This is the thread for all the latest news regarding the upcoming World Cup football.
Most important news of recent days has to be the injury to Wayne Rooney. I think it’s unlikely he will participate in this World Cup. By the time he gets matchfit, England will have been eliminated from the tournament 
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Secondly, the Brazilian coach has already given away his starting line-up for the opener against Croatia. the magic 4 will all be present: Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Adriano. This leaves no room for Robinho. Personally, I think this is the strongest four of these 5. Perhaps Adriano could be left out for Robinho because of his horrible domestic form.
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What has Ronaldo done of late? Robinho and Adriano would make a better pairing on current form. Yes Adriano is poor too but he is still having a better season than Ronaldo
Rooney injury willl hurt England no doubt and british media is all panicked :D
Totti is fit again for Italy and Italy IMO are the second favourites in the tourney.
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rooney out for the world cup?man that sucks for england..but i think their real problem is their ridiclous coah Erickson..they should've fired him before the world cup...Holland is looking good,watch out for them eventhough they are in a tough group,I don't think Germany is gonna do too well as they lack talent,and France might make it to semis if Zidane is fit.
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Holland is a young team but with the strike force of RVN, Kuyt, Robben and co, they are a very dangerous outfit. If they can make out of their tough group, anything can happen.
I also back Portugal to make it really far in this tourney.
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Shevchenko is injured for a month and will miss Ukraine's preparation.
Btw, for me England were among the top 4 contenders for the World Cup, but now that Rooney probably won't be fit, I think England will strand in the quarters. As for Holland, they got a world class attack, but everything else is close to mediocre in the team: defense, midfield, both aren't as good as they used to be.
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The England squad selection has been a joke 
Sven is playing russian roulette with England’s chances knowing he won’t have to answer to anyone because he’ll be off once England are out. Leaving out Defoe leaves England with only 2 strikers (Owen and Crouch), the former who isn’t up to match fitness and the latter isn’t a regular goalscorer or a physical player. Defoe would at least be able to fill the void and provide a good substitue and injury cover for the latter stages but Sven is a friggin idiot by including 17yr old Walcott 
This now means England have to rely on Gerrard, Lampard and Cole for goals. Now bearing in mind to win a world cup you need to score a minimum of 8-9 goals the England team will be at full stretch 
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they don't have much speed in that attack..rooney's injury is a big blow,he is definitely the most talented european player,Beckham is a bit over-rated and won't do much for them other than pi$$ in his pants and miss a penalty.Ericson gotta be one of the worst coaches around his strategy has always been to be defensive even when England had a lot of fire power in the mid field.We'll see how far they go with all these problems.
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Starsky, I know that He has gambled by picking Walcott and it would have made a lot of sense to include another striker IF he had to include walcott but I think Rooney will drop out on 9th June and Defoe will be included. Cole will take Rooney's role and Owen will be fit to play. They are still a very capable side but with Rooney they get that extra zip and quality. Not a good time to gamble though on a championship player but if that pays off, oppositions wont know anything about it and that is a surprise factor he is counting upon.
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Is Turkey not in this year’s World Cup? :eek:
I don’t see them on the official FIFA website …
**http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/team/index.html
:eek:
**
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^ Mehnaz in KK. 
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^:hehe:
Mehnaz, this year the Turks will be disguised as Togo 
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Ehsan bhai, you will be seeing me here a lot when the games begin. ;)
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^Don't worry, cup England ka hee hai.
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and Denmark is disguised by Trinidad
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This is why women should stay clear of football 
The Turks crashed out in dramatic fashion to the Swiss at the play-off stage, a game which ended in a mass brawl. Its a shame really, the Turks would bring a lot of attractive football to the world cup.
Mehnaz, do you know the offside rule?
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turks are basts even in london they are always angry and fighting with people.
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Hey, don’t make fun. 
I only pay attention to World Cup when it actually roles around. I don’t follow any soccer the rest of the time. I’m in Canada … they don’t really show it here. 
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I don’t know why you lot are getting your knickers in a twist over Rooney, he ain’t all that. We still have a chance, not to win of course, but yeh to get through the first few rounds. We have Gerrard and after yesterdays performance in the FA Cup I think our man Gerrard will prove to be bigger and better than Rooney.
Turkey won’t be playing, but thier fans will definately cause a few kerfuffles, BBC Breakfast News showed a mini documentary about vicious Polish and Turkish fans. Sounded well dodgy, half of them admitted they were only going to Germany to kill other fans. Football Fans 
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Mohabbat, you know your stuff :k: All depends on how Eriksson plans to use Gerrard. Usually in the England set up he has a holding midfield role but I suspect things will change now that hes on a high and play the free attacking role he has at Liverpool. Hopefully England won’t have to rely too much on him, he is very tired having started the season with Liverpool back in Jul '05. I’m praying he comes back at Anfield with no injuries or burn out.
Fanwise, I’m expecting lots of trouble. With English, Dutch and other hot-headed european fans flooding into Germany, theres never been more potential for all out riots. Downside is neo-nazis are specifically planning to target ‘muslim’ fans during the WC 
Mehnaz, who are you supporting? I take it like most women you’ll be backing the hot blooded Italians and Spanish? 