Alright, football (non-American football) lovers, ask a lady...

[1stepcloser]

Good luck! Hopefully you will make it through the second round when you will have a tough time against Togo.

If all your hopes for this World Cup rely on Wayne Rooney then you will have a really tough time... in any event, I hope we meet each other again... and we can play fair and square, with no hands of God and invented penalty kicks like the one in the last World Cup.

or Diego Simeone falling down like he's been shot to get Beckham sent off

 

[jimmmm]

or Diego Simeone falling down like he's been shot to get Beckham sent off

yeah, good one, 1stepcloser, forgot about him, seems its in built in the argies to cheat

 

[U2@NYC]

or Diego Simeone falling down like he's been shot to get Beckham sent off

Beckham deserved to be sent off. If not for that play, for being a mediocre soccer player that cares more about modelling than playing... too bad that Duscher did not break his leg right before the last World Cup.

 

[1stepcloser]

beckham plays some beautiful football. of course he cares about playing. on the other hand......

Simone = thug
Walter samuel = thug
aldo duscher = thug
roberto ayala = thug
mattias almeyda = thug

the list could go on.....

 

[1stepcloser]

Beckham deserved to be sent off for being a mediocre soccer player

correct me if i'm wrong but playing for manchester united and real madrid and being the captain of a top ten ranking country in world football doesn't really constitute your description of a 'mediocre soccer player'.

 

[U2@NYC]

correct me if i'm wrong but playing for manchester united and real madrid and being the captain of a top ten ranking country in world football doesn't really constitute your description of a 'mediocre soccer player'.

Ok, let me put it differently... : "overrated" player...

It is very easy to play in a club full of stars like Real Madrid. It is much tougher to play for a small club like Napoli, where Maradona played in Italy, and have that club win the championship.

We shall verify this next year, my bet is that Beckham will go completely unnoticed. I believe that a player like Lampard in your team has much more "true" talent than the Spice Boy.

 

[U2@NYC]

beckham plays some beautiful football. of course he cares about playing. on the other hand......

Simone = thug
Walter samuel = thug
aldo duscher = thug
roberto ayala = thug
mattias almeyda = thug

the list could go on.....

Well, only Ayala will play the next World Cup so it should be pretty fair and square.

 

[jimmmm]

Ok, let me put it differently... : "overrated" player...

It is very easy to play in a club full of stars like Real Madrid. It is much tougher to play for a small club like Napoli, where Maradona played in Italy, and have that club win the championship.

We shall verify this next year, my bet is that Beckham will go completely unnoticed. I believe that a player like Lampard in your team has much more "true" talent than the Spice Boy.

not a bad goal last night for that "over rated" spice boy

 

[U2@NYC]

not a bad goal last night for that "over rated" spice boy

Again, it is much easier to play for a team full of stars like Real Madrid.

 

[jimmmm]

Again, it is much easier to play for a team full of stars like Real Madrid.

give the lad some credit, most football fans, English included would concede Becks doesn't compare with fatty, but he is an excellent footballer, i've enjoyed many great performances from him at Old Trafford when he was with United, and he hasn't done too bad as England skipper over the years

 

[U2@NYC]

give the lad some credit, most football fans, English included would concede Becks doesn't compare with fatty, but he is an excellent footballer, i've enjoyed many great performances from him at Old Trafford when he was with United, and he hasn't done too bad as England skipper over the years

Ok, I give up. I will give Beckham a break and you will not call the great Diego "fatty"...

 

[jimmmm]

Ok, I give up. I will give Beckham a break and you will not call the great Diego "fatty"...

alright then, chubby sounds less disrespectful, i suppose

 

[guill]

do you seriously think that wayne rooney is talentless? really? get your head out of the sand.

Rooney has a lot of talent, Michel Platini loves him very very much.
But i'm afraid that he becomes the next Gascoigne, i wonder if he can resist to the pressure, his recent behavior proves that he is not mature yet. I know that he is young, but Maradona, Pelé and Ronaldo had a lot of pression too at the same age.
He has the capacity to be a top 5 world players if he works seriously, and if he is a real professional.

Do you think that Ferguson will manage to control him as he did with Cantona and Keane ? It seems that Ferguson lost this capacity, is he still repected by his players ?

 

[1stepcloser]

i think rooney is the best young player in the world right now but he does have a temprament problem. ferguson needs to calm him down. i don't know if ferguson is still respected by the players, i guess he is. by the old boys like neville scholes giggs and keane anyway. but maybe the dominance of chelsea is getting to him. Rooney makes man united and england come alive with his talent but he needs to stop getting so hot headed and worked up.

 

[U2@NYC]

alright then, chubby sounds less disrespectful, i suppose

No.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

i think rooney is the best young player in the world right now but he does have a temprament problem. ferguson needs to calm him down. i don't know if ferguson is still respected by the players, i guess he is. by the old boys like neville scholes giggs and keane anyway. but maybe the dominance of chelsea is getting to him. Rooney makes man united and england come alive with his talent but he needs to stop getting so hot headed and worked up.

I agree with this.

 

[ibiarain]

sorry to crash the party but its quite clear that Mr robinho of real madrid and brazil is definately the best young player in the world at the moment, rooney's pretty good but still has some way to go to be as effective as a robben or a wright phillips....and yeah clapping wont help really esp in front of the ref

 

[RA-D]

beckham plays some beautiful football. of course he cares about playing. on the other hand......

Simone = thug
Walter samuel = thug
aldo duscher = thug
roberto ayala = thug
mattias almeyda = thug

the list could go on.....

hahaha, oh the hypocracy of it all, an Englishman having a go at another country for having thugs........

Speaking of which,

Rooney must be the most over-rated/hyped player I've ever seen in this country, I could not believe how many people flocked to love him for no other reason than he was a decent young English player and every fan needed a new hero. I concede that he has scored some pretty spectacular goals, but he scores very few unspectacular goals. Wayne Rooney can hit the ball hard, fast and straight and he can hit the opposition players hard, fast and straight. After that, he has nothing that other English players can't do better.

 

[1stepcloser]

Rooney must be the most over-rated/hyped player I've ever seen in this country, I could not believe how many people flocked to love him for no other reason than he was a decent young English player and every fan needed a new hero. I concede that he has scored some pretty spectacular goals, but he scores very few unspectacular goals. Wayne Rooney can hit the ball hard, fast and straight and he can hit the opposition players hard, fast and straight. After that, he has nothing that other English players can't do better.

ok ok, let's stop for a minute and analyse your post. you think that the attributes that wayne rooney has are that he can "hit the ball hard, fast and straight".

is that it? is that all he can do?

i mean, i'm not a man united fan, i don't like them at all but one can't help but admire the talent wayne rooney has. some of the things he can do at his age are outrageous. he was by far our best player at Euro 2004, at the age of 18 might i add. His all round game is amazing for someone of his age. technically he is superb and like you say, he has got a a great shot. although you said he hits it straight, which he does quite often but he can curl it too e.g. the volley against Newcastle last season. not only is he skilful but he's strong and quick too.

he's got a temprament problem however and he needs to sort that out.

 

[1stepcloser]

sorry to crash the party but its quite clear that Mr robinho of real madrid and brazil is definately the best young player in the world at the moment, rooney's pretty good but still has some way to go to be as effective as a robben or a wright phillips....and yeah clapping wont help really esp in front of the ref

where's all this rooney bashing coming from?

Robinho is a very good player but he hasn't been very effective when i've seen him play for Real Madrid. i watched them lose against Valencia this weekend and Robinho hardly featured. i remember him taking the ball round a few people but i can't really remember him doing much else. at least Rooney has an end product.

 

[ibiarain]

mayb ur right...ppl usually fancy the next best player coming out of brazil being the next best player in the world thats cause its almost always been like that.. rooney could do it..i certainly hope so..but hes in the wrong team at the wrong time.. manu are looking ahead at some trophyless seasons..a team like arsenal could have done better for him....but who am i to say

 

[tarquinsuperb]

He has the capacity to be a top 5 world players if he works seriously, and if he is a real professional.

Capacity my arse.

Name four better players in the world.

I can come up with Ronaldinho but after that I'm stumped.

As for the temperament issue, silly old me was under the impression that a hunger and desire to win was a good thing.

The big tournaments are the best and fairest ways of measuring someone's quaility, and at Euro 2004 Rooney was the best man by far. Better than Zidane, Nedved, Henry, Raul, Figo, Joaquin, Ronaldo, Baros, Ballack, Van Nistelrooy, Lampard, Ibrahimovic, Robben, Torres or anyone else you care to come up with.

The technical standard at a European Championship is higher than that of a World Cup (without being a snob the quality of the football full stop is better) and Rooney scored four goals, a couple of assists in three and a half games despite being managed by a muppet.

 

[jimmmm]

Capacity my arse.

Name four better players in the world.

I can come up with Ronaldinho but after that I'm stumped.

As for the temperament issue, silly old me was under the impression that a hunger and desire to win was a good thing.

The big tournaments are the best and fairest ways of measuring someone's quaility, and at Euro 2004 Rooney was the best man by far. Better than Zidane, Nedved, Henry, Raul, Figo, Joaquin, Ronaldo, Baros, Ballack, Van Nistelrooy, Lampard, Ibrahimovic, Robben, Torres or anyone else you care to come up with.

The technical standard at a European Championship is higher than that of a World Cup (without being a snob the quality of the football full stop is better) and Rooney scored four goals, a couple of assists in three and a half games despite being managed by a muppet.

Here, Here

 

[roy keane]

There are people who will say Rooney is the most overrated player in the world as there are many to say U2 is most overrated band.Who cares, Rooney is the best young player and England has at the moment the strongest team after Brasil.This is very objective oppinion because Iam not British.

 

[1stepcloser]

Brasil's attack at the moment is just immense - ronaldo, ronaldinho, kaka, robinho, adriano, juninho pernambucano (the best free kick taker in the world). however in not very sure about their defense. they are definitely vunerable at the back where we have 3 or 4 world class centre backs.

Brasil Vs England World Cup Final

 

[jimmmm]

The silence is deafening u2@nyc

 

[roy keane]

Anyone seen Argentina- England.Fantastic game , outstanding both Rooney and Owen.Bring back Ashley Cole ,Neville and convince Scholes to return and England will do in 2006 what Fernando Alonso did in 2005.

 

[jimmmm]

Anyone seen Argentina- England.Fantastic game , outstanding both Rooney and Owen.Bring back Ashley Cole ,Neville and convince Scholes to return and England will do in 2006 what Fernando Alonso did in 2005.

Don't think I'd push for a Scholes return, his form for Utd in the past 18 months has been patchy at best.
With all players fully fit I'd go for;

Robinson

A.Cole Campbell Terry G.Neville

J.Cole Gerrard Lampard Bekham

Owen Rooney

Subs; James, Bridge, Ferdinand, Wright-Phillips, Defoe

 

[roy keane]

How about Rio - Campbell defence. I think it will work better.They play together for a long time and know each other very well.Don't get me wrong , Terry is perfect but if Rio could raise his form it will be more perfect. And I completly forgot about Wright-Phillips.Man, what a team. It will be shame if England and Brasil meet before grande finale.

 

[jimmmm]

Ferdinand makes far too many mistakes for my liking, personally I wish Fergie had slung him out in the summer, stringing Utd along the way he did,especially after they'd looked after him the way they did throughout the "missed" drug test