you'll notice 1) the Canadian team isn't in the WC; 2) hockey players never, ever act like this. they don't even blink when they get an eye gouged out onto the ice. they have to be hauled off the bench by the militia, just to get stitches, then they high-tail it back to the game.

football's gotten to the point where if you don't act like a little wuss when another player is within shouting distance, you don't go very far.

It's sad but true.

Italy-France in the final

I never would have thought France would have got to the final after here opening 2 games

But they do deserve it, Portugal really couldn't do anything with all there possesion

And why was Cristinao Ronaldo playing as a striker

Let me recap the story for France.

Their stars retired.

They sucked.

Their stars un-retired.

They barely qualified.

Ubiquitous tinkering of formation.

Crappy performances in openers.

Stumble onto winning formula.

Defence becomes awesome.

Zidane returns to greatness.

Self belief discovered.

So the logical conclusion would be:

A) Zidane is still a god.

B) Domenech is an idiot.

C) Henry has a tendency to dive, although he mocked Barca's players for diving so much and congratulated Eboue for his dive in the CL final <_<

Honestly, even if I was not Italian, I would still think Italy would win

Probally 1-0 or 2-0

The Italian defence does not look like it will be scored on, and they have the firepower to put at least 1 by Barthez

How about you Taben, any predictions

Both teams are quite balanced and have an awesome defence!

It's such a tough call

Ubiquitous tinkering of formation.

what does this mean?

Go Bengals.

Ubiquitous tinkering of formation.

what does this mean?

sorry I got the definition confused with another word which I also can't think of at the moment

*reaches for dictionary*

Anyway the point is he's a tinkerer - like Ranieri

relentless? incessant? unimpeded? un-amillionotherthings?

but yes, tinkering can be ok. sometimes.

AHA! un-amillionotherthings! That's the one

and tinkering can be ok...if you don't have a gameplan.

Ask Ranieri , he'll tell you his tinkering did Chelsea a world of good.

Maybe ask Sven in England's friendlies, where they underperformed a lot.

Apparently quite old (as you can tell from the heading) but someone just found it and I just read it.

FM FANATIC APPLIES FOR BORO JOB

Wouldn't it be good if all that gaming experience could get you a proper job? You know, a proper one, not just writing about World of Warcraft patches and Chopin's Trusty Bell all day.

Well, that seems to be the thinking of a chap called John Boileau, who's spent hours playing Championship Manager and Football Manager - and reckons that qualifies him to be a real life football manager.

Boileau, whose fictional management experience includes stints at Liverpool, Real Madrid and Doncaster, wrote to Middlesborough FC to apply for the manager's job.

In his covering letter, Boileau notes that "The tactical side of football has always been very important to me, which is demonstrated through my success on the game Football Manager 2005." Apparently he took Nuneaton to new heights of success and won the Swedish League with Kalmar FF - but got sacked from Chievo Verona.

Boileau has a degree in geography and archaeology, and observes: "I hear Mark Viduka has a significant and considerable interest in 12th century pottery which would be an excellent starting point."

He also has plenty of practical experience of real football management, having guided the St Paul's Under-11s squad through Nuneaton's 1999 Summer Playscheme Cup. The team won, with each player receiving a

yeah, I read that... not a bad idea, really then again, since FM is hardly a perfect sim, it's hardly going to be a good training ground. especially if you don't plan on playing a 442 forever.

france has come a long way..football really shaped france in a way..france was known to be one of the most racist countries in europe..but ever since zidane has won the game in 98..there has been so much more tolerance of minorities..he is algerian and not of caucasian descent but no one gave a shit..he was scoring goals and france was winning and its really good to see..that this sport is bringing people together...beyond what the gov't and the politicians can ever achieve..quite remarkable

and i really really really hope france wins on sunday.

and who ever made taht diving comment on c. ronaldo..I COULDN'T AGREE WITH YOU MORE..oh god lol he needs an academy award for that one..thats like top notch acting for ya..george clooney who? lol

what do you mean, 'whoever made that comment'?

I hope you're right about the racism thing, I haven't really seen a big change. most of the EU countries still hate people from their colonies... and the French still have it in for the Arabs that have been filling in parts of the country, esp Paris. but hopefully it will turn out to be a Jackie Robinson thing, where racists will root for the guy and start to change their minds...

yeah, I read that... not a bad idea, really then again, since FM is hardly a perfect sim, it's hardly going to be a good training ground. especially if you don't plan on playing a 442 forever.

oh you and your sarcasm

(seriously, the reality of FM is that your formation gets cracked after a certain number of uses and then it's no good ever again. the 442 is the only uncrackable formation. how boring is that??)

Liverpool have officially signed Palleta, Aurelio and Gonzalez

(seriously, the reality of FM is that your formation gets cracked after a certain number of uses and then it's no good ever again. the 442 is the only uncrackable formation. how boring is that??)

really? I don't remember. I played it too long ago

oh, hm. I played 06. had some killer formations (including my uni one) that dominated for a while, until all of a sudden, one day, the entire world figured out how to exploit it, and l lost all my games until I went to a new formation. bleh.

That sucks. Talk about no fun at all

I want to get be a manager though...

I like amateur level managing, that's fun. I've managed a low semi-pro team, with low pressure. had a blast with that. I wouldn't like being a real pro though, way too much stress and BS to deal with. mostly not about football and strategy, which is what interests me

I like the tactics side of it too, but theres's so many other things to handle which (like you said) sucks. The new managers now like Mourinho and Rafa practically live and breathe football.

Rafa has nightmares and wakes up screaming tactics. No joke. :|