meh, i fucked up there, koscielny is french (i always mix up the belgians w/ either the french or dutch, e.g., van buyten, i used to think he was dutch-- it's their fault for being a weird country like that). but fellaini, oh, ha ha ha, i'd like to see any american striker try to match him-- good luck to clint d.

anyway, twelve years is irrelevant, their current players are brilliant, worst relevant record though is they didn't qualify for the 2012 euro (not sure why), but if the team gets it together they should be a major force, just watch.


http://sonicyouth.com/gossip/profile...t=ignore&u=368

Finally, its about time fucker! Too bad..

Player for player, Belgium will have one of the strongest squads of any country but they'll be hoping Kompany stays injury free and that Fellaini regains his form since moving to MU. If everything goes well for them there's no saying how far they could go but I still make Spain favourites, just because they know how to grind out a tournament win and their key players are now so familiar with each other and the system. Germany look strong but I can't help thinking they'll choke again and Brazil still feel like a bit of an unknown quantity - even with the confederations cup win.

Assuming the USA aren't placed in any kind of 'group of death' they (like England) I expect them to heave their way into the knockout rounds before being eliminated by the first really decent team they face.

While that is a safe prediction, don't sleep on US, if things go right US can sneak at least into the Quarter-Finals..

We'll have a better idea of how individual teams might do after the draw for the Group stage on Friday.

I think it's getting obvious that Spain will be the biggest disappointment of the WC.

I don't think they'll play especially well but their experience and the fact everyone in their team knows exactly what they have to do will be enough to get them to the semis at least.

I think they won't make it out of the groups stage, but we'll see.

Who's in pot A, who's in pot B, is there any chance Colombia face Germany...
Elements there
http://www.theguardian.com/football/...aw-interactive

that app scared me, it kept putting US in groups of death! I'll wait until the actual groups have been announced and play with ESPN's NFL Playoff Machine instead, its more legit based off actual upcoming schedules rather than pure projections..

Just a reminder that Brendan Rogers is A SILLY TWAT! He bitches and moans about his squad not being big enough cos they lost two fucking players and lost to fucking Hull 3-1. Piss off you tosspot. How much did you spend this summer again? Total goon.

Used to not mind him but SILLY TWAT seems increasingly right

You blokes speakin that Queen's English got me all confused and all.

The humidity in Brazil will be a factor for a lot of the teams. Just read an interview with Roy Hodgson saying (admittedly half jokingly) that the weather bothers him more than the opposition. 99% humidity predicted in some parts. Players like Rooney are gonna melt. Even more reason why everyone wants to be in Switzerland's group.

To add up some games will have 13:00 kick-offs.

Some good ol' fashioned Sunday NFL games with an afternoon kick-off time of 1pm (westcoast) though it does trip me out, that they'd be playing at 10AM on the east coast where most of these games are played. Like, fuck, who wants to be at a beer-oriented event at 10AM?? tale-gating at 8:30AM?? That being said, 1PM isn't the worst is then is it, I actually like that time. Games are over by 4pm, also, couldn't be worst than the last world cup, I was up watching matches at 4:30AM before leaving for work!!


I like our chances in that pot to avoid a group of death. Yeah Korea and Japan won't be a walk in the park, but its better than having to play the South Americans or the Eurotrash in the group stages, though actually, I don't mind a challenge in the group, when the group stages are too soft teams that advance out get clobbered in the Round of 16 because they aren't ready..



And what in the world was Carrie Brownstein doing in the Portland Trailblazers' post-game lockerroom last night??? Fucking hilarious yo!

Yet more proof (as if it were needed) of Blatter's/FIFA's utter contempt for the European countries.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...a-england-pots

Prick

Damn. Groups of Death for all!

wait, bosnia is rated higher than france? wow. even without zlatan who is swedish or shaqiri who is swiss? impressive (or sad, depending on how you look at it).

hard for me to look at uruguay or colombia or belgium or switzerland in pot 1 but not italy. i get that uruguay did well in the confederations cup, but these rankings are bananas. am i missing something? italy does not belong in pot 4-- i mean, in real terms, it should be seeded/

anyway i don't see the "contempt for europe". there are just too many european countries these days and they have to fit somewhere. e.g., croatia and bosnia used to be yugoslavia, so that's a twofer.

i'm going to predict now, early, that uruguay will be the seeded team that won't make it to the next round, in spite of their supposed ranking. also, i don't think england will be in any way "lucky" if they face colombia-- they could get a thrashing. they should be more lucky to face, i don't know... russia?

don't know if you mean that this will happen or that you want it to happen, i'm going to guess the latter.

because the way things look now, if i'm understanding the mechanics of the draw correctly, argentina could get algeria, australia, and croatia, and sleepwalk to the next round.