Some sort of wrestler or TV show?

In this case, it's a territory in a game of Risk being played by Kramer and Newman on Seinfeld.

kacz

09-07-2006, 11:30 PM

In this case, it's a territory in a game of Risk being played by Kramer and Newman on Seinfeld.

I've seen a few episodes of Seinfeld, but never that particular one.

Anyways, western Ukrainians don't like the term 'the' Ukraine. Even though it isnt profanity, we take it as an insult.

Back on topic, i'm choosing France and Ukraine to go through because I think the management of the Italian team is going to have an up and down ride. I'm not sold that Donadini can hold onto his role as the manager of Italy for a term longer then this qualifying stage.

NyQuil

09-07-2006, 11:33 PM

Anyways, western Ukrainians don't like the term 'the' Ukraine. Even though it isnt profanity, we take it as an insult.

Well, the writers were fairly canny and didn't make the mistake with respect to the Ukranian who ends up destroying the board.

The scene continues as follows:

Ukrainian: I come from Ukraine. You not say Ukraine weak.

Kramer: Yeah, well we're playing a game here, pal.

Ukrainian: Ukraine is game to you?! Howbout I take your little board and smash it!!

As for Italy, they can play abysmally when they're not overly interested. I think that their disciplined style of play can suffer if the focus is off.

Hellström

09-08-2006, 01:46 AM

I think the sense of irony didnt come across well. Bearing in mind Liga is 1 week old & serie A has yet to start. :shakehead

Sorry, but letting in 3 from Northern Ireland shouldn´t happen for Spain anyway. Pre-season, mid-season or whatever. Because nobody cares or uses the shield you´re using here, 82 percent of the Marca readers want Aragones to be fired. Sorry, but that´s not a good start.

Needless to say when all is said & done Spain & Italy will still be there in Switzerland come summer 2008.

We´ll better wait and see instead of making 'sure-bet predictions', cause we all know who missed out on the WC 2002 and i´m not going to predict who´s out of France, Italy, Ukraine (and Scotland). Handing points to Lithuania is fun.

FlyHigh

09-08-2006, 04:39 PM

I know this is late, but I've finally seen a couple games, so might as well weigh in.

Macedonia v England

Extremely disappointing from England. While the press might call it a hard-working performance or a deserved win, the fact is that it was neither. England were sluggish and had trouble keeping pace with an energetic Macedonian side. Macedonia had several very good chances in the 2nd half and were a little unlucky to lose in my opinion. Lampard has been terrible for England ever since the WC. I wouldn't mind seeing Gerrard go back into the center and Lennon go out onto the right, Lampard was just completely anonymous outside of the goal which he did do a decent job on. I thought Gerrard was England's best player. The return of Joe Cole would be nice too, Downing is a nice player, but he has no 1 v 1 skills. Ashley Cole actually played pretty well.

France v Italy

I thought that the result was a little harsh on Italy to be honest. The first goal definitely offside even though it was a great finish. BTW, for those doubting Gallas' offensive skills, how about the quality of that cross?

I thought both keepers were good. Buffon's save to deny Govou the hat-trick was exceptional in my mind. Coupet made good saves on Semioli, Cannavaro, and di Michele. I thought the di Michele shot was very tricky, but Coupet made it look easy. Henry definitely stood out for France. I didn't notice too many good displays for Italy though besides Grosso and Zambrotta.

BTW, I still think that France would do better with...

-----------------------Trezeguet
-----------------Henry------------------
-------Malouda-------------------------Ribery
------------------Vieira-------Bodmer------
---Abidal------Gallas--------Thuram---Sagnol
------------------------Coupet-----------------

Decent game for France, but I wouldn't really call it revenge, nothing makes up for a WC loss.

Evilo

09-09-2006, 02:28 AM

Buffon's save to deny Govou the hat-trick was exceptional in my mind.

He didn't touch it. It was a goal kick after the shot (who went inches wide).

Gwyddbwyll

09-09-2006, 04:22 AM

The first goal definitely offside even though it was a great finish. BTW, for those doubting Gallas' offensive skills, how about the quality of that cross?

Well as a doubter I figured I better have a look on youtube.

Er.. still a big doubter. He had tons of time and space... could've sat down to have a cup of tea and do the crossword. Neat football and good decision making - and Gallas is very good at that - but the cross itself was pretty routine and was more remarkable for poor defending. I was impressed he got so far forwards but then I looked again and it was only because he was up for a corner.

BMann

09-09-2006, 06:08 AM

Sorry, but letting in 3 from Northern Ireland shouldn´t happen for Spain anyway. Pre-season, mid-season or whatever. Because nobody cares or uses the shield you´re using here, 82 percent of the Marca readers want Aragones to be fired. Sorry, but that´s not a good start.

We´ll better wait and see instead of making 'sure-bet predictions', cause we all know who missed out on the WC 2002 and i´m not going to predict who´s out of France, Italy, Ukraine (and Scotland). Handing points to Lithuania is fun.

No need to be rude . :shakehead It is after all a very small point of consequence in the universe as a whole. I guess just like most of Germany were wanting Klinsmann to be sacked after the debacle v Italy ? Football fans the world over are notoriously fickle so a poll in Marca isnt the be all & end all.

You still have failed to get the point I made. Its just one game at the start of the qualification.If it was the penultimate game & both sides needed to win to qualify its another story. Which is why we shouldnt read too much into 1 set of results just as Herr Diver proved this summer.

FlyHigh

09-09-2006, 10:55 AM

He didn't touch it. It was a goal kick after the shot (who went inches wide).

So the ball just changed directions by itself?

Regency

09-09-2006, 12:24 PM

He didn't touch it. It was a goal kick after the shot (who went inches wide).

The ref blew the call....should've been a corner.

Evilo

09-09-2006, 12:25 PM

No, Govou hit the ball with the outside of his left foot, which resulted into the curve that put the ball a few inches wide.

Regency

09-10-2006, 08:46 AM

No, Govou hit the ball with the outside of his left foot, which resulted into the curve that put the ball a few inches wide.

Watch the replay....even Trevor Francis of Setanta Sports said the ref blew the call.

FlyHigh

09-10-2006, 11:53 AM

No, Govou hit the ball with the outside of his left foot, which resulted into the curve that put the ball a few inches wide.

You're getting a little absurd here mate. The ball obviously sharply changed the direction at the time that Buffon got to it, I know Coupet is a fantastic keeper, but give credit where credit is due.

Evilo

09-11-2006, 02:19 AM

You're getting a little absurd here mate. The ball obviously sharply changed the direction at the time that Buffon got to it, I know Coupet is a fantastic keeper, but give credit where credit is due.

Nothing absurd here.
We had a perfect angle on french TV, and even though at full speed, I alsh had the feeling it was deflected, it actually wasn't, as shown by the replays.
I have no problem giving credit to the goalie I feel is the best in the world... :shakehead

Belizarius

09-11-2006, 03:06 AM

Buffon saved this one, the replay is clear and the ref made a mistake...

Evilo

09-11-2006, 06:20 AM

Buffon saved this one, the replay is clear and the ref made a mistake...

You saw the game on TF1?

Belizarius

09-11-2006, 06:21 AM

You saw the game on TF1?
Yes... and I was sure it was corner kick, sure with the replay and surprised by the ref.

Evilo

09-11-2006, 07:24 AM

Yes... and I was sure it was corner kick, sure with the replay and surprised by the ref.

OK then I guess I was wrong.
But didn't the commentators say he didn't touch it as well?

Belizarius

09-11-2006, 08:02 AM

OK then I guess I was wrong.
But didn't the commentators say he didn't touch it as well?
I think they said he touched it...:)

FlyHigh

09-11-2006, 08:31 AM

Nothing absurd here.
We had a perfect angle on french TV, and even though at full speed, I alsh had the feeling it was deflected, it actually wasn't, as shown by the replays.
I have no problem giving credit to the goalie I feel is the best in the world... :shakehead

Of course you'll agree with me when another Frenchman does. No offense, but Americans can be correct some of the time as well especially when everyone else agrees with them.

Evilo

09-11-2006, 11:53 AM

Of course you'll agree with me when another Frenchman does. No offense, but Americans can be correct some of the time as well especially when everyone else agrees with them.
:shakehead
It has nothing to do with your nationality but rather if we saw the same replays and if we heard the same commentators!!!

I can't even believe you think I don't believe you because of your nationality.

FlyHigh

09-11-2006, 02:44 PM

:shakehead
It has nothing to do with your nationality but rather if we saw the same replays and if we heard the same commentators!!!

I can't even believe you think I don't believe you because of your nationality.

Not to quibble too much, but Regency also agreed with me, but you insisted that you had the perfect replay until Beli agreed with us and then you magically decide that Buffon made the save.

Still, I am probably making too big a deal out of it and my apologies if I offended you. I think we can all agree that it was a very good save. ;)

Evilo

09-11-2006, 02:57 PM

FlyHigh

09-11-2006, 02:58 PM

Belizarius

09-11-2006, 03:33 PM

Well then yes, it was one heck of a save.
It's just that on TF1 (french TV) the replay was exactly at the right angle, and I thought I heard the commentators saying he didn't touch the ball.
I guess I was wrong on both accounts.

I wouldn't trust TF1 commentators... Gilardi is nice but Larque is awful and arrogant. He will never come back on a point of view. If a player makes a lucky control, he's going to say it's marvelous. The replay comes and shows it's lucky, Larque won't correct himself... If he decided it wasn't a save, even if the replay showed otherwise... he'll say it's not a save... :banghead:
I can't believe he has this job. And the way he can victimize a player the whole game, pointing every bad move (and forgetting the good ones or devaluating them)...:shakehead
Fortunately most of the games are on Canal+... despite their tendancies to overate things, at least they are professionals.

DevilFisch

09-15-2006, 10:26 PM

Westlander

09-17-2006, 07:03 AM

Meanwhile, the United States Soccer Federation is STILL looking for a national team manager and has recently talked to...Sven Goran Eriksson (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/sports/soccer/15soccer.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin)

I know Eriksson gets a bad rap, but England went to the QFs in 2 World Cups and a European Championship under him. But he wasn't hired to do to England what Arena did for the USA; he was supposed to take it to that proverbial next level. Obviously, England didn't do that under him; hence, he was fired.

While I don't think he's the worst choice, I openly question whether he'd be the right choice. Also, I openly question what is taking Gulati so long. We had a lot of momentum of attention and notice with respect to soccer after the World Cup, results aside, and still after 2 months yet there's no national team manager and the USMNT hasn't played any games. Make like a ska band and pick it up, USSF.

That's interesting. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Eriksson might not be a bad choice for the USA job. He did a good job with England when not that much was expected of them, the problem was that once they became better on paper he rarely ever (and never when it really counted) got the most out of them. The team seemed to have grown out of him, and once that happened, he stifled them instead of helping them. The FA is to blame for not having the foresight to recognize this sooner, and anyone else who hires him should learn from that. I could see him doing well for the US team leading up to and during the 2010 World Cup, the key would just be knowing when to drop him and move on.

On the other hand, Eriksson's Walcott selection for the 2006 WC showed such extraordinarily poor judgement that perhaps you guys would be better off forgetting about him altogether...:shakehead

Evilo

09-20-2006, 03:29 PM

DevilFisch

09-22-2006, 08:58 PM

Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated has some more info about the USMNT head coach job search (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/grant_wahl/09/22/coach.search/index.html)

November 12th may be the date some light is finally shown on this subjuect. Incidentally, unless I'm mistaken, this is when the MLS finals take place.

Personally, I wish this would have been done sooner and the US set up some friendlies to sustain momentum in the team, try out new players and formations, etc. But hey, at least it'll be during this year. I hope.

I wonder if Gerard Houllier would be a good pick. I know Lyon has pretty much owned, pwned, and even qwned Ligue 1 in France in recent years; but could he work some magic with the USMNT and bring them to that proverbial next level?

BTW: Hit continue to see the rest of the article and learn something about the potential candiates. Jay Goppingen for USMNT manager!!!

Hellström

09-29-2006, 07:57 AM

Roster for the friendlies against Georgia and the QM against Slovakia.

Goal:
Jens Lehmann (FC Arsenal London), Timo Hildebrand (VfB Stuttgart),Robert Enke (Hannover 96/only against Georgia)
Defense:
Malik Fathi (Hertha BSC), Arne Friedrich (Hertha BSC), Manuel
Friedrich (FSV Mainz 05), Clemens Fritz (SV Werder Bremen), Marcell
Jansen (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern München), Alexander Madlung (VfL Wolfsburg)
Midfield:
Michael Ballack (FC Chelsea London), Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart), David Odonkor (Betis Sevilla), Bernd Schneider (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (FCBayern München), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburger SV)
Forwards:
Mike Hanke (VfL Wolfsburg), Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen), Oliver
Neuville (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Lukas Podolski (FC Bayern
München), Jan Schlaudraff (Alemannia Aachen)

Finally Enke got his nominations, although i do see Weidenfeller on the same level (and both above Hildebrand..).
The nomination of Fritz is a good one, but i hope our CBs are back as fast as possible. I just can´t say that Madlung does belong to that team in any possible way. Same for Hitzlsperger and Hanke right now since both do next to nothing in the league for a longer period now.
Good to see Trochowski and Schlaudraff on the squad :)

FlyHigh

09-29-2006, 12:11 PM

Scott Parker received an England recall after a couple years. If McClaren keeps playing his current formation with Gerrard on the right, it will probably be Parker or Carrick to partner Lampard in the middle and I would personally prefer Parker.

Belizarius

10-01-2006, 09:54 AM

No surprise for France.
Toulalan comes after his monster start of the season... after 2 called up without playing, maybe he's going to have his 1st cap soon.
Other player coming back is Julien Escudé (Sevilla), as Gallas is doubtful, Givet is cold with Monaco...
Govou is also doubtful maybe Domenech will call up another guy.

Ajacied

10-01-2006, 10:29 AM

Escudé? I would've expected France to be deeper than that..

Anyway, major surprise in the Oranje camp as Mark van Bommel makes his return. This only weeks after van Basten stated he'd no longer have a place on this team. Ruud van Nistelrooij, who attacked van Basten through the media however, can no longer await invitations.

Evilo

10-01-2006, 10:43 AM

Escudé? I would've expected France to be deeper than that..
Escudé over Mexes, Squilacci and others actually.
Don't worry, France's deep.
It's just that :
1/ Escude's very useful (can play many positions).
2/ Escude's much better than you make him out to be (as his showing in Sevilla has proven actually).
3/ Domenech is stupid.

Ajacied

10-01-2006, 10:53 AM

2/ Escude's much better than you make him out to be (as his showing in Sevilla has proven actually)..

Escudé was pretty much waived by Ajax when they were already short on defensemen at that moment in the first place. That along right there says enough. His acquisition was a panic move at the time as he and Grygera were signed quickly when Chivu left. I did like his offensive awareness though, but by no means should he earn himself a place on a quality national team. He often had to make up for his own mistakes, often resulting in completely unnecessary yellow or even red cards.

Ironchef Chris Wok*

10-01-2006, 11:46 AM

And now something that Domench has just pulled out of his ***.
He's said he's following Gignac very closely.
For those that don't read the L1 thread, Gignac is a 21 year old striker, who seems to have a lot of talent, but has only played 5 L1 games (scored a hattrick).
That's great when you don't have depth.
But when you have Henry, Trezeguet, Anelka, Saha, Cissé, Pagis, Frau, Benzema and others that can play as center striker, you don't even CONSIDER Gignac until he scores 20 goals somewhere.

LOL @ Cisse.

Seriously, did Trezeguet bone Domenach's daughter or something? The guy is a PERFECT partner for Henry (long shots + target man). In fact, if France wants to go 4-5-1, Trezeguet might be a better choice than Henry.

Belizarius

10-01-2006, 11:56 AM

Escudé was pretty much waived by Ajax when they were already short on defensemen at that moment in the first place. That along right there says enough. His acquisition was a panic move at the time as he and Grygera were signed quickly when Chivu left. I did like his offensive awareness though, but by no means should he earn himself a place on a quality national team. He often had to make up for his own mistakes, often resulting in completely unnecessary yellow or even red cards.

Don't forget we need a LB : neither Squillaci nor Mexes can play there, and Givet is awful this season. More, it's for backup duties behind Abidal (if not injured).
And you of course have more knowledge of Escude's period in Ajax, but if I remember correctly, he was captain of this team at a time... ;)
It seems he's really good in Sevilla as well.

Ajacied

10-01-2006, 12:03 PM

And you of course have more knowledge of Escude's period in Ajax, but if I remember correctly, he was captain of this team at a time... ;)

He was for a short period (Galasek, van der Vaart injured), and since the coach liked the leadership to come from the backend. Grygera didn't speak many languages so the choice was rather easy. Being a captain for Ajax those years meant little.

Escudé showed promiss his first season, but somehow he could never develop on that and regressed as the games went by, going from a starter to the stands. The pressure of performing for Ajax, especially at a young age is immensly high though, but Escudé just looked very ackward in the end. He's just very average in just about everything, which isn't enough to start for Ajax.

Evilo

10-01-2006, 01:11 PM

Escudé was pretty much waived by Ajax when they were already short on defensemen at that moment in the first place. That along right there says enough. His acquisition was a panic move at the time as he and Grygera were signed quickly when Chivu left. I did like his offensive awareness though, but by no means should he earn himself a place on a quality national team. He often had to make up for his own mistakes, often resulting in completely unnecessary yellow or even red cards.

Well, he was one of the best player in a UEFA cup winning team, and he was good in Rennes.
Basically, his whole career was above-average, except in Ajax it seems, at least according to you.

Again, I agree there are better choices for the national team, but he's hardly a bad player.

Evilo

10-01-2006, 01:17 PM

He's just very average in just about everything, which isn't enough to start for Ajax.
It's enough to start in a UEFA cup winning team.
When was the last time Ajax won anything?:p: :neener: :eviltongu

Ajacied

10-01-2006, 01:20 PM

Well, he was one of the best player in a UEFA cup winning team, and he was good in Rennes.That's quite a stretch considering Sevilla fans weren't very pleased with his performances the first few weeks.

Basically, his whole career was above-average, except in Ajax it seems, at least according to you.
How bout according to the entire Ajax organisation who traded him away for next to nothing?

Escudé even stated how the ball tempo was extremely high in Holland and that he had lots of trouble's adjusting.

Evilo

10-01-2006, 01:26 PM

That's quite a stretch considering Sevilla fans weren't very pleased with his performances the first few weeks.

How bout according to the entire Ajax organisation who traded him away for next to nothing?

Escudé even stated how the ball tempo was extremely high in Holland and that he had lots of trouble's adjusting.

Sevilla fans seemed very pleased with him last year.

And for someone who had trouble adjusting, he still was a starter for quite a while, and as previously said, was named captain.

Anyway, as I said, I'm not thrilled with him being called, but he's hardly a bad player and certainly better than what you make him out to be.

Frolov 6'3

10-02-2006, 09:12 AM

Both Van Nistelrooy and Van Bommel refuse to come back after invitations from Van Basten to join the squad because of injuries.

Good move by both because they are just Van Basten's boy toy. Van Bommel will never play for Van Basten again, he said.

I like it.

Van Basten's selection policy has always been a mess and ununderstandable.

littleD

10-02-2006, 10:34 AM

Italy team for a couple must win games vs Ukraine and Georgia.

Gilardino and Cassano dropped. Toni, Del Piero, Materazzi, Iaquinta return. New guy is Stefano Mauri.

Goalkeepers: Christian Abbiati(Torino), Marco Amelia(Livorno), Gianluigi Buffon(Juventus)

Defenders: Andrea Barzagli(Palermo), Fabio Cannavaro(Real Madrid), Fabio Grosso(Inter), Marco Materazzi(Inter), Alessandro Nesta(Milan), Massimo Oddo(Lazio), Manuel Pasqual(Fiorentina), Christian Zaccardo(Palermo), Gianluca Zambrotta(Barcelona)

Midfielders: Mauro Camoranesi(Juventus), Gennaro Del Vecchio(Sampdoria), Daniele De Rossi(Roma), Gennaro Gattuso(Milan), Stefano Mauri(Lazio), Simone Perrotta(Roma), Andrea Pirlo(Milan)

Forwards: Alessandro Del Piero(Juventus), David Di Michele(Palermo), Antonio Di Natale(Udinese), Vincenzo Iaquinta(Udinese), Filippo Inzaghi(Milan), Luca Toni(Fiorentina)