Looking forward to Mexico today, it'll be interesting to see what they can do with so many key players injured during friendlies leading up to the tournament. I was confident they could make it out of the first round, they have a fairly strong record against Brazil, but now I'm not so sure. I really don't want all the work they did turning themselves around to have been for nothing.
Aeroblast said:
If there is going to be a re-vote it'll probably go to United States. Australia sounds nice, but timezone difference is a severe hindrance. It's only going to be 20 years since us and Japan have hosted the World Cup, so we won't get it, either.
The United States would be the optimal choice to host a World Cup if it's stripped from Qatar. You already have most of the infrastructure in place. Though I don't like the idea of having matches in (American) football stadiums, that definitely needs to change. As long as it's not in Qatar, I'll be happy, that time differential, not to mention the heat, would make for horrible conditions.
I am surprised it's taken so long for anything to happen. It's already known Jack Warner took a very dubious $2 million payment from a source linked with the bidding committee.
Hikamaru said:
I know how my Australian cohorts will be fearing Brazil should we finish second in our group and they finish first in theirs. No-one loves facing those football-mad Brazilians.
Oh, and I watched a bit of the match between Brazil and Croatia. It was Brazil taking the victory in the end, winning 3-1. I gotta try and tune into SBS tomorrow for when Australia has its first game against Chile, which I think is likely the only I even think we have a chance to scrape through.
That's the nightmare that comes when your nation gets drawn in a group with two major European powerhouses, the two that happened to be the 2010 World Cup finalists nonetheless. When I heard about getting pitted with the Netherlands and Spain I said to myself "face it my Socceroos are gonna exit in the group stage".
I think there's just a lot of pressure on the refs to push things in Brazil's favor. During the game yesterday it seemed any call that could go in their favor did, with that penalty being the biggest offender of them all. Though even with that penalty goal out of the way, there were two very clean goals that ensured Brazil's victory regardless of the situation.
Australia definitely found themselves in an unlucky position, which seems to be the case with a lot of up and coming teams. I'm guessing today's game is the only shot at three decent points either team is going have and I gotta wonder how that's going to reflect on their play style.
