Just looking throught the teams that have already made it to South Africa and there are a few that im quiet shocked to see. Ghana are one although i know they are a team not to be taken lightly, North Korea are another one could be amusing if them and South Korea are in the same group or meet in knockout stages. Also have seen that Algeria are nearly though another one im a biut shocked to see doing so well.
i think the diversity is good in the sense that the same teams do not quailify each 4 years (i just luv the world cup)
Anyone going to South Africa btw.
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Apart from Europe.
Ghana were your right i remember now they got to the last 16 and got knocked out by Brazil diddnt they? Two teams from the same federation cant meet in group stages im not too sure bout that 1 mate as Frace playted Denmark in 1998 both Europe they were in a group with Saudi and S.Africa if i remember correctly. Algeria really? I can think of lots of African nations i would put ahead of them and i will. Cameroon, Morrocco, Nigeria, Senagal, Mali, Ghana (lol), South Africa and ther is prob more i could think of that have not only got better records in World cup comps but in cup of nations and the like too.
Ha ha really should refresh before i post sometimes.
Should perhaps but don't. I agree that this is therefore surprising-ish
Could be a decent tournament as a few of the big names will be missing.
I do to, but as I get older I get a bit more downhearted about it.
I like to see all the different teams you've been talking about but I know that in the end it will all come down to one of these (regardless of how they qualify):
Argentina
Brazil
Italy
Germany
France
Two of these five teams have been in every final since 1978 (non-inclusive).
Only if Argentina and France don't qualify do I see the probability stakes decreasing for a repeat again.
As for England you know that we'll go out in the quarters or semis. The reason for this is quite simply that it becomes a knock-out and we don't seem to be able to cope. Even if we were the best team they'd always be a dodgy red card, penalty, fight, injury, cheat on the opposing team to put an end to it.
Will they? I don't think so. Argentina will scrape through in 4th place and France will win their play-off (but the less likely of the two, I admit).
One (at least) of them will then do better then England. How can I be so sure:
1. The five team fact I mention above
2. I live in France and my wife is Argentinian.
No. I've got my hopes up too often in the past.
I remember being in a pub in Paris when we played Portugal in 2004. I'd been singing all game and these French guys were saying to me 'we've never seen anyone support their team like you - we hope England win now.' This was as the teams were preparing to take penalties. I said that I was leaving anyway because I knew we'd f*** it up. They couldn't believe it and persuaded me to stay. When it got to the crucial penalty I went to the toilet. I came out the toilet knowing who'd won, said goodbye to these guys, left the pub and was rude to a celebrating Portuguese family.
There's no point. It saddens me to say it but we'll never win a major tournament in my lifetime.
Back to your point. Capello cannot really change what happens on the pitch in a high tempo game when the nerves are on. Rooney for example is too volatile for these situations.
Spain are like us. I'd put it on Germany.
Spain are in fact the only hope in my opinion, and that's a superstitious one.
After winning the European Championship in 1964 we then won the next World Cup.
If this happens again........
Like you say, we've been let down by England so many times before. But, Spain were the 'nearly men' up until 2 years ago, so there is always hope......
Spain very much like us Bottle jobs of the highest order cant see them being a threat well done to them for winning the euro but wthe World cup is different. Its BRAZIL territory we all know that 5 time winners.
I always thought the Euro's were harder than the World Cup....just look at the group stages.
.....and then Greece turned up.
In what way is the World Cup different? If anything it's a weaker competition, the likes of North Korea are nowhere near as good as most of the teams in Euro 2008. People said Italy were bottlers before their shoot-out win against France in the last World Cup final.
I should've said I was referring to Italy bottling it in penalty shoot-outs
The difference between Sven, Hoddle and now is that the players are afraid of Capello, while they couldn't take either Sven or Hoddle that seriously. Let's face it we fans were reduced to laughing at Sven for chasing after everything in a skirt and chaing after every bit of money and pr going and for reducing every friendly to a farce with multiple substitutions, and he did that because he was afraid to upset the premiership clubs who he might have to go to for a job when his England management career ended. Sven was good when he was first appointed, but ran out of ideas when he needed to change things on the pitch - an international Alan Pardew if you like. Taking Walcott to the last WC when Wenger wouldn't pick him for the Arsenal match day squads let alone a starting XI, what was that about? Remember that Darren Bent was the top English scorer that year and that he and Defoe were passed over in favour of a 17 year old kid with zero caps. Furthermore he took an injured Rooney and Owen, with only Crouch as a fully fit striker. What international player is going to take a manager like him that seriously? And if they don't then they aren't going to run through brick walls for him on the pitch.
Hoddle's great mistake was not taking Matthew Le Tissier - it was inevitable that one of the knock-out round of matches would go to pens and he chose to leave the best penalty taker of his generation at home.
The good thing about Capello is that he doesn't give a toss about upsetting any of the players, their clubs, agents, or the media. That frees up a lot of baggage and it's no surprise that the best players in England are suddenly replicating their club form.
Think he was right to take Beckham down a peg or two early on as there were signs he was getting above himself and his remarks about Owen got bad press. Le Tiss was dropped into the deep end against Italy and didnt deliver apart from one near miss and fell out of favour from there. England managers have a history of doing this to their flair players going back as far as Ramsey, as Hoddle should have known., citing himself in a recent article concerning the 1988 euros. Agree he could have taken Le Tissier, especially as he brought on Batty and then virtually playing for pens against the argies with 10 men. Forced out by the press and resulted in going backwards when Keegan appointed.
It's no wonder that Brazil and Argentina are ALWAYS at the finals when they only need to finish in the top four (and they get another chance if they come fifth).
This time, Argentina have won SIX games out of SIXTEEN (losing six). In any other part of the world, that guarantees that you're not qualifying. When you consider that one of their remaining games is against the pisspoor Peruvians, I can't see any way that the Argentinians won't qualify.
I've long held the view that the CONMEBOL qualifying is made disproportionately easy because FIFA are terrified that Brazil might not qualify and "Everybody loves Brazil" so that won't be good for business.
Honestly, look back at how easy it is for a decent European team to fail to qualify due to only 2 or 3 bad results. It's happened to England, France, Holland and others in the fairly recent past.
I just think it's wrong.
I was saying this to my wife only yesterday. There are ten teams with four automatic qualifiers. In Europe you have one out of six teams automatically qualify. That said, I'm not sure if even Peru are as bad as Faroe Islands, Malta, Andorra etc.
Regarding Argentina, they may be playing Peru but then they finish with a tricky 'local derby'
I don't. I hate all teams that win too much, especially if all the 'plastics' wear their shirts.
It's not that I 'hate' Brazil. I'm indifferent towards them. But I agree that plastics who endlessly cream their pants over them are nothing but an irritation.