OT - Drogba Breaks Arm
It has been reported that Didier Drogba broke his arm playing in a friendly with Japan.
This makes me sad as Cote D'Ivoire was going to be my adopted 2nd team after the USMNT. Drogba is one of the few players who can steal a game by himself. He was the reason that Ivory Coast has the best chance of any African team to get out of the group stage.
Hopefully he can still play (I don't know if there's any precedent for broken arms while playing soccer) but if he doesn't it pretty much negates any "group of death" arguments.
If he isn't 100%, you can go ahead and pencil Brazil and Portugal into the next round.
No, Nomadic -- you can use a permanent Sharpie pen on that.
but I was leaving open the possibilty of North Korea resorting to guerilla tactics - literally guerilla tactics. Never underestimate Kim Jong II - that 'lil bitch be all kinds 'o crazy!
Nah, clearly the "dear leader" will just play the whole game by himself, and win each game for North Korea 100-0.
.... but seems like a great name for the guy who is looking for a name for his dog in the other post.
but while playing soccer in HS I broke my arm and played with a cast. I was forced to wrap the cast in foam to avoid hurting anyone with it, but the arms do very little in soccer unless you are the guy who typically does the thorw-ins.
They add to your momentum and torque while shooting, but a cast wouldn't hamper that, at least it didn't for me. Since Drogba is 1,000,000 time the player I am, I suspect it wouldn't hinder him in the least.
I was actually thinking the same thing...I'm hoping that he'll still be able to play. It would be a shame for one of the premier players in the world to not be able to play in one of the greatest tournaments in sports. I think Portugal and Brazil get out of that group regardless, but a healthy Drogba would've made that group by far the most interesting group, in spite of North Korea's presence, IME.
This almost makes up for the delay in USC findings for me. Didier Drogba is my least favorite player aside from Materazzi because I don't even consider him a player.
Completely agree with you about that joke Materazzi. Allez les bleus and USA
Drogba will still tally 5 against the North Koreans, cast and all.
This sucks for the Ivory Coast team, they had a decent chance to advance from group stages. Drogba is one of my favorite players. I thought they said it was his elbow though?
Is anywhere else here a Chelsea fan? Always wanted to know this as I often see soccer "OT" post a lot on here. How could you not like a team when some of the kits are blue and yellow, and the fans yell GO BLUES! This was an easy choice when I first started watching. It just made sense, plus everyone likes Manchester United around me. So they are kind of like the god for saken SUCKEYES!
but with Brazil and Portugal I wouldn't exactly say they had a decent chance. A chance perhaps, but not decent. Portugal (3) and Brazil (1) are ranked significantly higher than they (27) are in the world rankings.
Again, not to say they didn't have a shot, but a decent chance is stretching things a bit.
Thats what I meant really. Best out of the African teams, I guess I could say.
fifa rankings mean little. if you're the betting type, don't even consider them when picking your teams.
anyone who follows national soccer would agree with FIFA that Portugal and Brazil are significantly better than the Ivory Coast. That isn't even debatable.
lol.. if you honestly think that Portugal is the third best team in the world.. either you don't know anything about soccer... or I want some of whatever drugs you're taking...
I'm a fan of Aresenal and got to see a couple of games at Highbury before it was torn down. It's an amazing atmosphere but there was only 1 goal in the 2 games I saw
Chelsea have blue kits, but they're far more akin to USC than to Michigan - fan base largely consists of johnny-come-lately bandwagoners who often can't be bothered to show up for big European matches, but the team is undeniably good. USC actually has a much richer tradition than Chelsea though ... maybe Chelsea is like Boise State?
If there's a Michigan in the EPL, it's gotta be Liverpool - currently off-form and kind of in turmoil, but the best tradition in the game and an air of arrogance that drives other fan bases up a wall. (Yes, I like Liverpool.)
Liverpool is my squad. Fernando Torres is a beast when healthy.
also The Victors is the best fight song and YNWA is the best chant
I like the Chelsea-USC comparison more than the Boise State one. Both pander to celebrity fans, etc. Even the locations of the Coliseum and Stamford Bridge are telling... both teams like to claim a sexy location, but the reality is neither are located in the best neighborhoods. Maybe Miami is the better comparison to Chelsea, on second thought, actually. And the Michigan-Liverpool comparison is spot on.
One word, not three.
Colloquially, you're right. But it's technically two: god-forsaken.
No, it's one word (godforsaken). No hyphen.
The grammar nazi's are arguing, I love it!
On a side note I think that means the guy that made the mistake desreves a pass. If the grammar nazi's can't even agree it must be difficult.
1. There shouldn't be any disagreement here. It's godforsaken. The other poster has no idea what he's talking about.
2. Plural nouns don't use apostrophes. It's Nazis, not Nazi's.
3. The above issue has nothing to do with grammar. This is spelling.
Okay, okay, I googled it and most dictionaries have godforsaken as one word. I think that's kind of silly - like making countrystrong one word, but I guess Merriam and Webster give you the nod.
I'll neg myself for inaccurate policing of the grammarpolizei.
EDIT: Countrystrong a bad example. Something like americanmade or plantderived would be more analogous. I'm sticking with god-forsaken.
TSN says that he is out. Too bad, he would have been a lot of fun to watch.
to make him feel better.
The injury bug is out in full force. Jozy, and now Drogba, Rio Ferdinand and Diego Milito. It sounds like Altidore's is the least concerning of all of them.
I'm not as knowledgeable about England's squad from top to bottom, but how does Ferdinand's injury affect our game against them?
Ferdinand has loads of experience, but I think the general consensus is that his likely replacement in the starting lineup, Ledley King, was actually better this year when he was available to play down the stretch of the EPL season. He has basically no cartilage in his knees so playing multiple games in a short span may or may not be possible for him, but he'll certainly be ok for the first game.
"He was the reason that Ivory Coast has the best chance of any African team to get out of the group stage."
Eto'o and the boys from Cameroon may have something to say about that...
if eto'o plays..
I really hope Cameroon advances, Eto'o performance at his age is pretty damn impressive.
According to published reports, Samuel Eto'o is 29. I'm not sure what you mean by your comment, he's in his prime as a player.
Ummm you obviously don't watch soccer, 29 is well past the prime.
sorry
enigma. They have the talent but they never really put it all together so you can't really say that Cameroon can make noise in the World Cup based on the latest result. Although they do have the talent to advance past group play.
i am a drogba hater ... pry cause i am a man u fan ... still i would have much prefered to see him try to single handly beat brazil or portugal
dont think it will matter cause i thought they pry would lose anyway
as far as eto'o goes ... any player who is suppose to be the star and yet threatens to not play because some ex-star rips on you loses my respect and must be a huge distraction
i see this being the first world cup in ages without an african team advancing to the knock out round which will be kinda sad to see on african turf
(note: best chance to advance has to be algeria just cause it is certainly possible to see them beating the us, but i think/hope/pray they wont)
(edit: I am not happy he is hurt)
Dislocation, Not Fracture, Means Drogba Has Hope For Opener Versus Portugal
Short form, he may still be able to play if it's just a dislocation, which they now think it might be.
Its his elbow, not arm.
Of course, for most people, the elbow is part of the arm.
Could have been worse.
Im a hardcore Drogba fan and im really sad and pissed at the Jaoanese defender. My math teacer was raving to us about how stupid we were when my friend texts me and im so pissed in class
Franz Beckenbauer once played with a broken arm during the "match of the century" semifinal against Italy in Mexico '70, he broke his arm and they went into over time, Germany had no substitutions left so he played with his arm attached to his body with a bunch of bandages...
Of curse that's not going to happen but just a short story...
I heard Drogba will undergo surgery and is expected to be good to go in prolly 10 days, Ivory Coast is lucky since they'll play until June 15 giving them extra time to recover DD, that's beeing too positive no doubt but that's what they say.
...they could get Drogba back for the 1/16 or 1/8 rounds. We've seen teams perform well after losing their superstar, and I personally think Portugal at #3 is overrated. With a win against PRK and a tie against Portugal, it's possible that 4 points could be enough.
Allez les éléphants!!