Off Topic World Cup Thread

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A few other relevant squads...

Denmark (preliminary squad)
Goalkeepers: Kasper Schmeichel, Frederik Rønnow, Jonas Lössl, Jesper Hansen
Defenders: Simon Kjær, Andreas Bjelland, Mathias "Zanka" Jørgensen, Andreas Christensen, Henrik Dalsgaard, Jens Stryger Larsen, Peter Ankersen, Riza Durmisi, Nicolai Boilesen, Jannik Vestergaard, Jonas Knudsen
Midfielders: Christian Eriksen, Thomas Delaney, William Kvist, Lasse Schöne, Lukas Lerager, Mike Jensen, Mathias Jensen, Michael Krohn-Dehli, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Daniel Wass
Forwards: Nicklas Bendtner, Nicolai Jørgensen, Yussuf Poulsen, Andreas Cornelius, Pione Sisto, Martin Braithwaite, Viktor Fischer, Kasper Dolberg, Kenneth Zohore, Robert Skov

Columbia (preliminary squad)
Goalkeepers: David Ospina, Camilo Vargas, Iván Arboleda, José Fernando Cuadrado
Defenders: Cristian Zapata, Dávinson Sánchez, Santiago Arias, Óscar Murillo, Frank Fabra, Johan Mojica, Yerry Mina, William Tesillo, Bernardo Espinosa, Stefan Medina, Farid Díaz
Midfielders: Wílmar Barrios, Carlos Sánchez, Jefferson Lerma, José Izquierdo, James Rodríguez, Giovanni Moreno, Abel Aguilar, Mateus Uribe, Yimmi Chará, Juan Fernando Quintero, Edwin Cardona, Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, Gustavo Cuéllar, Sebastián Pérez
Forwards: Radamel Falcao García , Duván Zapata, Miguel Borja, Carlos Bacca, Luis Fernando Muriel, Teófilo Gutiérrez

South Korea (preliminary squad)
Goalkeepers: Kim Seung-gyu, Kim Jin-hyeon, Cho Hyun-woo
Defenders: Kim Young-gwon, Jang Hyun-soo, Jung Seung-hyun, Yun Yong-sun, Kwon Kyung-won, Oh Ban-suk, Kim Jin-su, Kim Min-woo, Park Joo-ho, Hong Chul, Go Yo-han, Lee Yong
Midfielders: Ki Sung-yueng, Jung Woo-young, Kwon Chang-hoon, Ju Se-jong, Koo Ja-cheol, Lee Jae-sung, Lee Seung-woo, Moon Seon-min, Lee Chung-yong
Forwards: Kim Shin-wook, Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan, Lee Keun-ho

Argentina (preliminary squad - you can skip ahead)
Goalkeepers: Sergio Romero, Nahuel Guzman, Willy Caballero, Franco Armani
Defenders: Gabriel Mercado, Javier Mascherano, Nicolas Otamendi, Federico Fazio, Nicolas Tagliafico, Marcos Rojo, Marcos Acuna, Ramiro Funes Mori, Cristian Ansaldi, Eduardo Salvio, German Pezzella
Midfielders: Angel Di Maria, Ever Banega, Lucas Biglia, Manuel Lanzini, Gio Lo Celso, Ricardo Centurion, Guido Pizarro, Leandro Paredes, Maximiliano Meza, Enzo Perez, Pablo Perez, Rodrigo Battaglia, Cristian Pavon
Forwards: Lionel Messi, Sergio Agüero, Gonzalo Higuaín, Paulo Dybala, Mauro Icardi, Lautaro Martínez, Diego Perotti

Also, the following ex-Spurs players are in their various squads
Luka Modric and Vedran Corluka (Croatia)
Gylfi Sigurdsson and Emil Hallfredsson (Iceland)
Paulinho (Brazil)
Federico Fazio (Argentina)
Giovani Dos Santos (Mexico)
Massimo Luongo (Australia)
William Troost-Ekong (Nigeria)
 
littleDinosaurLuke said:
Picking Rashford, Sterling, Lingard & Welback suggests Southgate recognises that pace is an asset he must use.
But what have we seen in qualifying or warm-up games to indicate he has a game plan designed to use it? Who can create chances for them?
It's odd that an uncapped right back is called up when he has two more experienced players in the squad in that position and others can play there too. How many right backs does he need? Why discard Smalling now? Or why not give that place to another defensive midfielder who can keep the ball and protect the back four?
The better international teams at the WC can control the ball. England don't retain possession for long enough or pass accurately enough. It seems that Southgate has abandoned hope of England being able to do so in the belief that they can counterattack quickly and one of the speed merchants can run in behind the opposing team's defence.
Most of England's better players in the squad rely on the creativity of foreign teammates at club level. Eriksen, Silva, de Bruyne etc are a class or two above the players available to England in that role. I'd have picked Wilshere because he's the nearest we've got if he plays well.
Not that any of this matters because Q-F is the best England can hope for in the very best case scenario.
Click to expand...
About how I see it. Southgate's reasoning is that three in the back lets the FBs push up and provide some width in their end while adding more defenders in ours. What it doesn't do is provide a means of getting from one to the other.

I'd go

Pope
Walker Stones Maguire Sessegnon
RLC Dier Dele
Lingard Kane Rashford

I'd pick Lingard and Rashford ahead of Vardy and Sterling since they're teammates, tell Dele to run the team, and hope for the best.

Sometimes you have to have a bad team. Sometimes you have to have a boring team. But you never have to have a bad, boring team.
 
"Thanks for that Brian" said:
Old tune......new words. Sing-a-long styleeeee............

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Back home,
they'll be dreading to watch us
when we are far away.
Back home,
You'll be behind the sofa
for every game we play.

They'll dread every goal that we chuck in, out there
We'll get 3 total ****ings,
And we'll give up and fly right back,
To the folks back home.

Back home,
They'll be watching and waiting
and jeering every loss
Back home,
Though we think we're the greatest
We'll just not give a toss

Once more, we will meet with the best.
Like before, we'll be put to the test.
Knowing we'll give up and fly straight back,
To the folks back home.

They'll see as they're watching and praying,
That we'll not long be staying,
We'll be ****e when the whistle blows,
then run straight back home.
Click to expand...

Do you have a licence for rewriting song lyrics?
And I do hope your blind faith in the England team will not be affected by the occasional sub-standard performance.......
 
audrey.s.thackeray said:
Do you have a licence for rewriting song lyrics?
And I do hope your blind faith in the England team will not be affected by the occasional sub-standard performance.......
Click to expand...

I've been writing/re-writing song lyrics and other stuff for years. A mate, who was on the comedy circuit for a while, and I wrote a humorous musical revue of Elvis' life using the music of songs Elvis sang from the relevant times. We thought it was great. Apart from a couple of pub performances, it remains 'undiscovered'. We're just working on the second rewrite of our first novel. I'll let you know when it's in The Top 10 Best Sellers list. <laugh>

I grew up in Wembley and used to go to every international game there, for decades. No more. We've only ever been any good at 3 tournaments and 2 of them were in this country. Maybe the next generation could do something but we're currently at an all time low in terms of English coaches and players. We might make it out of the group but no further. It's sad but there's no point in hiding from it. The song's just a bit of fun. I'll take the piss as a first reaction to most things......
 
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humanbeingincroydon said:
To the surprise of...somebody, I guess, Adel Taarabt has not made the Morocco squad - or even the standby list
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Click to expand...
I can sort this out by merely changing a few bits of punctuation:
To the surprise of...somebody, I guess. Adel Taarabt?
Found the surprised guy.
 
The preliminary France squad's in...

Goalkeepers: Alphonse Areola, Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda
Defenders: Lucas Hernandez, Presnel Kimpembe, Benjamin Mendy, Benjamin Pavard, Adil Rami, Djibril Sidibe, Samuel Umtiti, Raphael Varane
Midfielders: N'Golo Kante, Blaise Matuidi, Steven N'Zonzi, Paul Pogba, Corentin Tolisso
Forwards: Ousmane Dembele, Nabil Fekir, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Thomas Lemar, Kylian Mbappe, Florian Thauvin
Reserves: Wissam Ben Yedder, Kingsley Coman, Benoit Costil, Mathieu Debuchy, Lucas Digne, Alexandre Lacazette, Anthony Martial, Adrien Rabiot, Mamadou Sakho, Moussa Sissoko, Kurt Zouma

After that we're getting to teams being obstinate about announcing their squads: Serbia are waiting until the 20th, Spain and Belgium the 21st, and Japan the 31st.
 
humanbeingincroydon said:
The preliminary France squad's in...

Goalkeepers: Alphonse Areola, Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda
Defenders: Lucas Hernandez, Presnel Kimpembe, Benjamin Mendy, Benjamin Pavard, Adil Rami, Djibril Sidibe, Samuel Umtiti, Raphael Varane
Midfielders: N'Golo Kante, Blaise Matuidi, Steven N'Zonzi, Paul Pogba, Corentin Tolisso
Forwards: Ousmane Dembele, Nabil Fekir, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Thomas Lemar, Kylian Mbappe, Florian Thauvin
Reserves: Wissam Ben Yedder, Kingsley Coman, Benoit Costil, Mathieu Debuchy, Lucas Digne, Alexandre Lacazette, Anthony Martial, Adrien Rabiot, Mamadou Sakho, Moussa Sissoko, Kurt Zouma

After that we're getting to teams being obstinate about announcing their squads: Serbia are waiting until the 20th, Spain and Belgium the 21st, and Japan the 31st.
Click to expand...

Areola.......Umtiti.....<laugh>......I'm still 7 at heart.

Fantastic players.....shame for them that the coach is 2 bob. What's Zidane doing these days?
 
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