Pato is missing too, the young AC Milan (for now, he is linked to Chelsea for $60+Mil) striker. Have a looksee. The extended highlights begin around 0:55. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYuZVREg2uk"]YouTube- ALEXANDRE PATO SKILLS IN THE AC MILAN 2008 -2009[/ame] EDIT: Just realized that was a pretty weak vid. I just watched it. Anyways, check out the related vids to see some of his highlights. Can't believe he wasn't called. Maybe he gets in last minute, but he is battling a hamstring injury that seems to creep up on him a lot since initially injuring it earlier this year. Ronaldo has no business competing on the international stage anymore. He was great before his decline but is a shadow of his former self.
Brasil certainly has no shortage of talent, maybe he is too damage to go, or just scared like Rooney right Boom!!! just joking... Some teams have fully solidified their teams and other have not E, has Brasil annoucned the final squad yet?
Here is a world cup predictor.. http://www.worldcupchart.com/ I ended up with a France/Netherlands England/Spain final 4. and a Netherlands / Spain final with Spain winning.
You're correct. I was also surprised by the absence of Pato from the preliminary squad. He's a very, very talented player with great pace and skill IMO.
looks like America just did theirs...wow Buddle hmmmm http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/wo...cup-roster-cuts--fbintl,ap-wcup-usroster.html
I don't think he's the sum of his parts on an international level yet and he's been injured for much of the 2nd half of the season. Plus he's very similar to Robinho. Both Nilmar and Luis Fabiano are better players in terms of goalscorers - Nilmar's record is more than 1 in 2 games for Brazil and Fabiano has 25 goals in 36 games for his country which is bordering on ridiculous.
Its funny when you watch certain guys play for a while, then you see the stats, just how ridiculous it actually is...You dont always remember stats like this when they are playing, but Boom that stat is insanely difficult to do....25 in 36 games.....r u kidding right?? Thats like playing a video game...on easy.....
Last soccer rankings prior to World Cup http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender=m/fullranking.html 1. Brazil 2. Spain 3. Portugal 4. Netherlands 5. Italy 6. Germany 7. Argentina 8. England 9. France 10. Croatia (did not make World Cup)
Huge blow for Ghana. Thought they had a good chance of getting out of that group. Germany will come through, but I think Australia, Ghana and Serbia are on a very similar level to each other and it will be interesting to see who comes out of it.
Essien out for Ghana is a huge blow man. I like Ghana too. They won me over in 2006, especially that game against the C.Republic. On a side note, am I the only one that thinks Brasil and Ivory Coast come out of their group leaving Portugal behind?
Another interesting group and I really like the Ivory Coast. Think it will all come down to their game with Portugal and I think that with the Ivory Coast being much more physical than Portugal, they could really give them alot of problems.
I saw that too, wow that hurts them, I hope the assault of player I want to see that either dont make it, are hurt, etc etc....ceases... I could definately see IC going to the next round, however I think Port makes it....
Portugal will really struggle with the Ivorians physicality. I mean if you're talking about flat track bullies - players that play well against small teams and never put in a performance in big games - then look no further than Christiano Ronaldo who is legendary on that front. Poor in big games in the Premier League and Champions League, generally non existent for the Portugese in major championships, I can easily see the Ivory Coast coming out of that group.
i'm surprised brazil is in first. i'm no expert but the people i talk to all say spain is the clearcut favorite this year. i guess brazil is always in play
I think he meant a phins.com tourny? If so you can find them all over the net if enough people are actually interested.
Forza Azzurri...I lived in Verona, Italy for four years as a kid so that's who I root for besides the USA. They love and appreciate the game there, unlike here where most fans just won't give it a look.
well I'll root for america to make it to the round of eight. After that I'll root for whatever country is playing the most entertaining soccer
I'd have to disagree with this. Earlier in his career, yes, Ronaldo struggled against big teams in big games (i.e. Milan in CL 2007 Semis). But he was the best player on the field for ManU against Chelsea in the 2008 CL final scoring their only goal. And he looked the only threat against Barcelona in the 2009 CL final. He dominated the Mourinho coached Inter in 2009 CL round of 16, put them through against Porto in the QF with the winning goal in the 2nd leg, and scored another 2 goals in the semis against Arsenal. He was once a player I despised because of his arrogance. But I just can't take anything away from him. He's a helluva player and I think he laid those big game spotlight demons to rest in 2008. That award now goes to none other than Zlatan Ibrahimovic. THE biggest loser and big game flop in football. He'll score a hatrick against Xerez and Empoli though
Aside from that header in the CL Final he did N-O-T-H-I-N-G. He's the most ineffectual big game player in the modern game. I'm no fan of Ibrahimovic, but his contribution record to Barcelona this season was remarkable and he scored big goals in big games.
The goal against Chelsea was humongous! It allowed them to win the CL. Without it they don't win. And I showed proof of him scoring and being great in other big games as well that same year (Inter, Porto, etc.) Zlatan, on the other hand, has done nothing in big games outside of the QF against Arsenal this year. He disappeared against Liverpool and ManU with Inter, and he disappeared again this year against Inter (I mean non-existent. They had a stat where in the 1st leg of the semis against Inter he ran/covered as much ground as Victor Valdez. TRUE STORY). And don't even get me started on his ineffectiveness when he was with Juve And mind you, Zlatan's a few years older than Ronaldo too. He's been choking much longer
It really wasn't humungous. It was a decent headed goal, the first of the game, early in the first half. It was hardly decisive. From that point on he utterly disappeared including missing his penalty in the shoot out. Typicaly Christiano Ronaldo. He did nothing in either El Grande Classico, never scored - save from the penalty spot (in a 4-1 loss) against his biggest rivals Liverpool in the premiership and got the vast majority of his goals against bad teams. No doubt he's a good player, but he's the ultimate flat track bully. Porto is hardly a 'big game' and he scored against Inter and then may as well have not played for the rest of the game. As for Ibrahimovic, let's deal in facts. Fact 1: He's a knob. Fact 2: I don't like him as a player. Fact 3: He either scored or played the final ball for 37 Barcelona goals this past season and of the goals he scored, something like 85% were the first goal of the game and that Barca never lost when being a goal up from a Zlatan goal in La Liga. He also scored against Real Madrid. Fact 4: He's won the league every season since 2004 with whichever club he's been with. He won the Eredivisie in 2002 as well, so if it wasn't for that 2003 season, he'd have won the league every season for the last 8 years. The Ronaldo hyperbole gets blown well out of proportion when dealing with performances against quality sides. You want to look at players who do it consistently at the highest level, then let's talk about Lionel Messi, Steven Gerrard, etc.
Well I'd agree that Ronaldo isn't the greatest big game player. But my point is that he's certainly not the biggest flop either. I guess the jury's still out as he's only 25. As for the points you made about Zlatan, particularly facts 3 and 4. The same could particularly be said for Ronaldo in that he probably had a lot of ManU's first goals against smaller teams. He probably did score against Chelsea, Liverpool, and Arsenal in the EPL (you'd know better than me though about this). He won the league 3 years in a row with ManU, then went to Madrid and helped them to 96 points and had it not been for one of the greatest domestic seasons in La Liga history by Barcelona, he'd have won a league title 4 years in a row. I guess you could say they mirror each other well in many ways. I would never compare his big game performances to guys like Messi, Xavi, Gerrard, Milito, etc, however I think he takes the win when paired up against Zlatan. I guess it's my opinion though. And for the record: I could never stand Ronaldo until recently. I think he's a helluva player who accomplished a huge feat by adjusting rather well to La Liga right away. That's no easy thing to do when switching leagues. Without him I think Madrid finish with 80 points rather than 96.
couple of more cuts.....grosso.... http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog...e-big-name-players-that-were-t?urn=sow,244924
Really shocked at Grosso being left out. Still one of the best attacking wing backs in the game and played a key part in Italy's qualification campaign. In a team that lacks creativity out wide, Im really surprised he wasn't even taken.
I'd like to chime in here. Being a Juventus fan and having to watch Grosso week in week out this year I can only say that I was not surprised at the omission. He was absolutely dreadful this year. Weak in defense and equally bad in attack. He was so bad this year guys like De Ceglie outshined him (and he wasn't too impressive either). 2009-2010 Grosso made me wish they never tried to upgrade over Christian Molinaro. He'll always be remembered for his 2006 heroics, but the present day Fabio Grosso is a shell of that man.
I'm surprised by the omission of Giuseppe Rossi. Instead Lippi chose to take 4 of the same mold of player: Quagliarella Iaquinta Gilardino Pazzini Di Natale will provide the creativity I assume, but what happens if he gets hurt or isn't playing well or Italy need to make a creative sub. Who do they have?! Had he taken Rossi over Quagliarella he'd have a lot more options. Baffling to me. Not to mention the feud with Cassano which has been beaten into oblivion and the "lesson" I guess he's trying to teach Balotelli. This offense is as Vanilla as I've ever seen. I'd be surprised if this team makes it past the 2nd round. The squad Lippi took is going to force him to push Pirlo up to a more advanced MF role. A role he hasn't played since 2001 with Reggina where he would've rotted had Ancelotti not re-invented him in the deeper MF role
Clearly, you would know about Grosso's club form much better than I would and if thats the case then thats fair enough. But any time I seen him play for Italy in the qualifiers he still looked very dangerous and preformed well in both games against Ireland and at home to Bulgaria, the two closest teams to Italy in the group. Grosso was always better going forward than he was at defending. Italy will miss his attacking expliots in the World Cup, especially when then struggle to create out wide. Whatever about starting the guy, but not to bring him I think is a mistake.
Thats always been my knock against this current Italy side, they are average up front. Its probably the worst bunch of forwards I have ever seen an Italian team take to a major tournament.
Given how high Ronaldo's star shines bright, he's as big a big game flop as there is. He's a very fine player and better than Ibrahimovic, but he's nowhere close to the best in the world given that his inconsistency at the highest level is scary. And Madrid had pretty outstanding contributions from Xabi Alonso, Van Der Vaart, Higuain, etc.
