[MellySingsDoom]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

plus they've got that Arevalo Rios bloke who looks like he should be in Crowbar.

Mmm, nice!

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

i think you meant bandido

 

 

everything for everybody, nothing for ourselves

[demonrail666]

guerilla

[!@#$%!]

magilla

 

[jon boy]

but who is paul the psychic octopus gonna choose for the final?

 

[_slavo_]

 

[Keeping It Simple]

Originally Posted by _slavo_

 

That's brilliant.

[Tokolosh]

Originally Posted by pokkeherrie

Insane, what a party... wish you'd all had been here to see it.

Once in a lifetime

^Enough said!

[Rob Instigator]

wow!! awesome!

[Bertrand]

Toni's pictures are fun (and the party seems to carry on in Rob's signature)...

The third place is quite interesting. Sometimes, a team is so torn that its main players are not even fielded (France, 1982, as if Schumacher's hip had fractured everyone's jaws).
The other team might want to reach the third place (France, 1986) to leave on a glimpse of hope.

And remember, some team might want to leave with a consolation price: best scorer (Croatia tried to do that for Davor Suker in 1998, but I'm too lazy and not so fond of the player to check if the goal was reached).
Perhaps that could be that, with Forlan, who' won't play another cup. And for Germany, you have Klose, who's 1 goal short of reaching Ronaldo's record of 15 goals during his world cups.

Noone's ever gonna beat Just Fontaine's record of 13 in just one world cup.

Howie Webb is gonna be the ref, that's great, I like him. One of his assistants slightly screwed up during the European cup and he was sent home too early (I saw a documentary about the referees, the Italian being happy with his team elimination and the Spanish - who had been great - almost deflated to see Spain reach the final, when they never could achieve that... this last referee in the documentary was shown leaving, just like that Mexican(?) boxer who pissed blood, in John Huston's Fat City)(I know Huston shot a movie about, erm, football, but it was crap - Stallone a goalkeeper)(films about football usually cast a guy who's a disaster with a ball - Patrick Dewaere, grrrrrrrrreat actor, for instance, in Coup de tête).

Well, Webb then.

[jon boy]

Paul the physic octopus chose Spain. has he ever been wrong?

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by jon boy

Paul the physic octopus chose Spain. has he ever been wrong?

no, not once during this this Cup..

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

 

Ironically spain has been the team I should be rooting for.. FIFA has declared them the best behaved team in the Cup, with the least fouls and cards pulled, South Korea is second, and Mexico is the worst with the most cards..

Veteran Ghana footballers remember the high life

Page last updated at 07:14 GMT, Thursday, 8 July 2010 08:14 UK



By Will Ross
BBC News, Ghana
Ghana's Black Stars have been receiving the red carpet treatment after returning from the World Cup in South Africa.
But these players are by no means the only Black Stars to have achieved hero status at home and abroad - Ghana has football history.
James Adjei is 81, though he looks about 20 years younger. Osei Kofi is 70 and could pass for 50.

Ghanaian football legends James Adjei and Osei Kofi remember playing without boots

I met the two veteran footballers flicking through some black and white photos in Mr Adjei's modest home outside Accra.
"We played with all our hearts for the love of the game and we were not paid anything. Nobody gave us anything except for food," he says as he recalls a tricky national team tour to Ireland and England in 1951 - six years before independence, when Ghana was called Gold Coast.
"We played barefoot," he recalls.
"We had no knowledge of playing in boots. But we played good football against those teams in boots."
Staying on their feet in the cold and rain was a challenge.
The goalkeeper broke his leg in the first game and the team lost most games but when the players returned to Takoradi port after two weeks at sea they each had extra luggage - a pair of football boots.
Fainting after header "This man sitting down here next to me was one of the greatest footballers," Mr Kofi says of his senior colleague, whose talent was spotted by the legendary English footballer Sir Stanley Matthews during a visit to Ghana in 1957.
"After the match at Kumasi's Jackson Park, Stanley Matthews was interviewed and he said James Adjei could be compared to any midfielder in the United Kingdom," he recalls.

 

James Adjei and his handkerchief - worse than Uruguay? But Mr Kofi was not a bad player himself.
Known as "The Wizard Dribbler" he was also given the nickname "One Man Symphony Orchestra" as he could carry the side during his hey-day in the 1960s.
While there has been much talk at the World Cup in South Africa of the Jabulani ball causing players problems, they can all count themselves lucky that the ball has evolved over the years.

It is all about rhythm - while Brazilians have the Samba, we have High Life music

Osei Kofi AKA "The Wizard Dribbler" Veteran footballe
"When we played it was a pure leather ball which became extremely heavy after it rained.
"I can remember a few players heading the ball to stop a powerful shot and fainting," Mr Kofi recalls with a smile.
He also has a theory as to why Ghanaians make good footballers.
"It is all about rhythm.
"Most tribes in Ghana dance with their feet - there is only one that dances with its arms. And while Brazilians have the Samba, we have High Life music."
Ghana's Black Stars may have been knocked out of this World Cup because of some Uruguayan cheating - arms instead of feet again - but Mr Kofi admits he learnt a bit of trickery from Mr Adjei who was known as "His Majesty".
"I might be given a through pass and I would just drop a white handkerchief while the two of us were running," he says.
"Your attention would by all means go on the white handkerchief and by the time you realised, I was bound to score."
Pan-Africanist vision
While Ghana carried the flag for the continent during the knock-out stages of the World Cup, some Ghanaians are keen to point out that this was not the first time that the country has led the rest of the continent.

 

If Kwame Nkrumah were alive today he would be the happiest man

James Adjei
After Ghana gained its independence, the country's first leader, Kwame Nkrumah, renamed the Gold Coast X1, the Black Stars.
As other countries followed by cutting their colonial ties, the team was often invited to play exhibition games around Africa.
"Every blessed month there was a Russian aircraft waiting and as each country gained its independence, the Black Stars were invited to go and demonstrate the Ghana brand of football," says Mr Kofi.
"We were invited by Jomo Kenyatta in the 1960s. When we met them, we beat Kenya 13-2. We destroyed their independence celebrations," he says, in fits of laughter.
When it comes to coaching the national team, both veterans believe there is much to be learnt from the late Mr Nkrumah.
"Nkrumah said the black man was capable of managing his own affairs," says Mr Kofi, questioning why of six African teams at the World Cup, only one had a local coach.
"We have won the Africa Cup of Nations four times - each time with a black coach."
After continent-wide appreciation for the Ghana team's performance at the World Cup some pundits have renamed the Black Stars, "African Stars."
For some, this brings back memories of Nkrumah's pan-Africanist vision.
"If Kwame Nkrumah were alive today he would be the happiest man," said Mr Adjei with a smile.

[chicka]

I'll certainly be rooting for Uruguay and I expect a good game because Forlan still has an outside shot at the boot and as mentioned Klose is chasing history aka Ranaldo. Germany has a quite a few young players who certainly don't want to leave with the taste of that defeat in their hearts and minds and you know Uruguay is not going to lay down for anyone

[Rob Instigator]

what is the schedule? is the 3rd place match saturday and the final sunday?

[demonrail666]

Yeah, it's saturday, and Chicka has a good point about Klose and Forlan chasing the golden boot, etc. I'll also be supporting Uruguay. I'd like to see Forlan get the third place medal if only because I suspect this'll be his last World Cup and he's definitely been one of my favourite players during this one. A case of 'come on Uruguay, do it for Diego'. Although I'm also biologically incapable of supporting Germany against anyone - except Italy (I just think I'd ignore that match altogether).

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Yeah, it's saturday, and Chicka has a good point about Klose and Forlan chasing the golden boot, etc. I'll also be supporting Uruguay. I'd like to see Forlan get the third place medal if only because I suspect this'll be his last World Cup and he's definitely been one of my favourite players during this one. A case of 'come on Uruguay, do it for Diego'. Although I'm also biologically incapable of supporting Germany against anyone - except Italy (I just think I'd ignore that match altogether).

as much as I don't like Alemania, I can't forget what Uruguay did to Ghana, and while I also enjoy Forlan and Saurez playing, and I was rooting solidly for Uruguay since their first match in the group stage, I can't possibly root for them anymore, and Alemania gets my vote. Shit, the chicano activist in me was straight dissing the shit out of Espania (when they played chile) but in the end, I found it almost natural to root for them against Alemania, a team I like less then Espania..

The problem with National teams is that its very very hard to separate the cultural/political/social baggage from the athletics. Is Espania a great team? Yes. Is Espania a great country? Fuck no, and there is MAAADD bad blood.

Now with Alemania I got a similar but opposite vibe, in fact is simply because of their outstanding world cup history that I have to support an underdog team like Netherlands or even Espania over them (while both are World class teams neither have a Cup under they belt)

I am rooting for the Netherlands and for Alemania in third (as much as they don't deserve it, Uruguay forfeited all my raspect)

[pokkeherrie]

Originally Posted by SonicBebs

relentless pressure is right. you have to be really good (or lucky) to beat this team. To be solid and organised for 90 minutes and run around chasing shadows and trying to 2nd gues where xavi or alonso or iniesta are gonna put the ball must be exhausting. To then have the legs to break and actually hit them on the break is near on impossible. If any one could (organised defence, awsome on the counter attack) it was germany.
The netherlands only hope is to hold out for penalties

The dutch haven't got good enough players

Eh?
Don't think Holland are gonna park the bus vs Spain. That's only worked for Switzerland so far and it's not their style.

Sure, Spain may have the better players and the passing they showed vs Germany was absolutely phenomenal (half their team plays together on a daily basis at Barcelona), but for all their skills and talent they've been hardly effective, scoring barely 7 goals in 6 games. If Spain win by scoring less than 4 goals on Sunday, they'll be the lowest scoring World Cup winner of all time. Brazil won it with 11 in 1994.

They'll need to be more effective than they were Wednesday because I doubt they'll get the same amount of chances. I think Germany (whom I have to give much credit for their impressive style of playing this tournament!), being a young and fairly inexperienced side, were showing way too much respect for Spain.

The ball posession stats said Germany 39% vs Spain 61%. I guarantee you that Holland won't let them see as much of the ball. And yes, that does mean they will get physical if needed. Van Bommel and De Jong certainly won't have their eyes on the popularity prize. Question is whether they'll get booked in the 10th minute or the 80th minute and what the score will be at that time. I think the main battle will be about who controls midfield. Sneijder or Xavi?

Don't get me wrong, I think Spain clearly should be considered favourites, but I'm fairly sure that Holland will score, like they've done in each and every game. The question is whether Spain can profit from Holland sitting less deep than their earlier opponents or not and can score more than 1 this time.

Personally of course I hope that Holland can finally excorcise the demons of '74 and '78 and everyone's favourite player Mark van Bommel will be lifting the cup in the end, which isn't called the Jules Rimet cup anymore ever since Brazil got to keep that one after winning it a 3rd time in 1970. It got stolen later and has never been recovered.

[pokkeherrie]

Originally Posted by _slavo_

 

Heh, that's from the Euro 2008 final, but hilarious all the same.

 

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by pokkeherrie

Eh?
Don't think Holland are gonna park the bus vs Spain. That's only worked for Switzerland so far and it's not their style.

Besides not being Holland's style, it'd be sure to work against them. That would be when Spain really could just take over possession almost entirely. And I'm still not convinced that Holland has strength enough at the back to soak up that kind of pressure. The Spanish have a stronger defence but I'd say Holland has the stronger forward line - if Villa gets marked out of the game, Puyol's head aside, Spain's strike threat is largely eliminated (while we know Holland are capable of scoring from all over). And Spain still has that problem regarding what to do about Torres.

I think Germany, ... being a young and fairly inexperienced side, were showing way too much respect for Spain.

I don't think the players necessarily were but I do think the way Loew had them playing maybe did. Although he was clearly also trying to deal with the absence of Muller.

I think the main battle will be about who controls midfield. Sneijder or Xavi?

I think that particular battle, between Sneijder and Xavi, could go either way (although right now I'd have to favour Sneijder). It becomes more difficult for Holland though, I think, when comparing the quality elsewhere in both team's midfields, and in that respect I think Holland may have real problems dominating it overall - especially as I fully expect Van Bommel to get booked pretty early on.

Spain do, as you say, have to be considered favourites, but I'd be surprised if there's more than a goal between them at the end. And penalties - which I wouldn't be at all surprised if it goes to - is obviously just a 50/50. During normal and possibly extra-time, though, i'd put Spain as no more than 55/45 favourites.

[pokkeherrie]

I agree with all your points and I'd roughly give it a 55-45 chance for Spain too.
If you play defensively against Spain, they will beat you by 1-0.

I didn't really mean to single out Sneijder and Xavi, it was more a kind of metaphore. In reality I think it'll be about whether Holland can disrupt the brilliant Barcelona midfield. Football is war like Rinus Michels once said.

Not sure if Van Bommel will get booked early though. He somehow always manages to give the referee the impression that he's being fouled on, while his opponent lies flat on the ground wondering what's just happened.

I used to really despise him when he was still playing in the Dutch league (for PSV Eindhoven). He's really the kind of player who's extremely unlikable for the neutral specatator, but he's oh so important for the succes of his team, kinda like Gattuso for Italy and Makelele for France back in the day.

Defensively, Capdevila seems to be their weakest link at left-back, he'll surely need assistance in dealing with Robben. Hopefully Kuyt can handle Sergio Ramos going forward.


Paul the Octopus has predicted Spain will win the final. However, he's got no record of predicting games that Germany's not involved in... plus he only ever made one wrong prediction, which was the Euro 2008 final. The future is bright, the future is orange.