Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Mon Jun 02, 2014 11:38 am  

I always remember the gasps of the audience when Blatter announced Qatar as the winner.

Everybody knew it stunk, as most of the voting committee come from countries where bribes are a part of life.

As for those poor workers on the construction sites....

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Mon Jun 02, 2014 3:27 pm  

100% Wire wrote:

Load of tosh, any investigation will be a complete fraud, and Qatar will still be hosting the tournament. FIFA are rotten

Course it will be a fraud. Nothing will happen, Blatter will "win" re-election and the most corrupt man in the world will still be running the most corrupt organisation in the world for yet another 4 years.

And even before Blatter, FIFA was still corrupt as they had Havelange as President.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Mon Jun 02, 2014 6:34 pm  

Yes, we all know its corrupt, but seriously, what's anybody going to about it??...Nothing.

If enough people were really that concerned about any corruption, then surely Football's big players, like England, Germany, Italy, Spain, etc, would simply break away from FIFA and create their own breakaway competition??

Imagine a FIFA World Cup without those four - Throw Brazil, Argentina, Holland and maybe Portugal on top of them and any FIFA tournament would be dead in the water and any new competition would take over instantly.

The reality is, the game stinks from head to toe - Its just very amusing that all this attention is being put on Qatar's dodgy bid, when the most corrupt country in the world, Russia, have the 2018 finals and nobody has batted an eyelid at how they managed to snatch those from more deserving contenders.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Wed Jun 04, 2014 11:24 pm  

There was quite a bit of frustration around the time, but it seems people are just used to it now and seem to get on with things, despite the obvious corruption.

If anybody can go back to the draw for the two world cups, please get the voting pattern up from each round as I'm almost certain they were the most obvious sign of corruption that was seemingly ignored. It was something silly like (this is an example using made up countries), Portugal voted for Holland to host it in round 1, Holland progressed to round 2, but then Portugal voted for Israel to host it in round 2, Holland and Israel both progressed to round 3, but Portugal decided to change again and vote Qatar in the final round. Some countries for obvious reasons were changing their vote, despite their previous vote still being available. Unbelievable it was.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Fri Jun 06, 2014 10:59 pm  

Do we play our first choice 11 vs Honduras from the start?? I'd definitely try and get 45mins together from what RH believes to be his first 11. Bad new about Ox not being fit until at least the final game of the group. I believe he deserved to start.

Who do we play with Gerrard? Which 3 players do we play behind Sterling? Do we have no choice other than Johnson at right back??

Decisions decisions.....

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Sat Jun 07, 2014 11:34 pm  

cas all the way wrote:

Do we play our first choice 11 vs Honduras from the start?? I'd definitely try and get 45mins together from what RH believes to be his first 11. Bad new about Ox not being fit until at least the final game of the group. I believe he deserved to start.

Who do we play with Gerrard? Which 3 players do we play behind Sterling? Do we have no choice other than Johnson at right back??

Decisions decisions.....

If that's the starting line up we're in trouble. 3 draws is the most likely outcome looking at that game. The Henderson and Gerrard combo in front of the back four should make us defensively sound and the other teams in our group are no great shakes outside of their megastar individuals (Pirlo and Suarez). The problem is getting enough creativity in there to cause a problem. Hodgson has clearly decided to try to copy Liverpool and hit teams on the break, but Honduras proved tonight just what Liverpool found in the league, it's a very one dimensional way of playing. If the opposition doesn't attack and doesn't commit players forward (Chelsea at Anfield) there is no space in the gaps for the pacey players to break.

Glen Johnson continues to amaze. How a player as poor as that has so many caps for England and plays for such a respected club is beyond me. Utterly woeful again tonight but without any serious competition for his place it doesn't matter too much. Another player who should probably be looking over his shoulder but probably doesn't need to is Sturridge. Two clear cut chances tonight and he didn't get either of them on target. His final ball was appalling as well. Lambert would be my choice.

Baines is a puzzle at the moment as well. Best left back in the Premier League by a mile, but he doesn't seem to have the freedom to get forward for England like he does for Everton. We should just go for it and give him the license to just bomb on.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Sun Jun 08, 2014 12:42 am  

It doesn't matter who we pick in our first XI, they will play how he wants them to play and that won't get any kind of decent performance or result. We have an average squad, but the squad will underachieve in its performances because Roy only knows one way to play.

If we were like the Italians in '06, where we had an experienced squad that was tactically and defensively strong, I'd get it, but we don't, and we certainly don't have matchwinners like Pirlo and Totti in our side. Our team doesn't seem to have any strengths, it's sort of athletic, but there's very little technical or tactical identity, and our 'individuals' won't win us any matches.

I'm just looking forward to the rest of the tournament. Gutted about Reus though.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Sun Jun 08, 2014 7:56 pm  

Roddy B wrote:

I'm just looking forward to the rest of the tournament. Gutted about Reus though.

Indeed, but nothing adds to a World Cup atmosphere like hope for England. Somewhere there must be a parallel universe where we can go into the World Cup and put 5 past Italy and storm out of the group stages?

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Mon Jun 09, 2014 7:16 am  

At least the low expectations are sparing us the car flags.

I think Hodgson will make one selection gamble against Italy. Either Barkley or Sterling, not sure which.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Mon Jun 09, 2014 12:42 pm  

I bet England go out in the group stages.