Confederations Cup (2 Viewers)

[nuke terrorist]

Oooh, did Cas not move there more to the mid 90s? He did about 3 or 4 seasons at the end of his career and he was still playing for us kicking the turd out of the Turks in 1997 or so.

John Byrne might've been playing there too at that time. Must've been decent wages going in Ligue 1 back then.

I'm all for love and respect and all, but xenophobic Brits are a breed that just refuse to die out. I was actually staggered when I heard Taylor say that on SSN. What a fucking dinosaur.
Carragher has joined Sky now too. In his book he moans about foreigners coming over taking jobs which meant his brother was unemployed.

As the father of a half-Polish boy (who will keep goal for Ireland someday, mark my words), I'd take up arms against a cunt like that.

no he won't. he'll turn out for Poland, he'd be wasted on our bunch of freckle encrusted wasters.


i've been wondering for a longtime what the reaction will be when some of the next generation of talent decide to declare for their parents homeland.

 

[CinnamonBoy]

no he won't. he'll turn out for Poland, he'd be wasted on our bunch of freckle encrusted wasters.


i've been wondering for a longtime what the reaction will be when some of the next generation of talent decide to declare for their parents homeland.

Poland aren't short of keepers. I think it must be because the Pope was one.

Anyway, there's a heap of "foreign" lads on our U-16 team now so we'll see what happens when one of them doesn't play for us. The fast-tracking of Noe Baba from the U-16 to the U-19s I imagine is partly because Cameroon want him. I think he might have been born there but moved to Mayo when he was very young.

 

[washingcattle]

First half of Italy vs Brazil I was thinking this is like nearly every game in the last world cup i.e shite. Second half has been amazing. Ludicrous refereeing, Bouffon having an absolute mare, Sad to see actually like when boxer is so obviously past it. Neymar touches the ball, gets fouled, Neymar loses the ball goes and fouls whoever won it from him. Italy didn't have De Rossi or Pirlo and Brazil made tough work of it with their strongest team. If I was Spanish I'd be very confident. Still....

Italy vs Spain and Brazil vs Uruguay. Am I mad for thinking the final could be Italy vs Uruguay after penalties in each semi ?

 

[Cormcolash]

Italy vs. Urgay, Suarez vs. Balotelli, it's the match-up this tournament was made for!

 

[Hector Grey]

Italy vs. Urgay, Suarez vs. Balotelli, it's the match-up this tournament was made for!

Balotelli's tournament is fintito. He's gone home with a thigh strain. In his thigh.

 

[washingcattle]

Balotelli's tournament is fintito. He's gone home with a thigh strain. In his thigh.

That's a huge blow, Italy and strikers, the last consistent one they had was Del Piero.

 

[washingcattle]

Just watched Uruguay vs Brazil, I wish there was a website that had full matches on them just after they were played. After the penalty miss I had a feeling it wasn't going to be Uruguay's night. It's a pity because Brazil really haven't done anything amazing to get to the final. I find Neymar extremely hard to watch. In the end Brazil had a stack of good players to choose from on the bench and Uruguay didn't have anyone in the same class as Forlan to come on for him when it was obvious he was too wrecked to really hold the ball up, which is what you need when you're playing on the break.

Italy vs Spain should be interesting I'm going for penalties. I think it'll be a different Italy that shows up without Ballotelli. Might even see 3 centre halves again.

 

[Hector Grey]

That's a huge blow, Italy and strikers, the last consistent one they had was Del Piero.

Di Natale?

 

[washingcattle]

Never particularly consistent at international level though. Plus he had a heart attack, that's not great. That's what I mean Italy are just jinxed when it comes to forwards. Luca Toni is the prime example he was banging them in and then couldn't hit the broad side of a barn at the world cup in 2002.

 

[Unicron]

Never particularly consistent at international level though. Plus he had a heart attack, that's not great. That's what I mean Italy are just jinxed when it comes to forwards. Luca Toni is the prime example he was banging them in and then couldn't hit the broad side of a barn at the world cup in 2002.

Vieri is remembered for 1 horrific miss but he was pretty much a 1 in 2 srtiker for his whole career, club and country.

 

[Unicron]

Is it just me or has Shearer's punditry been better in this tournament. Very little of the "he'll be disappointed with that"ing

 

[Unicron]

Well that was possibly the best shootout I've ever seen.

 

[dudley]

got me wondering what happens if it gets to 10-10?

 

[Unicron]

got me wondering what happens if it gets to 10-10?

Then the 11th player on the team takes one.

But if they both score or miss then they go back to the start, but it's still sudden death.

 

[ann post]

got me wondering what happens if it gets to 10-10?

they start feeling as cool as GAA players do.

 

[washingcattle]

Can we just do away with the rest of football and have Italy play Spain every week ?

That was engrossing stuff. Tactical, technical committed. It really was like heavy weight boxing by the end, I'd have had Italy on points by the way. I guess that's the standard, if you want to win the world cup you have to be better than those two. They're under 21s got to the Euros final too. Germany are up there, then Argentina then a few dark-horses Belgium, Columbia, Holland, (Ajax's nearly all dutch side look really tidy and very young)

I've watched every game and I still don't know if Brazil are any use to be honest. Find out on Sunday at the moment I'd put them on a par with the likes of Poland, Russia, Portugal, Chile, then behind all of them Uruguay, Mexico and below them France, Croatia, England.

We'll find out ho good Brazil are on Sunday

A few things I noticed.

1. How good are both teams first touch ? so often in the PL you see someone (typically not italian or spansish) make a run towards the ball and when the pass arrives their first touch takes the ball up to head height, if you were to teach kids football show them these two sides, Italys long diagonal balls out wide are almost always killed dead by their wide players it's exceptional to watch. Spain aren't bad either.

2. If only Italy had a top striker. A Falcao or Higuain or Ronaldo type.

3. I actually haven't hated Spain quite as much as usual so far in this tournament. Mata has to start more games, Navas looks good and Torres works so fucking hard up front. I'd love to see them with Fabregas and Mata in for Xavi and Ineasta, just to see how good they really are.

4. Arsenal should just sign a Juve centre half and stop blowing smoke up Wayne Rooneys arse. Chellini in particular but the other 2 are exactly the player they don't have.

5. What happened to all the cheating that ruined the last world cup ?

 

[washingcattle]

Then the 11th player on the team takes one.

But if they both score or miss then they go back to the start, but it's still sudden death.

That would have been brilliant in the CL final, a few years ago.

Imagine watching Christiano Ronaldo have to dry those tears and do it again.

 

[Hector Grey]

Italy need a striker, yes. Mind you, Balotelli might have had a few. Italy also have a Pirlo conundrum. His fist time passing was amazing, but he's not much use at shielding the back 3/4 or running into the box or anything that requires a lot of movement. They'd be fucked without him, while being a better balanced team. It's a conundrum, and no mistake.

 

[Unicron]

Italy need a striker, yes. Mind you, Balotelli might have had a few. Italy also have a Pirlo conundrum. His fist time passing was amazing, but he's not much use at shielding the back 3/4 or running into the box or anything that requires a lot of movement. They'd be fucked without him, while being a better balanced team. It's a conundrum, and no mistake.

Even in 2006 they had Gattuso doing all his running for him. Long standing issue. Though surprisingly in the group phase he was near the top of the rankings for interceptions.

Hope he never quits though, love him to death.

 

[Unicron]

That would have been brilliant in the CL final, a few years ago.

Imagine watching Christiano Ronaldo have to dry those tears and do it again.

I was listening to the guardian podcast when I went for a cycle this morning. They were talking about a final of an ACN in the early 90's (92 I think) where it finished 12-11