Strummerman

So I was raked over the coals about how I thought Italy had a good chance at world cup-hmmm let's see what Pele thinks- Legend Pele rates England chances By Michael Burnett Pele wins BBC award Pele has tipped England and Italy to be Brazil's biggest challengers at the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. "I've seen a lot of games in the last two years and England have improved a lot," the 65-year-old told BBC Sport. "Of course if nobody gets an injury, then I think England, Italy or Brazil will be in the final. "But if I have to name a team to win, I name Brazil. Not only because of their quality, but also because they have two players in every position." As the winner of three World Cups with Brazil in 1958, 1962 and 1970, Pele certainly knows what it takes to succeed in the biggest sporting event on globe. But even football's most famous face, who won a lifetime achievement award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show, realises that next summer's tournament will throw up a few surprises.

The facts are these 1) Italy has the best goaltender in the world 2) Italy has a solid defence with Nesta and Cannavaro etc 3) Italy has a magician with Pirlo in midfield 4) Zambrotta is as fast as anyone in midfield and Gattuso is as rugged. 5) Totti has the passing skills of a Platini or a Zidane 6) Toni is the leading striker in Europe this year and Gilardino is a scoring machine 7) Cassano is another magician with the ball who hasnt played all year- he is unknown to you soccer hooligans but he has moves that would make Ronaldhino gasp Viva Italia Case closed:king: [Edited on 2005/12/15 by Strummerman]

Thank you for your unbiased opinion, Italy hasnt played brazil since 1994, but England has -ooops damn i cant reach that ball that damn ronaldhino- Apparently all your arguments about England are so valid and beyond reproach we should all put in our bets for England Now.:guru: One thing I know Italy has not been clobbered in a game in ages- their losses have either been by one goal or penalty kicks- Italy always fields a competitive team and like I said they could probably field 2 competitive teams- As for England If Owens gets injured thats it for their world class strikers- they dont have a world class goalie- and their defence is weak- Case closed

That and a buck will get you a coffee. They haven't had a serious football match in over 15 years. So if you wanna live in the past go ahead. I like living in the present. Again, those reds happened in what? Qualfying? Bringing it up proves how little you know about football and shows how weak your argument is. Of course Totti did get a red in the game against the Koreans, then again for spitting. Yep, they look very disiplined to me. Win what? 3rd place in there group? [Edited on 2005/12/13 by Leafs Suck] In what qualifying- wow those are unimportant games- I guess the Greeks and the Turks and the Danes all think those games are a joke as well. Totti did not deserva a red card in Korea, it was a stupid penalty by a prejudiced south american referee- and how bout Beckham against Argentina in the World CUp-I guess that was discipline hmph- All I know is Italy 3 World Cups, England only 1 at home with the crowd behind them- England and France can only pull it off with goons in the home crowd

From your logic I guess dynasties dont happen. I guess the 76-79 Habs dynasty was different game by game, you can't compare. Or the Islanders and the Oilers of the 80's you had to look at each specific game. I guess your theory is e=mc*e/3:bow:

Nothing to argue about Italy 3 Holland 1 in Holland 3 weeks ago

Spain has a lucky draw and will make it to the next round and then be eliminated. Holland has a good chance of being eliminated in the first round. Holland has a great set of strikers but not much else. If Van basten doesnt play the likes of Seedorf Holland will not go far. [Edited on 2005/12/13 by Strummerman]

Cassano has been benched all year since he didnt sign a contract. he has just played in the last few matches and has scored in 2 of 3 games. He will be traded next month and will probably join Inter or Juve. He will be relaxed and get in shape just in time for World Cup 2006 Viva Italia :king: [Edited on 2005/12/13 by Strummerman]

Hell Italy outplayed the French the whole match, the french who were the defending World Champions and had totally outplayed Brazil in the final 2 years before. What does that tell you, Italy completely outplays France and France completely outplays Brazil, if 1+1=2 then Italy would totally outclass Brazil. Italy was not embarassed in that game, not only did they outplay the Franch during the game they missed many opportuinities in the overtime as well. Also found it interesting how England got out of there group stage in 2004, and Italy didn't. And that England made it to the Final 8 in 2002 while Italy didn't. What is interesting is that England has played Italy many times in friendlies in the present decade and have won none. Shesh this makes no sense to me. I was talking about Ronney's scoring prowess with manchester this year. have you noticed how many goals he's scored? have you noticed Manchester's ouster out of the European Cup? And your country likes fish n chips case closed If you think nothing has changed in the new NHL no wonder you are way off on soccer talk. Anyways its time to call it a day and see you in 6 months. Speaking of kicking players and whining and crying, wonder why Rooney and beckham were red carded in World Cup qualification? No Italians have been red carded since Totti's expulsion. We are disciplined and we will win. Well Fifa has dubious rankings that's why Italy was a seeded country in the World Cup draw. Fifa makes no sense Viva Italia:king: [Edited on 2005/12/13 by Strummerman] [Edited on 2005/12/13 by Strummerman] [Edited on 2005/12/13 by Strummerman]

Yeah well you forget one thing about the whole episode, Totti didnt spit at someone just because he thought he'd act like a kid. Talk about animal behaviour and cattanachio, the danes held and kicked at Totti the whole game and before the game they all said Totti was a diver to instigate him. Frankly they knew they had instigated him, that's why the camera was on him cause they knew Totti wasnt a wimp and would react since he's a passionate player. I dont condone what he did but there were reasons

Italy hasnt played the cattanchio in decades, and they have had the best strikers of the last decade including Baggio Zola Inzaghi Del Piero Vieri Tottti etc etc etc Hu? Oh, OK. Did you see Euro 2004, only 1 year ago? Or Euro 2000? No catanacio? Damn Holland lost in 2000 to Catanacio. The Italian didnt even get 5 shots on the boards. Only defending. We hit everything, the post. Missed a penalty. And @ the end they win with the shootout at the end. Ok maybe deserved cuz we didnt score on those many opportunities. But it was hell of a Catanacio. Im still sick of it, we were the best team around at the time. Just an example, but they still play catanacio. Sometimes not so obvious anymore cuz they have great midvielders and attackers. It's neven been a pleasure watching the Italian play... frankly you forget one important thing, the Italians played a man short almost the whole match!!!We didnt play cattanachio against all the other teams when we played with a full slate. Please dont remind me that not only did Italy play a man short the whole match Holland was awarded a penalty kick during the match. Talk about wanting the home team to win. Let's just say if the opposite had happened and Italy had played at home with a man advantage the whole game it would have been 5-0 Italy.

Italy hasnt played the cattanchio in decades, and they have had the best strikers of the last decade including Baggio Zola Inzaghi Del Piero Vieri Tottti etc etc etc Hu? Oh, OK. Did you see Euro 2004, only 1 year ago? Or Euro 2000? No catanacio? They scored 2 goals every game in the preliminary round in Euro 2000, led by the likes of Totti Montella Del Piero Inzaghi. Wow they played cattanachio type football against Holland who was the home team and when the Italian was red carded in the first 15 minutes of the game. What did you expect all out offence when your playing with a man less the whole game. Sheesh. As for Euro 2004, they lost their best passer in the first game in Totti due to the Danish phobia of having a camera film only Totti the whole game. As well they had Vieri who must have hit 20 posts during those games. Italy did not play defensive soccer in that tournament and to repeat they did not lose a match either unlike every other team in the tournament. [Edited on 2005/12/12 by Strummerman]

Well in Euro 2000, Italy did not choke, it was a great goal by France in the last minute of supplemental time. However, I doubt that much time should have been added on. A choke job was England against France in Euro 2004, where Gerrard passes it back to his goalie. That was an unforced error. There was no unforced error in the French goal against Italy. I guess you wanna forget Ronaldhino's goal againt England, or maybe forget England's goalies altogether.. You talk about the present, that ENglish team that played and lost in Euro 2004 will be virtually the same team as the one that will play in WC 2006. I have to admit England has good midfielders in Lampard Gerrard and Beckham. However, Rooney was an unknown quantity in Euro 2004 and as his goals come less and less in the Premier league, it is obvious he has been exposed as a wannabe. Owens is a first class striker. However, who plays in nets for England, and lets hope Rio Ferdinand doesnt defend. As for Italy, they breed NEW strikers and look out for Toni and Gilardino and Cassano. The new Italy will be better than the New NHL. Viva Italia :king::king: [Edited on 2005/12/12 by Strummerman] [Edited on 2005/12/12 by Strummerman] [Edited on 2005/12/12 by Strummerman]

Italy hasnt played the cattanchio in decades, and they have had the best strikers of the last decade including Baggio Zola Inzaghi Del Piero Vieri Tottti etc etc etc A correction, Argentina lost to Germany in 1990.

Italy hasnt played the cattanchio in decades, and they have had the best strikers of the last decade including Baggio Zola Inzaghi Del Piero Vieri Tottti etc etc etc

Well since Italy won 3 World Cups and only Brazil has won more, I dont know where this choke nonsense comes from. The French choked when they lost to Senegal in 2002, The English choked when Gerrard passed it back to the goaltender with seconds left and France scored, the Portuguese choked twice against Greece. The facts are the facts Italy did not lose in Euro 2004. The Czechs did not even qualify for the World Cup within their own group. Italy did lose to Slovenia when they started adding new players and a new coach in 2004, but they didnt lose to Slovenia the following year in 2005 when their team was set. As for choking, Italy was eliminated from World Cup 1990. 1994, and 1998 because of penalty kicks. The eventual winner of all those World Cups was the team that eliminated Italy. And that team be it Argentina Brazil or France did not defeat Italy during the match. As we watch shootouts in the NHL, Im sure that proves who the better team is??? Anyways I still dont know which team your following or are you ashamed to mention them [Edited on 2005/12/11 by Strummerman] [Edited on 2005/12/11 by Strummerman] [Edited on 2005/12/11 by Strummerman]

Actually to add a few to the list Ted Harris was a great fighter but he fought little. As for everyone saying Nilan was a good player as well, John Ferguson was a steady left winger. I remember him once deking Bobby Orr out of his pants and going around him to score. Not many players can take credit for that. How bout Donald Brashear. No one has mentioned him. Frankly his fights when he was a habs were rather lame. He held on a lot. Dont know why once he left the Habs he became a much better fighter. Ok Pierre Bouchard lost to Stan Jonathan but he won a few fights as well before that. Larry Robinson had some memorable fights as well. I remember he had one memorable fight with Grant Mulvey. I also recall he got the better of Stan Jonathan once. John Kordic had a good start as a fighter with habs. However, he started to lose often in his later days. I remember he lost a fight to Tie Domi when he was a Ranger.

Actually Ghana is a decent team as well. Italy is very overrated. I can see them not making it out of the group phase again. Well let's see the Czech republic lost in Holland 2-0 in World Cup qualifying while Italy goes to Holland and defeats them 3-1 in a friendly. As well, may I add Italy's reputation took a beating because they were eliminated in the first round in Euro 2004. However, if you look at the results, Italy was the only team not to lose a game in Euro 2004. The Czechs are way overrated and Pavel Nedved had to come out of retirement to lead the Czechs to the World Cup. Pavel Nedved is way past his prime. Just like Canada, Italy could field 2 World Cup teams and still be competitive. The problem with italy is that often they dont chooose the right players and the coaches are too conservative. Viva Italia

how bout these pics

A Germany ----------- Poland Costa Rica --------- Germany B England ------------- Sweden Sweeden ----------- England C Argentina ---------- Serbia Netherlands ------- Argentina D Portugal ------------ Portugal Mexico ------------- Mexico E Czech reb. --------- Czechs USA ------------------ USA F Brazil ---------------- Brasil Croatia ------------- Australia G South Korea -------- Switzerland Switzerland --------- France H Ukraine -------------- Ukraine Spain ---------------- Spain Notables that don't get out of their group: France, Italy, Japan. The World Cup is coming! dream on- here are the folks making it to the second round A Germany --------- Poland B England ------------- Sweden C Serbia---------- Netherlands D Portugal -------- Mexico E Italia ------------------ USA F Brazil ---Croatia G South Korea -------- France H Ukraine ---------------- Spain VIVA ITALIA

Well it usually comes down to John Ferguson and or Chris Nilan. Nilan didnt lose many fights but I think he wasnt big enuff for the likes of Bob Probert. Fergie rarely lost. As for the worst fighters Gordie Mcguire I think was his name, jean Hamel Terry Harper to name a few

Similar to my team. Noticable holes are Luongo missing the team, Heatley over Iginla (could work - who knows?), and checking lines that don't check. Oh ya, and I doubt all 4 kids will make the team if any. Gagne - Spezza - Heatley Tanguay-Lecavalier-Iginla Smyth-Draper-Doan Madden-Peca-Sullivan Redden-Foote McCabe-Blake Jovonovski-Pronger Luongo Brodeur Theodore This is your team- Madden dont think so Sullivan is not a checker- I would probably have Smyth as an extra and Doan- I forgot S Niedermeyer he will be on the team- Thornton will be on the team especially now that mario has heart problem- Kariya is having a comeback year if it is not him then it will be Tanguay- Foote is injured I think and a little long on the tooth. Luongo as a shoe-in at beginning of year-He has been playing himself off team [Edited on 2005/12/8 by Strummerman] Err, thats my team. And apparently we disagree on many points but thats something totally different. This is BTH's team Gagne - Sakic - Iginla Richards-Lecavalier-Heatley Smyth-Draper-St Louis Kariya-Thornton-Bertuzzi Scratches: Nash, Staal, Spezza, Crosby (Yzerman, Lemieux) Niedermayer-Foote McCabe-Blake Jovonovski-Pronger Redden Scratches: Regher Brodeur Luongo Theodore ok im confused as to who is what but the last team posted Bertuzzi is not having a great year and neither is Foote but you may be right as to who Gretz selects but I prefer my team since it will be more exciting- your team looks a lot like the team that lost at world championships.

Similar to my team. Noticable holes are Luongo missing the team, Heatley over Iginla (could work - who knows?), and checking lines that don't check. Oh ya, and I doubt all 4 kids will make the team if any. Gagne - Spezza - Heatley Tanguay-Lecavalier-Iginla Smyth-Draper-Doan Madden-Peca-Sullivan Redden-Foote McCabe-Blake Jovonovski-Pronger Luongo Brodeur Theodore This is your team- Madden dont think so Sullivan is not a checker- I would probably have Smyth as an extra and Doan- I forgot S Niedermeyer he will be on the team- Thornton will be on the team especially now that mario has heart problem- Kariya is having a comeback year if it is not him then it will be Tanguay- Foote is injured I think and a little long on the tooth. Luongo as a shoe-in at beginning of year-He has been playing himself off team [Edited on 2005/12/8 by Strummerman]

My team: Gagne - Spezza - Heatley Richards-Thornton-Iginla Kariya- Sakic- Staal St Louis-Lecavlier-Crosby Redden-Blake Pronger-Phaneuf Jovonovski- Mccabe Brodeur Turco Belfour :can: