****Official World Cup Thread: South Africa 2010****

[DAF86]

As a team goal, obviously, but as an individual goal, Maxi's goal was un- ing-believable. Specially since it came when we needed it the most against a tough Mexico team. The Serbia & Montenegro goal was brilliant showing off, Maxi's was legendary clutch. Too bad we had to it up against Germany. I honestly believe had we gotten past Germany, the World Cup was ours to lose.

Maxi's goal was nice and important but very lucky, you can put him 100 more times in that position and he is going to place the ball where he placed it two, three times tops, the other goal was just beatiful.

And about Argentina's chances, that's what I don't like about the WC, we didn't lose a single game and got eliminated in the quarters, I trully bealive that there wasn't a team that played better than Argentina in that tournament, we were just unlucky to draw the home team before the semis (where either team is secure to play 7 games regardless).

[resistanze]

Essien ruled out of World Cup with knee injury

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/ne...p-ghana-essien

May 27, 1:30 pm EDT

ACCRA, Ghana (AP)—Ghana midfielder Michael Essien will miss the World Cup after failing to recover from a knee injury.

Essien injured a hamstring while playing for Chelsea against APOEL Nicosia in the European Champions League on Dec. 8.

He returned to play the second half for Ghana against Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations of Jan. 15, then injured his right knee two days later during training. He has not played since.

“An evaluation by a combined team of medical experts from the Ghana Football Association and Chelsea Football Club revealed that Essien will not make full recovery until the end of July,” the association said Thursday on its website.

Ghana opens the World Cup on June 13 against Serbia, then plays Australia on June 18 and Germany on June 23.

Essien helped Ghana reached the second round of the 2006 World Cup in its first appearance at the tournament.

[Muser]

Greatest English goal I have ever seen live.



God that was a good day.

What are your favorite goals from your teams?

[Spurologist]

Greatest English goal I have ever seen live.



God that was a good day.

What are your favorite goals from your teams?

Easy.....Biyik header against Argentina that set the stage for us to go all the way to the quarter-finals and with the help of Roger Milla put Cameroon on the world stage

[Spurologist]

Eto WTF

Milla is totally right

Roger is the greatest African player of all time

Eto'o will be there after crafting this Letter to Milla

[lefty]

Check my sig... the 2nd Algerian goal

It was amazing because we scored it right after the Germans tied the game

[ffadicted]

GTFO, the best goal in 2006 and second best in the history of the WCs is this

Beautiful.

I still love this one, years later:



lol I could only find the asian and the annoying ass spanish one... went with the asian

[velik_m]

No Walcott for England.

[lefty]

No Walcott for England.

I was hoping for no Rooney

Oh well

[velik_m]

Team Slovenia final 23:
GOALKEEPERS
Jasmin Handanovič Mantova (ITA)
Samir Handanovič Udinese (ITA)
Aleksander Šeliga Sparta Rotterdam (NED)

DEFENDERS
Mišo Brečko Köln (GER)
Boštjan Cesar Grenoble (FRA)
Branko Ilič Lokomotiva Moskva (RUS)
Bojan Jokič Chievo (ITA)
Matej Mavrič Rožič Koblenz (GER)
Marko Šuler Gent (BEL)
Elvedin Džinič Maribor (SLO)
Suad Filekovič Maribor (SLO)

MIDFIELDERS
Valter Birsa Auxerre (FRA)
Andraž Kirm Wisla Krakow (POL)
Andrej Komac Maccabi Tel Aviv (ISR)
Robert Koren (c) West Bromwich (ENG)
Rene Krhin Inter (ITA)
Aleksander Radosavljevič Larissa (GRE)
Dalibor Stevanovič Vitesse (NED)

FORWARDS
Zlatko Dedič Bochum (GER)
Zlatan Ljubijankič Gent (BEL)
Milivoje Novakovič Köln (GER)
Nejc Pečnik Nacional (POR)
Tim Matavž Groningen (NED)

COACH
Matjaž Kek

[Muser]

G Barry
J Carragher
M Carrick
...A Cole
J Cole
P Crouch
J Defoe
R Ferdinand
S Gerrard
R Green
J Hart
E Heskey
D James
G Johnson
L King
F Lampard
A Lennon
J Milner
W Rooney
J Terry
M Upson
S Warnock
S Wright-Phillips

Lol Heskey...Good to see Barry is gonna be fit though.

[The_Worlds_finest]

G Barry
J Carragher
M Carrick
...A Cole
J Cole
P Crouch
J Defoe
R Ferdinand
S Gerrard
R Green
J Hart
E Heskey
D James
G Johnson
L King
F Lampard
A Lennon
J Milner
W Rooney
J Terry
M Upson
S Warnock
S Wright-Phillips

Lol Heskey...Good to see Barry is gonna be fit though.

Muser whos your starting 11?

[lefty]

G Barry
J Carragher
M Carrick
...A Cole
J Cole
P Crouch
J Defoe
R Ferdinand
S Gerrard
R Green
J Hart
E Heskey
D James
G Johnson
L King
F Lampard
A Lennon
J Milner
W Rooney
J Terry
M Upson
S Warnock
S Wright-Phillips

Lol Heskey...Good to see Barry is gonna be fit though.

Oh

That looks good

Good luck to us

[Muser]

I'd pick

------------------------Hart

---G Johnson----Terry----Ferdinand---Cole

-----------Lampard---Gerrard---Barry
------------------------Milner
------------------Rooney--Crouch

Or Take Crouch off and play 4-5-1 with Cole/SWP moving into midfield.

[Spurstro]

No Rossie for Italy...wonder if it crosses his mind if he made a mistake and chose U.S. instead.

[Whisky Dog]

England has no keeper, Terry always was vastly overrated and now he's vastly overated with a lost step, and Lampard has a tendency to diappear in big moments.

England goes as Rooney goes. If he's having an off tourney look for them to fizz out early.

[Muser]

Terry vastly overrated? I agree with Lampard, Hart beat out the likes of Reina/Cech/Van Der Sar etc for premiership goalkeeper of the year. I agree with Lampard though, he can't take the pressure.

[MannyIsGod]

no rossie for italy...wonder if it crosses his mind if he made a mistake and chose u.s. Instead.

hahahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahhah ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah ahahaaahahahahahahahah

[MannyIsGod]

Dip traitor.

[Spurologist]

No Rossie for Italy...wonder if it crosses his mind if he made a mistake and chose U.S. instead.

We could've been a legitimate world cup thread with him on the squad...sucks to be him

[lefty]

We could've been a legitimate world cup thread with him on the squad...sucks to be him

Another WTF for Eto

What was that vs Portugal?

If he didnt get tossed, Cameoun would have won

[Whisky Dog]

Terry vastly overrated? I agree with Lampard, Hart beat out the likes of Reina/Cech/Van Der Sar etc for premiership goalkeeper of the year. I agree with Lampard though, he can't take the pressure.

Hart may be a bit underrated at this point and he is on a streak so I exaggerated a bit there, but Terry has always leeched off of having a stellar backmate to help cover his mistakes and gets a bit lost at times. Ashley Cole is stellar, but Terry has always gotten more of a rep than I ever thought he deserved.

[DAF86]

Chilean striker Humberto Suazo had a tear on his left leg and would be at least 21 days out. Bielsa kept him on the 23 guys list anyways.

Huge loss for Chile, Suazo is arguably their best player and they have no replacement for him.

[lefty]

Algeria's 23:

Algeria name World Cup squad

Premier League based duo make final 23

By Richard Bailey Last updated: 2nd June 2010



Portsmouth defender Nadir Belhadj and Wolves midfielder Adlane Guedioura have been selected in Algeria's 23-man squad for the World Cup finals.
England's Group C opponents have also picked Benfica midfielder Hassan Yebda who spent last season on loan at Pompey.
Manager Rabah Saadane had to cut seven players from his preliminary squad including goalkeeper Mohamed Zemmamouche, defender Mohamed Meftah, midfielders Khaled Lemmouchia, Mourad Meghni, Lazhar Hadj Aissa and Hocine Metref and striker Chadli Amri.
Saadane has recently voiced concerns that his squad lack a cutting edge therefore it is a surprise that he has only named three recognised strikers meaning much of the creativity and threat will come from Wolfsburg midfielder Karim Ziani.
Squad in full
Goalkeepers: Fawzi Chouachi (ES Setif), Lounes Gaouaoui (ASO Chlef), Rais M'bohi Ouheb (Slavia Sofia)
Defenders: Laifaoui Abdelkader (ES Setif), Madjid Bougherra (Rangers), Carl Medjani (Ajaccio), Rafik Halliche (Nacional Madeira), Anther Yahia (Bochum), Habib Belaid (Boulogne-sur-Mer), Nadir Belhadj (Portsmouth), Djamel Mesbah (Lecce)
Midfielders: Hassan Yebda (Portsmouth), Mehdi Lacen (Santander), Yazid Mansouri (Lorient), Adlane Guedioura (Wolverhampton), Riad Boudebouz (Sochaux), Djamel Abdoun (Nantes), Fouad Kadir (Valenciennes), Karim Ziani (Wolfsburg) Karim Matmour (Monchengladbach)
Strikers: Abdelkader Ghezzal (Siena), Rafik Djebbour (AEK Athens), Rafik Saifi (Istres)











My 0.02 :

- Meghni out of the WC because of an injury; too bad, very very talented player

- Lazhar Hadj Aissa didn't make the cut: INSANELY talented, but has at ude problems

[DAF86]