World Cup 2006

[Ryoutarou]

Maybe, but I don't think they could do any worse than they did in 2002, I was pretty disappointed back then, but I guess we go on, some of our Internationals get better, some get worse.
I live in England, and I think people are getting there highs up too much, flags in almost every window, every door etc. and people are actually betting they're 2nd most likely able to win.
First? Guess who. P:

Well with one goal, there's no way they can do worse than 2002 at this point. South Korea really just isn't playing like they usually do, that was a nice first goal by Henry but I'm hoping that SK can pick back up during the second half. They really need to get it together or else they're going to get scored a whole lot more. They usually play better during the second half, so I expect them to do well. Though you gotta hand it to the fans though, they're an intimidatingly loud and exuberant bunch. Anyway, first goal in a World Cup for France since '98, so congrats to them.

 

[Jolty-kun]

France really needed that 1:0 finish there, and now with that, not a goal in hand, I don't see them really having much of a chance, I think I must of doubted you, sir. xD
But no, if they can somehow pull it off by the tip of their tongue, i'd be quite suprised.

 

[Toothache]

Just when I thought France might just get it together, they draw. Oh well, that's another World Cup where France fail to deliver. And just think, 8 years ago they were champions. I can see them going out here.

Mind you, a lot of teams are playing really badly. Even Brazil weren't playing their usual flowing game. Get back into the gym, Ronlardo.

 

[Chikara]

I expected more out a Brazil yesterday. They won by 2 in the last half. COMMON!! >:

But, as always, Im rooting for Japan(cha!) and The USA

 

[Dawson]

Yeah, Brazil pwns. Everyone in our school is cheering for them. But I don't know about that. Austrailia is pretty good too. I like both, in my opinion. We'll see tomorrow then.

Then everyone in your school is a glory hound.

So far Brazil have been piss poor. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Brazil's defence is old and passed it, they look uncomfortable whenever opposition attackers run at them. And their attackers, who are supposedly so good that they make up for the shortcomings in defence, have looked completely average. Other than Kaka, the rest have been poor. Ronaldo in particular has looked lazy and, yes, he is overwieght.

Argentina are now a lot of people's pick to win, based off of one match. Yes, they beat Serbia & Montenegro 6-0, but one result does not make a tournament. Ask Czech Republic, winning 3-0 in style one game, then losing 2-0 the next.

France are a joke at the moment, the squad is too old. But, in World Cup 2010, I expect them to be a lot stronger. They have a lot of excellent young players to replace the old generation.

Now that Wayne Rooney is back and Peter Crouch is on the bench where he belongs, England will be a hell of a lot stronger. And with the manager finally willing to make big decisions, like bringing on Aaron Lennon, we may actually stand a good chance of winning. Germany and Holland have already said they don't want to play us and we've beaten Argentina in the last two games we've played against them, so I don't think there is any team that England will be afraid to play against.

Maybe, but I don't think they could do any worse than they did in 2002, I was pretty disappointed back then, but I guess we go on, some of our Internationals get better, some get worse.
I live in England, and I think people are getting there highs up too much, flags in almost every window, every door etc. and people are actually betting they're 2nd most likely able to win.
First? Guess who. P:

That's because football is our national sport and the England invented the game. And the fans are passionate and loyal to their team, most other nations could do with learning from our fans.
England are ranked as second favourites to win the Cup, that says a lot. The experts are backing England to be a massive challenger.

Quick proof about how worthless the FIFA world rankings are:
USA are ranked the fifth best team in the world according to the FIFA rankings, yet they're the twenty second favourites to win the World Cup. How does that work out? >.>

USA's team is pretty poor. People are claiming that the result against Itally was a good result. Yet, they couldn't keep their discipline when they had the one man advantage and ended up screwing themselves over. And they couldn't get a win against Italy, a team wrecked by the scandals from their domestic league. Italy are only a fraction of the team they would be without the problems behind the scenes. Now USA have to beat Ghana and hope that Italy beat Czech Republic just to scrape through to the next round. And Ghana have a better team than the USA, so I expect USA to be leaving the tournament in the next 5-6 days.

I doubt it, France hasn't scored a single goal this cup and it still doesn't seem like they've gotten better after 2002. Players like Lee Chun-Soo and Park-Ji Sung I think are much better than Henry anyday.

Nah. As much as I hate the arrogant, French bastard, Thierry Henry is rated as the second best player in the world for good reason. He has won matches single handledly for Arsenal and he scares any defender he comes up against. It's just a shame he plays for a crap team and a crap country.

 

[Valewea]

Japan is horrible at football, and they have a Brazillian-born footballer with them.

S. Korea is waay better, and it's the only 'good' Asian football playing country in the World Cup.

 

[Toothache]

Then everyone in your school is a glory hound.

So far Brazil have been piss poor. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Brazil's defence is old and passed it, they look uncomfortable whenever opposition attackers run at them. And their attackers, who are supposedly so good that they make up for the shortcomings in defence, have looked completely average. Other than Kaka, the rest have been poor. Ronaldo in particular has looked lazy and, yes, he is overwieght.

Agreed. This is why I rever to Ronaldo as Ronlardo. Brazil aren't playing their classic flowing game through midfield, which is why I don't fear them as much this time around.

Argentina are now a lot of people's pick to win, based off of one match. Yes, they beat Serbia & Montenegro 6-0, but one result does not make a tournament. Ask Czech Republic, winning 3-0 in style one game, then losing 2-0 the next.

Argentina is one of the teams I tipped to possibly win, and based on their current form this is the team that worries me the most.

France are a joke at the moment, the squad is too old. But, in World Cup 2010, I expect them to be a lot stronger. They have a lot of excellent young players to replace the old generation.

Don't know that much about the new French players, but I have to admit they aren't the team that won 8 years ago. Henry is playing well but the rest of the team holds him back, he can't seem to do as well as when he plays for Arsenal.

Now that Wayne Rooney is back and Peter Crouch is on the bench where he belongs, England will be a hell of a lot stronger. And with the manager finally willing to make big decisions, like bringing on Aaron Lennon, we may actually stand a good chance of winning. Germany and Holland have already said they don't want to play us and we've beaten Argentina in the last two games we've played against them, so I don't think there is any team that England will be afraid to play against.

I have to disagree about Crouch, not only is he in form and scoring goals, he does add something completely different to Englands forwards. Crouch is the England striker which most teams fear at the minute. (Hey, and this is coming from an Everton fan) Mind you, for the match against Sweden, it would do well for Sven to rest Crouch only to avoid him getting another yellow (thus missing the next match), giving Rooney and Owen a bit more playing time which is what they both need right now.

That's because football is our national sport and the England invented the game. And the fans are passionate and loyal to their team, most other nations could do with learning from our fans.
England are ranked as second favourites to win the Cup, that says a lot. The experts are backing England to be a massive challenger.

Just cos we invent a game doesn't mean we are automatically good at it. Although I do admit, we have the players to win, it's a case of if we have the team mentality to do it.

Quick proof about how worthless the FIFA world rankings are:
USA are ranked the fifth best team in the world according to the FIFA rankings, yet they're the twenty second favourites to win the World Cup. How does that work out? >.>

Bookmakers make the odds for winning, not FIFA. Besides, half the time FIFA can't tell the difference between their elbow and their backsides.

USA's team is pretty poor. People are claiming that the result against Itally was a good result. Yet, they couldn't keep their discipline when they had the one man advantage and ended up screwing themselves over. And they couldn't get a win against Italy, a team wrecked by the scandals from their domestic league. Italy are only a fraction of the team they would be without the problems behind the scenes. Now USA have to beat Ghana and hope that Italy beat Czech Republic just to scrape through to the next round. And Ghana have a better team than the USA, so I expect USA to be leaving the tournament in the next 5-6 days.

I can see USA going out, Ghana are a cracking side right now and not to be underestimated.

Nah. As much as I hate the arrogant, French bastard, Thierry Henry is rated as the second best player in the world for good reason. He has won matches single handledly for Arsenal and he scares any defender he comes up against. It's just a shame he plays for a crap team and a crap country.

Henry is a great player, the rest of the French side let him down. Whatever he gains by playing for Arsenal, he seems to lose in his national side.

 

[Dawson]

Argentina is one of the teams I tipped to possibly win, and based on their current form this is the team that worries me the most.

I still rate Holland as a much more dangerous side than Argentina. Some teams can peak too early in competitions like this. Going all out in the group matches can lead to burnout come the knock out rounds.

Don't know that much about the new French players, but I have to admit they aren't the team that won 8 years ago. Henry is playing well but the rest of the team holds him back, he can't seem to do as well as when he plays for Arsenal.

They have quite a few 18-22 year old players that really will be top class in a few years. I believe they won the European Under 18 Championship this year.
Really, Henry should be used to being used in a one man team, he got it all season at Arsenal. But, yeah, he has always been a bit disappointing at international level.

I have to disagree about Crouch, not only is he in form and scoring goals, he does add something completely different to Englands forwards. Crouch is the England striker which most teams fear at the minute. (Hey, and this is coming from an Everton fan) Mind you, for the match against Sweden, it would do well for Sven to rest Crouch only to avoid him getting another yellow (thus missing the next match), giving Rooney and Owen a bit more playing time which is what they both need right now.

I disagree greatly. This is where some people are confused about Crouch. He has scored 6 goals in his last 9 matches, granted that. But break it down to what it really is. Whenever Crouch plays, he becomes the main target man, the defence and midfield just hoof the ball up to him all the time. To score his 6 goals, he must've had at least 20 decent shots. Any good striker would've scored two against Trinidad if they had the chances that he had. And when Crouch plays we lose Owen. When Rooney plays, Owen looks on fire, so Crouch kinda makes it like we're playing with 10 men.

Just cos we invent a game doesn't mean we are automatically good at it. Although I do admit, we have the players to win, it's a case of if we have the team mentality to do it.

I didn't say that, I was just explaining the reason why England fans are so passionate and supportive of their team.

Bookmakers make the odds for winning, not FIFA. Besides, half the time FIFA can't tell the difference between their elbow and their backsides.

Yes, I know. But bookies rank teams in accordance of the teams' quality. Lord knows how FIFA rank them.

I can see USA going out, Ghana are a cracking side right now and not to be underestimated.

Yep, Ghana have a lot of players plying their trade in the top leagues and with the top clubs around Europe.
USA's team consists mainly of lower league or poor top league players. They do have some good players, just not enough to get them through.

Henry is a great player, the rest of the French side let him down. Whatever he gains by playing for Arsenal, he seems to lose in his national side.

Henry loses a lot just from being an Arsenal player. If he had moved to Barcelona, he would've made the best move of his career.

BTW, I'm a Spurs fan.

 

[Persona]

Today at school, we did nothing else other than watch the world cup. We saw Argentina vs. Netherlands (they both tied with a 0), Portugal (they one by 1 more point) vs. Mexico, and Angola vs. Iran. Angola was about to win, but Iran scored a goal in the last minute before it was over. How lucky was that? But they tied in the end.

 

[Ryoutarou]

So, round 2 now. Two of my favorites are out and I continue to wonder how the biggest sporting event can have so many ref mess ups, you friggen pop open a guy's head and make him wear a headnet, how is that okay? The refs have ear pieces now but they're clearly not being used to encourage the refs to make correct calls. Football as a sport really needs to start embracing technology. There's far too much at stake for clearly and repeatedly fallible referees to have the first and last word on everything. Taking an extra 10 seconds to consult video refs on tricky calls wouldn't slow down the game too much.

Prediction time for this round...

Germany v Sweden
2-0 Germany.
Sweden was a pretty lost team at the start, but they're slowly getting better. They did a nice job in their group matchs and were able to pull out a draw with England. Germany though, they seem like they're on fire this time around. Got some good mid-fielders and Sweden doesn't start playing their best until the second half most of the time. Even at their best, I don't think Sweden will be too much trouble for Germany.

Mexico v Argentina
2-1 Mexico.
Argentina's a strong team and hasn't made too many mistakes this year. Crespo will probably play great this game. Mexico though, they've made a lot of mistakes and really can't seem to get their act together. When they do have it together though, they're a great team. If they can play at their very best, then I think they stand a good chance at beating Argentina. This will be the most interesting game for me to watch.

England v Equador
2-1 England.
This one seems pretty easy for England, they shouldn't get too many problems from the Equadorian team. Even though they've been playing pretty poor, I still don't think that England will have too much of a hard time beating Equador.

Portugal v Netherlands
1-1 Portugal in penalties.
These are both great teams and they'll each have to play at their very best if they want to get beyond the second round. I think Portual will take it mainly because Holland does have some weak scoring.

Italy v Australia
2-1 Italy.
The Socceroos had a great run. They did the impossible and got past the first group stage. Guus Hiddick should be proud for getting them this far. Too bad this is where it will end. Italy are powerful. Italy are skilled. Italy are going to win the game. It'll be a rough game with lots of fouls though, but I still expect Italy to win.

Ghana v Brazil
3-2 Ghana.
Ghana is a pretty amazing team, I had TnT pegged to be the Senegal of this Cup, but I'm pretty sure Ghana can take that title and do much better with it. I want Ghana to make it. I love their speed. They had cold feet against Italy but rallied against the Czech Republic and USA. Brazil plays good when they know that they're on the verge of losing, against Japan it showed more so than in any other game. For the entire first half they weren't really in it and had to make a huge sweep to come back in the second. Brazil has been a great team, but I think their time to get out of the spotlight's come. If they manage to win this one, I don't think Brazil will make it past the quarterfinals. If Ghana wins, I can see them going to at least the semifinals.

Swiss v Ukraine
2-1 Swiss.
This is going to be a boring match for me to watch. Don't really know a lot about either team, but from what I've seen of both, Swiss have the better squad.

Spain v France
3-1 Spain.
This is going to be a great game. I really don't think France will stand a chance, sure they have Henry, but as I've said before, I really don't think he's all that great of a player(I still think Park Ji-Sung is a MUCH better player, but that's just me). The French look weak and almost play like they don't even wanna be there. Spain are looking great. Of course, they always look great until they decide to crash and burn...and they always do. But this time they do have the potential to actually win. One of the strongest mid-fields out there with real control and an eye for landing the ball on the foot of their strikers. Plus, they have depth on the bench and the right mixure of youth and experience.

Either way, with South Korea out, this World Cup just became a whole hell of a lot more boring for me. Guess there's always 2010...or if I can ever figure out who the hell carries South Korean games in the US.

 

[Typhlosion ex fans]

Prediction time for this round...

Germany v Sweden
2-0 Germany.
Sweden was a pretty lost team at the start, but they're slowly getting better. They did a nice job in their group matchs and were able to pull out a draw with England. Germany though, they seem like they're on fire this time around. Got some good mid-fielders and Sweden doesn't start playing their best until the second half most of the time. Even at their best, I don't think Sweden will be too much trouble for Germany.

Mexico v Argentina
2-1 Mexico.
Argentina's a strong team and hasn't made too many mistakes this year. Crespo will probably play great this game. Mexico though, they've made a lot of mistakes and really can't seem to get their act together. When they do have it together though, they're a great team. If they can play at their very best, then I think they stand a good chance at beating Argentina. This will be the most interesting game for me to watch.

Your prediction was right!! Germany won Sweden 2 nails and qualifying to the 2nd round VS either Argentina or Mexico. Podolski 2 goals send Sweden back to home & I won the bet in this game.

And now Argentina and Mexico tied up to 1-1 in the halftime.

One nation, one trophy, eleven lions.
I'll support England FOREVER!!!

 

[Ryoutarou]

...and we're gone.

Even though Argentina won, I still feel that Mexico was the better team. This was the best match of this World Cup so far, I don't see anything beating this game. Both teams brought out their best and Mexico played great the entire first and second half, but they just couldn't keep it up in over time. I really wanted Mexico to go through, it's been what? Nearly 20 years since they made it past round 2. I guess now Argentina is my favorite to win, and I hope that they can do it. I would have loved for Mexico to make it beyond this round, but guess that's going to have to wait another four years.

 

[Maera12]

Why did Brazil do this to us? ;____; Ahh!

Does this mean that Brazil isn't the best team in the World anymore?

 

[Suki]

OMG I can't believe it. England is OUT! ;__________; I'm so sad!! Silly Cristino Ronaldo. After they won, Portugal were rubbing it in! ¬¬

 

[Ryoutarou]

OMG I can't believe it. England is OUT! ;__________; I'm so sad!! Silly Cristino Ronaldo. After they won, Portugal were rubbing it in! ¬¬

...don't teams generally cheer after a big win?

Gotta say, loving the "Glorified Euros" comments I've been seeing at other places. XD This is the first time in 20...something years with no South American team in the semi finals. I'm gonna say it'll be Germany and Portugal in the final with Portugal taking it and France beating Italy for third place. If France can make it into the final, they'll probably win. Zinedine seems to have the drive with this being his final tournament. Overall this has been a boring World Cup, and I hate what happened to Australia.

Does this mean that Brazil isn't the best team in the World anymore?

They haven't been for a while. This World Cup proves that reputation cannot save you. A team that has won 5 times needs to play just as hard as a team that has never won.

 

[Maera12]

So... who's the greatest team in the World now?

 

[Ryoutarou]

Of the four teams left right now, I'd say Germany.

 

[Maera12]

*sigh* So obvious that Germany is going to win the World Cup. >>; They're 'home'.

 

[Broleta]

Being British and not English I can say it's great to have England out of the World Cup. No more biast commentators, no more annoying England filled songs on every music channel, no more shows about 1966 etc etc.
No offence to the non-biast England fans though.

Anyways I really wanted brazil to win but now I'm going for Germany or France (if Henry and Zidane play well).

 

[Jesus]

well i was hoping for brazil to be an the semi's but now they're out
3 euro teams and 1 african team left :(