ponsaelius

Russia have been strong recently. You'd think it would be them and Poland. The one thing that group has got going for it is that it is very open.

van der Vaart on the bench

Huntelaar played all the way through qualifying too.

I also really hope Poland can get out of their group. Hosts doing well

Yep this is the likely starting attack at the moment.

One of the disappointing things about this tournament is the lack of quality outsiders IMO. I think this is going to be dominated by the big sides, the Germans and the Spanish are absolutely stacked to the point where they could field 2 full XIs. The next tier down look very weak to me looking through their squads. Hopefully we get somebody from nowhere.

Huntelaar might not be starting.

Most of the teams in the tournament have weaknesses at the back IMO. Global trend. You'd like to think it makes for an exciting tournament but it rarely works out like that.

That's even worse than when they do commentary at a later date and make a terrible job at faking excitement.

I was gonna watch that on iPlayer anarl.

True. It's hard to gauge how competitive a friendly is, the odd one can be even more competitive than qualifying games whereas many are glorified kickabouts.

Didn't they win the Copa America? Seems just fine to me. Aye, unbeaten in 17 games too (stretching the Copa and qualifying). Will top qualifying if they win their game in hand against Peru.

Paul Pogba to Juve - done deal.

Happens in all American sports dunnit?

England/GB double is 104/1

Got a fiver on France for Euros/Brazil for the Olympics double at 38/1. 2 quid on Zlatan top scorer at 50/1.

Without doubt the single stupidest person ever.

He's much better in that role than he is as a striker. Much better! He's now a part of the build-up play. That was half the problem with him when Lagerback was there. Isolated upfront is not the best use of your most talented player. Especially when he's prone to becoming lazy and disinterested.

Menez did the stereotype friendly-substitute-with-point-to-prove performance. As is usually the case the game became completely disjointed with the players who have come on desperate to make an impression once they got the ball. Even Hatem did at one stage.

Enjoy it bro.

I don't disagree with how the rankings are calculated. It's that I don't agree with the rankings as a meaningful way of comparing the qualities of various sides. I know Uruguay are a good side - a very good side indeed - but I don't believe that they are the 2nd best team in the world. Just like how England are 6th. I'd like to think minimal value is placed on these "rankings". Does anybody place value on them though? They're the only form of ranking possible other than to rank how good a team is on perception of the quality of their players, which is fair enough but purely a subjective thing. Looking at the current top 20 I don't think there's much wrong with the rankings at all. They are there to judge the level teams are currently performing at and generally I think they're a fair representation. Once France's recent run is reflected by breaking the top 10 they'll be near enough spot on.

He's been doing it all season for Milan.

I'm struggling to grasp how else the rankings should be calculated. By how highly people rate their players? The only way it can be done is on results and success in major tournaments over a recent time period. It's not an exact science but looking at the current top 20 there isn't much wrong with it. France and Argentina will overtake us sooner rather than later and then it will be just about spot on.

How else are the rankings to be calculated other than on results? They finished 4th in the World Cup, won the 2nd hardest continental tournament without defeat (arguably not far behind the Euros) and have generally been very consistent recently. If they win their game in hand at home to Peru they will also top South American qualifying (also without defeat so far). The only team that deserves to be ahead of them on the rankings is Spain and they are.

4th in the World Cup, Champions of South America and unbeaten in 17 matches. They're there on merit.