ps- this is a really beautiful article. or maybe i'm drunk ha ha. but no. check it

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...a-nations.html

thought this should go here.

Here's the garlic... (my halitosis will beat you all in the fantasy league)...

Start again, you haven't read what's up there, as it never ever was ever written ever, nope...

French drama: Ribéry withdraws!
I feel sorry, yet I wished he would not have been part of the group as he was injuried. In 2002, France exited very early. They had Zidane with them, but he had to be sidelined for the first two games. When he came in on the third, it was already too late, and his partners seemed more focused on delivering him a good ball than spotting someone else closer to doing something interesting.
Thus some among the French wished for Ribéry to be omitted. That's another blow, for him. He hoped he could clinch the Ballon d'Or, with a brilliant season. That went Ronaldo's way. After that, it went downhill. Didn't play much for Bayern with his back being too painful.

Second surprise, Grenier is out too. No regret. He was meant to be a sub, and he never was any good for the national team anyway.

What to expect of the future world champions?

Goalkeeper: Lloris, who plays for a team that has no room for defenders; he's been average for 12 months now... Some may wish Ruffier gets there, he's punchier, but I don't see that coming.

Defenders: Evra will start and battle (and forget to defend or be beaten by quick opposition).
It's assumed Varane will start too, with Sakho alongside him.
Sakho looks clumsy, but is very good when it comes to get a header, he'll be tough. Koscielny might take his place, but the pundits doubt it. The reason is they fear the moment when he concedes a penalty and/or gets red carded, which is a bit harsh or sad, as, this moment aside, he's quite good.
On the right, it will probably be Debuchy, who is great, but who gets a yellow too often.

Midfield: Cabaye-Matuidi-Pogba
That's where the strenght lies.
Though my favourite pundit (Didier Roustan) is skeptic about Cabaye since his move to PSG.

Creativity:
Valbuena; had a poor season at Marseille but he's always been great for France. He delivered three assists during France-Norway (4-0). He's always been trustworthy when his coaches hesitated between him and another player (like Nasri for instance).

Forward:
Benzema.
The remaining star.
Subs: Giroud (unfortunately, France isn't an offensive side, he won't be used at his best, with his back to goal, assisting the forthcoming Ramsey, alas...)

To replace Ribéry:
Griezmann, 23, more than decent
Rémy, never too convincing in blue
Cabella, who's been called back, and who's interesting

We'll see against Jamaica

Grenier's been replaced by Southampton's Schneiderlin, who has yet to play a game for France. That's fine.

Garlic time, I'm off to the kitchen now.

what the….!!!

oh i googled

he didn't up and quit but he's out on injury yes?

that's fucking terrible. i really like him.

bagh!

but anyway, good to hear you'll join the fantasy league.

enjoy l'ail. soon it will be pesto season!! or pistou, in your parts.

Great article. Thanks! I've read some stuff before on just how fanatical Uruguay is about its football. Would love to one day go to a league game. The atmosphere just seems insane.


Don't worry, Donovan will save you. Oh yeah, no, he won't will he.

It definitely looks grim for the US. You'll absolutely have to beat Ghana to stand any chance at all and I wouldn't necessarily make you favourites against them either. But both teams know it's a must-win so for the neutral it could be a bit of a classic.


Not predicting them to win outright but Croatia have a decent chance of getting to the semis, at least. They'd most likely have to beat Spain along the way but we all know they're not the force they were. Assuming things go as planned for Argentina they'd face Croatia in the semis and, while Argentina would be favourites to win that, in a single game, who knows? Croatia are quietly very decent.

For all that I'm still predicting a Neymar v Messi final. A dream come true for Barcelona's marketing department.

Still no way in for Nasri?

I will be the first to eat some crow in a few weeks if proven otherwise, but surprisingly I think the US has a solid chance to advance in second place in their group.

FUUUUUCK I JUST HEARD ABOUT IT.

over a game vs armenia. FUCK!!!

--

on other news, just saw mexico get punched in the huevos at the last minute by portugal. only saw the last 15 minutes but it looked fast and chaotic-- a sign that, if anything, they're all in great form and ready to run non-stop.

His girlfriend's outburst has ruled him out.
How would the coach be respected if he were to call him back?
Unless someone else gets crocked against Jamaica.

Those friendlies have had some very bad results:
Germany - Reus, who I was looking forward to watching play
Italy - Montolivo, who could have been more important than in the Euro
Mexico - Montes, his leg broken in the minutes that followed his goal against Ecuador

more chances for damning injury today!

argentina/slovenia
belgium/tunisia
el salvador/spain
england/honduras
us/nigeria

who will be the next casualty?

aggghhhhhhhh

(I'd bet on Agüero, but there's no fantasay casualty game for perverts)

England's been pretty lucky so far, with none of our obvious starting 11 picking anything up. Biggest worry for me tonight is that something might happen to any of our core defenders. We saw how weak the second string looked against Ecuador. After watching Milner at RB, I wouldn't even play Johnson tonight, in case he gets a knock. Not that any of it would significantly affect our chances either way.


And I'll have a pint of whatever you're drinking.

Aguero or Costa, but I'd make Aguero captain for double points.

the way things are going-- falcao out, ribery out, reus out-- i'd venture messi, lukaku, and costa are bound to get their knee ligaments torn. :eek:

List of players ruled out of the world cup

Oh Theo...*single tear* AND I didn't realise Benteke is out.

What channel was that? I couldn't find it. Waiting for Spain / El Salvador on Univision.

It was postponed cos of a hailstorm apparently

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIK9WopEivw

oh…. ha ha ha ha.

i know nothing about sports betting.

hey, some of those betting sites shows the games streaming.

here come spain + el salvador.

Honduras to win 4-0, U.s.a draw 1-1

Bet your house.

ha ha ha

-----

so far everyone survives

but cesc sucked hairy balls!


there was no sight of piqué today and martínez took his place instead

damn, the usa diamond midfield is working well! they may not have oodles of individual talent but they impress me as a well-organized, disciplined team. klinsmann is really having an impact-- much more interesting than 4 years ago.

i'm a bit worried about the centerbacks. besler in particular looks a bit confused...

Wow, what a dirty side Honduras are, and that was just a friendly. Horrible team.

Either way, England were typically ok. Barkley to start instead of Rooney.

fuck my foresight, besler caused a penalty.

You thought wrong dude..





Did you bet your retirement plan on California Chrome too ;)


Yes, yes they are. Seen these dudes play like it was UFC Fight Night out there in a few Gold Cups..Its a Central American Napoleon complex thing.

By the way..

Well their manager's definitely got a Tony Montana/Pitbull complex

Aren't you glad you didn't do that, 2-1 USA.

I'm not saying it out loud but I'm getting a good feeling about this team
Quite like Hodgson too. He comes across really well in interviews and hasn't put a foot wrong for me so far

Could you please translate… everything? (Except for "Moldova" and "Tunisia" which I do comprehend. Oh, and "weekend".)

Seriously-- I have no idea what all that means. "+1.5" and "five for five" and "three teamer". Uh?

Thanks in advance.

Hodgson's great. I trust him whoever he starts against Italy, even if it doesn't work out, or if I might've done it differently.

We have a potentially pretty good team for maybe the next WC but I do think we're a long way off the pace for this one. Saying that, I really couldn't say how we're gonna do in the groups. Costa Rica aside, neither Uruguay or Italy look particularly special but then nor do we. We could realistically finish anywhere from 1st to 3rd. But I don't think we'll completely embarrass ourselves wherever we finish.

jeezus fuckin krist, france 8 jamaica 0? ha ha ha ha.

damn.

(and i wish i had seen it).

In French allez means go, in Jamaican thats gwan!

OK, I've set up a league here

http://en.mcdonalds.fantasy.fifa.com

You have to register then choose your squad. Then if you want to join the league click the search league button and type SYG and you can go from there.

The deadline for getting your squad in is in 3 days and choosing a 23 man squad for 100m is bloody tricky so if you do wanna join you need to get started pretty quick.

holy fuck that is fast.

just one quick question (i haven't logged in yet but this will save me time and i hope for others too)

is the chosen squad for the first round of games? or is it for the whole group stage? because the days are booked solid from the 12 to the 26 unlike the euros when there were days off.

thanks for setting this up!

It took me nearly 2 hours to pick my team, and I'm not satisfied.
The real thing will be better.
I've joined the league!

France-Jamaica: 8-0

Right, that was good watching, as every goal was a great one.

Yet, it appeared evident from the start that the Jamaicans were not at their peak. They lost 1-0 to Switzerland and drew 2-2 when facing Egypt in the past few days. They were exhausted. Their goalkeeper was not the one who had played previously, and was quite terrible at times.

The good point, from a French perspective, that should stand is that Benzema & Giroud played together, never ran the same run. This good understanding was a big satisfaction. At 4-0, I thought they'd be on par, but, not quite.

Goals:
Benzema: 2
Griezmann: 2 (including a backheel one to make it 8)
Giroud: 1
Matuidi:2
Cabaye: 1

Assists:
Benzema: 3
Giroud: 1
Sissoko: 1
Evra: 1
That makes 6, as Benzema pretty much needed noone to score his goals.

Who the fuck decided Pitbull should do the official WC song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W3sWiZ-iO8

I hate it already. By trhe end of the tournament I'll be suicidal.

Yeah, just for the first round of group games.

Can I be the first to start with the unrealistic expections? I've a feeling England will beat Italy and Uruguay and end up topping their group. There, I've said it.

Just joined the football league. Christ that was hard work.

Beat both of them? Nah? A draw at Italy me thinks.

i deciphered the rules but i have yet to understand how to have a suitable strategy.

last time i played this i did it all wrong by banking everything on gomez.

The way iv'e done it is by having goal scorers for groups that really aren't all that (Dzeko for Bosnia, Bony for Ivory Coast) but are gonna get through. Keepers that can be generally reliable (I forked out on Cesar for Brazil, bad idea on second thoughts). Midfielders same as forwards (I forked out for Vidal at Chile) but got Sissoko from France who will get through and the like.

It's a nightmare. I ended up choosing two players from Iran cos I had no money left.