Not sure where this belongs but I thought we could discuss the friendly matches by the various teams prior to June 10th Watching Serbia v New Zealand right now. I only recognize Vidic and Tosic, my Man Utd boys
So they don't play with their A squad? Hmm they are currently 0:1 down to New Zealand, that's weird. Well Germany will play against Hungary today. Löw won't field Schweinsteiger, Lahm and Butt, otherwise I think we will see the team which is most likely to start in SA.
It was mixed team. Almost all midfielders have minor injuries so Antic decided that it is better not to risk. Milijas was horrible and team was a bit better when he went out. Goal was Vidic and Rukavina mistake and except that NZ had one great chance. Serbia had some chances, but Zigic was late and Subotic missed header from 3 meters distance . My impression is that Serbia was much better team in second half when Tosic went left, Mrdja right and Milijas out. NZ is one tough team. Really really strong guys and they will be hard to win. Some idiotic Serbian fans trowed stufs like a whiskey bottles into the pitch and jumped in. That destroyed last 10 15 minutes of a game. Without Stankovic, Jovanovic and Krasic this team is something else. Tosic have to play left, Pantelic have to get a grip. It is not good when you loose but there were some positive moments. Mrdja and Petrovic played well.
Either everyone is underestimating New Zealand or everyone is overrating Serbia... guess we'll see. Didn't see much positive from Serbia until the changes that kibernaut mentioned happened.
A little bit of both maybe. NZ proved against Australia they are a much stronger side than people are giving them credit for. I can seriously see them taking points atleast from Slovakia and maybe even Paraguay if they have an off day. Serbia are also highly over rated in my eyes and only really seemed dominant in qualifying because France & Romania under performed. They do have some really talented players though and are still a dangerous team, just not the all mighty team the Serbian and European media are making them out to be.
Australia have played one friendly so far with a 2-1 win over New Zealand in Melbourne last Monday. They then went straight to SOuth AFrica where they are in an altutude training camp. They will play Denmark and then the USA in South AFrica before the Cup.
I imagine we'll get mauled by the Danes. That doesn't bother me as long as we give the Yanks something to think about.
I don't think the result really matters at all. As long as we put up a better effort than we did in the 1st half against New Zealand.
Personally I wouldn't read much into these friendlies. Coaches are still tweaking their selections and tactics. They're not playing their final XI, so nothing's really settled. The players want to play well to impress the coach but they'd be foolish to play real hard because of the potential for injury, so it's like an extension of their training and nobody takes the results seriously. For NZ this was a confidence builder, for Serbia or any other WC qualifier better they lose in a friendly and work on their weaknesses rather than lose at the WC and go home early.
Tactical overview: http://www.360footballnews.com/inde...s/6544-tactical-overview-serbia-v-new-zealand
I never read much into any friendly and it astounds me that some people do. They might mean something to teams that rarely have a win to have the odd jammy victory but friendlies are purely for experimentation and preparation, nothing more. Anyone that thinks they're more than that is simply reading far too much into them.
When you realistically have the best defense at the world cup, and players playing in clubs like Man utd, Chelsea and Inter Milan, than I wouldn't say they are overrated. This is the first time Serbia concede in 3 games. And on the other hand, they didn't play good at all in that match , but still dominated the game. NZ scored a good goal, and played a very good match. You could see they wanted it more, and they gave more effort than Serbians. I am glad we lost, better now than later. Its a good wake up call for players. Many of them really underperformed against NZ. Zigic was awful, he won like one or two headers. Pantelic was also very bad. Milijas shouldn't be playing, Kacar and Kuzmanovic are miles ahead. Vidic, I have never seen him play this bad for Man Utd(minus Liverpool game) like he did against NZ. He didn't gave 100% and it was obvious, typical Serbian mentality, when you underrate your opponent. And than theres Rukavina, like I said in the topic Serbian squad, he should never have been called up! We have at least 3 other right backs who are better than him. But now he is there, I hope Ivanovic will be fit so Rukavina don't have to play at all.
I agree with everything in your post except this part. His game was bad but he had to look on a huge gap on right side because of Rukavina's nonexistence on the pitch.
I curious to see how they cope after Essien and the two subs for Essien are out. Wonder if John Mensah plays... probably not, because I don't think the coach will want to risk injuries to him. With Essien, Badu and Kumordzi out injured I wonder who will take over his position... not much choice - either Appiah or Derek Boateng. KPB will probably get his debut today. Would like to see Adiyiah get some real playing time finally... Predicted lineup does however feature John Mensah (and Jonathan Mensah as well): GK: Kingston DF Paintsil, John Mensah, Jonathan Mensah, Sarpei MF: KPB, Quincy, Appiah, Asamoah Kojo, Muntari FW: Amoah I can't wait to hear the commentaries... "John Mensah passes the ball to Jonathan Mensah..." --- On the Ducth side Robben will most likely be rested due to a minor injury. van Persie will probably feature only breifly due to a minor injury at training.
The starting XI is different with three key players benched (Mensah, Asamoah, Gyan): Line up: Richard Kingson, John Paintsil, Hans Adu Sarpei, Isaac Vorsah, Lee Addy, Anthony Annan, Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, Derek Boateng, Mathew Amoah, Stephen Appiah, Sulley Muntari Subs: Daniel Agyei, John Mensah, Samuel Inkoom, Rahim Ayew, Jonathan Mensah, Kwadwo Asamoah, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Andre Ayew, Asamoah Gyan, Prince Tagoe, Dominic Adiyiah, Stephen Ahorlu Source: Ghanafa.org Players to watch: Derek Boateng - can he fill in for Essien? Stephen Appiah - what really is his form? Quincy Owusu-Abeyie - can he show his metal against his former teammates?
Australia 1 (Kennedy 71) Denmark 0 Pretty crappy match with both sides struggling to control the ball and over hitting it a lot.
Good old Quinci is in it? Can't believe that. We all lost him and there he is, giving a go for another country. I remember him being a big revelation for a dutch youthteam. The speed the guy has is unbelieveable. Went from Arsenal to Moscow and after that.... well something in the middle east? Well I hope he can show something against Holland. Would be special.
That's not a good result for Denmark now is it. It cements my idea that it could be Camaroon that goes with the second place in group E.