Costa in the 10? Nah he's fucked for the rest of the games now.

11 I mean

I’m pretty sure he’ll be on the 23. Del Bosque would rather use Cesc as a false 9 than get Llorente or Negredo.

anybody here gonna do the usual fantasy league or something?

McDonalds are doing the official one and I don't mind setting up a league but how many people here will join?

if you do i will, but 2 people don't make a league. if there was beer to be waged i'm sure it would be easier.

"loser buys a keg" or any such thing.

dammit. i miss real life. :(

k, the official site only starts on June 8th, so we'll see how it goes.

Could've put this in the reading thread but seemed more relevant here.

Midway through Diego Torres's book The Special One, about Mourinho's time at Real. Honestly one of the most fascinating books about football I've read. It's mostly centred on Mourinho's falling out with Casillas but ends up becoming a real look into his methods of management overall. Mourinho himself has dismissed the book but Torres is a respected journalist and he refers to big name players by name who, if he was misrepresenting them, would definitely sue him. Some absolutely sensational revelations here.

name some! i'm curious.

OK, sensational may have been the wrong word. There's no specific 'wow' event. It's more of a slow-burning Borgias-style power struggle between Mourinho, a divided dressing room and the Real board. It's almost all back room stuff. Faustian pacts with agents, dressing room rebelians, etc. Although the bit where Pepe was ordered to go into the Barcelona dressing room after Real had lost so the media would focus on the fight not the loss is laugh out loud funny, mainly because Pepe apparently got an absolute battering.

haaa haaa haaaa. poor pepe. who now looks hilarious with hair btw.

i googled "david torres mourinho" after your mention here and found a review that basically states that mourinho will do *anything* to avoid being blamed for anything. this sounds right on that mold. ha ha ha ha.

it's a match where there's nothing at stake (but there's money from box office).

'mericans i think call them "exhibition" games.

except that the ones you're watching now are more actual practice matches than "exhibitions".

if you notice, it will be a world cup finalist vs. a team that didn't qualify.

since national squads are composed of players who played in different teams/countries, these friendlies give you a chance to prepare-- and also spy.

e.g., in the peru-england friendly the other day (england is in, peru is out), there was a man with an azzurri blazer in attendance.

why, you wonder? here be group D:

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/groups/group=255939/

(that's gonna be a tough group btw)

I just finished it. Great stuff. The last third goes far more into Mourinho's tactics and was probably the bit I enjoyed most. Some really interesting quotes from Klopp contrasting their two styles.

^^ nice.

i've re-picked up "inverting the pyramid" for a fresh look.

also, been watching some old world cup anthology dvds-- produced by fifa. man, they look like shit, production-wise, and the footage is poorly organized. but it's still nice to watch highlights of the 66/70/74 world cups in grainy black and white (though the 66 final looks like was shot in film). also, electronic titles that looked like a dot matrix printer! but no, seriously, nice goals & all. i didn't even know about the existence of EUSEBIO-- portuguese player born in mozambique. hot damn, could he play. also, 1970 and 1974 looked worlds apart.

Funny that cos I'm currently speeding my way through this...

I wouldn't mind reading that. The Mourinho book hints at some pretty serious tensions developing in the Barca dressing room during that time. Something about an apparent falling out between Messi and Pep before he left.

Spain squad announced yesterday. They may not be favourites but it's hard to see many weaknesses there

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Liverpool), David De Gea (Manchester United)
Defenders: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Raul Albiol (Napoli), Javi Martinez (Bayern Munich), Juanfran (Atletico Madrid), Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea)
Midfielders: Xavi (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Koke (Atletico Madrid), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Santi Cazorla (Arsenal), Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona), Juan Mata (Manchester United), David Silva (Manchester City)
Forwards: Pedro (Barcelona), Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid), David Villa (Atletico Madrid), Fernando Torres (Chelsea)

How has Torres got in over Negredo?

Torres does seem to do well in big tournaments and Negredo's form really dipped towards the end of the season.

Torres hasn't been reliable since he left Liverpool. At least Negredo did his job for a good portion of the season. Torres has been terrible this season and many before that.