ItalyCoach: Roberto Donadoni
Star Player: 9 Luca Toni
Rising Star: 22 Alberto Aquilani
Captain: 1 Gianluigi Buffon
Qualification Stats: 1st in Group B, ahead of France and Scotland
Top Scorer: 9 Luca Toni (5 goals)
Expectations: Group Stages
With many hoping they're going to win this tournament, Italy will indeed be a force to be reckon with. They have a really stable defence, which consist of the infamous Marco Materazzi, Gianluca Zambrotta and of course, one of the best goalkeepers in Buffon. Their midfield will definitely have enforcers like Gennaro Gattuso and Daniele De Rossi, but in the playmaking department, they have much more to saviour. Youngster Aquilani and Milan midfielder Andreas Pirlo are the ones who can split open most defences, while ever-green Alessandro Del Piero, Bayern sensation Toni and Inter youngster Marco Borriello will be hoping to be amongst the goals that will hope to guide Italy to at least the semi finals.
NetherlandsCoach: Marco van Basten
Star Player: 10 Wesley Sneijder
Rising Star: 20 Ibrahim Afellay
Captain: 5 Giovanni Van Bronckhorst
Qualification Stats: 2nd in Group G, behind Romania
Top Scorer: Robin van Persie (4 goals)
Expectations: Semi Finals
The Oranje boast a front line any nation or club would desire. Goal-poacher Ruud van Nistelrooy is the point man in attack, and will be supported by versatile attackers in Hamburg captain Rafael van der Vaart, Real team-mates Sneijder and Arjen Robben. Back-ups include Ajax wonderkid Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Liverpool workhorse Dirk Kuyt and Arsenal's van Persie. Their defense, on the other hand, looks extremely weak, with only the ageing Edwin van der Sar the only bright, but erratic, spark. Villa's Wilfred Bouma, Blackburn's Andre Ooijer and Birmingham's Mario Melchiot are hardly world class, but they at least have Premiership hard experience behind them. van Basten will have to lead them to a semi final berth to be considered a success in his last games in charge.
RomaniaCoach: Victor Piturca
Star Player: 10 Adrian Mutu
Rising Star: 9 Ciprian Marica
Captain: 5 Cristian Chivu
Qualification Stats: 1st in Group G, ahead of Romania
Top Scorer: Adrian Mutu (6 goals)
Expectations: Group Stages
With a core of defender Chivu, playmaker Nicolae Dica and forward Mutu, Romania are going to have a hard time getting out of the proclaimed Group of Death. Youngster Ciprian Marica will certainly use this stage to get a transfer to a bigger club in Europe. The Romanian's will certainly be banking on some Greece-inspired defending to try to sit back and counter, with the hope the likes of Mutu will grab the odd goal. You never know, don't you?
*FranceCoach: Raymond Domenech
Star Player: 14 Thierry Henry
Rising Star: 11 Sami Nasri
Captain: 4 Patrick Vieira
Qualification Stats: 2nd in Group B, behind Italy
Top Scorer: Thierry Henry (7 goals)
Expectations: Semi Finals
23 Gregory Coupet
5 William Gallas
__ 17 Sebastien Squillaci
19 Willy Sagnol
______________________________________13 Patrice Evra
4 Patrick Vieira (
C)
____ 6 Claude Makelele
22 Franck Ribery
_________________________________ 11 Samir Nasri
12 Thierry Henry
______ 9 Karim Benzema
With a wealth of options in each department, le Blues are well equipped to go far in this tournament. William Gallas will be leading the defensive line to repulse the Group of Death's attacks, while skipper Patrick Vieira and Claude Makelele will be providing much defensive cover, allowing offensive-minded full-backs like Willy Sagnol and Patrice Evra to bomb forward in support. Attacking midfielders like Franck Ribery, Sami Nasri, Sidney Govou and Florent Malouda have a tendency to cut in, so the full-backs offensive runs will be important. Thierry Henry and Karim Benzema should be the front two, if any are to misfire though, they still have Ligue 1 sensation Bafetimbi Gomis and Nicolas Anelka in reserve. Not bad, eh?
Ah yes, VJ's soccer trials only lasted 10 mins. One 4v4 game decides whether you make the first cut to play in a 7v7 game. Fair? I dunno, you decide. The girls were so nice, all screamin' around and so happily playing a 5v5 game, well that's after they had some noob passing practice and shooting practice that proved girls have zero technique. They just came for fun I guess. I like~ Haha...
Uzbekistan vs Singapore. I just hope it's not another thrashing. Respectable lost, like 1-0 would be a huge result? A draw? Even better. A win? VERY unlikely... Please I'm a realist... Well they do need a draw to stand a chance of going through...
Bye~!