Fifa World Cup - 2006

[Ace]

Thought it would be good to have a thread only for the World Cup, talk about everything, teams, results, news, players, even the game, etc... :)

[makelw]

Talk about the game?? The official I think.. Because I'm playing it and it's quite good. But this one's interesting, in the semifinals there were Uzbekistan, Mali, North-Korea and Finland..?? wtf? :D.. But I'm on Argentina. Somehow.

[JJU]

I think he means the REAL World Cup Makel ;) :lol:

[Ace]

Yeah, sure... The game too, everything that is related to the WC. Oh wait, i mean the World Cup... :lol:

Wtf? Uzbekistan, Mali, North-Korea and Finland?! :rolleyes:

[makelw]

Well JJU I thought Ace ment the game as well ;).. It is an official game and full licensed even with the Nederlands which is so GrEaT :D.. Well Ace, I was playing with Finland so I won the whole tournament and rose to the second of Rankinglist.. BUT.. the real one, I guess our lovely neigbour Sweden, will be one of those surprising teams during the competition. And I wish good luck to Serbia & Montenegro because they have a few great players, like Stancovic and Kezman. Which countries, in your opinions, will be one of the surprising countries??

[Ace]

I guess this is going to be the quarter finals:

France vs. Germany Argentina vs. USA Sweden vs. Czech Rep. Brazil vs. Turkey

Netherlands will be knocked out early together with Italy and Spain, with Portugal and England out in the Eighth-finals.

Semis:

France vs. Usa Sweden vs. Brazil

USA and Sweden will suprise everyone, and fight in the Bronze final, and we'll get a replay of the 98' W.C, only with Brazil winning on penalties, after 2-2 in full (normal) time.

Bronze:

Sweden vs. Usa

Final:

Brazil vs. France

Champions - BRAZIL

[makelw]

Thanks Ace! You inspirated me to bet on Sweden even more.. :D Btw nice table you have..

[Soha]

it isnt real :P where is Poland?? they CAN'T lose with rasiak :D!!!
but in real- nice table. but there is one team... USA... i dont think that they can go as far as you've written. but in each WC there are suprises, so maybe this time too :D

WC- in polish: toilet... lol

[Ace]

Nah, I don't belive USA will get that far, maybe if you replace them with England, it makes more sense... :)

[makelw]

If they pick Freddy Adu then they'll reach.. USA I mean :D. I don't know much about Poland, so hard to say. But I still would like to add Poland into the sect of teams not clarifying through the groups.

[AfterDeath]

I've got two good games lined up for the World Cup. One will launch 1st June, the other 10th June. Stay tuned. :)

[adam_the_scouser]

I don't know about USA I like em but after watching that Germany game, and I think Germany will crash out, they didn't convince me. I think they may qualify from their group but other than that they will go out in the next round. I think South Korea will be the surprise package but will go no further than the quarter finals!!! My big shocks I think will be the host nation crumbling in the group stages, Argentina going out second round and Spain having a tough time in their group.

[netgear212]

I'm going for Australia...

Quarter Finals:

1. Brazil vs Netherlands
2. France vs England
3. Spain vs Portugal
4. (Hopefully) Australia vs USA

I don't know what will happen after that, but the Brazilians are to skillfull, i guess they will win it again

[AfterDeath]

Heh, Australia quarter-finalists... oh well, we can all dream. :P

[Nando]

Heh, Australia quarter-finalists... oh well, we can all dream. :P

Nothing is impossible...;)

[netgear212]

Lol....England is probably gonna do well, but I reckon they are depending too much on Rooney.

Hopefully (for the Australians) there will be still some Hiddink magic left before he goes to Russia

[tezmac]

England will win it (yes I am biast) Theo will score more than Owen too btw

[Soha]

theo won't play i think. he surely go on WC to watch how looks big event to feel better next time.

[adam_the_scouser]

Peter crouch will be our hero like he was against Uruguay. And all those un-patriotic pathetic people who booed him when he came on will shut up and chant his name like the plastic fans they are. COME ON ENGLAND!!!!

[Soha]

Crouch english hero???? as probably as this is that polsh hero will be Rasiak... no comment :P

[statto]

USA won't be quarters, they'll be lucky to qualify for the 2nd round with that group. If they are better than I think they are they will qualify though. USA!

[Ace]

Yes, they don't have the big chances...

Tried your WC sim, and it almost matched my guessing earlier in the thread, these were the semis:

1 Brazil vs Sweden 0
1 Holland vs. France 2

Usa was knocked out in the quarters by France (4-0), Portugal and England out in the 8ths (as I guessed too!).

[Nando]

Yes, they don't have the big chances...

Tried your WC sim, and it almost matched my guessing earlier in the thread, these were the semis:

1 Brazil vs Sweden 0
1 Holland vs. France 2

Usa was knocked out in the quarters by France (4-0), Portugal and England out in the 8ths (as I guessed too!).

Let me hope that you are wrong...;)

[Uchot]

I think that Brazil will win again. They're a great team

[tezmac]

But what about the dark horses? I think Czech Republic, Mexico and also Serbia Montenegro will all make the knockout stages.

Believe it or not Serbia Montenegro will go ahead of The Netherlands as SM are actually a strong side. Netherland's defence is too young and inexperienced overall.

[Soha]

czech dark horse?? they are about 2nd place in fifa ranking so everybody should be scared when playing with them. i will add Australia to dark horses. they are playing really nice with Hiddink now. they teach them a lot and they show it on the pitch. with Greece they played good game. not with scoring but they action building was very good.

[statto]

If Australia gets through Croatia and Japan I'll be surprised but then again it could happen. If they play well, I'll fancy Croatia, except their 2nd round opponent will be difficult - Italy or Czech Republic...

[TR3V15]

Why aren't England being mentioned here? Look at the players individually? Owen, Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, Joe Cole, Rio, JT, Ashley Cole (Rooney too but he's broke a toe nail)! We have some of the greatest players in Europe......... maybe the world.

I say get rid of Sven NOW and bring through someone who will be able to gel these wonder kids together as a team!! If that can be done this world cup (and possibly the next one too) is ours!!!

[statto]

That's a very English point of view, by the way. England are a good team, they're always a good team but I'm not convinced that they're a great team, or one capable of winning the World Cup. Look at the game against France in 2004 (I was in England when that happened). I'm not saying they can't win, they have comparable talent to other European nations, but I'd fancy a country such as Mexico to beat them at the bookies.

But then again what do I know?

[adam_the_scouser]

Damn Yankee KIDDING!!!! I feel in all honesty Englands only problem is a lack of self belief. After we were 1-0 up against Brazil last World cup we took our foot off the gas. Same with France it's like we have no belief in our own abilities. And Portugal and Germany we just can't see games through. I think as a truly balanced team we have the best team. I don't like Brazil's defence the French attack doesn't do anything it's always their midfield (and sylvain distain takes their penalties), Spain throw in the towel when they are getting beat. I like Sweden though they are fairly balanced.

[Soha]

no one wrote about england because they are one of best teams. i think that nobody dont have to tell you about it :P

Australia can win with japan and croatia i think. they are better tactical and they've some nice player (not the best but they can play :) )

[DS]

Soha sems like a smart guy...he knows Australia will go through group in 2nd place easily acounting for japan and croatia. We will see in about 4 hours when Australia takes on number 3 ranked Netherlands just how good Australia is. Australia will not even play a full strength team and i dont think Kewell will play or Cahill and there still is a battle for Australian number 1 goalkeeper position between Kalac(AC Milan) and Schwarzer(Middlebrough) but i think Schwarzer will get the nod cause Kalac didnt look to good against greece in my opinion considering Greece are one of the worse soccer teams in the world (still cant belive they won Euro 2004, who knows how much money they paid to fix those matches)

[Mad2Ad]

lol this thread makes me laugh.
everyone is saying i KNOW my county or sos and so country is going to win or get throught the group stage etc, but the thing is with football you dont KNOW anything no-one can predict who will win or do will. Thats whats great about football. Everyones saying brazil will win it but they could go out in the group stages ( like france last time). thats what everyone loves about the game that its so unpredictable.

[Soha]

but we always can have hope and talk with someone about our thinking :P :D

[DS]

lol I think Argentina will win but I hope Australia wins.
Argentinas midfield is very good and thier strike force isnt bad

[tezmac]

Soha sems like a smart guy...he knows Australia will go through group in 2nd place easily acounting for japan and croatia.

Hmmm I think you underestimate Croatia. They are a very good side ont their day. They may not be a finalist side but I think they will make it through to the knockout stages.

[netgear212]

Australia 1-1 Holland

WHoooo!!!! Injured 3 Dutch players (sorry about that) , but for Aussies it will be encouraging, NOw for the Japanese

[tezmac]

That is a good result! I think that Holland will not make it through the qualifiers as their defence is young(ish) and inexperienced, in my opinion anyway. They will leak too many goals.

I think that the following will go through, in order of 1st/2nd:-

GROUP A - GERMANY, POLAND
GROUP B - ENGLAND, SWEDEN
GROUP C - ARGENTINA, SERB. MONT. (yes, not Holland!)
GROUP D - PORTUGAL, MEXICO
GROUP E - ITALY, CZECH. REP
GROUP F - BRAZIL, CROATIA
GROUP G - FRANCE, SWITZERLAND
GROUP H - SPAIN, UKRAINE

The finals will be ENGLAND, BRAZIL.
ENGLAND will win.
Oh, and PETER CROUCH will get in the top 3 scoreres!!!!!

So, lets see if my predictions are correct.

BTW my England finals is biast lol

[Soha]

Hmmm I think you underestimate Croatia. They are a very good side ont their day. They may not be a finalist side but I think they will make it through to the knockout stages.

croatia isnt enough good for australia. they are teams about the same level.
i've seen croatia vs poland (0:1)- they really dont show amazing football.

[AfterDeath]

Serbia & Montenegro to beat Holland and the Ivory Coast? Interesting, but they don't have enough firepower. I reckon Holland will just shade it into the knockout stages with a draw against Argentina.

Australia look like doing well. Cahill certainly has proved me wrong. I reckon they could qualify, as I predicted them to just fall because of a loss to Japan. But they won...

[adam_the_scouser]

Well reading up on what people think of croatia I think some people are underestimating them. They have always had a solid unit and Brazil were very lucky to beat them. It took a great goal to seperate the teams. Croatia will have a very good competition though and I think they can go quite far!!!! I thought Brazil Croatia would have been 0-0 for the record!!!! I was wrong.

[DS]

I think Japan can surprise Croatia despite the physical mismatch. Croatias men are tall and strong unlike the japnese but they are so fast!!! I thought Australia was one of the fastest teams but Japan!!! However croatia have expirence in Europe and they done ok against Brazil but should have lost 2-0 or 3-0 they were lucky to escape with 1-0. Tonight we will see Australia sneak off with a draw against Brazil. 32 years of waiting and we will do something in this world cup and I hope Australia end up versing USA because they are to overrated because of the FIFA rankings being stupid and they dont mean anything and the USA manager said Australia will do nothing but we could smash USA 10-0 so he is a bit stupid...

[statto]

Okay, let's set a few things straight.

First, when your team can do nothing wrong (in your mind's eye), you can't view other teams for what they are worth.

Croatia were unlucky not to score on Brazil. They had the chances, they had the opportunities but they couldn't finish it. Brazil had a classy yet lucky goal but the game ended 1-0.

Second of all, Australia wouldn't beat the USA 10-0, I know you're exaggerating a little bit but still. The USA are playing horrible, horrible football right now but the game would be close. Secondly, I'm not convinced Australia will qualify for the second round - I think you've already played your easiest match, though we'll see. There's no predictions here, but it's not good to be drunk on how good your team is playing when you still have two games to play...one against Brazil. Perhaps it will be a draw, perhaps not, but it's too early to jump to conclusions.

In other words, how about Ghana? Group of death for sure...

[tezmac]

Ghana could prove to be this year's upset team. They play very well as a team and have some very talented individuals.

Netherlands have played well, I thought they would fold as their defence is somewhat young.

[Soha]

what do you think about caught ecuador players with performance drugs in their bodies?? it's funny that only players will get ??fine??...

[tezmac]

That is dodgy the player(s) should be banned from the World Cup. Simple. It doesnt matter how small the side cheating is cheating...

[DS]

Australia lost 2-0 to Brazil but it was unlucky for Australia. I dont think Brazil have been playing to there fully potential yet because Australia had many chances to score but things just didnt go there way. Hiddink has done a marvelous job with the defense which was our big problem area befor he came to manage Australia. The game probably should have been a draw but thats how football goes sometimes. After that performance I belive we can get at least the draw we need against Croatia to go through. We got a 1-1 draw with holland in holland just befor the world cup so I think we definetly can get a draw from Croatia.

[JJU]

I was impressed with the Aussies yesterday and felt that the game might have had a different result if it wasn't for some lopsided refereeing. That said, Brazil took their chances whilst Australia did waste some great opportunities, especially Kewell :lol:

[Soha]

said that australia can play good :D

[tezmac]

What about Ronaldo though, something is not right with him. He looked depressed on the pitch and seemed to forget what the football was!!!!!

Aussies were unlucky really I felt for them. Brazil had the edge, however a draw would have been fair.

[Soha]

in media was some about his ??headache?? he had the same as before WC final in 98

[Mad2Ad]

yeah but i think ronaldo is past it now was past it about 2yaers ago
Kaka and roberto carlos have been brazils best players everyone else has played either **** or average.

[AfterDeath]

You think Ronaldo is past it? Care to explain why he hit 10 goals in South American qualifying then? :P

Roberto Carlos is awful. He's just plain wasteful.

[Soha]

but they dont have enough good player as carlos on left defence. about ronaldo we never can say that he is past- no one knows when he will start to score :D but it's true that he doesnt show anything in WC

[Mad2Ad]

You think Ronaldo is past it? Care to explain why he hit 10 goals in South American qualifying then? :P

Roberto Carlos is awful. He's just plain wasteful.

Because the south american defenses are not as strong as european defenses. Peru, Bolivia etc etc

[statto]

Ghana just need to beat the USA to win... the US are almost out.

Croatia has to score before they do anything else and think about making it into the knockout stage.

Brazil - Japan will be interesting in a few days, group A is entirely suspenseless... sigh

[tezmac]

England need to beat the Swedes to go through as group winners and miss playign Germany, mind you I wouldn't mind playing vs Germany!!

[statto]

But Ecuador has position over Germany, so if they win they still might play Germany.

[tezmac]

I suppose so, that will be a great game I think. Winner goes top wow! But I think Germany will have the edge...

[themole3001]

I think either Germany or Ecuador will be a tough game, they both have their different strengths. Ecuador are pacy and work hard for 90 minutes but Germany have a world class midfield and excellent technical ability, either side would be a big test. Both have slightly leaky defences though. An England team on top of its game should beat either, but when was the last time we were on top of our game?

[AfterDeath]

So it looks like Ecuador. The result for Germany certainly makes it all a lot more interesting, as both teams will go for it now. :)

[tezmac]

Well England vs Sweden really showed us that we must step up a couple of gears otherwise we will not win.

Simple.

[themole3001]

We were awful last night - Ashley Cole was absolutley shocking. Gutted about Owen...

[tezmac]

At least Joe Cole is playing well otherwise we would be even worse

[themole3001]

Joe Cole was awesome last night, best player on the pitch by miles, excellent goal. Can't believe I backed Owen first goalscorer... he'd been subbed before I got back from the bookies! Joe Cole was 18/1 first goalscorer, Joe Cole to score 1st and the game to finish a draw was 52/1... now why did I not put that on?!?

[tezmac]

LOL hindsight is brilliant, isn't it!

Joe Cole would be even better if he actually ran down the bye-line and crossed the ball with his left foot (which he can kick the ball with lol)

[themole3001]

Lol @ hindsight yeah, I had a feeling Cole would score 1st but I reckoned Owen was due a goal. However he's also played 4 games so he was due an injury... Cole is the best option we have out left, until we play 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 with Beckham and A. Cole as wingbacks, J. Cole, Gerrard and Carrick or Parker in the centre, and Neville, Hargreaves and Jenas left at home where they belong

[tezmac]

LOL poor Owen. He is so injury prone it is unbelivable.

[themole3001]

Poor us Newcastle fans more like... he's getting £100,000 a week there and he's only played 10 1/2 games since we signed him, with him injured and Big Al retired we are in deep trouble - Ameobi is our only recognised striker, apart from Albert Luque but he's as much use as a condom machine in the Vatican

[tezmac]

Thinking about it, the lad is on over £350,000 per hour if you count the 16 hours of football he has played!!!

[themole3001]

not bad work if you can get it. Bet he's got a helicopter to take him to training, an entire fleet of solid gold escalades, a solid diamond staircase, a zoo containing the very last surviving Lesser Spotted Mountain Splashfart and 6 jet packs

[DS]

Australia will be playing Italy in the second round. What is going on with the referes Australia is getting? We have had the 3 worst referees of all time in the world cup for the 3 matches we played. Against Japan the referee gave them a goal which wasnt and made alot of mistakes. Against Brazil another shocking refering performance and against Croatia we should have had 2 more penalties and alot of other decisions didnt go our way and the croatian player got 2 yellow cards and he didnt get a red card and then he got a 3rd yellow card and then he was sent off.

[Mad2Ad]

Graham Poll is usually a good ref
but he did have a very very poor game
and i think that overall all refs are very poor too.

[statto]

Croatia also got screwed by the ref in that game... and you went through so quit complaining :)

Everyone I'm rooting for is losing!
USA and Croatia are the two diehards...
but I rooted for Sweden (underdogs), Mexico (close to home), Ecuador (American underdogs) and the Netherlands (best friend is part Dutch)... guess I'll start rooting for Brazil

[tezmac]

Breaking news:-

Portugal will be practicing the the 4-2-2 formation ahead of their next game against England.

Figo is happy with his heading abilities (!) and feels that his training has paid off.

Christian Ronaldo will make the record books if he falls over 3 times against England. The records of 12 dives in one world cup by a singl player will be surpassed if the "olympic swimmer" can pull off more than two dives.

(btw this is joking banter and not ment to be abusive - just a bit of fun lol)

[DS]

Australia looks screwed Harry Kewell wont start he may come in off the bench. Think his groin is troubling him again.

[Soha]

Battle for Nuernberg... nice title :D

[DS]

Battle for Nuernberg... nice title :D
Thats what the commentator said on the TV.