Let's have a look at Honduras, then...

Substitutions :
From what I gather and the remnants of the Fantasy Euro:
You select your team prior to the first game of group A.
Say you have fielded a 2 attacker team.
On the pitch is a player who doesn't score a single goal. On the bench is one who, in real life, scores twice.
Next day, your second selected striker, playing in group B, is not thrown onto the turf.
Then you can sigh in relief, he'll be automatically replaced by the benched hotshot, provided you placed him at the top of the list of benched attackers.
The substitution will occur after the last game of group H.
I don't know if a whole team can be automatically replaced, or if there's a limit of substitution per line. I'd say, quite positively, that if one player misses in midfield, he'll be replaced by a midfielder, no matter the score of other blokes.

Paul : your point was clear.
And you were probably safe from what's being said about the team here... Gourcuff being isolated (the young playmaker whose Bordeaux side collapsed in Ligue 1 this season) within the group by the tougher ones, like Anelka... the whole right flank being dumped by the press (hard for them to cope with Evra-Malouda-Ribéry's form)... destination disaster... one victory perhaps... hardly a clean sheet for Lloris (who kept Real Madrid out of the way to the Champions League semis)... add to that that the deputy-minister of sports said she thought the hotel les Bleus were staying at was way too expensive, and that the federation would have to answer a few questions...

When you see my team, you'll see where my hopes lie for group A... but I'll be happy to see the team play a fourth match...

Nani's out of the Cup now...
Time for the games to start; who will it be tomorrow?

all I know is I am gonna kick yr asses at this

^^^^
Seems a bit odd...
Are we talking about the same thing?

not you bertrand

just to anyone participating the fantasy world cup action

in it to win it

ok, i don't do fantasy leagues, but predictions for the first day?

i haven't seen south africa play, so i have no idea how it will match against mexico-- let's say a tie because south africa is the local team.

as for uruguay-france, i'm gambling 2-2, since both teams have good strikers, unless uruguay decides to suck that day and france gets 3-0, ha ha.

i will try to sign up and join before tomorrow's first game!

i will possibly be travelling during that period, so I don't know if i will manage with all the substitutions in between games/rounds, but we'll see how it goes...

Day 1 predictions

South Africa V Mexico
No idea about SA but Mexico looked pretty useful against England. Theyll both be nervous so i'll say 1-1

France V Uruguay
I think France will be better than everyone's saying they will be.
2-0 France

not so sure about France, they seem to have really gone downhill but they always put on a good performance and against Uruguay they might get a good game. i bet they get at least one by them.

the england match i am going for a 2 - 0.

England rarely do well in their first game. Saying that, I'm going 2-1 England. The USA may lack superstars but they're organised and more than capable of getting a goal on the counter-attack (which I think England will be susceptible to throughout the tournament). England will nodoubt dominate posession but if the US can isolate Rooney and put pressure on Johnson down the left (surely England's biggest weak spot) then it really could go either way. Although will their midfield be strong enough to deal with Johnson going forward?

My England starting eleven:

---------------Green---------------
Johnson --- King --- Terry --- A. Cole
Lennon -- Gerrard - Lampard - J. Cole
------------Heskey - Rooney

mang, i have to put my money on the USA team or i'll be deported. seriously tough match for 'merica. if rooney gets kicked out for losing his shit or fucks his knee, however... hmmm...

USA are obviously the underdogs but I really do think people are overestimating England at the moment - not necessarily in here, but in general, and especially with regards this USA match, which I really do think is gonna be an absolutely cracking match. Besides Rooney, England has a strong central midfield, and Ashley Cole. How far a team can progress with just four outstanding players, one of whom (Gerrard) rarely does much for England anyway, is gonna be interesting.

I don't want to rain on the England supporter's parade, but not one single Premiership manager said England will win it. Most of them said Brazil will win it, closely followed by Spain.

My favourite to win it, Mexico, are playing the opening game today against South Africa. Mexico will hammer South Africa.

man I cannot fucking wait!!!!!!!!!

why did Shakira pick Fozzie bear's catch phrase to make a song about the world cup?

waka waka waka

cheeto you better be watching on univision

trust me
--

so far south africa isn't worth shit except for tshabalala. yeah they got a bunch of corner kicks but that was more random. they have this bunched up defense that all it does is kick the ball out.

ooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

i hope mexico wins.

I am watching on Uniovision, both in my office and in my building lobby.

the mexican defense needs to get their shit together, holy fuck, i almost creamed my pants before the ball bounced off the post.

SA did much better when their defense started coming out playing, but the mexican defense & goalkeeper were in another planet & fucking up big.

thank fuck for rafa marquez, holy shit.

tied as predicted, ikara cult got the score perfect, where does he collect his winnings?

ps- we need a non-fantasy thread.

espn no tiene esto

Marquez got me mad points already in the fantasy!

i reckon france is gonna mess up and concede an early goal with no come back. you can never rule them out but they seem so unorganized.

I knew I shouldnt have disagreed with every pundit, writer, bookie and fan who's been commentating on this for the last 6 months, id decided to dismiss them all and put my house on England until I read what you had to say. And gosh darn it, you might have just saved my life with this stark, sober, razor-sharp analysis. Thanks!

And also, 1 match, 1 correct prediction... I should probably quit while im ahead.

I felt like I was going against the majority of the world in wanting Mexico to win.

I've decided that, England aside, I'm gonna support countries based on my food preferences. So Mexico are now my 'second' team.

depends what part of the world you're talking about. in these time zones most people are for mexico.

so who do you go for in escargot vs uruguayan churrasco?

ribery is being effectively suppresed on the left by victorino, but forlan+suarez can't get their shit together (except for that 1 shot by forlan which was a lone effort)-- uruguay is playing too far back & letting france make all the plays. if something doesn't change, uruguay is going to get fucked eventually, like anelka almost did near the end. best player of the game so far is muslera, great job stopping that deadly free kick.

random note: uruguay+france = lautréamont

nishimura: ASSHOLE!

way to fuck up evra's expulsion and give france a "free" free kick at the last minute. the game almost got out of hand due to his bad calls.

mothefuckers like this ruin the game, holy fuck.

ireland, i feel your pain.

well, uruguay showed a lot of balls defending. holy shit that was a tense end of the game.

/deep breaths

...+ Jules Supervielle + Jules Laforgue... there is apparently a monument in Montevideo in honour of the three french(-uruguayan) poets born in Montevideo, but i've never seen it, as i've never been there... but yeah, i guess the "Count" is nowadays the more famous of the three (and the only one i've really read to be honest).



...also Uruguay + France = Elli Medeiros... from Elli et Jacno (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAGpvd9yK6s & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq_7dbaQ4QA) and also the Stinky Toys (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HxcDY-ea4s & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz3ZCKBb2jo)

hmm... regarding the game, i guess it was result i would have predicted if i was forced to... 0-0 just like the last two Uruguay-France, if i'm not mistaken...

It's weird, in the run up to the game I was tentatively backing France, but almost as soon as it actually started I found myself edging more and more towards Uraguay. I'm surprised Domenech hasn't been assasinated in France by now. He seems set on doing all he can to nullify whatever actual quality France has. Certainly no team that has Ribéry, Malouda and Anelka in it should ever be as bad as that.

Forlan was man of the match for me, by miles. Although that's probably because his only realistic competition was the referee who I honestly thought had a really good game.

Right now I'd heavily fancy S'th Africa and Mexico's chances against both Uraguay and France.

I'm so looking forward to tomorrow now. England Vs USA, the Maradona freakshow vs Nigeria. AWESOME!

Oh, and I'm ditching my food thing. I foresee far too many moral conflicts.

and the opening game... during the first few minutes, i had the impression this would be a long and hard game for South Africa and that they would suffer a lot to avoid defeat, but in the end they did quite well (erm, from what i've seen, i was at work, so did not pay 100% attention to the live streaming running on my computer)...

and i had tshabalala in my team! unfortunately the 5 points he got for scoring were offset against a minus 4 as "attacking bonus" (this is new, I believe?), apparently because he gave away too many balls to the opponents... also there is no more "man of the game" bonus, right?

i thought the ref was really good too

and for the 1st time i found myself agreeing with Mark Lawrencunt, why oh why didn't Domenech put Ribery on one wing and Malouda on the other with Anelka and Henry up front? Unbelievable

After England i'm supporting Japan and Holland

there was no foul for the final free kick! it was a totally gratuitous setup! and evra got away with murder, he should have gotten a 2nd yellow card circa min 65! i call bullshit!

Exactly. Both in terms of Lawrenson not being a prick and Domenech just being weird.

I'd have still started with Anelka over Henry but Malouda had to start, if only so he and Anelka could link up like they do at Chelsea. Apparently Malouda had a bit of a bust up with Domenech in training, so that might account for it. We need the French contingent here to shed some light on matters.

And Uraguay seem to be the dictionary definition of a one-man team. With Forlan, they're barely average. Without him, God knows.

Holland and Japan ah? Mine are probably Holland, Mexico and Argentina, although I'll probably start rooting for one of gthe aftican teams too, once I've seen them all play.

It's gonna be fascinating tomorrow, to see if the USA start winding up Rooney. I really do think that has all the makings of a great great match.


I'll be honest, I didn't notice any controversy with those. Maybe your coverage picked it up better than ours. I'll have a look at the highlights. On the whole though, in both matches, I thought the referees did fine. Not that either game was particularly bad tempered. It'll be interesting to see how they deal with teams like Argentina or Italy, neither of whom, I think it's fair to say, are the most altruistic of sides.

Maybe he does it in purpose, to avenge from the way he is treated in the media (that is, like shit!).
It seems everyone here has forgotten that he has led France in final in 06.
Or, more likely, since 98, it's 'normal' that France win the world cup, and 06 is considered as a failure. :confused:

URUguay.

i disagree with this. they have a good defense-- they've always been a team that's strong on defense, and plays rough (as proven today). they are not an extraordinary team by all means, they qualified only in the... "repechaje", i don't know how you call this in english, but they didn't make it in the south american group and had to play costa rica from the shitty concacaf group in order to make it. but they are capable of playing well. it's their offense that hasn't gelled, hence forlan was the lone attacker. suarez disappointed. but i think they can beat mexico, as mexico has a better offensive midfield but is rather ineffectual when it's time to score. uruguay is the opposite (or should be, if their star strikers get their shit together). today their midfield really sucked on the attack but did ok on containing france, & their best player was the goalkeeper. let's see what develops though, south africa was way improved in the 2nd half and i now see some hope for them.


it's not in most "highlights", but as soon as it's up on youtube i'll pin it down for you & you can judge. here they repeated it & showed closeups of the fouls & bad calls. this is not to forgive that hatchet job on sagna, by the way, which deserved a red card on its own.

ok, see here:

http://www.fifa.com/live/competition...453/index.html

go to "play by play" tab & see in min 64 "evra concedes a free kick"-- that was a yellow card offense and the ref "forgave" him. there were other fuckups, but i didn't record the video to point them out.

the first set of referees (from uzbekistan or krygistan, i forget) were impeccable, very nice job.

ok see you guys tomorrow for argentina nigeria. no offense to greece, but i'm not waking up at 5am to watch them play korea.

From what I understand, Zidane practically dragged that team to the final in 06, in spite of Domenech. That he lost the dressing room and that the players were basically following Zidane instead of him. I don't know if that's true but lgoing on today's performance it wouldn't surprise me if it was - and also that it might happen again, with someone like Henry effectively running the show.

I bow to you entirely there. I was only able to judge them on that game, during which, as you also say, their midfield had no attack. Although I don't know if France really took much containing today. I think you're absolutely spot on about Mexico though.

Sincere apologies on the UrUguay front.



OK, fair enough, but you'd have to agree that overall the people most responsible for screwing things up in that game were the twenty-two/one players on the pitch and one coach. It was a deserved 0-0 for me.

I also think the refereeing has been very good so far. No incorrect offside decisions yet. If I had to think of any criticism at all, then it would be the referee from the first game (from Uzbekistan I think?) giving 1 or 2 easy free kicks to the host nation, but nothing serious. As an avid follower of the Uzbekistani league I certainly expected the refereeing to be a lot worse.

Perhaps the Japanese ref from the second match should've given Lodeiro a straight red instead of a second yellow, but I didn't spot any bad calls involving Evra. I might have missed it though, I'll admit to not paying full attention towards the end of the game... it was way too boring for that.

Suarez (35 goals in the Dutch league this season) was very disappointing indeed. France lacking creativity, but not as bad as I had expected them to be. And who knows, in 2006 they were godawful in the first few games as well, but then from the 2nd round on (game against Spain) it started to roll.

The Domenech thing:
The bust up with Malouda seemingly occured when RD asked him to play on one wing and Ribéry on the other. It is strange. Ribéry wants to play on the left flank. Malouda never played on the right.
Malouda said today that the altercation happened in training. He played too aggressively and that wasn't appreciated, by Evra and Domenech. Evra might be overacting as new captain. Too demanding.
Malouda added that the bust up was not one, and that Diaby being selected instead was no sanction.

Now, Diaby has been a good player since the warm ups. He was a sub and offered the assist on France's second goal against Costa Rica, 270 minutes ago.
So it could be the truth.

Anyhow, Domenech not sanctioning Malouda (by rushing him back to his homeland, like Ireland did to Roy Keane) can be seen as weakness.
Back in '06, he was deprived of his share of plaudits by former champions Dugarry, Lizarazu and others.

Domenech reckoned that he was focused on the tournament but alledged that the day after the final, no longer France coach, he will burn up immediately.

It seems the team as a team cannot cope with the pressure; everyone's dealing with his own load of responsibility. That ain't good.

I thought the result was OK. The team isn't as hopeless as it could have been. The game was not a shame - I remember France-Romania in '08, that was crap tactics.

I look forward to South Africa's next game.

^Thanks for keeping us up-to-date on the French squad, Bertrand! All I can find out about them from the Dutch newspapers usually involves prostitutes and hotels that are deemed too expensive. :)


About Fantasy football, work was just too busy yesterday, so sadly I didn't have the time anymore to optimise my initial squad. So now I'm stuck with the one I had quickly thrown together earlier without putting much thought into it.

Luckily I managed to take Nani out in time for the deadline, but I didn't even know that Bernard Parker is no longer first choice for South Africa... Oh well, that's what free transfers are for. All in all it's not a bad squad I think.

awesome goal by heinze.
enyeama had a nice save or messi would have made it 2-0
jonas didnt deserve yellow card-- there was no contact
on the other hand odiah fouled messi he was attacking and should have received one-- which is why heinze almost lost his temper. taiwo seems to be everywhere. when argentina doesnt put pressure it becomes vulnerable-- i think it boils down to who gets tired first-- if it's argentina, nigeria could get deadly.

shit, argentina should have scored more, but enyeama was really awesome

also think maradona should had made his changes earlier cuz with fresh players nigeria got dangerous. higuain was taken out but velez was kinda nowhere. jonas was rock solid, ran around all 90 minutes and was everywhere. his role will probably be underrated.

and a pity teiwa got injured-- they said it was the new ball, too light, that when he kicked didn't provide enough counterweight and he fucked his knee. his replacement uche really fucked up his chance to score.

these 2 teams qualify fo' sho'-- unless south korea surprises, but i don't really think so. fucking tae kwon do-- they could break someone's leg.