I don't think that's how Wenger sees it.

Ibrahimovic: "A World Cup without me is not worth to watch, so no need to wait for that"

Klaus wrote:

I don't think that's how Wenger sees it.

We'll find out very soon.

some brilliant passing (and awful defending, it must be said) in POR v SWE:

cant let a midfielder have space and time pick out a forward pass. CBs too far apart. LB fell asleep against cronaldo - has he not heard of him? all that space was begging for the run and pass.

CB way too late to pressure - again, too much time to get a pass off, and cronaldo runs into the space that the CB vacated

sick slide rule pass, perfectly weighted, but again, cant give midfielders space and time to play whatever pass they want.

all goals scored in transition. except the 3rd goal, when sweden were chasing, the swedes still had sufficient numbers back, but good players will punish you if you give them space and time.

Ronaldo is such a fucking fine player, though - taking into account offside he really does time each one of those runs perfectly, and then does the absolute maximum with his finishes.

Yeah, he's an unstoppable machine. I think Messi is primed for a big WC though, he's going to peak at the right time in 2014.

I'm just hypnotised watching those gifs. It's like someone landing trick shots at pool, every moving object feels inevitable and coordinated in advance by the higher power of geometry.

Hamren should be watching those goals and thinking, was it really worth it to go gung ho with 20 minutes left and you are leading 2-1? They were in the ascendancy too at that time

Portugal scored first in the game, not Sweden. They kept carving them up all game too. Look at the first gif kami posted and compare it to the other two. Spot the difference? Me neither. Ronaldo wasn't afforded more space to exploit later on. Sweden is just a shit football team with a mediocre manager and no game plan. The only player that would start for an upper table Premier League team scored two goals today. The rest of them aimed bullet passes at his knees for the entire game and failed to understand the offside rule.

Clrnc wrote:

They were in the ascendancy too at that time

No, they were still out. Tied on aggregate but Portugal had the away goal.

23 degrees and not a cloud in sight, beautiful evening in Wellington for football. Looking forward to hopefully a good game in a very rare international match against a big football nation in NZ. Additional temporary seating makes it a 37,000 sellout and the largest ever football crowd in NZ, although whether everyone turns up with it begin 5-1 after the first lefg remains to be seen.

A lot is being said about Ronaldo, but what about Moutinho? To create three chances like that (as Burnsy says, hypnotic geometry) in one game is just remarkable. He was given too much space. Once those passes are released, there is little the defense can do

Moutinho is a terrific passer, especially if given a little time and space. Really glad Spuds didn't manage to pull off signing him; he is exactly the type of player they need in their midfield.

invisibleman18 wrote:

23 degrees and not a cloud in sight, beautiful evening in Wellington for football. Looking forward to hopefully a good game in a very rare international match against a big football nation in NZ. Additional temporary seating makes it a 37,000 sellout and the largest ever football crowd in NZ, although whether everyone turns up with it begin 5-1 after the first lefg remains to be seen.

Keep hope invis. One of these days someone will reply to your NZ national team related posts with genuine interest.

Not today though.

Wasn't too fussed about anyone replying with interest, but this is the thread for discussing the world cup playoffs so it fit. Anyway, was a decent game and finished 4-2 to Mexico which really flattered NZ. Mexico quickly raced to a 3-0 lead and could easily have scored every time they got the ball but then basically stopped playing as there was no need at 8-1 up on aggregate. NZ grabbed a couple of goals with a late flurry to lift the crowd and then Mexico decided they better try again so it didn't end up a draw on the night so scored another.

Volante wrote:

Walcott is a 20 goal, 10 assist per season player. I wouldn't leave him out to play two players (Cazorla/Wilshere/Rosicky) who rape Özil's space.

Agreed.

Clrnc wrote:

Klaus wrote:

Our best player in october in my opinion. He was pretty hit and miss before that though.

No way.unless we can find space to accomodate wilshere as one of the 2 central mid he shouldn't replace any of the starters yet. He should only be challenging ramseys place

Same, I'd only want him playing in CM, coming in for Ramsey when needed.

Ronaldo is amazing <3

invisibleman18 wrote:

Wasn't too fussed about anyone replying with interest, but this is the thread for discussing the world cup playoffs so it fit. Anyway, was a decent game and finished 4-2 to Mexico which really flattered NZ. Mexico quickly raced to a 3-0 lead and could easily have scored every time they got the ball but then basically stopped playing as there was no need at 8-1 up on aggregate. NZ grabbed a couple of goals with a late flurry to lift the crowd and then Mexico decided they better try again so it didn't end up a draw on the night so scored another.

Eh! I was interested I watched the entire match, Mexico with only their domestic players are in an entirely different class. They played like a training match though, otherwise it might easily reach double figures.

NZ was unlucky in the sense that they met an opponent who should have been the strongest of their region. Had it not been Graham Zuzi, you guys might be playing Panama or Honduras, which are very winnable games. Or had it been like 4 years ago when you guys draw the asian region, Jordan/Uzbek would be very beatable especially the former.

Superb skill from Super Mario.

My "not going to the world cup" XI. Some seriously talented players who'll be absent.

--------------------Cech
Piszczek---Ivanovic---Agger---Alaba
Kuba------Ramsey----Hamsik-----Bale
--------Lewandowski----Ibra

Honorable mentions to Vidic, Subotic, Turan, Mkhitaryan, TGSTEL.

TGSTEL is the big miss here. Even Gervais will be there, for fek's sakes