Village Idiot

Ronaldo >>>>>>>>>>> Klose Glad the fat one will keep the record to be frank.

Interesting article, thanks for that, though I think sometimes our obsession with numbers and lines can hamper our understanding of how a team is organised. (I'm also a bit surprised that you said that Spain don't play like Barca, because to me they look very similar.) Just observe the amount of players Barça breaks with, instead of the 3-4 Spain usually puts forward, which frustrates the hell out of me. Barça play with only one deep lying midfielder (Busquets), instead of two (Busquets/Alonso). This allows one extra central midfielder pushing into attacking positions and drawing defenders and thus creating space for others. To compensate for the relative lack of men in the defensive area of midfield, our defence line also pushes higher to help press the opposition and give more quick transitions to attack since we win the ball back closer to their goal. Of course, we are much more vulnerable to counterattacks than this Spanish side, but at the same time more incisive.

There have been a lot of stories that he doesn't get along with Mancini.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/jul/09/world-cup-2010-tactics-the-question Mint article, which more or less coincides with my current thoughts on football trends. Although he is wrong in saying that Spain plays like Barcelona, Del Bosque is far more cautious than Guardiola. Which is probably a reaction on how 90% of theams play against us.

Honestly you should go all gloryhunting and get Rosenborg or Skonto or some other team that wins the league every fucking year to give yourselves a well deserved break.

Ghana and Ireland will love it.

http://estaticos02.marca.com/blogs/el-otro-mundial/imagenes_posts/2010/07/09/bandera.jpg

There are tons of players that have match-winning contributions, but the great ones are the ones that do it game after game. We wouldn't be in the final if Casillas hadn't saved that pen, for example.

I actually think he's a worthy investment in the long term, just that won't do much for you just yet. I'm however surprised that he wants to leave Everton in such a way.

I liked Gosling when he featured for Everton, but doubt it will have much impact in your campaign with his injury. Wasn't he out until January at the least?

He's a squid man, he doesn't even know what the flags on the boxes mean

You fishing? You must be. Not at all. If Villa hadn't been playing Spain wouldn't be in this competition. I'd have thought that's obvious. You can say that about Sneijder too. Or Forlán.

Would be Forlán's to me if they had reached the final. Now it's a close call between the current joint topscorers. None has been really great, but effective enough to put their teams where they are.

Don't think it has ever been awarded to a non-finalist.

WC Golden Ball nominees: - Diego Forlán - Gyan - Leo Messi - Mesut Özil - Arjen Robben - Schwensteiger - Xavi - David Villa - Andrés Iniesta -Wesley Sneijder Villa/Sneijder depending on who wins the final, I guess.

Fuck me it was broadcast live in Spain apparently

Hope he doesn't get the final wrong again like in 2008...

Paul the Octopus will make an exception to his habit of only predicting the German team's games and will predict the WC winner today in addition of the third place game result

Have Vela, Hernández, Barrera, Dos Santos made it abroad already? News to me as they have all just moved or failed to impress so far. Won't judge the others' careers as I don't follow much the Eredivisie. I don't see many more Mexican players succeeding than in the times of Hugo Sánchez. I agree that it looks it might change in the next years.

Hungary were way more than just Puskas however. Kocsis, Czibor, Zakarias and Lorant were all truly great players.And their tactics were greatly innovative. Forerunners of Netherlands total football.

Just because they speak Spanish that doesn't make them South-American I'm not sure about Mexico. Utterly corrupt structures (having to pay off managers to get starts, ridiculous), and I'm still not seeing that many more players making it abroad. In that regard, the fact that the Mexican league is pretty rich might be holding them back. Very solid performers in WCs, however.

Hargreaves injuried *again* http://www.premierleague.com/page/Headlines/0,,12306~2087773,00.html

Also Ramos spitting around 2:15

The Queen of Spain went down to the changing rooms to congratulate the team after the victory, and caught Puyol with only a towel on (1:15) http://www.marca.com/tv/?v=jtcAptDed3I

Man, he used the club's funds to pay a fine for tax evasion and avoid being jailed