BRAZIL!!!!

Here is the prediction from a guy at another messageboard:

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Group Winners:
A – Germany, Poland
B – Sweden, England
C – Argentina, Ivory Coast
D – Portugal, Iran
E – Czech Republic, Italy
F – Brazil – Croatia
G – France, South Korea
H – Spain, Ukraine

Second Round:
England defeats Germany
Argentian defeats Iran
Czech Republic defeats Croatia
France defeats Ukraine
Sweden defeats Poland
Ivory Coast defeats Portugal
Brazil defeats Italy (game of the tournament)
Spain defeats South Korea

Quarter-Finals:
England defeats Argentina
Czech Republic defeats France
Sweden defeats Ivory Coast
Brazil defeats Ivory Coast

Semi-Finals:
England defeats Czech Republic
Brazil defeats Sweden

Finals:
Brazil defeats England

Player of the tournamet: Wayne Rooney

USA: Lose to CR, tie with Italy and defeat Ghana. BUT CR amd Italy conspire to tie their last game after both beating Ghana to put the USA in the third spot.

Ivory Coast defeats Portugal?? Why not Angola (first ever World Cup appearance)? That used to be Portuguese Angola, by the way …

It’s just nice my team made it there. We have a ways to go.

Hey, Logan:

The power of math in the World Cup

Germany 2006

1.- Brasil won the World Cup in 1994, before that, they won the cup in 1970. Add 1970 + 1994 = 3964.

2.- Argentina won it’s last World Cup in 1986, before that they won in 1978, Add 1978 + 1986 = 3964.

3.- Germany won it’s last World Cup in 1990, before that, they won in 1974. Add 1974 + 1990 = 3964.

4.- On the 2002 World Cup Brasil repeated the championship, and it’s obvious, because if we add 1962 (where Brasil was champion as well) + 2002 = 3964, therefore Brasil had to be champion, and so it was.

5.- And if you want to guess the champion for Germany 2006, do the math backwards. Subtract 3964 – 2006 = 1958… That year the world champion was Brasil, so you can start your bets now.

6.- AND THE GREATEST PART: the soccer fans in MEXICO also have a reason to be happy, because we’ll probably win the World Cup in 3964. Because 0 + 3964 = 3964!!!

So, we only have to wait 489 world cups to be champions! This is the equivalent of 1.958 years. In 1958, Brasil was world champion. So, the final will be played against the brasilians… Boy, they’ll never guess what hit them.

Poor bastards!!!

I certainly hope things pick-up quite a bit. Yesterday was brutal to watch on television. Two games on ABC & ESPN2,, 180 mins, ONE FRIGGIN GOAL! And that one was scored into the Paraguyan net by their own defensemen, on a pretty nice cross by Owen. Sweden had 18 shots on net, and the opposing Netminder played great, but we need some darn goals here!

Ok, 3rd day over, Netherlands won 1-0 over Serbia and Montenegro. I don’t know how the serbs play, so I couldn’t have been surprised whatever the result, I couldn’t guess on this one.

Mexico won 3-1 over Iran, but they were tougher than we expected. Iran doesn’t have much history on world cups, and we were quick to believe that this meant they were lousy players, what we were not taking into account is since we don’t see them play very often, we have no idea what to expect.

Portugal won over Angola, which was expected, but Angola was not butchered 5-0, that was a surprise.

We have a long ways to go yet, and there is nothing written. Anything can happen.

I think the Portugal (5-0) score was a direct result of all the criticism they took after their very poor start in the 02 World Cup.

ok…I’m not a big soccer guy, but I always wanted to see a game while overseas. Are there any Dutch/German leagues that will be playing in mid-September? I’d love to catch a game…it’s looks like a lot of fun to be there with all these die-hard fans. I’ve been scoping out the web, but can’t seem to find a schedule for 2006. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

So much for my team USA. Czechs womped us.

Sunskin writes:

quote:I think the Portugal (5-0) score was a direct result of all the criticism they took after their very poor start in the 02 World Cup.

It wasn’t 5-0; the final score was Portugal: 1, Angola: nil. It will be interesting to see how Mexico does against both of them (Mexico’s next two opponents) after Mexico’s drubbing of Iran. I hope Mexico doesn’t take Angola for granted. They’ve got a pretty good team!

That Japan vs. Aussie game was nuts! Japan got an early, very controversial goal. The announcers were both convinced the ref missed an obvious foul call, etc. The Aussies pressed a bit, but did not dominate the 2nd half – until the final 6 to 8 mins, when they scored twice in the final 8 mins… Both goals were by the same chap, including the game-winner in the 89th min…

quote:
ok…I’m not a big soccer guy, but I always wanted to see a game while overseas. Are there any Dutch/German leagues that will be playing in mid-September?

Leagues in both countries should be on by then.
For the dutch leagues you should be able to find more info on www.knvb.nl
don’t know if they have an english site though

quote:
So much for my team USA. Czechs womped us.

Seriously, did you expect anything else?

What I´m afraid is the speed of Angola,
and if they counter-attack they could be very dangerous,
but I was very pleased to see the team of Iran when they
gave flowers to Oswaldo Sanchez,our goalie in memory of
his father. Nice touch from Iran.

Hope we do better in this World cup, as we did in the
Jr. World Cup, CHAMPIONS!!!!!

VIVA MEXICO CABRONES!!!!

-

Sorry Sunskin, I don’t mean to be picky, but Australia won THREE goals in the last 8 minutes – not two! I would have just let that comment slide, but am way too stoked to let it go!
YAY!

You are correct. However, I turned the game off – following goal # 2. I knew it was over then…

Deutschland uber alles!

quote: Deutschland uber alles!

They got lucky last night.
If they are going to rely on that they’ll not make it past the 2nd round

I agree with Walter, Germany was lucky,
and WTF with Brasil, they won only by
1 goal, with those kindda players they should
have won it by 3 or 4 goals easly.

I’d rather be lucky than good any day of the week. I cannot count the number of Champions League & FIFA games I have seen over the years when one team out-shot the other (18-5), hit the GP 3 times, and the opposing goaltender made several amazing stops, only to get burned on a counter-attack in the last min, because a defender fell-down… losing the game (2-1)…

And England winning with a self goal or whatever you call it from Paraguay, and yes, they scored twice with Trinidad and Tobago, but VERY late in the game, France tying with Switzerland, Argentina winning by one goal… I remember when I was a child, in the first round you would see all these little teams being squashed by the big popular teams, and you would get results like 9-0!!! THIS may be the World Cup that finally offers a surprise…

quote:
And England winning with a self goal or whatever you call it from Paraguay, and yes, they scored twice with Trinidad and Tobago

Technically only once. Crouch’s goal should have been disallowed as he fouled Trini

But Gerrard still scored, Terry saved the day, there were 23 shots on goal – how many did Trinidad have? hmmm?

How many major league players does trinidad have? hmmmm?
Pathetic showing by England no matter how you try to justify it

LAME GAME!!!!
Mexico vs Angola! 0-0

If Mexico keeps playing like that is not going to
make it!

But the game Argentina vs Serbia, man that was a game 6-0!

That Serbia vs/ Argentina game was horrible! How did Serbia-Mont. get into the tourney? They might as well have gotten beat 12-0…

Logan, it wasn’t that bad. We all feel Mexico lost today, but we just got another point. That doesn’t say much because right now anything can happen, any of the 4 teams in group D can make it to the next round. Tomorrow we’ll have a clearer picture, but the hours are so loooooooooonnnnnnnggggggg………

The game wasn’t so lame, I didn’t see Oswaldo do much because most of the game was played on the other side of the field. Mexico had many shots on goal, but 2 things are important here: 1) Mexico’s team needs to practice their target, because many shots wouldn’t have made it, goalkeeper or not; 2) that Angola goalkeeper is Angola’s team. Their offensive didn’t do much, their defense sucked bigtime, that goalkeeper must be a national hero.

Hi Sunskin!
Don’t get me wrong, when Mexico is out of the picture
in any world cup I tend to go with Brasil and Germany,
this are my favorite teams, is just that i want to see some goals
made, and Serbia only got 1 goal against him in the entire elemiantion prior to the world cup and I think they won like 20 games before the world Cup, but when you got an offense like Argentina has, is no surprise that they are going to win with a big score on his favor, and it was a good game.

About Mexico, AAAAARRRRRGGHHH!! they always do the same thing
1 win, 1 tied, and 1 lost, the thing is that they think to much
in how to make a play, if you saw the first game, the 2 goals made
in the second half, they where very fluid, like Spain, Argentina,
and Germany(First game).

And Sorry Jester but down here in Mexico we saw it as a LAME GAME!
all of the employers had to hire big screen tv’s just so the workers
would see the game and don’t skip work.

I’m waiting to see how the USA does against Italy, I want the USA to
win this one, I alaways go with the underdog, so goooo!! USA!

Yeah, lame game, but I insist, it could’ve been worse. We could have lost 6-0… We made 1 point instead, and I assure you, if Portugal wins, this one lame point may be our pass to the next round.

Gahna and Ukraine have also looked pretty good. France has looked pretty poor..

DAMM!! sometimes I hate beeing right!

Hey Jester, don´t say I didn´t told you so

Mexico 1 win 1 tied 1 lost.

And still we pass,now we are going to see how good Mexico is, just
waiting to see who we are going against Argentina or
the Natherlands, and both are very strong teams.

NOw THAT was a lame game, Logan… When compared to the game vs. Portugal, the match vs. Angola doesn’t seem so bad…

What the hell is wrong with this team? We have won many Cups, Copa de Oro, Confederaciones, etc, winning over teams like Brazil and Argentina. But every EVERY World Cup is the same, we suck!!!

This year our team got confused with the olympics, I saw volleyball, american football, diving, everything except soccer…

The problem is that we always put the same old players,
have you seen how good the players from the second division
are? That´s because they are hungry for a victory and play
for the love of the game.

BUT MEXICO SUCKS when it comes to the world cup, we have won over
Brasil and Argentina in the past, and it´s a good thing that we
are going against Argentina, we know how they play, and that´s
something in our favor, (also to Argentina).

My prediction is this, 2 to 1 Mexico wins, hope I haven´t lost
the touch in my predictions, and hope that I´m right once again.
Hope…Hope… hahaha!!

And another thing, La aficion Mexicana is to big for the Mexican
team, so they better play good or get out of the world cup, it´s a
waste of money to send those kind of players over there.

I am heartbroken…

The mexican team played beautifully, never have I seen such control, domination of the ball and the situation from our team, they were doing great, what happened???

Friggin’ referee was bought, don’t know if by Argentina or FIFA so they can keep their show on like planned, but Argentina today was NOT the Argentina everyone is used to see, and they deserve to go no further than this point.

They stole from us… they robbed us… I am so so very angry…

I´m very proud of the Mexican team this time,
we always give´em hell to the big teams, we tend to
grow on the field every time a favorite team play against us,
the bad thing is that when we play crapy selections, we end
up playing like them.

And I agree with you Jester on the referee part, his a relative
of the president of FIFA Joseph Asshole, or something like that,
and we where robbed.

I was right on the score, a man can dream. But I´m happy
because Germany is going to beat Argentina next round, so goooo
Germany!!!!

VIVA MEXICO CABRONES and CABRONAS!!!!!

The Mexivan team played gallantly in that game. In fact, the two games that really bothered me in this tourney were MEX vs. ARG and ITA vs. USA in this World Cup. Both teams got robbed by the ref, and controlled play for much of the game. I was also happy to see Brasil bounced (again) by France! To me, Brasil was too cocky, and not very impressive this year. They had possession of the ball vs. Ghana only about 39% in the 1st half, and got out-shot about 5 to 3, but scored both 1st half goals on counter-attacks. Also, they were saved by the goal-post and one extremely lucky save in that game. I think Zidane, Henry, and the French Defenders played excellent yesterday. My picks for the All-Euro Semi-Finals:

Tuesday: Germany 2 Italy 1

Wednesday: France 2 Portugal 0

Final: No pix as of yet, but I am hoping for a German Win! I think Portugal has relied almost too much on their Defense, and France has too many scoring threats. Also, I think Italy has looked beatable in this tourney, and the Germans will be able to score at least twice. Klose & Ballack will have their opp’s…

Brasil played awful, and they have such big players, ha!
At least Germany is on the semifinals, so go Germany!!

I’m going with Germany and Portugal.

I just read something I was not aware of. Germany is undefeated (13-0-1) all-time in World Cup play at the Lions Den in Dortmund, where they will meet Italy later today.

_

So much for a Germany-Portugal final. I’m still going for Portugal all the way though.

Germany blew it! If you watched the 2nd OT, you would have to say that the Italians deserved to win. However, the 2nd half of regulation was dominated (much of the 45 mins) by the Germans. However, they could not keep any real "flow" or continuous attack, because the sissies on Italy kept diving and faking injuries. Although the referee did a good job not biting on the fakes, they still laid there, and held-up play for a minute here & there. I have seen this strategy manhy times in FIFA play, but I do not have to like it!

I don´t know how Italy does it,
they always manage to arrive at semifinals and the finals,
they play defense most of the game and they are very good actors,
not footboll players, so I´m going with France this time,
who could imagine that this two teams would be in the finals
after seeing how they played in the first round?, not me.

Remember how everyone thought France was not going to make it past the first round? We have to admit they have really made an effort to improve.

I was so heartbroken Portugal didn’t make it the finals… sigh…. So now it’s between France and Italy. I don’t like Italian soccer, they are too dirty and sissies faking their injuries and whatnot. I don’t like France soccer either, but I dislike it less, so I would cheer for France, and it would also be nice to see Zidane retire as a champion, but I would’ve liked a new champion, a country who has never won the world cup. Now, if France wins, we will have Brasil 94, France 98, Brasil 2002, France 2006, and if Brasil repeats their pattern of winning 1 out of 2 world cups…

I’ll be watching the game today. And i’m hoping for a win by France.

What a nailbiter! Bummer about Zidane.

After he pulled that, I quickly switched, and was hoping for a win by Italy.

Congrats!!!

Cil writes:

quote:What a nailbiter! Bummer about Zidane.

I don’t know what Marco Materazzi said to Zidane but it caused him to really lose control. His flagrant ‘head butt’ and subsequent ‘red carding’ may have cost France the World Cup: He was France’s strongest penalty kicker, after all. And he was out for the final 3-minutes of regulation play, two 15-minute overtime periods, and the ‘shoot out,’ in which he usually excelled.

Even though France didn’t go on to win, Zidane was awarded the Gold Soccer Ball award for being the best all around player in the World Cup Tournament. I wonder if they tallyed the results before or after the ‘Head Butt’ incident.

Plaudits have to go to Marco Materazzi who was able to rattle Zidane’s ‘cage’ that much. What do we think he said to Zidane?? Anyone??

Will Materazzi ever tell us, or will he take it to his grave??

I know that journalists award the Golden Ball, but I don’t know when they vote.
Materazzi must have said or done something very provocative.
I hope France can forgive Zidane, but what he did was, to say the least, unprofessional.
Congratulations to Italy. Of course, they have soccer scandals of their own, but AFAIK the controversy has nothing to do with the players themselves.