|
|
Post by P-Hill on Jun 16, 2006 8:43:52 GMT -5
let me get in this here.
Brazil is my favorite to win the cup. no doubt about that. easily the strongest force offensively and they have a great team overall.
England is one of my favorites too. As you said it PitchBlak, they look good on paper. i think they have the best single players overall on each position but they havent presented themselves as a team yet. in both games they pretty much sucked...simply. but i do believe they will get there.
Germany doesn't have have the the indivudiual players like we used to but the team is strong overall. We have a good overall offensive line. In the first game we saw that. the defense got better in the 2nd game against poland too but the team could overall become stronger still. some of the guys haven't impressed me that much yet.
Holland and Argentina are my other favorites to win it all. they havent been impressive in recent tournaments but they both have extremely strong teams. individually they look better on paper than germany for example. sneijder, robben, van the man, van der vaart, van bommel and van persie. they dont even need a defense....lol....also they seem to be a strong team. same with stars like riquelme, saviola, crespo, messi, cambia$so, aimar, heinze, sorin, ayala for argentina. they could definately go really far.
also the czech rebuplic has been strong. they could be a danger to any of the favorites. the ivory coast has also impressed me very much in the first game.
and just throwing this in: why isnt anyone talking about France?? they could definately sneak up and take down anyone on a good day...
thats my 2 cents for now
|
|
|
|
Post by shero on Jun 17, 2006 3:09:27 GMT -5
No mention for spain phil? They could do it this year, it's only that they haven't done before that people don't back them! But they do look really strong!
|
|
|
|
Post by SqueezeUK on Jun 17, 2006 7:58:05 GMT -5
If you look back in history, England never start well in competitions like this, we have always had the mentality that 'we cant lose' instead of 'let's go and win'. the group we have been put in consists of teams beneath us, no offence to anyone from these places, but we have played badly and got thru no problem.
The 'on paper' argument doesnt really reflect what we have, as we have alot of individual talents, i think the difference with the squad is that we have combinations of players that can get things done.
England all the way.
Oh, and holland will do better than i said before, but we'll still roll over em.
brazil aint sh!t. yeah i said it.
|
|
Tricky
Stunnin
"This is the struggle, it dont stop, this ones for Malcolm, Martin, and Tupac"
Posts: 221
|
Post by Tricky on Jun 17, 2006 10:30:14 GMT -5
On their performance yesterday Argentina should definatly win this competition. I've heard people say that we shouldnt get carried away because they only beat Serbia but Serbia only conceded 1 or 2 goals in qualifying and topped Spains group. I think the game against Holland will prove wheter Argentina can play as well as they did yesterday against a really good team.
As for the other contenders who have played twice; Holland looked good again with the 2 wingers, Sweden if they can get their strikers playing better may will be hard to beat, Germany have home advantage and play nice football.
As for us (England) 2 very poor performances. The two centre midfielders have played so many games together but havent yet clciked, and our main striker is lacking practice and fitness, and we have no-one to replace him. Atleast we have a strong defence
|
|
|
|
Post by shero on Jun 17, 2006 12:36:54 GMT -5
From what i seen so far Terry IS your strong defence! What i mean is, the others are not playing to their standards! But as Squeeze said, you do always start bad! I'm still backing Spain!
|
|
|
|
Post by PitchBlak on Jun 22, 2006 19:26:15 GMT -5
Holy sh!t!!!! Australia through to the top 16!!! Holy crap, i can't believe it, it was such a crazy game, i was standing (and praying) for the entire second half, it was a really good game!
I don't know if anyone else been watching the Australia games but i swear our referees call any tackle we make no matter what and we been heaps hard done by in a fair few circumstances. I thought it was just that FIFA had been getting much more strict but after watching the Brazil vs. Japan game, its just when Australia play. I thought in terms of tackles by Australia, the referee of the Croatia and Australia game was very fair, actually overall he was fair, just a couple decisions that weren't right but you can't get all of them right. one of the guys in the croatian team got 3 yellow cards that game! What the hell??? He got two yellows and then he stayed on the field and then he got another and then left the field, that was bullsh!t!!
Alright now that i got all that out, i need to review my review.
First of all, Brazil played amazingly against Japan, they stepped up so much compared to their last two games and if they keep that up they certianly do look like winning, every goal in that game was beautiful! And not just Brazil's goals either. It was a really good game to watch, every player on the brazil side played so well (including Ronaldo). I must say at this level they look like they'll win it. Up til now i thought they were going to bum out.
Czech Republic losing to Ghana was a huge shock to me when it happened and subsequently aren't going to the next round. So i was wrong about them but i still think they played well and just didn't take that one game and unfortuneatly it cost them.
England and France, im going to stick with what i have said earlier, they look disappointing. I must say though, i really don't see France taking it this year, whereas i can see England could improve and have a chance. But i don't rate them.
I still back Spain, as a unit they are impressive and i think they have a really good chance, i think if Brazil play like they did against Japan, Spain will really struggle, any team will struggle. Just depends whether Brazil do keep it up.
I am just amazed at the sudden change in Brazil's game, they played brilliantly as a team and all of the players on the pitch show individual skill as well, it was unbelieveable, a really well balanced team, with both technical and team work at very high standards that game.
|
|
|
|
Post by PitchBlak on Jun 22, 2006 19:37:07 GMT -5
From what i seen so far Terry IS your strong defence! Yeah i know what you mean, did you see Terry save off the line in their last game, that was crazy i was sure it was a goal and then he does a diving scissor kick to keep it out, wow! |
|
|
|
Post by Maudizzle on Jun 23, 2006 4:00:11 GMT -5
haha, yeah, the referee in that game completely lost it! I wonder what would have happened if Simic had scored the 3-2 after he got his 2nd yellow card  Apart from what Argentina did against Serbia & Montenegro, against USA Czech Republic played the best soccer I've seen on the tournament so far. I don't understand how they could play like they did in the other 2 games. USA sucked. They showed that the FIFA ranking is bullsh!t ;D Ghana surprised me. I didn't think they'd make it to the next round, but they did it with nice soccer  Germany seems to have a good team. This guy Klose is a goal getter. Sweden didn't really impress... I'm pretty sure the Germans will kick their butt. England hasn't impressed me yet. England has the best individual players, apart from maybe Brazil. That goal from Cole was like  Argentina was amazing in the group stage. If they continue to play like they did, they're gonna win. Hopefully they peaked too early. Brazil has won all three games without playing well. Once they're gonna start playing well, there's no stopping them. |
|
|
|
Post by P-Hill on Jun 23, 2006 4:49:49 GMT -5
it kind of sucks that brazil is now playing ghana cause i like ghana a lot. they should have gotten italy instead and kick their lazy, lying, unfair a$ses out of the tournament. but now they play australia which seems to be fairly easy.
so brazil seems to be where they should now and germany...to my surprise...damn we played some good games so far. playing sweden now. we're better but it's still no sure shot.
argentina should be through against mexico. they have played the best football throughout the group games.
england is playing ecuador. england still hasnt impressed me. but damn....i gotta mention joe cole's shot against sweden. he is my favorite player in england. nice. anyway...allthough they havent shown much it shouldn't be trouble beating ecuador.
the only really interesting game is porugal against holland so far. could go both ways but i consider holland stronger although they still could improve. but then again...against argentina they havent played in their best formation and robben is just a freakin weapon. but still this is should be a close game...
|
|
Tricky
Stunnin
"This is the struggle, it dont stop, this ones for Malcolm, Martin, and Tupac"
Posts: 221
|
Post by Tricky on Jun 23, 2006 7:24:15 GMT -5
Brazil are definatly back on form judging by last nights perfromance, although it was with their second team so it might be different when the 1st choice players come back. It was good to see Ronaldo scoring, Robinho played brilliant and Brazil seriously should consider keeping in their 2 wide defenders, because they impressed way more than Carlos and Cafu. Although they havent played the best football in the tournament I just feel that they have the ablity to score one more than who ever they play, nevermind how bad they defend!
Argentina have still played the best football in the Serbia game, but their game against Holland was a disapointment, i had hope that Tevez & Messi would have played better to try and gain a starting place. I agree with Mauzip that Czechs played brilliant in the first game, but they had striker problems (no Baros, Koller, etc) so they lacked an attacking edge in the last 2 games.
In the second round, Germany should beat Sweden, who are a solid team, but with Ballack, Lahm etc Germany are a bit more dynamic. We should overcome Ecuadour, althought I predict this will be more difficult than people expect. Brazil, Italy, Argentina should also be through.
Holland v Portugal should be intresting. Portugal have a good team but havent looked that good so far, whilst Holland really havent impressed since the first half of the first game. Robben is one of the best players in the world, but maybe you only world cla$s player. I hear their is also talk about Van Basten dropping Van Nistelrooy. This is crazy as VN is a proven goal scorer at international level, Kuyt is not
|
|
yv
Balla
Posts: 104
|
Post by yv on Jun 24, 2006 23:46:53 GMT -5
Holy sh!t!!!! Australia through to the top 16!!! Holy crap, i can't believe it, it was such a crazy game, i was standing (and praying) for the entire second half, it was a really good game! that's because of the Dutch coach ;D I think Argentina is gonna win... Holland will probably loose tonight... |
|
|
|
Post by shero on Jun 25, 2006 5:35:41 GMT -5
France V Spain! Any bets? As usual i favour Spain, but they have a tough few games to the final if they do make it! France, then Brazil, then England, Portugal or Holland! But hey, maybe they get lucky and Ghana beat Brazil and Ecuador beat England!
|
|
|
|
Post by P-Hill on Jun 25, 2006 6:25:31 GMT -5
i put my money on france shero. there are clearly not the favorites right now but somehow i have a feeling that they will beat spain. Brazil is gonna get ghana i'm sure and it would be a huge surprise if ecuador could do anything against england. i'm looking forward to holland-portugal. this could get really interesting. and how about germany....we just won that game with ease....played world cla$s like and sweden sucked pretty much. mexico impressed me last night, too. that was not argentina's best performance. i have no clue why messi and tevez don't play longer. in all the games so far i thought they were much better than crespo and saviola. anyway...can't wait for this afternoon...
peace
|
|
Tricky
Stunnin
"This is the struggle, it dont stop, this ones for Malcolm, Martin, and Tupac"
Posts: 221
|
Post by Tricky on Jun 25, 2006 18:32:11 GMT -5
Damn tonights match was crazy. Its a shame that the ref kinda spoilt the game with all the cards but to be fair it must be difficult to referee well with 2 teams who were playing aggresive. The red cards were probably deserved except for i think Boullahrouz (i know thats the wrong spelling), the hand in Figo's face was not deliberate. Deco should have been sent off straight away for the first tackle, he deliberatly meant to hurt the guy for not giving the ball back, with a bad tackle.
Anyway with Ronaldos crying and Figo unseen headbutt it made for a entertaining game. It was also great to see Deco, Van Bronkhorst, and Boullahrouz (lets pretend thats how u spell it) at the end, playing for opposing teams but sitting in the stands together speaking in disbelief bout the ref. Great image,
|
|
|
|
Post by PitchBlak on Jun 25, 2006 19:10:39 GMT -5
but now they play australia which seems to be fairly easy.  hell no!!! We'll play good and surprise all you bastards that underestimate us (i could have have kept on clicking on that icon for days, fu?k you   ) man that would have been fu?ked up!!!!! Where i was watching the game everyone was pissed off and confused enough that he was still on let alone if he had scored, surely they would have to do something about it if that happened, they couldn't allow them to get away with anything like that. Yeah the game between Netherlands and Portugal was crazy, card after card. I must say Netherlands frustrated me, the whole game minus a few plays they just threw the long ball in, everyone knows that they are easy to defend you can only have so many opportunities from them and when they did get opportunities no one was able to finish them (except for maybe Van Nistelrooy, who seemed to be the only hope for them but remained on the bench for some ridiculous reason, you wanna know why Netherlands don't perform so well on the world stage, cause of stubborn bit?h coaches that don't use the options cause of some disagreement, a$suming that is why VN wasn't playing, fu?king stupid!!). I really wanted them to win, i would have liked to see them go to the Semi's or something like that. Oh yeah and Portugal's goal was nice After seing Cole's goal, i was so shocked and amazed and i couldn't believe that it was the same team that was playing so god damn sh!t!!! lol, i was happy that some of the English Premier League quality was coming through but unfortuneatly only on the quality of the shooting not the play. I still dont rate England to win but i think now that Portugal lost all them players and C. Ronaldo is injured, England will comfortably win (i hope im so very wrong). And i must AMEN to everything that Tricky said, except for the whole Italy going through thing, got rep Australia, we going to Semi's, just watch. Yv, hit the nail on the head, yes, Australia is doing very well this time cause of our super coach, Guus Hiddink, he took the Socceroos just a month and a bit before our qualifying game and he got us through to the world cup and ever since then he the Socceroos have improved so much it is unbelievable. Cheers to Guus (pronounced Huus, by the way). and yeah Argentina went through like you said and portugal beat holland...despite my thougths that netherlands would take that game. For the France vs. Spain game, i am pretty sure that Spain will win, It will annoy me alot if France somehow make it through but i am confident that Spain will win that one. If Spain make it through, yeah they will have a tough path to the finals, especially if Brazil beat Ghana, but i wouldn't ride Ghana off, if Brazil are having a bad day, Ghana will take full advantage of it and considering Brazil's form, with the exception of the Brazil vs. Japan game, that is a possibility. You know what i hate, when people say if this team wins this game then they will have a good chance of making it to the finals and playing Brazil. Who the hell said Brazil are through, they got a tough draw, if they beat Ghana, they verse either France or Spain and if they win that which will be a damn good game, very close, then they will have to beat England or Portugal, there is no garantee Brazil will be there, so next time you hear someone say that, tell them to shut the fu?k up! Anyway that was my little rant, just annoys me. For countries whose team is on the opposite side of the draw, im sure they will know what i mean. Australia to win, all the way Aussies!!!! If not Spain can have it i suppose. |
|
