Falcão could miss the WC: http://globoesporte.globo.com/futeb...em-vitoria-do-monaco-pela-copa-da-franca.html
The problem with Muriel is that he haven't made such an impact in the National Team, despite his talent (and how important he is for Udinese) I think is due to his young age and the pressure that the National team represents. Jackson Martines is more mature so I think he is going to be the starter(and he is considered Falcaos replacemet), Carlos Bacca is having a great season in spain and he always gets called up. And Teofilo can't be forgotten he was the starter throughout the qualifiers next to Falcao. Adrian Ramos and Freddy Montero are really making a case to be called, but they have never been called before, so I don't know if there is enough time to try New guys(and Pekerman don't like to change a lot).
I'm coming to this a little bit late, but I think the Samurai Blue have got a good chance of getting out of their group in Brazil. Colombia are highly rater this time around but will be without their star man Radamel Falcao. It's a real shame for him and for the tournament as a whole, but it does reduce Colombia's threat even if only slightly. Ivory Coast have been one of Africa's better teams for some time, but that's the key point for me. "For some time" means that many of their top players are somewhat ageing now. Drogba, Toure x 2, Kalou are all over 30. That's not necessarily a problem since int he case of Drogba and Yaya Toure at least, they are truly exceptional players. But this is a team that is not as god as it once was. Also while they have some quality, the rest of the squad is distinctly average to my eyes. Greece also have one or two decent players - Mitroglu looked great at Olympiakos, although he's currently injured at Fulham. But the quality just isn't there compared to that which Japan can call on. I don't see anything to fear overly for Japan. It won't be easy though, and Japan could just as easily come back with three defeats as qualify to the knockout rounds, but I think there is a real opportunity to make progress through to the next round. I don't even think the potential R16 opponents need be feared excessively either, but I'm getting a bit far ahead of myself there... I notice the age old CAF v AFC argument has raised its head on this thread once or twice. It's something of a bugbear of mine I have to say. The historical reasons for the seemingly overriding perception of African superiority over Asia are fairly clear: in World Cup terms, Africa began to make a real impact from 1982 (Cameroon and Algeria) onwards. They had a group winner in 1986 (Morocco) and a quarter finalist in 1990 (Cameroon). This period of relative success seems to have remained in many people's consciousness, along with two Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2000, and another quarter finalist in 2002 (Senegal). By comparison during that period Asia wasn't so successful. 1982-1990 being largely inept in the World Cup. Saudi Arabia impressed in 1994, but is largely forgotten. And the home success of 2002 is often explained away by virtue of being at home, and some questionable refereeing in Korea's case. I beat the drum in 2010 when I was one of the key authors of a Japan world cup blog, when amid all the African hype, more Asian teams made it out of the groups than African teams did; both Korea and Japan doing so at the expense of African teams. But then the two Asian's dropped out and Ghana got within a kick (or Suarez's hand) of the semi-finals and Asia was overlooked again in popular understanding. And don't even get me started on the global w*nkfest over the African Cup of Nations, meanwhile the Asian Cup may as well be happening on Mars... Put simply: Asia needs to break through to the quarter finals to start to change this belief. All the stronger stats in the early stages and more R16 qualifiers counts for naught if it is the Africans rather than the Asians that make it furthest in a World Cup. Rant over!
The striker position is stacked for Colombia anyway but I agree none are on Falcao"s level. And Kolo Toure does not impress me at all, he is not even close to his brother as far as his abilities goes.
I'm worry about Japan's AMF conditions really. - Kagawa not getting any playing time, not trusted by Stupid Moyes. Still the UCL coming up, maybe he will be feature in the UCL, but he haven't played in a while, so he won't enter the match in good condition, Stupid of Moyes. - Honda hasn't look too good @ AC Milan, but he's a new transfer, he still gets playing time so hopefully his condition improves. - Kiyotake are currently not in good form for Nurnberg in the recent matches. - Inui is nonexistent @ Frankfurt. - Hasebe just recovered from injury.
Kiyotake is doing well as a quite good assist-man, nothing even nearly to what JNT had with Kagawa in the (far by now) past. He will never play instead of Shinji and Oka-chan is our starter on the right then Kiyotake will be simply a super-sub and nothing more (unfortunately). Honda will have his chances, he's a more mature player than Kagawa and he simply can't fail in AC Milan especially in this season with those incompetent team mates. About Kagawa, the only positive pov is that he will be rested before the WC and a quite good number of players in the past performed good in the WC after an atrocious league (an old "italian" example: Patrick Kluivert reaching semifinals and losing only at the penalties against Brazil in 1998 after an horrible season with AC Milan jersey).
Thing is Honda from 2010 WC and Honda are two very different players. That Honda was an explosive daring guy who would take defenders on and run at them. Then knee injuries came and now he is the playmaker type of AMC/MC guy Kagawa... I wont even start about him, because like I said it was his own fault imo and same goes for Inui. But I agree with the above post that things arent looking exactly peachy
I mean, it's not like Honda ever projected to be some kind of 15-20 goal scoring machine at the highest levels. Eerste Divisie is not Serie A, and as Okada said Honda's playing style already began to evolve after moving to CSKA. It's not as if he got worse in the last 4 years, otherwise he wouldn't be wearing #10 for Milan, the team's current beleaguered state notwithstanding. It was always in his blood to become a more tactical, playmaking midfielder. I think a more interesting question is whether Zac would consider playing Okazaki up top, and not even necessarily in the current 4-2-3-1. The success he's had at Mainz has to make you wonder.
I think he should not for several reasons. That Okazaki's role in JNT is very specific, when JNT basically plays 2 strikers and Okazaki forms that inner striker thing when he runs channels and it is working for JNT a lot. But yeah perhaps on a given situation, but then who do you put on AMR, well the only option is Kiyotake really or perhaps Saito if he comes, but it was already tested numerous times, it is an option there to use if they want it. But also let us see how Okazaki will end this season if he ends with idk 12 goals, that isnt really all that much for the main striker of a club
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...ent-Jack-Warner-and-family-paid-millions.html nothing surprising I guess, but reporting anyway.
Dickheads. I really hope Qatar won't host the WC. Seven years is enough to prepare everything, so 2015 could be a good year to switch host. They did it in 1986...
Even without the supposed bribing of the FIFA officials, they should be stripped of being the hosts. The way the migrant workers are treated in Qatar is horrific, who are being used to build stadiums and infrastructure for the World Cup. Has to be Korea or Australia. Japan's already hosting Rugby World Cup in 2019 and the Summer Olympics in 2020. FIFA World Cup in 2022 is just greedy.