Big national team coming down under

TBH, I'm not sure I'd go... it would be like an England home game and it would make me feel a bit queezy seeing that happen in New Zealand.

Keita is a world-class player, it's just that people like you haven't heard of him yet, mainly because of this obsession with the Premiership as the supposedly best league in the world.
With regard to Rosicky, I may have been a bit influenced by his form in 2004 and 2005 so he perhaps doesn't belong in the top 25 right now. But neither does Gerrard - 2005 final? If I remember correctly, he scored with a looping header, and that was about that as far as his contribution went. The driving force for Liverpool on the day was Xabi Alonso in the second-half, although quite frankly Liverpool were completely outplayed for about 115 minutes of the 120 they played in that game.
Scholes > Iniesta? Right now, I don't think so. Scholes at his prime was very classy, but Iniesta is clearly a better player right now. He has excellent vision and passing, his movement of the ball is exemplary, and his finishing has improved massively in the past year or so.

Are you serious? You wouldn't go and support the All Whites because a lot of people supporting the other team would be there?

I'd be there supporting the All Whites like i was when the last lot came out. I was lucky enough to have been born in Yorkshire but this my home now.

Perhaps what HN is saying is that it'd be a bit like the Galaxy game with too many other people cheering for the wrong team in our country

Yeah, I can understand his disgust at all of the people coming to see England and not the All Whites.

Easy enough to solve. England will probably be playing in red coz it's an AW's home match, so hopefully their fans will be as well. All we need to do is organize red and white tops in staggered alternating fashion. The stands should look like the shirts these chaps are wearing

What a great photo that is.

How can you say John Terrys not World class!?

He's currently captain of the wealthiest team in the world of whom could sign anyone they want, yet he is the heart and soul of Chelsea and would probably be the 1st name on the team sheet! You obviously havn't seen much world football to form that opinion. I bet you cannot name me 3 better centre backs in the world at the moment? Theres a challenge for you, I can only think of 2 who come close!

Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Nesta, Nemanja Vidic, Carles Puyol, and I could go on.

Terry isn't the best centre-back at Chelsea, Ricardo Carvalho is. Watch some football first and then feel free to discuss.el grapadura2007-12-13 21:33:06

Cannavaro? No way. Agree with the others but i don't think you could really justify Cannavaro as world class or even better than Terry.

Cannavaro IS world class. I've watched him since his days at Parma in the 1990s, and also his partnership with Nesta with Italy since the early years of this century, and I'd easily say that's the best centre-back partnership I've ever seen in 20-odd years of watching football. Cannavaro and Nesta read the game exceptionally well and their anticipation is superb. Terry, on the other hand, is very poor at this aspect of the game, and often gets his bacon saved by Carvalho and Cech because of this. Another impressive thing about Cannavaro is that he's exceptionally strong in the air, and is only 174cm tall. His distribution from the back is also exemplary, and he's never hurried in possession, which is very important for a centre-back. On all these counts he beats Terry quite comfortably in my opinion (although Terry is good in the air generally speaking).

As for Chelsea's defensive record last season, and I don't really follow them closely, but I thought their poor defensive spell was mainly due to Cech's absence. I'm sure someone will correct me on this if I'm wrong.

Fair enough. Cudicini is pretty good anyway, and Hilario I only saw in one game (against Porto in the Champions League) and he seemed OK.
Huth was a waste of space though, wasn't the least bit surprised when they got rid of him.

Lets be serious:

1) All these comments about players are personal opinion, based on where your loyalties are
2) England played here for the New Zealand Football Association centenary in the late 80s or early 90s
3) It would be very popular more then the other nations mentioned...
but
4) I doubt NZ Football can afford them!

Mr El crapadura,

Good to see you're demonstrating that vast football knowledge of yours on this forum with such reasoned arguments.

Muppet.

el grapadura2007-12-13 21:39:31

Along with the rest of this years season passes

Can we try and sort it out with Ticketek so that anyone who buys a ticket in the Fever Zone...err...White Noise zone... are warned by TickeTroll or whichever Ticketek staffer sells them the ticket as to the status of the area being standing room? I'd rather not see an upset like at the Galaxy match were a bloke in a Phoenix top got punched by someone sitting behind him, and where some people including my mate Lysergic were forced to sit down (something which, according to the one good steward I've ever met, the security people cannot actually do). Because if we do get England or whoever down, and if we do have a huge crowd, I do not want the newbies to have a bad day like at the G's match, nor do I want any Feverites forced to compromise because of Ticketek screwing up yet again.