World Cup discoveries

[beats1]

Salif Diao

 

[ButchCassidy]

Salif Diao

You're just making them up now...

 

[Strikeb4ck]

These discoveries don't always really pan out to be anything. At the last Euros Gebre-Selassie looked an outstanding right back, now he's just average and stuck at Bremen.

 

[ExpediteTHFC]

I'm unsure about Rogic. He failed to exactly nail down a place in Celtic.. I mean he is talented for sure but considering good league 1 players are able to make it at Celtic I wonder exactly how good he really is.

Rogic moving to Celtic was a silly idea on his part. They do not play a system that suits him, he is completely wrong for the way they play. He was developing nicely at Central Coast and should have gone to a team that plays better football.

 

[spursfan77]

Also look out for Matt Ryan, very promising goalie who was impressive for Club Bruges this season. He should have plenty of work indeed, so time and room to shine.

I wasn't sure if he starts for Australia or not but he was one I was going to mention. After all I wonder why we didn't sign him after his trial with us as he's obviously talented. Work permit I'm guessing.

 

[sim0n]

will be interested in watching belgium, argentina, holland, and france for "discovery" reasons,...

maybe poch is too

 

[Partizan]

I'd keep an eye on Japan and Nigeria

 

[C0YS]

Wow Rogic cut. I think I'm right in saying that it was a certain Massimo Luongo who took his place.

 

[whitelanefever]

Colombia & Japan could be the game of the group stages at World Cup, plenty of relative unknowns who could shine for both teams Balanta, Ibargo, Guiterrez, Aquilar & Quintero for Colombia & Okosaki, Osaka & Yamaguchi for Japan.
South Korea will be another team worth watching, Koo Ja Choel could emerge as a major star during World Cup. I think these 3 along with argentina will probably be the most entertaining teams to watch at World Cup

 

[Strikeb4ck]

Colombia & Japan could be the game of the group stages at World Cup, plenty of relative unknowns who could shine for both teams Balanta, Ibargo, Guiterrez, Aquilar & Quintero for Colombia & Okosaki, Osaka & Yamaguchi for Japan.
South Korea will be another team worth watching, Koo Ja Choel could emerge as a major star during World Cup. I think these 3 along with argentina will probably be the most entertaining teams to watch at World Cup

Yep.
People are drastically underrating the two big Asian sides (Japan and Korea)...both have groups that they can very easily get out of, and they really know how to play football. Many write them off because they take many players from their respective domestic leagues, but the quality of football played in those leagues as far as level of technique goes is very high. These two teams are well ahead in Asia, and they really have excellent youth development setups throughout the country now, I'd say on par with how the Dutch used to do it. South Korea's run under Hiddink was no fluke.
It's easy to pick up on because the Japanese women's team plays a level of football 100x better than any other women's team...they don't always win because in women's football tons of other things come into play, and the fact that they're all under 5 feet doesn't help, but still.
The Japanese especially have created an excellent football setup, the players aren't always the most physically gifted but they can absolutely play, at very high levels. 2 good fullbacks as well. They also have a very experienced manager who knows how to win in Zaccheroni.
Japan and Korea are two sides that can go deep in this tournament, assuming they can handle the other factors. I put a little money on both to win, hoping I can hedge off it a bit.

Edit: Thought this was the WC discussion thread, missed the player discoveries part. Oh well.

 

[bceej]

So on @Grey Fox 's information, we're after a CB and LB, and a number of key personnel WILL be at the World Cup.

CB: Hector Moreno (Mexico & Espanyol), Nicolas N'Koulou (Cameroon & Marseille), Bruno Martins Indi & Stefan De Vrij (Feyenoord & Holland), Joel Veltman (Ajax & Holland), Eder Alvarez Balanta (River Plate & Colombia), Fabian Schar (Basel & Switzerland), Ezekiel Garay (Benfica & Argentina), Marcos Rojo (Sporting CP & Argentina)

LB: Daley Blind (Ajax & Holland), Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolfsburg & Switzerland)

Not sure if all of these would actually better our situation, though think a lot would. Any other suggestions for those two positions which are feasible?

 

[spursfan77]

Colombia & Japan could be the game of the group stages at World Cup, plenty of relative unknowns who could shine for both teams Balanta, Ibargo, Guiterrez, Aquilar & Quintero for Colombia & Okosaki, Osaka & Yamaguchi for Japan.
South Korea will be another team worth watching, Koo Ja Choel could emerge as a major star during World Cup. I think these 3 along with argentina will probably be the most entertaining teams to watch at World Cup

It will be definitely interesting to see FM great Balanta play. Will be the first time for me to actually see if he's any good in real life!

 

[$hoguN]

My tips, some are pretty well known though, others are too old and some are most likely not good enough to play for Spurs. But all are worth keeping an eye out for. Also I've avoided mentioning the obvious players.

Cuadrado, Ospina (Colombia), Peralta (Mexico), Valdiva (Chile), Ryan (Australia), Yamaguchi (Japan), Immobile, Destro, Di Sciglio (Italy), Drimic (Switzerland), Ibarra (Ecuador), Aron Johannsson (USA), Feghouli (Algeria).

Are some name to look out for. I must say I haven't watched all of these players play but have heard good things about them and look forward to see them play.

I didn't know Tom Huddlestone was going to the WC

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

So on @Grey Fox 's information, we're after a CB and LB, and a number of key personnel WILL be at the World Cup.

CB: Hector Moreno (Mexico & Espanyol), Nicolas N'Koulou (Cameroon & Marseille), Bruno Martins Indi & Stefan De Vrij (Feyenoord & Holland), Joel Veltman (Ajax & Holland), Eder Alvarez Balanta (River Plate & Colombia), Fabian Schar (Basel & Switzerland), Ezekiel Garay (Benfica & Argentina), Marcos Rojo (Sporting CP & Argentina)

LB: Daley Blind (Ajax & Holland), Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolfsburg & Switzerland)

Not sure if all of these would actually better our situation, though think a lot would. Any other suggestions for those two positions which are feasible?

From the top of my head, 2 favourites (IMO) are missing from your list.
Coeantrão & Lovren

 

[EZSpur]

Was really looking forward to watching David Accam play for Ghana (he plays for Helsingborg in Sweden) - he came through the Nike Academy along with Tom Rogic - but unfortunately neither of them made the cut

......however, Divock Origi (Belgium and Lille) is worth looking out for.

 

[whitelanefever]

It will be definitely interesting to see FM great Balanta play. Will be the first time for me to actually see if he's any good in real life!

Hopefully he starts because they need him although I think they might go with Zapata & Yepes to start the tournament, Colombia have some really technically gifted players from midfield on, however it will count for nothing if they start Armero at LB he's a liability & you would get away with Yepes in a back 3, which I think they should do with Cuadrado & Zuniga as wing backs along with Zapata, Yepes & Balanta as CB's. If Colombia could sort out the defence they could challenge to win World Cup.
Balanta is so fast, he must easily be as quick as Walker & his longrange passing is to die for, he's not the greatest tackler & relies more on interceptions & reading of the game, which is very good for someone so young.

 

[C0YS]

Hopefully he starts because they need him although I think they might go with Zapata & Yepes to start the tournament, Colombia have some really technically gifted players from midfield on, however it will count for nothing if they start Armero at LB he's a liability & you would get away with Yepes in a back 3, which I think they should do with Cuadrado & Zuniga as wing backs along with Zapata, Yepes & Balanta as CB's. If Colombia could sort out the defence they could challenge to win World Cup.
Balanta is so fast, he must easily be as quick as Walker & his longrange passing is to die for, he's not the greatest tackler & relies more on interceptions & reading of the game, which is very good for someone so young.

Still, we must remember that in world cup competitions organisation is much more important than the quality of players in defense. As Greece in 2004 and to a latter degree The Netherlands is 2010 are testament to.

Even so, colombia have a solid defense bar Armero. Zapata is a top defender while Yepes is ageiyerng a bit but certainly used to be a top player. They compare favorably to most teams. Just not quite the level of the highest.

Also I think playing Cuadrado in defence is a mistake. This guy is in form as a winger and I think he could really shine playing there. Right now I believe he is a better left winger than Rodriguez. It will be interesting how the fit them both in the team. They will probably move Cuadrado to the right.


For Colombia to win they will need a big slice of luck. They could still conceivably do it. But they do have weaknesses which prevent them being among the favorites. But even without Falcao they deserve to be considered the principle dark horses of the tournament.

 

[chinaman]

Bentaleb scored for Algeria today and he played well. Hope he is one of the discoveries of this WC.

 

[C0YS]

Bentaleb scored for Algeria today and he played well. Hope he is one of the discoveries of this WC.

Having watched the second half of the game I really liked the look of Taider as well.

 

[Nocando]

I'm not sure if he will get much game time but looking forward to seeing Depay for Holland.

I know hes very well known but England really need to play Ross Barkley as much as possible. Fantastic talent.