Who's ready for the World Cup?

[TheRiddick]

Originally Posted by kazzaca

Torres has been no good but he had knee surgery a couple of months ago and clearly isn't his normal self. I'm not even sure why Del Bosque is starting him. There were a couple of times today when Iniesta and Xavi put the ball through and I expected Torres to get onto it but he just wasn't quick enough.

He's definitely not playing the way he plays for Liverpool.

Remind me, please, didn't Rooney fight with ankle injury for the last 2 months? Just saying...

[Pass]

Originally Posted by TheRiddick

Remind me, please, didn't Rooney fight with ankle injury for the last 2 months? Just saying...

Yup... But the key difference between Rooney and Torres is that Rooney went home early.

You better bet that the whole of the Argentinian squad is going home to some seriously bad press. Especially Messi and Maradona. Spain will too... but it won't be as bad b/c the DID make it to the Semis.

Rooney's getting bashed b/c England went home early. Press forgive star athletes so long as the team is winning. But when they aren't... The stars usually take all of the blame.

[TheRiddick]

Originally Posted by Pass

Yup... But the key difference between Rooney and Torres is that Rooney went home early.

You better bet that the whole of the Argentinian squad is going home to some seriously bad press. Especially Messi and Maradona. Spain will too... but it won't be as bad b/c the DID make it to the Semis.

Rooney's getting bashed b/c England went home early. Press forgive star athletes so long as the team is winning. But when they aren't... The stars usually take all of the blame.

Look at the stats. Messi played just one more game, but took almost twice as many shots as Rooney (through WC). What someone needs to track is how many times Rooney, Messi and Torres (and others as well) actually had the ball, I suspect that Rooney's number will be way, way lower than others' due to the "wonderful" service provided by the Gerrard/Lampard/Barry "support girls". Gerrard and Lampard never could play together, I now hope Chelsea buy Gerrard so we have one less team to worry about in the future. And it looks like Barry's days playing at ManCity are also done with the latest buys, he will get well acquainted with the plank next season... That is, if he even makes the bench...

Both Messi and Torres had plenty of support and saw the ball plenty a time and yet both fell flat. Hell, Torres could not even pass.

I suspect there will be a run on Paraguay players after WC. They made Roque Santa Cruz irrelevant. Defenders, in particular, were very collected and unperturbed on the ball what with vaunted Spanish mids running around.

Originally Posted by TheRiddick

Remind me, please, didn't Rooney fight with ankle injury for the last 2 months? Just saying...

Totally...and he was just as garbage as Torres has been. The difference is that Torres has enough quality around him that it hasn't mattered for Spain.

[landhoney]

The Netherlands almost have this wrapped up!