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http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/c/
ok, so it starts today with these matches from Group A ARG:TUN GER:AUS
and tomorrow these ones from Group B JPN:MEX BRA:GRE
so, predictions anyone? i think it´s gonna be a lot tougher than it seems. in a logic world Brazil and Argentina should get to the final game. but this is football and is definetely NOT logic. especially nowadays when small teams became harder to beat because of a strong physical preparation and very good tactics.
What do you mean by predictions? This?:
ARG:TUN 3:0 GER:AUS 2:1 (very lucky)
JPN:MEX 1:1 BRA:GRE 3:1
Hopefully the germans will not win that tournament... 
hopefully i will get some replays here, they have been bombarding me with Major League Soccer, i cant take it anymore!
well, end of day one with a quite boring ARG 2 - TUN 1 and a great GER 4 - AUS 3. 
it seems now that we´re qualified to the 2006WC coach Pekerman wants to try more players to complete the final 22 players list for next year. and so he´s doing, just a couple of players today can be considered as "1-of-the-main-team": Sorin, Heinze, Riquelme and Saviola. all the others are fighting for a spot. i guess the same will happen with other qualified teams from now on. and this cup is a great chance to evaluate players in a WorldCup-like enviroment. but maybe the games won´t be that exciting...
I don't know who to go for. Germany or Australia. Well the Aussies did quite well against Germany didn't they.
Ronald Kirsch wrote: I don't know who to go for. Germany or Australia. Well the Aussies did quite well against Germany didn't they.
I said it would be a close and lucky win .
The german team is very crappy nowadays. But they think they're good because they very very luckily got second in the last WM.
almansoglasnost wrote: well, end of day one with a quite boring ARG 2 - TUN 1 and a great GER 4 - AUS 3.
it seems now that we´re qualified to the 2006WC coach Pekerman wants to try more players to complete the final 22 players list for next year. and so he´s doing, just a couple of players today can be considered as "1-of-the-main-team": Sorin, Heinze, Riquelme and Saviola. all the others are fighting for a spot. i guess the same will happen with other qualified teams from now on. and this cup is a great chance to evaluate players in a WorldCup-like enviroment. but maybe the games won´t be that exciting...
how about Crespo, i'd say he's on , he has been playing Great, and i've never been a big fan of his
frank smarra wrote:
almansoglasnost wrote: well, end of day one with a quite boring ARG 2 - TUN 1 and a great GER 4 - AUS 3.
it seems now that we´re qualified to the 2006WC coach Pekerman wants to try more players to complete the final 22 players list for next year. and so he´s doing, just a couple of players today can be considered as "1-of-the-main-team": Sorin, Heinze, Riquelme and Saviola. all the others are fighting for a spot. i guess the same will happen with other qualified teams from now on. and this cup is a great chance to evaluate players in a WorldCup-like enviroment. but maybe the games won´t be that exciting...
how about Crespo, i'd say he's on , he has been playing Great, and i've never been a big fan of his
yeah, he´s the official forward but he´s not playing this Cup. he got married and will rest on his honeymoon. i´m not his fan, god knows i used to yell at him every time he missed a goal. but now he seems more relaxed and he´s making a bunch of goals. i still don´t like how he plays but as far as he´s useful to the team i can´t say much about him. i prefer others but that´s not my job isn´t it? ;)
frank smarra wrote: well yes he is no Batistuta
That is true. But he did an excelent job against Brazil.
Resurrection Spider wrote:
frank smarra wrote: well yes he is no Batistuta
That is true. But he did an excelent job against Brazil.
he sure did, i cant knock Crespo at all
Bere wrote:
Ronald Kirsch wrote: I don't know who to go for. Germany or Australia. Well the Aussies did quite well against Germany didn't they.
I said it would be a close and lucky win
The German's also were supposed to be very crappy at the last World Cup. Whilst they didn't play great football they did achieve a decent result. I wonder what'll happen if they exit at the first round. Klinsmann would surely go. That would then be like the thrird coach in three years. Mind you I do see the Germans doing quite well at the World Cup.
Australia is actually quite good at soccer, far better than its ranking. Australia has always had it tough to qualify for the World Cup, because even if they won their confederation (always) they would then have to go and play for a spot, usually against a South American team.
ok, Mexico won over Brazil and that´s a big surprise indeed. now the game between Argentina and Germany... i wonder what do these teams prefer. they can win this game and face (surely) Brazil on semifinals (if Japan doesn´t make an even bigger surprise and beat the brazilians). or loose and face Mexico. we have the benefit of avoiding the scratch by only a tie against Germany. i know that if you want to be a champ you have to beat them all. but it´s also true that the first thing is to get to the final game and the easiest way is defo Mexico. tough decision, ah? 
in any case we ALWAYS get it wrong so in my mind i know we´ll face Brazil on semis one way or another. and i´m sure they´ll be pissed about the 3-1 we did a couple of weeks ago and they´ll want revenge. so i admit it, i´m pretty scared! 
I saw an interview with Zico yesterday on TV... poor dude! But after that awful game against Mexico, I don't know what to expect anymore. Parreira said he's going to change at least five or even six players for tomorrow match; I hope Ronaldinho is included, the boy is really exausted.
And send that fuckin' Adriano back to the slum he came from!! Useless dumb.
ok, GER 2:2 ARG. so it´s all a matter that Mexico at least gets 1 point against Greece and we´ll face them. BUT if they loose and Brazil wins over Japan we could get a bad surprise. it´s clear that we´re playing well but all the substitutions and position changes allowds the rivals to score many goals. our defensive system is pretty weak right now and that can´t happen against Brazil because you can get a memorable 0-6. that´s why i don´t want to face them. not now that we´re testing players and positions, it could be lethal! 
Man, Japan played well. Zico is a fuckin' godd couch to make those boys play like that. Brazil was lucky, Japan deserved the victory.
But, as we say here, "keep the ball running"! I hope Brazil play better against Germany next Saturday, otherwise it's bye-bye.
Resurrection Spider wrote: Man, Japan played well. Zico is a fuckin' godd couch to make those boys play like that. Brazil was lucky, Japan deserved the victory.
But, as we say here, "keep the ball running"! I hope Brazil play better against Germany next Saturday, otherwise it's bye-bye.
you do have some big problems on the defense. on the 3 goals we made last month all of them were mistakes of brazilian defense. of course with those players in the front you shouldn´t be that worried because they usually score and play greatly. but what happens when they don´t? or when the other team´s defense plays better than them? it happened with us but it also happened with Mexico and Japan. Greece almost never passed midfield against Brazil. but Germany will. so it´ll be a close game that one.
we´re having some problems too but because we´re testing a lot. but we should be careful because we receive many goals as well. Mexico plays good defense and works well on free kicks and corners so it won´t be easy. like i said before logic would say ARG-BRA on the final game. but this isn´t logic, it´s football ;)
... but this time logic won! :D
but i must admit after that horrible game we played against Mexico we don´t have any chances to win brazilians this time. they have the better team at the moment and they´re playing better (not much, but enough to be the best of this cup). but i´m glad we got to the final game with many important players missing. that means we have a serious candidate team for the WC finals.
now Argentina-Brazil on wednesday. a must see game anyway. and i just hope we can make a decent game! 
almansoglasnost wrote: Greece almost never passed midfield against Brazil. but Germany will. so it´ll be a close game that one.
w
The german team is f***** sh*** these days. We have to take some years to build up a completely new young team. "Our" defence is horrible. Brazil seems to have eased up... But I think Brazil will win high (3:1 or such)...
Alejo, don't forget that later at night we'll have Riverplate Vs. São Paulo, which will probably be a much better game!! 
OK one last great game to go, and having watched almost all games of this a-bit-official-a-bit-friendly tournament, its time to write my thoughts:
Argentina-Brasil: The 2 teams, as expected, were clearly the best of the tournament, lucky for all good-football lovers, they made it to the final. Weak points: The argie goalkeeper, and the brasilian defence (not always enough concentraded, especially at set pieces). Both are clear favourites for the world cup next year, in the end it will depend on the state of their players (how tired they 'll be etc etc).
Germany: Not the most impressive team in the world, but i have the feeling that no team will be able to beat them easilly next year, especially in the one game stage: I expect them to play with the maximum passion in front of their croud, and if they have at least a small fraction of the "respect" South Korea enjoyed in the last world cup, i dont see why they cant win it. They did go to the final last time after all, didnt they?
Mexico: I was impressed by the mexicans - they deserved to be in the final, as well as the argies. There is no team in the world, they cant give a really hard time.
Other teams: Australia was nothing impressive, but much better than i expected - at least they deserve a place of the 32 in the world cup finals. Tynysia and Japan proved the same, although a possible qualify in the top 16, is the best they can realistically expect - of course its football and u never know, as our boys proved last summer: Now its 2005 though and we Greeks have more serious problems than this tournament: How to qualify in the finals, despite our not-too-good position in the qualifing group, our key-players' injuries and the lack of good alternatives. We 'll see in the near future...
Resurrection Spider wrote: Alejo, don't forget that later at night we'll have Riverplate Vs. São Paulo, which will probably be a much better game!!
i couldn´t care less about that game. i hate River (i support Ferro here) AND São Paulo (i support Palmeiras in Brazil).
Elias wrote:
Germany: Not the most impressive team in the world, but i have the feeling that no team will be able to beat them easilly next year, especially in the one game stage: I expect them to play with the maximum passion in front of their croud, and if they have at least a small fraction of the "respect" South Korea enjoyed in the last world cup, i dont see why they cant win it. They did go to the final last time after all, didnt they?
All that the german team has is luck.
2006 WORLD CUP WINNERS!!-Please God
in my lifetime make it so 
