Belgium V Algeria tonight. Will Chadli start and show his quality? Also be great to see Bentaleb start as to rise from development player to first team and then the world cup, all within one season is fantastic and he could be suited to the international stage as its a slower paced game in general and Algeria will need to keep the ball as Belgium have tons of pace for hitting on the counter.
I want to watch all USA world cup games with commentary like this... surely the BBC can do a red button service with these commentators? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqth8Eo80EY
Klinsmann is lucky the US media is paying scant regard to the World Cup compared to pretty much the rest of the continent (or, you know, world) - if England left the equivalent of Landon Donovan out of the squad, Hodgson would've been crucified before the squad had boarded the plane at Gatwick, and they'd have been tripping over each other talking about getting "revenge" because Ghana beat them at the previous two World Cups.
To be fair, a lot of the American football-following population were talking about the 'Ghana curse' and getting revenge, and were seriously questioning the absence of Donovan. Maybe its because it is still not truly a mainstream sport over there that most of the media haven't been on his back like they would have been if Rooney was dropped from the England squad. That said, I was in New Jersey a couple of weeks back and many more of the schools than I had expected had good football pitches, and quite a few places were advertising that they'd be showing the cup. Probably helps a bit that this one is in their time zone. Its clearly a sport that is still growing well IMO. And I think it has more of a unifying effect on the Americans who watch it because its a competitive global sport, unlike Ice Hockey or Basketball which are only taken seriously by a handful of countries. I get the sense that, for those who follow football, the USA winning at football is actually a bigger deal, if not a bigger achievement, than when they win internationally at USA-mainstream sports, even when those who follow football also support mainstream sports teams.
Other countries don't seem that bothered about leaving out big names, if the manager thinks that it's the right thing to do. Tevez hasn't made the Argentina squad for several years, having fallen out with the coach seemingly before he even took the job. Not kissing Messi's arse may also have something to do with it.
Belgium v Algeria sees three of our players line up against another one, with Vertonghen, Dembele and Chadli facing Bentaleb. A very Premier League heavy starting XI for Poirotland, with virtually the whole team having some link to it. Only Alderweireld and Witsel have no connection.
Surely the Spanish should be up in arms about del Bosque picking Torres but leaving out Negredo - especially after Torres tripped over the ball when faced with an open goal against the Dutch? I recall the French press kicked off about some of the omissions from the 2006 tournament, although a lot of that may have been down to the ludicrous reasons they were left out - their coach refused to pick players born between 23rd October and 22nd November (which included Robert Pires) while he randomly dropped Vikash Dhorasoo once they'd qualified while he never gave Philippe Mexes a single game during his time in charge.
"Belgium v Algeria sees three of our players line up against another one, with Vertonghen, Dembele and Chadli facing Bentaleb." I know Timmy thought the kid was the next great thing, but that 3 vs 1 seems a bit unfair.
TBF, I'll bet Ghana was handicapped by a smaller budget, and less time to train together (not that that stopped them from sending the US home two world cups in a row. I think the writing was on the wall when they drew the US first, and lost the chance to be the first country to send another home three cups in a row). Conversely, you won't see a better corner taken and scored by two subs, which surely speaks of long hours spent on the practice ground by the team. Belgium Algeria is a fun game. Either Belgium Spurs move on, or Bentaleb enjoys a brilliant upset. Does Dembele look livelier in a red shirt? He seems to be CAM at the moment...I haven't noticed Hazard yet. This really is strange...four Spurs on the field makes it feel like I'm watching Tottenham. Vertonghen penalized on a terrible decision (by Jan, not by the referee). Yikes! Algeria showing no signs of wear from having to play two games in the first round, eh?
"fourSpurs on the field makes it feel like I'm watching Tottenham." Todays' game is brought to you by <sponsor> and THFC.
Algeria staying compact and hitting on the break just as they planned to, no doubt. That's their first world cup goal in thirty years, they say. Hazard down. Bentaleb down. Belgium are too narrow. 65% of the ball, slow buildup, no decent chances, and just got skinned on the counter due to laughable defending. I can't see what you mean, it's like watching Spurs...
Dembele catches Bentaleb with a blatant slap to the face when going for a header, and two minutes later Bentaleb clatters Dembele. It's as if they have insider knowledge about who is being sold this summer so the other can continue to develop...
