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Post by ovechkin8 on Jun 18, 2008 17:14:33 GMT -1
Thanks GB Yes Pete it was scrapped after CONMEBOL protested . Under the regulations Columbia, Ecuador & Bolivia would have been unable to play at home. The altitude limit is now 2800m allowing all 3 nations to play at home. It does confer an advantage on them ,but CONMEBOL aim to allow the visiting team more time to acclimatize to minimize such an advantage & to be fair its minimal. Bolivia high altitude or not in La Paz are a shambles. Get your money on them now to finish bottom of the table. Countries cannot help their geophysical history namely for these three the late Andean orogenesis.
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Post by Golden_Boy™ on Jun 18, 2008 17:18:05 GMT -1
Told you Pete! ;D
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Post by ovechkin8 on Jun 19, 2008 2:06:02 GMT -1
El Superclassico finishes 0-0. Argentina comprehensively outfootballed & outplayed their opponents leading to chants of Adios Dunga from the stands. Argentina had three excellent chances one for Cruz & two for Messi inc.one just before full time to win this game. The referee from Columbia was a disgrace dishing out four yellows to Argentina for players hwo had committed a tug whereas Brazilian players got off soct free with cynical barges hacks from behind as in the Copa . Case in point being Mineiro. Should have had at least three yellows & been sent off. Diabolical doesnt describe the pillock referee .Anyway despite a 0-0 scoreline Argentina were comfortable even against Brazils hoofball tactics. Mascherano El Jefecito shows why he is the worlds best DM making crucial interceptions & tackles all game , setting up attacks & hustling the opposition midfield. He certainly showed Anderson who was boss. Brazil fans know this is a hollow point. Their style is typified by the muscle bound oafs who operate as their strike force Adriano & Baptista. No sign of Pato &Luis Fabiano in his brief stint did more than those two combined in the whole game. For Argentina Cruz must go & Pato & the backline replaced with those talented defenders as in Garay & Gonzalo & Fazio & the likes of Heinze replaced & Zanetti. No surging runs anymore from Il Capitano though he may have been under instruction not to maraud forward & he was competent enough. Jonas Gutierrez did show well down the left & at last gave width tothe attack though di Maria an Arsenal target is a far more skilled two footed player . Hopefully Argentina will crush the foulers in the return leg at El Monumental.
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Post by Golden_Boy™ on Jun 19, 2008 11:55:33 GMT -1
0-0, what an anti climax!
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Post by ovechkin8 on Jun 19, 2008 13:16:09 GMT -1
I dont know GB. Argentina played some wonderful one touch football in the second half while Brazil relied on hoofball. Aside from an early chance for Brazil shot straight at Pato Brazil created precious little. Other results last night saw Ecuador & Columbia draw 0-0 & Bolivia surprisingly beat group leaders Paraguay (Santa Cruz scoring again) 4-2. Tonight sees an improving Venuzuela take on Chile. The next round of matches takes place in late September no doubt Barca & the likes of Manchester United will be complaining. They can go & sod off. Highlights from last night: www.youtube.com/watch?v=
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Post by Pete the Wolf on Jun 25, 2008 15:57:08 GMT -1
Thanks GB Yes Pete it was scrapped after CONMEBOL protested . Under the regulations Columbia, Ecuador & Bolivia would have been unable to play at home. The altitude limit is now 2800m allowing all 3 nations to play at home. It does confer an advantage on them ,but CONMEBOL aim to allow the visiting team more time to acclimatize to minimize such an advantage & to be fair its minimal. Bolivia high altitude or not in La Paz are a shambles. Get your money on them now to finish bottom of the table. Countries cannot help their geophysical history namely for these three the late Andean orogenesis. Cheers. I still don't see the need for the altitude ruling. There was still good technical play on display in La Paz. Admittedly, it is knackering; played ina 6-a-side tournament of 10 mins each way at 3400m and we were pretty tired by the end of it, although did play two games back-to-back! I'm gonna follow Peru in South America due to my two months there. Got myself a shirt and my brother bought me an FC Arequipa shirt when he went out there last summer. Couldn't find a Deportivo Wanka shirt though ;D
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Post by ovechkin8 on Jul 2, 2008 11:43:51 GMT -1
Peru have a couple of starlets in the making to look out for Pete notably reimond Manco a dribbling Messi tye attackign forward ilikely to be on his way to the Turkish Superleague over the next month & Dony Neyra an accomplished looking defender.
It will be tough to qualify though as I have Argentina, Brazil,Uruguay & Chile taking the top 4 spots with Paraguay for the playoff place.
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Post by ovechkin8 on Oct 11, 2008 8:21:17 GMT -1
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_(CONMEBOL)Round 9 today. Paraguay sit pretty on top with their blend of tenacious defending & counterttacking football. Brazil may welcome back Kaka & should be riding high after their 3-0away win in Chile who they seem to have hoodoo over. Argentina may sack coach Basile should they draw or even lose to Uruguay. He has lost the plot & the dressing room. Players who sparkle for their clubs ie Aguero & Tevez are not the same when in NT colours. Besides this the selection policy is poor. Carizzo only got in because of Pato being injured & other players who are ligting up Europe ie Garay & Gonzalo Rodriguez in defence are omitted in favour of Colocinni & others upfront Higuain of Real who has displaced Raul, & Cavenaghi of Bordeaux not to mention leading scorer in Italy Mauro Zarate are not even getting a look in. With this clown in charge Argentina despite the abundance of talent will not win in 2010. Watch this for a hysterical own goal against Paraguay from Heinze. The blame lies with the idiot Pato who inspires no confidence in any defender & was thankfully injured in the process. Even so a 10 man Argentina then proceeded to completely dominate the second half. Basile out NOW ! www.youtube.com/watch?v=
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Post by Teesside White on Oct 11, 2008 11:02:53 GMT -1
Bolivia high altitude or not in La Paz are a shambles. Get your money on them now to finish bottom of the table. Bolivia beat Paraguay
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Post by ovechkin8 on Oct 11, 2008 14:49:42 GMT -1
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Post by ovechkin8 on Oct 12, 2008 15:39:01 GMT -1
'Highlights' of the game. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Very scrappy after Uruguay scored from comical defending. Huge number of yellow cards as the referee lost control. Messi was hacked at mercilessly & how long before he picks up a seriosu injury unless referees send off opponents ? For a quick look at how the qualification is going on in Africa , Asia & the easiest group of all Oceania(bad luck for NZ is they will have to play the 5th placed team in South America) go here: www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/asia/standings/index.htmletc etc.
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Post by Teesside White on Oct 12, 2008 15:45:26 GMT -1
New Zealand play the 5th place team in Asia actually
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Post by ovechkin8 on Oct 12, 2008 15:57:29 GMT -1
New Zealand play the 5th place team in Asia actually Okay ! ;D Two legged playoff v the AFC 5th team. Still won't get through even with Nelsen in. Rugby will always be king in NZ. Kenya are doing well . They have several players in Europe & should make a breakthrough sometime soon. Their rugby sevens team are a credit as well. Shame about the cricket.
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Post by MagicalUnited on Oct 12, 2008 17:58:06 GMT -1
up to 2nd for the time being Messi needs to be protected tbh. pleased with the display despite the fact tevez got booked for nothing. P.S Messi and Aguero my 2 fave players done the job
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Post by Pete the Wolf on Oct 12, 2008 20:45:20 GMT -1
New Zealand play the 5th place team in Asia actually Wouldn't be great if that 5th place team ended up being with Australia. Just to see the NZ players' faces after thinking they'd got rid. ;D
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Post by Teesside White on Oct 16, 2008 14:03:28 GMT -1
i reckon NZ will do it,
going on the current rankings i acnt see the top 2 teams in either group changing apart from between themselves,
so i think it will be between the Saudi's, Qatar (maybe North Korea) but i think they could do it against all of those teams
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Post by Golden_Boy™ on Oct 17, 2008 9:46:00 GMT -1
Finally! After the defeat to Chile, Basile resigned!
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Post by El Morto La Hoja! on Oct 17, 2008 10:14:31 GMT -1
Argentina's three goals were scored by Leslie, Dickinson and Anderson. Uruguay's two goals were scored by Céspedes and William Poole
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Post by MagicalUnited on Oct 17, 2008 16:08:39 GMT -1
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Post by ovechkin8 on Oct 18, 2008 8:30:49 GMT -1
Finally! After the defeat to Chile, Basile resigned! And not soon enough. He had lost the dressing room completely. He was even considering dropping Messi saying he was not good enough ! He has been picking the wrong players. Ask your dad MagicalRonaldo. No Zarate, Higuain,Cavenaghi,Lavezzi etc etc. No Gonzalo or Garay or Fazio in defence. Promising attacking full backs like Monzon picked for one game then dropped despite doing nothing wrong. Rubbish like Bergessio , Sand & Barrientos even Somoza chosen from the domestic scene when the best talent Palacio, Buonanotte & Noir were not chosen ? With a talent base most countries would die for he has single handedly managed to waste two years & caused the team to regress. They should be walking this group. Chile beaten at home by Brazil 3-0 & outplayed by Ecuador ran rings round Argentina. Basile selected three defensive midfielders & played Mascherano who can do the job by himself on the right wing. Without Riquelme Basile has no other tactical plans either. The second half was the worst Argentina have ever played. Hoofball yes hoofball to Aguero who is hardly going to compete in the air. Zanetti could not push forward too old & Dimichelis was at times the furthest man forward. Good riddance to Basile. Useless & clueless he makes Steve McLaren look a genius. Choice is between Russo of San Lorenzo(great coach ), Simeone (sucess with Estudiantes & River & played under some great managers in Europe)of River & perhaps Lombardi(took Tigre out of nowhere & got Newells into the Libertadores after a very long time) of Newells. Hopefully they get Tocalli as assistant. A fresh start after two years of wasting all the good work of Pekerman & Tocalli. By picking the right personell & using tactical flexibility might get Argentina back on track.
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