BigIzz

I dont see the point in comparing it to the past really. Say it was the worst World Cup ever if you like but it will still be better than the World Cup next summer, or the summer after, or the summer after. A bad World Cup is still better than no World Cup. I know I'll miss it and throughly enjoyed it.

That'd be tragic. In all seriousness though I don't really see how Fabergas fits at Barcelona. Xavi and Inestia make him rather redundant as I can't imagine you'd play all three together. Unless they doubt Inestias fitness over a whole season.

In no particular order... Xavi, Sneijder, Forlan, Maicon, Mueller, Villa A close seventh is Schweinsteiger

Blah ignore my stupid double post I hit reply not edit

He has but they just showed the stat that Xavi has created 25 scoring chances in the tournament which is 8 more than anyone else. No one says you can't have both in the list

Xavi needs to in the in the list. It's easy to take his contribution for granted but he's been fantastic.

Spain will win it (I'm currently 14th out of 40 people in a World Cup pool so clearly I know what I'm talking about, not like that stupid octopus). They just keep grinding out results and I don't see it changing. My one concern is Del Bosque has a lot more to think about in terms of lineups than the Dutch do so there is a chance he picks wrong. I'll go 1-0, Spain. I'll be happy with either team winning though, nice to see a new country win.

At the same token, City have the money to go after anyone. Why would they wnt to spend so much on a 32 year old that they don't need to reach their goal for next season, which is realistically to qualify for the Champions League. if City is looking to win the Champions League Drogba would probably be 34 or 35 at the youngest before they're in a position to make a serious run. I can't imagine Drogba would want to move to a team not in the Champions League at this stage of his career either. I doubt Chelsea have any real interest in selling him. I don't really see how this makes much sense.

Wouldn't mind myself but...

Well it's better then nothing. Nice to see Essien training.

From what I understand (admittedly not much), this kid isn't anywhere close to being able to withstand the week-in-week out of the Primer League. While he is immensely talented he is very frail.

Can't wait. I was just thinking about how boring these past few weeks have been. Even watching every World Cup match so far hasn't scratched my itch.

I'd still love to sign him but on his current form he isn't worth an astronomical transfer fee. There is no guarantee that he becomes the Torres of old again.

Obviously Spain haven't been at their best but they keep doing enough and here they are in the semi final. Can they do just enough against the Germans?

He played great against Argentina. It isn't my money so I say bring him on!

I don't think Ballack would have killed them but I can't see them playing at this pace with Ballack in their lineup. His loss was greatly exaggerated, at least here in the US Fair point about Klose and Podolski playing better for Germany though.

I hate to say it but the Ballack injury was the best thing to happen to Germany.

Or Ozil. Or Muller. Or all of them.

All I can says is wow

I can't even get the official Chelsea App because it's only in the UK app store. Guess they don't want to make money in other countires? At least I can get the Arsenal one

I agree. This isn't cheating. He is playing a game that has rules. He broke one of those rules. He was caught, punished and the game continued exactly as prescribed by those rules. Standing on the goal line in the 120th minute of a World Cup match isn't the time to be philosophical about these things, all you can worry about is keeping the ball out of the net.

Melo was shocking. I'll never understand what would posess someone to stomp on a player, down a goal, in the last 20 minutes of a World Cup quarterfinal. Are you really that undisciplined? It was quite Zidane's head butt but it was up there.

I'm not crazy about it but as long as we don't expect him to feature very prominently I don't think it's a bad move. I can understand swapping Cole for him though because he was better than Joe Cole last season.

Tactically, Brazil-Netherlands should be fascinating. Two well disciplined squads but with incredible attacks. I'm not sure it will be the most aesthetically pleasing of games but if you appreciate tactics and match ups this should be the game of the tournament. The biggest question for me is can Bastos stop Robben? I don't think he is going to have to do it on his own and Brazil has some very physical defenders so when he cuts across and gets wacked by Lucio early, how will he respond? The other big question is can the Dutch left contain Maicon and Alves? Kyut and his incredible work rate may prove invaluable for the Duth in this one but if he has to always track back how much does that hurt their attack? Also can either Kaka or Snjider find any space against two solid holding midfielders? If not both teams are going to attack through their right with Robben and Maicon.

welcome