World Cup Draw

[rynny]

19 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

Harry Kane comes across as a really decent bloke, but he isn't half counting his chickens here isn't he?

I know he is without doubt England's best forward right now, but who's to say that will be the case next summer and who's to say he will be 100% fit for the tournament.

He probably didn't mean to come across as arrogant here, but he shouldn't be writing stuff like that.

What a load of rubbish. You are vasically saying that no player should comment on the world cup draw as they may not be going because they might get injured or lose form.

I'll await for you to nay say anything that Messi says avout the draw.

[Dimmu]

23 minutes ago, ramit said:

i do like your optimism

Croatia are tough contenders though and Nigeria are much better than their FIFA points say IMO, but hey ho, Argentina in the first game

I think you should be ******** your pants already! During qualification, loss and win (with ref's help) against Finland is hardly an achievement...

Nigeria could do a surprise this time. Someone always is.

[Van der MoodHoover]

Just now, rynny said:

What a load of rubbish. You are vasically saying that no player should comment on the world cup draw as they may not be going because they might get injured or lose form.

I'll await for you to nay say anything that Messi says avout the draw.

Fear not lads. I have one oxygen tent for hire for when the inevitable curse of the metatarsal strikes. 

Also 1 slightly soiled copy of "100 prayers for Beckham " from 2002. 

[Wolfie]

37 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

Harry Kane comes across as a really decent bloke, but he isn't half counting his chickens here isn't he?

I know he is without doubt England's best forward right now, but who's to say that will be the case next summer and who's to say he will be 100% fit for the tournament.

He probably didn't mean to come across as arrogant here, but he shouldn't be writing stuff like that.

He didn’t refer to himself anyway. He didn’t say I can’t wait to face.....Could have been referring to England. 

Nothing to see here folks 

[ramit]

12 minutes ago, Dimmu said:

I think you should be ******** your pants already! During qualification, loss and win (with ref's help) against Finland is hardly an achievement...

Nigeria could do a surprise this time. Someone always is.

We fear no one and i think you know that, but nice attempt at a jab though

You do Finland a disservice, they are a team much improving as their recent results show

[Dimmu]

2 minutes ago, ramit said:

We fear no one and i think you know that, but nice attempt at a jab though

You do Finland a disservice, they are a team much improving as their recent results show

I'm just jealous!

Finland should be there too! And we would if we had chosen right (current) manager straight from the start of qualification.

[Kernow]

Harry Kane could go on a goal drought until the end of the season and he would still probably make the squad.

People complaining because he said he's excited for the World Cup after the draw? I swear some people's first thoughts are "hmm, how can I find something out of this to complain about? Aha, I know..."

[Sexydadbod]

Argentina in the group of death. Feel sorry for Messi because he's going to have to single handedly drag them again because players like Aguero and Higuain never turn up for Argentina, although I guess he has a better manager now and also Dybala. Jorge Sampaoli has to call up Icardi if they are to have any chance because he's the best striker in Europe at the moment.

Never realised how many average teams have made it, teams like Panama, Australia, Iran, Tuniesa and Saudi Arabia are only going because FIFA decided to make qualifying hard for European and South America teams. Then you have the worst Russian team in ages making it because they are the host nation. I know they have had their struggles but Italy, Holland and Chile are all better than those teams.

You'd expect England to make the next round but then they will face one of Poland, Colombia or Senegal most likely. All those teams are just as good if not better than England and would be fairly close encounters. I can see Senegal shocking a few with Mane on the counter attack and arguably the best centre back in the world at the moment in Koulibably from Napoli. Nigeria will also shock a few as they are a cohesive unit.

I can't be the only one who isn't looking forward to this upcoming World Cup as much as previously.

[ramit]

5 minutes ago, Dimmu said:

I'm just jealous!

Finland should be there too! And we would if we had chosen right (current) manager straight from the start of qualification.

That's quite alright, understandable.  Finns and Faroese are our favorite Nordics you know, our mentality and sense of humor is similar.

Finland will get to a major tournament.  Improve infrastructure for year round playing, boost the coaching in the younger groups and never stop believing

[Mostyn6]

can plan the holiday now. 23rd or 24th for a week, get the Panama and Belgium games in.

[Andicis]

I'm quite sick of England fans talking down England, there is no reason why we can't win this group, and there is no team in group H we should really fear. 

3 minutes ago, McLovin said:

You'd expect England to make the next round but then they will face one of Poland, Colombia or Senegal most likely. All those teams are just as good if not better than England and would be fairly close encounters.

How do you reach this conclusion? Poland cheated the rankings to make top 10 by just not playing any friendlies so they couldn't lose rank, and what have you seen from Colombia and Senegal to make it seem like they are as good or better than England? Since we haven't seen a head to head, I think it's a strange comment considering England was in a higher pot than Senegal, and qualified from the most competitive region.

[Dimmu]

1 minute ago, ramit said:

Finland will get to a major tournament.  Improve infrastructure for year round playing, boost the coaching in the younger groups and never stop believing

1

First and fourth I agree with, second and third are never gonna happen. If there's money in sports, it goes to some ******* ice-hockey... which I guess is good, as there are about six countries where it's played and success is guaranteed.

I was close to moving to Reykjavik a few months ago, didn't happen in the end.

[Kernow]

On the BBC coverage they made an interesting comment regarding Poland. They hired a mathematician to help calculate a strategy to get them into Pot 1 for the World Cup. That has included only playing one friendly in the last 12 months to make the most out of how the ranking system is structured.

They're a solid side, but clearly not the 6th best in the world as rankings suggest. They've been ridiculous for years, but surely when a side can literally plan where they'll be in the rankings at a certain point (to an extent), that must show that the rankings are in desperate need of a huge overhaul.

[Andicis]

1 minute ago, Kernow said:

On the BBC coverage they made an interesting comment regarding Poland. They hired a mathematician to help calculate a strategy to get them into Pot 1 for the World Cup. That has included only playing one friendly in the last 12 months to make the most out of how the ranking system is structured.

They're a solid side, but clearly not the 6th best in the world as rankings suggest. They've been ridiculous for years, but surely when a side can literally plan where they'll be in the rankings at a certain point (to an extent), that must show that the rankings are in desperate need of a huge overhaul.

Yeah, they fiddled their way into pot 1, if only actual playing ability Spain would have been in Pot 1 and Poland in Pot 2 with England.

[David]

3 minutes ago, Kernow said:

They're a solid side, but clearly not the 6th best in the world as rankings suggest. They've been ridiculous for years, but surely when a side can literally plan where they'll be in the rankings at a certain point (to an extent), that must show that the rankings are in desperate need of a huge overhaul.

 

[Sexydadbod]

2 minutes ago, Andicis said:

I'm quite sick of England fans talking down England, there is no reason why we can't win this group, and there is no team in group H we should really fear. 

How do you reach this conclusion? Poland cheated the rankings to make top 10 by just not playing any friendlies so they couldn't lose rank, and what have you seen from Colombia and Senegal to make it seem like they are as good or better than England? Since we haven't seen a head to head, I think it's a strange comment considering England was in a higher pot than Senegal, and qualified from the most competitive region.

Belgium are much better than England on paper. What will cost them as usual is their manager. This is England, the same England who came bottom of the last World Cup group, struggled in South Africa in an even easier group than this one with a better team and lost to Iceland last year in the euros. Poland are a very good team, note team and will always be a threat with Lewandowski. Colombia are not the force of old but they also have top players. I don't see a lot between England and Senegal, I really don't. They have a number of top players in their team, just because you haven't heard of a lot of their players doesn't mean they aren't. 

England fans should no underestimate any opposition after what happened last World Cup with Costa Rica but I expect them to get through the group then it's 50:50 in the last 16.

[Andicis]

Just now, McLovin said:

Belgium are much better than England on paper. What will cost them as usual is their manager. This is England, the same England who came bottom of the last World Cup group, struggled in South Africa in an even easier group than this one with a better team and lost to Iceland last year in the euros. Poland are a very good team, note team and will always be a threat with Lewandowski. Colombia are not the force of old but they also have top players. I don't see a lot between England and Senegal, I really don't. They have a number of top players in their team, just because you haven't heard of a lot of their players doesn't mean they aren't. 

England fans should no underestimate any opposition after what happened last World Cup with Costa Rica but I expect them to get through the group then it's 50:50 in the last 16.

English players play against the Belgium players week in week out in the Premier League, it's an advantage as they'll know how to play against them. ''This is England'' isn't a valid argument in anything. Poland have Lewandowski, we have Harry Kane who scores just as many goals, if they rated themselves that highly they would have played more than 1 friendly at risk of their world ranking. Name some of Colombia's top players? Senegal is ranked below England in the world ranking, so fifa sees Senegal as a lesser team than England, I don't see a reason why anyone from England shouldn't too. We shouldn't underestimate our opposition, but we shouldn't underestimate ourselves either. 

[Rev]

28 minutes ago, Dimmu said:

I'm just jealous!

Finland should be there too! And we would if we had chosen right (current) manager straight from the start of qualification.

If only you'd started like you Finnished. 

[Rev]

I always like to play the game where you take the 1st letter of each team in a group and use it to make a four letter word.

Argentina are in a group which spells Inca, which is a good omen for a South American team.

The only other words I can see comes from the hosts group A.

Russia
Saudi Arabia
Egypt
Uruguay

Ruse = how they ended up with that group.

User = an accurate description of most Russian athletes recently.

[Alph]

14 minutes ago, reveldevil said:

If only you'd started like you Finnished. 

I'm sat here booing you