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Fifa World Cup 2010 Thread


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Didier Drogba breaks arm, out for World CupHe's one of the few soccer players I know. Did Ivory Coast have a realistic shot of advancing anyway?
They did till he was hurt. I imagine the South African crowds were going to be extremely pro- Ivory Coast, which is a huge advantage for a team. Without Drogba, though , I can't imagine they have enough talent to advance.
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They did till he was hurt. I imagine the South African crowds were going to be extremely pro- Ivory Coast, which is a huge advantage for a team. Without Drogba, though , I can't imagine they have enough talent to advance.
They've got buckets of talent but yea Drogba is amazing, this is a huge blow for Ivory Coast and all spectators.Edit: I just remembered what group they are, yea they were always screwed but heres hoping.Also, I just read a BBC article and I'm convinced, Portugal are the dark horses this year, expect them to make it very far.
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Didier Drogba breaks arm, out for World CupHe's one of the few soccer players I know. Did Ivory Coast have a realistic shot of advancing anyway?Edit: This is why I know of him.
Good article, sucks for the Ivorians. Such a freak play. In the article Drogba says, when referring to their group, "We are unluckiest," and a flying knee that broke his arm can certainly fit in the unlucky category.
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Ivory Coast was in a brutal group but they had a good chance with Drogba. Without him, yikes.
Apparently he might be ok, hopefully.
Does Ireland have a team in the World Cup?
No, Ireland went unbeaten in the same group as Italy, leading Italy with a minute to go but Italy scored, they then had to play france in a playoff and this happened
Meanwhile New Zealand beat Bahrain to qualify for the World Cup.
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Here we are then, the hype almost over, with some football about to be played. Along with lots of vuvuzela horns, unfortunately... So, I thought I'd do some predictions, basically because it's fun to look back at the end of the tournament and see how right or wrong I was.I even have a newspaper wallchart that I filled out last night, because I have nothing better to do :tsGroup A Winners - FranceRunners Up - MexicoGroup BWinners - ArgentinaRunners Up - NigeriaGroup CWinners - EnglandRunners Up - SloveniaGroup DWinners - GermanyRunners Up - SerbiaGroup E Winners - HollandRunners Up - DenmarkGroup FWinners - ItalyRunners Up - SlovakiaGroup GWinners - BrazilRunners Up - PortugalGroup HWinners - SpainRunners Up - Chile2nd Round:France to beat Nigeria. Argentina to beat Mexico. Serbia to beat England. Germany to beat Slovenia. Holland to beat Slovakia. Italy to beat Denmark. Brazil to beat Chile. Spain to beat PortugalQuarters:Serbia to beat France. Argentina to beat Germany. Brazil to beat Holland. Spain to beat ItalySemis:Brazil to beat Serbia. Argentina to beat Spain.Final:Argentina to beat Brazil***************************************************A note on England, I think we have by far the best half of the draw to be in (avoiding such teams as Brazil, Spain, Holland, Italy and Portugal, until the final). However, I really think we lack the creativity, pace and fire power, to progress very far. We too often appear like deer stuck in the headlights when we come across any real talent at a major competition and I see nothing different this time to hold much faith. I HOPE I'm wrong about this and players like Joe Cole, Lennon, Gerrard, Barry (and even Rooney) shake off form and/or fitness issues to go on a good run. The recent warm up games have seen much chopping and changing of the formation/line ups and have not filled me with much confidence, even though we won them all. The very flattering 3-1 scoreline against Mexico at Wembley, highlighted concerns and their movement created huge problems for us.I have us losing to a genuine 'dark horse' contender, Serbia, in the 2nd round. They have not impressed in their very recent warm up games either, to be honest... however defensively they are sound, have 2 excellent wingers and lots of height up front (Zigic, he's about 10ft tall and just signed for Birmingham). There's normally one team who surprises everyone by going so far in these major tournaments... Watch out for Serbia.Elsewhere, there's lots of interesting match ups. I'd love those Quarter Finals!So, I have Argentina to win the whole thing... This is slightly heart over head I suppose. As an Englishman, I'd be expected to hate Argentina (1986 I mean, I'm not getting political), but I can't help admire the vast attacking talent they have to choose from. Messi, Higuain, Tevez, Milito, Di Maria and the rest. And the crazy Maradona as manager, how can you not want this team to win? They may implode early on, but I'm nailing my colours to them! Beating Spain would be huge, as Spain are obviously clear favourites on paper, but if they did, they'll win the whole thing.And the USA... I have you guys going out in the group stage. This is partly because Slovenia are a good, organized team and partly because I think the scheduling of the fixtures has been unkind to USA. Slovenia start against Algeria, who they should beat, England should beat USA, so if Slovenia can get a draw against USA in the 2nd match, it means that in the final match, England and Slovenia would both be happy with a draw to go through. Also, apart from Dempsey and Donovan, I don't see too much quality in the team (sorry).Here's some other random predictions/stuff, in my opinion:Players to watch out for:Mezut Ozil (Germany) - He's 21, technically excellent and will be playing as playmaker for a very underrated German team, even with the loss of Ballack.Milan Jovanovic (Serbia) - I have Serbia going far, so I have to name who I think their star player will be. He was Serbia's leading scorer in qualifying, plays on the wing and is very skillful.Hernandez, 'Chicharito, 'Little Pea' (Mexico) - Whatever you want to call him, Man Utd's new signing is one who I'll be watching out for... exciting player, in a decent team, could do well.Disappointments of the tournament:Apart from England, I think Portugal will be a let down. Ronaldo does struggle to perform to his true ability for Portugal, and maybe Quieroz is playing him in the wrong position. They simply don't have enough strikers to progress far, in my opinion. They struggled a lot in qualifying to score at all, and just the other day drew 0-0 with Cape Verde Islands (?) Defensively they are ok, but lack going forward. Having Liedson as the lone striker won't quite be enough, imo. I see them getting out of their group, but getting massively out classed by Spain in the next round.Other possible 'dark horses':Chile - Such a tough route for them to progress very far, but after some research they seem to be an exciting prospect. They have a very eccentric manager, Marcelo Bielsa, who is also a great tactician. He will be playing 1 playmaker, and 3 forwards. Look out for them.Denmark - It's not unthinkable they could get to the quarter finals. They finished ahead of Portugal and Sweden in qualifying, they're defensively sound and if Bendtner finds his shooting boots they'll be ok.Uruguay - They play a 3 man defence, which may be their un-doing, but there's genuine quality in the team too (Gonzalez and Forlan for example). If they did get out of the group, maybe they could be the surprise package?Top Scorer:David Villa - Spain will go crazy in their group.Also, Higuain will be close, if he gets the playing time. And Klose, of course, loves tournaments.Goal of the Tournament:Arjen Robben - Have to give him a mention. I really hope he's fit to play. As a Utd fan, I kind of hate him (at both Chelsea and Bayern this season!), but the guy is unreal when he's on form, with a deadly left foot. Saying that, the new ball could mean a lot of long range goals beating keepers, we'll have to see.Ok, thanks to any of you who have bothered to read all this nonsense. I enjoy doing these, like I did for the Premiership last year, or before the start of a major competition. It's interesting to look back on. It is for me, anyway.Enjoy the football, and good luck to whoever you support! :club:

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Here we are then, the hype almost over, with some football about to be played. Along with lots of vuvuzela horns, unfortunately... So, I thought I'd do some predictions, basically because it's fun to look back at the end of the tournament and see how right or wrong I was.I even have a newspaper wallchart that I filled out last night, because I have nothing better to do :club:Group A Winners - FranceRunners Up - MexicoGroup BWinners - ArgentinaRunners Up - NigeriaGroup CWinners - EnglandRunners Up - Slovenia
STUFF YOUR SLOVINES IN A SACK, MISTER!
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Nice call.
Cheers. Who saw SK 2-0 over Greece this morning? Greece looked like shyt. I did the game pick'em on ESPN as well as the bracket, and I'm in the 93rd percentile having got only one game right. Obviously a few people did pickems that went draw draw SK win? WTF.
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What is that buzzing? Can't they eliminate that? It's almost as loud as the announcers.Oh, and England sucks.

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What is that buzzing? Can't they eliminate that? It's almost as loud as the announcers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VuvuzelaBasically they are the end of any chance soccer had to catch on in the US. I don't watch this sport at all, but decided to turn this game on due to all the hype. It's basically unwatchable because of the stupid horns. Really big mistake by FIFA to allow this crap.
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