World Cup Squads
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To hell with Belgium, overrated. If I didn't have dicks for fingers i'd post the best football pic ever. The one with Maradona and half the belgian team looking mesmerised/petrified.
Ah, cheers.
He fell in love with the rubber cheese and wooden shoes
Her eyebrows remind me of Tom Selleck's mustache.
You leave Tom Selleck out of this.
AUSTRALIA’S 30-MAN PRELIMINARY SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Mat Ryan (Club Brugge/Belgium), Mitchell Langerak (Borussia Dortmund/Germany), Eugene Galekovic (Adelaide United), Mark Birighitti (Newcastle Jets)
Defenders: Josh Brilliante (Newcastle Jets), Ivan Franjic (Brisbane Roar), Jason Davidson (Heracles Almelo/Holland), Matthew Spiranovic (Western Sydney Wanderers), Curtis Good (Dundee United/Scotland), Bailey Wright (Preston North End/England), Luke Wilkshire (Dynamo Moscow/Russia), Alex Wilkinson (Jeonbuk Motors/South Korea), Ryan McGowan (Shandong Luneng/China)
Midfielders: Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace/England), Mark Milligan (Melbourne Victory), James Holland (Austria Vienna/Austria), Massimo Luongo (Swindon Town/England), Adam Sarota (FC Utrecht/Holland), Oliver Bozanic (Luzern/Switzerland), Matt McKay (Brisbane Roar), Mark Bresciano (Al-Gharafa/Qatar)
Attackers: Tim Cahill (New York Red Bulls/USA), Josh Kennedy (Nagoya Grampus/Japan), Tom Rogic (Melbourne Victory), Dario Vidosic (Sion/Switzerland), Tommy Oar (FC Utrecht/Holland), James Troisi (Melbourne Victory), Ben Halloran (Fortuna Dusseldorf/Germany), Adam Taggart (Newcastle Jets), Matthew Leckie (FSV Frankfurt/Germany)
I've played against 8 of that squad. And played for the Manager. That should tell you that they're fucking rubbish. They're also in the same group as Spain, Holland and Chile. They'll do well to score a goal.
Goalkeepers: Mat Ryan (Club Brugge/Belgium), Mitchell Langerak (Borussia Dortmund/Germany), Eugene Galekovic (Adelaide United), Mark Birighitti (Newcastle Jets)
Defenders: Josh Brilliante (Newcastle Jets), Ivan Franjic (Brisbane Roar), Jason Davidson (Heracles Almelo/Holland), Matthew Spiranovic (Western Sydney Wanderers), Curtis Good (Dundee United/Scotland), Bailey Wright (Preston North End/England), Luke Wilkshire (Dynamo Moscow/Russia), Alex Wilkinson (Jeonbuk Motors/South Korea), Ryan McGowan (Shandong Luneng/China)
Midfielders: Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace/England), Mark Milligan (Melbourne Victory), James Holland (Austria Vienna/Austria), Massimo Luongo (Swindon Town/England), Adam Sarota (FC Utrecht/Holland), Oliver Bozanic (Luzern/Switzerland), Matt McKay (Brisbane Roar), Mark Bresciano (Al-Gharafa/Qatar)
Attackers: Tim Cahill (New York Red Bulls/USA), Josh Kennedy (Nagoya Grampus/Japan), Tom Rogic (Melbourne Victory), Dario Vidosic (Sion/Switzerland), Tommy Oar (FC Utrecht/Holland), James Troisi (Melbourne Victory), Ben Halloran (Fortuna Dusseldorf/Germany), Adam Taggart (Newcastle Jets), Matthew Leckie (FSV Frankfurt/Germany)
I've played against 8 of that squad. And played for the Manager. That should tell you that they're fucking rubbish. They're also in the same group as Spain, Holland and Chile. They'll do well to score a goal.
Argentina's 30 man provisional squad
(No Tevez)
(No Tevez)
Lionel Messi's Argentina better for Carlos Tevez absence
By Tim Vickery South American football writer.
In a last-gasp attempt to get the stocky Juventus striker on the plane to Brazil, an Argentine musician has written a tango for Carlos Tevez.
Daniel Ursini is using the medium of music to send a message to national team coach Alejandro Sabella, once an elegant midfielder for Leeds and Sheffield United.
Entitled 'Sabella, you've forgotten Carlitos' the song's melancholy tones accuse the coach of having taken the wrong path. "You can't be so stupid as to leave out one of Argentina's most popular players," argues Ursini.
A year ago, Ursini wrote a song to mark the birthday of Lionel Messi, and separate songs for the two stars may well have been a wise move because it could boil down to a choice between one or the other in the Argentina national team. And that is not a particularly difficult decision to take.
Tevez has not played for Argentina since the 2011 Copa America, in which he missed a crucial penalty.
Tevez, though, has something powerful in his favour. It is far easier for the Argentine public to relate to him, with his poor boy past in a rough neighbourhood on the periphery of Buenos Aires, his forthright 'take me as I am' stance and the fact that he was an idol at Boca Juniors, the country's most popular club.
Messi, meanwhile, can seem much more remote. He is a globalised star for a globalised age.
True, much in his play is a product of Argentine street football. But those skills have been honed and his personality has developed on the other side of the Atlantic.
Different characters from different backgrounds, Tevez and Messi would seem to have no natural rapport. It has even been suggested that Tevez is a little jealous that the star of Messi shines much brighter.
Sabella was thrown into the deep end as Argentina coach just before the start of the World Cup qualifiers.
An obvious question dominated his thinking: how could he get the best out of Messi? It took a while, but the recent campaign was the first time that the little wizard consistently showed his best club form for his country.
The key moment came in the fourth game, away to Colombia. Argentina had already lost to Venezuela and been held 1-1 at home to Bolivia. Now they were a goal down to the Colombians.
On came Sergio Aguero at the interval, and 45 minutes later both he and Messi had scored, Argentina had won 2-1 and Sabella's side cruised through the rest of the campaign, their defensive frailties negated by their irresistible attacking.
In such a context, the calls for Tevez seem to make little sense. After all, we are talking about a player whose international record is on the poor side of mediocre - he has 13 goals in 64 games (by way of comparison, Aguero has 21 in 50).
The last time Tevez had an extended run in the side was in the 2010 qualifiers, when his 11 starts and one substitute appearance yielded just one goal and two first-half red cards.
The calls for his inclusion may lack some logic, then, but the idol status he has back home gives him a powerful constituency. In the last World Cup, Diego Maradona destroyed the balance of the side he had created because he felt that he had to find a place for Tevez.
In the humiliating 4-0 quarter-final defeat by Germany, Messi dropped deep to try to serve as a supply line for Tevez - a clear inversion of common sense.
Argentina's next coach, Sergio Batista, did not see Tevez as part of his plans, but he backed down after pressure from the public and from the Argentine FA.
Tevez was included, playing wide left in a copy of Barcelona's 4-3-3 as Batista tried to construct a Buenos Aires Barca to end Argentina's long wait for a senior title with victory on home soil in the 2011 Copa America.
They got off to a poor start, and at the very time that they needed everyone to pull together, Tevez moaned to the press about the position he was playing in - from that point on his long-term presence in the squad became very hard to envisage.
Argentina were knocked out on penalties at the quarter-final stage, with Tevez the man missing the vital spot kick. He has not played since. Batista was sacked, Sabella took over and there has been no looking back.
Argentina's top scorers
Lionel Messi - 84 caps & 37 goals
Sergio Aguero - 50 caps & 21 goals
Gonzalo Higuain - 36 caps & 21 goals
Carlos Tevez - 64 caps & 13 goals
Ezequiel Lavezzi - 29 caps & 4 goals
Rodrigo Palacio - 15 caps & 2 goals
Julio Grondona, the veteran president of Argentina's FA, has made it very clear that the decision to exclude Tevez is exclusively Sabella's - distancing himself from the political fallout should the national team disappoint in the coming World Cup.
But Sabella has found his attacking blend; Messi and Aguero have a sweet thing going, Gonzalo Higuain offers more penalty-box presence. The back-up strikers, Rodrigo Palacio and Ezequiel Lavezzi, are happy to drop back and help out the marking down the flanks, where Argentina can be so vulnerable.
So why run the risk of disturbing the atmosphere by carrying Tevez around as a reserve?
Tango musician Ursini has also written a song in honour of the Pope - an Argentine and a well-known football fan.
Perhaps this is the route he needs to follow in his campaign in favour of a recall for Tevez. Because at this stage it seems that only divine intervention can get Tevez back into the squad, with some more needed to help him and Messi work well together.
Questions on South American football to vickerycolumn@hotmail.com, and I'll pick out a couple for next week.
From last week's postbag;
Many Liverpool fans believe that their star striker Luis Suarez might do for Uruguay what Diego Maradona did for Argentina in 1986. Do you think party poopers will repeat the history once again? Vasuki Coomaran
It's asking a lot of Uruguay to win the World Cup. Things were very different back in 1950 - Uruguay had never lost a World Cup match, for example - and the small size of the country's population was not the hindrance it has become now the game is such a global success.
But underestimate them at your peril. The worry is that a lot of the team have grown old together - their lack of pace could be exposed, especially if Uruguay have to chase the game.
The plan will be to keep things tight at the back and play on the break - "football is won by goals," says coach Oscar Washington Tabarez, "and not by percentages."
Suarez - and strike partner Edinson Cavani as well - will have to be consistently at his best if Uruguay are to make serious progress. They may not have a lot of possession, but they will have to do a lot with it.
IF results go as anticipated, Argentina will win their group easily (it's the weakest of all groups), should play Switzerland in the last 16 who they should be too strong for and then their first tough game will be a quarter final against either Portugal or Belgium.
Although both those teams are good the advantage of playing in South American climate and with far more support should give Argentina enough of an advantage. Their first really tough game will be the semi final which "should" be against Germany.
All the other top teams in the competition seem to have a harder route to the semi final so I too think the Argies are the most likely winners.
If I remember correctly someone else was bossing the Euro hotties thread during the last big tournament. Although I can't remember who it was, possibly @King Binny or @rurikbird...
Edit: I just done a quick search and it was actually @Leo who was Lord of the Euro Babes.
I'm an artist, you can't just turn it on like a tap you know!
Then you have to make the Aussies overwhelming favourites.
I wonder how many of that team are in this Belgium squad.
That picture doesn't tell the whole truth, if I remember correctly. It was taken just after a free kick, the Belgium players you see had made up the wall and were just breaking away from it and not lining up to take turns to tackle him, like the way bad guys attack the hero in a movie.
Some surprises so far :
Tevez : Out
Nasri : Out
Evra : In
Torres : In provisional (2 from Villa, Torres, Negredo and Llorente are likely to miss out from the final 23 man squad)
Many of the NL squad
Demichelis : In (though he has been a very positive surprise this season)
Arbeloa : Out
Carvajal : In (uncapped, in for Arbeloa)
Mata or Cazorla could be left out of final squad
Missing out : Madrid youngster Isco and centre-halves Marc Bartra [Barcelona] and Inigo Martinez [Real Sociedad].
Soldado : Out (OK not much of a surprise)
I look at the France squad and think : how the fuck are some people naming them as one of the favourites ?
Tevez : Out
Nasri : Out
Evra : In
Torres : In provisional (2 from Villa, Torres, Negredo and Llorente are likely to miss out from the final 23 man squad)
Many of the NL squad
Demichelis : In (though he has been a very positive surprise this season)
Arbeloa : Out
Carvajal : In (uncapped, in for Arbeloa)
Mata or Cazorla could be left out of final squad
Missing out : Madrid youngster Isco and centre-halves Marc Bartra [Barcelona] and Inigo Martinez [Real Sociedad].
Soldado : Out (OK not much of a surprise)
I look at the France squad and think : how the fuck are some people naming them as one of the favourites ?
[article=http://www.punchng.com/sports/owen-wants-england-to-play-like-liverpool/]Former England striker Michael Owen wants the Three Lions and boss Roy Hodgson to emulate Premier League showstoppers Liverpool and adopt Brendan Rodgers’ attacking philosophy during the 2014 World Cup.
England face a seemingly difficult start to the tournament with their opener against 2006 World Champions Italy, before they encounter 2011 Copa America victors Uruguay.
However, with the number of attacking options in Hodgson’s squad, Owen believes England have the quality and the ideal man in charge to play on the front foot.
Owen told Sportlobster.com, “I believe Roy Hodgson is an attack-minded manager. He certainly has been with England, as there are goals in every game nowadays.
“We have fantastic attacking players and, like Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool, you must play to your strengths.
“England have Daniel Sturridge, Wayne Rooney, Raheem Sterling, Adam Lallana, Ross Barkley and Steven Gerrard, and these players are able to score and create.
“We should try to outscore our opponents rather than play defensively and look to steal a win.”
Hodgson opted for youth with wonderkids Barkley, St erling and Luke Shaw, who ousted the now internationally-retired Ashley Cole, in his 23-man squad.
With Jordan Henderson, Sturridge and Lallana also in the set-up, Owen believes one of England’s World Cup rookies will light the blue touch paper.
He added, “There are players, who are young, hungry and have the self-belief to make a huge impact.
“There is normally one youngster, who goes on to perform. With England, you look towards the likes of Barkley and Lallana.
“You want these players to produce something out of the ordinary and hopefully have a purple patch during the World Cup.
“I think Barkley is an exceptional talent. Young players like Barkley haven’t been scarred from previous experiences and they are full of confidence.
“They believe they can win the match on their own. I had the same feeling when I was younger, but you doubt yourself and worry over opponents more as you grow older.
“Therefore, I think there is much to be said for taking a few wildcards. You never know what you are going to get with the likes of Barkley or Lallana.”[/article]
England face a seemingly difficult start to the tournament with their opener against 2006 World Champions Italy, before they encounter 2011 Copa America victors Uruguay.
However, with the number of attacking options in Hodgson’s squad, Owen believes England have the quality and the ideal man in charge to play on the front foot.
Owen told Sportlobster.com, “I believe Roy Hodgson is an attack-minded manager. He certainly has been with England, as there are goals in every game nowadays.
“We have fantastic attacking players and, like Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool, you must play to your strengths.
“England have Daniel Sturridge, Wayne Rooney, Raheem Sterling, Adam Lallana, Ross Barkley and Steven Gerrard, and these players are able to score and create.
“We should try to outscore our opponents rather than play defensively and look to steal a win.”
Hodgson opted for youth with wonderkids Barkley, St erling and Luke Shaw, who ousted the now internationally-retired Ashley Cole, in his 23-man squad.
With Jordan Henderson, Sturridge and Lallana also in the set-up, Owen believes one of England’s World Cup rookies will light the blue touch paper.
He added, “There are players, who are young, hungry and have the self-belief to make a huge impact.
“There is normally one youngster, who goes on to perform. With England, you look towards the likes of Barkley and Lallana.
“You want these players to produce something out of the ordinary and hopefully have a purple patch during the World Cup.
“I think Barkley is an exceptional talent. Young players like Barkley haven’t been scarred from previous experiences and they are full of confidence.
“They believe they can win the match on their own. I had the same feeling when I was younger, but you doubt yourself and worry over opponents more as you grow older.
“Therefore, I think there is much to be said for taking a few wildcards. You never know what you are going to get with the likes of Barkley or Lallana.”[/article]
"I believe Roy Hodgson is an attack-minded manager." [Michael Owen]
Half tempted to put that as my new motto.
Half tempted to put that as my new motto.
No Clichy and Digne selected despite being a bit part player at PSG this season. Probably in for the experience and with an eye for the future?
Arbeloa has announced his retirement from internationals:
http://www.espnfc.com/news/story/_/...indicates-spain-career-world-cup-snub?cc=4716
Alvaro Arbeloa to end Spain career
May 14, 2014
Real Madrid right-back Alvaro Arbeloa has indicated that his international career is over after being left out of Spain's 30-man preliminary squad for the World Cup.
Euro 2012 winner Arbeloa, 31, was the one surprise absentee when La Roja coach Vicente Del Bosque revealed his selection on Wednesday, with his Madrid teammate Dani Carvajal, 22, receiving a first senior call-up instead.
The former Liverpool defender, who won 56 caps, said on Twitter that a positive stage of his career had drawn to an end but expressed his support for those travelling to Brazil.
"Many thanks to everyone for your messages of support," Arbeloa wrote. "A very nice stage is ending for me, and I just want to wish all the luck in the world to the national team and my teammates. Come back with another star on your chest!"
Arbeloa's long-time teammate Xabi Alonso took to Twitter to say that the absence of his friend -- nicknamed "Trufas" ("Truffles") -- would be felt in Brazil.
"Truffles, we will miss you," Alonso wrote. "If we win another star, I will give one of your strange Spartan roars."
There has been speculation that the decision to leave Arbeloa out may have been down to personality clashes. There has long been talk that he has a poor relationship with Iker Casillas, and Del Bosque has also previously taken issue with the right-back's treatment of new Spain striker Diego Costa during a Madrid derby.
However, Spain assistant coach Toni Grande, speaking at a book launch on Wednesday, denied that any such issues had been taken into account when selecting the squad.
"Arbeloa has given a lot to the national team. It is painful that he is left out," Grande said in comments reported by Marca. "The injury he had and that period of inactivity hurt his chances, that is clear. It has been the injury. There is no need for other reasons."
Seven players are now to be cut from the preliminary list on May 25, the day after the Champions League final. Long-serving internationals such as David Villa, Fernando Torres, Santi Cazorla, Alvaro Negredo and Juan Mata are among those who could miss out.
"There are seven extra players, some forwards will be left out, logically," Grande said. "We have a fortnight, more or less, to decide the seven players who will not go. There are important games, so the list could change. Plus, an injury now is important because we do not have much time for recovery."
Lol, you should, its a shockingly stupid and clueless thing to say, its beats anything Moyes came out with this season, i really cant believe he said that.
The bit afterwards also... "He certainly has been with England, as there are goals in every game nowadays." what an absolute bellend!
Not that proof is needed but still...
Englands last 3 games...
1-0 home win v Denmark.
0-2 home loss v Chile
0-1 home loss v Germany
Englands qualifying results...
1-1 home draw v Ukraine
1-1 away draw v Poland
1-1 away draw v Montenegro
0-0 away draw v Ukraine
2-0 home win v Poland
The only game not against a pub team (Moldova, San Marino) where England scored a few goals was 4-1 at home v Montenegro, tbh its arguable whether Montenegro are a pub team or not.
Unbelievable, if he keeps saying this sort of stuff he will rapidly close in on Garth Crooks as the worst pundit/commentator on our TV screens, Garth has one hell of a lead over the rest though.
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