2010 Football World Cup

[Troy]

Not too long to go before the event starts.

Warm-up matches are underway to get the teams used to the altitude and the new ball which has many critics.

Australia's preparation is going well besides slight injuries to Kewell and Emerton. The 1-0 win against Denmark was a nice start to things in South Africa and hopefully we can continue that form against USA in another warm-up match. We aren't going to be a high scoring team as we are defence focused but hopefully in the real thing we can get away with a few points.

Australia have no chance of winning it so my prediction is Netherlands although I am biased as both my parents were born there. They should go deep into the tournament and hopefully can win it.

Who do you think will win and how is your country going to go?

 

[Clydefrog]

I personally think someone like ivory coast is going to steal it here.. I can see teams like Argentina getting knocked out early with there so-so squad at the moment! Brazil is another team which doesn't look as stong as it has been over the past ten years or so! And england well im not going to say anything but if we get through the group stage then it will be like the final!

To be honest i have two favourites in this world cup.. Spain and Germany! I hate germany but i think they could just do it! And with spain they have villa , silva , torres all up front! its a dream partnership! but who ever said the world cup doesn't throw in some suprises here and there!

 

[Sam]

Well I'm going to suport North Korea....

Nah I kid, I'll take the usual Scottish stance and support ANYONE BUT ENGLAND. But I'll generally support any underdog team, but my teams to support this year are Denmark, South Korea, Slovenia, Slovakia and Nigeria. No reason why, Celtic player in the South Korea team (Ki Sung Yung) and I'll generally support the lesser European teams and any team with a Celtic Player in it (S.Korea, Greece, New Zealand, Cameroon, Netherlands) but the teams I picked are the teams I'll be supporting most. and Nigeria are always fun to watch, and uber-quick if I remember right!.

But I reckon a team like Spain or Brazil will win it, although I'd rather someone pulled a Greece and won it out of nowhere!.

 

[Prodigy]

I believe England will pull it out of the hat here to be honest. I have my doubts but it has been long overdue and we surely have to do sometgin soon.

 

[Troy]

I personally think someone like ivory coast is going to steal it here.. I can see teams like Argentina getting knocked out early with there so-so squad at the moment! Brazil is another team which doesn't look as stong as it has been over the past ten years or so! And england well im not going to say anything but if we get through the group stage then it will be like the final!

To be honest i have two favourites in this world cup.. Spain and Germany! I hate germany but i think they could just do it! And with spain they have villa , silva , torres all up front! its a dream partnership! but who ever said the world cup doesn't throw in some suprises here and there!

First of all thanks for posting that image, makes it much easier to discuss with that there. I agree with you that Argentina will go early, the problem is the coach who plays a different team each game and can't stick to a set 11. He is too unpredictable to take them deep into the tournament.

Germany I am not so sure about, they have lost a couple of key players through injury and I see them coming out of the group stages but most reaching the semi-final at most. Spain are the favourites at the moment with the bookies I believe and rightly so. Very strong squad that should reach the final.

Well I'm going to suport North Korea....

Nah I kid, I'll take the usual Scottish stance and support ANYONE BUT ENGLAND. But I'll generally support any underdog team, but my teams to support this year are Denmark, South Korea, Slovenia, Slovakia and Nigeria. No reason why, Celtic player in the South Korea team (Ki Sung Yung) and I'll generally support the lesser European teams and any team with a Celtic Player in it (S.Korea, Greece, New Zealand, Cameroon, Netherlands) but the teams I picked are the teams I'll be supporting most. and Nigeria are always fun to watch, and uber-quick if I remember right!.

But I reckon a team like Spain or Brazil will win it, although I'd rather someone pulled a Greece and won it out of nowhere!.

There is always the surprise packet and I hope that this time a team that has never won the tournament wins it.

I believe England will pull it out of the hat here to be honest. I have my doubts but it has been long overdue and we surely have to do sometgin soon.

They seem to be in a better mindset now then before, the team seems really focussed on the task. The squad is a very strong squad aswell and surely with all that talent they would have to at least make the quarter-finals.

 

[Troy]

A couple of days until the first game now and a lot of teams are battling injuries. For Australia, Emerton is still trying to get over a calf injury whilst Kewell is still on the mend. Cahill hurt his neck in the last practice match aswell. All three should be ready before the first actual game though which is good news since they are all starters for us.

Drogba for Ivory Coast suffered a broken arm in a friendly yet is still aiming to play in this World Cup. Nani has been ruled out for the tournament for Portugal after injuring his collarbone. There are quite a few other injuries aswell which happened before the World Cup with Ballack, Essien, Ferdinand all gone aswell.

I am still hoping that Australia can get a draw against Germany.

How is your team going for injuries and how do you think you will go in the first match?

 

[Troy]

HOW ANNOYING ARE VUVUZELAS?

I struggle to watch a match since those stupid horns drown out the commentators. I hate the background noise that they create. Those things should have been banned before the event started.

I saw about 15 minutes of the start of the second half of Korea vs Greece and Korea were a class above. Completely dominant and took the score from 1-0 to 2-0 whilst I was watching.

Argentina vs Nigeria is soon with USA vs England after that. I predict 2-1 in the first match and 0-2 in the second.

 

[Troy]

Well Argentina did infact win, albeit only 1-0 however the biggest talking point by far is the England vs USA match. It finished 1-1 thanks to a poor mistake by their keeper Green who failed to stop an easy ball and ended up deflecting it into the goal. No idea why they went for him ahead of James who I assumed was their number one keeper. This is a great result for USA as they now have a good chance of coming first in their group.

Australia vs Germany is tonight and I am looking forward to it. If we can get a draw out of this game I will be very happy. Kewell will come of the bench since he still has no match fitness and hopefully his 15 or so minutes on the park will be enough.

 

[Troy]

Lol Australia lost 4-0 to Germany. We were beaten the moment the team was named. No Kennedy and no Bresciano. We played Richard Garcia, who is a midfielder as our key striker. We had no actual striker on the pitch, the only attacking player was Cahill who had a shocker. To make things worse he received a red card and will miss the next game. Team selection needs to be much better for the next game, we need more attacking options and we certainly need more speed.

Netherlands playing Denmark right now and Denmark just scored an own goal less than a minute into the second half to put Netherlands in front 1-0.

 

[Clydefrog]

so far this has been a very interesting tournament! I watched italy last night and they played crap in the first half and got more into there stride in the second! But still for world champions to perform so badly on the first day makes me wonder if the high altitude is making the difference! England was shocking and i was watching it at a festival with 5000 people and we all knew how bad we had played! Germany thrashed Austrailia no suprise there and Netherlands brought it out of the bag even without Arjen! Portugal today! getting excited!

BTW JAPAN FTW!
!

 

[Troy]

I watched Netherlands vs Denmark yesterday and I thought that they played a consistent game without being too flashy. They look the goods and should go far in this tournament.

Tonight I have picked Slovakia over New Zealand, Portugal over Ivory Coast and Brazil over Korea. I am pretty confident with all these selections.

 

[Clydefrog]

i personally think ivory coast can pull of an upset agaisnt Portuagal! but the rest of ur selections seem logical!

 

[Troy]

Well Drogba is playing which is a huge boost for them but I can see them getting a draw at best. I wouldn't mind watching this match just to see Christiano Ronaldo play with his national team and see how he goes leading them.

 

[Clydefrog]

This seems to be a very good match so far, ronaldo looks onfire i just hope it goes to a draw I HATE PORTUGAL!

 

[Troy]

I was surprised that the New Zealand Slovakia game ended in a draw. Well done to New Zealand who equalised three minutes into extra time to get a point which many people didn't think they would get.

Good match so far, a lot of attacking by both teams and they have both had their chances. I am still going for Portugal to win, 1-0 is my prediction now with it being 0-0 at half time.