Hello dear friends and welcome back to Australia for the biggest event in football, the World Cup final! As you already know you will be able to take part in the final live on Sunday, September 4th, starting at 12:30 GMT. But before that let me introduce you to the teams that will battle for the most important trophy in football.
First of all, the odds. As you can see the bookmakers think that Italy have a better chance of winning the final but I’m used to playing against the odds.
Then an Argentinian ex-international added a few more pessimistic remarks, I wonder who that ex-international was… :)
Now let’s get down to business and see what Italy have to offer. Well, I have studied their past games and they always preferred a rather defensive formation with 2 DMs, a central midfielder, a pair of wingers and a lone striker.
Their team is very good though as it has a very strong backbone. The best players are centre back Pagani, Poli and Crisetig — the two DMs, and the striker, Semeraro, who is almost magnificent. I have already picked my starting eleven, it’s the one I have used on a regular basis throughout the tournament except Pacheco who takes injured Yavar‘s place. I don’t know the Italian starting eleven yet but after taking a look at each of their players I tried to make an educated guess. You can click on the player names to view each of their profiles.
Argentina Starting Line Up: Gonzalo Maidana — Sergio Garcia, Fabio Ortiz, Nicolas Otamendi, Fernando Pereyra — Marcos Fernandez, Gustavo Iglesias, Ismael Fischer — Leandro Velasco, German Pacheco — Lucas Cuello
Argentina Substitutes: Sergio Romero, Javier Godoy, Osvaldo Rufino, Matias Asencio, Ezequiel Munoz, Franco Zuculini, Javier Pastore, Hilario Giaccone, Claudio Vicente, Sergio Araujo
Italy Probable Line Up: Salvatore Sirigu — Emanuele Santoni, Nino Pagani, Giuseppe Bellusci, Francesco Viviani — Andrea Poli, Lorenzo Crisetig, Ariel Ferrari — Matias Ezequiel Schelotto, Simone Verdi — Alberto Semeraro
Italy Substitutes: Ivan Ferraro, Giacomo Maffei, Davide Santon, Marco Calderoni, Thiago, Andre Luiz, Matteo Morini, Federico Macheda
The two starting elevens are comparable in terms of quality and strength but I think that our bench is slightly better, that’s where (hopefully) we can make a difference. That’s about it for now, see you in the «live box» at 12:30 GMT!
André
3 сентября, 2011 at 21:41
Great initiative. I will try to follow it :)
Johnny Karp
3 сентября, 2011 at 22:01
Thanks, I hope you will :)
Kevin
3 сентября, 2011 at 21:55
Looking forward to live coverage!!
Johnny Karp
3 сентября, 2011 at 22:02
Me too :)
Birdy
3 сентября, 2011 at 22:29
was looking forward to it now I can’t watch it because I have to get up at 2-3 in the morning before school D:
Johnny Karp
3 сентября, 2011 at 22:47
Why do you have to get up that early?
Birdy
4 сентября, 2011 at 08:23
No i mean the live stream is on at 2-3 in the morning which means If i want to watch it I have to get up that early which is unlikely :D
Johnny Karp
4 сентября, 2011 at 09:13
Oh, I see. I forgot that you’re not in Europe :)
Birdy
4 сентября, 2011 at 11:17
yes I come from where you are playing the final. I was at the MCG today watching the footy. You wouldn’t be able to see the players on because it is so big
riggsy
3 сентября, 2011 at 23:00
Looking forward to it Johnny though I may miss the beginning as I will be having Sunday lunch around that time :( Good luck anyway mate :)
Johnny Karp
4 сентября, 2011 at 09:14
Thanks mate and enjoy your lunch :)
Darren Smith
3 сентября, 2011 at 23:00
Looking forward to the final mate, the stage is set and both teams are evenly matched….its gonna be a thrilling final.
Johnny Karp
4 сентября, 2011 at 09:14
I hope it will be thrilling and… winning :)
Gonzalo
3 сентября, 2011 at 23:05
Haha, nice! Good luck in this game.
Cheers from Argentina :P
Johnny Karp
4 сентября, 2011 at 09:14
Gracias Gonzalo!
Mariano
4 сентября, 2011 at 02:23
«Then an Argentinian ex-international added a few more pessimistic remarks, I wonder who that ex-international was…»
Who else can be?
THE DIEEEEGO!:)
No doubt about it!:)
Johnny Karp
4 сентября, 2011 at 09:15
Haha, I was thinking about the same «ex-international» :) I wonder where he would be in 2022…
Andrew
4 сентября, 2011 at 13:38
I think I know how to show live your games
Johnny Karp
4 сентября, 2011 at 13:47
I found something interesting but please share your solution, I’d appreciate it.
vaibhavc
4 сентября, 2011 at 21:40
YOU WON! I am so sorry I missed everything. I knew you did, well done Argentina!
Johnny Karp
5 сентября, 2011 at 06:37
Thanks mate, I hope you will be able to join our next live session ;) It was fun :)
George Dobson
4 сентября, 2011 at 22:05
well done great way of showing it and cuello was amazing his last goal was amazing :D
Johnny Karp
5 сентября, 2011 at 06:38
Thanks George, that last goal was a fine one indeed :)
Sayam Khan
5 сентября, 2011 at 00:12
Oh my days, how did I miss this. It was at a time where I was free aswell but I decided to do gardening instead :-( Well done anyway Johnny, and I look forward to your Vauxhall post.
PS are you going to quit Argentina?
Johnny Karp
5 сентября, 2011 at 06:39
Hey Sayam, I’m sorry that you missed it since it surely was a lot more fun than gardening :) I am pretty sure that I am going to quit the Argentina job, there’s nothing left to be won with them.