The Official 2006 FIFA World Cup thread. (2 Viewers)

[go_swans]

ok, but which team? I need to pick just a team, not goals.

 

[matt#1]

@ go swans...Germany v Argentina is a hard game to tip because both teams are in great form. If I had to bet on it though...I would probably go for Argentina.

 

[withoutaface]

A team would be Argentina, but I wouldn't be putting money down on the winner.

 

[LMF^^]

Saudi Arabia have no players in their squad (to my knowledge) who would be good enough to play in any of the major European leagues, likewise with China, Bahrain and pretty much every Asian country you care to name apart from Japan, Korea and Iran. Now even if we do slip up against one of these and come fifth, we'd still have a relatively soft play off against CONCACAF, especially when compared to facing the 5th placed CONMENBOL country.

Perhaps you're regardin European leagues too highly there...? Sure they are the cream of the crop in club football, but that is not to say that good players don't exist in other leagues. The majority of Korean, Iranian and Japanese players are from local or regional leagues, Park Ji-Sung was playin in Japan durin the last World Cup and he scored one fine goal against Italy.

The current situation in China is very depressin I must admit, they haven't built on their success after reachin the final of the Asian Cup, where they looked like they were a chance to make the World Cup and grab their first points. But to say they don't have any players good enough for the major leagues is a bit harsh. Sun Jihai of Man City has always been a solid if not spectacular player, and with young talented striker in Dong Fangzhuo of Man Utd, currently playing in Antwerp, there are certainly players who can make it in the top leagues of Europe.

I don't know much about the Saudis, I think they just don't really like to play abroad, probably due to cultural or religious reasons.

 

[LMF^^]

Why top three?

Asia have 4.5 spots now .. don't they?

Japan, South Korea, Iran, and Saudi Arabia all made it through to the World Cup. And Bahrain lost their qualifier to Trinidad and Tobago.

So that's 4.5.

Take the half-spot away, and that's four places for Asia.

Which *should* leave room for Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Iran/Saudi Arabia/China .. you would think.

Underestimating the competitiveness of Asian football here are we...?

Sure the traditional powerhouses are there, but with the introduction of the Socceroos I expect a real shake up in the confederation. But it all depends on whether Australia gets seeded in the next World Cup qualifying matches. If we aren't then we can be grouped together with any of the top teams, which will make things very interesting.

You would think that South Korea are a better team than Saudi Arabia, but they were beaten of the Saudis home and away in qualifying. I guess that's why they went through so many coaches, I think they were all Dutch too.

 

[katietheskatie]

argentina!

 

[Constip8edSkunk]

Underestimating the competitiveness of Asian football here are we...?

Sure the traditional powerhouses are there, but with the introduction of the Socceroos I expect a real shake up in the confederation. But it all depends on whether Australia gets seeded in the next World Cup qualifying matches. If we aren't then we can be grouped together with any of the top teams, which will make things very interesting.

You would think that South Korea are a better team than Saudi Arabia, but they were beaten of the Saudis home and away in qualifying. I guess that's why they went through so many coaches, I think they were all Dutch too.

lol yeh i think they took the finding of the next guus to a more literal level...

the saudi has always been strong at the asian level of competition, but apart form 94, never really made any impact at a world stage... actually i think the confidence we have developed lately concerning our relative ability to other asian countries are dure to guus, who basically shown we can compete with some of the strongest nations in the world. i mean i would be alot less confident under frank a year ago and there are only 4 spots and we had to beat 1 of saudi iran japan and korea.

lets see who will be the next coach first and the revolution we had under guus isnt lost. the asian cup would come first, and that will be a better gauge of the difficulty of qualification.

but the seedings would depend on the asian cup in between wouldnt it? assuming austrlia do well it shouldnt be too bad.

 

[Constip8edSkunk]

to be honest, germany havent really played a team of high quality/good form yet. equador basically surrendered the game by resting players, and sweden- while having played a decent half against england, were kept goaless by Trinidad & tobago + allback kept wanting to belt ljunberg XD. and they sort of limped over poland when the pols were playing for their place in the finals(though germany did dominate)

 

[matt#1]

My prediction is Argentina 2-1 Germany. I expect that it will be pretty close though...so i'm not willing to bet any money on it. It should be a very entertaining.

 

[mecurial]

Germany had a very difficult match against Poland. In terms of going forward, anyway. This is going to be such a huge game, all of the Germany games have had an intense atmosphere, and this shapes as maybe the match-up of the tournament. As good as the Argentines have been, I think that if Germany can dictate the pace, they will create opportunities. I think we all know that Argentina will most likely turn up to play, so this match will depend on whether Germany can play at their optimum for 90 minutes. Most certainly will not bet though.

France win at 5.00 at Betfair looks nice though. I think that Patrick Vieira is gaining form very very rapidly, and has a steely look of determination about him. Domenech has no choice but to start Trezeguet imo.

On an unrelated note, if Australia was to play to a level at or above its World Cup 2006 performance (highly contentious at this point in time), would we be able to qualify in a European group? Obviously purely hypothetical, but...

Personally I would. We played a possession-based game, and our defenders would be more suited to slower, more physical European opponents.

 

[DRAGONZ]

Underestimating the competitiveness of Asian football here are we...?

Sure the traditional powerhouses are there, but with the introduction of the Socceroos I expect a real shake up in the confederation. But it all depends on whether Australia gets seeded in the next World Cup qualifying matches. If we aren't then we can be grouped together with any of the top teams, which will make things very interesting.

Yeah, that's correct. I'm not underestimating Asian football, though. I just think that if Australia can somehow maintain a similar level of quality after we lose Hiddink and a few players, then we will just be too strong for most of the countries in Asia overall.

It's like saying that Brazil in full-flight would walk through the CONMEBOL qualifiers, with the only tough matches being Argentina (home and away), and away to Ecuador and Uruguay. It's not underestimating the strength of CONMEBOL.

I don't expect Australia to walk through any qualifiers, really. Just getting to the Asian Cup will be tough with a second-string side.

I think the Asian Cup will be a real guide as to where we stand. We should have a full-strength squad playing there, and if we can come away with victory, WC qualification would look very good. Especially considering we're playing on hostile territory.

On an unrelated note, if Australia was to play to a level at or above its World Cup 2006 performance (highly contentious at this point in time), would we be able to qualify in a European group? Obviously purely hypothetical, but...

Personally I would. We played a possession-based game, and our defenders would be more suited to slower, more physical European opponents.

I don't think we could top any group in Europe, and I reckon we'd be relying on a qualifier.

Then again, it depends who we would be grouped with. A group with, say, England, Belgium and then random European teams would be very winnable.

 

[- L1n -]

Yes .. of course, it would send a wonderful message to Japan, China, Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and all the other random Asian countries out there if Les Murray was to publicly say, "Australia will find it easier to qualify".

You have to show the opposition respect.

Anyway:

Japan = Reigning Asian Champions.

Australia 3 def. 1 Japan


Enough said.

Is that suppose to be a good argument considering Japan 3 yrs ago is not Japan now, basing your theory it's like saying.

Greece = Reigning Europe Champions

Australia 1 def Greece 0

Greece = no show at world cup

Australia = world top 5.


your theory is flawed.

 

[matt#1]

Why does everyone in this forum have such a grudge against England?!? Sure, they have played some 'uninspiring' football so far...but that dosen't mean that Australia would be able finish above England in a qualifying group.

I agree that perhaps a side with so many superstar players (Rooney, Becks, Gerrard, Lampard, etc) should probably be playing alot better than the way they have been...but their ability to grind out narrow wins still makes them one of the top sides in the world. Just look at Chelsea for example...how many times have we seen them get away with a 1-0 win? Too many times for my liking. They get labelled as a 'boring' team for this...but it is their ability to grind out such results when they are not playing well that makes them such a class side. This consistency is also a major reason why they have won the last 2 premierships.

I would have liked to conclude this little rant by saying that I hope England wins the World Cup to shut you all up...but unfortunately for them they are up against Portugal. In the event that Portugal do happen to be beaten by England though...I hope that England goes on to win the World Cup.

 

[- L1n -]

Why does everyone in this forum have such a grudge against England?!? Sure, they have played some 'uninspiring' football so far...but that dosen't mean that Australia would be able finish above England in a qualifying group.

I agree that perhaps a side with so many superstar players (Rooney, Becks, Gerrard, Lampard, etc) should probably be playing alot better than the way they have been...but their ability to grind out narrow wins still makes them one of the top sides in the world. Just look at Chelsea for example...how many times have we seen them get away with a 1-0 win? Too many times for my liking. They get labelled as a 'boring' team for this...but it is their ability to grind out such results when they are not playing well that makes them such a class side. This consistency is also a major reason why they have won the last 2 premierships.

I would have liked to conclude this little rant by saying that I hope England wins the World Cup to shut you all up...but unfortunately for them they are up against Portugal. In the event that Portugal do happen to be beaten by England though...I hope that England goes on to win the World Cup.

England can just rely on Beckham freekicks to win it, easy. Apart from Buffon the rets of the keepers are 1 lvl below. Buffon for Keeper of the tournament.

 

[mecurial]

Is that suppose to be a good argument considering Japan 3 yrs ago is not Japan now, basing your theory it's like saying.

Greece = Reigning Europe Champions

Australia 1 def Greece 0

Greece = no show at world cup

Australia = world top 5.


your theory is flawed.

They may not be top 5, but:

- That was a friendly.

- Many of Australia's starting XI played only minor roles at the World Cup itself.

- Australia played at a much higher level. Generally, they were poor in all three of their friendlies (Greece, Holland, Liechtenstein)

 

[matt#1]

England can just rely on Beckham freekicks to win it, easy. Apart from Buffon the rets of the keepers are 1 lvl below. Buffon for Keeper of the tournament.

Why can't England just rely on Becks' free kicks? ...It has worked for them well so far .

As for your comment about Buffon...I agree that he is probably a class above most 'keepers. Maybe I am just being biased again...but how good has the form of Portuguese 'keeper Ricardo been? He has let in only 1 goal so far (equal best in the tournament) and he has constantly come up with brilliant saves under pressure, especially in the game v Netherlands. Certainly not bad form for a guy that critics considered as the weak link in the Portuguese side. Schwarzer was also very good throughout the World Cup.

Worst performance by a goalkeeper in the tournament would have to go to Kalac. I don't think that he is terrible...but he certainly had a shocker v Croatia.

 

[LMF^^]

Maybe I am just being biased again...but how good has the form of Portuguese 'keeper Ricardo been? He has let in only 1 goal so far (equal best in the tournament)

Nah, Switzerland didn't even concede a game time goal.

With regards to England, we Aussies aren't suppose to like em. I don't know how you can like em so much either. For me I'm just watchin England for Rooney. But he, like the rest of the England, has been hardly inspiring so far. I'm gettin a lil bit agitated by that. Hopefully though the game against Portugal we'll see a better match. And with the presence of Rooney this time, and without Rui Costa, England might just sneak this one in ET. My $2 goes there.

 

[matt#1]

Nah, Switzerland didn't even concede a game time goal.

What I meant to say was that Portugal has let in the equal least amount of goals of any team remaining in the tournament.

As for your tip that England might beat Portugal in extra time...I'm not going to argue with you about that. Without Deco and possibly Ronaldo out...and so many yellow-carded players having to take it easy...deep down I think that this makes England slight favourites as well. We are still more than capable of winning though, especially if a fully-fit Ronaldo plays.

 

[Komit]

Australia will own Asia. Simple.

 

[Constip8edSkunk]

i would love to see scolari own sven a third time...

i think my dislike for england originated from their playing style, and because of the over exposure of the epl w.r.t other top class leagues.