Re: World Cup 2006
 

Sad to se Rooney miss the WC. His replacement, Crouch, is with no doubt one of the worst soccer players in the world, seriously! :D

And for Italy and Argentina...in the last 2 or 3 WC's they've been favs, but they always shit their legs...every time. The same thing in Europe for Italy. There's no doubt that they both have the teams to win this years finals, but it seems like that they both have a disease that stops them to do well in the final stages! They lack the experience. Brazil and Germany have more experienced players, and that's why I see them both getting far.

Re: World Cup 2006
 

I agree with you regarding the past performances of Italy and Argentina. The same can also be said about Spain and Holland. Holland have one of the most talented squads (maybe THE most talented) in the competition but they always seem to 'implode'.

However, this is generalizing. If a team is good enough it will win the competition. Germany have the home advantage and a great record but are a very average side. If we progress we will probably have to play either Germany or Poland in the second round - I'd rather play Germany.

Peter Crouch, regardless of talent, is a very unorthodox player. He wins a huge amount of free-kicks - with those legs he's so difficult to tackle! He's also a great distraction. For a guy who's 6-foot-7 he's terrible in the air. In a recent win over Argentina, a ball was floated into the box and the defenders were so worried about him they left Owen (5-foot-8, very good in the air) free and he headed home.

I'm still down about Rooney. Sven has actually said he will take him just for the Final (wishful thinking!!). People are so gutted about our chances they have forgotten that this is a twenty-year old who's missing out on his first World Cup.

Re: World Cup 2006
 

im goin for the ivory coast but since i know that theyll be knocked out the first roung, ill go for...idk

Re: World Cup 2006
 

holy sh** dude! welcome back! how was africa?

Re: World Cup 2006
 

Hahaha :D ...well, Ivory Coast actually got many strong players for this WC. They have Drogba (Chelsea) Kolo Toure (Arsenal) and so on. Maybe they will surprise us all! :confused:

Re: World Cup 2006
 

Mmmm...the jury is still out about Drogba. I think Mourinho paid in the region of 25 million for him - he progressed well during the season but he's not worth that. Toure is an excellent defender and another great example of Wenger's eye for talented youngsters - Fabregas, Reyes, Van Persie etc

Wenger also purchased another talented youngster - 17 year old Theo Walcott. He hasn't even played one Premiership game but has been selected for the England squad - Sven hasn't even seen him play!!

Re: World Cup 2006
 

Providing the U.S. doesn't win... I'll be rooting for Italy and Germany.

Re: World Cup 2006
 

There is only one favourite: Brasil.

They have the most talented squad, the players that won't be in their start-up team would probably be in every other team's start-up line.

Germany will win from lesser teams, but their team is really not that good, there would have to be a lot of momentum going on there if they had to go far. In Korea/Japan they had the luck that they didn't have to go up against a 'big' team untill the final. This time they will secure the second round and than it's going to be hard for them.

England's chances of going very far are also down 50% now that Rooney is out.

The Ivory coast could surprise, as they are in our group, I'm a bit scared of them, these are teams who play great or terrible, there is often no middle ground.

Other teams that will get far or at least have the potential to do so are Italy and Argentina and maybe France or the Czechs.

For our own team, the Dutch, the squad is not as extremely talented as in other years, but our coach Van Basten seems to be able to get a good team-performance. The question is whether some of our players like Robben, Kuyt, Van Nistelrooy and Cocu can reach their best form, also our in-experienced defense players don't seem to be in the best shape lately. Another problem is our group of death, you have to be on top from day 1 and that might become a problem too. On the other hand, whenever a tournament was played in Germany we have always at least reached the final :D

Re: World Cup 2006
 

I agree with you about all those teams. France are not a great team but any team who has the best player in the world in their side has a great chance.

I disagree with you regarding England. Our chances of going far in the competition have been dented by Rooney's injury but not by 50%. We have the players to go very far without him. If we reach the Q-F Rooney could be fit by then - he is the difference between us winning the cup and only reaching the Q-F though. A little fact about our qualification - Rooney never even scored. We have goals throughout the team - Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Cole in midfield and at set-pieces our defenders Terry and Ferdinand are dangerous. Not to mention Michael Owen, who had a superior goal-to-game ratio than Raul, Robinho and Ronaldo when he was at Real Madrid.

I love watching Holland play. I remember their match against the Czechs in 2002. I think you lost 3-2 but what a great match (for the neutral!!). If you play as a team (which has been your downfall in the past) you should go close.

Brazil are the favourites but are no dead-certs...

Re: World Cup 2006
 

Italy England Argentina

Re: World Cup 2006
 

You know Ralphy...I keep loving your words here..lol ;)


Anyway...let me tell you the truth...here we arent so confident in Brasil' s success in this Cup...


And Germany is always a great team to consider as a possible champion....

Re: World Cup 2006
 

Humm..good choices...;)

Re: World Cup 2006
 

Do you remember Brazil X Holland in 1998 (semifinal) ???
AMAZING!!!!! ;) The best match of the whole Cup!!!!!



PS:But please dont tell me about the final!!!!!!! GRRRRR!:mad:

Re: World Cup 2006
 

3-0 if I remember?? Didn't Ronaldo have some sort of panic attack a few hours before kick-off?

Great news for English fans - Rooney could be back for the start of the competition. It's worth watching an England match just to see him play. I still wouldn't risk playing him in the group stages - if we can't progress from this group without him we don't deserve to be in the competition.

Who's gonna be top goal-scorer? I'm gonna have a flutter on Lampard (England) and perhaps Messi (Argentina).

Re: World Cup 2006
 

Brazil X Holand was great....amazing !!!!!!!

NO...dont even mention a word about it....here we still dont understand what happened ...or maybe we know...ohhhmad1: :mad: