Comments on: World Cup will survive without Messi and Ronaldo

By: krook

krook — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:13:48 +0000

How can the author say that s koreas 2002 world cup run was good. If anything it highlighted what was wrong with football today. And that is a crooked referee can decide the winner. Actually one of the referees involved in one of koreas games was later caught fixing matches in some south american league. And then i have to say that yes the world cup is bigger than the players but a person who has basic knowledge of football knows that half the countries in the world cup dont belong in that competition and they are blocking other better teams from qualifying. I mean can you honestly say with a straight face that the concacaf region deserves 3.5 spots(3 with 1 going to playoff)? Practically every team from the uefa region who makes it to the playoffs (not auto qualification) would wipe the floor with any of the 3 qualified teams from the concacaf. This is coming from a canadian by the way..Now now please nobody direct me to the world team rankings cos USA for example who beats guatemala 36 times a year gets a great ranking because of consistent qualification to the world cup (vs worst teams in the world with populations of like 5000… seriously!). I mean if belgium who is an average team had to play the lineup of games the USA had to play they would be in the top 10 in the world. Its just plain stupidity really. Its just a way to promote the sport in the biggest money spending region in the world. Cash cow…the only reason.

By: jose

jose — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:21:47 +0000

i dont think portugal will make it. and argentina will keep stayin in 5th place and win over a team in concacaf to qualify. And Mexico will win the world cup

By: Telson

Telson — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:43:46 +0000

The Ronaldo of the article is Cristiano…

By: Joan Busuttil

Joan Busuttil — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:17:22 +0000

Ronaldo has been a great player in the past but players get old as well and these past years Ronaldo had nothing but injuries.

By: maid

maid — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:21:54 +0000

totally agree with the article the world cup would more than survive and as an england supporter i am rooting for these teams not to make it to the finals, although this could have a sting in the tail as the always over expectant media (no offence kevin) will decide that this is definatley the year with weaker teams in the tournament, our last chance with our golden generation, our superb form in the qualifiers etc. thus heaping an extremely large amount of pressure and expectations on the england players shoulders which, if the last 20 years is anything to go by, they just cannot seem to handle.

By: Kevin Fylan

Kevin Fylan — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:37:39 +0000

Hi Rajesh. Yes, it will be a shame. But what an opportunity for the rest!

By: Kevin Fylan

Kevin Fylan — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:32:32 +0000

Hi Dan, thanks for the comment. I wasn’t joking, honest I’m not talking about their qualities as players — where I agree, Zidane is easily in Ronaldo’s league — I’m talking about their ranking, at the time, as global footballing icons. In 1997, Ronaldo was FIFA World Player of the Year and had scored 34 goals in the league for Barcelona in 96-97. His first year at Inter was stunning as well.Zidane would go on to be recognised as the world’s best player but heading into the World Cup his reputation, globally, was not on a par with Ronaldo’s.As for the other points, well, as I recall, Zidane was expected to light up the tournament right up until he was injured in a warm-up game a few days before the start. He played in the third group game, they lost 2-0 to Denmark, France went out and the tournament survived without him.And I followed Spain throughout that tournament and they were pretty ordinary. They squeaked through against Ireland after a desperate game (thanks, Iker) and were equally unimpressive against Korea. A terrible decision from the linesman, sure, but few people in Spain remember the country’s performances with great fondness. Still, they were better than in 1998!

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:19:25 +0000

Zidane “was not in the same league as Ronaldo” – is that a joke?? Regards 2002, Spain would have reached the semi’s (at least) had it not been for a poor decision by the assistant referee which doesn’t constitute in being “overshadowed by South Korea”. You’ll recall that Argentina were also the favourites however Zidane was injured so noone really expected him to “light up” the tournament.Of course the World Cup in 2010 will miss both Ronaldo and Messi – you always want to see the best teams and the best players

By: Rajesh

Rajesh — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:16:09 +0000

I agree individual players are not important for the World Cup. But it will be horrible to not watch Argentina/France/Portugal in a world cup.

By: Martin

Martin — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:34:07 +0000

THE PHENOMENON WILL BE BACK