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World Cup 2010

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BoyBrumby

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Be rooting for NZ too, in a slightly crap Anglo-centric way. Know squat about the strength (or otherwise) of Bahrain, but NZ have at least one Prem quality player. Strikers look a bit pus tho, it must be said.

Wonder if, should NZ make it, they'll be any English players getting in touch with long-forgotten NZ roots like we saw with Jamaica in 98 & T&T last time.
 
Smudge

Smudge

Hall of Fame Member
BoyBrumby said:
Be rooting for NZ too, in a slightly crap Anglo-centric way. Know squat about the strength (or otherwise) of Bahrain, but NZ have at least one Prem quality player. Strikers look a bit pus tho, it must be said.
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Which is concerning, considering it's supposedly our strongest trio of strikers ever (not including Wynton Rufer's time, as he was a one man band). :(
 
Simon

Simon

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Smeltz is gun, wish he was Aussie tbh. Is there anyway we can claim him and you can have Russell Crowe back?
 
Meridio

Meridio

International Regular
Voltman said:
Yep, in the front line tonight apparently (that's if Herbert does actually go with three up front) along with Smeltz and Rory Fallon.
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Yeah, papers saying he's already decided on playing three strikers. Not sure it's what I'd be doing if I was him. Don't really think going into an away playoff with a 3-4-3 formation is the most sensible idea, even if those strikers are supposedly where our strength is.

Starting to get pretty nervous now tbh. Don't think we'll ever have a better chance of qualifying.
 
Meridio

Meridio

International Regular
Voltman said:
Which is concerning, considering it's supposedly our strongest trio of strikers ever (not including Wynton Rufer's time, as he was a one man band). :(
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I'd say they're the best since Rufer and Wooddin in the '82 team. Smeltz has come out of nowhere since that friendly against Wales a couple of years ago - seems to have a real eye for goal now. Killen hasn't really done much since he moved to Celtic, but just in the last few months seems to have come into some good form. From what I've seen, he's more of a targetman than an out and out striker. Rory Fallon seems to be the same, though I'll admit to having seen practically nothing of him.

I'm quite interested in how Chris Wood will turn out - absolute bolt from the blue last year when I heard that a 17-year old Kiwi made his Premier League debut. I've had a bit of a trawl through West Brom forums to see what they think of him, and he seems to be very highly rated. Found a youtube clip of his first goal for the club too.

From his pus comment, I think Brumby's judging them on Premier League standards. They're about as good as what we can hope for IMO. I'm far more concerned about the midfield and defence. Ryan Nelsen's genuinely world class, but I don't particularly rate Ben Sigmund and Ivan Vicelich is pretty old now and hasn't been playing at a high standard since he left Holland. By playing three strikers we're also forcing Leo Bertos into a more defensive role, which I don't think he's suited too.
 
Meridio

Meridio

International Regular
dontcloseyoureyes said:
World Class is a stretch. He's a good player though.
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I don't mean world class as in pushing for a spot in a World XI. He's been playing in the Premiership for about four years now, and I'd say that if you can command a starting sport in a mid-table team there (and be captain for that matter) then you're genuinely world class.
 
Hoggy31

Hoggy31

International Captain
So all the Kiwis have to do is beat Bahrain? piece of piss.

Why aren't they playing Paraguay or some crap?
 
Meridio

Meridio

International Regular
Yeah, we playoff against fifth in Asia. Means we have potentially the easiest chance to qualify ever.
 
dontcloseyoureyes

dontcloseyoureyes

BARNES OUT
I don't mean to belittle NZ or anything and I quite like the All-Whites and hope they qualify, but for mine, World Class implies the elite players of the world. Ryan Nelson plays for a side who'll likely battle relegation this season yet again and is certainly not a part of the elite class of player in the world. To be considered world class surely you have to be one of the top 50ish players in the world? Anything further than that devalues the term IMO.
 
BoyBrumby

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Wasn't trying to run down NZ's strikers, but Smeltz is a Halifax reject & when Killen was punted to Norwich on loan he did so badly they returned him to Parkhead pronto.

Smeltz might've improved since he returned to the A-League, tbf, I don't watch a lot of it and the young lad I haven't seen anything of, although Plymouth are doing all kinds of merde this season.

Nelson is a decent Prem quality performer, might even be in contention for an England spot were he a Pom. Rate him roughly on a par with Upson. Both solid defenders but lack a bit of pace.
 
P

Pup Clarke

Cricketer Of The Year
Meridio said:
I don't mean world class as in pushing for a spot in a World XI. He's been playing in the Premiership for about four years now, and I'd say that if you can command a starting sport in a mid-table team there (and be captain for that matter) then you're genuinely world class.
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What?
 
Meridio

Meridio

International Regular
Pup Clarke said:
What?
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It's pretty simple. The Premier League is generally regarded as being the best in the world (some might say la Liga, but that's a different debate), and in a sport as universal as football if you can make it to the top of the tree and stay there then I'd say that makes you world class. It's not like cricket, where only a handful of countries play it and therefore only a handful of players at one stage will ever be "world class". What would you say constitutes being world class? Being in the top 20% of international players? The top 10%? 5?

Maybe I have a looser definition of what constitutes being world class than the rest of you. For me, it basically means that you are capable of excelling at the highest level. Maybe, if you wanted to be pedantic about it, you could say "Premiership class" or some other definition similar. In footballing terms, that loosely translates to world class imo.
 
Meridio

Meridio

International Regular
BoyBrumby said:
Wasn't trying to run down NZ's strikers, but Smeltz is a Halifax reject & when Killen was punted to Norwich on loan he did so badly they returned him to Parkhead pronto.

Smeltz might've improved since he returned to the A-League, tbf, I don't watch a lot of it and the young lad I haven't seen anything of, although Plymouth are doing all kinds of merde this season.
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Smeltz has definitely improved. As I said before, it all started with a friendly against Wales. He'd just been dumped by Halifax, from what I've read he was pretty much on the scrapheap as far as professional footballers go. Then, he scored two goals in that game, got snapped up by the Wellington Phoenix and hasn't stopped scoring since. There have been whispers that he's an outside shot at being snapped up by a Premiership team; I wouldn't say he's that good but he's come a long way in the last few years.
 
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