Village Idiot

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

Well, calling them flops is a bit harsh. Sneijder/Robben was a moronic decision and it was pointed at the time of their sale. Gio was a success for us, Van Bommel was fine for us but he wanted to play more and asked to be sold, Huntelaar flopped (and in Italy too), Heitinga was decent for Atleti and his sale was decried by fans, Van der Vaart has been muted but has had a decent season... Bouhlarouz is just pretty awful

Guess they thought he's just not a PL player and preferred to cash in his great season.

Villarreal just announced the signing of Borja Valero from WBA. Good signing and good move for him after shining for Mallorca this season. Fee undisclosed as of now.

Money talks, but if I was Sneijder I'd be dying to stay at Inter at least a season to add the CWC to my resumé. Tin cup it may be, but the chance to add it to your trophy closet is rare to get.

Haven't found the Hellboy one, but here's El Niño promoting "xXx" http://www.colchonero.com/media/galeria/4/6/2/3/0/o_atletico_de_madrid_27_at_madrid_vs_sevilla-80326.jpg EDIT: And the Spiderman one http://www.ofertasfutbol.com/imagenProductos/zoom/ATLETICO%20PRIMERA%20SPIDERMAN.JPG

Plus the Barça boys won the EC in summer 2008 and then proceeded to do the treble in 2008/2009

Has happened in La Liga occasionally. I even remember Osasuna having a different sponsor for home and away games at one point. Atlético had that hilarious deal where they would promote movies, and they had a different movie logo on their shirts every month: Spiderman, Hellboy, etc... They even changed their pre-season tournament trophy name to "Hellboy Trophy" for that season

Get that stadium name changed for a couple of m Actually it was chosen in a popular vote by club members, Betis fans are just mental Although Betis were on a high at the time so I can understand they got a bit carried away. I just read that Lopera has included a clause where the name will remain unchanged unless they pay *him* €5m.

Was thinking that if Spain wins surely Xavi will get WPOTY (Sneijder if the opposite happens). That would be great, no Spanish player has ever won it and it would be damn fucking time.