Raconteur

What an absolute munter!

More credible reports of Carroll leaving, from an impeccable source (full of direct quotes, too) http://www.caughtoffside.com/2010/06/05/chelsea-consider-shock-move-for-newcastle-united-youngster-andy-carroll/

Rest assured, the feeling is mutual! I'm an Aussie of Scots-Irish descent - that's three cast-iron reasons to despise Poms that makes you a skirt wearing,bombing convict then. My chest swells with pride as I read that

Rest assured, the feeling is mutual! I'm an Aussie of Scots-Irish descent - that's three cast-iron reasons to despise Poms

Well, after getting turned over by the Germans we'll recover to draw against Serbia and punish Ghana - then it's an easy stroll past the Poms in the second round. Suddenly we're in the quarters!

If warm up matches mean anything then we can take heart in this result, and add them to Serbia losing to New Zealand and Ghana being crushed by the Dutch - we're certain to progress In other Australia news that you lot probably won't be interested in, have a look at the Pim Verbeek v Gordon Strachan stoush: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/792211/ce/uk/?cc=3436&ver=global

Whilst my first choice would be an all-in melee that saw both the US and England expelled from the World Cup, a US win is my second preference for this exact reason. If the planets line up correctly, we'll be able to deal out some pain in the second round (and regain some lost pride for Ricky Ponting )

Sexy football coming Down Under...? Ruud Gullit interested in coaching Australia: Hmmm...

Scott McDonald dropped from the Australian World Cup squad as Pim Verbeek trims from 31 to 28. Glad to see Pim has a similar opinion of Scotty Mac as myself! Also dropped were Crystal Palace "star" Nick Carle and Chinese based Jade North.

Final home warm up friendly for Australia resulted in a 2-1 over New Zealand - but it was a performance that won't keep Germany, Serbia or Ghana awake at night. Match report at http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/news/1003492/Holman-wins-it-for-Socceroos - if you're bored have a look at the comments at the end - seems I wasn't the only one to think we were dismal!

Nikita Rukavytsya? Plays for FC Twente but has been on loan at Roeselare in Belgium - but only two full caps and unlikely to have made any great waves in the foreign press. Tommy Oar, suggested by Roger Kint, is the "prodigy" of Australian football; he's an 18 year old left winger who hasn't played since the Australian league finished, but has joined Utrecht and has been training with them since then

I guess you can cheer yourself up by considering you got the softest group in the whole damned Cup Besides, if we make it out of our group then you'll probably get your wish - and I'll be sure to revive your remark

Where are all the Aussies in this thread? After wading through 23 pages of England shite I found a single Aussie poster Scotty Mac will not be the lone striker - Josh "Jesus" Kennedy is the main man up top, and rightly so. Scotty Mac is shite and might very well not make the final 23... The first part of your past is valid though - even though it's largely the same squad as 2006, we're riddled with injuries, we're largely on the wrong side of 30 and Verbeek is no Huddink. I'd start with something like: ------------------Schwarzer---------------- Emerton---Neill---Moore---Chipperfield ------------Culina------Grella--------------- Bresciano---------Cahill-----------Kewell --------------------Kennedy---------------- And if that's the best XI we have then we'll get trampled. Never mind who missed out and who is lucky to be in the 30, only 7-8 of those players deserve to be on the world's grandest stage. Chippers and Moore are way too old (while Moore is a shadow of the player he was in 2006), Grella is not good enough (but better than Jedinak and Valeri) while Kewell is playing on one leg at the best of times and his only competition is an 18 year old who hasn't played for five months. I remember Germany's first game of the 2002 World Cup, and fear a repeat

Even though he's not going as far as you suggest, he's still making a gesture by saying 'I've been paid for nowt this year, so will play for nowt when my contract runs out'. Seems a bit tight to nit-pick and say it's a shit gesture, when he didn't have to make any gesture at all. fair comment like, just think people are going a bit overboard when it's arguable if he'll even be around to play a season for fuck all by then...but yeah, suppose it's better than being all michaelowen about it I guess that's why he gets the kudos - it might end up being an empty gesture, but at least he's made a gesture that 99.9% of top-flight footballers would never consider

If you say so - in my mind he'd be fourth choice behind Carroll, Lovenkrands and Ameobi. I guess we'll see, if it comes to pass

Despite him only playing in the Scottish Premier League, he has been profilic. The same cannot be said of Leon Best. I think the Championship and the Scottish Prem are comparible in terms of footballing standard, in which Boyd would be a much better option going into the Premier League. Leon Best did fuck all for us at Chapionship level so he's going to do less than fuck all in the Premier League. You're right - Best is shit and will do nothing in the Prem. But Boyd is also shit. "Free" is not free when you consider wages and signing on fees. Yes, I was being snide and sarcastic, but I stand by the intent that there's no point in signing shit players just because they're "free" if they will add nothing to the squad... (Unless we're going to sign shit players with the intention of selling other shit players in order to raise funds)

I don't get all this Boyd talk - I mean, haven't we already got Leon Best...?

Read the OP in its entirity. I'll do a seperate one when the squads are whittled down for countries that DID qualify. Well then, get that thread going now so I can add Ballack

Pretty sure that was at Milan too - maybe there's something about the club that fosters that kind of loyalty? I also heard a story about Seedorf's brother, so maybe it goes both ways...?

Like Diego Forlan...?

Isn't the issue that to play in European competitions, a club must apply for a "European licence", which Pompey have not done. Therefore to suggest that they're not being allowed into the Europa League is incorrect - the club chose not to enter... EDIT: That said, the club are supposedly moving to apply retrospectively...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/8612358.stm Pretty shocking that. I just read that article on the Beeb, and what you've highlighted is exactly what jumped out at me too. Seems very cold that the administrator is putting it all back on the players (and their agents) - essentially saying "You can play in the FA Cup final if you want, all you have to do is sign this waiver releasing us from our contractual obligations". Makes one wonder about the whole "under-strength" teams argument too - is bullet payments (when in administration) a legitimate reason for not playing your best team? "Five or six players" puts it more in the Fulham controversy rather than the Wolves debacle, but it sounds like something Gold and Sullivan might bleat about...? Also makes you wonder whether there are any "restraint of trade" implications that they are so fond of in Brussels...

Same - though I included Smith as he might be able to do something off the bench... The other four are out the door for mine, though

"Americans will never embrace soccer"

Pretty sure he's been mentioned on every page since page 2 Is homophobic behaviour (eg chanting, assaults etc) considered a hate crime in the UK? Punished in the same way as racist behaviour? And for all those who are homophobic (and there are more than one in this thread), just think for a moment if your brother came home one day with their brand new boyfriend to meet the family. Would you suddenly hate him? Consider the expression "walk a mile in their shoes"...