redrum wrote:well, these extended gameweeks are hell for those of us playing in office leagues .... the banter and "groundbreaking" theories on team selection reach the same level of lunacy as the summer tabloid transfer gossip..... 2 down, 8 days to go ....
c'mon schwarzy, kewell, emerton, & cahill. we need a result this
time!
sorry ..... i'll take the uruguayans, thanks !
well, i hope none of this recurs..
URUGUAY may be the most peaceful spot in South America, but that's not necessarily the image Australian soccer fans have of it.
Four years ago, members of the Australian soccer team were spat at, shoved and set on at Montevideo Airport by a small group of thugs determined to ensure that Uruguay won its World Cup qualifying match. They did, in a bitter 3-0 defeat to the Socceroos.
Now the Australians are back in town for the qualifying play-off for the 2006 finals, and the Uruguayans — at least those on the streets — are working hard to make amends.
"We are not the wild people the Australians seem to think we are. We are the quietest ones here in Latin America," says young Uruguayan journalist Jose Gallo as he sips coffee in a cafe in downtown Buenos Aires opposite the five star-hotel where the Socceroos have spent the past week before tomorrow's crucial World Cup qualifier.
"We have not been in a war for 100 years, and there has not been a civil war in our country since the 1970s. This is not like the rest of the Americas," Gallo says plaintively.
In 2001, the small group of bully boys who greeted the Socceroos were reportedly the hired hands of a powerful figure in Uruguayan soccer who hoped a local victory would boost the profiles — and the value on the international soccer transfer market — of several relatively unknown players. Uruguay got its victory, but Brazil went on to win the 2002 cup.
Today the Socceroos run the gauntlet once again, but this time security has been stepped up dramatically and everyone involved is stressing how unlikely is a repeat of four years ago.
The players were due to land early this morning in Montevideo where they were expected to be given VIP treatment to get them through customs with a minimum of fuss. There were suggestions earlier this week that a transit bus may even drive right up to their plane on the runway to take them to a side airport entrance, from where they would be whisked off to the luxury hotel that will be their base for one night before tomorrow's match.
Last time, the brouhaha at the airport sparked a diplomatic incident, with communication at ambassadorial level and Australian Federal Police being sent to help protect the players at their hotel.
Looking back on the experience this week, Australian captain Mark Viduka said the whole episode had, unfortunately, gathered a momentum of its own.
"Last time it was blown out of proportion a little bit," he said. "There were a few people at the airport who were being silly. But before the game we were staying in the hotel, and the Uruguayan people were really embarrassed about what had happened.
"The normal people in the street didn't want their country to be shown in that light. I think security won't be an issue. We are focused on our job, and I don't think anyone will distract us from that."
For a small country, Uruguay has an impressive record, and not just in sport.
One hundred years ago it introduced one of the world's first welfare states, heralding an enlightened approach to social policy, education and politics that many other countries have yet to embrace. It was, in its heyday, known as the Switzerland of South America, although it fell into economic decline in the 1950s as European demand for its commodity and agricultural exports softened.
In soccer, the tiny South American country of 3 million people was the dominant global power up to 1950.
It racked up several Copa America titles between 1916 and the late 1930s, and took the gold medal at the Olympic Games of 1924 and 1928, the two tournaments regarded as the footballing precursors of the World Cup.
Even today, two of the stands at the venerable Estadio Centenario — the stadium built for Uruguay to host the first World Cup — are named after the stands at grounds in which those Olympics were won, Amsterdam and Colombes. Needless to say, Uruguay won that first World Cup too, beating River Plate rival Argentina 4-2 in the final.
The country was also the first to tap into the genius of its native black players such as Jose Leandro Andrade, known as the Black Pearl.
In 1950, Los Celestes, as the Uruguayan team is known, caused a major World Cup upset when they beat the Brazilians 2-1 in the final at Rio's gigantic Maracana Stadium in front of a crowd some reports have suggested topped the 200,000 mark.
Now the Australians are back with a new coach (Guus Hiddink) and a new resolve.
Skipper Viduka this week pledged that a tougher, more savvy Australia would not be undone this weekend by the tactical naivety that led to its World Cup downfall in Montevideo four years ago.
His teammate John Aloisi, who plays with and against many of the Uruguayans in Spain's Primera Liga, is another who thinks things will be different.
"I don't think we are going to get a bad reception in Montevideo. It's normal that they will try to get us a little bit scared (at the Estadio Centenario, venue for the match), but I think we are looking forward to that. The boys are going to be prepared for it this time, and if they try to scare us or get on our back that will make us want to win even more.
"The last time, they were scared they might lose. A lot of them were scared they were not going to get through.
"If they had not beaten Australia there would have been a lot of trouble in Uruguay because it's do or die for them. That's their life. not only for the footballers, but for everyone around.
"It's a small country, but they are very passionate about their game."
etc.
from
http://www.theage.com.au/news/soccer/ey ... click=true
oh, and i forgot to mention viduka
) The trick is to give a lot of advice, so with the sheer weight of numbers it's going to seem like I spot most of the hot picks. So yeah, I predicted the rise of Chimbonda, Nolan, Barton, Bent and a whole bunch of other players, but I'm not gonna qualify for the Nostradamus merit badge until the likes of Gary Breen and Stephen Elliott piling up the points. 
