Confederations Cup 2009

[The Real Laoislad]

Should be some entertaining games at this,Its nice to get a few soccer matches to watch mid-summer anyways all the games are live on RTE.
Hopefully Spain,Italy and Brazil play some of their more established players..
Its possible the USA could end up play Iraq which would be interesting.....

Todays Fixtures

South Africa v Iraq
New Zealand v Spain

[Dinny Breen]

Can't say I'll watch a second of this, glorified friendlies just to line FIFA's already bulging pockets. Pure greed and a pointless.

[The Real Laoislad]

Can't say I'll watch a second of this, glorified friendlies just to line FIFA's already bulging pockets. Pure greed and a pointless.

Thanks for the input...

[Rossie11]

Its crap for clubs worrying about injuries but for fans its great to see most of the worlds best in action... even if they are glorifed friendlies..
Its also important that SA use this to get things fine tuned for the real thing next year. I would think they still have some way to go

As for winners even without Iniesta Spain should be good enough.

[Dinny Breen]

Thanks for the input...

You're welcome thanks for giving me the opportunity to whinge about a pointless tournament which is yet another example of TV killing a sport with it's endless saturation of it.

[The Real Laoislad]

Its crap for clubs worrying about injuries but for fans its great to see most of the worlds best in action... even if they are glorifed friendlies..
Its also important that SA use this to get things fine tuned for the real thing next year. I would think they still have some way to go

As for winners even without Iniesta Spain should be good enough.

Good way of summing it up..
As for the winners I'm not sure but a Brazil v Spain final would be great and would be fairly competitive I'd say..

[cavan4ever]

Thanks for the input...

You're welcome thanks for giving me the opportunity to whinge about a pointless tournament which is yet another example of TV killing a sport with it's endless saturation of it.

What harm is it doing sure there is feck all else worth watching on TV this time of year anyway.

[The Subbie]

your spot on Rossie the saffas need a dry run to see where they might fcuk up next year with the big one and for that reason I think this is a good idea but for the life of me i can't figure out where the fcuk the mighty "All Whites" New Zealand come into this, its a minority sport in Kiwi land to put it mildly.

As TRLL says the psooible meeting of the states and Iraq would be an interesting one, I wonder who the neutrals would be rooting for in that one  

[Dinny Breen]

What harm is it doing sure there is feck all else worth watching on TV this time of year anyway.

I'm sure the clubs who play their wages would actually differ, they might be well paid professionals but their welfare should be important. Imagine the whinging on this site alone if Torres was to break his leg playing a meaningless friendly because some Iraqi or Kiwi wanted to make a name for himself. As much as the Lions is a dated concept, these new concepts are even worse and are simply about greed.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

your spot on Rossie the saffas need a dry run to see where they might fcuk up next year with the big one and for that reason I think this is a good idea but for the life of me i can't figure out where the fcuk the mighty "All Whites" New Zealand come into this, its a minority sport in Kiwi land to put it mildly.

As TRLL says the psooible meeting of the states and Iraq would be an interesting one, I wonder who the neutrals would be rooting for in that one  

They are the champions of their confederation.

[Donnellys Hollow]

You're welcome thanks for giving me the opportunity to whinge about a pointless tournament which is yet another example of TV killing a sport with it's endless saturation of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF_uOgyBK1c

[cavan4ever]

What harm is it doing sure there is feck all else worth watching on TV this time of year anyway.

I'm sure the clubs who play their wages would actually differ, they might be well paid professionals but their welfare should be important. Imagine the whinging on this site alone if Torres was to break his leg playing a meaningless friendly because some Iraqi or Kiwi wanted to make a name for himself. As much as the Lions is a dated concept, these new concepts are even worse and are simply about greed.

A player could break his leg in a meaningless pre-seaon friendly.

[Rossie11]

I can't figure out where the fcuk the mighty "All Whites" New Zealand come into this,

The Aussies have defected to Asia so New Zealand have Oceania all to themselves.

[Dinny Breen]

Of course but a player is more than likely to pick up an injury at the end of a long season, why do you think Torres and Fabregas were nowhere near their best the season gone by, hardly anything to do with Euro2008 now was it?, they did not have a proper recovery period and a proper per-season, their form suffered and they picked up injuries easier. These tournaments are of no benefit to the players, just an excuse for FIFA to make money.

[Rossie11]

Without doubt FIFA will make money but its mainly dry run for next year and they will monitor SA and how they run it.

Pool should have pulled Torres out in my opinion. Would be no surprise if he gets injured in this.
He is going to miss games next season as a result of 2 long seasons back to back and Pool should be looking to sign someone or rest him.

As regards Fabergas I think he will look forward to the chance to try and break up the Xavi/Iniesta axis.
He needs a big tournament to get back in the spotlight after the performances of those 2 in Rome.