The World Cup Thread

[pennywisealfie]

i dont believe they are. I think England, Argentina, Italy & Portugal, all sides below the Netherlands are better teams imo. Netherlands didnt even make the last world cup and didnt exactly cruise through qualifying.

 

[Misanthrope]

England are perennial chokers who we managed to beat 3-1. Italy are even worse when it comes to choking.

 

[Razor]

The Netherlands will lose to England in the Quarter-Finals. England will then lose to Brazil in the Semis. Brazil will then beat Italy in the final.

 

[Alex28]

Netherlands are a class act - they have an array of players who play for the top teams in the world (Barcelona, Man U) where as we have an array of players who play for middle-of-the-ladder teams. What we did last night was a massive achievement.

Holland would beat England - with or without Rooney. The likes of Italy, Argentina or Spain are probably the biggest threat to Brazil - my dark horse is Portugal though.

Brazil has never won a World Cup in Europe...I don't think the tournament is as clear cut as people make it out to be...

 

[Misanthrope]

Razor's bold predictions inspired me. BBC.com has a World Cup predictor that allows you to predict the results of every group game and then, from there, the finals.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/shared/spl/hi/predictor/html/football/world_cup_06/default.stm

Give it a go. Here's what I came up with.

GROUP A
Costa Rica
Germany
Poland
Ecuador

GROUP B
England
Sweden
Paraguay
Trinidad & Tobago

GROUP C
Argentina
Holland
Ivory Coast
Serbia & Montenego

GROUP D
Mexico
Portugal
Iran
Angola

GROUP E
Italy
Czech Republic
United States
Ghana

GROUP F
Brazil
Australia
Croatia
Japan

GROUP G
France
South Korea
Switzerland
Togo

GROUP H
Spain
Tunisia
Ukraine
Saudi Arabia

ROUND OF SIXTEEN
Sweden def Costa Rica
Argentina def Portugal
England def Germany
Holland def Mexico
Italy def Australia
France def Tunisia
Brazil def Czech Republic
Spain def South Korea

QUARTER FINALS
Argentina def Sweden
Italy def France
Holland def England
Brazil def Spain

SEMI FINALS
Italy def Argentina
Brazil def Holland

FINAL
Brazil def Italy

Holland def Argentina for 3rd

Meh, I'm probably wrong, but 'twas fun

 

[pennywisealfie]

Netherlands are a class act - they have an array of players who play for the top teams in the world (Barcelona, Man U) where as we have an array of players who play for middle-of-the-ladder teams. What we did last night was a massive achievement.

Holland would beat England - with or without Rooney. The likes of Italy, Argentina or Spain are probably the biggest threat to Brazil - my dark horse is Portugal though.

Brazil has never won a World Cup in Europe...I don't think the tournament is as clear cut as people make it out to be...

actually brazil won the 58 cup in sweden, but still as you pointed out, its rarely done.

30- Uruguay win in Uruguay
34- Italy win in Italy
38- Italy win in France
50- Uruguay win in Brazil
54- West Germany win in Switzerland
58- Brazil win in Sweden
62- Brazil win in Chile
66- England win in England
70- Brazil win in Mexico
74- West Germany win in West Germany
78- Argentina win in Argentina
82- Italy win in Spain
86- Argentina win in Mexico
90- West Germany win in Italy
94- Brazil win in USA
98- France win in France
02- Brazil win in Japan/South Korea

so Brazil has won on all continents and the closest anyone else has come to winning on another continent is Argentina if you devide north and south america. So history suggests that a european team will win it, history also hints that the hosts usually do well with 6 winners being the host nations. so Germany could be a good bet, despite not being the force they once were.

 

[Misanthrope]

I just can't see Germany going the distance this time around. Brazil are favourites, but I'm thinking Holland or England are the real favourites. Both European nations and both very good on their day.

 

[Alex28]

Good work PWA - had no idea of 58. My bad.

Germany have nothing really - if Japan can get 2 in front of them they are in some trouble. Besides Ballack they are kinda light on.

I did the calculator and this is what I came up with:

Final 16:

England beats Germany
Argentina beats Mexico
Sweden beats Poland
Netherlands beats Portugal (although that would be a close game - could go either way)
Italy beats Australia
Frnace beats Ukraine
Brazil beats Czech Republic
Spain beats Switzerland

Final 8:

Argentina beats England
France beats Italy
Netherlands beats Sweden
Brazil beats Spain

Final 4:

Argentina beats France
Brazil beats Netherlands

Finals:

Brazil beats Argentina (first and second)
France beats Netherlands (third and fourth)

Don't know if it will totally turn out that way...was fun though

 

[The Devil]

I'm actually barracking for the Dutch (after the socceroos).

France can challenge for the title granted that Henry and Trezeguet learn to work together or aren't in the same line-up.

The Dutch need to strengthen their defence, though it is quite solid but their attack is easily their best attribute.

Italy and Spain both have the squads to go all the way, but always woefully underperform.

Portugal is a sound bet and they should go far with strength across the field.

Argentina.. i backed them in 02 and they fell hard, so i'm not too sure how they'll fare, though they did qualify comfortably.

England is possibly the last team i believe that can challenge for the title, as are the Czech's. Both teams slip under the radar at times, esp the Czech's, and not many teams expect them to perform when they do. Though they can also put in some poor displays.

 

[The_Joey_Show]

The best result to come out of the Australia vs Netherlands game is that the talk of Kalac getting the No 1 keeping job has been officially put to bed. The thought of Kalac in goals and Schwarzer on the bench for the Japan game (not to mention Brazil!) was giving me nightmares.

If Zeljko Kalac is half the keep that Mark Schwarzer is then I'm Sonny Bill Williams.

 

[The Devil]

I'm not too sure bout that TJS. Let's not forget that Kalac plays for AC Milan, and not just ANYONE plays for Milan... though there have been a few bad choices.

I agree that Schwarzer is far and away our best Keeper, but to say Kalac is no good is silly talk.

 

[Alex28]

To be fair he sits on the bench for Milan, but point taken.

There is no way he is a better keeper than Schwarzer...any talk of him not playing as first keeper is (now was) rediculous.

 

[aqua_duck]

It was a great result however I think the defence still looks very shaky. We have Kewell to comeback but that's hardly going to sure up our defence. Schwarzer made some absolutely freakish saves, i can count atleast 4 unbelievable saves he made, 1 from Johnny Heitinga, 1 from Van Nistelrooy, 1 from Robben, 1 from Van Persie and 1 from Wesley Sneijder which were amazing, if Kalac was in goal I'd say atleast 3 of them would've gone in, also lets not forget the dutch should have had a penalty with the Grella handball.
In saying that we closed the game very well in the 2nd half and i was impressed with scott chipperfield.

 

[Razor]

My complete tips

Round of 16
-----------
Germany over Paraguay
Argentina over Mexico
England over Poland
Netherlands over Portugual
Italy over Australia
France over Ukraine
Brazil over Czech Republic
Switzerland over Spain

QF
--

Argentina over Germany
Italy over France
England over Netherlands
Brazil over Switzerland

SF
--

Italy over Argentina
Brazil over England

Final
-----

Brazil over Italy

Third Place
-----------

Argentina over England

 

[The Devil]

To be fair he sits on the bench for Milan, but point taken.

There is no way he is a better keeper than Schwarzer...any talk of him not playing as first keeper is (now was) rediculous.

Yeh he does play second fiddle to Brazil's Dida, and his inside knowledge may help out our boys. Also Kalac has been getting more starts due to Dida's increasing inconsistency

 

[astrogirl]

I just submitted my tips for the games up the 14th of June

 

[Misanthrope]

There's a World Cup tipping comp and I wasn't invited!?

 

[astrogirl]

Ooops sorry for being unclear cwb! It's my work tipping comp which we do through the oztips website.

If I thought there was enough interest I'd run one for this site but I tend to think there isn't...

 

[RABK]

The city will be packed but i've got a few friends up for a big night to cheer on the boys. I'll be all dressed up in green and gold, absolutely can't wait.

So i'll probably be at a pub in the city with friends. Where will you be?

Where talking about the Socceroos game btw. A lot of tired eyes at work on Tuesday morning me thinks.

 

[The_Joey_Show]

Hope this doesn't spoil your night out Jamie, but the Australia game is MONDAY night 10.30pm.

I was hoping it was Sunday because of the long weekend, but no such luck!