The premise

- There are 736 players registered for the World Cup (23 per team, with 32 teams)
- There are more than 736 members on this board

The idea

The top 736 posters on these forums (sorted by post count, not quality, and disqualifying those who have been banned) are each assigned a player to 'adopt'. Will you get Rooney? Or will you get Pak Nam-Chol? How will your adopted player fare at the world cup? Will he struggle to get game time, or will he get the golden boot?

This competition is similar to how groups of people throw in $5 to pick a horse for the Melbourne Cup out of a hat, with a winner takes all mentality. The only difference, is that there is no $5 (just pride) and no hat (just an excel spreadsheet).

I have compiled a list of the top 736 posters, with everyone who has 75 or more posts to their name, and assigned them a player at random [see below to find out who you snagged].

The aim

To win one of the following official FIFA awards:
Golden Ball - Awarded to the best overall player
Golden Boot/Shoe - Awarded to the top scorer
Yashin Award - Awarded to the best Goal Keeper
Best Young Player - Awarded to the best Under-21 player
FIFA Fair Play Award - Awarded to the team with the best disciplinary record
Most Entertaining Team Award - Awarded to the team that produce the most entertaining matches
All-Star Squad - Awarded to the best 23 players of the tournament

The aim is to also watch from the sidelines as your adopted player excites or greatly disappoints you. Who knows, you may be the only person in the world paying ANY attention to your player, so watch him as if he is your son, and hope for success.

The list

Spreadsheet - Listed by User-Names in alphabetic order (Please note that it is a huge image, due to there being 736 players, and so it may take a while to load. If you have any difficulties, feel free to ask for help in this thread and I'll try to sort it out for you).

For those interested to see which other forum members you are teamed up with: Player list - Sorted by squad

Final Comments

So all you have to do is check the above image, find your name, find your player, and watch on vicariously like a father as your new son competes in the World Cup.

If your player is out injured, then feel free to adopt his replacement. If he has not been replaced, then you'll have to take the disappointment on the chin, just as your player did.


HAVE FUN!

Edited by Bill Murray: 9/6/2010 10:40:48 PM

Edited by Bill Murray: 9/6/2010 10:44:34 PM

Edited by Bill Murray: 10/6/2010 10:15:56 PM

Holy shit. You have too much time on your hand! Haha... but thanks for getting me... *looks at list*... Matias Fernandez. :lol: Now to research about him.

I feel sorry for the 3rd choice keepers on the list. :p

wouldn't load for me...can you tell who I've got...cheers

Way too much time on you hands.
I got Fernando Muslera of Uruguay

Juan Manuel Mata of Spain. :-k

Plays for Valencia, seems to have a decent goal scoring record. Hopefully he gets a bit of a run for Spain. [-o<

Gonzalo Jara- Chile

Joffa - you're Gonzalo Jara from Chile.

woah this sounds awesome, if i get an algerian player that will be really scary, i've already drawn the team twice already in world cup draws :lol:

What a fucking effort. Pity I got a shit player. :lol:

Thanks buddha69 and RedsUnited - cheers

Great idea Bill Murray - this sounds like fun

Although Angel di Maria is a great player, not sure davidtorres will be too happy with that pick for him. :p

can't wait until afro comes in here (if afro comes in here) and sees he's got surprise moriri :lol:

I got Sergio Aguero.

hurry up and load to 'G' you stupid thing...

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Sorry Joffa.

Thanks buddha69 and RedsUnited for sorting him out in the meantime.

As for me having too much time... it only took an hour :lol:. I felt a great need to procrastinate on something.

Edited by Bill Murray: 9/6/2010 10:44:58 PM

Lucky

WHO THE FUCK IS MISO BREC(KO!!!!????

and was the bracket between between the c and the k meant to be there or was it just a typo?

Thanks mate. Interesting to see who people got. Who did you get?

Might go buy Mata on Fifa 10 now.

Edited by ducky42: 9/6/2010 10:45:06 PM

oh what the hell?? girtXc has Xavi! :O And melbournefanatic got Messi!

I'm envious...

and not SURPRISE! moriri, surprise is his actual first name :lol:

I know :lol:. better prompt Afro to have a look at this

Awesome thread, btw :D Gives me something else to watch out for during the world cup.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mi%C5%A1o_Bre%C4%8Dko

Those odd typos are because excel didn't like me copying in characters with inflections and such. If you aren't sure who they are (due to an odd typo or for some other reason), you should be able to work backwards by looking at the country they play for.

As for me, I got Mesut Ozil (Germany). I can't say I'm unhappy about that! Although I'll feel bad hoping he plays well during the Germany vs Australia match. I'm going to have a ridiculous conflict of interests.

:twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Thats a good draw for you. I'm curious as to how you sorted the player out to each forumite?

well this hasn't changed the way i feel about the slovenian national team at all, in fact if i got someone like surprise moriri i'd actually have a soft spot for the guy :lol:

I copied all the squads from Wikipedia, and just gave each player a number from 1 to 736 (Sth Africans were 1 to 23, Mexico was 24 to 46, etc.)

Then I copied out the top 736 members from the forums, and posted them into a spreadsheet. Next to each member I generated a random number, and I then sorted everyone by their random number.

Once everyone was all jumbled up, I just counted down the list from 1 to 736, and assigned each member their corresponding player, and voila!

This looks fun, and I was only 6-10 posts short :(

Okay so apparently my dude has scored 7 times in 37 appearances for the Chilean national team.



Oh and I'm in the same group as Spain... fun times ahead! :p

Edited by RedsUnited: 9/6/2010 10:56:25 PM

you can have miso brecko if you really want :lol:

Unlucky mate. Just grab some1 that does not post on the forums much anymore and take that player as your own.

If you want, I can randomly generate a player for you. It means you'll have to share, but chances are that it'll be a player that has been assigned to an inactive member (or someone who wont see this thread).

I actually see Chile as a bit of a dark horse in this tournament, so I wouldn't be too unhappy about getting someone who scores somewhat regularly for them. Chile are my favourites to win the 'Most Entertaining' award.

again, your welcome to share miso brecko, if you can't find any inactive members with good players

PAOKTZI got banned could I swap with him if possible

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 9/6/2010 11:02:31 PM

Clemente Rodríguez

If you feel like it, sure. And thanks

what about mk0825, who did he get?

or did you not include banned members?

Edited by gooner4life_8: 9/6/2010 11:07:17 PM

Sure. I didn't realize.



Your random player is:

Eren Derdiyok - Switzerland

You are sharing with 'Go You Yellow'.



I removed members that had were 'Sent-Off' in the member list. He was one of them, so he didn't get a player. Unlucky for him, but it allowed an extra person to sneak onto the list.

Edited by Bill Murray: 9/6/2010 11:09:48 PM

What a bitch! You picked out David Villa! :p :twisted:

My net is so slow, anyone mind telling me who I got? Cheers.

i can't see beyond the h's on the spreadheet for some reason :?

You got Djamel Abdoun from Algeria.

Djamel Abdoun of Algeria

Edit: Damn you RU :p

Edited by ducky42: 9/6/2010 11:18:20 PM

Thanks again Bill, (and ty yellow for sharing!)

our bloke seems to be a young forward - pretty tall but probably not a starter.

He's scored an impressive 7 goals in 7 appearances, but 4 of them were in one game against Estonia so maybe not as impressive, oh and they're his youth goals, I'm brilliant at reading stats this late. Still hope he has a breakout tournament!

OH WAIT: his club forms much better, half surprised hadn't heard of him :d

Edited by Anchor Man (defend): 9/6/2010 11:20:34 PM

Edited by Anchor Man (defend): 9/6/2010 11:23:39 PM

GO DJAMEL ABDOUN!

Thanks guys :)

Good effort. Going to see if I got anyone and who that might be. Really good effort.

LOL. It owuldnt load until I realised it was on th left. and very very small. fucking fantastic.

edit: Andraž Kirm. Could be worse.

Edited by notveryclever: 9/6/2010 11:24:36 PM

LOL!! Nico got some guy named Macbeth. Let's hope it doesn't end in tragedy! :p

Who the hell is Marek Sapara. Does he get game time for Slovakia. Is he better than Kisel. These are the questions that haunt me.

who's got Peter Crouch so i can trade ;)

i've heard of the bloke so he's obviously better than kisel :p apart from his name i know nothing

Yes, far too much time on your hands.

Sweet i get some mad Slovenian, and he's pretty good :D

Nejc Pečnik - he's a striker, and by the looks of his credentials, he'd be good at Sydney FC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nejc_Pe%C4%8Dnik

Edited by heineken: 9/6/2010 11:27:56 PM

My Guy scored against Russia in the WCQ.

In Soviet Russia, WCQ scores against You!

Edited by heineken: 9/6/2010 11:30:08 PM

A lot of the top players have gone to inactive forumites... :(

David James. Hopefully he isn't too old and can play the whole tournament.

all of us with over 2,000 posts seem to be getting slovenians :-k ... or SURPRISE! moriri's

Balmain4Life did.

I got Manuel Neuer - the German keeper. :) Hope he starts off bad. ;)

:-$ My old account :O:O:O:O:O

The same account i forgot the password too, or got banned from....yeah :lol:.

Toulalan :P

Funnily enough I bought him last week in my FM save.

Sympathies go out to Holden Caulfield...

I hate to repeat the question, but my page won't load past 'E'. Someone want to help me out?

Sick idea Bill, this should add another demention to the WC

Sulley Muntari (Ghana)

Gives me an excuse to watch more games and follow Slovenia :)

Sulley Muntari- can't complain. Should be good to watch.

I wouldn't worry too much. I think it is much more fun watching someone who is a nobody in a team you wouldn't normally care about, than watching Torres and saying, "That's my boy!", whilst everyone glares at you for being a fanboy.

I'm pretty jealous that I didn't end up with a guy called 'Surprise'.

Since i don't use the following accounts (for various reasons)

*11
*Balmain4Life
*GoldenAK47

Feel free to swap your player if you don't like him/her :lol:

trade? for some algerian guy i can't remember

Good idea, makes it a little bit more fun. Im happy with Pazzini, dont mind the bloke.

Mine =D

I got jesus navas netted a screamer in the warm up against south korea, probably wont see heaps of game time though

http://www.skysports.com/football/world-cup-2010/story/0,27032,12098_6198472,00.html



Just my luck D=

Interesting, good work 'Bill Murray.' :)

Now onto the list:

lol I'm paired with 'Chris Killen,' well I suppose I should be happy enough with that, could be far worse I guess (lol bad luck 'Hawks,' or should I say, 'Vangelis Moras' :(). And who knows, Killen might sneak in a goal or even two for NZ, in their group!

Edited by GloryPerth: 10/6/2010 12:53:41 AM

Fantastic. Johnny Palacios.

Looks like I've got Honduras' no. 10, Julio César de León.

Yeah, me neither.

Gregory van der Wiel FTW!!!


Good thing I've followed him since birth...

Brilliant idea,Bill! Except....

"Pak Chol-Jin, 24, formed one half of Asia’s meanest defensive partnership with Ri Jun-Il as Korea DPR surprised everyone by claiming one of the continent’s four automatic berths at South Africa 2010.

Having appeared four times during Korea DPR’s failed qualifying bid for the FIFA World Cup™ in Germany four years ago, Pak was called into coach Kim Jong-Hun’s squad ahead of Asia’s third round of qualifying for South Africa 2010. Throughout, he proved one of Chollima’s most consistent performers, missing only two outings during the entire third preliminary stage.

A dependable centre-half, Pak can also fill in at right-back when coach Kim switches to more attacking formation. Furthermore, as one of the tallest members of the team, he is a formidable physical presence in both penalty areas."

I'm a North Korean defender!!!! :shock: Now I have to support them and pray for world peace.

Send me my complimentary photo of the Dear Leader at once. :)

ive been told i play a bit like gattusso, but i didnt want an italian...damnit.

Salpingidis has made 35 appearances and scored three times for the Greece national football team, including the winning goal in the away leg of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifcation play-offs against Ukraine, which sent Greece through to the final tournament.

Not bad I guess.

Per Mertesacker.... is it right of me to actively wan't to lose this competition?

Jean Beausejour, Chilean midfielder... seems like he is part of their first-choice lineup at the moment, so here's hoping. Think they will make it through their group, anyway.

I'm stoked with Simon Kjær, he wont win anything but he's a gun!
Cheers Bill

Is he going to be playing, Felixx? He's great but I heard he was injured.

Awww yes he got injured in the last practise game, not sure how long he's gonna miss, but hes gonna miss Holland :(

It is always nice to know who a player is before the world cup, I am so glad I got Ayila Yussuf of Nigeria!

Apparently plays for Dynamo Kyiv and is a regular for the national team.

COMON Nigeria!! here we go here we go here we go!!=d>

'pete' hasnt been on for 3 weeks....can I swap players with him...please, please.

The fact that he is from Uruguay's fiercest rivals, no not really. :p
And also, I don't think I would like to be compared to this....



:lol: :lol: :lol:

hes no zimbabwean though

I'm sorry that not every country has a star like Banjani Zimbos

whos Banjani...hehehe...

Benjani is the best. :lol:

Someone post who I have. Imageshack is blocked here at work dammit! :evil:

Pepe from Portugal eh?
Sounds OK, except he's scored exactly 2 international goals. Oh, and I cannot support any team that contains one C.Ronaldo.

You got Iker Casillas, Erebus.

If you already have a player who isn't injured, and will potentially be getting game time, no. I haven't looked back at the list, but I'm guessing Pete has someone like Eto'o or Van Persie?

Bendtner.

For 5 seconds there I thought I had Ronaldo....damn you Bill

Nice :cool:

If you're gonna get a keeper, he's one of the few that you would want to have. Could be up in the running for a few of those awards at least.

are swapsies possible.

wow you gave yourself mesut ozil. cheeky bastard.

Iker Casillas

Damn I even checked to see if someone had already said that...

Edited by tomw: 10/6/2010 12:10:34 PM

What an immense effort!

I got Milivoje Novakovič - a name I actually recognised, having seen him put 2 nice free kicks in the back of the net against New Zealand.

Can't see it. Who did I get?

Martin Petras - Slovakia

No doubt someone will probably beat me to this :lol:

You have Martin Petras of Slovakia

EDIT: Told ya :lol:

Edited by ducky42: 10/6/2010 12:55:29 PM

Sorry. :lol: