2009 FIFA Confederations Cup [P+R]

[Coruja]

Ramires!!

 

[shadowofanubis6]

Even if we lose to egypt, gulati is not exactly a smart man. He'll get another no name mls coach to preach sprints in practice instead of imagination.

 

[jschuck12001]

Homos min 41 !!!!!!!!
This Egyptian squad is really entertaining to watch!



OMG WHAT A F*CKING SAVE!!!! SAVE OF THE TOURNAMENT!

Its a good things that guy is not American

 

[jschuck12001]

This is a great example of what team work and guts will do, Everyone thinks Brazil and Italy are so great and Brazil is great but the effort and hard work Egypt put in beat a team that is supposedly so great. Great example of how talent is one small part of sports and effort and heart win big games.

 

[mogolos]

New logo for World Cup 2010, enjoy

this is the updated new logotype of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

 

[Arnau]

i want a vuvucela and a giant glasses, where i can found that stuff.

 

[Back Door Skip]

I just finished watching the Italy - Egypt game off the DVR (I love that thing). I have to say, I'm extremely impressed with them. I figured that display versus Brazil wasn't a fluke since they did it all game long, and I wasn't wrong. They know how to play. It'll be interesting how they play against the US.

Imagine if somehow, as bad as the US has played if they thrashed Egypt and got in? That would be nuts. Obviously I'm not hoping that happens, but this wouldn't quite shock me.

 

[newbie original]

^^Reminiscent of USA-Ghana from 2006, win, get favorable result in other game and fluke your way into the next stage of the tournament. Didn't happen then and, given the way Egypt is playing, won't happen now.

 

[dimo]

I'm glad italy got beat. lippi is in need of a wake up call. i feel sometimes the italian press hype italian coaches and make them feel almost infallible. seriously, this team is in need of some form of creativity. we don't have a fantasista or any body that you would think could get by a man. basically, we need cassano and with lippi preaching that 'anyone between 18-40 can get in the squad' we know that isnt gonna happen. the best italian player in the league doesnt even make the squad.

congrats to eqypt, they deserved it. italy got smoked by brazil back in london earlier this year and egypt should be able to beat the usa. italy could be going home early. overrated and old style.

 

[cfdemarco]

I hope we lose and lose badly to Egypt because that will force US Soccer to do something about the coaching situation. This just can't go on like this. We need a European manager who knows what he's doing.

It's not the coach's fault that we don't have any good players.

Half our players come from crappy MLS, the rest either sit the bench on decent European teams or play sparingly on subpar European teams. We simply do not have the skill to compete with the best that Europe and South America have to offer.

 

[ARIAGA II]

You guys are seriously undervaluing Egypt they wipe their *ss with all the other teams in the African Cup (Cameroon 4-2,Ivory Coast 4-1). They are pretty much a big deal. They work well together because most of them play in the Egyptian League (that could be something the US NT should take note of).

Now I'm going to get my Vuvuzela, you can only hate it when don't have one.

 

[Bobby]

That's not true, we have good players.

We have a coach who plays an attacking midfielder as a left back at Estadio Saprissa.

 

[mrromaniac]

I found out that a vuvuzela costs like 50 rands (4.5 euros or 6 us dollars). But it's only sold in South Africa. Damn!

 

[Bobby]

Probably banned everywhere else.

 

[The_Knight]

Egypt is already the record holder African Cup of Nations champion, 6 times, including the last 2 times in a row. On the club level, the African club of the century is Egyptian (Al-Ahly), and the runner-up African club of the century is also Egyptian. Al-Ahly is also the record holder African Champions league champion since its birth. There is no contest that Egypt is the strongest team in Africa by a wide margin. Also if you noticed, they play a totally different 'classier' passing game than "African soccer" which is usually a lot more physical and crude.

I don't know what to feel now as an Egyptian... dancing circles around the Brazilians and beating Italy, yet we play with eyes half closed against nobodies from Africa in the WC Qualifiers.

We have a great team, and we know it. We didn't even use our Premier leagues players (Mido, Zaki), and Barakat and Meteb are injured.

This is unfortunately the problem with the Egyptian player. He needs teams like Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Brazil, and Italy to play with concentration. I am REALLY pessimistic about the USA game this Sunday. I hope for once, we maintain the same performance fidelity... (USA has a strong team [give them some slack Italy and Brazil aren't exactly lightweight], and combined with snoozing Egyptian defenders, the result could be disastrous)

But so far, so good. It just hurts me a lot that a player like Aboutreika (who made all 4 goals for Egypt so far) could miss the world cup. It's been 20 years since the last Egyptian world cup appearance (where we drew 1-1 with Holland and got beat by a single-attack 1-0 from England)... It wud be great to finally see Egypt make it to the world cup...

But yeah, the harmony in the Egyptian team is largely attributed to them playing in the Egyptian league (strongest African and ME league, by FIFA). I actually think we play better without Zaki and Mido... Also, the backbone of the Egyptian team is Al-Ahly club... making the players 'find' each other a lot easier.

 

[Filipower]

Manuel José.

 

[The_Knight]

Manuel José.

is the man. Hope he enjoys his paid retirement coaching Angola from long distance in Portugal.

 

[Xifio]

I'm glad italy got beat. lippi is in need of a wake up call. i feel sometimes the italian press hype italian coaches and make them feel almost infallible. seriously, this team is in need of some form of creativity. we don't have a fantasista or any body that you would think could get by a man. basically, we need cassano and with lippi preaching that 'anyone between 18-40 can get in the squad' we know that isnt gonna happen. the best italian player in the league doesnt even make the squad.

congrats to eqypt, they deserved it. italy got smoked by brazil back in london earlier this year and egypt should be able to beat the usa. italy could be going home early. overrated and old style.

100% agree! includes every single point I wanted to make on this subject ... I said in the first post in this thread that I wanted to see Italy go out, and that is just a step away from happening ... Lippi's overinflated ego needs to get taken down a notch, and he really needs to stop being a hypocrite about picking players on merit (i.e. pick Cassano! and make a few more form-related changes to the squad) ...

happy to see Egypt play as well as they have done ... they deserve to make it through based on their performances against two of the world's traditional powerhouses ... if Egypt play to potential, I can't imagine that USA can play spoilsport for these best laid plans, let alone somehow sneak through to the semis ...

Brasil -- who have been largely unimpressive so far under Dunga -- need to do the business in the next match, and not let Italy somehow slip into the next round ...

 

[The_Knight]

Zidan confirmed to miss the Egypt vs USA game this Sunday. Shawky's participation is doubtful as well....

This is a huge blow to the attack and the midfield.

 

[MaestroZidane]

Zidan alone is a huge loss, and it's a surprise that he was able to finish the game against Italy after almost injuring himself.

This make the game a bit more interesting, though I don't expect the US to come out with a win.