ponsaelius

The 1998 squad had 1, Marcel Desailly. EDIT: Sorry, 2, Vieira was born in Senegal.

Didn't know that. That is completey across the line IMO. Exactly, and that is where I agree with you entirely. Recruiting whether it's based on citizenship or parentage when the players are full professionals is just obscene, and ruins international football. However drawing the line on birth without even such as a thought to the person's upbringing or cultural ties is unfair - there is no solid black and white with this unfortunately so drawing the line to specific rules is gonna cause problems.

Podolski is in no way Polish. Making him play for Poland because he was born there is mental - I'm pretty sure he can't even speak Polish. And the whole 'blood' theory is even more archaic, what the fuck is 'blood' man?

I don't really give a s*** where people are born, if they've spent almost all their life, or most of their life, in a country other than the one they happened to be born in, they should be able to represent that country because that's where they're from, even if they were born somewhere else. (Though I do only think this should apply until you reach a certain age, like you have to have settled in a country before you were 8 or 10 or something to be able to represent their football team. I don't like the country swapping going on when people have just lived in a country for five years as an adult.) No. I personally would stick to a birth rule. Does that mean Terry Butcher should have been made to play for Singapore? If he was born there yes. Can't say I agree with your thinking here. It seems a bit crazy for you to be locked to one country because you were born there, even if you literally spent just a couple of months in that country and feel no attachment to that country whatsoever.

I don't really give a s*** where people are born, if they've spent almost all their life, or most of their life, in a country other than the one they happened to be born in, they should be able to represent that country because that's where they're from, even if they were born somewhere else. (Though I do only think this should apply until you reach a certain age, like you have to have settled in a country before you were 8 or 10 or something to be able to represent their football team. I don't like the country swapping going on when people have just lived in a country for five years as an adult.) No. I personally would stick to a birth rule. Does that mean Terry Butcher should have been made to play for Singapore?

But all of them bar Cacau have lived in Germany for most of their lives. Which country are they supposed to feel more attached to, the one that they've grown up in and feel culturally attached to - or the one they've never even visited since they were an infant? Cacau is the only dodgy one, because he starting his career in Brazil and has only been fast tracked a passport recently. The rest are all far more German than they are anything else.

Well so far, Lodeiro got himself sent off, Modise had a shocker and Pastore couldn't get on the pitch.

Utter drivel. Just because a player doesn't cut it in England doesn't make them s***. Dezzie, I guess you missed this bit "The Brazil squad is poor by its normal standard" Can you find a poorer Brazil W/C squad? But it's often the collective not the sum of the parts. The Brazil squad in 2006 was packed full of 'star' players and they flopped terribly. This team doesn't have as many star players on paper but as a team and a unit they are one of the best Brazil teams in a long time. Dunga has won everything in his path. Spot on Swelly. I have watched Brazil in every qualifying game that has been a SKY. They still have that sparkle & passing that only they can do at times. But it is surreal seeing some of the names in that squad & how there time in PL went. I went to one In La Paz?

10 points Koren on the bench. Fuck you Stankovic.

Haha love it.

To be fair, most of these players are either born in Germany or have lived most of their life there. Only Cacau is a bit of a pisstake.

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/6706/koreaform.jpghttp://www.zonalmarking.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/greece4.jpg Maybe?

Doubt it. North Korea are arguably the physically fittest team in the tournament and will have 10 men behind the ball. Brazil's play relies on playing on the break and they wont be able to do that against the Norks. Oh they'll win, definitely, but I highly doubt it will be a rout.

Utter drivel. Just because a player doesn't cut it in England doesn't make them s***. Dezzie, I guess you missed this bit "The Brazil squad is poor by its normal standard" Can you find a poorer Brazil W/C squad? But it's often the collective not the sum of the parts. The Brazil squad in 2006 was packed full of 'star' players and they flopped terribly. This team doesn't have as many star players on paper but as a team and a unit they are one of the best Brazil teams in a long time. Dunga has won everything in his path.

Germany are awesome.

Brazil stacked with attackers in '06 (Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Kaka, Adriano..) and tried to fit them into one team. It failed miserably. This team is much better than that one, it's organised and efficient but has flair in the right areas. They wont concede many and they'll pick teams off at will on the break. Dunga is the best thing that's happened to Brazil in years.

Easy to see all the defenders with his fish eyes. He has got some shit scary mincers on him like.

Not been marked like which helps. Looked very assured though. Living up to the hype so far. Oh aye he's being gifted that space in between the defence and midfield - but so far he's taking advantage of it.

Dunno like, Khodeira hasn't done anything out of the ordinary and he is his replacement. Formation and tactics would have changed though? Nah they'd have gone with this all along I think, just take out Khedira and slot Ballack in.

Told you about Ozil, he's just so classy.

Don't know what you see with him Kez, it's blind support for a total dud.

Mexico just lost her medal to blondie in the background. EDIT: f*** off.

I know Klose scores a boatload for Jormany but he's been s**** this season. 6 goals in 38 games. Aye, like you said though he's usually reliable for Germany, same as Podolski. I'd rather see them go with Cacau or Marin wide with Muller up top tbh, but Klose will probably deliver.

Insanity.

Ignoring this obviously important discussion, this is how Germany are likely to line up: -----------------Neuer Lahm Friedrich Mertesacker Badstuber ------Schweinsteiger Khedira ---Muller-----Ozil--------Podolski -----------------Klose They aren't your typical Germany side, hopefully this will be a nice hammering to watch - because it certainly wont be a victory for the Aussies.