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World Cup 2014 thread


PunkStep

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Thought now was as good a time as any to start this thread, what with the final round of friendlies before the squads are announced taking place at the moment. Generally I hate international football, but like a hypocrite I get stupidly excited when the World Cup (and Euros, to a lesser extent) rolls around.

 

I

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I can't wait. The Brazil atmosphere should be electric. and should go a long way to distance myself from the memory of the frigging vuvuzelas. I'll make sure I watch Mike Bassett England Manager in preparation too.

 

As far as history goes, a South American will win it. Can anyone see any European team breaking that?

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The World Cup is just the best, it really is. An amazing time of not just football but socialising with friends. Nothing beats meeting at the pub on a hot summers day for lunch and beer, eagerly awaiting the England game.

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As far as history goes, a South American will win it. Can anyone see any European team breaking that?

A year ago, I'd have confidently said yes and picked Germany to win it. But after seeing Brazil at the Confederations Cup, I reckon they will win it. Let's be honest, this Brazil team is pretty crap by their standards- but worse teams have won World Cups against great teams and I think they will be absolutely driven by the home support. On the flipside, the amount of pressure on Brazil could be too much and they could choke (which happened in 1954)- but from seeing them last summer I don't think this will happen. I even reckon we will have an all South American final of Brazil VS Argentina.

 

Somebody made an interesting point this week, that European teams might (and perhaps should) look at omitting certain luxury players in favour of having a squad of physically super-fit players instead. With the kind of heat, humidity and in some cases altitude in Brazil, the South American teams could have a big advantage over the better European teams later on in the game. That is where I think England will really come unstuck. A European team like Spain or Italy could cope better by moving the ball around, conserving energy, where we will fall short here.

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Can anyone see any European team breaking that?

 

I think so yeah. As Punkstep notes a team like Spain, who can pass the ball about and conserve energy, could cope with the conditions I reckon. Also I think maybe these days, location has less and less to do with teams ability to perform given fitness levels of players, and the fact that most play european football anyway.

 

However, to smash my point, I fancy Argentina this year.

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The World Cup is just the best, it really is. An amazing time of not just football but socialising with friends. Nothing beats meeting at the pub on a hot summers day for lunch and beer, eagerly awaiting the England game.

 

Unfortunately this won't be happening this year. Isn't the earliest kick off 11pm UK time? Could lead to some messy days in work the following day.

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The World Cup is just the best, it really is. An amazing time of not just football but socialising with friends. Nothing beats meeting at the pub on a hot summers day for lunch and beer, eagerly awaiting the England game.

 

Unfortunately this won't be happening this year. Isn't the earliest kick off 11pm UK time? Could lead to some messy days in work the following day.

 

Kick off times are 5, 8 and 11pm. I tend to take the England game days as holiday, as our social group use them as an opportunity to all get together and make a day of it now that we're based at different parts of the country. Can't wait.

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***FRIENDLIES ROUND-UP***

 

Let's get the dross out of the way first- England VS Denmzzzzzz....

Even typing about the match bores me, which has become how I typically feel about England games and have done for a few years now. Christ, we're boring as hell. Things got livelier later on in the game, I think Lallana especially played well when he came on and I reckon has 'BOOKED HIS PLACE ON THE PLANE', as the journos love to say. I think Defoe will certainly miss out, same with Rodriguez and possibly Lambert- though it depends on how many strikers/wide players he decides to bring. Sturridge and now Sterling are certs, same with Ox. I think the next burning question will be whether he takes Ashley Cole or Luke Shaw. If he hadn't decided Baines was his first choice LB, then I reckon Cole would be going, but after Shaw's performance yesterday and how consistent he is in the league I think he will make it. I certainly hope so, if Cole is going just as a back-up then you might as well take somebody who who benefit from the experience in going instead.

 

South Africa 0-5 Brazil

Has a Brazil side ever had so much English-based talent before? Four starters, two subs plus Julio Cesar is still technically a QPR player. Fernandinho was recalled, which is fair enough as he's been brilliant for City this season- completely taken me by surprise. Perhaps the impressive partnership of Paulinho & Luis Gustavo will now change with Fernandinho replacing the latter. They're persisting with David Luiz at the back, though he seems to play well for Brazil there, but also persisting with Hulk. He's been absolutely cack every time I've seen him play. Fred is still having his weird renaissance and Jo is the Brazilian Peter Crouch- in the sense his international career is more prolific than his club career.

 

Germany beat Chile, which is a decent result for them, and Spain beat Italy 1-0 in a match that was probably incredibly tedious. France beat Holland, which isn't surprising given the berth in talent between the two teams at the moment. France, as always, have an excellent squad that should be amongst the favourites- but as usual it's all down to whether they act like complete bellends as they have more often than not over the past 10 years. Holland are going through a big transition at the moment with a young inexperienced team with a few old heads that might be playing in their last World Cup (Sneijder, Robben, RVP). It will be interesting to see how good their young'uns are as I haven't seen a great deal of them.

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South Africa 0-5 Brazil

Has a Brazil side ever had so much English-based talent before? Four starters, two subs plus Julio Cesar is still technically a QPR player. Fernandinho was recalled, which is fair enough as he's been brilliant for City this season- completely taken me by surprise. Perhaps the impressive partnership of Paulinho & Luis Gustavo will now change with Fernandinho replacing the latter. They're persisting with David Luiz at the back, though he seems to play well for Brazil there, but also persisting with Hulk. He's been absolutely cack every time I've seen him play. Fred is still having his weird renaissance and Jo is the Brazilian Peter Crouch- in the sense his international career is more prolific than his club career.

You'll probably have seen this if you're on twitter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNUuNRmxSCA

 

Young South African lad invades the pitch and is about to be taken off by security when Neymar intervenes and the Brazil team treat him like a king. It's ace.

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It would be good to see fans of Scotland, Wales and Ireland cast their bigotries aside and get behind England this year seeing as their own teams failed to qualify again. Come on everyone, together we can do this!

 

Every two years you say this, and every two years I say no!

 

You going to finish your all time World Cup XI?

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South Africa 0-5 Brazil

Has a Brazil side ever had so much English-based talent before? Four starters, two subs plus Julio Cesar is still technically a QPR player. Fernandinho was recalled, which is fair enough as he's been brilliant for City this season- completely taken me by surprise. Perhaps the impressive partnership of Paulinho & Luis Gustavo will now change with Fernandinho replacing the latter. They're persisting with David Luiz at the back, though he seems to play well for Brazil there, but also persisting with Hulk. He's been absolutely cack every time I've seen him play. Fred is still having his weird renaissance and Jo is the Brazilian Peter Crouch- in the sense his international career is more prolific than his club career.

You'll probably have seen this if you're on twitter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNUuNRmxSCA

 

Young South African lad invades the pitch and is about to be taken off by security when Neymar intervenes and the Brazil team treat him like a king. It's ace.

brilliant :)

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It would be good to see fans of Scotland, Wales and Ireland cast their bigotries aside and get behind England this year seeing as their own teams failed to qualify again. Come on everyone, together we can do this!

 

Every two years you say this, and every two years I say no!

 

You going to finish your all time World Cup XI?

 

I should get in done in time for Qatar.

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