Thread: FIFA World Cup 2014

Why do they bother with that stupid draw crap, and then the fat bint who can't sing wobbling around the stage.

They should just do it in a pub and phone it in, save fortunes.

Originally Posted by Mr Lick

Jesus, Sir Geoff Hurst should have his Knighthood withdrawn. England play Italy first in the group matches followed by Uruguay and shortly after the referee blows for full time in our final match against Costa Rica, we'll be on our way to the airport flying back to blighty. Geoff what have you done!



The rest of the draw:-



Group H: Belgium, Algeria, Russia and South Korea.



Group G: Germany, Ghana, Portugal and USA.



Group F: Argentina, Bosnia, Iran and Nigeria.



Group E: Switzerland, Ecuador, France and Honduras.



Group D: Uruguay, England, Costa Rica and Italy.

That is a tough draw as England will have the only game to kick-off at 02:00 BST...



Group C: Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast and Japan.




Group B: Spain, Chile, Australia and Netherlands.



Group A: Brazil, Mexico, Croatia and Cameroon

Pointless going through all that expense and inconvenience, they should just DHL the trophy to Brazil and start preparing for the next World Cup. If Brazil don't win its government will fall, the Amazon gets torched and they'll die on the streets by the million.

The only time I lost by backing Brazil was when France bought the final with a pallet of money for hospitals in Brazil and pension for Ronaldo. Four years later, it seems part of the deal was to not even reach the second round, which probably earned another money mountain for those in the know. Nasty things, frogs.

Yep, that's Australia pretty much fucked.
Good thing no one cares about fagball.

Originally Posted by Sailing into trouble

The Poms are not good enough!

I think we'd all agree with that!

Originally Posted by Sailing into trouble

Never have been (1966 with the goal that was not) unlikely ever will be.

Within your sentence, it's clearly untrue... Also, Bobby Robson's team that lost to the Hand of God was good enough to win that WC if things had gone right for them. Look at the period when Liverpool dominated Europe, were the best team in the world for a decade; some great English and Scottish players around (a few Irish too) with excellent experience, and we were up there with the best in the world during that time.

I'd certainly agree with you, if we take the Premier League as the starting point of the demise of English football; eroding the social bonds between clubs and supporters, players increasingly without respect of care for their club, supporters or national team, corporate profit over deep local social bonds between club, players and supporters. I have virtually no interest in the PL or the horrible players that become multi-millionaires through it. Scumbag agents. International criminal and scumbag owners. The list goes on... Add Blater, the total scumbag, to the mix, and the WC really isn't anything like it used to be, for me...

As far as your closing comment of 'ever will be'; you obviously have better insight to the future than I...

This WC, we are shite, we will not go far, so I hope we just play attacking entertaining football - I'd be happy to see us lose all 3 games 4-2 or 5-3.

Originally Posted by Sailing into trouble

All the hype over a few under talented, over payed, talent free land of hope and glory singers looking like all their fore bearers have done since the game was invented. Why do the English assume that they should stand a chance of winning the world cup of Football? with one exception they have always lacked the skills that the lesser mortals show year in year out.

And you are from ?

Canada aint it ?

Ignoring the obvious retards who just come on here to slate England, France did really well out of that draw, Belgium too. But I reckon the Argies will score the most goals in the group stages

Originally Posted by Dillinger

Originally Posted by Sailing into trouble

All the hype over a few under talented, over payed, talent free land of hope and glory singers looking like all their fore bearers have done since the game was invented. Why do the English assume that they should stand a chance of winning the world cup of Football? with one exception they have always lacked the skills that the lesser mortals show year in year out.

And you are from ?

Canada aint it ?

From? Like from whence I came, sort of idea?

Now it would be a wee place just east of Donegal called Wigan, ya know the one with a pier!


As to my slagging my once home and almost native land , I still say It is all about nothing, the cost, years of hype, for what? Mostly bland low scoring games, played by a bunch of overpaid …… Anyway how the hell can a country like Brazil afford the world cup. Now if Iceland had made it in I would have bought a ticket myself

OK, long verbose reflection on England's chances based on what I've been reading lately - Bought and absorbed a great deal of the latest 2012 reprint of Soccernomics: Why England Loses, Why Spain, Germany, and Brazil Win. England have been and essentially are as successful as they should be in terms of their population, wealth, experience in the game and relative isolation over the years from what the writer calls the knowledge networks that have led to Spain's superiority over the last decade or more (they were winning loads more games than just about everyone a while before they won silverware).

But they're actually on a par with Germany in their overall statistics which (with a draw counting as half a win) something like a 65% winning ratio. It's just that at key stages Germany have won the knockout games that England have lost. Just like Billy Bean says about baseball in Moneyball, the league aspect of competitive tournaments and the general evening out of good and poor luck over loads and loads of games means that in general the best teams emerge but then in knockout scenarios it's that much more chaotic and difficult to predict. Some teams, like Spain and in the past, Brazil are just so much better than everyone that they do tend to transcend the chaos, but when you see teams that just become competent enough to get to the latter stages like Greece and Denmark in the past, anything can happen.

England are there, they have a difficult group which will be the best test of how good they are in this particular competitive context, if they get through that, they've got as much chance as a good deal of teams. Under Hodgson, a decent coach who can draw on experience from coaching all over the world, they've got a 70% winning ratio, albeit without having been to a tournament thus far and with a small sample of just 24 games. Capello had 76% from almost twice that and two tournaments and Sven managed 72% from 3 times Hodgson's games with 67 matches and 3 tournaments.

Problem is, Germany are there under Low who has 77.5% from 101 games, one of the most talented squads, then there's Spain and the south American sides, particularly Argentina and Brazil. The latter two have gone backwards a bit in the past few years, a lot of that down to their isolation from the aforementioned knowledge networks in the disproportionately successful European region, but they're in their own climate and home advantage for any team but particularly Brazil is statistically huge. Most home teams receive a 0.5 goal head start apparently and that's massive in knockout games of course.

But, England are there and so any England fan could actually be optimistic. They're not favourites and from a dispassionately stats based perspective that's backed up by their general position of tenth best side in the world, but they're good enough and generally competent enough to make a go of it. I've never seen my team Wales at a tournament in my lifetime, so I envy England's participation in every tournament they enter and I naturally hope they lose every game and John Terry gets mugged and raped repeatedly in a Sao Paolo ghetto and Wazza catches AIDS from a 75 year old Brasilia prostitute, but even were the former the case, England fans would at least have the chance to dream....

So yeah, England are there so there's every reason for them to be positive. Though there's probably a good reason to be measured in that positivity. Let's just see how measure the good old British media is next year. Can they restrain themselves? Either way, as usual, I'm glad I don't live there even if the time difference in southeast Asia is going to be an absolute bastard.

Summarised perhaps as England aren't shit enough to not have a chance.

But yeah, Italy and Uruguay?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-O5IHVhWj0[/youtube]

Though the traditional tournament exit scapegoat seems destined to be ordained seven months in advance with Suarez chomping at the bit.

If you were to look at the England 11, I don't think a single one of them would get into the German, Brazilian, Argentinian or Spanish sides. This doesn't bode well, imho...

playing in a sauna won't help either. 99% humidity in places.

^might help, Rooney...



https://twitter.com/CNNSporf/status/242195729425240064

Originally Posted by Mr Lick

Looks very much like a repeat of the 2002 final, Brazil v Germany. Surely Spain can't do a 4th consecutive major final?

The Spain v Holland group match may be as tasty as the 2012 Euro Final and are the Belgians worth an outside bet to reach the semi's?

All spectulative...
Years gone by, end results might have been more predictable.
Yet, group play [and advancement into the second-round] has become quite competitive and surprising.

I certainly wouldn't count on any tradition [the expected 5-6 clubs] to the road of the semi-finals.

Originally Posted by Jimmy McNulty

Let's just see how measure the good old British media is next year. Can they restrain themselves?

I'm honestly not sure anyone cares what 'the media' comes up with any more.

It's 30 years since anyone believed what most of those idiots come up with.

Really, does anyone with a brain give a toss when one can find so much more sense elsewhere on the internet?

I read 'Why England Lose' a couple of years ago. Kuiper rather pompously thinks it didn't sell well because nobody could handle the controversy of the title.

I just thought its whole point could be summed up very swiftly (as you've done), that it was all rather obvious and droned on unnecessarily for about 300 pages more than was needed.

I've already backed Argentina.

probably going to be a south american team in their own backyard, so don't look much further than the hosts...not Argies. as they're hated there, and will cop abuse, Uraguay and Chile possibly.

Of the Euros, outside of the usuals, fancy Belgium, but so do the bookies. England's first eleven will give anyone a game. Granted there's no depth, but we live in hope

What's in our favour this time is that there is NO expectation...

p.s. Rooney would walk into any national's first team....Just wish Bale and Ramsay weren't Welsh! Couldn't they have a sheep's bottom avoidance period to qualify?

I believe South Korea, Croatia, Costa Rica, and Columbia will certainly surprise some.

.....and don't count out an African side doing some damage.

Originally Posted by pompeysbroke

probably going to be a south american team in their own backyard, so don't look much further than the hosts...not Argies. as they're hated there, and will cop abuse, Uraguay and Chile possibly.

The Argies won't care about getting abuse, they're used to it.

I just fancy them with the attacking talent they've got: Messi, Aguero, Higain, Di Maria, Maxi.

Quite frightening I think.

Don't really think the draw makes that much difference in the big scheme of things.

It will be a lucky penalty, or a poor reffing decision , or unlucky injury ultimatley conspire to decide the winner

^Hand of Buddha?....