World Cup - Brazil 2014

[Jim05]

And speaking of the biggest spuds there.
Pick any in a Spanish shirt. They're only the current holders and ranked number 1 in the world
I think Rooney has a long way to go yet. Not saying that won't achieve it though

I noticed your media is giving him an absolute bake and plenty are calling for him to be dropped

[LPH]

No doubt the influx of Overseas Players is effecting the English National Team.
If you recall, this is what was happening to Italy about 20 yrs ago, so they brought in the 'limit' rule for Overseas Players - seems to have worked, to a degree.
English Fans will always believe they are the best - but the fact is (apart from Italia '90 where they made the Semi Finals), they have UNDER performed since 1966.
The Draw was done, long before the CURRENT Rankings came out - at that stage, the Argies were 'seeded' in Top 8, as were Uruguay.
It could be argued that placing Brazil & Argentina at opposite ends of the Draw was deliberate but that is a somewhat flawed argument because of the 'cross-over' @ the Semi Final Stage of the Tournament.
To compare England & Australia is like comparing Italy & USA - you simply can't.
Our (& 'The States') National Sport is NOT Football (Soccer to use an Americanism), where there's is.
I was having a discussion the other night regarding this, when a bloke said:
"If we didn't play Footy (Aussie Rules) in this Country, we would dominate in World Football"
I pointed out that although there was an element of truth to that statement & if you include Rugby League (in NSW & QLD @ least), then our best sportsman would be playing the game - perhaps to suggest "domination" was a little strong but certainly we would be far more competitive.
To be fair, I think we 'punch above our weight' as it is & with Football the fastest growing participation sport in the Country, I can see us just as 'competitive' (if you can say they are - which is debatable) as England, within 20 years or so.
I think it is conceivable (with being part of Asia & the growth of the A-League, as well as the exporting of more & more players from Australia) that a 1/4 Final appearance is achievable within 3 or 4 World Cups.

[whufc]

I think we bat miles above our weight!!

At the World Cup how many countries have as small a population as us.

And the big one, how many countries in the WC see soccer as there 4-5 most popular sport in the country. Only the USA but they make up for that with such a large population

[whufc]

Also imho Cahill= greatest Australian player in our countries history.

And the big one is Cahill (height to ability) the greatest header football HAS EVER seen, throw me some names who are better

[LPH]

No doubt that Cahill is our best ever Footballer - his record is 2nd to none, both International & Club.

Rudi Voller?
Gert Muller?
Clint Dempsey?
Diego Maradona? - admittedly he was 'handy' as well

I was discussing with my son that I thought Cahill could play in the next World Cup, depending on Australia's pitch structure.
Although he is getting old, if he was the 'lone' striker up front in a 4,5,1 or 'sweeper' set up, his ability in the air could keep him in the team.
If he were to play MLS for 2 more seasons & then 2 seasons of A-League - if he was 'managed' right in terms of his body, he could well play on IMHO.

Breschiano is really the only 'casualty' from this campaign, in terms of retirements before Asian Cup.
Then the qualifiers come around again for Russia.

[Jim05]

Also imho Cahill= greatest Australian player in our countries history.

And the big one is Cahill (height to ability) the greatest header football HAS EVER seen, throw me some names who are better

Agree, to score in 3 WC's is an incredible feat and the list who have done it is rather small. To think that an Aussie is in that list is amazing. Hopefully one day we see him back in the A-League.
Tim is definately one of the greatest headers currently, best ive seen is probably Miraslov Klose and Luca Toni. Bierhoff was also a beast and Mario Jardel was very similar to Tim in the air

[JK]

Gus Poyet from memory was strong with the head. From my own mob (but prob not in the same class as those above) Sami Hyypia was good.

Good call about Cahill, I was actually thinking similar last night .. I don't know enough about the history of Soccer/Football in this country (ie 70's and 80's), but in my time TC would have to be our greatest national player.

[mighty hounds]

Also imho Cahill= greatest Australian player in our countries history.

And the big one is Cahill (height to ability) the greatest header football HAS EVER seen, throw me some names who are better

Agree, to score in 3 WC's is an incredible feat and the list who have done it is rather small. To think that an Aussie is in that list is amazing. Hopefully one day we see him back in the A-League.
Tim is definately one of the greatest headers currently, best ive seen is probably Miraslov Klose and Luca Toni. Bierhoff was also a beast and Mario Jardel was very similar to Tim in the air

I still think Harry Kewell is our best ever but Cahill isn't too far behind

[johntheclaret]

28 Goals in 8 matches - what a start to the Tournament!!!
As far as 'spuds' go - Rooney is the biggest spud in the Finals.
So funny to see Gerrard tell him to feck off out the way when that free kick with 10 mins to go was given.
Shrek was standing over the ball, expecting to take it & Stevie G walks in, tells him to get out the way & he 'slinks' off, nowhere near the play - Hillarious

Poms going to find it hard to qualify now - needed at least a point from that game.
Can't see Uruguay playing as bad as they did in 2nd half today.

Rooney was poor today no doubt.
He did lay on a good cross for Sturridge to score but that is about it. Rooney is getting a game on reputation only not form currently.
Probably says a fair bit about England, wouldnt think more than 4 or 5 of them would get a game in any of the genuine top sides in World football. Gerrard copped an absolute mauling from Pirlo aswell, was quite embarassing at times.
The sooner England realise they are not a world power and accept that there has to be changes the better off they will be.

How about you focus on your own team and stop sprouting this anti English garbage.
I doubt more than 4-5 of any country would get into a top 10 world side.

Therein lies the issue, I am realist and know that Australia wont be a world power probably ever, well atleast in my lifetime. English people believe it is their right to be a soccer powerhouse. Serious question, do you think the ammount of imports in the EPL has effected Englands performance over the years or is just natural evolution that others have leapfrogged them. I would love to see them win a WC again just not when ive got decent coin on it lol

And therein lies the issue. No one in England has any expectations other than that we will be on the 1st flight home. No one that I know anyway. Where have you seen or read anything that says we expect to win.
Of course we want to be powerhouse. It's our national sport and the game we gave to the world, but it has long since passed the days when our achievements matched our expectations.

As for the effect on English football by the level of imports. It has made the EPL the wealthiest league in the world by a country mile and has made world football the global game that it is. But at a price to local development.

I generally have a lot of respect for your posts but if you are just going to pommiebash then I have to stand up. England lost to a higher ranked team by 2-1 in a very close game that also saw us hit the woodwork and have a clear penalty not given.
How did the no1 ranked team do, or the 7th ranked, who are in our group, or even the Argies last night who needed 2 own goals and a huge slice of luck to dispatch the mighty Bosnia.?

[johntheclaret]

No doubt the influx of Overseas Players is effecting the English National Team.
If you recall, this is what was happening to Italy about 20 yrs ago, so they brought in the 'limit' rule for Overseas Players - seems to have worked, to a degree.
English Fans will always believe they are the best - but the fact is (apart from Italia '90 where they made the Semi Finals), they have UNDER performed since 1966.
The Draw was done, long before the CURRENT Rankings came out - at that stage, the Argies were 'seeded' in Top 8, as were Uruguay.
It could be argued that placing Brazil & Argentina at opposite ends of the Draw was deliberate but that is a somewhat flawed argument because of the 'cross-over' @ the Semi Final Stage of the Tournament.
To compare England & Australia is like comparing Italy & USA - you simply can't.
Our (& 'The States') National Sport is NOT Football (Soccer to use an Americanism), where there's is.
I was having a discussion the other night regarding this, when a bloke said:
"If we didn't play Footy (Aussie Rules) in this Country, we would dominate in World Football"
I pointed out that although there was an element of truth to that statement & if you include Rugby League (in NSW & QLD @ least), then our best sportsman would be playing the game - perhaps to suggest "domination" was a little strong but certainly we would be far more competitive.
To be fair, I think we 'punch above our weight' as it is & with Football the fastest growing participation sport in the Country, I can see us just as 'competitive' (if you can say they are - which is debatable) as England, within 20 years or so.
I think it is conceivable (with being part of Asia & the growth of the A-League, as well as the exporting of more & more players from Australia) that a 1/4 Final appearance is achievable within 3 or 4 World Cups.

Not sure if this was addressed at me, but where did I compare England to Australia or say we should win everything. You guys seem to know so much about the English and our expectations it amazes me. I don't know any English fans that think we are the best but hey what would I know, I only live here.

There is of course a difference between wanting to be the best, believing we should be better than we are and knowing where we are.

As for the draw, correct it was made before the current rankings came out but that makes it even more questionable as Bosnia, Nigeria and Iran would have been even further down the list.
Serious question: do you honestly believe that any of Bosnia, Nigeria or Iran would be higher ranked than any of Uruguay, Italy or England? Because based on the seeding process at least one of those three must be ranked higher than two of our group. IIRC Italy was seeded 1, England was either seeded 2nd or 3rd with Uruguay. Who the hell was seeded 2nd in the Argie group ?

[Jim05]

[quote="LPH"]28 Goals in 8 matches - what a start to the Tournament!!!
As far as 'spuds' go - Rooney is the biggest spud in the Finals.
So funny to see Gerrard tell him to feck off out the way when that free kick with 10 mins to go was given.
Shrek was standing over the ball, expecting to take it & Stevie G walks in, tells him to get out the way & he 'slinks' off, nowhere near the play - Hillarious

Poms going to find it hard to qualify now - needed at least a point from that game.
Can't see Uruguay playing as bad as they did in 2nd half today.

Rooney was poor today no doubt.
He did lay on a good cross for Sturridge to score but that is about it. Rooney is getting a game on reputation only not form currently.
Probably says a fair bit about England, wouldnt think more than 4 or 5 of them would get a game in any of the genuine top sides in World football. Gerrard copped an absolute mauling from Pirlo aswell, was quite embarassing at times.
The sooner England realise they are not a world power and accept that there has to be changes the better off they will be.

How about you focus on your own team and stop sprouting this anti English garbage.
I doubt more than 4-5 of any country would get into a top 10 world side.

Therein lies the issue, I am realist and know that Australia wont be a world power probably ever, well atleast in my lifetime. English people believe it is their right to be a soccer powerhouse. Serious question, do you think the ammount of imports in the EPL has effected Englands performance over the years or is just natural evolution that others have leapfrogged them. I would love to see them win a WC again just not when ive got decent coin on it lol

And therein lies the issue. No one in England has any expectations other than that we will be on the 1st flight home. No one that I know anyway. Where have you seen or read anything that says we expect to win.
Of course we want to be powerhouse. It's our national sport and the game we gave to the world, but it has long since passed the days when our achievements matched our expectations.

As for the effect on English football by the level of imports. It has made the EPL the wealthiest league in the world by a country mile and has made world football the global game that it is. But at a price to local development.

I generally have a lot of respect for your posts but if you are just going to pommiebash then I have to stand up. England lost to a higher ranked team by 2-1 in a very close game that also saw us hit the woodwork and have a clear penalty not given.
How did the no1 ranked team do, or the 7th ranked, who are in our group, or even the Argies last night who needed 2 own goals and a huge slice of luck to dispatch the mighty Bosnia.?[/quote]

Must admit I havnt spoken to many of my friends over there but the majority of English ive spoke to over here have said this side should make quarters at worst. I watched the game with about 15 English and before the game they were saying how Italy have been crap for the last 12 months and they should win easily, perhaps they were just being bullish.
Yes they played ok for an inexperienced side but I honestly think there are a couple of selections that are a bit iffy. Im honestly not sold on Johnson or Henderson and its not because they play for Liverpool. As for Welbeck ive said for ages he is no good and ive been calling for United to get rid him for a long time, very lazy and a bit of a one trick pony. Surely there must be better betters in the English system. I still think you will beat Uruguay so it will probably be the game v Costa Rica that decides the runner up. Once you get to the second round anything could happen

[LPH]

Ditto here - I live in the Southern Suburbs where 1 in 2 people are ex-pat Pommies.
To a man, they have talked a 'big game' regarding the England Team.
BTW, there have been plenty online too that have said this is the best England Team (although young) since Italia '90, as well.

JTC, my understanding is that only 8 Teams are 'seeded' - Group 1 to 8.
That means the rest is 'luck of the draw' - do you think Australia (ranked 56) were put into a Group with 15th Ranked Chile, the reigning Champions & a high class European Powerhouse in Holland because they were easy beats? Of course not, luck of the draw.
The draw is not an anti-English conspiracy - it's just that, a draw.
Australia has drawn Holland, Spain & Chile this year, Germany & Ghana in Sth Africa, Brazil, Croatia & Japan in Germany.

The seeds this time around were (I think):
Brazil (as hosts), Spain (as holders), Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Germany, France & Belgium - 4 European & 4 Sth American.
Seems fair to me.

[JK]

All class Bresh!!

[Jim05]

Ze Germans crush Portugal 4-0

[mighty hounds]

Clint Dempsey danced his way through Ghana to score in 38 secs!

[Jimmy_041]

Pepe doing the ref's job for him
Muller should have been yellow carded for being a f***ing wanker

[Mr Beefy]

agreed

[nuggety goodness]

so at work tonight i get to see Belgium in action, i hope they go well and feature late in the cup.

I did a little guess work and gonna make some bold predictions. here we go...

qualifiers
A - Brazil, Croatia
B- Netherlands, Spain
C- Colombia, Ivory Coast
D - Italy, England
E- France, switzerland
F- Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina
G- Germany, Portugal
H- Belgium, South Korea

Round of 16
Brazil beat Spain
England beat Colombia
Netherlands beat Croatia
Italy beat Ivory Coast
France beat Bosnia-Herzegovina
Germany beat Sth Korea
Argentina beat Switzeland
Belgium beat Portugal

1/4s
Brazil beat England
Germany beat France
Netherlands beat Italy
Argentina beat Belgium

Semis
Brazil beat Germany
Netherlands beat Argentina

3rd place
Germany beat Argentina

Final
Netherlands beat Brazil

have a go and see what you can come up with.

I found the schedule here on the FIFA website to make sure the crossovers were correct. link is here...

http://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/t ... eutral.pdf

[whufc]

so at work tonight i get to see Belgium in action, i hope they go well and feature late in the cup.

I did a little guess work and gonna make some bold predictions. here we go...

qualifiers
A - Brazil, Croatia
B- Netherlands, Spain
C- Colombia, Ivory Coast
D - Italy, England
E- France, switzerland
F- Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina
G- Germany, Portugal
H- Belgium, South Korea

Round of 16
Brazil beat Spain
England beat Colombia
Netherlands beat Croatia
Italy beat Ivory Coast
France beat Bosnia-Herzegovina
Germany beat Sth Korea
Argentina beat Switzeland
Belgium beat Portugal

1/4s
Brazil beat England
Germany beat France
Netherlands beat Italy
Argentina beat Belgium

Semis
Brazil beat Germany
Netherlands beat Argentina

3rd place
Germany beat Argentina

Final
Netherlands beat Brazil

have a go and see what you can come up with.

I found the schedule here on the FIFA website to make sure the crossovers were correct. link is here...

http://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/t ... eutral.pdf

Qualifiers
A- Brazil & Mexico
B- Netherlands & Spain
C- Colombia & Ivory Coast
D- Italy & England
E- Switzerland & France
F- Argentina & Bosnia
G- Germany & USA
H- Belgium & Russia

ROUND OF 16
Spain beat Brazil
Colombia beat England
Netherlands beat Mexico
Italy beat Ivory Coast
Switzerland beat Bosnia
Germany beat Russia
Argentina beat France
Belgium beat USA

1/4's
Colombia beat Spain
Germany beat Switzerland
Netherlands beat Italy
Argentina beat Belgium

SEMI's
Germany beat Colombia
Argentina beat Netherlands

FINAL
Argentina beat Germany

[johntheclaret]

Ditto here - I live in the Southern Suburbs where 1 in 2 people are ex-pat Pommies.
To a man, they have talked a 'big game' regarding the England Team.
BTW, there have been plenty online too that have said this is the best England Team (although young) since Italia '90, as well.

JTC, my understanding is that only 8 Teams are 'seeded' - Group 1 to 8.
That means the rest is 'luck of the draw' - do you think Australia (ranked 56) were put into a Group with 15th Ranked Chile, the reigning Champions & a high class European Powerhouse in Holland because they were easy beats? Of course not, luck of the draw.
The draw is not an anti-English conspiracy - it's just that, a draw.
Australia has drawn Holland, Spain & Chile this year, Germany & Ghana in Sth Africa, Brazil, Croatia & Japan in Germany.

The seeds this time around were (I think):
Brazil (as hosts), Spain (as holders), Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Germany, France & Belgium - 4 European & 4 Sth American.
Seems fair to me.

Sorry LPH it was four groups of seeds IIRC. Australia, I suspect was a 4th seeded team. Nothing to do with easy beats

As for English fans expectations, maybe those living out there have lost touch or just feel a bit of chest beating is in order but trust me, no one over here has any expectations