The Official 2010 Football & World Cup Thread

And... New Zealand makes the World Cup for the first time since 1982 by beating Bahrain 1 - 0 in NZ tonight.

Well done to the NZ team, and C'mon the All Whites!

Atkingani wrote: ExittheLemming wrote: I wholeheartedly endorse this. Argentina has qualified in spite of Maradona. Given the calibre of players he has at his disposal, failing to finish in the top four slots should take some real incompetence to achieve (but he almost did it) However, a world cup finals without Argentina would be a diminished competition. I should like to comment that Dunga the Brazilian coach, despite a comfortable qualification and a Confederations Cup success is viewed with complete contempt by his county's media. Like many romantics, the latter continue to delude themselves that Brazil continue to play free flowing attacking football. They have not played this way since circa 1982 and their subsequent triumphs have all been built on a solid defensive backbone wedded to a lethal counter attacking ability. Yes, they have some of the finest individual players on the planet, but so do Italy (and look at how successful and numbingly sterile they have been) I don't mind either way, as long as ANYONE knocks the English out, I'll be a happy rodent again....   I agree with the bold paragraph... in the last 20 years, Brazilian National Teams are composed basically by players that soldier in Europe and many transferred there too early with 21-22 yo or even less (like Pato, for instance). They got the ticks of the European way-of-playing and use it while in the Seleção.   However, if one wants to see a glimpse of the romantic jogo bonito once played by the National Team I recommend to check the National Championship and much more the Serie B (2nd Division) than the Serie A (1st Division). Not enough in terms of strategy and tatics to beat Germany or Italy but enough in terms of art and joy to satisfy our hearts and souls.

Interesting observation about the 2nd tier of Brazilian domestic football. The further you go down the pecking order in most professional leagues, the closer you get to the type of art and joy you describe (Albeit the joy is that of the honest journeymen and the art that of the apprentice Kakas)
As soon as the stakes become much higher (i.e. money) and failure becomes non-negotiable, so much that is to be cherished about the jogo bonito is lost. Top level club football lost whatever vestige it had of being 'representative' a long time ago now and the likes of Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, Real Madrid, Chelsea et al reflect more accurately their bankers spending power than they do the communities they were forged from. (Ask yourself why soccer clubs are mainly named after a location ?)
From recent memory the entirely dignified and decent Avram Grant took Chelsea to the Champions League Final where they narrowly lost on penalties to Man Utd. In the land of his birth (Israel) this achievement made him a revered role model. In the heartlands of his employer (Roman Abramovich) he was immediately sacked.
It seems a shame that what is perhaps the last bastion of purity in football (International competition) is similarly mired with the sorts of mercenary greed endemic in the pro club sphere e.g the players of Togo threatening to withdraw from the 2006 World Cup Finals unless their qualifying bonuses were paid before the 1st match. (There are other examples from every finals tournament like the Saudi squad who won sports cars) If an association feels it necessary to induce its athletes to give their all in the pursuit of sporting success by paying them money, what does that say about the attitude of gifted individuals who any one of their impoverished countrymen would walk over hot coals to emulate ?
FIFA must surely be culpable in allowing this state of affairs to exist. They are transparently terrified of being seen to bite the hands of the media(s) that feed them and nothing would undermine them more than the possibility of  representative football being the preserve of those who seek only to uphold the values that FIFA themselves are entrusted to preserve.

Brasil for me    Argentina   nooooo hand of God     fouls and attitude   lol  sorry    Before any missile land i know an argentinian guy hes priceless  lovely man  apart from the fact he love Maradona handball 

Tony R wrote: Luca Pacchiarini wrote: I discovered an excellent channel to watch football games.     Norwich City just scored the equaliser against Leeds.... Good one Canaries :) let's see the second half This is a thread about World Cup 2010 and qualifying.

You'll see the mighty Canaries qualify to World Cup someday

I discovered an excellent channel to watch football games.

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: Atkingani wrote: Few to add to what crimson87 said except that I don't trust Mascherano too much (and I'm not a Corinthians supporter btw). On the other side, I still believe that Conca and Ariel Nahuelpan could be tested in the Argentinian team (and I'm not either a Fluminense or a Coritiba supporter) and if Maxi Biancucchi were in a good shape he could be remembered too (and yes, I'm a FLAMENGO supporter ).   I agree, Brazil is on another league, but Paraguay and Chile with less are way better than Argentina, because hey both have a proffesional coach and a serious system.   We are out because we have an amateur coach that placed himself before the team and punished the few great players we have.   Argentina placed a name not a coach, Maradona should never had been the coach of Argentina.   Iván

I wholeheartedly endorse this. Argentina has qualified in spite of Maradona. Given the calibre of players he has at his disposal, failing to finish in the top four slots should take some real incompetence to achieve (but he almost did it)

However, a world cup finals without Argentina would be a diminished competition.

I should like to comment that Dunga the Brazilian coach, despite a comfortable qualification and a Confederations Cup success is viewed with complete contempt by his county's media. Like many romantics, the latter continue to delude themselves that Brazil continue to play free flowing attacking football. They have not played this way since circa 1982 and their subsequent triumphs have all been built on a solid defensive backbone wedded to a lethal counter attacking ability. Yes, they have some of the finest individual players on the planet, but so do Italy (and look at how successful and numbingly sterile they have been)

I don't mind either way, as long as ANYONE knocks the English out, I'll be a happy rodent again....

Atkingani wrote: Few to add to what crimson87 said except that I don't trust Mascherano too much (and I'm not a Corinthians supporter btw). On the other side, I still believe that Conca and Ariel Nahuelpan could be tested in the Argentinian team (and I'm not either a Fluminense or a Coritiba supporter) and if Maxi Biancucchi were in a good shape he could be remembered too (and yes, I'm a FLAMENGO supporter ).

Few to add to what crimson87 said except that I don't trust Mascherano too much (and I'm not a Corinthians supporter btw). On the other side, I still believe that Conca and Ariel Nahuelpan could be tested in the Argentinian team (and I'm not either a Fluminense or a Coritiba supporter) and if Maxi Biancucchi were in a good shape he could be remembered too (and yes, I'm a FLAMENGO supporter ).

Great. Ecuador couldn't be in its third consecutive world cup. We don't have good forwards. We suck. And on top of that, the referees did their thing last saturday.

If someone expected top notch football , they should know that Argentina vs Uruguay (Or vs Paraguay for instance) are always tough ,physical games.