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Post by gringalais on Mar 25, 2009 1:59:57 GMT
Are you watching? What games are coming up in your country?
Chile plays Peru in Lima this Sunday. There is a big maritime dispute going on between the two countries right now, so things could get nasty. Amazingly, Chile is still in the thick of things and they have a decent chance of winning this one, but a few good players are injured.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2009 10:51:33 GMT
I think France is playing Lithuania this week in a qualifying match.
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Post by gyro on Mar 26, 2009 6:47:47 GMT
England play Ukraine next Wednesday, which will not be easy (but then again, NO match is straight forward for us!)
We play a friendly on Saturday against Slovakia, I think.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2009 8:30:46 GMT
When you look at the FIFA map for Europe, it really makes the eliminatory phase look potentially quite complicated -- except for countries that get the 'gift' of being up against places like Andorra or the Faroe Islands....
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Post by BigIain on Mar 26, 2009 10:23:09 GMT
Scotland play Holland this weekend and then we have our big local derby game with Iceland at home on Wednesday.
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Post by gyro on Mar 26, 2009 11:09:32 GMT
Is that a friendly, I, the Holland one ?
Should be a good match; I'd rather watch that than England vs Slovakiwackyia.
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Post by BigIain on Mar 26, 2009 11:58:05 GMT
Nope they will be beating us in the WC qualifiers.
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Post by gringalais on Mar 26, 2009 15:12:05 GMT
After Peru comes Uruguay, which should be tough. Chile had to import a coach from Argentina after a horrible showing last time. It seems to have helped some, we even beat Argentina, first time ever in a WC qualifying match.
It will be interesting to see how Maradona does as coach for Argentina. Their first game is Venezuela, so it should be an easy start.
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Post by hal2000 on Mar 27, 2009 9:56:11 GMT
I found the official FIFA list of the current top 20 teams in the world.
1 Spain 2 Germany 3 Netherlands 4 Italy 5 Brazil 6 Argentina 7 Croatia 8 Russia 9 England 10 Portugal 11 Turkey 12 France 13 Czechy 14 Ukraine 15 Paraguay 16 Cameroon 17 USA 18 Israel 19 Greece 20 Romania
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2009 19:13:03 GMT
15 out of the 20 are in the European zone (which includes Israel). South America must have really declined in recent years.
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Post by gringalais on Mar 27, 2009 19:54:37 GMT
I was expecting to at least see Uruguay in the top 20, they were close at 21. Looking at the rest of the continent, we have: 21 - Uruguay 30 - Chile 39 - Ecuador 47 - Colombia 56 - Bolivia 65 - Venezuela 77 - Peru The bottom 3 I can understand, but Colombia and Ecuador usually seem better than that. It must be kind of embarassing for Peru to be last. Venezuela is usually the team everyone kicks around and beats by scores of like 5-0. They are more into baseball than football in Venezuela from what I saw.
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Post by gyro on Mar 27, 2009 20:41:27 GMT
If it's the top 20, there's only really Brazil and Argentina you'd expect to be in the list, to be fair.
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Post by gringalais on Mar 27, 2009 20:55:17 GMT
Paraguay is consistently good too. It's about all that country has going for it.
I am pretty surprised to see the US as high as it is. They aren't as bad as many people think, but I didn't expect to see them in the top 20. But again, they don't have much competition in their region.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2009 19:18:24 GMT
Well, France survived its match against Lithuania, just barely.
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Post by gringalais on Mar 30, 2009 1:59:13 GMT
Chile won, 3-1 the first time in 24 years they have beat Peru in Lima. It is kind of amusing that Peru had some shamans burning a shirt of the Chilean national team and doing some sort of ceremony to bring them bad luck when the Chilean team arrived at the airport yesterday. The shirt was of the Chilean player that scored the first goal, 3 minutes into the game.
And can anyone tell me who choses what countries/territories get teams? Shouldn't the UK have one team, not 4? Why do Puerto Rico or other territories of the US have their own teams? To me it doesn't make sense.
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Post by gringalais on Apr 1, 2009 22:01:31 GMT
Argentina just lost to Bolivia 5-1. It was in La Paz, so altitude was a factor, but still . . . It was good for Chile because we were tied with Argentina in the standings.
Having a few friends over in a bit to watch Chile-Uruguay.
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Post by BigIain on Apr 1, 2009 22:39:22 GMT
And Scotland just beat mighty Iceland 2-1!!!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2009 5:18:48 GMT
Bravo, Iain. France crushed Lithuania again with a gigantic 1-0. Of course, Franck Ribéry is the only player on the French team; the others just watch. I think they're saving themselves for the next World Cup final.
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Post by gyro on Apr 2, 2009 6:46:13 GMT
Gringa; the whole country/territory thing comes up regularly for Scotland/England/Wales etc. Basically, most of them are against it as if they had to pick the best from all of those countries, it would end up essentially being an English team anyway. If they forced them to have a certain percentage/contingent from each country, that wouldn't be fair either.
But certain people keep calling for it anyway, trying to be more 'pc' or something, and thinking it's some sort of unifying thang, when in reality it would cause more division.
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Post by BigIain on Apr 2, 2009 7:50:26 GMT
Just like a South American team would be mainly from Brazil and Argentina? As well as what Gyro said, which is really about the historical continuum, I have grown up as a Scot who loves being part of the UK but also enjoy the fact that I am from Scotland. And supporting my country is a large part of that. Would I be expected to have to travel to London to watch my team play? Additionally, Scotland have proved to be a Footballing country capeable of holding their own in the world game. Scotland are no mugs. Every now and then we perform at top European level and consistently punch above our weight. We only just missed out on the Euro Champs last year in a group that included France and Italy, doing the double over France in the process. When you look at places such as some of the Carribean Islands and also some of the mugs in the Oceanic groups that will explain why we do not wish to part of a UK team. We are a lot better than that lot. Bear in mind, Gyro, that Sepp Blatter hates the UK and will do anything to piss us around.
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Post by BigIain on Apr 2, 2009 8:13:59 GMT
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Post by gyro on Apr 2, 2009 8:39:14 GMT
Sepp Blatter, and now Platini too. I wish somebody would get more imagination and hate some other country than the UK !
"I have grown up as a Scot who loves being part of the UK but also enjoy the fact that I am from Scotland. And supporting my country is a large part of that."
You're lucky in that respect, I. If English people say that, half the time they're accused of being racist, arrogant, National Frotn, etc. etc. etc. More examples of lazy stereotyped bigotry and xenophobia. Which, ironically, is what would appear to be the 'classical' view of us from these idiots.
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Post by BigIain on Apr 2, 2009 8:50:43 GMT
Its strange, but I love to See English people taking pride in the cross of St George!! They were flying it all over town here the other week when Eng and Sco were playing rugby. What could possibly be more English than that?
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Post by gyro on Apr 2, 2009 9:05:41 GMT
Indeed, but you're a rational, decent bloke.
Many people like to hear the Scottish and Welsh promote their country and culture, and take pride in it, but the instant an Englishman does it, they get flamed. VERY stupid and small minded. If I'm proud to come from England and refer to myself as English rather than UK or British, it DOESN'T mean I hate the Scots or Welsh etc. etc. Fucking pathetic.
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Post by hwinpp on Apr 2, 2009 9:37:34 GMT
How did Germany make it to 2nd place on that list? The beat Wales 2:0 last night and needed a Welsh own goal ...
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Post by gyro on Apr 2, 2009 9:49:34 GMT
Germany are a bit like Man Utd; even when they're playing shite you can NEVER write them off.
In competitions, they tend to do just enough to get through, then ramp it up towards the end.
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Post by gringalais on Apr 2, 2009 14:40:28 GMT
Thanks for clarifying a bit about the different UK teams.
The end score of Argentina-Bolivia was actually 6-1. I went out into the yard with only a few minutes left in the game and Bolivia scored again. Chile and Uruguay tied 0-0, probably the best outcome since the referee sucked and made a few major errors that affected both teams.
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