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Post by The Quito Diet on Jun 3, 2014 10:55:57 GMT
Betting odds (to qualify); France 4/5 Switzerland 5/2 Ecuador 7/2 Honduras 33/1
Summary; Ridiculously good odds for France to qualify there given the group they've been drawn in; there's a good vibe amongst the French camp and a few pundits have picked them as outsiders to go deep; a notion that's alien to most French men. The Swiss have a decent pedigree in recent tournaments and should prove a stern test, even with a centre back pairing of Djourou and Senderos sending Arsenal fans into shivering wrecks with the memories it will bring. Ecuador and Honduras are two relative unknowns, which may work in their favour playing without the shackles of expectation.
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Post by The Quito Diet on Jun 3, 2014 10:56:23 GMT
Coach: Ottmar HitzfeldSquadGoalkeepers: Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg), Roman Buerki (Grasshopper), Yann Sommer (Basel). Defenders: Johan Djourou (Hamburg), Michael Lang (Grasshopper), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus), Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolfsburg), Fabian Schaer (Basel), Philippe Senderos (Valencia), Steve von Bergen (Young Boys), Reto Ziegler (Sassuolo) Midfielders: Tranquillo Barnetta (Eintracht Frankfurt), Valon Behrami (Napoli), Blerim Dzemaili (Napoli), Gelson Fernandes (Freiburg), Gokhan Inler (Napoli), Xherdan Shaqiri (Bayern Munich), Valentin Stocker (Basel) Forwards: Josip Drmic (Nuremberg), Mario Gavranovic (Zurich), Admir Mehmedi (Freiburg), Haris Seferovic (Real Sociedad), Granit Xhaka (Borussia Monchengladbach) Matches
Switzerland Vs. Ecuador - 15th June; 13:00 Local Time Switzerland Vs. France - 20th June; 16:00 Local Time Honduras Vs. Switzerland - 25th June; 16:00 Local Time
Key Players
Diego Bengalio: A former Bundesliga winner with Vfl Wolfsburg, the experienced man between the sticks is not only an extremely talented goalkeeper, but provides a helpful boost in the experience stakes that could help a lot of the younger members of the squad greatly. Switzerland's number one choice since Euro 2008, his big tournament knowledge could end up being invaluable.
Xherdan Shaqiri: One of Bayern Munich's Treble winning squad members, Shaqiri has already more than made his mark on the world stage, and will be looking to prove himself even further internationally by helping Switzerland advance as far as they possibly can in this tournament. His ability to read the game and utilize his incredible pace is sure to make him one to watch in this World Cup.
Fabien Schar: A relative newcomer to the senior international fold, this young Center Back is already making waves, with an impressive three goals in five caps. Well known in his native land for his work with perennial dominators FC Basel, this could be his chance to show his worth on the global stage and potentially get himself a big move. Still only 22, there's many years left for him to develop and he's sure to be a big time player in years to come.
Granit Xhaka:[/b Another youngster in the squad, but already having 22 caps under his belt means that Xhaka is already seen as a key and regular member of the squad. Once dubbed 'the young schweinsteiger', Xhaka is seen as an intelligent player who can read the game wonderfully. Another player who game through the setup at Basel, Xhaka now plys his trade in the Bundesliga for Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Interesting Shit
I'm not actually that funny Taylor Swift concerts aside so I'm not even gonna try to match up to some of the others that undoubtedly will be hilarious. Basically Switzerland are one of those teams that have always sort of come and gone in terms of the global scene. They've been in nine world cups to date, making this their tenth appearence. Interestingly, this is their third in a row which appears to be showing the progression of their game, and with young talents coming through the ranks it's easy to see why. On a similar note, the Swiss were victorious in their Under-17 World Cup campaign in 2009, which bodes well for their future, certainly over the next 5 or so years. Don't be suprised to see more talent coming through beyond that as well, as the big players such as Basel are consistently bringing through young, talented stars of the future.
They also make cheese and were runners up in the beach soccer world cup of 2009. A good year to be Swiss.
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Post by The Quito Diet on Jun 3, 2014 10:57:58 GMT
ECUADOR
Manager - Reinaldo Rueda 1994–1997 Cortuluá 1997–1998 Deportivo Cali 2002 Medellín 2002–2004 Colombia U-20 2004–2006 Colombia 2006–2010 Honduras 2010– EcuadorSquadGoalkeepers: Maximo Banguera (Barcelona, Ecuador), Adrian Bone (El Nacional), Alexander Dominguez (Liga de Quito)Defenders: Gabriel Achilier (Emelec), Walter Ayovi (Pachuca), Oscar Bagui (Emelec), Frickson Erazo (Flamengo), Jorge Guagua (Emelec), Juan Carlos Paredes (Barcelona, Ecuador), Cristian Ramirez (Fortuna Dusseldorf).Midfielders: Segundo Castillo (Al Hilal), Carlos Gruezo (Stuttgart), Renato Ibarra (Vitesse Arnhem), Fidel Martinez (Tijuana), Cristian Noboa (Dynamo Moscow), Pedro Quinonez (Emelec), Luis Saritama (Barcelona, Ecuador), Antonio Valencia (Manchester Utd).Forwards: Jaime Ayovi (Tijuana), Felipe Caicedo (Al-Jazira), Jefferson Montero (Morelia), Joao Rojas (Cruz Azul), Enner Valencia (Pachuca), Armando Wila (Universidad Catolica)Fixtures
Switzerland - 15 June 2014 - Disenchanted Honduras - 20 June 2014 - #FreeBTS France - 25 June 2014 - Maskya Yoshida
Likely Formation
4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1
Key Players
Antonio Valencia - The Manchester United winger and captain for his national side will be the key to any success that Ecuador might have. In the past few seasons he has either been rubbish or excellent and goes into the World Cup following pretty poor club form.
Jefferson Montero - Some consider him to be better than Valencia and the Ecuador fans will be hoping he and Valencia can provide an attacking threat down both wings. He is currently playing his trade in Mexico, having previously been at Villarreal.
Felipe Caicedo - The previous Manchester City flop was touted to be a big player and has so far failed to live up to that reputation but he remains a key striker for Ecuador.
Edison Mendez - He is the most experienced player in the squad with 108 caps and the midfielder was the first Ecuador player to score a Champions League goal when he played for PSV.
As a Whole!
Ecuador will be entering their third World Cup, having made the group stages in 2002 and the last 16 in 2006. They will be hoping that South American advantage will go in their favour and most importantly they will be going into the World Cup following the tragic death of Christian Benitez, who died of a heart attack last year aged 27 and would almost certainly have been picked to travel to Brazil.
Qualifying from the group into the last 16 would be most likely considered a good achievement and they have the players to be a threat in all the games they play.
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Post by The Quito Diet on Jun 3, 2014 10:59:25 GMT
Vive Les France | Vive Les Bleus Bounjour, je m'apelle Matthew et bienvenue a la World Cup write up.
Unless I can somehow relate the rest of my GCSE French oral to this then that's as continental as this write up is going to get. When you're self aware that people are reading these expecting humour, and when there's no posts above or members to just abuse it's actually quite hard to be funny. So I'll just try and do this somewhat serious, and if I can find a way to make a snide remark about other members I will. I was also going to do a history of France, like Djed suggested, but they're such a recognisable national team and we all (or at least most of us) remember '98 and '02. So instead, to please the Irish, have this gif.
>> THE MANAGER
Yep that shit former Chelsea defender is now the manager of France, after doing okay in leagues that aren't the Premier League so therefore don't really count, Deschamps took over from Blanc after France's average Euro 2012 campaign. Highlighting the fact that France's team is nothing to that of 12 years ago, it took a 3-0 victory at home in a play-off against Mini Russia to guarantee a place in Brazil. After winning trophies at Monaco, Juventus and Marseille. Can he do the same with France? Probably not.
>> THE SQUAD
GOALKEEPERS
Hugo Lloris (c) – 55(0) – Tottenham Hotspur
Steve Mandanda – 16(0) – Marseille
Mikael Landreau – 11(0) – Bastia
DEFENDERS
Patrice Evra – 54(0) – Manchester United
Bacary Sagna – 39(0) – Manchester City
Mathieu Debuchy – 19(2) – Newcastle United
Mamadou Sakho – 16(2) – Liverpool
Laurent Koscienly – 15(0) – Arsenal
Raphael Varane – 5(0) – Real Madrid
Eliaquim Mangala – 2(0) – Porto
Lucas Digne – 1(0) – Paris Saint-Germain
MIDFIELDERS
Franck Ribery – 81(16) – Bayern Munich
Mathieu Valbuena – 31(5) – Marseille
Yohan Cabaye – 27(2) – Paris Saint-Germain
Blaise Matuidi – 20(1) – Paris Saint-Germain
Moussa Sissoko – 14(0) – Newcastle United
Rio Mavuba – 9(0) – Lille
Paul Pogba – 8(1) – Juventus
Clement Grenier – 3(0) – Lyon
Antoine Griezmann – 1(0) – Real Sociedad
STRIKERS
Karim Benzama – 65(19) – Real Madrid
Olivier Giroud – 26(5) – Arsenal
Loic Remy – 22(4) – Queens Park Rangers
In goal Lloris will continue to show fans that he deserves to be at a bigger at better club than Tottenham before his eventual big money move to a Champions League team.
In defence Raphael Varane will show why he's one of the worlds most highly rated defenders by carrying Koscienly/Sakho all tournament. If Evra manages to get through the entire tournament without abusing journalists for daring to say he's past it, or without organising a strike cause he doesn't like the manager I'll be shocked. I imagine Debuchy is still pinching himself that even though he's played in such an average team this season he's still in the French squad, which I think highlights the lack of talent in the French squad more than the ability of Debuchy himself. However, when you see the full backs Deschamps has chosen, you do have to wonder why Clichy is not in the squad.
Despite the fact he's a bit of an arse, Ribery is still France's best player and if he is on form he'll give defenders in the group nightmares, and with Valbuena on the opposing wing there is some pace in this French attack. Behind them a midfield trio of Cabaye, Matuidi and Pogba sounds exciting on paper, and is good enough to get through their group, but it'll be interesting to see how they fare against some of the bigger teams in the tournament... I didn't actually know anything about Mavuba before this, and presumed since he only had 9 caps he was fairly young. After wiki'ing him and finding out he's 30 and got his first cap 10 years ago, I'm presuming he's a black French Scott Parker instead? The main talking point here is the exclusion of Samir Nasri, who's a bit like Ribery in that he's a cunt, but still a very good player. With only the youth of Grenier and Griezmann to provide support for Ribery and Valbuena, it is a surprise Deschamps has left Nasri out. Of course we've all seen what Ms. Nasri had to say, and to save excessive abuse of France being posted, he's a gif to summarise her thoughts on both France and Deschamps.
Up front you've got two alleged (I say alleged to ensure I don't get done for slander) rapists and a man who cheated on his wife the day before an important club game. So if as England fans we ever complain about our national team, just remember the French are just as bad, if not worse. French supporters will also be praying that nothing happens to Benzema, 'cause no one would want to rely on Giroud or Remy in an important World Cup match.
>> LINE UP
>> FIXTURES
15th June – vs. Honduras
20th June – vs. Switzerland
25th June – vs. Ecuador
I feel like I need to finish this write up with a gif, and what better than this.
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Post by The Quito Diet on Jun 3, 2014 11:01:05 GMT
Honduras should have a post here This post should have been brought to you by #FreeBTS
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notpropaganda
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Eden 'Azarrrrrrrr!
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Post by notpropaganda on Jun 3, 2014 17:57:19 GMT
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Post by Maskya Yoshida on Jun 3, 2014 20:19:46 GMT
I spent a good 30 minutes on that write up. I deserve a cheeky like.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2014 20:22:17 GMT
Can see France being one of the dark horses in this tournament.
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shaunie
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Post by shaunie on Jun 3, 2014 20:55:34 GMT
Find it mental that a team with that talent can be referred to as a dark horse. I understand that they're not up there with the tournament favourites but would people really be surprised if France done well?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2014 20:56:49 GMT
Dark horse was probably the wrong term.
They're good, no doubt, but I could see them reaching the semi's, after the shitshow they had in 2010 lots of people have written them off.
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Post by The Quito Diet on Jun 3, 2014 21:00:27 GMT
I think they would be surprised actually, given how they've fared in recent tournaments. No real 'star' players, in fact a lot of players who often get criticised excessively for their club form. Obviously getting out of the group is expected but I think most people would be surprised if France made it to the semi's.
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Childish
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Post by Childish on Jun 3, 2014 21:16:23 GMT
I think they have an easy run to the quarters* if they show up. Tbh I'd like to see them go 4-4-2 because I think a combination of their three strikers could cause a lot of problems for any team. Remy's pace/finishing, Giroud's hold up/link up/aerial ability and Bemzema's overall play all could work well together. Pogba and Cabaye in a 2.
Still think no Nasri is mental...he could thrive off Giroud but we'll see how it works out I guess.
*just kidding. Bosnia will destroy them in the last 16.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2014 21:19:53 GMT
Nasri is shit for France and he's a cancerous presence in a team that's already full of cunts, it was a good decision.
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Childish
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Post by Childish on Jun 3, 2014 21:21:50 GMT
There's obviously a reason thats the case when he's fine for us. Think they'd try to sort it.
Though its all hearsay because tbh noone knows how "cancerous" he is just like no one knows how much theyve tried to resolve the issues.
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Post by Maskya Yoshida on Jun 3, 2014 21:22:45 GMT
In don't trust his face, very sneeky.
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