World Cup 2006 - Football

Trotsky wrote: sleeper wrote: Germany joint favourite They havent won a competative match against established tough competition in 5 years. Im voting England (who else) as we proved a match for Argentina beating them 3-2 at the weekend (I promise not to glote).  Say what you want about Germany ... but try and show me the last time they didn't make at least the last 8 of the World Cup ... I think it was 1950 ... even when these guys are lousy (remember their form before the last World Cup) ... they seem to come good ... with home advantage and a  good draw (which seems to happen a lot!) ... who knows? I think they'll be the biggest challengers to the true GODS of football ... if you have to ask ... you either don't know your football history or you're in denial ...

Germany havnt had true world class form since the '98 world cup, they got lucky in '02 as the hardes team they faced before Brazil was the USA, dosent really say that much about Germany does it.

I see Brazil are leading, suprise suprise, though my head says brazil and my heart says England

Edited by sleeper

Brazil are not the force they were,I'd go out on a limb and say they will be lucky to progress further than the Q-Finals.
My thoughts:  Argentiina are very strong and Italy destroyed Holland recently.Do not discount the Germans on home turf,history suggests they will do well.England probably have as good a team as anybody on paper but they take too long to adapt tactically and Ericsson is not adventurous enough.

 

sleeper wrote: Trotsky wrote: sleeper wrote: Germany joint favourite They havent won a competative match against established tough competition in 5 years. Im voting England (who else) as we proved a match for Argentina beating them 3-2 at the weekend (I promise not to glote).  Say what you want about Germany ... but try and show me the last time they didn't make at least the last 8 of the World Cup ... I think it was 1950 ... even when these guys are lousy (remember their form before the last World Cup) ... they seem to come good ... with home advantage and a  good draw (which seems to happen a lot!) ... who knows? I think they'll be the biggest challengers to the true GODS of football ... if you have to ask ... you either don't know your football history or you're in denial ...   Germany havnt had true world class form since the '98 world cup, they got lucky in '02 as the hardes team they faced before Brazil was the USA, dosent really say that much about Germany does it. I see Brazil are leading, suprise suprise, though my head says brazil and my heart says England

To me, sleeper, it does say quite a bit about Germany ... they had a lucky draw last time, even in 1998, until Croatia spanked them, they were lucky ... in 1986, I remember they were lucky in the second round againt Morocco and the quarter-finals against Mexico (which they won on penalties) ...

in 1974, West Germany started off by losing to East Germany and ended up beating Holland's greatest-ever  team in the finals, in 1954 they lost 8-3 to Hungary in the group stages, but fought back from 2-0 in the final to beat Hungary's greatest-ever team 3-2, in 1982, they started off losing to Algeria 3-2, had a highliy dubious 1-0 win against Austria, were dead and buried against France 3-1 a game which included Schumacher's foul of the century, and they still made it to the final ...

Granted most of those squads had better quality players than this current crop (Kahn and Ballack aside), but I still have this grudging acknowledgement of the resilience of the German football team ... a combination of home support, the good draw that usually comes with being hosts and mental strength makes them contenders in my book ... I'd be very surprised if they didn't make the last 4 ...

I dislike the German style intensely, but I always fear them ...

Confirmed list of the 32 national teams classified for the World Cup 2006:

Europe: Germany, England, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Ukraine, Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro. (14)

South America: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador. (4)

North-Central America: USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Trinidad-Tobago. (4)

Africa: Angola, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Tunisia. (5)

Asia: Japan, South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia. (4)

Oceania: Australia. (1)

 

Notable absences: Greece (Euro-champion), Belgium, Turkey, Denmark, Russia, Hungary, Scotland, Ireland, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Uruguay, Colombia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria, South Africa, China.

Atkingani wrote: Notable absences: Greece (Euro-champion), Belgium, Turkey, Denmark, Russia, Hungary, Scotland, Ireland, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Uruguay, Colombia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria, South Africa, China.

I'm happy to see that Norway isn't mentioned in the 'notable absences', what a sh*tty team we have.. they have no business being in a championship.

That was back then... now they stink

Atkingani wrote: Confirmed list of the 32 national teams classified for the World Cup 2006: Europe: Germany, England, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Ukraine, Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro. (14) South America: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador. (4) North-Central America: USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Trinidad-Tobago. (4) Africa: Angola, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Tunisia. (5) Asia: Japan, South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia. (4) Oceania: Australia. (1)

Heres the one's that i think are suprising to see in the world cup, and yes considering Frances recent tonament history (not couning the fluky England match) they are a suprise to be in there, and thats not the African entry I would have expected.

sleeper wrote: Atkingani wrote:     Notable absences: Greece (Euro-champion), Belgium, Turkey, Denmark, Russia, Hungary, Scotland, Ireland, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Uruguay, Colombia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria, South Africa, China. I've noted the ones that i consider to be real suprises, I know turkey have been droping off steadily since the last world cup so they dont supprise but the highlighted ones really do.

Not really surprising that Scotland and Ireland didn't make it imo. Scotland played in Norway's qualifying group and finished, um, fourth I think, behind Italy, Norway(who got playoff) and Slovenia.

I'd also say it's a bigger surprise Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey didn't make it than it is Scotland, Ireland and Austria missing out.

Edited by ColonelClaypool

Hey Trotsky, are you a football commentator?

You should come to Brazil and get a job on our TVs. Sport guys here know nothing about anything.

Trotsky wrote: Atkingani wrote: Hey Trotsky, are you a football commentator? You should come to Brazil and get a job on our TVs. Sport guys here know nothing about anything.  ... thank Atkingani ... actually when I like something ... I go all out and do a lot of research ... and become a know-it-all ... but when I'm not interested ... I'm useless ... like cars ... I know almost nothing about cars ... It is a funny situation being a journalist (especially a music specialist) ... because for most days over the last 10 years I've sat down for lunch with specialists on books, movies, tv and music ... and some of my other good friends are poitical, crime and sports journalists (I just came back from a birthday party three hours ago ... for my friend who is Malaysian editor of 4-4-2 magazine, in fact!) ... Maybe a little over-analytical sometimes  ... and too much useless information I think

I could easily solve the the cars problem, road or race, I know too much

Thinking about it your right that Scotland and Irland failing isnt a supprise but Scotland, like Uraguay are historically important to the game as members of the old guard.

Edited by sleeper