[Hip Priest]

Originally Posted by Gulasch Noir

my team is called Billa Rewe Konzern, but I'm not sure, if i see through it completely. What do i have to do? Wait till June, 9 th?

Send a personal message to johnnywinternoshow with your email address so that he can send you an invote to join the Sonic Youth World Cup group.

[johnnywinternoshow]

i'm still not convinced by crouch. If i was an england fan I'd be blindly hoping that erikson brings defoe instead of him. I'ma liverpool fan and I'm not sure if crouch should even be in the first team there. There's rumours that rafa benitez is after defoe or tevez or fernando torres. Any one of them would be fucking fantastic compared to auld lanky

gulasch, you can sign up by sending me your email like hippriest says or else go to http://en.fifaworldcup.fantasysports...inprivategroup, the group number is 17686 and the password is ratherripped

[Gulasch Noir]

thanks!

[trainyard bliss]

my yahoo id is lhasafever3@yahoo.com

i think i should be able to figure this out . . . i've never done anything with fantasy sports, and i don't know much about soccer outside of my own experience playing on different teams.

[johnnywinternoshow]

some really varied teams now. Atari's looks one to be reckoned with

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Its cool more people have come around to join.

2 teams wouldnt have worked.

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

I was going to wake up at 7am to watch the England game, but I'm happy I didn't waste my time.

I suppose this was aimed at getting a feel for how T&T plays. Soca Warriors are better than the Reagge Boys.

[atari 2600]

http://www.soccerphile.com/soccerphi...tball-war.html
(click for the rest of the article)
For many Croats, the war of independence from Serbia did not start in June of 1991 as most history books will tell you. The "real" date was May 13th of 1990, when Dinamo Zagreb ultras, the Bad Blue Boys (their original name is in English) stood up against the Serb-controlled police and their foes, Red Star Belgrade followers, that were tearing Dinamo's stadium apart. That was also the day Zvonimir Boban became a legend for a kick without a ball.

[Iain]

What's the deal with Serbia and Montenegro now? Montenegro officially declared independence yesterday.....So a country that doesn't actually exist is playing in the World Cup....sort of.

[johnnywinternoshow]

boban was pretty good on the ball too. Hadn't ever heard of this before, cool link

[Gulasch Noir]

Originally Posted by Iain

What's the deal with Serbia and Montenegro now? Montenegro officially declared independence yesterday.....So a country that doesn't actually exist is playing in the World Cup....sort of.

Well, there are a few options. One would be Serbia "inheritting" Serbia and Montenegro (same with czech republic/Czechoslovakia a few years ago). I think that's the most probable case.

[atari 2600]

Originally Posted by Iain

What's the deal with Serbia and Montenegro now? Montenegro officially declared independence yesterday.....So a country that doesn't actually exist is playing in the World Cup....sort of.

thanks for the scoop, Iain.
A new country in the world...now that's worthy of writing about and this thread, being the best on the board right now, needs bumps.
http://www.zaman.com/?bl=internation...60604&hn=33715

[pokkeherrie]

montenegro's independence hasn't been ratified by anyone yet. also, they're not a fifa member.

it's already been decided they're playing as one country in the tournament, but they will likely appear as two countries in the euro 2008 qualifiers, despite of the draw already been made for that. i wonder how uefa are going to fit them in.

as for countries not existing having a national football team... how about england, wales, northern ireland, scotland?

[atari 2600]

they "declared" independence, yep
& are
still awaiting the approval of the UN & other countries

in the soccer news out there Montenegro is being termed the "new Scotland" for the very reason you allude to pokkeherrie.

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

I was thinking about this too. Its a strange situation for this team. Even more strange if they move on as they are capable of doing.

Here is more funny bits about the craziness of the World Cup:

"Finally there are the fans who are resigned to misery. In Germany a recent survey revealed that only 7% of respondents think the hosts will win. (Even fewer seem interested in picking up a keepsake: The company that produced Goleo, the Cup's leonine mascot, had to file for bankruptcy after poor sales.)

Spain, a perennial power with a long history of underachieving, adopted its supporters' defeatist attitude by booking its players into a hotel where the most expensive room goes for 99 euros a night. (Motel Seis, anyone?)

But no one traffics dread like the folks in England, who did their best to look past the upcoming tournament by obsessing over the search for a coach who would lead the team after it. Once a replacement for Sven-Goran Eriksson was found, it was back to fretting over '06, so one fan, Paul Hucker did the natural thing: He bought a p100 insurance policy that pays him a million if he suffers psychological trauma because of England's elimination. Enjoy!"

ONLY 5 DAYS!

[Iain]

Originally Posted by pokkeherrie

montenegro's independence hasn't been ratified by anyone yet. also, they're not a fifa member.

it's already been decided they're playing as one country in the tournament, but they will likely appear as two countries in the euro 2008 qualifiers, despite of the draw already been made for that. i wonder how uefa are going to fit them in.

as for countries not existing having a national football team... how about england, wales, northern ireland, scotland?

I suppose that's true. It's just weird to me that their status as a country has changed (almost) as the World Cup is getting underway. I wonder how it is affecting the mood in the dressing room, if at all.?

[Hip Priest]

Ghana beat Jamaica 4-1 this week, and this afternoon hey have beaten South Korea 3-1. That's a pretty decent result today - good form going into a tough group (Ghana/USA/Italy/Czech Republic).

[Hip Priest]

Originally Posted by Iain

I suppose that's true. It's just weird to me that their status as a country has changed (almost) as the World Cup is getting underway. I wonder how it is affecting the mood in the dressing room, if at all.?

Qualifying comptitions for tournaments often have different numbers of teams in different groups, so the split won't be a problem.

The name SCG will linger through the football World Cup in Germany and possibly the basketball world championships in August and September in Japan. SCG, invited on a wild card after a disaster last year at the home Euro, defends the basketball title won four years ago by Yugoslavia.

I read somewhere that there's only oneMontenegran player in the squad now. The squad are reportedly happy enough, but all is not well politically:

The Serbian government is yet to definitely and unambiguously recognize Montenegrin independence. Belgrade, which inherited the SCG, did not send representatives to the ceremony in Podgorica despite invitations to participate.

A day earlier in Belgrade, EU top diplomat Javier Solana called on Serbia and Montenegro to build a 'constructive relationship' and swiftly resolve issues stemming from the dissolution of their union.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, who continues to appear angry and frustrated over the decision of Montenegrin voters, refused any EU help in the dissociation process.

[pokkeherrie]

from what i've read and saw, serbia and montenegro players have always stated that they have a very tight and close squad... i think about 80-90% of it consists of serbs. we'll see next week in their first game against holland.

speaking of that match, holland just drew australia 1-1 in a kicking frenzy. cocu, sneijder and van bronckhorst had to leave the pitch with injuries and might miss their first world cup match against serbia and montenegro. with van der vaart still injured that would be worrying for midfield.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakin...z8&n=184857682

[johnnywinternoshow]

fuck, sneijder is in my fantasy line up