World Cup 2010 - News & Banter *Contains Spoilers*

[WildCards]

17 days to go I know, but i'm quite excited so i've ripped off Pete's WC 2006 thread, as follows;

Any news, gossip, interesting facts etc should be posted here.

Anyone not interested in football then please just don't bother reading/posting.

So first up, the latest odds (William Hill):

Spain 4/1
Brazil 9/2
England 6/1
Argentina 7/1
Holland 10/1
Italy 14/1
Germany 14/1
France 16/1
Portugal 22/1
Ivory Coast 33/1
Serbia 50/1
Chile 66/1
Paraguay 80/1
Mexico 80/1
Uruguay 80/1
Ghana 80/1
USA 80/1
Cameroon 100/1
Nigeria 100/1
South Africa 125/1
Australia 125/1
Denmark 125/1
Greece 150/1
Switzerland 200/1
South Korea 200/1
Slovakia 250/1
Japan 250/1
Slovenia 250/1
Algeria400/1
Honduras 750/1
New Zealand 2000/1
North Korea 2000/1

[WildCards]

Fabio Capello's 30-man squad will have to be reduced to 23 on 1 June. Eighteen of the squad seem to be certainties, leaving 12 players battling for the remaining five places

The certainties

Goalkeepers David James, Joe Hart, Rob Green

Full-backs Ashley Cole, Glen Johnson,

Centre-halves Ledley King, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Matthew Upson, Jamie Carragher

Central midfielders Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, James Milner

Wide midfielder Aaron Lennon

Centre-forwards Wayne Rooney, Peter Crouch, Emile Heskey, Jermain Defoe

Up for grabs?

Centre-half

The uncapped Michael Dawson is a long shot to oust one of the more experienced central defenders and would need to excel against Mexico and Japan to stand any real chance of making the cut.

Full-backs

Leighton Baines and Stephen Warnock will compete to be Ashley Cole's back-up, with the Everton defender the favourite at present. Both are likely to add to their international appearances in the friendlies. Carragher could feature either at right-back or centre-half in Capello's plans.

Central midfield

Much depends upon Gareth Barry's fitness, which will be tested at Manchester City tomorrow but, even if he is fit, Michael Carrick would expect to travel. That leaves Tom Huddlestone and Scott Parker potentially competing for a back-up role should Barry be ruled out.

Wide midfield

Theo Walcott should gain inclusion, if only for the starring role he played in sparking England's qualification campaign in Croatia, and the Arsenal winger can play in a more central role if required. Adam Johnson and Shaun Wright-Phillips will both feature at some stage against the Mexicans but would be outside bets to make the journey, with the odds stacked particularly against the more experienced Wright-Phillips given that both Walcott and Lennon are also natural right-sided players. Joe Cole's participation will also depend upon how he impresses in the two friendly games given that his last appearance for his country was in the riotous 4-1 win in Zagreb back in the autumn of 2008.

Centre-forwards Should Capello decide to take five out-and-out strikers, rather than leaning on Walcott's versatility, then Darren Bent could yet earn a place in the travelling party with an impressive display in the friendlies. Even so, his inclusion would be something of a surprise.

[miller]

Holland at 10/1 hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Atik]

Getting excited about this now. Not a big footy fan normally but really enjoy the Euro and World Cups.

So on those odds, if I put £1 on every team, as long as none of the top 9 teams won, I'd be laughing

[SGHOM]

Does live news, direct from my family in south Africa count?

If so..... I have news for you

[Spirit]

I have news for you

Spill the beans then D !

I think England as third favourites is a bit flattering TBH

[miller]

Come on Algeria!

[KiwiTT]

Please distribute to anyone who may require it.

[Ryan]

Germany may be without Ballack but 14/1 aren't fair odds I'd say. They have a knack of showing up in finals like unexpected guests.

[SGHOM]

Spill the beans then D !

I think England as third favourites is a bit flattering TBH

I spoke to my sister in jo'burg on Sunday. Apparently they had 2 big rugby matches on the Saturday @ 2 different venues. I know 1 was in Soweto, the other, not sure but it was still in jo'burg.
Anyhow.... It was a good oppertunity to test out the new infrastructure...........

Catastrophic fail !!!!!

80000 fans converging on the city all at the same time, it caused absolute chaos apparently!! Total gridlock & 3 hour queues to get into the stadia !

Doesn't bode well for the world cup! According to Val, the authorities said they had minor teething problems!

[WildCards]

I think England as third favourites is a bit flattering TBH

I was thinking exactly that whilst watching the first 45 minutes last night!

[HJM]

Holland at 10/1 hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Don't do it !!!

Like the Kiwis with Rugby, when it comes to the big final ..... cough .... CHOKERS !!!

Now Argentina at 7/1 ??? Would you want to face up against Messi and Tevez !

[WildCards]

The 32 preliminary squads for South Africa provided a host of surprises, with Ronaldinho among several high-profile omissions by Brazilian coach Dunga.

His AC Milan team-mate Alexandre Pato, an exciting 20-year-old who is one of Serie A's brightest talents, was also ignored, as was Adriano, a regular in Germany four years ago but deemed too unprofessional by Dunga.

Argentina coach Diego Maradona also raised some eyebrows by leaving out Inter Milan pair Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti, unquestionably two of the best players from this season's Champions League.

Holders Italy will be without a number of high-profile flair players. Coach Marcello Lippi's pragmatic squad had no place for 2006 stars Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero, with Antonio Cassano and Fabrizio Miccoli also snubbed.

France coach Raymond Domenech is used to courting controversy, having previously left out Robert Pires because of his star sign. This time the tarot cards have told Domenech to leave veteran midfielder Patrick Vieira at home, along with Arsenal's Samir Nasri, former Gunner Mathieu Flamini, Real Madrid's Karim Benzema and Everton striker Louis Saha.

Saha's club-mate Mikel Arteta finds himself on the outside looking in thanks to the wealth of midfield talent at Spain's disposal.

Ruud van Nistelrooy's run of form for Hamburg came too late to earn the veteran striker a place in Bert van Marwijk's Netherlands squad. Another in-form striker, Germany's Kevin Kuranyi, also failed to land a seat on the plane to South Africa.

England coach Fabio Capello might have brought Ledley King and Jamie Carragher back, but there was no place for either Gary Neville or Owen Hargreaves in his 30-man selection.

Further afield, USA coach Bob Bradley sprung a couple of surprises by omitting forwards Charlie Davies and Freddy Adu.

Cameroon coach Paul Le Guen axed Stephane Mbia and Andre Bikey, while Shinji Kagawa and Cristian Gonzalez were surprisingly left out by Japan and Uruguay respectively.

[SGHOM]

A man city fan ( from Dorset ) talking about football???

You had in Robinhio, the worst brazilion since David blunkett shaved his wifes f@nny!!

[WildCards]

the worst brazilion since David blunkett shaved his wifes f@nny!!

[HJM]

A man city fan ( from Dorset ) talking about football???

You had in Robinhio, the worst brazilion since David blunkett shaved his wifes f@nny!!

Ha Ha Grandad - was Stanley Mathews any good ?

Go back down to pit with your ferret and canary !

I've never driven a F1 car but I can still appreciate the sport !

Being a fan of the blunt Blades you're not exactly qualified to talk about top flight football any way

[Nick VR4]

Well if today's friendly in Austria against Japan was anything to go by..... OMG we are in trouble I know this was a experiment with new players etc but it was poor

Capello now has to work out the 23 players he wants could be fun

[JTG]

I don't think too much should be read in to that game today, although at the time it was very frustrating, with hindsight it means absolutely nothing.

[ANTHONY]

so who do you think will knock us out this time?

[Mark 4]

so who do you think will knock us out this time?

Well there's 31 teams that appear to be capable