WC 2014 Qualifiers

[lefty]

I think he would have died honestly, I mean that high altitude and him doing cocaine in the locker room wouldn't be such a good mix...
He won the WC in a high altitude location

[DAF86]

He won the WC in a high altitude location

lol comparing the DF to La Paz.

Madrid is also a high altitude location and Messi does pretty well there. :lol

[Relevancy]

Urufuckingguay:lmao:lmao

[DAF86]

Venezuela beating Colombia, not a good result for Uruguay, tbh.

[Relevancy]

Are they in jeopardy of missing the WC with this result?

[DAF86]

Are they in jeopardy of missing the WC with this result?

Yes, in fact they are out of it right now.

The table

1-Argentina - 24 pts
2-Ecuador - 20 pts
3-Colombia - 19 pts
4-Chile - 15 pts
5-Venezuela - 15 pts
6- Uruguay - 13 pts
7-Peru - 11 pts
8-Bolivia - 9 pts
9- Paraguay - 8 pts

First 4 qualify, the fifth plays a wild card tie against a team from Asia I think.

[Relevancy]

Yes, in fact they are out of it right now.

The table

1-Argentina - 24 pts
2-Ecuador - 20 pts
3-Colombia - 19 pts
4-Chile - 15 pts
5-Venezuela - 15 pts
6- Uruguay - 13 pts
7-Peru - 11 pts
8-Bolivia - 9 pts
9- Paraguay - 8 pts

First 4 qualify, the fifth plays a wild card tie against a team from Asia I think.A team with arguably the best player in the premier league(Suarez) and a top scorer(cavani) might not make it to the WC:wow

[DAF86]

SouthAmerican qualifiers are tough, tbh.

[Libri]

uh oh, dumb push by Beasley.

[DAF86]

Brazil is lucky not having to play these qualifiers to get into the WC tbh, with the way they are playing right now they would have had a hard time qualifying. Not saying they wouldn't but...

[Libri]

Angel Reyna is a damn good player. This could be decisive for Mexico.

[Libri]

Guzan with very good stops.

[Darth_Pelican]

USA vs. Mexico tonight in Mexico City. Hopefully USA can get out of there with a tie and get a point, but that's wishful thinking.

:tu

[Relevancy]

3 points out of 9? Mexico just wasted valuable points

[Libri]

IMO, Mexico played pretty crappy in the second half. They had control of the ball but was, for the most part, passing it from the top. I think Vela would have made a difference.

[IronMaxipad]

USA Bunker ball is alive and well.

How soon before Chepo's head rolls?

[Libri]

USA Bunker ball is alive and well.

How soon before Chepo's head rolls?

Not yet but the lack of creativity was obvious.

[diego]

:lol at Uruguay.
Suarez was in full wc mode and no one bit on his bullshit, by the time he actually got fouled the ref had enough. They have a brutal schedule remaining. 4th place will come out of Venezuela/Chile, with the loser getting the 5th spot (playoff vs Oceania)

[Brazil]

Lol France @thinking they could defeat us

:lol

:lol @thinking that anybody in France was expecting to defeat Spain
:lol Spaniards arrogant pricks
:lol 26% unemployment rate
:lol sport helping Spaniards to forget economy disaster
:lol King fucking everywhere
:lol Spain economy sinking further
:lol assisted country
:lol PIGS

[Darth_Pelican]

http://dbug.kicks-ass.net/dbugforums/yabbfiles/Attachments/good-good-let-the-butthurt-flow-through-you-11.jpeg

Costa Rica fans protest FIFA verdict

March 27, 2013

Costa Rican fans protest FIFA ruling

A group of fans used social media to publicize the "turn your back on the FIFA 'fair play' flag," asking the Costa Rica fans to take action during the prematch formalities, said an Efe News Agency report.
"This March 26 we are asking all who attend the Costa Rica-Jamaica match at Estadio Nacional to unite with us to turn our backs on the stadium while the 'Fair Play' hymn is played as part of a protest," read the statement posted via Facebook and Twitter.
Signs were also put up throughout the stadium, including one that read: "We demand justice and fair play, repeat the match against the USA."
The Ticos were angered by the decision of referee Joel Aguilar of El Salvador to allow the game in Commerce City, Colo., to be played on a snow-covered field. But FIFA upheld the win, saying the protest by the visitors was not filed correctly.
World Cup regulations required Ticos captain Bryan Ruiz (http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/137779/bryan-ruiz?cc=5901) to "immediately lodge a protest" with the referee if he believed the field became unplayable, FIFA said. U.S. captain Clint Dempsey (http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/39928/clinton-dempsey?cc=5901) also needed to be present for the protest.
Protests also must be filed in writing to FIFA's administration "no later than two hours after the match," the regulations state. FIFA said it received the protest letter Sunday, two days after the game.
"The conditions established in the regulations for an official protest have not been met," FIFA said in a statement Tuesday.

[lefty]

They should have stopped that game TBH

[SAmagic]

First time watching France in years ... Makes me miss the old Henry and Zidane

[urunobili]

:lol at Uruguay.
Suarez was in full wc mode and no one bit on his bullshit, by the time he actually got fouled the ref had enough. They have a brutal schedule remaining. 4th place will come out of Venezuela/Chile, with the loser getting the 5th spot (playoff vs Oceania)

Hurts but it's 100% true. Urucry back to reality. Trolluarez sucker punching a Chilenean says it all. He may be facing a long international Ban.

Good thing Argie's are noticing since they need to catch up in total trophies vs. a nation 10 times smaller :tu

I'll be rooting for Spain at the WC TBH. :depressed

[Darth_Pelican]

Rested and rejuvenated, Landon Donovan hopes to return to the U.S. national team mix

By Seth Vertelney | Goal.com – 1 hour 45 minutes ago
http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/gpF10QDlpGEAOuACEgM.eg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MjMwO2NyPTE7Y3c9MzUwO2R4PTA7ZH k9MDtmaT11bGNyb3A7aD0xMjU7cT04NTt3PTE5MA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_US/Sports/Goal/248592_hp.jpg

WASHINGTON – The Galaxy have welcomed Landon Donovan (http://www.spurstalk.com/mls/players/274972) back with open arms. He now hopes the U.S. national team will do the same.

Donovan rejoined his Galaxy teammates in the nation's capital in time to visit the White House on Tuesday, in a ceremony honoring the team's second-straight MLS title. He addressed the media Thursday, the first time he's done so since returning from his self-imposed hiatus from soccer.

“I definitely needed a break,” Donovan said. “I was fortunate to have a lot of people both personally and professionally that also understood that. Now I’m excited to be back and to move forward and enjoy playing.”

Having last played a competitive match in December's MLS Cup triumph over Houston, Donovan eschewed call-ups to the national team and the beginning of the Galaxy's season to take a break from soccer. He was spotted traveling in Cambodia, but said the best part of his time away came closer to home.

“My favorite part was being home with my family. For 15 years I haven’t spent more than two weeks at a time with my family so it was really nice to do that,” Donovan said.

With Donovan away, the U.S. national team experienced mixed results, falling in Honduras before bouncing back with a win against Costa Rica and a massive away draw at Mexico. Though he wasn't playing, Donovan was certainly an interested spectator.

“It was fantastic,” he said of the Mexico result. “Having been a part of many of those games both home and away, I don’t think you can overstate the significance of that result. I’m real proud of those guys, and I thought Jurgen [Klinsmann] was fantastic, the guys were fantastic and it was a really good result.”

After being the face of American soccer for a decade, Donovan was very open about feeling burned out throughout the course of the 2012 season, even floating the idea of retiring. Back with his teammates, however, the time away seemed to be just what the 31-year-old needed.

“This week was pretty difficult watching the U.S. in those games when you want to be a part of it. I’m glad that that feeling is back, it’s what I wanted,” he said, adding that watching the Galaxy's opening MLS game against Chicago gave him the “itch” to play again.

Moving forward, Donovan would not put a specific timetable on his return for the Galaxy. He did say he was initially targeting the team's April 6 match against Montreal before it was moved to accommodate the team's CONCACAF Champions League semifinal against Monterrey.

LA hosts Monterrey on April 3 in the first leg before traveling to Mexico for the return leg on April 10. Galaxy fans will be hoping to see their star back for at least the second game, as the two-time defending CCL champions will certainly be formidable opposition.

Donovan is also back available for selection to the national team, though he knows he'll have to fight for his place.

“I realize I have a long way to go both on the field and off the field to work my way back into the national team, and that’s my goal,” he said. “If that’s something that presents itself, it’s something I want to do. I miss being a part of that and I want to represent my country again.”

If he returns to his usual form, there's no doubt the Yanks could do with his talent back on the pitch. Though they did earn four points against Costa Rica and Mexico, they only managed one shot on target in those two matches.

“It could be great for the national team,” Galaxy and U.S. defender Omar Gonzalez said of Donovan's potential return. “He's just another option to threaten teams behind. He brings a lot of speed and teams respect him. Teams respect who he is. He's also a great leader so having him back

[Relevancy]

Hurts but it's 100% true. Urucry back to reality. Trolluarez sucker punching a Chilenean says it all. He may be facing a long international Ban.

Good thing Argie's are noticing since they need to catch up in total trophies vs. a nation 10 times smaller :tu

I'll be rooting for Spain at the WC TBH. :depressedYour team will get in, a team that has Suarez and Cavani can't miss the WC, tbh

[urunobili]

Your team will get in, a team that has Suarez and Cavani can't miss the WC, tbh

We're not buying this...

Some hope on Suarez not being suspended; this is why he reacted... what is worse, getting your junk touched this way or the sucker puncher reaction?

http://www.montevideo.com.uy/imgnoticias/201303/_W620/397342.jpg

[Relevancy]

We're not buying this...

Some hope on Suarez not being suspended; this is why he reacted... what is worse, getting your junk touched this way or the sucker puncher reaction?

http://www.montevideo.com.uy/imgnoticias/201303/_W620/397342.jpgCan he still be suspended if he wasn't suspended during the game? I don't really know how FIFA reacts to these kind of situations. The grabbing of the balls was obviously done to provoke him, but if Suarez knows he can be suspended for that punch then that's definitely worse for him:lol players are supposed to keep calm when they try to provoke you.

[urunobili]

Can he still be suspended if he wasn't suspended during the game? I don't really know how FIFA reacts to these kind of situations. The grabbing of the balls was obviously done to provoke him, but if Suarez knows he can be suspended for that punch then that's definitely worse for him:lol players are supposed to keep calm when they try to provoke you.

so junk touching is not worth suspending and it is if you react to it? That sounds kind of weird to me...

[Relevancy]

so junk touching is not worth suspending and it is if you react to it? That sounds kind of weird to me...It's true, he was just trying to provoke Suarez and Suarez didn't respond well, if the other player would have punched Suarez then I would say both are worthy of suspension, but in this case the player just gently grabbed his balls, pretty gay if you ask me.

Its like me trying to grab the best players jersey and doing it constantly and trying to get into his head by saying foul language, what is the other player gonna do? Punch me?:lmao all I'm trying to do is get into his head and he's gonna go ahead and punch me?

[urunobili]

It's true, he was just trying to provoke Suarez and Suarez didn't respond well, if the other player would have punched Suarez then I would say both are worthy of suspension, but in this case the player just gently grabbed his balls, pretty gay if you ask me.

Its like me trying to grab the best players jersey and doing it constantly and trying to get into his head by saying foul language, what is the other player gonna do? Punch me?:lmao all I'm trying to do is get into his head and he's gonna go ahead and punch me?
Sounds to me you're still justifying junk touching TBH

[Relevancy]

Sounds to me you're still justifying junk touching TBHI watched the video on youtube, Suarez was clearly trying to provoke the Chileno player too, what I get from this? Suarez doing his usual role of diving and pretending to be fouled hard. They both deserve suspension, of course I expect you to say differently :rolleyes

[Relevancy]

Off-Topic-Who in here actually saw Diego Armando Maradona play back in the 70's 80's? A bunch of 40 year old dudes brought his name up in a radio show and they said Messi is way below his level, was Maradona that good?

[DAF86]

Off-Topic-Who in here actually saw Diego Armando Maradona play back in the 70's 80's? A bunch of 40 year old dudes brought his name up in a radio show and they said Messi is way below his level, was Maradona that good?

Most of the people I have spoken with that saw both play at their peaks say that Messi is better. That Messi plays at his best more often than Maradona and that Lio is more decisive with the amount of goals and assists he gets.

[lefty]

:lmao

[ElNono]

Off-Topic-Who in here actually saw Diego Armando Maradona play back in the 70's 80's? A bunch of 40 year old dudes brought his name up in a radio show and they said Messi is way below his level, was Maradona that good?

I did, tbh... he was THAT nigga...

I keep saying they're different players and persons... they're the same in that when you watch them play it looks like they're playing in Easy level while everyone else look like they're playing on Very Hard. Just otherwordly skill.

Diego, IMO, had much better control of the ball. Both on passing, free kicks and just flat out magic what he did with it (check youtubes, even when he was a kid, just mesmerizing). He was also more of a midfielder-forward (typical Argentina 'enganche').

Messi has the low-center-of-gravity dribbling goodness and, you have to hand it to him, he has improved his passing and shooting skill over time (still not Diego-quality, he was nailing free-kicks back in '79). But he's more of an actual forward and goalscorer.

As people mention Xavi and Iniesta now when it comes to Messi, back when Diego was playing, he basically 'made' Careca who he was. Careca would then go play for Brazil and do jackshit.

Personality wise, it's much easier to love Messi than Diego (unless you're a Napoli fan). Non-controversial all-around nice kid vs controversial, party-animal, drug-fiend Diego. Then again, some people loved the rebellious nature of Diego, and in a way was also the kind of attitude that made him excel against all odds (in Napoli, Argentina, etc).

[Relevancy]

I did, tbh... he was THAT nigga...

I keep saying they're different players and persons... they're the same in that when you watch them play it looks like they're playing in Easy level while everyone else look like they're playing on Very Hard. Just otherwordly skill.

Diego, IMO, had much better control of the ball. Both on passing, free kicks and just flat out magic what he did with it (check youtubes, even when he was a kid, just mesmerizing). He was also more of a midfielder-forward (typical Argentina 'enganche').

Messi has the low-center-of-gravity dribbling goodness and, you have to hand it to him, he has improved his passing and shooting skill over time (still not Diego-quality, he was nailing free-kicks back in '79). But he's more of an actual forward and goalscorer.

As people mention Xavi and Iniesta now when it comes to Messi, back when Diego was playing, he basically 'made' Careca who he was. Careca would then go play for Brazil and do jackshit.

Personality wise, it's much easier to love Messi than Diego (unless you're a Napoli fan). Non-controversial all-around nice kid vs controversial, party-animal, drug-fiend Diego. Then again, some people loved the rebellious nature of Diego, and in a way was also the kind of attitude that made him excel against all odds (in Napoli, Argentina, etc).Are you really serious when you say Diego had better ball control? Hard to imagine anyone having Messis type of control of the ball ,you know the way he runs and keeps the ball attached to his feet at all times, even passing?:wow It's just amazing to me how Lio always finds an open man in such little tight spaces and can dish the from just using his imagination
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwJdt6ZiYfU like a youtube comment said, Messi could be a midfielder if he wanted to, which I'm sure he's gonna be one as he ages, I tell you one thing.. I wish I was born back then to have seen Diego:wow


He lacks that Brazilian flavor, but he keeps the game so simple that even then it's amazing to watch.

[lefty]

I did, tbh... he was THAT nigga...

I keep saying they're different players and persons... they're the same in that when you watch them play it looks like they're playing in Easy level while everyone else look like they're playing on Very Hard. Just otherwordly skill.

Diego, IMO, had much better control of the ball. Both on passing, free kicks and just flat out magic what he did with it (check youtubes, even when he was a kid, just mesmerizing). He was also more of a midfielder-forward (typical Argentina 'enganche').

Messi has the low-center-of-gravity dribbling goodness and, you have to hand it to him, he has improved his passing and shooting skill over time (still not Diego-quality, he was nailing free-kicks back in '79). But he's more of an actual forward and goalscorer.

As people mention Xavi and Iniesta now when it comes to Messi, back when Diego was playing, he basically 'made' Careca who he was. Careca would then go play for Brazil and do jackshit.

Personality wise, it's much easier to love Messi than Diego (unless you're a Napoli fan). Non-controversial all-around nice kid vs controversial, party-animal, drug-fiend Diego. Then again, some people loved the rebellious nature of Diego, and in a way was also the kind of attitude that made him excel against all odds (in Napoli, Argentina, etc).
troof bombs

[DAF86]

troof bombs

Yeah like that "youcan'tmissthatevenifyou'reblind" assist he has against Italy in 1990. :lmao

lol better passing and free kick ability, when it's all said and done Messi will have double the assists and free kick goals that Maradona had.

[lefty]

of course, he and CR7 are stat padding in LOLiga

[Relevancy]

of course, he and CR7 are stat padding in LOLigaLol thinking he wouldn't do what he's doing in another league

Lol you thinking you made a point
Lol the likes of Cavani scoring more then 20 goals in what's considered a "tough league"
Lol you thinking Messi wouldn't triple that
Lol
Lol

[Relevancy]

Also Suarez having 22 goals in the Premier league:lol thinking Messi wouldn't have more then 30 right now. Please put all of these "he can't do what he's doing in another league" to rest, tbh

[IronMexican]

Also Suarez having 22 goals in the Premier league:lol thinking Messi wouldn't have more then 30 right now. Please put all of these "he can't do what he's doing in another league" to rest, tbh

I agree to an extent, but I doubt he could score 43 goals through 29 games if he were playing in the Prem.

[ElNono]

Are you really serious when you say Diego had better ball control? Hard to imagine anyone having Messis type of control of the ball ,you know the way he runs and keeps the ball attached to his feet at all times, even passing?:wow It's just amazing to me how Lio always finds an open man in such little tight spaces and can dish the from just using his imagination
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwJdt6ZiYfU like a youtube comment said, Messi could be a midfielder if he wanted to, which I'm sure he's gonna be one as he ages, I tell you one thing.. I wish I was born back then to have seen Diego:wow

He lacks that Brazilian flavor, but he keeps the game so simple that even then it's amazing to watch.

The difference with Diego is that you could play 8 defenders, goalie, him and one forward... and win. That's what Argentina pretty much did in Italy '90, and Napoli did too. It wasn't pretty like what this Barça is, at all, but you couldn't argue with the results.

Not to mention he played with some awful finishers...

Nu3YXQfPBXc

Here's another one...

--ACUzCCza8

Free-kicks... these are all going in, but those that didn't were damn close... dude had an amazing touch. Notice most of them are not even hard strikes, just lobbing the ball to impossible spots.

TlVfzOb_w9s

Obviously, none of those videos do him enough justice. VCRs suck.


Like I said, Messi got a lot better on both departments, and Lio is a much more of a striker than Diego ever was. After Barça, Diego got stocky and lost the speed, so he was more physical and relied more on assisting people than scoring himself.

Two phenomenal players, tbh

[Relevancy]

I agree to an extent, but I doubt he could score 43 goals through 29 games if he were playing in the Prem.I agree, that's why I said a minimum of 30 goals he would have right about now, those posts I made are mostly directed towards the people that think he'll be reduced to some scrub if he went somewhere else.

[Brazil]

Off-Topic-Who in here actually saw Diego Armando Maradona play back in the 70's 80's? A bunch of 40 year old dudes brought his name up in a radio show and they said Messi is way below his level, was Maradona that good?

I did. Elnono review is honest tbh. One of the thing that was amazing with Maradona is he was at his best in high pressure situations. I don't remember one important game where he shitted the bed, he loved the adrenalin of the great games and had a tendency of coasting a bit for the rest.
What he did with his NT and Napoli is beyond amazing and Napoli in particular. Italy was the toughest league in Europe, defenders were just butchers, Napoli was a bad team and Diego lead that stuff to two scudetto, earned the respect of all the league and was considered a god by the fans.

He is still the greatest Argentinian player ever.

[urunobili]

I don't think Maradroga is worth being mentioned next to Messi... and a suggestion, why don't we open a thread that doesn't hijack the WC14 one for the purpose?

[lefty]

I did. Elnono review is honest tbh. One of the thing that was amazing with Maradona is he was at his best in high pressure situations. I don't remember one important game where he shitted the bed, he loved the adrenalin of the great games and had a tendency of coasting a bit for the rest.
What he did with his NT and Napoli is beyond amazing and Napoli in particular. Italy was the toughest league in Europe, defenders were just butchers, Napoli was a bad team and Diego lead that stuff to two scudetto, earned the respect of all the league and was considered a god by the fans.

He is still the greatest Argentinian player ever.

The goods :tu

[diego]

Some hope on Suarez not being suspended; this is why he reacted... what is worse, getting your junk touched this way or the sucker puncher reaction?

http://www.montevideo.com.uy/imgnoticias/201303/_W620/397342.jpg

hey uru, I just heard about this and I came to recant- I thought it was Suarez baiting Jara and not the other way around (the nut grab wasn't shown on the local Chilean transmission).

I still dont like suarez, but this definitely changes my perception of the play and it should have been a penalty and double yellow for the chilean, y'all would have won if the ref had seen it. in light of the nut grab, he shouldn't get suspended.

still, between the schedule, how uruguay is playing and how venezuela is playing, I think it will be venezuela 4th and chile 5th...

[urunobili]

hey uru, I just heard about this and I came to recant- I thought it was Suarez baiting Jara and not the other way around (the nut grab wasn't shown on the local Chilean transmission).

I still dont like suarez, but this definitely changes my perception of the play and it should have been a penalty and double yellow for the chilean, y'all would have won if the ref had seen it. in light of the nut grab, he shouldn't get suspended.

still, between the schedule, how uruguay is playing and how venezuela is playing, I think it will be venezuela 4th and chile 5th...

We played against refs both against chile and paraguay but that doesn't change that we're done.

Urucry is not going to the WC :cry

[urunobili]

Suarez won't be suspended by FIFA for sucker puncher to Jara...

http://www.futbol.com.uy/notdeportes_199935_1.html

[lefty]

Balotelli ejected :lmao

[lefty]

Mascherano too :lmao

[urunobili]

I don't think Uruguay will qualify (still) but at least they won in Venezuela to be on relegation 5th place at the moment...

[Darth_Pelican]

Team

MP

W

D

L

GF

GA

Pts



USA (http://www.spurstalk.com/worldcup/preliminaries/nccamerica/teams/team=43921/index.html)

6

4

1

1

7

3

13



Costa Rica (http://www.spurstalk.com/worldcup/preliminaries/nccamerica/teams/team=43901/index.html)

6

3

2

1

7

3

11



Mexico (http://www.spurstalk.com/worldcup/preliminaries/nccamerica/teams/team=43911/index.html)

6

1

5


3

2

8



Honduras (http://www.spurstalk.com/worldcup/preliminaries/nccamerica/teams/team=43909/index.html)

6

2

1

3

6

7

7



Panama (http://www.spurstalk.com/worldcup/preliminaries/nccamerica/teams/team=43914/index.html)

6

1

3

2

5

7

6



Jamaica (http://www.spurstalk.com/worldcup/preliminaries/nccamerica/teams/team=43910/index.html)

6


2

4

2

8

2





http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/pc/Jozy+Altidore+Ghana+vs+USA+World+Cup+ZI5GtNlSHtbx. jpg

[lefty]

lol CONCACAF

[urunobili]

http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/pc/Jozy+Altidore+Ghana+vs+USA+World+Cup+ZI5GtNlSHtbx. jpg

Didn't know DeJuan Blair played soccer

[Rogue]

I'm gonna genuinely root for sweden next year but they have to qualify for the final stage. they're tied with Austria and Ireland at 11pts in the group but are currently ranked #3 on goal difference (with Germany leading the group all the way supposedly), but I believe Ibrah will take care of things and help the team clinch a direct ticket to Brazil, though I can envisage a dogfight among these three teams. I'm gonna root for Sweden because my goddess has swedish ancestry. her dad came from Demmark but the name "Johansson", which's a common surname in Sweden, indicates her real ancestry. Other than that, I care just as little about the 14' world cup as I do about the 13' NBA finals

[lefty]

Faggonaldo with a hat trick, including a fk.

RVP saves the day for the Dutch in the 90th.

Welbeck with 2 goals in a 4-0 win

France could be playoff bound after a 0-0 draw vs Georgia. If the Georgia keeper wasnt so awesome, Giroud and Sagna would have scored, but he was on fire.
Georgia almost scored in the last minute, but Loris was saved by the goal post.

[lefty]

Faggonaldo with a hat trick, including a fk.

RVP saves the day for the Dutch in the 90th.

Welbeck with 2 goals in a 4-0 win

France could be playoff bound after a 0-0 draw vs Georgia. If the Georgia keeper wasnt so awesome, Giroud and Sagna would have scored, but he was on fire.
Georgia almost scored in the last minute, but Loris was saved by the goal post.
And .... the WCQ continue today

[scott]

Jordan wins Asia's 0.5 spot to an intercontinental playoff over Uzbekistan in PKs

[Venti Quattro]

:lmao Spain
:lmao Valdes

DAF86, what do you think? Is Valdes still a good GK?

[lefty]

Ukraine - England could be good

Those Ukrainian chicks :D



If France loses :lol

[lefty]

VALDES :lmao :lmao :lmao

DAFTONELLA :lmao

[scott]

Russia move to top of the group F in UEFA, Israel all-but eliminated. Portugal in the Playoff spot for now

[lefty]

:lol France

:lol Loris


:lol Tottenham

[lefty]

LORIS AGAIN !!!!!!




:rollin

[scott]

Switzerland first team to clinch their berth from UEFA

[lefty]

lol the Muslims save the day for France






Again

[scott]

Ribery may be Muslim, but all the prostitutes he hires aren't... so it doesn't count tbh

[scott]

lolitaly have secured their place in Brazil

[lefty]

Ribery may be Muslim, but all the prostitutes he hires aren't... so it doesn't count tbh
it counts, since the non-muslim Frenchies still see him as a Muslim

[lefty]

Those chicks in Ukraine and Belarus



Dear God

[DAF86]

:lmao Spain
:lmao Valdes

<b><a href="http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=11102" target="_blank">DAF86</a></b>, what do you think? Is Valdes still a good GK?


VALDES :lmao :lmao :lmao

DAFTONELLA :lmao



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qvJjxpikjY

Please show me in which of those two Chilean goals there's a mistake by Valdes. :lol

And even if there was, of course I would still think Valdes is a good keeper despite an error. Every player makes mistakes, it's how you play regularly that defines your level.

Seriously guys I don't even know anymore if you're just trolling or your football knowledge/common sense really, really, reaaally sucks. :lol

[DAF86]

Messi just assisted Aguero with his chest. He allready had a goal with his chest, now an assist. :hat

[DAF86]

60 minutes Paraguay 1- Argentina 4 (Messi x2, Aguero, Di María)

[DAF86]

Paraguay 2 (Collocini [og], Santa Cruz) - Argentina 5 (Messi x2, Aguero, Di Maria, Maxi Rodriguez)

Argentina already in. :flag: Messi top scorer of the qualifier (but he doesn't play well for Argentina, imagine if he did :cry).

[apalisoc_9]

Why the phuck Is Asia playing South America?

South America should be playing against the weakest confrence (Oceania) and North America should be playing Asia in the play-offs..None of these rotation BS. It worked when Australia played in OCEANIA but not anymore. Phucking FIFA

[lefty]

:lol

377406504141619200

[velik_m]

Why the phuck Is Asia playing South America?

South America should be playing against the weakest confrence (Oceania) and North America should be playing Asia in the play-offs..None of these rotation BS. It worked when Australia played in OCEANIA but not anymore. Phucking FIFA

There will be like only 3 teams from South America that don't qualify and you're bitching because one team will have to play the mighty 4th best Asian team?

[urunobili]

Paraguay 2 (Collocini [og], Santa Cruz) - Argentina 5 (Messi x2, Aguero, Di Maria, Maxi Rodriguez)

Argentina already in. :flag: Messi top scorer of the qualifier alongside Suarez (but he doesn't play well for Argentina, imagine if he did :cry).

FIFY

[lefty]

So the African playoff matches were drawn earlier today

It's unfortunate that Ghana and Egypt are facing each other, both of these teams should be in the WC


http://www.dzfoot.com/upload/photo_cm_tirage_barrage_16092013.jpg

[resistanze]

So the African playoff matches were drawn earlier today

It's unfortunate that Ghana and Egypt are facing each other, both of these teams should be in the WC


http://www.dzfoot.com/upload/photo_cm_tirage_barrage_16092013.jpg

Kevin Prince Boateng injured...fail.

Essien's corpse is probably getting called up too. Muntari has been scoring like crazy for Milan lately.

[scott]

Ghana continues to haunt Bob Bradley. Hoping Bob gets revenge this time.

[resistanze]

Ghana continues to haunt Bob Bradley. Hoping Bob gets revenge this time.

First thing I thought about. Bradley looks like he didn't forget shit in his interview.

[lefty]

Already anticipating

lol Algeria
lol Lefty

[diego]

well in south america it looks like I was totally wrong about uruguay. Not only did venezuela choke hard, but Uruguay also came out of the funk and got some big wins. Now they visit Ecuador who they are tied with in a big match, that could leave them as high as 3rd (over chile and ecuador) or worst case scenario tied with venezuela for 5th (play off spot). Uruguay is still in great shape though for that last spot because venezuela doesnt play the last date, so uruguay would keep that last spot so long as they dont lose to argentina on the final game AND take a lot of goals in the supposed losses (at ecuador + vs argentina).

now I think it will playout with ecuador tying uruguay for 4th/5th, and this time its ecuador that has a +4 in goal difference vs uruguay (though a chilean meltdown isnt impossible...) It will be funny as hell if uruguay is a group head in the WC despite having to qualify via playoffs, they are using the ranking now and currently the group heads would be brazil (organizer), spain, argentina, germany, italy, colombia, belgium, and uruguay (assuming they all qualify)

[ElNono]

lol mexico

[lefty]

:lmao

Evil Kagawa ‏@evilkagawa (https://twitter.com/evilkagawa)5h (https://twitter.com/evilkagawa/status/388636835926515712)
Honda say I bench today for Japan. He say Januzaj take place of Kagawa!Honda laugh,..team laugh,..even Kagawa laugh..!But inside I die.





https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/2550070556/C7H5IIp4_normalEvil Kagawa ‏@evilkagawa (https://twitter.com/evilkagawa)9h (https://twitter.com/evilkagawa/status/388573781377441792)
I text Vidic. "Japan will destroy Serbia. You are team of pussy!"He reply."You are fucking dead man Shinji. DEAD!"Why hell I so foolish?

[lefty]

Lukaku beasting with Belgium too.
lol Mourinho

lol Khedira with 2 goals wtf
And Ozil had a nice goal

[Jodelo]

Lukaku beasting with Belgium too.
lol Mourinho

lol Khedira with 2 goals wtf
And Ozil had a nice goal

Khedira had 1 goal!

[lefty]

Khedira had 1 goal!
that's more like it

[IronMexican]

:lmao

Evil Kagawa ‏@evilkagawa (https://twitter.com/evilkagawa)5h (https://twitter.com/evilkagawa/status/388636835926515712)



[/FONT]
https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/2550070556/C7H5IIp4_normalEvil Kagawa ‏@evilkagawa (https://twitter.com/evilkagawa)9h (https://twitter.com/evilkagawa/status/388573781377441792)[/COLOR]

:lmao

[lefty]

Our D is shit :lmao

[lefty]

Well, fuck you wiry hungry African referees

[IronMexican]

lolgeria

[resistanze]

Already anticipating

lol Algeria
lol Lefty

:lol

Luckily it's a 2 leg affair, and lolgeria has 2 away goals

[lefty]

:lol

Luckily it's a 2 leg affair, and lolgeria has 2 away goals
We just need 1 goal at home, but the pressure is on us now


And if Burkina goes to Brazil, I will be rooting for them

[scott]

Did the Egypt-Ghana 1st leg happen yet? Finding African scores is like searching for the holy grail on the web.

[lefty]

Did the Egypt-Ghana 1st leg happen yet? Finding African scores is like searching for the holy grail on the web.
what ?


Anyway they are playing on Tuesday

[IronMexican]

Did the Egypt-Ghana 1st leg happen yet? Finding African scores is like searching for the holy grail on the web.

If you have a smartphone, download footmob

[IronMaxipad]

Did the Egypt-Ghana 1st leg happen yet? Finding African scores is like searching for the holy grail on the web.

http://espnfc.com/scores?cc=5901

and this:


If you have a smartphone, download footmob

[lefty]

Ghana c-stomping Egypt 5-1 :lol :wow
resistanze !!!!!

[lefty]

First thing I thought about. Bradley looks like he didn't forget shit in his interview.


Ghana continues to haunt Bob Bradley. Hoping Bob gets revenge this time.
:lmao :lmao :lmao

B:lolb Br:loldley

[resistanze]

:lol 6-1
:lol Bradley

[lefty]

:lol 6-1
:lol Bradley

Son, you and I, let's go to Brazil together!!!!!


Well, not yet for me lol



(By the way, if Egypt wins the 2nd leg 5-0, I'm not responsible for any jinx)

[pookenstein]

Sweden - Germany: 3-4

20 minutes to go. Will history repeat itself?

[lefty]

lolitaly

[DAF86]

Uruguay 2 (an offside goal and one of the most ridiculous invented penalties I have ever seen) - Argentina 2 (a handball assist) at halftime. Luckily the Brazilian ref isn't suppossed to go to the WC.

[lefty]

Uruguay 2 (an offside goal and one of the most ridiculous invented penalties I have ever seen) - Argentina 2 (a handball assist) at halftime. Luckily the Brazilian ref isn't suppossed to go to the WC.

damn that's bad officiating, WTF

[ElNono]

lol Suarez

Good win for uruguay though

[DAF86]

Both Uruguay and Colombia won so they will be group leaders alongside Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland. This means Italy, Holland, England, France, Portugal, Sweden won't be. Lot of tough opponents for the group stages. I still don't know how the hell Belgium and Switzerland are over Italy who got to the Euro final but well that's the FIFA ranking.

[mudyez]

Both Uruguay and Colombia won so they will be group leaders alongside Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland. This means Italy, Holland, England, France, Portugal, Sweden won't be. Lot of tough opponents for the group stages. I still don't know how the hell Belgium and Switzerland are over Italy who got to the Euro final but well that's the FIFA ranking.

Belgium actually is REALLY good. I didn't see it coming either but at this moment they even deserve "sleeper-contender" status.

[DAF86]

Belgium actually is REALLY good. I didn't see it coming either but at this moment they even deserve "sleeper-contender" status.

Still, what did they do to deserve a higher ranking than a team that made it to the Euros' final and qualified directly to the WC?

[scott]

Still, what did they do to deserve a higher ranking than a team that made it to the Euros' final and qualified directly to the WC?

Switzerland is the shocker to me, but Belgium is legit.

I suspect Switzerland's ranking might be directly correlated to the assets held in FIFA bank accounts in that country.

[lefty]

Intercontinental Playoffs
Mexico vs. New Zealand
Jordan vs. Uruguay

Two uneven matchups in all honesty but in the playoffs you never know, especially ones involving this much travel. Had FIFA used 2010's draw, Uruguay would have played Mexico while NZL/Jordan would play for a spot

[diego]

The main problem IMO is the european classification system. First, there are too many teams that have zero chance at doing anything at a WC: Macedonia, Malta, Faroe Islands, Kazakhstan, Andorra, Estonia, Cyprus, N. Ireland, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lichtenstein, MOldova, San Marino, Georgia, Belarus (I read in the paper that san marino had 0pts, 53 goals against and 3 for, all time .0092 winning percentage). Thats 16 teams that have no business playing for qualification with Italy, Germany, Holland, England, Spain, France etc, and you could probably add another 3-4 to that group. Second, by splitting up into groups (not sure what the criteria is for making the groups), certain teams are basically gifted a spot AND a better ranking position. Belgium and Switzerland wouldn't have the ranking / wc berth they have if they didnt get the groups they got: croatia, serbia, scotland, wales, macedonia for belgium; iceland, slovenia, norway, albania, cyprus for the swiss. If you replaced france (spain, finland, georgia, belarus group rivals) with either, I can guarantee you that france gets a berth and a group seed while belgium/switzerland are in playoffs and out of the top 8 teams. In fact, if you replaced a country like Chile or Ecuador with them they'd achieve the same, or someone like senegal who is likely to not even make it into the WC.

Europe should have 3 groups: one for all the POS teams, the other two for the rest. Let the POS teams group winner play a playoff with an asian country, the winner of that gets to play the playoff against a concacaf/conmebol team. The other two groups get berths for the top 6 of each group and a playoff spot for the winner of a matchup between the 7th of each group. That way you remove the cupcakes from the equation, you remove the luck from getting a favorable group, and you improve the ranking because that way switzerland / belgium / greece / bosnia / russia / portugal / ukraine dont benefit from playing "WC qualy" weighted matches against crap teams while other regions have much more competitive matches to play against. This also applies to a lesser extent in asia and concacaf, because there is also a large difference between the top teams in the region and the rest. I think long term the best solution is probably to unite concacaf and conmebol into one region and do qualification based on two groups, and reorganize africa, europe and asia so that they are more balanced. Right now conmebol and CAF are much more competitive than the other regions, and it totally plays against them. Right now concacaf, AFC, and ofc have 7 berths + 3 playoffs for 20 countries; CAF and Conmebol have 9 berths + 1 playoff for 20 countries; and europe has 13 berths for 53 (:lol) countries.

the second problem is the ranking; as I understand it takes the last 4 years in account and applies a weighting system to every game, even friendlies, some of which are played with zero competitive spirit. The regional strength weighting is a big issue, because the entire confederation gets a multiplier based on that confederations last 3 WC performances. So spain beating georgia 1-0 is worth practically the same for them than nigeria beating jordan 1-0, despite jordan being vastly superior as a team and ranked higher by the same ranking (jordan 73, georgia 97th):

Spain example: 3 result points, 1.03 opposition strength, 1 regional multiplier, 2.5 qualy multiplier: 772 points for spain

Nigeria example: 3 result points, 1.27 opposition strenght, .86 regional multiplier, 2.5 qualy multiplier: 819 pts

nigeria gets less than 50 more pts, despite beating an opponent ranked 24 places higher. clearly the regional strength multiplier favors UEFA and to a lesser extent Conmebol; without it, nigeria would have got an extra 130 some points from beating jordan. If you do this for every game over 4 years it makes a big difference

[lefty]

Damn Negredo has been beasting with both City and the Spanish NT

[velik_m]

The main problem IMO is the european classification system. First, there are too many teams that have zero chance at doing anything at a WC: Macedonia, Malta, Faroe Islands, Kazakhstan, Andorra, Estonia, Cyprus, N. Ireland, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lichtenstein, MOldova, San Marino, Georgia, Belarus (I read in the paper that san marino had 0pts, 53 goals against and 3 for, all time .0092 winning percentage). Thats 16 teams that have no business playing for qualification with Italy, Germany, Holland, England, Spain, France etc, and you could probably add another 3-4 to that group. Second, by splitting up into groups (not sure what the criteria is for making the groups), certain teams are basically gifted a spot AND a better ranking position. Belgium and Switzerland wouldn't have the ranking / wc berth they have if they didnt get the groups they got: croatia, serbia, scotland, wales, macedonia for belgium; iceland, slovenia, norway, albania, cyprus for the swiss. If you replaced france (spain, finland, georgia, belarus group rivals) with either, I can guarantee you that france gets a berth and a group seed while belgium/switzerland are in playoffs and out of the top 8 teams. In fact, if you replaced a country like Chile or Ecuador with them they'd achieve the same, or someone like senegal who is likely to not even make it into the WC.

Europe should have 3 groups: one for all the POS teams, the other two for the rest. Let the POS teams group winner play a playoff with an asian country, the winner of that gets to play the playoff against a concacaf/conmebol team. The other two groups get berths for the top 6 of each group and a playoff spot for the winner of a matchup between the 7th of each group. That way you remove the cupcakes from the equation, you remove the luck from getting a favorable group, and you improve the ranking because that way switzerland / belgium / greece / bosnia / russia / portugal / ukraine dont benefit from playing "WC qualy" weighted matches against crap teams while other regions have much more competitive matches to play against. This also applies to a lesser extent in asia and concacaf, because there is also a large difference between the top teams in the region and the rest. I think long term the best solution is probably to unite concacaf and conmebol into one region and do qualification based on two groups, and reorganize africa, europe and asia so that they are more balanced. Right now conmebol and CAF are much more competitive than the other regions, and it totally plays against them. Right now concacaf, AFC, and ofc have 7 berths + 3 playoffs for 20 countries; CAF and Conmebol have 9 berths + 1 playoff for 20 countries; and europe has 13 berths for 53 (:lol) countries.

the second problem is the ranking; as I understand it takes the last 4 years in account and applies a weighting system to every game, even friendlies, some of which are played with zero competitive spirit. The regional strength weighting is a big issue, because the entire confederation gets a multiplier based on that confederations last 3 WC performances. So spain beating georgia 1-0 is worth practically the same for them than nigeria beating jordan 1-0, despite jordan being vastly superior as a team and ranked higher by the same ranking (jordan 73, georgia 97th):

Spain example: 3 result points, 1.03 opposition strength, 1 regional multiplier, 2.5 qualy multiplier: 772 points for spain

Nigeria example: 3 result points, 1.27 opposition strenght, .86 regional multiplier, 2.5 qualy multiplier: 819 pts

nigeria gets less than 50 more pts, despite beating an opponent ranked 24 places higher. clearly the regional strength multiplier favors UEFA and to a lesser extent Conmebol; without it, nigeria would have got an extra 130 some points from beating jordan. If you do this for every game over 4 years it makes a big difference

There is so much wrong with this post, i don't even know where to begin.

Your list of 16 teams that have "no business" playing qalification is completely random. I don't know how San Marino and Belarus end up on the same list. Sure there are some micro states fielding teams, but how does it hurt anyone, and maybe some teams had a bad qualifying, so what? Team go through ups and downs, Slovenia finshed qualification for WC in France last in group with 1 point, and then qualified for next WC unbeaten.

I don't know why we would have to watch same teams from Europe over and over, just because they have history and good name. Regarding France you can't guarantee nothing, unlike France Slovenia and Switzerland actually won games at the last WC (Swiss beat later champion Spain in their group!) and didn't need to cheat to qualify.

I like the small group system, it means every game matters, unlike some other systems where they play gazillion matches and half the teams qualify anyway. If you're the best prove it on the field. And i bet this "every game matters" is why European teams do so well in the direct elimination rounds at WC. Go take a look how many times an european team lost to non-european at the last two WC's in DE.

There are not that many crap teams in Europe and i don't know on what you're basing your opinion that Jordan is "vastly superior" to Georgia? How many times did you watch both teams? Ironically Georgia and Jordan played only one match so far and Georgia won. In fact i bet you haven't watched one game of Bosnia, Switzerland, Belgium etc. in this qualifying, yet you pass your judgment on where they belong on the ratings.

Yes, Europe is considered a top region, but can you blame FIFA? Outside Brazil, no other non-european team has even sniffed the WC title in the last 20 years. Maybe teams from other regions should win some more games at the WC before you start bitching about "unfair" spot allocations. It's not like when the number of teams at WC was expanded all the new spots went to Europe, in fact it was quite the opposite.

[lefty]

:lol Skrtel


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JBFnlULU7c

[scott]

:lol Skrtel


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JBFnlULU7c

LOL, reminded me of this:

UDn6X3W7RSQ

[DAF86]

There is so much wrong with this post, i don't even know where to begin.

Your list of 16 teams that have "no business" playing qalification is completely random. I don't know how San Marino and Belarus end up on the same list. Sure there are some micro states fielding teams, but how does it hurt anyone, and maybe some teams had a bad qualifying, so what? Team go through ups and downs, Slovenia finshed qualification for WC in France last in group with 1 point, and then qualified for next WC unbeaten.

I don't know why we would have to watch same teams from Europe over and over, just because they have history and good name. Regarding France you can't guarantee nothing, unlike France Slovenia and Switzerland actually won games at the last WC (Swiss beat later champion Spain in their group!) and didn't need to cheat to qualify.

I like the small group system, it means every game matters, unlike some other systems where they play gazillion matches and half the teams qualify anyway. If you're the best prove it on the field. And i bet this "every game matters" is why European teams do so well in the direct elimination rounds at WC. Go take a look how many times an european team lost to non-european at the last two WC's in DE.

There are not that many crap teams in Europe and i don't know on what you're basing your opinion that Jordan is "vastly superior" to Georgia? How many times did you watch both teams? Ironically Georgia and Jordan played only one match so far and Georgia won. In fact i bet you haven't watched one game of Bosnia, Switzerland, Belgium etc. in this qualifying, yet you pass your judgment on where they belong on the ratings.

Yes, Europe is considered a top region, but can you blame FIFA? Outside Brazil, no other non-european team has even sniffed the WC title in the last 20 years. Maybe teams from other regions should win some more games at the WC before you start bitching about "unfair" spot allocations. It's not like when the number of teams at WC was expanded all the new spots went to Europe, in fact it was quite the opposite.

Getting to the semis doesn't qualify as "sniffing" a WC? Losing in the quarters to the eventual champs after missing a ton shit of opportunities including a penalty doesn't either? Europe can place 4 times as many teams as any other region, of course there will always be at least 1 or 2 European teams that make it far.

And I don't know how much "WC knock out stage preparation" can you get from a group consisting of iceland, slovenia, norway, albania and cyprus.

Either way, I don't know if changing Europe's qualification system is the answer, however changing the way you get points for FIFA's ranking defenitely is. Getting 1 regional pt for beating San Marino while getting only .86 regional pts for beating a team like let's say Ghana is bullshit, tbh.

[velik_m]

Getting to the semis doesn't qualify as "sniffing" a WC? Losing in the quarters to the eventual champs after missing a ton shit of opportunities including a penalty doesn't either? Europe can place 4 times as many teams as any other region, of course there will always be at least 1 or 2 European teams that make it far.

Nah, both South Korea and Uruguay were lucky to reach the semis and no-one thought they have a chance of actually winning it. And other regions combined place many more teams at the WC and yet they for the most part fail to make an impact (though they did pretty good at the last WC).


And I don't know how much "WC knock out stage preparation" can you get from a group consisting of iceland, slovenia, norway, albania and cyprus.

Either way, I don't know if changing Europe's qualification system is the answer, however changing the way you get points for FIFA's ranking defenitely is. Getting 1 regional pt for beating San Marino while getting only .86 regional pts for beating a team like let's say Ghana is bullshit, tbh.

Apparently "WC knock out stage preparation" prepares you a lot, again have you looked up how many times an european team lost to non-european at the last two WC's in DE? Even beating San Marino is not that easy, when you must beat them (granted not that hard either).

[DAF86]

Nah, both South Korea and Uruguay were lucky to reach the semis and no-one thought they have a chance of actually winning it. And other regions combined place many more teams at the WC and yet they for the most part fail to make an impact (though they did pretty good at the last WC).

Well that's 'cause most of those teams aren't regular WC contenders. Only Argentina and Brazil are "regular contenders" from non European countries. In Europe you have Germany, Italy, Holland, France, Spain and England maybe. That's it, there are no more contenders in Europe nor the World. So with this added to the fact that they can also field around ten more teams to get the eventual "surprise" on the semis makes it obvious that Europe usually has the most teams getting far. The truth is, at the end of the day you always get the usual suspects on the latter stages of the WC. Either way, I don't know what's the point of this argument.


Apparently "WC knock out stage preparation" prepares you a lot, again have you looked up how many times an european team lost to non-european at the last two WC's in DE? Even beating San Marino is not that easy, when you must beat them (granted not that hard either).

I think that this goes more in hand with what I said above than with your theory. I doubt Spain crushing (and cruising) everyone by a difference of at least three goals on the last qualifier had anything to do with them winning every knock out stage game by 1 goal and Cardozo missing a penalty.

[sonic21]

playoffs for the last 4 spots November 15th and 19th:
Ukraine vs France
Portugal vs Sweden
Greece vs Roumania
Iceland vs Croatia

[lefty]

F UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU Sonic, I was about to post this; beat me by 1 minute :flipoff


Well that sucks, I wanted to see both Ibra and CR7 in the WC

One of them is not going to the WC

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Good riddance to Ronaldo if he can't get his team a spot in the WC....even if he is a great player.

[lefty]

Good riddance to Ronaldo if he can't get his team a spot in the WC....even if he is a great player.

http://community.us.playstation.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/88287i45CE2AE7F676676E/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&px=-1

[Brunodf]

Ibra got this

[Venti Quattro]

Imagine if Portugal misses the World Cup. Holy shit Messi cock-riders will go berserk. It will be unbearable. Still, let's go Ibra and Swedes.

[urunobili]

Belgium actually is REALLY good. I didn't see it coming either but at this moment they even deserve "sleeper-contender" status.

I think Belgium has an outside shot at winning it all. They have a very gifted generation. With that said, never a European team won a WC in South America...

oh and thanks ARG :tu

[urunobili]

Also, for those ignorants saying that Uruguay was lucky to be 4th last WC just remember we won the Copa America in Argentina the following year.... that proves it wasn't a fluke...

[Jodelo]

I think Belgium has an outside shot at winning it all. They have a very gifted generation. With that said, never a European team won a WC in South America...

oh and thanks ARG :tu

Belgium is good but not yet THAT good. 2016/2018 seems more likely.

[DAF86]

Imagine if Portugal misses the World Cup. Holy shit Messi cock-riders will go berserk. It will be unbearable. Still, let's go Ibra and Swedes.

I don't give a fuck, tbh.

[lefty]

I don't give a fuck, tbh.

Yeah and this post makes you credible

[diego]

long post

Sorry I kind of forgot this thread. DAF already addressed some of your post but there are other things to say:

1) It hurts the WC structure to have bad teams in small groups because it means inevitably the winner of a weak group gets in while more deserving teams stuck in a strong group get left out. If you cant see how the group draw can hurt or favor a teams chances, what can I say?
Furthermore, most regions play the exact same format every WC, as I understand it europe changes its groups every WC. Thus its much harder for middling teams in other regions to make the WC than it is in europe. this also explains your slovenia example.

2) no one is arguing you get in by history or good name, on the contrary, the argument is that by making larger groups you expose teams to more competition instead of isolating them in small groups. I dont see how gifting spots to teams in weak groups makes for a more competitive field. (oh and by the way, the swiss beat the eventual champs but were able to get all of 1 point in two games vs lower level conmebol / concacaf teams, and france didnt win games but they were in group with two good conmebol/concacaf teams).

3) If you think the small group system favors european teams in the WC, then tell me, why is it fair for it to be that way? Its the world cup, not the europe-invented-football cup. Oh, BTW, the only region that plays more games than europe is conmebol. In the past 2 WC, for the conmebol qualifier the difference between 4th (direct qualy) and 6th (eliminated) was 5 pts; remember 5th is a playoff in between the two. I would say every game mattered.

4) How the hell can you say there are not that many crap teams in europe when you have some of the most historically terrible squads ever in your region?!?!!! Teams that have all time winning percentages below 1%! Im not going to sit and look them all up but I challenge you to find me one team in conmebol that has an all time winning percentage below 20%. You just cant compare.
According to the FIFA ranking Jordan is vastly superior to Georgia. Considering I am arguing that the ranking is broken, that is an important point. Jordan at least has players that play outside of Jordan! Do any georgians play outside of georgia? I highly doubt it. And that 3-2 match, I havent been able to find when it was played making it very difficult to argue but even if it was recent... so what? Argentina has 36 wins against brazil 35 head to head, are you going to argue that argentina is better? a 1 game difference in what was probably a friendly is irrelevant

5) Im not arguing for europe to get less spots. On the contrary, I would argue for more, and thats why I would have them play more playoffs with other weaker regions. But having dominant teams in the region like Italy, Germany, france, england, holland etc doesnt mean that the crap teams are better. There is no way to justify joke teams like san marino and faroe islands having a higher region multiplier than african / asian GOOD TEAMS like ghana, ivory coast, korea, japan. NO WAY TO JUSTIFY THAT AT ALL.

The system is broken. and it matters because it means we get lopsided groups in the WC that are based on this system. No one is saying europe should get less spots, or that historical teams should get in easier. reread my post, I said exactly the opposite.

[diego]

oh, and go Ibra.
another example of european system's brokenness: portugal finished with 21 pts, sweden with 20pts. one of them will not go. iceland and croatia finished with 17pts (coincidentally, both runners up in the swiss / belgian groups). one of them will go. are you sure every game mattered velik?

[velik_m]

Sorry I kind of forgot this thread. DAF already addressed some of your post but there are other things to say:

1) It hurts the WC structure to have bad teams in small groups because it means inevitably the winner of a weak group gets in while more deserving teams stuck in a strong group get left out. If you cant see how the group draw can hurt or favor a teams chances, what can I say?
Furthermore, most regions play the exact same format every WC, as I understand it europe changes its groups every WC. Thus its much harder for middling teams in other regions to make the WC than it is in europe. this also explains your slovenia example.

The groups are randomly drawn acording to rankings, just like everywhere else (except in SA). Apart from that the system has been the more or less the same for years.


2) no one is arguing you get in by history or good name, on the contrary, the argument is that by making larger groups you expose teams to more competition instead of isolating them in small groups. I dont see how gifting spots to teams in weak groups makes for a more competitive field. (oh and by the way, the swiss beat the eventual champs but were able to get all of 1 point in two games vs lower level conmebol / concacaf teams, and france didnt win games but they were in group with two good conmebol/concacaf teams).

The point being that it's not like crappy teams from Europe get through. At the last WC the worst European performers were France and Italy (and France cheated their way to wc anyhow) and even they got a few points.


3) If you think the small group system favors european teams in the WC, then tell me, why is it fair for it to be that way? Its the world cup, not the europe-invented-football cup. Oh, BTW, the only region that plays more games than europe is conmebol. In the past 2 WC, for the conmebol qualifier the difference between 4th (direct qualy) and 6th (eliminated) was 5 pts; remember 5th is a playoff in between the two. I would say every game mattered.

It's fair because it's been decided so by UEFA members. FIFA just allocates the spots, qualifying format is left up to regional federations and UEFA members decided this is best and most fair for them. CONMEBOL does its own thing as do all the other federations.


4) How the hell can you say there are not that many crap teams in europe when you have some of the most historically terrible squads ever in your region?!?!!! Teams that have all time winning percentages below 1%! Im not going to sit and look them all up but I challenge you to find me one team in conmebol that has an all time winning percentage below 20%. You just cant compare.

There are not that many: Andorra, Faroe Islands, Malta, San Marino, Luxemburg, Cyprus, Lichtenstein (that is 7 teams out of 53). Others are crappy from time to time, but that's about it.


According to the FIFA ranking Jordan is vastly superior to Georgia. Considering I am arguing that the ranking is broken, that is an important point. Jordan at least has players that play outside of Jordan! Do any georgians play outside of georgia? I highly doubt it. And that 3-2 match, I havent been able to find when it was played making it very difficult to argue but even if it was recent... so what? Argentina has 36 wins against brazil 35 head to head, are you going to argue that argentina is better? a 1 game difference in what was probably a friendly is irrelevant

According to FIFA rankings there is only about 150 points between them, hardly "vastly superior". I think you might be mislead by the natural linearity of the rankings, but difference between 1. and 10. team might not be the same as difference between 11. and 20. You just have to order them somehow. (EDIT: and yes plenty georgian players play abroad: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_national_football_team#Current_squad)


5) Im not arguing for europe to get less spots. On the contrary, I would argue for more, and thats why I would have them play more playoffs with other weaker regions. But having dominant teams in the region like Italy, Germany, france, england, holland etc doesnt mean that the crap teams are better. There is no way to justify joke teams like san marino and faroe islands having a higher region multiplier than african / asian GOOD TEAMS like ghana, ivory coast, korea, japan. NO WAY TO JUSTIFY THAT AT ALL.

You make it sound like Switzerland climbed the rankings playing friendlies with Lichtenstein. Even if there are more crap teams in Europe how does it hurt teams outside of Europe? Clearly european teams that do qualify for WC are better than teams that qualify from other regions, so what exactly is wrong with the ranking system besides the fact that it probably underrates european teams?


The system is broken. and it matters because it means we get lopsided groups in the WC that are based on this system. No one is saying europe should get less spots, or that historical teams should get in easier. reread my post, I said exactly the opposite.

On what are you basing the fact that the system is broken? Not on results, as this is exactly how this rankings are determined. You didn't watch any of the teams for which you claim are too high in the rankings. So what makes you say they are broken? We get lopsided groups because of crappy teams from other regions, not because a not so great european team happened to be the group's top seed.

Look the system will always be "broken" to some degree - there are simply not enough games and things (players, coaches etc.) change far too often to have a completely "fair" ranking.

So you say the system is broken - how do we fix it then? How do we determine fair ranking? Round and robin of all 200+ teams each year? The current system takes matches played against each other and tries to weight them according to difficulty and importance - i say that is about as perfect as it can realistically get. You can't rank teams according to potential or on where they should be "on paper", only on past matches - and past matches say that France didn't deserve to be a top seed in their group.

[velik_m]

oh, and go Ibra.
another example of european system's brokenness: portugal finished with 21 pts, sweden with 20pts. one of them will not go. iceland and croatia finished with 17pts (coincidentally, both runners up in the swiss / belgian groups). one of them will go. are you sure every game mattered velik?

No one in Europe is bothered with the fact that one of them will not go. If they didn't want to play in play-offs they should've won their groups.

[DAF86]

How to fix part of the FIFA ranking? Easy, get the regional pt out of the equation. Why should anyone get 1 regional pt for beating San Marino and only .86 for beating Ghana? Why beating Andorra should give you the same regional pts than beating Brazil? :lmao

[lefty]

:lol FIFA rankings
:lol Algeria is one of the best teams in the Wooooooorld I sayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy











not :cry

[velik_m]

How to fix part of the FIFA ranking? Easy, get the regional pt out of the equation. Why should anyone get 1 regional pt for beating San Marino and only .86 for beating Ghana? Why beating Andorra should give you the same regional pts than beating Brazil? :lmao

It's not regional points, it's just a multiplier. The reason it's done this way is because there is not enough cross region games to give you a working system. And for every time the teams in Europe get too many points from beating San Marino, they probably get too few from beating say Sweden. It all evens out more or less.

[DAF86]

It's not regional points, it's just a multiplier. The reason it's done this way is because there is not enough cross region games to give you a working system. And for every time the teams in Europe get too many points from beating San Marino, they probably get too few from beating say Sweden. It all evens out more or less.

Regional pts., multiplier, whatever, it shouldn't exist. Just give pts according to the ranking that team has and that's it. Why do you have to add a "multiplier"? It doesn't make sense. And why beating Sweden would give you too few pts? You would still be getting that 1 multiplier pt right? So still, same as beating Brazil, Argentina, Spain or Germany.

[velik_m]

Regional pts., multiplier, whatever, it shouldn't exist. Just give pts according to the ranking that team has and that's it. Why do you have to add a "multiplier"? It doesn't make sense. And why beating Sweden would give you too few pts? You would still be getting that 1 multiplier pt right? So still, same as beating Brazil, Argentina, Spain or Germany.

I told you why you need the region multiplier, there are not enough inter-region games. Just WC every 4 years and a few friendlies here and there... Region multiplier also acts as a bit of correction for linearity of ranking. In Europe there are 5-6 top teams and then about 30 pretty even teams. Just because you're playing 30th team in europe doesn't mean they are 3 times worse than 10th european team - that's a region strength. Yeah it's not perfect, but it's better imo than not having it, though it would be interesting to see what the ranking would look like without it. I'm guessing asian and NA teams would jump up little in the rankings, and european and SA teams would fall a little, but that is just a guess...

[DAF86]

I told you why you need the region multiplier, there are not enough inter-region games. Just WC every 4 years and a few friendlies here and there... Region multiplier also acts as a bit of correction for linearity of ranking. In Europe there are 5-6 top teams and then about 30 pretty even teams. Just because you're playing 30th team in europe doesn't mean they are 3 times worse than 10th european team - that's a region strength. Yeah it's not perfect, but it's better imo than not having it, though it would be interesting to see what the ranking would look like without it. I'm guessing asian and NA teams would jump up little in the rankings, and european and SA teams would fall a little, but that is just a guess...

Your argument doesn't convince me at all. So what if there aren't enough inter-region games? You play who you play and you get pts for beating who you beat, that should be all. If you beat a team ranked 104 you get pts for beating that team, if you beat a team ranked number 1 you get pts for that. Maybe take into consideration level of opposition faced for teams with similar amount of pts but that's it. That imo, would be fairest way of doing things.

[velik_m]

Your argument doesn't convince me at all. So what if there aren't enough inter-region games? You play who you play and you get pts for beating who you beat, that should be all. If you beat a team ranked 104 you get pts for beating that team, if you beat a team ranked number 1 you get pts for that. Maybe take into consideration level of opposition faced for teams with similar amount of pts but that's it. That imo, would be fairest way of doing things.

Because most points are gathered in region. Lets say Nigeria gets to the WC and then lucks out on beating say Spain suddenly they raise to the 10th place in rankings after WC. But they won't play any teams from other regions until maybe next WC and then the whole Africa recalibrates their overall ranking against them (other teams will never get to play against Spain) - essentially dragging an entire region up the rankings based on that one fluke result. How is that any more fair?

I would actually prefer to have match strength be determined by points rather than rank position (there might not be much difference between number 70 and number 100 team and opposite between number 1 and number 31, despite both being 30 places apart), but then it's probably hard to control the positive feedback loop.

[scott]

Your argument doesn't convince me at all. So what if there aren't enough inter-region games? You play who you play and you get pts for beating who you beat, that should be all. If you beat a team ranked 104 you get pts for beating that team, if you beat a team ranked number 1 you get pts for that. Maybe take into consideration level of opposition faced for teams with similar amount of pts but that's it. That imo, would be fairest way of doing things.

We Americans like your proposal, and we look forward to be the #1 Ranked Team in the World after we beat Antigua & Barbuda 400 times next year.

[Phenomanul]

We Americans like your proposal, and we look forward to be the #1 Ranked Team in the World after we beat Antigua & Barbuda 400 times next year.

:lol

[DAF86]

Because most points are gathered in region. Lets say Nigeria gets to the WC and then lucks out on beating say Spain suddenly they raise to the 10th place in rankings after WC. But they won't play any teams from other regions until maybe next WC and then the whole Africa recalibrates their overall ranking against them (other teams will never get to play against Spain) - essentially dragging an entire region up the rankings based on that one fluke result. How is that any more fair?

Firs of all, if they beat them, they beat them period. Then, if Nigeria keeps losing against teams from their region they will drop in the ranking. There's just no way to justify regional pts other than being a conservative dinosaur that doesn't like to mess with the status quo.


I would actually prefer to have match strength be determined by points rather than rank position (there might not be much difference between number 70 and number 100 team and opposite between number 1 and number 31, despite both being 30 places apart), but then it's probably hard to control the positive feedback loop.

Pts isn't fair 'cause it doesn't take into consideration level of opposition, it isn't the same to play the Europe qualifier with teams like Andorra and San Marino, than playing the South American qualifier where every team is competitive and some even have a huge home field advantage.

[DAF86]

We Americans like your proposal, and we look forward to be the #1 Ranked Team in the World after we beat Antigua & Barbuda 400 times next year.

That still won't give you enough pts, tbh. :lol

[MannyIsGod]

Yeah and this post makes you credible

:lmao

[velik_m]

Firs of all, if they beat them, they beat them period. Then, if Nigeria keeps losing against teams from their region they will drop in the ranking. There's just no way to justify regional pts other than being a conservative dinosaur that doesn't like to mess with the status quo.

It doesn't work quite like that, you don't drop in rankings if you lose, you drop in rankings if you don't win any new points, because your average drops and the old result are taken away.


Pts isn't fair 'cause it doesn't take into consideration level of opposition, it isn't the same to play the Europe qualifier with teams like Andorra and San Marino, than playing the South American qualifier where every team is competitive and some even have a huge home field advantage.

You play one game a year tops against the likes of San Marino and it just doesn't matter much in the long run. It's quite possible it would actually be better to play some better team, as lowly team brings less opportunity for points. And South America and Europe have the same region multiplier and it does take into consideration level of competition (the ranking part of calculation). Anyway, you're too focused on "is this fair amount of points for this match-up?", when individual deviations don't matter as much and tend to even out on aggregate. What matters is: "does it result in an overall good ranking?", and i think it's pretty ok.

Personally if someone asked me to make a ranking system for soccer, i would probably set it up in a similar way. I might lessen the impact of friendlies, but it's obvious FIFA wants the federations to take them more seriously. I don't know what i would do with regional multipliers, but i'm sure they did the simulations with and without and discovered the problems i brought up and felt they need to correct it with the multipliers. But in general it's a hard problem, because there are too few games (and they tend to be in the same region), the teams are to even (and in soccer even when they're not you can get suprising results), and the teams (and with that their strength) tend to change too often, so any ranking will be a problem, regardless how mathematically complex or "fair" it is.

[Brazil]

I totally expect France laying an egg per par maybe a strike for good measure

[scott]

I see that FIFA has initiated a charge on my card for exactly the amount of TST-3 Cat 1 tickets... but no confirmation from FIFA yet. Hopefully this means I have my tickets for US matches in the group stage.

[Rogue]

I'd be very disappointed if Sweden didn't show up in the 2014 WC. Portugal ain't an easy match but I believe Ibra will lead his team pass portugal and get da ticket to Brazil, and we'll see several players named "Johansson" on the world cup in Brazil. Sweden has to beat Portugal, for goddess's sake :cry

[urunobili]

Any news on Panama's complain to FIFA to get MX out?

[scott]

I'd be very disappointed if Sweden didn't show up in the 2014 WC. Portugal ain't an easy match but I believe Ibra will lead his team pass portugal and get da ticket to Brazil, and we'll see several players named "Johansson" on the world cup in Brazil. Sweden has to beat Portugal, for goddess's sake :cry

Your obsession is beyond creepy. A restraining order is probably called for.

[Rogue]

I'm definitely gonna root for Sweden like my home team tbh. Sweden will eliminate Portugal and make the WC final stage, I have total faith in Ibra and his niggas, they all my goddess's homeboys :cry

[urunobili]

23 hours until the first round of playoffs... Jordan are SUPER strong in their home court I'm not very confident in our chances that first game tbh

[DAF86]

23 hours until the first round of playoffs... Jordan are SUPER strong in their home court I'm not very confident in our chances that first game tbh


http://www.google.es/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&docid=CsZcbahx9FkLgM&tbnid=30G6qSpUznyAwM:&ved=0CAUQjBwwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.damianmarksmyth.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F01%2Fbaby-smile.jpg&ei=VcaCUu3bDfPmsAS0woAQ&psig=AFQjCNHsbauWWKD07L3R2q8_BOYotx-Hhg&ust=1384388565314928

[urunobili]

can't breathe...

[urunobili]

Stuani 2-0 :cry

[urunobili]

Cavani with the beauty :cry

[velik_m]

23 hours until the first round of playoffs... Jordan are SUPER strong in their home court I'm not very confident in our chances that first game tbh

There is no asian team that is SUPER strong at home or otherwise period.

[DAF86]

23 hours until the first round of playoffs... Jordan are SUPER strong in their home court I'm not very confident in our chances that first game tbh

I'm still laughing at this pathetic and unnecessary attempt of a jinx. :lol

[lefty]

I'm still laughing at this pathetic and unnecessary attempt of a jinx. :lol
:lol this tbh

[lefty]

:wow Cavani's FK

[urunobili]

I'm still laughing at this pathetic and unnecessary attempt of a jinx. :lol

You judging me for that? You guys are blindly passionate for us it's life or death which is a notch higher... it's the first time ever we won't be suffering until the very last second gimme a fudging break

[diego]

according to the argie press 7 jordanian players dont want to travel to uruguay for the return leg. Now thats just weak, at least enjoy the chance to travel and, professionally, get some more exposure to a good team. thats really bad and I hope FIFA gives them a terrible penalty if they actually dont show.

as for the 5-0, in jordan's defence they had their goalie suspended. still it was never in doubt that uruguay would make it to the WC. same with mexico.

as for asian teams... I think south korea and Japan since the 02 WC are pretty solid, dont know about SUPER STRONG but they are good teams with a good mix of techinque, speed, tactics, players in top leagues; they're just a little small. I think holland was lucky to beat japan last WC, and south korea gave uruguay a fight. IMO those two are almost on par with mid level teams like chile or switzerland.

[DAF86]

Colombia manhandled the almighty Belgium at their home.

[DAF86]

You judging me for that? You guys are blindly passionate for us it's life or death which is a notch higher... it's the first time ever we won't be suffering until the very last second gimme a fudging break

It was fucking Jordan. :lol

[apalisoc_9]

according to the argie press 7 jordanian players dont want to travel to uruguay for the return leg. Now thats just weak, at least enjoy the chance to travel and, professionally, get some more exposure to a good team. thats really bad and I hope FIFA gives them a terrible penalty if they actually dont show.

as for the 5-0, in jordan's defence they had their goalie suspended. still it was never in doubt that uruguay would make it to the WC. same with mexico.

as for asian teams... I think south korea and Japan since the 02 WC are pretty solid, dont know about SUPER STRONG but they are good teams with a good mix of techinque, speed, tactics, players in top leagues; they're just a little small. I think holland was lucky to beat japan last WC, and south korea gave uruguay a fight. IMO those two are almost on par with mid level teams like chile or switzerland.

A little small?

I don't think you realize that the average height of korean Players are at 1.90. The average height of Males Koreans In general is 5'9..That's taller than any South American country. japanese are inded physically challenged though

I follow the AFC religiously, and Jordan was considered the weakest team that got the final round of the qualifcation. They got outplayed by virutually every team..But the problem with Asian teams is piss poor finishing which the jordanians took advantage off..

Japan beat them 6-0 and Australia by 4..Uruguay is better than the best South American team, but had uruguay faced a traditional powerhouse It would have been a different story..

Uzbekistan would have been A MUCH better matchup

[apalisoc_9]

according to the argie press 7 jordanian players dont want to travel to uruguay for the return leg. Now thats just weak, at least enjoy the chance to travel and, professionally, get some more exposure to a good team. thats really bad and I hope FIFA gives them a terrible penalty if they actually dont show.

as for the 5-0, in jordan's defence they had their goalie suspended. still it was never in doubt that uruguay would make it to the WC. same with mexico.

as for asian teams... I think south korea and Japan since the 02 WC are pretty solid, dont know about SUPER STRONG but they are good teams with a good mix of techinque, speed, tactics, players in top leagues; they're just a little small. I think holland was lucky to beat japan last WC, and south korea gave uruguay a fight. IMO those two are almost on par with mid level teams like chile or switzerland.

A little small?

I don't think you realize that the average height of korean Players are at 1.90. The average height of Males Koreans In general is 5'9..That's taller than any South American country. japanese are inded physically challenged though

I follow the AFC religiously, and Jordan was considered the weakest team that got the final round of the qualifcation. They got outplayed by virutually every team..But the problem with Asian teams is piss poor finishing.

Japan beat them 6-0 and Australia by 4..Uruguay is better than the best South American team, but had uruguay faced a traditional powerhouse It would have been a different story..

Uzbekistan would have been A MUCH better matchup

[diego]

sorry, I dont follow them that closely (though I am aware that there are a few big dudes here and there, never would have guessed the average height is so high, in any case I was comparing with the elite teams). Generally speaking (and having lived in china and japan and played in high school leagues in both countries) I dont think the asian game focuses on aerial attack but rather on quickness and passing, and physically I still think europe and africa are a cut above everyone else. I didnt even know they were playing, but yesterday south korea beat the swiss 2-1 in seoul, with both goals coming from headers so we're both vindicated :lol

[Venti Quattro]

Ibra vs Cristiano, today!!

[lefty]

Man that sucks


Ibra and Faggonaldo should both be going to the WC

[Venti Quattro]

I fancy Portugal advancing though. They just have more than Sweden outside of Ronaldo vs Ibrahimovic.

[lefty]

I'm going with Portugal because they represent the Mediterranean region in that game :lol

[DPG21920]

Scotland is off to a good start vs USA.

[DPG21920]

Ibra is so dope. Love him.

[DPG21920]

My goodness, USA's final ball in is so bad. Beasley can't cross and very few others on our team can. It's infuriating at this level.

[lefty]

Evil Kagawa ‏@evilkagawa (https://twitter.com/evilkagawa) 54m (https://twitter.com/evilkagawa/status/401442578861928448) No worry England, Cleverley sit bench. He will save you! This sarcasm of Kagawa. Cleverley will no save you. He shit!

[lefty]

:lol France
:loll Brazil

[lefty]

Faggot !!!! woooooooooooo


http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2013/0107/soc_g_lmcrts_200.jpg

[lefty]

Koscielny :lol

[lefty]

Kosielny :lol


Gives a penalty to Ukraine


Ejected after hitting a player :lmao

[Relevancy]

Faggot !!!! woooooooooooo


http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2013/0107/soc_g_lmcrts_200.jpgtbh i watched the portugal match and if there's one thing to take away from it, is how much I miss Messi:cry Ronaldo just doesn't please my eyes

also even if Portugal advances, they wont do shit in the World Cup from the way they've been playing:lol

[lefty]

also even if Portugal advances, they wont do shit in the World Cup from the way they've been playing:lol
True :lol

[apalisoc_9]

sorry, I dont follow them that closely (though I am aware that there are a few big dudes here and there, never would have guessed the average height is so high, in any case I was comparing with the elite teams). Generally speaking (and having lived in china and japan and played in high school leagues in both countries) I dont think the asian game focuses on aerial attack but rather on quickness and passing, and physically I still think europe and africa are a cut above everyone else. I didnt even know they were playing, but yesterday south korea beat the swiss 2-1 in seoul, with both goals coming from headers so we're both vindicated :lol

Chinese and Japanese are genetically different than South koreans. But I'm sure it's not about genetics but more about nutrition since their northern bretheren are just as tall as the Japanese..Probably has to do with Nutrition. South Koreans are just taller than Asians. Of course Europe and Africa would be physically superior, I don't think that's news to anyone. I'm just saying South Koreans arnt "small". They're acutally taller than some european teams and taller than most South American teams

[Brazil]

:lol France
:loll Brazil (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=14466)

This team is just a bunch of retarded uneducated players that go fuck themselves.

deschamps is a joke, keeping Evra is just showing he is a faggot! They don't deserve to go in Brazil and I don't give a shit.

[diego]

yes Im aware of the genetic and cultural differences between them (also agree that nutrition is probably the main difference as far as height is concerned). So your point about height is well taken, Im not a connoisseur of asian football, but of the 8-9 matches I've seen from south korea in the past 5-6 years, I never got the impression they were physically imposing like say ivory coast or holland. Its one thing to be tall, another to be able to bully other good teams/avoid getting bullied (like so many of the european and african teams do). There are tons of examples across all sports of players that are taller getting pushed around by heavier opponents, so in that sense I wasnt referring only to height when I said they are small and I still think they are at a disadvantage vs those types of teams (argentina has the same problem). Still Im very surprised by the 1.90, never would have guessed more than 1.85; Id even go as far as to say that thats an especially tall football team regardless of country.

[lefty]

This team is just a bunch of retarded uneducated players that go fuck themselves.

deschamps is a joke, keeping Evra is just showing he is a faggot! They don't deserve to go in Brazil and I don't give a shit.

Yeah Digne is better than Evra tbh

The worst part : down 1-0, instead of adding another striker, DD replaces Giroud with Benz.

Oh and Abidal? Srly?

[apalisoc_9]

yes Im aware of the genetic and cultural differences between them (also agree that nutrition is probably the main difference as far as height is concerned). So your point about height is well taken, Im not a connoisseur of asian football, but of the 8-9 matches I've seen from south korea in the past 5-6 years, I never got the impression they were physically imposing like say ivory coast or holland. Its one thing to be tall, another to be able to bully other good teams/avoid getting bullied (like so many of the european and african teams do). There are tons of examples across all sports of players that are taller getting pushed around by heavier opponents, so in that sense I wasnt referring only to height when I said they are small and I still think they are at a disadvantage vs those types of teams (argentina has the same problem). Still Im very surprised by the 1.90, never would have guessed more than 1.85; Id even go as far as to say that thats an especially tall football team regardless of country.

Nah, slash that. The team has changed the last couple of years..My bad. It's probably around 1.82-1.86 right now but that should still be considered a "tall" team. Yeah, a lot of them are lanky..

[apalisoc_9]

This team is just a bunch of retarded uneducated players that go fuck themselves.

deschamps is a joke, keeping Evra is just showing he is a faggot! They don't deserve to go in Brazil and I don't give a shit.

Meh, france will win in france IMO.

2 Goals aint that big to turn over imo.

[lefty]

France-Ukraine still not over either I think. Ukraine lost a very influential player and France frankly lost someone they'd be better off without

[Bynumite]

tbh i watched the portugal match and if there's one thing to take away from it, is how much I miss Messi:cry Ronaldo just doesn't please my eyes

also even if Portugal advances, they wont do shit in the World Cup from the way they've been playing:lol

Portugal always struggles during qualification stages and it's not the 1st time in recent history that they had to get their qualification via playoff.

Occasionally they will make a deep World Cup or Euro run, like the one they had at Euro 2012 where they also got qualification via playoff. At Euro 2012 they played the semi-finals against Spain and iirc were the only team that kept a clean sheet against them and were eliminated via penalty shootout. Portugal can become a different team during the final stage of a competition, so i wouldn't count them out tbh.

And both Ronaldo and Messi aren't the same players when playing for their respective national teams tbh. Just look at Ibra for example, he was never a threat vs Portugal, yet he's beasting at PSG.

[romain.star]

France-Ukraine still not over either I think. Ukraine lost a very influential player and France frankly lost someone they'd be better off without

If France can't score after 20 min, it's all over

[apalisoc_9]

If France can't score after 20 min, it's all over

Emo.

France is still the better team between the two. France will Win, it;s just a question of wheart or not they'll overturn the two goals deficit.

[urunobili]

With last WC "hand" by Henry they won't get any ref help... plus Chemistry killer and all world crybaby I'm a victim Evra is on the team... the may as well play the U20's led by Pogba plus 2 or 3 stars to get there...

[urunobili]

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304682504579154172398189230

[apalisoc_9]

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304682504579154172398189230

Awesome.

I am 100 sure uruguay will win the next leg and advance to the world cup. I think they're going to score three goals in the first half..Jordan is a scrub team they really don't stand a chance. No yellow cards/red cars..No injuries..no drama in the next leg. 100% sure Uru will win

[resistanze]

Emo.

France is still the better team between the two. France will Win, it;s just a question of wheart or not they'll overturn the two goals deficit.

No offense but that post didn't make a lick of sense. Can you please try again?

[apalisoc_9]

No offense but that post didn't make a lick of sense. Can you please try again?

I need to stop posting when I'm sleepy as fuck :lol

IMO, france would most likely win the second leg but I'm not to confident with their ability to keep a clean sheet.

[resistanze]

I need to stop posting when I'm sleepy as fuck :lol

IMO, france would most likely win the second leg but I'm not to confident with their ability to keep a clean sheet.

:lol Yeah that made more sense, tbh

But I actually think France is in a world of trouble. Ukraine only needs to park the bus.

[resistanze]

We just need 1 goal at home, but the pressure is on us now


And if Burkina goes to Brazil, I will be rooting for them

:cry are you ready tbh

Need some variety - all the teams on pace to advance are west African :lol

[IronMexican]

With last WC "hand" by Henry they won't get any ref help... plus Chemistry killer and all world crybaby I'm a victim Evra is on the team... the may as well play the U20's led by Pogba plus 2 or 3 stars to get there...

Such a crybaby fagot. He's shit, as well. Arsenal has been the only team to make him look good this year.

[apalisoc_9]

:cry are you ready tbh

Need some variety - all the teams on pace to advance are west African :lol

yeah rooting for Algeria here.

But who knows, Bolivia won 6-1 against argentina..You never what could happen if a team has nothing to lose. I'd say egypt wins 3-0..

[lefty]

:cry are you ready tbh

Need some variety - all the teams on pace to advance are west African :lol

Plus North Africa may not be represented if both Algeria and France fail to qualify


yeah rooting for Algeria here.

But who knows, Bolivia won 6-1 against argentina..You never what could happen if a team has nothing to lose. I'd say egypt wins 3-0..

thank you son :cry

TBH fuck coach Vahid Hallilodzic for not selecting Boudebouz. We have a few good players, but Boudebouz is very talented. nigglet can dribble, score, pass, and has a wicked left foot

Yeah he is an idiot ...... hasnt been called up since the last ACN, because a pic of him smoking some chicha in his hotel room during the ACN surfaced on the internet :lol

But come on, it's not liked he killed someone

[lefty]

lol we are playing like shit


Go Burkina Go !!!!!

[urunobili]

Ghana in for revenge vs. Uruguay...

[scott]

lol we are playing like shit


Go Burkina Go !!!!!

Algeria should be down to 10 men, TBH. One of the clearest straight reds I think I've ever seen and they missed it

[lefty]

Algeria-BF 0-0 at HT

Algeria playing like shit; whats the point of going to the WC (that's if we qualify) if we play like this

We have good players but as a NT, we suck; there is no chemistry whatsoever

[resistanze]

lefty get in here!

[lefty]

Meh .........


Fuck the coach though

- Starting Lacen who is warming the bench with Getafe, while Taider is beasting with Inter Milan; go figure .....
- Not selecting Boudebouz because he smoked some Chicha during the latest ACN; WGAF dude is talented
- starting that natural blonde faggot Mostefa

[lefty]

That being said, we NEED to score a 2nd goal

If BF scores, we are fucked :lol

[resistanze]

just park the bus TBH

[lefty]

just park the bus TBH

That method has never worked well for us

[lefty]

Oh andI hate this player :

http://www.depechedekabylie.com/thumbnail.php?file=2012/10/3165_18_501489367.jpg&size=article_mediumhttp://www.dzmatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/mehdi-mostefa.jpg

[resistanze]

lefty almost there son

[resistanze]

Oh andI hate this player :

http://www.depechedekabylie.com/thumbnail.php?file=2012/10/3165_18_501489367.jpg&size=article_mediumhttp://www.dzmatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/mehdi-mostefa.jpg

lol homo

[lefty]

lol homo

natural hair color tbh

[Brazil]

Just for good measure :lol France

[Brazil]

:lol Sakho scored !!!!

[lefty]

France up 1-0

[lefty]

Now all France needs is a handball tbh

[Brazil]

Should try more often the reverse jinx tbh

[Brazil]

Now all France needs is a handball tbh

Well 2 of them tbh

[lefty]

Well 2 of them tbh

Well Henry is not there anymore, you guys arent good enough to score on 2 handballs

[lefty]

Algeria is soooooooooooooooooooooo gonna get destroyed in Brazil

[lefty]

Wow France got robbed

There was no offside should be 2-0

[Brazil]

Wow France got robbed

There was no offside should be 2-0

:bang Fuck I blame platini

[lefty]

lol 2-0 Benzema was offside this time :lol

[lefty]

oh look

SDF crowd not booing Benzema anymore

[Brazil]

Benzema finally !

[Brazil]

oh look

SDF crowd not booing Benzema anymore

:lol what u have done for me lately fans

[lefty]

:lol what u have done for me lately fans

:lol


Meanwhile Portugal is dominating Sweden

0-0 though at HT

[Brazil]

That was offside btw :lol

[lefty]

That was offside btw :lol

yup :lol

But the previous goal was disallowed for offside, so ...

[Venti Quattro]

:lol Spain

BUT VALDES IS A WORLD-CLASS GK!

[lefty]

Portugueche Pédeche scores

Muchtache Muchtache !

[Jodelo]

Portugal up 1-0!

Greece going to Brazil and no Iceland. :depressed

[Jodelo]

:lol Spain

BUT VALDES IS A WORLD-CLASS GK!

What happened?

BTW: England down 0-1 against Germany's B-Team at best. (No Neuer, Lahm, Özil, Schweinsteiger, Khedira and so on...)

[lefty]

Valdes :lol


WORLD CLASS !!!!!!!!!!

DAF86 get in here son !

[lefty]

Only on ESPN will they find a way to mention the USMNT http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/images/smilies/laff.gif

[lefty]

uhoh


Red card for Ukraine

[Venti Quattro]

:lmao Arbeloa playing GK for Spain

Damn, Barça players are dropping like flies to injuries.

[lefty]

There are 2 big WC qualifiers matches and venti is watching Spain

[Jodelo]

2-1 Sweden! :wow

[lefty]

Oooh

Ibra!

[lefty]

Ronaldoooooooooooooooooooooo

[Jodelo]

Ronaldo! :wow