Flip

And rightly so, in terms of form Brazil and Chile are the two strongest teams in my opinion. I mean Chile have beaten Venezuela 3-0, drawn to Spain 2-2, drawn 3-3 with Colombia (were up 3-0), beaten England, Ecuador and Costa Rica comfortably while being the better team against both Brazil and Germany. (sure they still lost but deserved wins in probably both games. Then there's Colombia, Uruguay and Argentina. In terms of international football, South America is just in a better form form me there's two teams in Europe who are in another level to the rest of Europe and that is Spain and Germany. Tier1. Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Germany Tier 2. Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Italy, France, Portugal and then possibly Belgium and the Netherlands.

I hope they do. f*** the Dutch. Except Big Vurn. I'm just scared that Brazil will play Spain or Chile in the second round... Seriously pissing my pants. We're so used to beating Chile so I'd just expect them to beat us for once.

Strootman out for the World Cup. Think Chile will go through in that group.

and TaylorJ don't worry I know.

Agreed. So why do you rate Pardew again?

Ignorance Brazilian people are one of the most hard working people in the world. Don't mistaken the people with the government. While obviously the nearer you get to the equator the lesser things get done.

He's not worse, he humiliated Pards 4-0 at St. James. Still a muppet as well though. Going by that logic, Pardews better than Mourinho, since we beat Chelsea at home. The point is that they are both clueless, negative, w*****s. Haven't watched much of Spurs but wasn't Sherwood starting 10 offensive midfielders in the beginning? What happened?

Maybe the FA could offer him a pay rise, that seems to work a treat. I'm sure they've had sneaky incentive bonuses every tournament, hasn't done much good. People are slating Rooney for past tournaments but are forgetting our current skipper and midfield general has failed to serve up anything either. Should we drop him as well? Gerrard was one of if not the best players England had at the Euros Crossing the ball for couple of goals doesn't make up for a lack of coverage and creativity in midfield. Gerrard is probably a player that is in the team because he has the game winning ability with his right foot, because he just doesn't have the legs he used to have.

Worse? Ok, he's managed like 4 months in the top tier football and I can say I'd rather have him here than Pardew who has been managing for the past decade without success.

Don't take it so seriously, man. The same poster thinks Ben Arfa's better. Just daft bias. The bashing of Rooney is over the top in here. God damn it, he's the best player in the national team.

This is the big problem. You don't have anyone better so will have to hope Rooney performs.

Also, I don't want to meddle in the discussion about your national team. But if I was a manager Rooney would surely be the number one player I'd pick. I'd be more worried about assembling a good midfield pair rather than worrying whether Rooney should start or not. Rooney - Sturridge should be a given and don't see why Rooney wouldn't do excellent job playing behind Sturridge.

Messi and Suarez were excellent in South America tbh.

So first match played at Arena da Amazonia yesterday and there were no physical problems/structural problems with the construction itself. Although there were big operational problems. Queues were enormous for the bar as only one person was working it while other things happened. FIFA will obviously not allow this and will have all stands open for the WC, but it's still a race against time in developing the Brazilians that will work there during the World Cup.

Sorry but Cristiano shows up in 3 games out of 12 in the qualifiers and all of the sudden he got his team into the World Cup? Not saying shit about Rooney, but Cristiano was very poor throughout the qualifiers and scoring three against Sweden in the last game was nothing special as the team was leaking more goals than ever.

Messi was very good in the last world cup except against Germany. This was generally accepted at the time but people seem to have forgotten this Sorry, but I don't buy this at all. Messi was decent, he wasn't the only one at fault for not going further, but to say he was very good is simply not true. He didn't score, was extremely ineffective in front of goal and did well against poor teams.

Unbelievable.

£150 loss. Never again. Lost everything on City basically. Won't be back until the World Cup.

Poyet sent off. Fuck is it with the managers in the North East?

Aye the concrete walls Think it will looks better when it's fully painted and the banners and sponsors fill it all out.

That arena isn't going to be used however. Although the concern is mostly down to the stadiums in Coritiba and Cuiaba. Sao Paulo is a city where I don't see any problems with it being built in time. Like I said earlier it began later than everyone and one mistake that could happen anywhere happened there and has delayed the building. After all there's three stadiums that are delayed. One which 100% will be ready, another that is 95% done and the last one in Coritiba that FIFA reconfirmed as a stadium for the World Cup so I guess it will be ready. Although this is just evidence that whenever the government is involved in construction everything is delayed. How come Palmeiras, and Gremio got their stadiums constructed without real problems until now? Government is in it to profit, bunch of corrupt politicians running this beautiful country.

Was seriously impressed by Javi Guerra yesterday for Valladolid. Saw he signed for Cardiff as well for next season. I know he's 31 but he ran like Tevez and seemed technically very intelligent. Hope Cardiff stay in the PL just so I get to see more of him. What's your opinion of him VI?

They should've just spunked the money on Thiago Silva when they had the chance. We'll see, I've never seen Balanta and only heard good things about him so he might solve their problems. It's like you say though, quite clear that the defenders they have now aren't good enough. Also buying Alba was a mistake. They did so well when Abidal played at the left and could convert into a CB and let Dani play more advanced. Now they've got two fullbacks bombing forward and Busquets unable to cover for both. Was it also Zubi that inserted that ridiculous clause into Thiago's contract? Don't know but getting rid of him man, you saw his pass yesterday right? Unbelievable player.

WHAT A GOAL By Asamoah for Juve.

Love the style inside, although I think the oval works so well for Maracana. Just makes it look bigger than it really is. Maracana is beautiful btw. The scenery around the stadium from inside is just beautiful. Here's an image I took in the re-inauguration when England played them.