Spain - 2014 world cup winners and @ 7.8!!!!!!!!

I would argue the age factor is more relevant in this 7 game tournament than over the course of a season. During the season you can rotate the squad, everyone gets injuries so most are rested regardless and you can manage appearances to keep your best 11 primed for the bigger matches. Here, and especially in their group, they have 7 matches in a month, against absolute A grade competition, in a hot climate away from home and all this coming at the end of the gruelling season which you refer to.

Ripping chance all the same. Squad depth a massive plus for them.

Here, and especially in their group, they have 7 matches in a month, against [i]absolute A grade competition[/i]

Theres only 4 or 5 teams in the World Cup who I'd fancy to do well in the latter stages of the Champions League.


Bet365 refunding if a team goes out on penalties. A shadow of the 2008 side but still a decent bet at 13/2 imo

Spain must have a huge chance
Lets face it the world cup is dogsh!te
Most of the teams have been hastily cobbled together through a turgid qualification process,
most teams have no recognisable identity
Its easy to see the ones who have.
Brazil, Germany, Spain.


Just look at africa
Fly me
Imagine you are Etoo or Droggers
one of the great names of european football in the last decade
you go back home only to be greeted by some jumped up corrupt Fifa bureaucrat togged up like eddie murphy in trading places (apols if that sounds a bit racist)
He says there's no money for you and your team mates
while he swans about in a 5 star hotel in rio riding a fifa stretch limo
Its very hard to have much sympathy for millionaire footballers these days but this carry on takes the biscuit

32 teams in the world cup is way too much
16 was about right
If i were gregory **** I would fluck FIFA right off
Offer Brazil, Arg, Germany etc all the past winners plus maybe the dutch and the asian and african champions $100m to come and play in a rival tournament
They'd make billions off tv and sponshorhips
And at least the damn thing would be over in a month

^
very well put sheikh mansour

thelatarps that was funny. Not considering Argentina though?

Funny
Yeah sorry
Bit of a sesh on Saturday
All I wanted to do yesterday was come on the forum and talk sh1te
Argentina to me have a great forward line but the problem with forwards is you have to get the ball to them
And I am not sure that messi is the best at tracking back
Which means the midfield and defence will have to be stellar
Which clearly they are not
4 year ago they looked breath taking  in the group stage but had no answer to Germany
Same thing in the copa one year later
Do not think much has changed to be honest.

NICE come on Holland 

loving this

This is a gubbing

Here come the aftertimers.  Has this ever happened before?

Spain out!!!

Great to watch. nice tipping from the R.Post again - collectively writing off the Dutch & advising backing them not to get out of the group

fcuk you Knight Rider

no aftertiming here, look in the thread and you will see I put up Spain as a maximum lay

  Betfair forum as civilised as ever

you know youre fooked when you come knocking on Torres door for a goal......

wasn't torres the top scorer in the euro's?

Torres has been stealing a living for 3 years now hasn't he?  Can't even deal with an open goal.

torres won the golden boot at the euro's didn't he?

no idea - how do you rate his contribution for his salary the last 3 years?

I wouldn't let Torres mind me cat. He'd fook that up too....

Am I correct in thinking Spain vs Chile qualification could come to whether or not Spain can score enough goals against six in the last game?

Six = Oz

Could do Zazu. Quite possibly not, though.  If Chile and Spain draw, and then the Netherlands beat Chile in the final game, it would come down to goal difference. (Assuming Spain beat the Aussies...)

If Chile beat Spain, it's essentially all over.  If Spain beat Chile, Chile will probably have to beat the Netherlands and then finish ahead on goal difference...  A draw wouldn't be enough for them.

Innietsa and Xavi too old now
Spain different team

Ramos is not - and never will be - a central defender.

Spain lost first game of the last tournament and won, obviously not in the same manner, still wouldn't rule them out, 13.5 - that's a little too high, interesting that brazil went out from 3.85 to 4.2 after that, potential 2nd Rd match with Spain now,

If Spain beat Chile and the Netherlands run riot against Oz... Chile would probably be playing a second string, already qualified Dutch team




LordBobbin 13 Jun 14 23:46 
Could do Zazu. Quite possibly not, though.  If Chile and Spain draw, and then the Netherlands beat Chile in the final game, it would come down to goal difference. (Assuming Spain beat the Aussies...)

If Chile beat Spain, it's essentially all over.  If Spain beat Chile, Chile will probably have to beat the Netherlands and then finish ahead on goal difference...  A draw wouldn't be enough for them.

java i'm sure you know full well that torres won the golden boot at the 2012 euro's. i think that proves that he's capable of scoring goals against any side anywhere.

Am I correct in thinking its still possible for Spain to win the group .

Assuming that both Holland and Spain beat Australia.

Spain would need to beat Chile and hope that Chile beat Holland, then all 3 teams would have 6 pts and it would come down to goal diff

I think its highly unlikely though

Bardo: trying to convince yourself to take 14.0 in the outright? 

Spain about 25 to win the group - a shade over evens to qualify. 4.2 for the quarters (which broadly assumes beating Brazil in R2)

It's last night's goal difference that makes it so hard - losing 1-0 to Switzerland is very different to losing 5-1 to a major group rival.

Holland's permutation to qualify is largely to beat Australia.

Chile didn't look great to me, but their tempo might catch the Spanish cold. Chile would be delighted with a draw, which would make qualification extremely difficult for Spain.

In short three massive games to get yourself to Quarters, and then another three massive games to win it.

Spain will need to score a lot of goals and win their last 2 games convincingly. But to be fair I can see them doing exactly that. Winning the group is out of their own hands at the moment. Holland would have to slip up badly and that doesn't look likely. Having said that it's football, therefore anything can happen.

Spain just need to beat Chile.

They will rip Oz to shreds and could easily score 7 or 8

True, but I can see them beating Chile by quite a few goals also, but you're right as long as they win the game. Playing a (by then) thoroughly demoralized Australia last is a big help. I doubt the Aussies will have the will or the ability to stop Spain getting the goals they need.

or holland thrash australia to all but clinch the group, play the reserves against chile, lose 1-0 accidently on purpose then spain could need to win 8-0 to go through. thats even if theyve beat chile the game before.

I love a good conspiracy theory, in the same way I enjoy a good work of fiction. It won't happen bob.

or holland draw against australia get beat by chile and fail to qualify

I doubt Netherlands will care whether Spain go through or not.  They would be separated until the final anyway.  Main thing for them is to win the group, and with Spain playing Australia last I don't think there is any GD lead that you would feel totally safe with.

A more plausible conspiracy is if Chile draw with Spain and Netherlands beat Australia, which would mean a draw in the final group game ensures Netherlands win the group and Chile finish 2nd; although whether Chile would find that acceptable with Brazil looming in the 2nd round, I don't know.

Lot of optimism here about how brilliant Spain are going to be based on their thrashing last night.

They could still win both remaining group games and go out as well.

Still can't figure out what happened to chile from the moment the 2nd went in....dire

I'd have thought that the dutch would want a brazil spain battle in the next round.

Chile and Australia in particular are so inferior to Spain that you wouldn't normally need to worry about making second and put the first game down to a lot of personal errors but in truth The bookies read this situation  perfectly and sucked in all the mug  money (bagelish).
Many of the Spanish players have had long hard seasons not only in the champions league but in the Spanish league also, 12 of the current squad play for either Real Madrid, Barcelona or Atletico Madrid hence going part way to explaining the ease with which Holland trounced them.
It had been UNIVERSALLY recognised if you bothered at all reading that Spain were not playing at the level they had been and although still a talented side were not the machine of previous years, the fact the bookies were laying 7.8 should have set the alarm bells ringing that the layers were confident they would not be winning this year.
After that pounding by Holland you have now wonder if the Spanish will want to meet Brazil with a livewire like Neymar running at them, Australia are poor by any stretch of the imagination but Chile are not much better and although are lively at times lack ideas and are very poor in defence, so even though that pasting will have mentally scarred the Spanish it will still be a shock of epic proportions were they not to beat the other 2 in the group so setting up a meeting with the hosts so they at least can go out with grace, but should they somehow make it to the quarter finals or semi's they will no doubt have another big name waiting for them.
End of an era End of thread. xxx

especially as they've just smashed them up and won't be worried about them anyhow...but they'd be very interested in seeing how the spanish match up against brazil...just to get a roughish idea of where they are themselves.

^
holland's attitude I'm on about there

spain very defferent team than before,need fresh legs

They've changed to fit in costa too....I saw more long balls out of defence up to him in the first half last night than I did in the whole last 6 years from them.

true

I noticed that duffy, I think they might drop Costa for the next one and revert to their normal playing style. Those long early balls didn't really suit them. I expect them to start with Torres from now on. Costa is a good Plan B but Spain should go back to what they do best.

Netherlands never play well against Australia. the prob beat them but it wont be much, Australia are 16's for that game, trade trade trade.

fantastic, will free up the balance once they go 1000

could not have gone better

Ended this thread 4 days ago lol

It didn't even take 3 matches.