World Cup Fantasy League (Spoilers Ahoy!)

verbal gymnastics · Post by **verbal gymnastics** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 9:55 am

mood swung wrote:Well, drawing them out of a hat was aggravating my RSI.

So what were the criteria for choosing your team then MDM? Cute haircut, cute butt, physique, funny sounding name? A combination of these?

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 10:00 am

All of the above, respect for certain players off-the-field efforts, and my 12 y.o.'s very learned opinions.

And a ouiji board.

That lies.

Was this Ecuador/Ticos game as good as it read?

invisible Pole · Post by **invisible Pole** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 10:01 am

We're the first to go. So f...ing sad.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 10:03 am

Don't worry Pole. The USA probably won't be far behind you.

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:52 am

Boy, Crouch is looking like shit.

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:57 am

Crouch obviously has no awareness of who is around him, he had all the time in the world to trap that, have a cup of tea and a read of the newspaper and then shoot - what a terrible miss that was!

Stern John , another contender for "Name of the Tournament".

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 12:56 pm

Now he's break dancing!

And yet despite everything...

you never know what will happen. I was very happy to see Ashley Cole do so well. I'd thought of trading him but it wasn't a priority. He looked much better today.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 12:57 pm

Not the most convincing performance again by England, but they got it done in the end. Can't see them making it to the final - they look a bit listless out there. Lampard had a stinker - several great chances and couldn't seem to finish. I'm just glad that Robinson kept a clean sheet in the end and they did not concede.

A nice last 5-10 minutes, but England have now been involved in two of the WC's most boring matches IMO.

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 1:08 pm

Who Shot Sam? wrote: I'm just glad that Robinson kept a clean sheet in the end

Ditto that, but it's Terry who should've gotten the points for it!

Also, backing Hislop would've yielded 3 or 4 points, despite the 2 goals, given how many missed shots England took; though I s'pose not, as most of them missed the goal area by miles. God that was frustrating to watch.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:02 pm

"Mit dem linken fuss"

Love watching the games with the German commentary on Setanta. None of those annoying graphics that ESPN has -- and I don't have to listen to that team of (mostly) idiots they have doing the games.

A few other bits of German footy-related terminology I've picked up:

"abseits/kein abseits" - offside/not offside
"ecke" - corner
"mannschaft" - team
"handspiel" - handball
"tor" - goal
"schade" - too bad or unlucky
"toll" - great, wonderful (toller spiel = great play)
"schlecht" - terrible (used liberally during the USA-Czech match)
"frei stoss" - free kick
"einworf" - throw in
"fehler" - mistake
"grosse fehler" - blunder
"schiedsrechter" or "arbiter" - referee
"Es gibt noch [X] minuten..." - [X] minutes to play

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:34 pm

Who Shot Sam? wrote:Lampard had a stinker - several great chances and couldn't seem to finish. A nice last 5-10 minutes, but England have now been involved in two of the WC's most boring matches IMO.

Well at least he was in the match. Until Gerard scored, he was totally anonymous. Where was the player who won the FA Cup almost single handedly?? I am so uncovinced about the Lampard/Gerard pairing.

Rooney and Lennon changed the game when they came on. Before that we were dire!

Personally, I don't think it can get any worse .........please God!

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:39 pm

Jackson Monk wrote:Rooney and Lennon changed the game when they came on.

Lennon yes. I didn't see Rooney do much. What's the love affair with Stuart Downing? Second match in a row where he's been brought on as a sub. I don't get it.

When will so lack be on here whinging about whiny Yanks?

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 4:56 pm

Rooney injected pace and danger into the game, along with Lennon. It wasn't so much what he did, it was the transformational affect across the whole team from looking like a bunch of sloppy lightweights who couldn't score even if you removed the opposing team into one who at least had movement and potential. Great result, and I got full marks for predicting it + Sweden, the only downside being all the bastards with England players in their team (all of my work colleagues seem to have either Crouch, Beckham or Gerrard - I'm getting left behind!). Still, my moment will come. amazing to see two goal-line clearances by defenders this evening. I was really hoping Paraguay would score. They're a solid enough team, but well done Ljungberg all the same.

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 5:06 pm

Lampard would normally have tucked at least one of his chances away but I thought he played okay. The problem is that Gerrard tends to sit back as the holding player when he plays with Lampard, although he had a couple of good passes but was mostly too deep. Gerrard is our best player when supporting the front players. We either have to drop Lampard and play a holding player to let Gerrard get further forward or change the system so that there is a holding player behind both Lamp and SG. That would mean either playing one up front or dropping Joe Cole (who has been a waste of space so far, although I usually do like him). I also think the weather has been a drawback for England and I'm sure they'll do better if the humidity improves. I still hate Crouch and fell that his presence draws England into lobbing high balls forward, whereas it would be better to try and play a bit against weaker sides like T&T imo. Still don't understand why Sven didn't take an extra striker (Bent or Defoe), as we have useless cnuts like Jenas and Bridge sitting on the bench doing nothing and like to be involved at all (at least I hope not)

I made Lampard my captain for this round, I felt sure he was due a goal and fancied our chances of getting a penalty, but for the second in a row my captain failed (C.Ronaldo in last round who got booked and so got 0x2 for me). I brought Henry into my team, but more in hope than expectation, and stuck with Toni. Also brought in the obvious pair of Prso and Rosicky.

Poland were unlucky lsat night, at least they showed they can play a bit. Didn't see Spain game unfortunately. Saudi did well against Tunisai and deserved to win on second half performance but these two are surely also rans. Sweden again looked useful in patches but looks as though they have more trouble scoring than England (not surprising when Allback is their first reserve!!!).

I'm going to miss the Argie v S&M match tomorrow which is a shame, Argentina have been the most impressive team so far (along with Czech R and Italy) and I may also miss the start of the Holland v IC game which could be a cracker. Not looking forward to Mexico v Angola though. Hope team USA improve in their next match, maybe they should give up soccer and enter the whingeing world cup.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 5:27 pm

As Alan Green said this evening: 'I've been saying for 5 years that SGE has been playing SG in the wrong position.' I agree Crouch was largely embarrassing, apart from the goal. Beckham has been doing his thing with general accuracy, which is always a pleasure to see. Great ball in for giraffeboy. Totally agree about the absurdity of no Defoe. There's just too much in the way of players who've missed months and months this season and it shows (A Cole, M Owen), and players who aren't up to it, i.e. Crouch, when it could have been better with Defoe, Carrick in holding role (and his Man U contract in his pocket). At least Hargreaves didn't come on. It will be interesting to see when Rooney and Lennon are played against Sweden. from the start, would be my inclination. We want to win the group and always struggle against Sweden (though maybe not this Sweden!). Why did Ibrahimovich get taken off? Surely their best chance of scoring. V glad I swapped him for Torres v late in the day (we convinced Spain would struggle to beat Ukraine due to their dire history, but it does look like their time may have come).

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 1:31 am

For me the biggest wekness is the forward line................and SGE's very bizarre squad selection. Owen has been poor and needed a rest, but who have we had to replace him? Defoe was a ready-made replacement and Eriksson didn't bring him.

I fully agree with SoLack. What's the point of having the likes Jenas, Bridge and Hargreaves and leaving Defoe (or Bent) at home. It's madness.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:01 am

Is Maclaren sitting beside him thinking 'Christ, well at least I'll be able to get this sorted out soon'? I hope to fuck he is.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 7:18 am

Hope team USA improve in their next match, maybe they should give up soccer and enter the whingeing world cup

well, you stick with what you know.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 7:28 am

Otis Westinghouse wrote:Is Maclaren sitting beside him thinking 'Christ, well at least I'll be able to get this sorted out soon'? I hope to fuck he is.

McClaren was probably the one whispering in Sven's ear that he needed to take Walcott to Germany and that Downing was the answer to their problems yesterday. I don't understand what people see in McClaren, other than an unusually pink face.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 8:57 am

Man, do the Argies look good - one-touch passing, creativity, skill. Very enjoyable to watch, and all this with Tevez and Messi on the bench. They are going to be hard to stop.

PS - 6-0! Unbelievable. The other teams might as well pack their bags and go home now. What a display!

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 10:46 am

SO disappointed I didn't get to see this match. I went to work thinking Messi had been benched again, and first time I get a chance to check, he's earned me 8 points! Six-Oh... my goodness.

PS-- Good Lord, am I the only one with any Argentines on my squad, apart from ONE sub?? What is with you people?! You're supposed to know this stuff better than I do!

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 1:00 pm

You're better off than the rest of us, MG. Very few Argies selected in this round by any of the players in our league.

Just watched the IC-Holland match. Again very entertaining stuff. Best day of the tournament so far. IC was very unfortunate to not get a second goal - just lacked a bit of finishing. They certainly did themselves proud.

invisible Pole · Post by **invisible Pole** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 1:01 pm

MG, I suppose it's just because most of us are a bit cautious to have players from "death groups".
Good choice with Messi !

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 1:11 pm

I was really pulling for Cote d'Ivoire... their offensive side was just so great to see. Glad they got one off anyway!

IP, I guess ignorance is indeed bliss sometimes! I had it in my head that the Argentines were thought to be the strongest contenders after Brazil, though where I got that, I couldn't tell ya. They sure look it now, in any case!