Yup - very good indeed, and in terms of the match, all going to plan so far!
Marco.
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Yup - very good indeed, and in terms of the match, all going to plan so far!
Marco.
only downside is that they spend too much time on wide angle rather than zooming in!
Geoff
It's a whitewash. I thought we'd win this but not so convincingly.
Said not to write off England
Haven't done that, but I'm also a realist. They've not played anyone 'serious' yet, albeit they've played very well in both games, *and* bearing in mind that Belgium could only beat Panama 3-0... However, if England beat Belgium 6-1 (or win by any margin), then I'll reassess their World Cup winning chances accordingly! ;)
England's 'enemy' now will be suffering from over-confidence, with all the media hype that will follow, so they have to guard against that. More comment after lunch!:cool:
Marco.
a very good english squad there. lots of team spirit that missed in previous WCs that ended in disaster. hopefully they will be able to carry the expectations that will erupt after today's show.
Indeed, although as I said earlier, I think they should reevaluate the current qualifying procedure, as it allows through too many 'diddy teams', who add the sum total of ZILCH to the tournament, for anyone but their own fans.
Saudi Arabia
Egypt
Iran
Morocco
South Korea
Panama
Tunisia
They all been UTTER SHITE, whereas I'm almost certain the likes of Italy, Holland, Wales, USA, Ireland and Cameroon, who failed to qualify (and even Scotland), would've added some more quality and entertainment to the competition.
I'm simply not interested in watching teams, whose only concern is trying not to lose. I want to see teams who try to, and crucially, can WIN!
Therefore, I say change the rules in future, so that previous International tournament history and the number of wins and goals during qualification for such, is taken into consideration, in terms of ascertaining who gets to go to the World Cup or Euro finals!!
We need to do something to limit the amount of teams there who simply just want to sit back and defend, and show no urgency or desire to entertain whatsoever.
:exactly:
Marco.
I thought the whole point of the group stage was to weed out those teams? You can't have a world cup that only ever has teams from Europe and South America in it.
Senegal just scored.
Indeed, but the [weeding out] system has failed because the teams I've just listed obviously did just enough to qualify, most likely by getting draws and fluking 1-0 wins (I haven't studied their qualifying campaign, so don't know), and as has patently been shown. simply aren't good enough to compete at this level.
That's why I think the criteria for qualification needs to change, to weed out these teams properly. Personally, I don't care which countries are represented, and whether they're from Europe, Asia, America or South Africa - as long as they've been proven as good enough, and so deserve to be there!!
Marco.
getting weak, often developing nations to wc is part of the process of them becoming more aware ... look at many african teams now... japan, usa etc have all benefited from the exposure making the game at home stronger.