World Cup

[rmered]

Seems to me the Americans need to find a way to beat Italy, or pack their bags.

The Czechs are too good to lose to Ghana, so that battle is over. They will finish with more points and/or goals than the US.

So really, they must beat Italy, or they have to hold them to a draw and hope for Italy to play a 0-0 draw with the Czechs and then they still have to beat Ghana 3-0 or better.

All unlikely scenarios.

It's not a pretty picture, but really, it's got to be all out attack against the Italians, or it's Auf Weidersehn Amerikanskis.

Now wait. Either we need to beat Italy... or draw them, wallop Ghana, and have the Czechs whip Italy (total margins of victory = 5). If we hold them to a draw, and they draw with Czech, their 5 beats our 4.

I see what you mean, You either beat Italy, or you're virtually done.

However, also, if the Chechs beat the Italians, you can still Draw with them, and then still beat Ghana by more than 2 goals to qualify.

If Italy Win against the Czechs, you're going home.

[Adam]

I knew the Americans wouldn't do well. They are in one of the groups of death.

Here are my picks (please believe me when I say they were chosen BEFORE the games started):

Group A

Germany; Costa Rica; Poland; Ecuador

Picks: Germany, Ecuador

Group B

England; Paraguay; Trinidad & Tobago; Sweden

Picks: England, Paraguay

Group C

Argentina; Cote D'Ivoire; Serbia & Montenegro; Netherlands

Picks: Argentina, Serbia & Montenegro

Group D

Mexico; Iran; Angola; Portugal

Picks: Portugal, Angola

Group E

Italy; Ghana; United States; Czech Republic

Picks: Italy, Czech Republic

Group F

Brazil; Croatia; Australia; Japan

Picks: Brazil, Croatia

Group G

France, Switzerland, South Korea, Togo

Picks: South Korea, Togo (Going out on a limb with these two!)

Group H

Spain; Ukraine; Tunisia; Saudi Arabia

Picks: Saudi Arabia, Ukraine (I think the Saudis can do some damage, and I just have a feeling about those crazy Ukrainians!)

My final four are: England, Ecuador, Ukraine and Togo!

Before you laugh, I successfully picked Greece to win EuroCup 2004

lol as you can see I tend to like the underdogs.

[rmered]

This is probably where the thread gets cut and made into another called World Cup predictions, however, mine are like this:

Group A

Germany; Costa Rica; Poland; Ecuador

Picks: Germany, Ecuador

Group B

England; Paraguay; Trinidad & Tobago; Sweden

Picks: England, Sweden

Group C

Argentina; Cote D'Ivoire; Serbia & Montenegro; Netherlands

Picks: Argentina, Netherlands

Group D

Mexico; Iran; Angola; Portugal

Picks: Portugal, Mexico

Group E

Italy; Ghana; United States; Czech Republic

Picks: Czech Republic, Italy

Group F

Brazil; Croatia; Australia; Japan

Picks: Brazil, Australia

Group G

France, Switzerland, South Korea, Togo

Picks: France, South Korea

Group H

Spain; Ukraine; Tunisia; Saudi Arabia

Picks: Spain; Ukraine

2nd Round.

Germany v Sweden: Germany

England v Ecuador: England

Argentina v Mexico: Argentina

Portugal v Netherlands: Portugal

Czech v Australia: Czech

Brazil v Italy: Brazil

France v Ukraine: Ukraine

Spain v South Korea: Spain

Germany v Argentina: Germany

Czech v France: Czech

England v Portugal: Portugal

Brazil v Spain: Brazil

Germany v Czech: Czech

Brazil v Portugal: Portugal

Czech to beat Portugal in the World Cup Final

Official World Cup Prediction spreadsheet is here:

http://eur.i1.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/i/eu/fifa/p/wcp06.xls

[Alphabet Man]

Ok i have finally stopped punching my fist in the air and settled down to write this post......

:censored:ING AWESOME

I stayed up to 1am watching it and at 26mins i thoguht we had all the play and their goal should have been dissallowed, and anyonw that shot that ref would have got a gold medal for it.....after that we looked rattled, and by 80mins we had put Cahill, Aloisi and Kennedy on for midfielders and defenders and if we had a cahne to sub off all 10 to play 11 strikers, we would have....but at 80mins i was like on the edge of the seat, head in hands thinking ' :censored:ing score a goal NOW' and the game looked over than Timmy Cahill went BANG and BANG at 84 and 89 and then Johnny Aloisi went BANG at 92......

Bloody ripper

Look out Brazil, we are a team on a mission.....

[NYBadshah1]

It's been a great World Cup so far. The coverage here in India is alot better than I expected. We get the British feed, and they show the national anthems and have lengthy pregame and postgame shows. The game times are perfect too, at 6:30 PM, 9:30 PM, and 12:30 PM. That really sucks that ESPN has bad coverage. Ehh, I'll put up with it starting Monday. Also, I think the US is just about done. Yes, I know Turkey did advance in 2002, but only 1 of 22 teams have done it since the World Cup has expanded to 32 teams in 1998. Plus, Turkey did it by tiebreaker, which we probably won't win unless we absolutely blowout Italy. Also, I don't see 4 points getting us through. We basically need two wins and get the 6 points. But then we'd probably need Italy and the Czech Republic to end in a draw or a Czech win, cuz if we're all even at 6 points I doubt we'd win the tiebreaker. Also, both Italy and Ghana looked really good last night. I honestly think we have a better chance to get last in the group than second. After seeing 22 teams play so far, I think Argentina and the Czech Republic have looked the best. But then tonight we have France and Brazil both playing.

[shadesofblack]

Further still, DaMarcus Beasley was played out of position on the right side of the pitch. With all due respect, Mockba - I found Beasley's play to be some of the most infuriating in the game. He engaged in what I've always referred to as "fake hustle". Sure, he was racing around the field a bit more than everyone else (which, given the USMNT's complete lack of energy/urgency isn't saying much), but what did he accomplish? He was dispossessed every time he touched the ball... often with the nearest Czech player barely pressuring him. Seriously. He'd receive a pass and it would carom off of his foot directly to a Czech player. About the most positive thing that I can say - grudgingly - about Beasley is that he played a solid defensive midfielder's role after we went down 2-0 to a Czech team that became more and more content to hunker down on defense. High praise, that.

that was my feeling exactly. i didnt think beasley did crap. he just walked around. then occationaly ran to show that he was doing something when he really wasnt doing anything. should be interesting to see how arena and the team show up for the game against the italians.

[CC97]

CC97, thank you for your support for Argentina.

AFA supporter since 1990

[Adam]

The Swiss tie the French and Togo with 10 men for most of the match put a scare into Korea! Togo just needs to upset one of France or Switzerland and my prediction of Togo and South Korea making it to the knock out round will come true!

[TFoA]

Oh Lawd...A Croatia fan ran onto the doggone field in the Croatia-Brazil. It ain't the World Cup, hell, any football event without someone runnin onto the field.

[Squeaks4]

Oh Lawd...A Croatia fan ran onto the doggone field in the Croatia-Brazil. It ain't the World Cup, hell, any football event without someone runnin onto the field.

Don't forget the flares in the stands

[harperdc]

I'm sure Dida got scared by that point.

France had as little energy as the US did yesterday, but their flashes of brilliance are more brilliant because their stars - Zidane, Henry, Vieira, god I want Arsenal to sign Ribery now too - are so much better. Plus, the Swiss had nearly no reason to attack.

Brazil did decently, but they can - and will - be exposed down the flanks defensively. Juan and Lucio are solid centerbacks, and while Cafu is playing well anybody with a decent right winger will murder Roberto Carlos. Brazil was a joy to watch until they started coasting.

I don't think Croatia have the impetus to get out of that group. Congratulations Australia, your prize for making it out of the group stages: Czech Republic. Enjoy.

[TFoA]

France had as little energy as the US did yesterday, but their flashes of brilliance are more brilliant because their stars - Zidane, Henry, Vieira, god I want Arsenal to sign Ribery now too - are so much better.

Did you see how the French were being booed...

by their own fans? France needs to win, just for their sake.

[DEAD!]

Aww man.... I REALLY wanted Togo to win

TO-GO! TO-GO! TO-GO!

[Sport]

Further still, DaMarcus Beasley was played out of position on the right side of the pitch. With all due respect, Mockba - I found Beasley's play to be some of the most infuriating in the game. He engaged in what I've always referred to as "fake hustle". Sure, he was racing around the field a bit more than everyone else (which, given the USMNT's complete lack of energy/urgency isn't saying much), but what did he accomplish? He was dispossessed every time he touched the ball... often with the nearest Czech player barely pressuring him. Seriously. He'd receive a pass and it would carom off of his foot directly to a Czech player. About the most positive thing that I can say - grudgingly - about Beasley is that he played a solid defensive midfielder's role after we went down 2-0 to a Czech team that became more and more content to hunker down on defense. High praise, that. 

that was my feeling exactly. i didnt think beasley did crap. he just walked around. then occationaly ran to show that he was doing something when he really wasnt doing anything. should be interesting to see how arena and the team show up for the game against the italians.

I didn't have a good feeling about this world cup for the united states. They have never had two good world cups in a row.

in 90 they lost every match

in 94 they made the second round

in 98 they lost every game and were ranked 32 out of 32 teams

in 02 they made the quarterfinals

so naturally if they follow their pattern and so far they have then they should lose every match here in the 06 world cup.

[TFoA]

Well if we're speaking with that logic, go USA in 2010???

[harperdc]

France had as little energy as the US did yesterday, but their flashes of brilliance are more brilliant because their stars - Zidane, Henry, Vieira, god I want Arsenal to sign Ribery now too - are so much better.

Did you see how the French were being booed...

by their own fans? France needs to win, just for their sake.

I would too with that much talent out there on the field show such little ability to play with anything resembling passion.

if they'd had any spirit and played on the ball with anything resembling a high tempo they could've won that game. They certainly got the formation correct - Wiltord out right and Ribery on the left seems to work well, but maybe switch in their #8 (don't feel like butchering his name) just to get a little more experience out there.

and I love that Emannuel Petit was the scorer of the last French world cup goal

[TFoA]

France had as little energy as the US did yesterday, but their flashes of brilliance are more brilliant because their stars - Zidane, Henry, Vieira, god I want Arsenal to sign Ribery now too - are so much better.

Did you see how the French were being booed...

by their own fans? France needs to win, just for their sake.

I would too with that much talent out there on the field show such little ability to play with anything resembling passion.

if they'd had any spirit and played on the ball with anything resembling a high tempo they could've won that game. They certainly got the formation correct - Wiltord out right and Ribery on the left seems to work well, but maybe switch in their #8 (don't feel like butchering his name) just to get a little more experience out there.

and I love that Emannuel Petit was the scorer of the last French world cup goal

Yeah they were playing like crap. I remember Ribery had the keeper one on one, and he passes up a shot that would've been a goal to pass to Thierry Henry. Henry looked shocked as hell that he got the ball, and of course they didn't convert, and that's when the heavy booing began. Hot mess, that's what that is.

[harperdc]

my memory of that part of the game may be shot, but the angle wasn't great - what if he blazes it a yard wide, which is easy to do on weird angles? - and centering to Henry is usually a guaranteed tap-in. Too bad he chose a horrible angle for the centering pass...right into a defenders' legs usually isn't the ideal place.

[NYBadshah1]

I thought Togo did much better than I thought. I thought it would be 3-0 or 4-0 Korea. Honestly, Togo overacheived to even get here. They were nearly knocked out early by Equatorial Guinea, and then on the heels of their qualification, they totally stunk at the African Cup of Nations. I mean, these guys only played Liechtenstein (and won 1-0) in their only warm-up game because they didn't want their players' confidence to be broken. Then with all of their soap opera going on the last week I just didn't see how they would be competitive. But they proved me wrong.

Also, I'm not sure if they showed this in the US, but they actually got Togo's national anthem wrong. They played Korea's, and then played it again, instead of Togo's. To me it was eerie because I was thinking through the Korean national anthem "What if they actually screw up a national anthem?" Then, they played "Togo's national anthem" and I was thinking "this sounds really similar to Korea's", and all the Togolese players were looking really confused. Then they cut to commercial, and then cut back to say that the organizers screwed up and that here is the Togo anthem. Pretty weird.

I think Brazil will be fine. They basically regarded this as a "practice match", since they took it easy in the month leading up to the World Cup. They just wanted to get the win and get everyone into "World Cup mode". They'll definately get out of this round, but the Round of 16 vs. Czech Republic or Italy will be an interesting game.

[WJMorris3]

Alright, now I'm pretty sure Ukraine isn't for real - they just got smoked by Spain 4-0.