FIFA World Cup 2014

[doppelkorn]

Now the football season's over (well the most important bit anyway, I understand some of the lesser clubs still have to dot some 'i's and cross some 't's in the lower leagues) let's talk about this summer's upcoming football before the football begins again in August.

Here's my England selection. It's simple, just pick the best players:

1.       Schmeichel
2.       Messi
3.       Ronaldo
4.       Fat Ronaldo
5.       Dennis Bergkamp
6.       Callum Best (c)
7.       Pierluigi Collina
8.       Kevin Keegan
9.       Roy of the Rovers
10.     Rooneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!!!!
11.     Cantona
12.     Solakjaer (sub)
13.     Eis Nein (coach)

[ziggy starbucks]

I will be booing every time Diego Maradona gets the ball

boooooooooo

[maett]

I'm disappointed that Cruyff Tön didn't make the squad, I've heard only good things about him.

[Onken]

After England dispatch the mighty Ecuador the following fixture against Italy at 11pm on a Saturday night stands out as the potentially most boozed up crazed evening of the summer.

[DrGreggles]

As always, I will be supporting Ireland and all the Liverpool players.

[BlodwynPig]

Don't hold any high hopes of Les Bleus doing anything this summer, but I do hope a relative minnow gets to the Final.

[doppelkorn]

Oh I'll be supporting Germany plus whoever has the best outfit.

Do Puma still do that pan-African kit that looks like a landscape?

[Queneau]

Colombian teacher accused of stealing children's World Cup Panini stickers

El Espectador said a 13-year-old pupil in the central city of Bucaramanga reported the teacher after seeing him in the staff-room pasting in stickers confiscated from students who had been trading them in class.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/08/colombian-teacher-steals-panini-stickers-children


Panini World Cup sticker heist: Brazil thieves pocket 300,000 collectibles

Avid World Cup sticker collectors in Rio de Janeiro were given a shock this week when a van carrying hundreds of thousands of Panini stickers was stolen during a delivery.

Thieves made off with some 300,000 of the adhesive stickers featuring players who will appear in the forthcoming World Cup finals in Brazil which start in June, according to local press reports on Thursday.

"Panini can state that the city of Rio de Janeiro is well supplied and there is no shortage of official Panini products for sale," the company said in a statement.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/25/panini-world-cup-sticker-heist

[George Oscar Bluth II]

I've got the World Cup trophy shiny.

[Queneau]

I've got the World Cup trophy shiny.

Can you use Brasso for that?

[finnquark]

I'll be supporting Italy, because I get BT Sport with my Virgin Media package, and they show Juventus games a lot, and I like Pirlo, he's so good, and also I read his book, which is very profound.

[massive bereavement]

I always love the baddies in football so it would be brilliant to see Uruguay knock out another African team in the quarter-finals with blatant cheating having already been responsible for denying England qualification from the group stage by playing out a cynical draw with Italy. Russia winning the whole thing would make it the best world cup ever, but they probably won't get past the last 16, so realistically the best I can hope for is Argentina winning it on Brazilian soil with lots of controversies along the way.

[Tabula Rasa]

The sticker book is the main reason I'm excited for this.

[DrGreggles]

the best I can hope for is Argentina winning it on Brazilian soil with lots of controversies along the way.

I'd take a Brazil v Argentina final.
In fact, anything less would be a disappointment.

[Tabula Rasa]

If Brazil lose in the final to Argentina, the country may implode.

[imitationleather]

On the BBC earlier Robbie Savage was saying England won't get out of the group stage and I could tell the rest of the panellists were tense because they need to get viewers excited for the ratings and so started chatting breeze about how that was overly pessimistic and the quarter finals are a realistic proposition. The fact they're usually hyping up England by saying they'll actually win the competition spoke volumes.

I am loving England being so unhyped. It's going to make it all a lot more bearable. Just need John Terry to break both his legs between now and the start and I might be able to get behind them fully.

[Queneau]

On the BBC earlier Robbie Savage was saying England won't get out of the group stage and I could tell the rest of the panellists were tense

Yesterday was brilliant. Crooks ended up arguing with Savage and Keown for most of the show and was sulking throughout. It was great to watch.

[Jamie Oliver is fat]

Ashley Cole announces retirement hours before it is announced he has not made the England squad; John Terry levels of arrogance there.

In the same way it's not easy to tell whether JT actually played in the game some photos showing him holding the Champs League trophy depict, in years to come Cole will be known for retiring from International football rather than being dropped, and rushing to get out a tweet/press release just before the team is announced.

[biggytitbo]

I'm not sure how fucked I can be with this year. Watching Rooney and other England 'stars' shuffle around like heavily medicated out patients is quite depressing.

[chand]

Ashley Cole announces retirement hours before it is announced he has not made the England squad; John Terry levels of arrogance there.

It was good though because it means that the sports news this morning led on this rather than the trifling matter of City winning the title.

[doppelkorn]

Oi tagger, what do you mean it's not the FIFA World Cup?

[Eis Nein]

It wasn't you that vexed Skinner and Baddiel on their 2006 podcasts (sponsored by Dodge Caliber) was it?

Yesterday was brilliant. Crooks ended up arguing with Savage and Keown for most of the show and was sulking throughout. It was great to watch.

He's been a broken man since Spurs sold Elvis and bought Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas. Earlier in the year he railed against goal line tech for what seemed like nothing more than a Jokerian craving for chaos.

[Jamie Oliver is fat]

I'm not sure how fucked I can be with this year. Watching Rooney and other England 'stars' shuffle around like heavily medicated out patients is quite depressing.

They're not going to be that good mate, you need to drastically reign in your expectations

[biggytitbo]

They're not going to be that good mate, you need to drastically reign in your expectations

What are they putting in the England squad's food at their World Cup camps? Mogadon?

[Cleaners From Venus]

Ashley Cole announces retirement hours before it is announced he has not made the England squad; John Terry levels of arrogance there.

I hate to say it, but he was actually quite gracious about it. He acknowledged he was dropped for good reason and wished everyone the best. I wanted a massive pram and a million toys situation, but the bastard wouldn't deliver.

[koeman]

Oi tagger, what do you mean it's not the FIFA World Cup?

As Eis Nein alluded to, it's a reference to Baddiel and Skinner's fantastic 2006 World Cup podcasts.

[Harpo Speaks]

It wasn't you that vexed Skinner and Baddiel on their 2006 podcasts (sponsored by Dodge Caliber) was it?

Incidentally, has anyone heard if they are doing a podcast this year? Skinner was due to play Sheffield City Hall at the end of the month and it's been postponed due to unforseen scheduling conflicts - any chance he didn't realise he'd be flying out to Brazil? Maybe he's just putting off coming to Sheffield for as long as he can.

[Jamie Oliver is fat]

Those podcasts were brilliant

I seem to remember some great clips of them during England games in the stadium, and the following day when recording the show they always sounded like hungover, depressed football fans

[Eis Nein]

Bladdibub's childish proposal to badger Sven with a mad scheme like bringing on David James at the last minute as Penalty Man was admirable folly, true fandom.

Another highlight of that WC was Sean Ingle being bitten on the bum. Funny in itself, but the trauma also seems to have fatally compromised his ability to make analogies.

[doppelkorn]

The best part of that world cup was me working at the Spain-Ukraine match in the blazing sun then getting jibbed out of my pay by a dodgy German security firm.

Or possibly getting hailed to death by tennis-ball sized stones during Ivory Coast vs. Netherlands.