Jarpie Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 I didn't know about that Nigeria one. But looking at their performance in that game after playing so well at the start of the tournament, it makes sense. One of the player mentioned about it in some documentary, might've been one episode in History of Football boxset. Game between Denmark and Nigeria who actually put proper effort would've been amazing to watch. I think that gives pretty good implication about the motivation by the players if they played shit on purpose because of some bonus money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 Nigeria-Spain in 98 remains one of my favourite world cup matches, quality winner from Sunday Oliesh. Nigeria were really good in the group stages and Denmark just hammered them. Last time Nigeria had a decent team in fairness, the squads they put out nowadays just look really poor, same for Cameroon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovers13 Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 Nigeria also had a bonus money issue in the confederation cup last year too, obviously not the same thing though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoelVilla Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 I didn't know about that Nigeria one. But looking at their performance in that game after playing so well at the start of the tournament, it makes sense. One of the player mentioned about it in some documentary, might've been one episode in History of Football boxset. Game between Denmark and Nigeria who actually put proper effort would've been amazing to watch. I think that gives pretty good implication about the motivation by the players if they played shit on purpose because of some bonus money. I heard a story from Lagerback about Nigeria in 2010 when he was there manager. If I remember correctly they refused to train until the Nigerian FA made some promises about the financial compensation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Con Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 France 2010 - player strike. France's chaotic World Cup campaign is in disarray after the players boycotted training in support of Nicolas Anelka, who was sent home yesterday for a row with coach Raymond Domenech. France were last in their group of Uruguay, Mexico, South Africa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 France are a weird World Cup team. In the past 4 they either made the final or didn't make it out of the groups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 (edited) Argentina or Brazil to win due to the climate. Dropping tevez and pairing higuain, messi and aguero with di Maria deeper has worked wonders. Chile have two tough European sides to face, a kinder draw could've seen them do well, think they will progress out of group but then lose to brazil. Edited May 11, 2014 by mikeyp102 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voinjama Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Argentina or Brazil to win due to the climate. Dropping tevez and pairing higuain, messi and aguero with di Maria deeper has worked wonders. Chile have two tough European sides to face, a kinder draw could've seen them do well, think they will progress out of group but then lose to brazil. Argentina's defence is suspect. Zabaleta and Garay are the only good defenders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Argentina or Brazil to win due to the climate. Dropping tevez and pairing higuain, messi and aguero with di Maria deeper has worked wonders. Chile have two tough European sides to face, a kinder draw could've seen them do well, think they will progress out of group but then lose to brazil. Argentina's defence is suspect. Zabaleta and Garay are the only good defenders. It is but then Mascherano does a goo job holding for them. It's no coincidence that only south American teams have won tournaments in south America. It's too hard to acclimatise for everyone else. The attacking threat of Argentina will carry them far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voinjama Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Yeah they have the best attacking quintet in the tournament. Lavezzi, Messi, Higuain, Di Maria and Aguero. Although I'd guess only 4 out of those will play at one time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Con Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 France are a weird World Cup team. In the past 4 they either made the final or didn't make it out of the groups. 2010 can be explained because they didn't have Zidane. Zidane and Henry were present 1998, 2002, 2006, and only Henry was present 2010. why flunk in 2002? they had Zidane and Henry and didn't score a goal. maybe it was because Henry wasn't played as a striker until he signed for Arsenal? teams figured out how to nullify the threat. that and they didn't have Laurent Blanc at CB. That wouldn't affect the goalscoring but it would have unsettled the team and made them easier to beat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voinjama Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Henry played as a striker in Arsenals double winning 01/02 season and in that world cup. They flopped in 2002 because of arrogance and complacency after winning the previous 2 tournaments. Leboeuf even said that They flopped in 2010 because of internal rifts within the camp, and inept management from Domenech. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Con Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Henry played as a striker in Arsenals double winning 01/02 season and in that world cup. They flopped in 2002 because of arrogance and complacency after winning the previous 2 tournaments. Leboeuf even said that They flopped in 2010 because of internal rifts within the camp, and inept management from Domenech. I got my dates mixed up. When I posted that I somehow misread the table on wikipedia thought he was still at Juventus. Arrogance and complacency in 2002... unsatisfactory explanation. Great teams are often arrogant, but also hard-working. What made them complacent? Maybe like 2010 there was some conflict within the camp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Looking back, Zidane didn't play in the first 2 games through injury, Pires missed the tournament through injury and Henry got sent off 25 minutes into the 2nd game. Still no excuse for not scoring a goal, but that sort of explains a few problems. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 If Argentina get the best out of Messi, they'll have a great chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Henry played as a striker in Arsenals double winning 01/02 season and in that world cup. They flopped in 2002 because of arrogance and complacency after winning the previous 2 tournaments. Leboeuf even said that They flopped in 2010 because of internal rifts within the camp, and inept management from Domenech. I got my dates mixed up. When I posted that I somehow misread the table on wikipedia thought he was still at Juventus. Arrogance and complacency in 2002... unsatisfactory explanation. Great teams are often arrogant, but also hard-working. What made them complacent? Maybe like 2010 there was some conflict within the camp. Sometimes good teams just play shit. No reason or mitigating circumstances. It just happens 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaajax Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Henry played as a striker in Arsenals double winning 01/02 season and in that world cup. They flopped in 2002 because of arrogance and complacency after winning the previous 2 tournaments. Leboeuf even said that They flopped in 2010 because of internal rifts within the camp, and inept management from Domenech. You mean picking teams based on star signs isn't the way forward? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 If Argentina get the best out of Messi, they'll have a great chance. The current team is set up for him, has had a good record last 18 months (links up with aguero really well, rather than tevez). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Con Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 (edited) Looking back, Zidane didn't play in the first 2 games through injury, Pires missed the tournament through injury and Henry got sent off 25 minutes into the 2nd game. Still no excuse for not scoring a goal, but that sort of explains a few problems. No Zidane. That explains it. In the third game he probably wasn't fully fit. Teams that reach the finals of World Cup have world class players, and in most finals the winner has one world class player in at least 3 key positions of defensive CB, creative CM, scoring FW, and GK. It's more difficult to evaluate the relative abilities of players at the older World Cups because the domestic leagues were highly segregated. In bold is my evaluation of World Class-ness for the last 10 world cups. 2010 - Spain GK - Casillas CB - Puyol CM - Xavi / Iniesta / Silva FW - Villa 2006 - Italy GK - Buffon CB - Cannavaro CM - Pirlo FW - Totti 2002 - Brazil GK - Marcos CB - Lucio CM - Ronaldinho FW - Ronaldo 1998 - France GK - Barthez CB - Blanc / Desailly CM - Zidane FW - Djorkaeff 1994 - Brazil GK - Taffarel CB - Aldair CM - Zinho FW - Romario 1990 - West Germany GK - Illgner CB - Kohler CM - Matthaus FW - Klinsmann 1986 - Argentina GK - Pumpido CB - Ruggeri CM - Maradona FW - Valdano 1982 - Italy GK - Zoff CB - Scirea / Gentile CM - Tardelli FW - Rossi 1978 - Argentina GK - Fillol CB - Passarella CM - Kempes FW - Luque 1974 - West Germany GK - Maier CB - Beckenbauer CM - Hoeness FW - Muller Edited May 11, 2014 by Con Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Davkaus Posted May 11, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted May 11, 2014 The winners of the World Cup must have some excellent players? Who'd have thought it. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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