One Year On
England's campaign was a shambles from start to finish, but whether the finger is pointed at Capello or the players is anyone's guess. It probably falls somewhere in the middle, but this group of players have now repeatedly failed under several quality managers so I feel the only way forward is to do what Germany have done and start giving younger players a chance - Johnson, Rodwell, Gibbs, Young, Agbonlahor etc
Moving on...the 7 days spent unable to do any transfers/subs for my McDonald's fantasy team game saw me drop from 100th to 300th in the AM Blog, but I'm still going have a go at getting my squad sorted for the Quarter Finals with the aim of finishing in the top half of the league. Only 9 players from my squad are still in the competition, so some serious rebuilding is required!
Anyway, whilst I was away I realised the blog passed it's 1 year birthday - what a hectic year it's been! I'm really looking forward to the final stages of the World Cup before a short break and the start of the new Premier/Fantasy season when the blog will be back in full swing again.
Please let me know how you've been getting on in the World Cup Fantasy game? How are your predictions looking? My prediction was Spain to win it, Villa top scorer, which still looks possible...but Argentina, Brazil and possibly Germany may have something to say about that.
Cheers,
AM
46 comments:
i've been following this blog over 6 months now, it's brilliant.
i'm really looking to play premier league's fantasy, i like the scoring system more in there.
about england, quote would be perfect: it's a fu**ing disgreace, but i also think that if the lampards goal would've allowed, things might be different, but i also know that zee germans deserved it more. :/
overall i like to play fifa fantasy & follow world cup, cause now we don't have to wait so much to PL to start.
23 in AM Blog Cup, every week getting better for me.. too bad for first week as i don't really understand the rules.
Yeah Villa possibly will win the Golden Boot and Brazil will win the Golden Cup :D
Headache about Round 5 transfer, maybe will transfer 5-6 players. Gonna load up Spain squad in my team.
@ Devil, it's actually not a golden cup but a golden ball mounted within a wierd golden arm-hand thing! lol
by the way AM, I completely agree with you that it was a shock to not see that Gabby or Ashley Young were not picked by Capello! Freakin Shock man!
I'm 4th in your league AM. (796 overall rank).
My first round was pretty shitty and i made some mistakes in transfer (totally lost about 30 points only beacuse my stupidness). But i'm still looking to get into top 100 and hoping for even more (round after round my score is better and better so there is a real chance).
I let you know what I think about quarter-final.
We have got 4 matches in 2 days (day 1: Netherlands - Brazil, Uruguay - Ghana and day 2: Argentina - Germany, Paraguay - Spain).
Netherlands - Brazil for me is hard game to predict. I dont know which team is going to win, but I know that Robben and Maicon will score good points. I advice to avoid keepers (the only way they keep cleen sheets is 0-0 or 1-0 with goal in addictional time).
Fabiano was never going to get Golden Boot, he is just finisher nothing more (and pretty good hand ball player) and I dont think he is to score in this game.
Van Persie is the one who might stun Brazil (then or never).
Urugway - Ghana. Not many goal for sure. Muslera, M. Perreira, Suarez and Gyan looks most likely to score good points. Urugway play really good, attacking football but dont forget that Kingson is top class keeper.
I really like Ghana but I must say that Urugway is better team and I think they africans are going to lose (they already lost much more fitness on the pitch, and some key players got injuries.. pity)
Argentina - Germany. I was saying that Maradona know nothing about his job. I must admit i was wrong. He knows this and that. This match is going to be duel between Maradona and Loew.
Predict many goal and many many points (both teams are good in attacking and pretty shitty in defending).
Players to watch: Messi, Higuan, Lahm, Podolski, Mueller, Klose.
Paragway - Spain: Spain to win but dont think this game is going to be easy.
Players to watch: VILLA (the best WC player in my opinion, i think he found his position - Left Wide Forward), Ramos, Pique, Cassilas, Iniesta
Good luck guys :]
They were Fernando Muslera, Diego Lugano, Mauricio Victorino, Jorge Fucile, Maximiliano Pereira, Diego Perez, Egidio Arevalo, Edinson Cavani, Alvaro Fernandez, Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan.
elano out for brazil, so Dani Alves is great pick again
@ Miec
I appreciate the respect for the DutchMaster! Arjen Robben is truely one of a kind and Arsenal would never let a player of that caliber go without a good fight!
But Kingson is not a top class player until he starts everyday with Wigan!
Yet after Martinez' work for ESPN this summer, he got to see first hand Kingson's growing talent as a standout keeper in that dreadful extra time romp of the beloved stars and stripes! Perhaps Kingson will get a start or two early in the 2010-11 campaign!
picked up alves yesterday, yesterday had a hunch, could be genius move.
i think dutch defense is not solid enough against brazil, but they're attacking power is huge, brazilans defense will have a plenty of trouble i think.
brazil are favourites, but i've got fingers crossed for holland to win, one of my favourite players - robben, i think he's one of the greatest out there, but he's so injury-prone that it's a shame.
so news that silva going to manchester city, good pick for PL fantasy for this year.
welcome back AM! thanks for the blog..
i predicted Germany Netherlands final, with Germany winning it. Though I've not loaded up on Germany, maybe because I'm not that confident they will take Argentina. I've got 5 Uruguayans, 4 Spainards, 3 Dutch, 2 Brazilian, Messi and some others sprinkled in.
Currently 28th Rank in AM Blog World Cup, 6,017 Overall.
@CFCBOSS - you prefer the Premiere League fantasy? their scoring is so much more basic than Yahoo's, doesn't seem as interesting to me. I was playing it in parallel this past season.
oh, and I have 2 Germans.
@ Bean, right on your heels! currently 34th in AM Blog League 7,478th overall...
Happy Birthday AM...sorta. Glad to say I've been reading you from the get go and maybe in some capacity helping this grow from a wonderful unknown resource to "the" EPL fantasy blog. Hopefully many more to come.
P.S. I've already picked David Silva in my starting 11 this year :D.
My prediction (like many other people's) was Brazil to win it. Also had David Villa as top scorer. Nothing brave about my predictions I know.
So far I'm #1 in the AM blog league, but with my MF so thinned out (4 guys in play only) I will need A LOT more luck than I already have been getting.
Thinking about the upcoming Yahoo FF, I wonder who will be this year's Gareth Bale?
-JJOKBOB
Uruguay already announced lineup: http://yhoo.it/bgBEHw
Godin and A.Pereira benched, so much for bargain fillers starting..
i'm down to 274 in the blog league which is a huge fall from #1 in the first week. I'm not a happy fantasy manager but i've got the vote of confidence from the chairman.
Man Siddy fans should take note that titles aren't given out in the first week!
I fancy Holland to over turn brazil and like bean i think there could be a repeat of 74 but with a different result.
and congrats on the blog being 1!
Coming 3rd in league, i think that holland will struggle against brasil, they have not played any strong teams yet, argentina germany should be great game with loads of goals but argentina should come out on top, Uruguay - Ghana will be real close and i hope ratehr then think that ghana will win... go the africans. Spain will beat Paraguay. Semis: argentina - Ghana should be the end of the road for africans, brasil spain, cant see spain doing it. So argentina brasil wow cant wait. Cabaroota queens
I have Brazil over Netherlands, Uruguay over Ghana, Argentina over Germany, and Spain over Paraguay. Brazil/Argentina final with Brazil winning, which is what I had in December after the draw. If the Netherlands or Germany win, I'm screwed. Only have Ozil and don't have a Dutch player.
i might do a 3 points deduction and transfer either fabiano or rvp for suarez.. unless someone can talk me out of it.. anyone?.. :p
Asher_MaXTeN
@Maxer
go with villa, if you already don't have him, he's a so called safety net, who should bring good points.
but suarez/fabiano/van perise, is a really hard call, depends what you are expecting, i'd go with fabiano, brazil will score at least one goal for sure.
uruguay strikre is also very good bet against ghana, i think uruguay will overcome ghana.
i personaly went with fabiano, van persie, forlan, villa.
keep in mind Fabiano has 1 yellow card, if that makes any difference
@cfcboss
i already have forlan, villa, messi in my team with fabiano and rvp.. i hate the brazil-netherland match because its too hard to predict thus i'm moving one of them out.. and like u, i expect brazil will advance too.. but not in a fancy way, might be a goal in extra time.. but who scores that's the big question.. :p..
anyway, i heard on the radio this morning.. messi went home early during training due to something.. and schweinsteiger and ozil also missed training yesterday.. can anyone confirm what's up..
Asher_MaXTeN
mind games Asher! mind games! or perhaps one of them had a tummy ache :P either way they will all surely be starting!
How come everyone in Africa is suddenly a supporter of Ghana!?!
You would have never had Germans supporting the only European team left in 2006 had they ALL been knocked out early!?!?! OR would you? Thoughts...?
i read it was just a mild cold with Messi and shouldn't have any problem starting on saturday.. I only read about Ozil and Podolski were left out of training as a "precautionary measure". certainly need to monitor these for saturday, though i myself have already used my transfers +2 (-6 points)
@bean..
great.. thanks bean.. ozil and messi is my important sub if tonight match didn't met my expectation.. anyway, i still have koreans and japanese players in my team.. they're too darn cheap to be replaced by anyone except for ghana players..
ayway, whats your lineup looks like for this roud?
Asher_MaXTeN
Happy birthday AM !
Just a reminder : the WC final AND the 3rd & 4th place knockout match to decide the runners-up will carry equal points possibilities in this game, so don't rush into selling your losing semi-finalists because they will play again!
Seems that I am choosing Spain Argentina Brazil and Uruguay for these semis & 2 finals.
I fancy Brazil for the Cup - for the first time in my memory they have an excellent defence.
Here's the table for the transfer possibilities:
Next round Deadline Free Players/Team
Quarter-finals 02/07/10 15:45 4 6
Semi-finals 06/07/10 20:15 4 8
Final AND 3/4 10/07/10 20:15 4 8
* All times quoted are South African time.
If you want cheap fillers to be able to afford more top players in the last 2 rounds, then today's the day to pick up Ghana cheap (3-4)
Wishing you all luck - it's still an open tournament!
Pauly
@pauly
i agree, i think brazilians defense haven't ever been better then now, also goalkeeper is world class for the first time? talking about what i have seen in my time.
but for me brazilians attacking power is weaker then previous world cups(ronaldo, rivaldo,ronaldinho, cafu, roberto carlos)
also can say that nowadays teams are better, organized and so on, but for me, this is not the brazil i remember though, no samba.. :/
i watched portugal-spain match, when c.ronaldo did the rabona cross, brought smile on my face, these kind of tricks were stuff that made brazil so attractive to watch.
i still think that brazil are the favourites, but overall, that's just my view and thoughts about the team.
Uruguay won... but I'm screwed. Had Suarez, RvP and Forlan, but now have a forward selection headache for tomorrow (Messi, Villa). Should I swap Forlan out to make space for both of them?
why cant you just swap out both Suarez and RVP???? since they only have 5 points between them and have 3 forwards with messi villa and forlan, thats what i am doing!!!
captained forlan, great pick was that, now the real question, i have to change rios & kaka, 6 points between them, i'll sub ozil for one but does veron play tomorrow?
haven't heard about team news, if he plays, should i go with him over kaka?
i have veron too, he prob wont get many points anyways, but i'll prob use him
@ A L N
You cant swap out Suarez coz he got a red card!
Hey, and I tried very hard!
Pauly
oh yeah you cant! sorry! damn, i would almnost say leave Forlan and just sub Villa, but then again Messi could catch fire and get really hot!?!
yeah alot of people have to eat that Suarez red card! But the good news is for all of us who loaded up on cheap Uruguay players(sans Forlan or Suarez) we get to keep our Uruguayans and we get 5M more to spend this round with our 4 free transfers! because Uruguay will play in the third place game or in the final!
@sk.. i have the same dillema with u.. i transfer rvp for suarez last minute and was smiling all the way during the netherland-brazil game because rvp only got 3 points.. and as the uru-ghana game progress suarez already accumulated 6points.. but that last minute red robbed everything.. including the space to transfer villa and messi in.. i got fabiano(3), forlan(capt-18) and suarez(2) btw..
got a feeling today villa can explode.. and messi can produce (if not a goal, few assists).. villa probably in as my captain.. but messi.. hmmm.. help! :p
Asher_MaXTeN
i had the best day. i was born in the USA, my parents in holland and i am living in brasil with my brasilian wife. how glorious was the day. i had on, all day, my bright orange holland jersey. do you think my wifes mom, dad and sis are regretting buying me the jersey this past christmas. the parties had already started, the beer was pouring, the music blaring and the grills, already lit. everyone was going to take the whole day off, after brasil handily beat holland. everyone was making fun of me, on my way home before the game. all of the gaiety has disappeared. a pleasant silence has crept over a country and its people. the brasilians are all picking other south american teams to root for now, even argentina. i told them that i would not root for mexico to win, any game, i don't care the opponent.
the best players for brasil have been juan, ramires and robinho. when i told, the brasileiros, that any team whose best player is robinho, it is an average team, they all agreed. robinho is the only player playing in brasil.
i got a dig in for all of you english. they moaned and moaned that one of the dutch goals was luck. i reminded them of David Seaman's flapping hands on Ronaldinho Gaucho's cross in a previous world cup. this is the first time that a team beat brasil with something fortunate. the teams that play them in the world cup, always get own goals, goals called back for vague fouls or non-offsides. they just are despairing tonight.
i got another dig in for us holland supporters. i reminded them in the world cup that they beat the dutch, that romario was 2 meters offside, when a high ball landed next to him. he started to play the ball, then bebeto came in, and stole it to score the winner. finally the football gods or karma have righted themselves. they did it against the US for the lucky goal against england by denying a penalty and a real goal.
well said greginho.
was rooting for the Dutch as well, happy to see Brazil out. they'll probably win the next one at home anyway.
i'm also stuck with Suarez.. really low scoring day.
did a quick swap of KPB out +5 to Sneijder
thinking of captaining Messi, he must score soon. but i predict zee germans take it.
man, suarez red as my captain f'ed up my plans. i could have villa,messi,podolski strikeforce, but have to choose 2. probably going with villa,suarez(!),messi
i'm interested in klose and kuyt as options everyone won't be selecting (if germany can take argentina of course)
@ greg
Enjoyed your post
Just imagining your family losing that orange shirt in the wash this week-end...
I'm with you for the dutch team holding the cup now
Pauly
@STL ram 01
Well, mate, you're screwed then!
Pauly
A good day for Wesley Sneijder just got even better. FIFA's equivalent to the Premier League's 'dubious goals' panel has credited the Netherlands' opening goal to the Inter Milan midfielder rather an own goal by Felipe Melo.
i think we would get the extra 5 points then, good news.
thanks pauly.
my second great day in a row, argentina come crashing down too. i have on my miroslav klose shirt today. none of the brasileiros are mad about this, though. how awesome the germans look. if they can get past paraguay or spain and holland can get past the "never say die" uruguay team, they will meet in the final. finally the germans and the dutch playing well and, more importantly winning games in a world cup.
how great it would be if paraguay joins uruguay in the semis. south america will have its bastions of football paraguay and uruguay in the semis and not those minnow teams brasil and argentina.
tough loss for the Paraguayans, those two saved penalties were insane! within a few seconds of each other basically, and they were pretty much identically placed/saved too. what a round of matches this has been. paraguay had a great world cup in my opinion, they kept up with spain most of the match.
@greginho - i was hoping for a Germany Holland final myself, i'm assuming you'll be pulling for the Dutch? (if that were to play out) or do you have some German in the family too?
no bean germany is third on my list. i spoke german fluently and have travelled there, for fun, many times, so i line up HOLLAND, USA, then GERMANY. this is partly due to the fact that the US was usually out or playing badly, so i was happy to pull for the other two.
here is what happened to me. i am the opposite of the rest of the world. whenever a young person watches the world cup or other tournaments, whomever is winning, that young person roots for, for the rest of there lives. so a lot of people around the world root for brasil, because they have won so many times. kids of the 80' root for argentina, kids of the 90's root for italia, brasil or france. some kids of the 70's root for holland even though they lost two finals. what happened to me was, that i got pissed if a team beat USA or holland or to a lesser extent germany, so i hated them. if a team won it all or constantly made it to the semis, i hated them too. so the only exception to the rule, for me, is germany. every other big nation or great soccer country, i hate and root for them to lose every game. this is kind of diplomatic, in a sadistic way.
A.M Blog World Cup Semi Final
Crazylegsdude(England) Vs JJOKBOB(Canada)
DirtyAlpacas(USA) Vs Leozabalet(Canada)
1 English, 2 Canadians and 1 USA
Good luck guys..
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