Soccer World Cup -06

[Lunar]

awww, the US isnt all that terrible...id pick them to at least make it out of the first rounds, but doubt they will do any better than last time which was a trip to the quarters if im not mistaken.

I had England picked until I watched Rooney go down a few weeks ago......

Maybe France will pull off some miracle just cause I love to see henry play.

[Gabethebabe]

Here is my analisys.

The Brazilians will not win because in history only once a team that was of another continent won, so a European team will win.

Bigmac, there are more than two continents, like Asia and Northamerica where they held the Worldcup.

- Outside Europe, a southamerican team will win, in Europe a European team will win.

That is the rule of thumb which has its exception in Sweden, 1958. Brazil broke the rule.

And Brazil are going to break that rule again. I mean, they even have a goalkeeper this time.
How the fuck is anybody going to stop Brazil? Let the real Paolo Rossi please stand up!

I´m a Dutchie, but I fear that I will never see the netherlands be world champion.
Also this year they will not win, simply because our defense is rubbish.

And we have a coach that did not even TRY to get a Wayne Rooney effect in "our" team.
He lost part of the credit that he built up in 1988. A sad decision indeed.

[freakish777]

@freakish777 : kahn ? I don't think he is a half good golman as lehman is now...

Now he isn't, but he was a monster 4 years ago...

awww, the US isnt all that terrible...id pick them to at least make it out of the first rounds, but doubt they will do any better than last time which was a trip to the quarters if im not mistaken.

Yes they are.  Sure they made the quarter-finals 4 years ago, that doesn't mean they were a contender then, and it doesn't mean they're a contender now.

[LizardCZ]

H -- No idea. The "joker" group.

C'mon guys, no one will give a bit of love to Spain? We deserve to be mentioned at least...

Our team doesn't look like it can do much to win this cup, but we'll reach quarterfinals for sure.

[Dozer]

For all who want to know, our esteemed editor friend Ted Knutson has his own thoughts about the Cup. On a regular basis, too. Let's see if he'll be right in his counts, and if he gives Spain some love...

[BigMac]

Most of his thoughts are pretty coherent and ring a lot of truths. I could give some more information about the squads he has not to much information about.

Ecuador: The reason this team competes so well at home and so bad away is because their home games are played at a big altitude. The thin air makes competing very hard for people not used to the height and makes playing for the homesquad so much easier. (proving the wins over Argentina and Brazil) I think this team to be one of the weakest squads in the whole championship.

Costa Rica: Do not underestimate this team as they made the second round last two worldcups. So for me this is more of a dark horse than any other team in this world cup.

Poland: Although a very good performance in the qualifying rounds in a not to tough group, their coach has made some very dubious decisions who to bring to this world cup. They left their best keeper as well as their topscorer at home. They lost to Colombia, a side that is not even at this world cup. I think they need a miracle to get ready in time and to get some sort of composure and self confidence.

Germany: Although the favorites in this group i think they actually could have a hard time surviving it. The home advantage indeed is in their favor but the assessment that do not have to many big names or good players is a fact. They always have had a good teamspirit but they also always had at least one line in their team that had any kind of name and success. This team has Ballack and Lehamn, as said, and the rest is sheer average to bad. They all play in the bundesliga, but that has not been to strong the last couple of years being dominated clearly by one team alone. A diverse strong competition has at least a couple competitors for the title. The stars of the bundesliga are all from other countries, making the German squad shaky at best.

Trinidad and Tobago: Their Dutch coach is a master in assessing strengths and weaknesses. he can make a good team provided the squad can do what he wants. Clearly the weakest competitor in this world cup it could provide a small success but not survive the groupstage.

Sweden: nothing to add.

England: nothing to add.

Paraguay: nothing to add

[sampling_percus]

there will be one surprise team in quarter/semifinals (think something like Croatia in '98, S. Korea in 2002, or Greece in European cup),

I bags Ukraine!

[jpmeyer]

Go Germanland and Korea!

[BigMac]

I bags Ukraine!

Ukraine is a very very dark horse in this championship. Do not be surprised when they get really far. This was the 2nd land to qualify behind Germany (who play automatically as the host). The have really great players and nothing to lose at it is one of their first (perhaps first) WC ever. Only mention the name Sjevtsjenko and you know they have an easy scoring forward. They also have a very good defence, so a hard team to beat as they mostly will and can play on the counter.

[LordHomerCat]

Only mention the name Sjevtsjenko and you know they have an easy scoring forward. They also have a very good defence, so a hard team to beat as they mostly will and can play on the counter.

I would mention it, but... well, there is no way in hell I can pronounce that =]

[Meddling Mike]

Where's the "I'm an American...I don't care" option?

Yeah, if you won't let us blindly vote for the US team despite apparently unfavorable odds we should at least get this option.

[Evenpence]

USA will take it all the way, and it will be the biggest upset of all time.

Seriously though, Brazil.

[Dozer]

Seriously though, Brazil.

Wow, what a cop-out.

But in all fairness, I think you are right. But what footballknuts wrote has some merit: The teams are closer together than ever. Any of the teams might just make it, and it won't be as easy for Brazil as everybody makes it look. They are still gonna win, mind you. I watched their prep game against New Zealand, and while Brazil didn't exactly play them dizzy (3:0), the Selecao showed just how explosive they can be. They can go from standing still to scoring a goal instantly, and they know each other's movements pretty well. It's just pure beauty to watch them play. And I feel they held back in the test game, just to prevent injuries and stuff. Brazil will only really fire up when the elimination games start -- before, they don't have to.

Talking about prep games, after that 1:1 in the Holland - Australia match, I don't think the Netherlands have a shot at the title anymore. Three midfielders injured? The Aussies did play a rough game, but that's just to be expected at a World Cup from the guys who probably play Aussie Rules football in their spare time. Certainly a tough team, the Aussies gave Marco van Basten quite a headache in a simple friendly... BigMac, any opinions on that?

[BigMac]

The injuries for the Dutch seem to be not that serious, but it is a small problem atm. About the Aussies, they played the game as a serious testmatch and if they play that way against any other team there will be injuries in those teams as well. And as they are in the group with Brazil, that will be a testcase as well as to see how unscratched Brazil survives that groupgame. If they lose any of their stars or key players they can be in trouble during the WC. I am unsure how the Brazilians will cope with the very aggressive hard playingstyle of the Aussies. Do not forget that the coach of the Aussies is a Dutch brilliant coach. Never underestimate them. And one last thing, the goal the Aussies got was a scrimmage after a penalty where the ball very luckilly fell before an Aussie boot. Next to that the Dutch didn't get a penalty after a deliberate handball in the sixteen by an Aussie. So no i have no fear for Holland.

Holland did well during the friendly session, winning over Cameroon and Mexico with sometimes good play and they are slowly getting into form. If you count the possibilities Holland created it is only a matter to get past the keeper anymore. Schwarzer (goalie for the Aussies) was playing a perfect game keeping many balls out other keepers never would have had. So again, i have no fear for Holland. They will get to the finals and beat Brazil in that final due to the many injuries that team has suffered over the length of the tournament.

[freakish777]

and it won't be as easy for Brazil as everybody makes it look.

Yes it will.  They have Ronaldinho playing for them.

I'm still hoping for Germany to take it all.

I imagine the US will make it out of their group alive, but if they place second in their group they'll play Brazil, and then its game over.

[dandan]

In Europe, a European team wins, elsewhere a South American team wins. You have to go back to 1958 for the one and only exception to this rule where Brazil won in Sweden.

Home teams also have a good record at winning especially if the home team is one of the 'majors'.

Germany usually do far better than they should (hell, they made the final last time and were pretty bad).

The Dutchies don't win world cups despite being able to leave out players that most other countries would play intheir starting team! This also appears to apply to Spain and to a lesser extent Portugal.

I guess that means Germany will win. Italy and England are probably better than them and Spain are also damned good. France seem to be overlooked but have a lot of decent players (you can count on the fingers of one hand the number of teams who wouldn't play Henry given the choice, even if your arms had been amputated). I think the USA is better than most people make out although No. 5 in the world is a joke.

This cup is wide open.

[Gabethebabe]

Agree with what you said, except that Spain is damn good. They barely made it out of the qualification and had huge problems winning matches and scoring goals. But it really doesn´t matter if they´re good or not: they ALWAYS underperform on a Worldcup.

France WAS good. Now they´re just old. They won´t get far.

I don´t think the cup is that open. I see only 4 potential winners: Brazil, England, Italy and Germany. The rest is playing powerless, so to speak.

[Dozer]

How are you guys going to watch it? Personally, since I don't have a TV, I'll be likely watching at one of the big public screenings the Fifa and the city have arranged for every match in two public places (on the center square and in the main station hall). If the weather continues like it is(cold and rainy), I might switch plans, because our multi-hall movie theater is showing every game live on screen. It will feel weird but comfortable, sitting in a movie seat and watching the World Cup live! I didn't get any tickets (didn't try, either -- too expensive), so the stadium is not an option for me.

How about you?

[Chill79]

Two more days and then it will be "month of football" on tv :lol: ....

[BigMac]

I have another good reason Holland will perform well. The two tournaments held in Germany had one team in the final twice, Holland. So traditionally we perform well in Germany, as it is almost a home game for us.

I cannot see Italy do well this cup, with their two central defenders almost certainly out injured.

About Holland leaving players at home other teams would have in their main lineup. That is true, and so far i can see why that is happening. Those players do not fit the concept our coach wants to play. Although they are good, they do not perform well in that concept. So it is a choice to play with a team fitting a concept, and not who has the most starts competing. Stardom means ego, ego means possible influence. The more ego's, the more captains, the less a group is a team. This fact was proved four years ago by the Koreans. They had no stars but they had a team with a good coach, and they performed well. As did the Germans with a very bad group of players, playing bad but playing as a team. So stardom has some influence, but teamwork and coaching are other significant influences.

But as most of you agree on, it is a wide open championship. The Brazilians may be good, but nobody is perfect and they may actually slip up. And the Dutch will be there to take advantage of that.

Two more days and then it will be "month of football" on TV

Not only on TV for me, it is work for me as well at the newspaper i work at we do a lot of WC coverage.

[MixedkNuts]

Just an FYI, my blog for the World Cup is at http://footballknuts.blogspot.com/ and there's also a syndicated LJ feed for you Livejournal users to subscribe to at http://syndicated.livejournal.com/footballknuts/profile .  I'd love to get more comments from football-mad Magic players, so stop by whenever and tell your friends about it too.

--TK

[Meddling Mike]

USA will take it all the way, and it will be the biggest upset of all time.

Seriously though, Brazil.

It'll be like the miracle on ice.....cept on a soccer field.

[combo_dude]

Anyone watch Germany - Costa Rica? That ball was flying around all over the place, I'm not surprised the keepers don't like it...

[Chill79]

Brazil's game is tomorrow,they are gonna win 2-0 over Croatia i think.

[Bram]

I feel the need to chime in and add an empathic "I don't give an airborne intercourse either way."

But what the hey. In the spirit of unjustified patriotism and the uplifting verbal abuse of other countries, I'm making this bit of text orange. Hup Holland Hop. Laat de leeuw niet in zijn hempie staan. Etc.

[BigMac]

Well, here i go with my first review of the WC till today.

Group A
The Germans are virtually through to the second round as i do not see them losing 2 games in a row against Poland and Ecuador. On the other hand, Costa Rica had two chances and scored twice. If the Poles and the Ecuadorians play well and create chances, the Germans may get a hard group after all. Costa Rica though, very disappointing to me. The win of Ecuador over Poland was a surprise to me but after seeing the performance of Poland very deserved.

Group B
England played a very disappointing game against Paraguay not even scoring themselves after winning 1-0 (own goal by a defender) The hot weather was their excuse but if it stays hot they will not play that big a part everybody beliefs. The biggest upset thusfar for me was the point Trinidad and Tobago got with ten man against the Swedes. Go Dutch coaches go.

Group C
The expected wins for the Dutch and the Argentineans. But hard fought and especially Ivorycoast and Argentine played a very high standard game. The Dutch and Argentinians have the advantage now but will both be hard pressed in their next games.

Group D
After a good start and a fast goal Portugal didn't deliver the promise of a big score. Although they got plenty of chances the second half they lost the complete control and were hard pressed to keep the win. In the end Angola didn't  get very big chances and the win was deserved, but not a very well impression by the Portuguese team. They will get two more hard games, especially against Mexico as they played well. Another surprise was the good performance of the Iranian team. Although losing due to mostly errors of their side, they played unexpectedly well and gave the Mexicans a handfull.

More to come after all games of groups E to H have been played.

[Dozer]

Group D
After a good start and a fast goal Portugal didn't deliver the promise of a big score. Although they got plenty of chances the second half they lost the complete control and were hard pressed to keep the win. In the end Angola didn't  get very big chances and the win was deserved, but not a very well impression by the Portuguese team. They will get two more hard games, especially against Mexico as they played well.

I didn't see the Mexicans play, but I thought the Portugese played beautiful football. The short-pass game they have in their midfield was amazingly fast and smooth. Angola put up a very good game against the Portugese. While I think the match should have ended at least 2:1 for Portugal, I wouldn't have been surprised to see Angola take it at least to a draw. The Africans proved that they can play football, and the match was fast-paced back and forth... unlike the Holland's and England's game, who apparently got off the wrong foot. The results don't reflect this, but Portugal vs Angola was just a great game to wach, methinks.

I didn't see Argentina, but I wouldn't put it past Angola to advance to the k.o.-rounds.

[skecreatoR]

I can't really agree with the Portugal part. Angola is a physically strong team, putting intense pressure on every attacker, and they aren't afraid of using foul play.

Portugal kept control the entire time, and the total lack of cordination in the Angolese attacks surely didn't scare any of the portuguese players. Just look at how well Nuño Valente, Figo, Zimão, C. Ronaldo played, and how many fouls were comitted at them, especially Ronaldo in this case.

Underestimating Portugal is a stupid case. Their team is stronger than two years ago at the EC, and I'm sure their skill will be showcased versus European and South-American teams.

[BigMac]

Not all groups have been played yet but after the very bad performance of the Brazil squad i feel a need to write something.

Group E
After a good performance of Ghana they were still beaten by the Italians. This was mostly due to the defense of Ghana as they could not keep their defense up all game and most of the time Italy only needs one chance. I was surprised by the Italian offensive tactics though, positively surprised. Although still playing from a strong defense they actually were pretty offensive. This was a strong tactic as the strength of Ghana lies in their attack. Ghana did what they could but in the end were just a little more inexperienced and organized. So a earned good win for Italy. The Czech republic was very good. Although the game could have had a turning point (ball on post from the US when 1-0 behind), The United States were simply blown away. The Czechs were playing very good and to me have become the big outsiders. We have to wait to see how serious the loss of their forward Koller is but in this game it was not a real concern. The US was really not good. They need to improve drastically if they want to stand any chance of surviving their group.

Group F
Guus does it again. He gave the Aussies their first win ever after a real fight with the Japanese. This fight was fought on every level as the media and the coaching of Hiddink probably played a part in this game throughout the game. It was not a game of high standard but it was a game with two teams really battling it out. In the end the Aussies prevailed and this gave them a fighting chance to survive the group. Brazil was not nearly playing as well as anybody was expecting. In my opinion to many ego's and to little team. Especially the second half they had all kinds of trouble with the Croatians. I still think the Croatians have a good chance to survive the group after the loss to Brazil. They deserved a point but nobody says soccer is a fair game. If Brazil keeps this form, they will not keep their title. They will be hardpressed by real teams and their individual quality will no longer be sufficient.

Group G
The two worst games so far were in this group. If they keep up this level the two teams surviving this group will lose the next round. The best team to me were the Swiss, deserving more than the tie with the French. The only French player doing well was Zidane. The rest was bad, just plain bad. The only reason they have a point is because the Swiss didn't make their chances. Korea was playing bad and Togo is after the trainer problems not a team to be look for. The only good thing about Korea was that they made the best of their man extra after the red card for Togo. So the win was deserved for Korea giving them a chance to survive this group. But so far this group has been the worst of the tournament.

From these three groups the Czechs and the Italians give me the best feeling of being able to make it far.

More to come...

[dandan]

I feel slimmer and better at football just watching Ronaldo play. Perhaps you can't turn it on without a woman's pubic hair on his head.