Subject: [nt] World Cup Discussion

As the World Cup starts next week, I'll be using this thread for as long as we are in the World Cup to post all the match info.

Our group:
1. England 0 0 0 0 0-0 0
2. USA 0 0 0 0 0-0 0
3. Canada 0 0 0 0 0-0 0
4. South Africa 0 0 0 0 0-0 0

How did they qualify?
England - Top of group F, won all games bar two which were drawn.
USA - Came third in their group, behind Argentina (who we've never played) and Germany (who we drew against).
Canada - In the "group of death" according to many. Finished behind Belgium (who we have beaten 2-0), Netherlands (who we have lost to twice) and Scotland (who we have beaten twice and lost once to).
South Africa - Finished 4th in group F, which was our group. Played twice and comfortable beaten twice. Manager changed recently to a very experienced Polish manager, so will be a tougher challenge for sure than last time.

Fixtures:
6/5/06 - vs USA
13/5/06 - vs Canada
20/5/06 - vs South Africa

Who are the main rivals?
I'm not too sure. SA are favourites for 4th. Canada have some nice individual players, and USA have a decent overall squad. Probably going to be Canada who finish 2nd behind us (hopefully).

Where to I expect to finish?
1st ideally. If the first match is won, it would be a huge step forward to qualifying for the knockout stages. 2nd would be acceptable. Any less would be a complete failure, and is something I'm hoping will not be happening.

Just noticed that USA's star striker is suspended for the first game of the world cup, which is pretty good news for us.

do suspensions kick in for the world cup?

had a player sent off today...

I'm 99.9% sure that they do.

has that been stated anywhere?

maybe you can dig around in those magical mod forums and find some intel ;)

I haven't heard otherwise, so I'll assume they carry forward.

but are suspensions even implemented at the NT level?

were they in place for the world cup qualies? i don't really recall any red cards for my lads in them so haven't had to address the question...

They were definitely in place. England had Martin Clemence and Toby Linekar sent off along the lines, and neither could play in the next match.

ok. oh well, don't think i would have played that player against peru anyway :P

you mean stoke? He is not that dangerous compared to bevan to me. may be not :) But The USA team has a deep defense tactic, I think we can use that.

He's no Bevan, but he is their best striker by some way.

as i've finished 2nd in the last 2 elections, when are you going to make me your assistant, gibbage ? :)

Do you want to be some sort of "scouting the opponent" assistant then?

i thought i could be a "pick the team" sort of assistant. :)

Not happening :P. Besides, if you did that, you'd only go and sack a player or two of mine.

A certain England defender with a value of over £300k I would suspect.

that is funny :), really!