England my England!

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

Originally Posted by GETT1NLOTS

In fact Kiko seeing as you can guarantee that England won't win it I was wondering if you had a betfair account? I'll take 1,000 / 1 please mate (measly odds against in your book as you can guarantee that England won't win it.) I'll have on £50. I'm serious by the way. What can your bank afford to owe me at the odds I'm looking for mate? I'll reduce / increase my stake accordingly for you.

Sorry Gett1n. As many know i don't deal with long term betting. Even waiting for a week for a bet is a killer for me so no such luck.

And ok, guarenteeing was a bit of a big word to use but i really don't think they have much of a chance, if any of winning this competition.

On another thing you mentioned - if they do fall you won't see me coming in here bragging about it either as that ain't the type of person i am either.

[GETT1NLOTS]

That's a fair post Alien. One I don't disagree with entirely. What is world class though? Top 2 side? Top 10 side? If it's the latter then England are world class in my opinion.

The result against Northern Ireland was as a result of Svens decision to play a stupid formation with players out of position. When we play 4-4-2 with a holding midfielder to allow Lampard, Gerrard and Beckham to create I think we can beat any side in the world. Put it this way that side would have caned Northern Ireland and other such teams.

I fancy Holland or Brazil to win it. If they don't then I put England in with a great chance.

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

A top class side to me is a side that does all the talking on the pitch, rather than off it and gets the results everyone expects them too and win things.

Brazil certainly come into this category. A thing on Brazil aswell i must say. They really have got the best all round side for a Brazil national side i have known since i have been alive.

Usually they have been phenomenal attacking wise but come this competition they really do have a pretty decent defensive unit now and they are going to be very hard to get by.

I worry about their preparations though as they seem to be happy playing small nations and hammering them, where i think it would be best to get some really tough friendlies for the build up to this competition.

[all_funkt_up]

Originally Posted by Kiko

Everyone was calling for the coach to be sacked etc, and i didnt hear any world cup talk then.

http://www.thedailypunt.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4131

Post number 9 kiko, I said just that! Dont worry kiko - I still love you....

By the way, FIFA have released WC 2006 tickets on general sale.

I have a TST ticket for England and in addition to that, tickets for some random games. Everything bar the final + semis are up for grabs. You can buy now and take a chance - or wait for the draw in Leipzig on the 9th december and pick the tics for your team.

I would buy now and take a chance rather than wait for december. You can bet there will be tens of thousands of 'hits' a second on the website and england/france/italy etc will be gone straight away....

here's the link to the fifa ticket shop site!

http://tickets.fifaworldcup.com/cgi-...r=Next&menge=1

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

@ AFU

I would fancy going to the finals but this is one too soon as my future is a bit undecided at the minute and i could have uni or that so i will wait for the following one.

My manager at work got WC Final tickets for his birthday from his dad the jammy bugger. That would be a great experience and something i'd like to do at some point in my life.

[all_funkt_up]

Any team can be world class on their day and thats all that counts.

Chelsea, Barca, Juve - world class teams and none of them won the European Cuo last year. Nor did they win the previous year... Same as Euro 2004 - a 'world class' team didnt win that either.

England have showed last night that they do have fight and spirit - in addition to skill. They didnt crumble and they won. They beat the second best team in the world. You can say what you want about it being meaningless and 'typical bloody england' but I dont care. Believe!

Liverpool did it and so can England.

We will win.

[all_funkt_up]

kiko - i am 23 now and reckon the next time the finals come back to Europe I will be in my 30's or 40's so I am gonna get it done. Gona combine it with a trip to the tour de france. Get a motor home and travel about for a few weeks

[aliensyndm]

10/10 for optimism, 0/10 for realism

[fulltimebettor]

Best available world cup odds from Betbrain:

Brazil: 5.00
Argentina: 8.50
England: 10.00
Germany: 10.50
Italy: 11.00
Netherlands: 12.00
France: 15.00
Spain: 20.00
Portugal: 26.00
Czech Republic: 34.00
Hard to argue with these prices imo (although maybe Argentina are a bit short??) I dont buy the arguement that teams like England and Spain are missing a vital ingredient and are only quarter final sides. Doesnt anyone else remember Waddle hitting the post in injury time v Germany in the WC semi-final at Italia90? If you knock on the door enough times you will eventually get in.

[Kop66]

We're in with a chance as we are going to Germany

We'll see what we've got then.

One things for sure we'll be having 10's of 1000's of fans going over, we'll get the tickets and out number any other fans, just as we did in Korea. We'll have the 12th man and it will be like we're playing at home.

Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, David Beckham, Stephen Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen are all capable of getting goals when up for a game and the defence is experienced and solid when up for it too. Providing we dont lose Robinson we have a team that is capable of rising to the occasion and even turning it on.

We're going to be giving it a right good go

[Swooperman]

I think if England get the breaks they could do well, but we'd need to be fully fit & stay that way to harbour any ambitions of winning it, as we have no replacements worth the name......just look at us at right back without Gary Neville !! If we get down to the situation of having to pick people like Hargreaves or Crouch then were going nowhere & will leave at the quarters if that.
I'd say those are about right as well, we keep hearing about Germany being weaker than they have been for years now but theyre always in the shake up, especially with home advantage. France appear to be on the wane & are playing against age as much as anything & I think they'll still be capable of a good result but I cant see them doing it game in, game out, so dont really see them as contenders, but definetly see them having an influence. Italy they say arent really that much cop these days but even in a friendly thats a good result last night but England would have to be at their very best to get past them & Holland, anything less & we wont do it.
Spain & Portugal have their backers every time but whenever do they live up to the hype ?? Portugal were hosts in the euros remember & I dont see either of these getting to the semis tbh.....very good players but seemingly serial bottlers & no way would my money go on this pair. Czechs I wouldnt write off, decent side who know their limitations & could be dangerous & need the breaks & to stay injury free.
Brazil & Argentina are worthy favourites IMO, I dont agree that Argentina are too short...their WC pedigree says theyre not.
I dont think anybody can say that England dont have the players, they do, but never in a million years do they have strength in depth.
I'd expect England to make the quarters & given no injuries & a bit of luck the semis, at that point weve got a chance, no more, no less as Owen says.

[christianu]

It isnt no coincidence that the Scottish people on here are giving it all that. A lot of bollocks beaing talked on this thread and I agree with Gett1n completely.

I dont really care too much about how England do but if you compare them player for player with Argentina then England have the better players. Its about sorting how they play out now.

Sure Holland or Germany can win it but not England? Bollocks. They have more chance than most.

We also have the Rooney factor and 99% of teams cant boast a player like him who makes such a difference.

[GETT1NLOTS]

Originally Posted by aliensyndm

10/10 for optimism, 0/10 for realism

I'll have some of those odds then Alien. Seems you think there is no chance either so you must be willing to give me 100/1 at least? How much you want on Betfair mate?

[aliensyndm]

every single tournament the english are shouting about how they are gonna win it !

We will win.

Whatever you say

I didn't say there was no chance ! Just the chance is constantly over-rated and hyped by the english media and by some people on here as well it would seem. If someone offered me 100-1 on england to win the world cup I'd jump on it, I'm realistic about their chances, value wise it would be a great bet !
Ask me who I actually think will win, not england.

[Beanie]

Originally Posted by christianu

We also have the Rooney factor and 99% of teams cant boast a player like him who makes such a difference.

I'm sure the footballing superpowers are quite happy they don't have such a gobby wee shite on their team.



On paper, England have just about as good a chance as any side (barring Brazil I would say.

But I don't think the mentality is there...as per usual if you find yourself in the quarter finals the media and fans will all start jizzing in their boxers(you just beat the Argies with two late goals and look at this thread ffs!), coming out with 'England Believes' and all that overblown nonsense, and when the shit hits the fan in a tight match you'll blow it, as per usual.

Take Brazil in the 2002 World Cup...lost that goal to Owen, and barely batted an eyelid. They simply kept it calm, strutted their stuff, and lobbed Seaman from 35 yards Its the teams that know how to win when it counts that will triumph - and it won't be England.