South Africa 2010

3-5-2's tend to vary. Mostly they're more like 3-2-3-2 or 3-1-4-2. England would benefit more from the latter, since we've got a lot more attacking midfielders than defensive ones. If it came to one being dropped from Gerrard and Lampard, I'd actually have to go with Gerrard for a change this year. Lampard has just been in better form this season, and its been a while since I've seen a fantastic performance from Gerrard.
 
I'm game!

I'd like to propose http://www.fsports.co.uk/football/ as an alternative though. The format there only requires you to pick your starting 11 rather than a full squad of 23 and instead of operating with a point system, it allows you to pick any player you want (but only one from each country in the group stage). I don't know if it's better, but it certainly is less time consuming.
 
YAY the world cup is almost starting! Bah but Italy lost against Mexico a few days ago which was pretty sad. They need to get their act together :rage: Im sure Italy will advance far and hopefully win :gasp:
 
I'm not so sure, I don't think Italy have it in them to confound expectations like they did in 2006. I think of the European teams Holland could be best placed to do well.
 
It all matters in the world cup,so italy is going against Uruguav if im not mistaken, Im hoping that Italy will make a big progression like 4 years ago,but I heard from friends that my team has gotten weaker and some players from 2006 cup wont be in the 2010 cup, but still, go italy!!
 
thanx 4 correcting me

another thing 2 say. omg portugals in brazils group, lol I always want portugal 2 lose right away cuz im a rival with one of my friends and hes portugese. imo portugal is a weak team(sorry portugese) they never won a cup and they lose so easily.
 
Portugal never lose easily. Over the last few years, they've always done relatively well in the major tournaments. They never have quite the full package to go all the way (usually lacking top-drawer strikers). I can't see them being as good this year. Their team has gotten much weaker in general since the Euros in 2008, and the only player really worth mentioning is Ronaldo.

On Rio Ferdinand's injury, I'm actually quite glad. I think he's one of the most overrated players in the English team. I can't understand why everyone seems to think he's so special, when he's usually average at best. Michael Dawson is a very worthy replacement.
Now we just need to get rid of Ledley Kind somehow. :rage:
 
Dawson should've been in the squad in the first place in the place of King. I do think King is a good player on his day, one of the best in the league, but he's clearly going to hurt his knee in like 30 minutes.

No Rio means Cappelo will most likely play Upson. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather have Rio at the back than Upson.
 
The Dоctor;749992 said:
Portugal never lose easily. Over the last few years, they've always done relatively well in the major tournaments. They never have quite the full package to go all the way (usually lacking top-drawer strikers). I can't see them being as good this year. Their team has gotten much weaker in general since the Euros in 2008, and the only player really worth mentioning is Ronaldo.

On Rio Ferdinand's injury, I'm actually quite glad. I think he's one of the most overrated players in the English team. I can't understand why everyone seems to think he's so special, when he's usually average at best. Michael Dawson is a very worthy replacement.
Now we just need to get rid of Ledley Kind somehow. :rage:
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Rio Ferdinand is England's best defender. Apart from two years out because he's an idiot he has been part of the most successful english team over that period od time. He and Vidic kept a record for the longest time without a goal being scored when VDS was clearly in quite poor form. Pepe who's is one of Real Madrid's best players is Portugese, Bruno Alves and Carvalho are too. As is Nani
 
I do like Pepe and I think Alves is a solid player too, but Carvalho has only ever really impressed me when Mourinho was at Chelsea, and Nani is one of the most overrated players in the Premiership. :rage:
 
Portugal's problems are in midfield and up front. They still don't have a decent centre forward, Liedson or Almeida aren't good enough and playing Ronaldo there won't be as effective as playing him on the wing or in the 'hole'. Midfield they were sorted the last WC, but Deco is on his last legs, Veloso isn't like in Football Manager, and Tiago and Meireles aren't that great. It's not like the Euro 2004 midfield of Costinha, Maniche, Deco with Rui Costa on the bench.

Though I am curious of how Danny does. Really highly rated in Russia but I haven't really seen him play.
 
Decent opening game, that Mexico goalkeeper is a disaster waiting to happen though. Great first goal, and pretty good first goal celebration too. But both teams will need to improve defensively against France/Uruguay.[/font]
 
Domenech is still a clown. How Govou managed to last that long I'll never know.

Uruguay weren't too bad, if only Suarez could stay onside. I reckon Mexico will go through this group from today's matches.
 
It seems that the Italy team is a slow starter,having lost to mexico in the qualifacation, but as games progresses they play better,they should have no problem with paraguay and new zealand but after they have to proceed with caution.

portugal cant play for shit,sorry,they just cant,Brazil will woop them. For united states and england i want the states to win cuz i dont want england going further(u may think different),neither the states in the future(u may think different).
 
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I thought the opening ceremony was great but the games were a bit of a let down IMO. SA vs Mexico was better and I was rooting for SA. Great goal and build up.

Looking forward to the England game. Mainly because there is so much hype around them and I'll be interested in how they fare. Hopefully... badly. If England don't win the WC, I get a drink out of it. :griin:
 
IchiroSuzuki said:
Uruguay weren't too bad, if only Suarez could stay onside. I reckon Mexico will go through this group from today's matches.
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Mexico and South Africa looked the most dangerous out of the four. Right now, they'd be my picks to advance to the knockout stage.

Overall standings for each Group are going to be updated on the first page, and in a new post after each day's actions, I'll add in the standings of the relevant groups.

GROUP A
Nation . . . . . . . . . W . . L . . D . . Pts . . GF . . GA . . GD
France . . . . . . . . . 0 . . 0 . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 0 . . . 0 . . . 0
Mexico . . . . . . . . . 0 . . 0 . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 0
South Africa . . . . . 0 . . 0 . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 0
Uruguay . . . . . . . . 0 . . 0 . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 0 . . . 0 . . . 0
 
I can see why. Mexico and South Africa are the only ones that scored.

Still, who'd think that everybody still tied each other...
 
South Africa showed a lot of promise today. They were battered in the first half and could barely get a sight of the ball let alone the Mexico goal but in the second half they rallied nicely. Mexico got the goal I felt their performance deserved but I did want the hosts to win.

As for the Uruguay vs France game. Borefest. Anelka went missing, Gourcuff was played out of position and Lloris looked far from comfortable with the Jabulani ball, but Diaby put in a convincing performance and France looked much more threatening once Henry was on the pitch. It's a shame there was too much argueing on the pitch with the French but then again, it seems to work in their favour in tournaments. A bit of a low key start, I hope to see more goals and less nerves tomorrow.
 
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