World Forums

Eugene - I can't believe you're still bitter because we kicked your ass in EC playoffs ???? Get over it man, we're a better team

Peyman
I am a lot tougher than I look, a broken heart ain't nothing new to me. After all I did have to suffer my boys losing to the USA in a WC qualifier some 15 years ago. And I also survived Brazil losing the title to France in when was it again?

Sweden Vs Chile = 1-1

Sweden are winless in 6 matches.

Three evenly matched teams, could go either way. This time I think England has a good chance of ending their horrible record against us. England seems to take us seriously, while the Swedes seems a wee bit to optimistic about their chances.

Henrik Larsson, Barcelona
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Juventus

Christian Wilhelmsson, Anderlecht
Kim Kallstrom, FC Lyon
Daniel Andersson, Malmo FF
Fredrik Ljungberg, Arsenal

Erik Edman, FC Rennes
Olof Mellberg, Aston Villa
Teddy Lucic, BK Hacken
Mikael Nilsson, Panathinaikos

Andreas Isaksson, FC Rennes

Horrible defence, but the rest is good enough.

What about Ericsson and Svensson? They should improve the defence...

Pardon Glenn...maybe it's an obsession aquired trough my job but sometimes I'm nitpicky with how people express themselves....Who has been too optimistic and how?

The only thing I've seen is that some of the players has said that they believe they can win it, not that they will win it.

It's truer to say that "they can win it" than to say "it's impossible" (simply because it isn't impossible). Then of course former Southampton goalie Hedman had put on the worry face and say he's concerned about what he's hearing and that it can be "dangerous to stick out your nose like that" (he actually used the "chin" but that would have another implication in a proverb). Is this swedish lameness or what.

What is so goddamn dangerous with believing you have the capacity to achieve something and actually say it? Oh, you might fail and eat your words?!?! Oooh .....the danger.

My two cents is that Hedman should take his religious wife and his equally religious sister in law with their proven hatemonger capacities as regards realities and consequences of choices they made as adults and feed orphans in India. At least that they've have gotten recognintion for.

Schucks....swedish goalie Isaksson got a shot in the face yesterday at practice delivered by Källström and have been diagnosed to have a concussion and will miss the opening game.

England - Paraguay is going to be a good match.

It could go either way.

I expect a tie.

I have a nasty feeling that it will end in a draw, too. Perhaps even a defeat? But if we don't beat them, we probably won't qualify as we never seem to beat Sweden. We SHOULD beat them both when you consider the relative squads, with or without Rooney, but it never seems to work like that.

Despite his recent goals, I have absolutely no confidence in Crouch, and Owen is hardly firing at the moment. Why couldn't we take an extra striker for situations like these...

God, there's nothing worse than failing from a position of strength. If we can get through groups with garbage in our team like Batty and Ince, we should be able to do it now. Fuck! Come on, you stupid cunts. For once in your miserable lives, don't fuckin underachieve

Mark

Good luck on your opening. Somehow I think your boys will manage just fine.

If I were Paraguay's coach I would want a tie with England and try to win the other two matches.

And I believe that what Paraguays strategy will be.

I do give England the edge thogh.

We shall see.

Thanks, Leonid. Good luck to Ukraine too. Shevchenko being fit must give the whole Ukraine squad a whole lot of confidence. I have to admit I didn't think Ukraine would progress without him, but that doesn't seem to be an issue, as he appears to be recovering just fine.

I think I need to calm down a bit :P I'm absolutely pumped for this one, but nervous at the same time. I've never expected anything before, and still don't really, but the BBC had lost their minds yesterday with their over-optimistic predictions, which I don't understand.

I'd almost fallen out of love with football until this WC. The last two years (especially Liverpool's dreadful CL win, and Chelsea's style of play) have been awful for football, and this WC has replenished my thirst for the sport, as a few months ago I wouldn't watch a game (except for United matches) for love nor money.

More of the World Cup and less of the Champions League! That would suit me just fine.

Mark

you know, as I was watching highlights of the opening ceremonies I couldn't help but remember that this could have all been different. Because the hot favourite to land this tourney was England, not Germany.

Somewhere along the way New Zealand vote-placer went against his FA's orders and voted for Germany. A swing-vote, if you will.

England will get it the next time it's in Europe. No doubt about it.

Mark

I think Eugene already mentioned it recently. Sheva's role in the Ukraine's qualification campaign wasn't as great as people often assume.

If Ukraine surmounts the first hurdle, its performance would be satisfactory enough. After that it's anyone's guess.

I think Lampard will do a couple of good frings:) Being nervous is a good sign. I expect a very good day tomorrow.

I agree, Pabs. I think we will be the next European team to host it, though that will be in 2018, as Brazil are getting 2014 as far as I'm aware.

For this WC, I think it was South Africa that lost out to Germany because of the NZ guy. I don't think England were close. Either way, I'd like to win something away from home to stop all the conspiracy theories that often arise when a home team wins.

Leo, that does surprise me, because we don't get to read/hear about the other Ukrainians over here. I think if you can play without Sheva, then yes, you can certainly surpass the group stage. I'm just pleased that a world class player can play in a major tournament, because he's definitely earned it over the years.

Anyway, better get some sleep before the game. Will post my post-mortem/victory speech tomorrow afternoon

Cheers, Leo and Pabs

yes yes. Come to think of it better, I think what you wrote is right. My mistake.

Good Night.

Mark

Exactly. Just being at the World Cup is serious enough. It's a pity we never got to see the likes of George Best at the most important tournament.

Come to think of it, Oleg Blohin took part in it a few times, but never got a real chance to show what he was capable of.

1974 - commies cowardly refused to play against Chile.
1978 - failed to qualify.
1982 - two best soviet playmakers (both of them were Oleg's friends) were missing

1986 - spent the World Cup mostly on the bench, while still being a pretty damn good forward.

Pity.

one hour to go!

Win or lose they have already made us proud!!!! Today's headline in T&T.

T&T's WORLD CUP

Soca Warriors face dog fight
Lasana Liburd Germany

The 2006 Germany World Cup, thus far, has been dominated by medical bulletins and scans and the Trinidad and Tobago national football team camp is no different.

In yesterday's training session, key Trinidad and Tobago defender Marvin "Dog" Andrews limped off the field complaining of pain in his knee and was immediately sent for a scan.

Andrews, who plays for famous Scottish club Glasgow Rangers and has 99 national starts, is now unlikely to complete his century in Dortmund tomorrow when the "Soca Warriors" makes an historic entrance into the World Cup Finals -the globe's biggest single sporting event.

Trinidad and Tobago is the smallest nation ever to reach the World Cup Finals which kicks off today.

National coach Leo Beenhakker started yesterday morning sweating over the fitness of first choice goalkeeper Kelvin Jack who pulled a calf muscle earlier in the week. The 36-year-old Shaka Hislop, the Caribbean's most celebrated custodian after spells with English Premiership teams like Newcastle, Portsmouth and West Ham, was poised to deputise for the 30-year-old Scotland based goalkeeper.


But Beenhakker, a former Netherlands and Real Madrid coach, now has much more to think about.

"It looks like Kelvin Jack is fit but Marvin (Andrews) isn't," Beenhakker told the Daily Express. "For the moment, (Andrews) is the one who I am unsure whether he will play."

A replacement for Andrews does not appear as clear cut as it did with Jack. The powerful defender missed two of four pre-World Cup international friendlies and Beenhakker selected Gillingham stopper Brent Sancho for one match and converted CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh Cyd Gray to central defence for the other.

The Dutch coach claimed to have a replacement in mind but declined to reveal it before the time stipulated by FIFA on the match day.

Andrews, a full-gospel pastor in Scotland, became a cult figure at Rangers last year after he refused surgery on his knee to correct cruciate ligament damage and helped steer his club to the Scottish Premier League crown. At the time, Andrews claimed that his faith in God had made him whole in a case that astounded British football and medical experts.

It will take a similarly miraculous recovery within the next 24 hours to ensure Andrews takes the field tomorrow for the biggest match in Trinidad and Tobago's history.

T&T is not the only nation worried by bleak medical reports.

Sweden is without first choice goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson tomorrow after the 25-year-old was struck in the face with a ball during training and suffered a concussion. France already lost striker Djibril Cisse to a broken leg while the star studded injury list, at present, includes England's Wayne Rooney, Germany's Michael Ballack and Brazil's Edmilson. Other household names like Brazilian striker Ronaldo, Argentine winger Lionel Messi and Italian playmaker Francesco Totti are also doubts.

Of course T&T, the smallest nation to appear at the World Cup Finals with a population of 1.3 million, has a smaller player pool to draw from than its bigger counterparts.

The Warriors leaves its Rothenberg training camp today for Dortmund where the team will practise at the match venue ahead of tomorrow's showdown.

Whether or not Andrews will participate is between him, his God and, possibly, FIFA's medical staff.

Check out this bueatiful picture!

England in training...

ENG vs PAR starts now...

I loved Jose Chilavert and I'm going to miss him, but lets see if Paraguay misses him.

oh dear.... They miss Chilavert very much.... 1-0 England

The Paraguay GK is out!!!!!

finally Paraguay is putting on a show

England Vs Paraguay First Half

Paraguay are shit. And to think I pegged them to top the group. England are clearly the more skilled and composed team out there. The first 10 minutes for Paraguay was a nightmare for them. They didn't do anything right. Carlos Gamarra, of all people, scores an own goal. Strong, firm delivery by Beckham. GK gets hurt and has to leave the game. Robinson's first touch on the ball was at the 13th minute.

Paraguay almost snuck one in at the end but it wasn't because they earned the chance by any pressure or buildup. Only due to Cole slipping.

A certain 3 points for England today which will go a long way in avoiding Germany in the second round.

3 yellow cards so far in this game.

hmmmmm I think this game is currently at a stalemate. England could do better considering Paraguay has had so much problems especially int he beginning. But Paraguay is doing much better in this second half but still no real test for the English gk.

an english win but with an own goal.

A good result for England!

Well the game certainly even out a bit as Paraguay looked a lot less nervous. Having said that the Guarani never troubled England today.

Since Dec 9, I said all along that this was the tricky game for England and they banked the 3 points, which at the end of the day is the thing that matters. England had problems as well. It wasn't all roses for them. But they are halfway to the second round. The key matchup in this group now becomes Sweden & Paraguay, as I believe England will take 3 versus Sweden as well.

Im sorry to say, as usual England squad is overhyped.

I'm not at all so sure they will get 3 points from Sweden.

This group is still open as far as the 2 who will advance exept of course T&T who are no hopers.

England looked out of sorts

Crouch makes me laugh everytime I see him run. He's like a chicken out there. Beckham is clearly not what he once was.

That said, they played very solid defense throughout the match. I think Ferdinand sucks but even he was ok.

J. Cole, Terry, Gerrard were all great. Wish we had J. Cole on Gli Azzurri

England WILL get better. I just think they needed a match like this under their belts to settle down.

I wasn't overly impressed, but neither am I too disappointed. The first half was very good, the second half mediocre, but the defending (A Cole excepted) was solid throughout and Robinson didn't have that much to do.

Paraguay looked OK in certain areas of the field, but I think if we had played properly in the second half, the result wouldn't have been in doubt. They were poor defensively and we just needed to keep the pressure on, but good old Sven decided to play negative and hold on to the lead. When will he learn that by adopting such tactics, you are LESS likely to hold on to the lead! English players can't play that way, and never have been able to.

As long as Paraguay don't beat Sweden, then we're through. Six points is generally enough to qualify for the next round, so we don't actually need to beat Sweden, just T&T. Though obviously I want to win the group to avoid Germany.

I think you have it nailed, Piero. We will get better because we HAVE to, and it's still a win.

The squad of players (individually speaking) most certainly are not overhyped, Surnami, as they have performed very well for their teams in European competitions and the Premiership (which has many foreigners playing in it, not just English players). But perhaps their collective ability IS overhyped by some. Gerrard and Lampard aren't as great together as they are individually.

Ah well, at least I can relax now and watch Sweden vs T&T

oh my a free kick for sweden already!!!!