Argentina has finalized its World Cup team and not surprisingly it's hot at the top for a team that's from the bottom of the world, lead by the two forwards

Chelsea's bubble-lipped Hernan Crespo..

..and Barcelona's multi-chinned Lionel Messi

The rest on the list:

Roberto Abbondanzieri (Boca)

Leonardo Franco and Maximiliano Rodríguez (Atlético Madrid, España)

Nicolás Burdisso and Esteban Cambiasso (Inter, Italia)

Gabriel Milito (Zaragoza, España)

Juan Pablo Sorin and Juan Román Riquelme (Villarreal, España)

Fabricio Coloccini (Deportivo La Coruña, España)

Leandro Cufré (Roma, Italia)

Roberto Ayala (Valencia, España)

Luis González (Porto, Portugal)

Gabriel Heinze (Manchester United, Inglaterra)

Lionel Scaloni (West Ham, Inglaterra)

Expect lots of traditional hugs and kisses whenever these hot latin guys score.

Lots of World Cup rosters were announced today. Most notably for U.S. fans, both Italy and the Czech Republic named theirs. Italy's was pretty expected, except possibly Filippo Inzaghi's place on the final roster. The Czech Republic went a somewhat risky route, naming a couple injured players to their roster. Injured players on the roster include former Liverpool midfielder Vladimir Smicer and towering striker Jan Koller.

Remember the fate of a certain other team (US in 1998) who named a couple injured players on their roster: last place...

So, the topic of the week on foxsoccer.com is:
Will the widening Serie A refereeing scandal negatively affect Italy's World Cup chances?

What do y'all think?
If the investigation continues up to & including the first round, it will definitely impact the national squad mentally/emotionally. And if it is proved that #1 GK Buffon was betting on matches, will FIFA step in? I don't think the Italian Federation would pull him from the team. At first there was talk about sending Juventus to the 4th league. That would be a death sentence for many years. Yesterday I heard possibly Serie B as a punishment. If other clubs don't buy out the top footballers, they may be able to get back in one season; but new players would be locked into Serie B salaries.

Anyway, back to World Cup effx. With the Italian scandal and the Czech injuries, do you think things are looking better for the US? Gosh, I don't want to get my hopes up nearly a month in advance but I can't wait!
eek!

I wouldn't be jumping to any conclussions. As much as it pains me to say it, the Azzuri have a tremendous team and should never be taken lightly. The Czechs may not be as strong as they could be, but again they wont be a pushover either. Then again, it's the World Cup...anything can happen.

I know, you're right.
I still hope for the best for our boys and I do think they can giv'em a run for getting out of the first round. And I do think that if the scandal in Italy is on the front pages it will affect the team in a negative way.

Unless Buffon is removed from the roster, I don't think it's going to affect the team a great deal.

With regards to the Czechs, we shall see. Though they have some injured players, the core of the team has been together since Euro 2004- even without Smicer, they are still very cohesive.

Bottom Line...Portugal will win the World Cup...end of discussion

That's about as probable as me becoming a straight man...

[ May 16, 2006, 04:54 PM: Message edited by: metromathis13 ]

Can't wait to see your girlfriend

The Czech's are big and tall. Some theorize that that can be an advantage. It hasn't been much of one so far but they must be really hungry this year, which makes them dangerous.

I don't think the US has an advantage being in the group with them, especially playing them first. Italy with all the recent scandals could play either way, but look disorganized right now.

Ghana is a wild card in E. But USA's better IMO.