Brazil, or an african team.
Team are much more successful when they play at home, or close (even if they suck otherwise) : England in 66, France in 98, Korea and Japan in 02 etc.
Btw, no european team ever won the WC when it took place outside of Europe.

Anyone watch last night's Champion's League final?

Have to take my hat off to 'the special one' after that. Inter seemed to completely stop Bayern from playing. Not pretty but effective as fuck.

It seemed pretty rubbish, and im much more impressed with Blackpool, I was chatting to one of their fans in town today. Much rather see them up there than Cardiff

Im not sure ive been on here since Spurs came 4th... Time to gloat



I just want to give Michael Dawson a big, hearty manly, kiss. Just look at his face. If loveability were enough to get you an England cap he would have surpassed Bobby Charlton years ago

Yeah, it wasn't that exciting a game.

Absolutely agree about Blackpool. And not wanting this to be taken the wrong way, but I've never liked the fact that Cardiff are a Welsh club playing in the EPL.

Capello's England Squad finally named

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green.

Defenders: Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock.


Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Shaun Wright-Phillips.


Forwards: Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney.

where's Walcott? And Bent? And what the hell's Heskey doing there?

My man Brian Ching from the Houston Dynamo did not make the USA team cut. just before the world cup is a hell of a time to get injured.

And where's that guy whose name is something like Own Goal?
I hadn't heard of him before, but noticed he netted two against Japan...surely he's got to be better than Heskey!

And why only 4 forwards? Is your manager Italian or something!?

Rooney will be VERY lonely in the English attack, I guess.

Bent's the biggest surprise for me. Walcott has been injured for much of the season and I'm still not that convinced by him, even when he's fit. Heskey's had an indifferent season but he always does well for England, although more as a support for the striker than an all-out goal scorer in his own right.

I really hope Capello treats Joe Cole as more than just a super-sub.

Yeah, I read something about Rooney's goal rate being good with and poor without Heskey around. We'll see.


Anyway, in more important news, Drogba broke his elbow and seems sure to miss the world cup. What a bummer. :(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FFfsad7hm8


edit: So Ferdinand looks like he's out too.... big blow for England. But Drogba's absence is a big blow for all of Africa.

To be honest, I don't care who's injured in the lead up to the World Cup, so long as they're not English. I'd happily arrange a pre-tournament skiing holiday for Messi, Torres, Ronaldo, Kaka, etc if it guaranteed they all broke their legs.

Ferdinand has been a bit off the mark all season and has been a worry from the get-go. Terry's been up and down all season too, while Glen Johnson is a better winger than a defender (IMO). Besides Ashley Cole our back four is pretty shit, even with a fit Ferdinand.

Cole aside, what I wouldn't give right now to see the heroic return of Tony Adams, Viv Anderson and Bobby Moore. With Banks in goal!:cool:

^^In that case I'm sure you must be happy with the absence of Obi Mikel and now a new injury for Arjen Robben too (scored twice and then limped off the pitch... not looking good at all).


Personally I just like to see the world's best players available for each and every team. It's the fucking World Cup after all, not some silly B-grade tournament.

Of course, I was only joking. I'd rather England were beaten by a team of great players than win against a load of stand-ins.

Ah, I guess my irony-detector needs some adjustment, sorry. It's a bit disappointing to see this many key players injured just before the tournament. Pretty much every African star other than Eto'o will be missing (Essien, Drogba, Mikel and also Adebayor as Togo isn't there).

But of course I'm looking through an orange haze, so especially Robben's absence would be a bummer for me.


How do you rate England's chances? Looking at the schedule (and if my useless predictions are right) then they appear to be able to avoid all of the big guns until the semis...
For Holland I see a quarter-final exit against Brazil, provided both Holland and Brazil finish top in their groups.

Spain's 2nd round game should be a cracker, no matter whether it's Portugal or Brazil they'll meet (I'm not sure of Ivory Coast's chances without Drogba).

Yeah, the African nations are going to struggle big time. Even at full strength, I still don't think they're quite ready to lift the trophy but in a couple of tournaments time (and if they can attract a good coach - which is a big if) they really could become a major force.

Further Injuries aside, I think England are good enough to make the semis but I really do worry about our defence and the possibility that Rooney gets isolated. We really aren't that good against 'top' teams and are capable of going to sleep against lower ranked ones. So yeah, semis at best for me.

I always think Holland can be as good as any team on the planet and your form during qualifying was amazing, but there's always that sense that they'll slip up again. It's become a cliche in the UK to think of Holland as the best team on earth, but also the most fragile.

Regarding Holland against Brazil, I just looked at the depth of their squad and even without Ronaldinho or any other outright star up front, it's pretty terrifying:

Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Gomes (Tottenham Hotspur), Victor (Gremio)
Defenders: Maicon (Inter Milan), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Alex (Chelsea), Juan (AS Roma), Lucio (Bayern Munich), Luisao (Benfica), Kleber (Internacional), Andre Santos (Corinthians).
Midfielders: Anderson (Manchester United), Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos), Josue (VfL Wolfsburg), Ramires (Cruzeiro), Elano (Manchester City), Felipe Melo (Fiorentina), Julio Baptista (AS Roma), Kaka (AC Milan)
Forwards: Alexandre Pato (AC Milan), Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), Nilmar (Internacional), Robinho (Manchester City).:eek:
.

It's a point i've already made but I do almost cry with envy that Brazil once had a player called Socrates who looked like this ...






While England had one called Nobby Stiles who looked like this.





Nobby Stiles, ffs! That had to have been a rubbish name, even then.

it seems a lot of big names are not gonna be there which could make it more interesting i think because the less heard of will be trying harder to prove themselves. should make for an interesting time. is it me or does nobby styles have a slight look of jonny rotten in that pic?

i think that tends to happen anyway, with new talent coming to the fore. You want to see them challenged at the highest level though, otherwise it sort of undermines their achievements.

Haha @ Johnny Rotten. Totally! Similar dental issues too:

nobby rotten.