This One May Be A Long One!
I've got to recap the Group Stage, forecast the 2nd round (I know that some matches have taken place already...but I'll be honest with you on who i WOULD have picked. I'll also go through some highlights of the first four knockout matches, and will give some ideas as to what the US team needs to do to become a force on the world stage.
Allright a little recap of the group stages.
Here is how I thought the groups were going to turn out:
Group A
Winner: Germany (correct)
Second: Poland (incorrect)
Eliminated: Costa Rica
Eliminated: Ecuadoer
Group B
Winner: England (correct)
Second: Sweden (correct)
Eliminated: Trinidad and Tobago
Eliminated: Paraguay
Group C
Winner: Holland (advanced but in second place)
Second: Cote D'Iviore (incorrect)
Eliminated: Argentina
Eliminated: Serbia and Montenegro
Group D
Winner: Mexico (actually finished second but both advanced)
Second: Portugal (actually finished first but both advanced)
Eliminated: Angola
Eliminated: Iran
Group E
Winner: Czech Repbublic(incorrect)
Second: USA (very incorrect)
Eliminated: Ghana
Eliminated: Italy
Group F
Winner: Brazil (correct)
Second: Australia (correct)
Eliminated: Croatia
Eliminated: Japan
Group G:
Winner: France (finished second)
Second: Switzerland (finished first)
Eliminated: Togo
Eliminated: S.Korea
Group H:
Winner: Spain (correct)
Second: Tunisia (incorrect)
Eliminated: Croatia (yeah, I know, I meant Ukraine)
Eliminated: Saudi Arabia
Alright, so I was awful in my predictions...Argentina was probably the best team in the first round, Neither the US nor the Czech Republic made it past the first round. I really picked Tunisia. And Poland, POLAND!!!!
Anyway, there is a reason I'm not on ESPN, although I have to be better than that fucker Dave O'Brien, he's the Joe Morgan of Soccer. I think I'd rather see Tim McCarver and Joe Morgan do these games with Beasley Reese, than to see one more game done by Dave O'brien.
Anyway, So I was off in a lot of my predictions, but the big one is whether or not I could pick the winner, and that team is still alive, actually both teams that I picked to be in the finals are still in it. England hasn't actually played well yet, but they are still advancing, so my predictions look Nostradamus like.
Anyway, A quick recap of the first round, first off there were three at least 3 goalies that wore pants. I think Angola, Saudi Arabia and Ecuador all were cursed by the pants wearing goalies.
My favorite haircuts of the tournament went to Wilhelmson of Sweden. Who looks like some sort of a time warped Ace Of Base fan from 1992.
And to Loco from Angola who sports a similar haircut to the punk girl who lived in my dorm and would always be writing on herself in the smoking lounge.
The best performance of the first round had to be Argentina, despite my dislie of many former and current players, I'll admit they had the best group stage performance...devastating offense, good defense, even surprisingly good goaltending.
The Worst performance had to have been the US's, I'm sorry, they were awful.
Biggest Surprise...Ghana.
Biggest Dissapointment...The Officiating. Awful officiating on many, many levels. I mean, there were missed offsides, missed penalties, incorrect penalties, awful dismissals, and even 3 yellow cards to the same player.
Allright, now given who advanced, here's who I would have picked.
Germany vs. Sweden
I have to go with my original pick, even though Germany was much better than Sweden in the group stages (Yes, I was wrong, but I won't rewrite history)
Argentina vs. Mexico
Based on performance, Argentina has to win this one. (yes I was right, although Mexico made us sweat it out....and if it weren't for a wonder goal in extra time, they might have won)
England Vs. Ecuador
Even though I heard that England was going to switch up the formation, in the midde of the tournament, I figure they have to win. Maybe just because the goalie wears pants and face paint...I mean, who does he think he is...Sting? (England won this one, albeit unconvincingly while David Beckham puked on the field)
Holland vs. Portugal.
I gotta pick Holland...perhaps because I hate players on both teams, but Holland has an Arsenal Player on it, and Cristiano Ronaldo is the antichrist. (in arguably the ugliest game I've ever seen, there were like 16 yellow cards and four red cards, the ref lost control and the players went overboard, but either way Portugal was able to win the match...I'm 2 for 4).
Australia vs. Italy.
I'd love to say Australia, I really would, but I think Italy wins this one, by scoring from a free kick then playing 10-0-0 football the rest of the way.
Ghana Vs. Brazil
Poor officiating means that there is no Michael Essien in this match for Ghana, so their best player, and one of the best in the world, gets to sit and watch because a referee wanted to be noticed on tv. Brazil wins this one, pretty easily, although Ghana puts a scare in them with some attacking play.
Spain Vs. France
Spain, I mean, they were able to rest all 11 starters from game 2 in their group stage in game 3, because they were so dominant...ALL 11.
Switzerland vs. Ukraine.
I'm going to go with the Swiss here, because of the Arsenal Factor. Senderos is out, but Johan Djorou is still on the team.
Ok, I promised you a diatribe on why the US team will never win the world cup, but I'm going to hold off on doing that until tomorrow, as I'm tired and I'd rather have something to do instead of work.
But I will leave you with my top three goals of the world cup so far starting with number 3.
number 2
And Number 1.
Allright a little recap of the group stages.
Here is how I thought the groups were going to turn out:
Group A
Winner: Germany (correct)
Second: Poland (incorrect)
Eliminated: Costa Rica
Eliminated: Ecuadoer
Group B
Winner: England (correct)
Second: Sweden (correct)
Eliminated: Trinidad and Tobago
Eliminated: Paraguay
Group C
Winner: Holland (advanced but in second place)
Second: Cote D'Iviore (incorrect)
Eliminated: Argentina
Eliminated: Serbia and Montenegro
Group D
Winner: Mexico (actually finished second but both advanced)
Second: Portugal (actually finished first but both advanced)
Eliminated: Angola
Eliminated: Iran
Group E
Winner: Czech Repbublic(incorrect)
Second: USA (very incorrect)
Eliminated: Ghana
Eliminated: Italy
Group F
Winner: Brazil (correct)
Second: Australia (correct)
Eliminated: Croatia
Eliminated: Japan
Group G:
Winner: France (finished second)
Second: Switzerland (finished first)
Eliminated: Togo
Eliminated: S.Korea
Group H:
Winner: Spain (correct)
Second: Tunisia (incorrect)
Eliminated: Croatia (yeah, I know, I meant Ukraine)
Eliminated: Saudi Arabia
Alright, so I was awful in my predictions...Argentina was probably the best team in the first round, Neither the US nor the Czech Republic made it past the first round. I really picked Tunisia. And Poland, POLAND!!!!
Anyway, there is a reason I'm not on ESPN, although I have to be better than that fucker Dave O'Brien, he's the Joe Morgan of Soccer. I think I'd rather see Tim McCarver and Joe Morgan do these games with Beasley Reese, than to see one more game done by Dave O'brien.
Anyway, So I was off in a lot of my predictions, but the big one is whether or not I could pick the winner, and that team is still alive, actually both teams that I picked to be in the finals are still in it. England hasn't actually played well yet, but they are still advancing, so my predictions look Nostradamus like.
Anyway, A quick recap of the first round, first off there were three at least 3 goalies that wore pants. I think Angola, Saudi Arabia and Ecuador all were cursed by the pants wearing goalies.
My favorite haircuts of the tournament went to Wilhelmson of Sweden. Who looks like some sort of a time warped Ace Of Base fan from 1992.
And to Loco from Angola who sports a similar haircut to the punk girl who lived in my dorm and would always be writing on herself in the smoking lounge.
The best performance of the first round had to be Argentina, despite my dislie of many former and current players, I'll admit they had the best group stage performance...devastating offense, good defense, even surprisingly good goaltending.
The Worst performance had to have been the US's, I'm sorry, they were awful.
Biggest Surprise...Ghana.
Biggest Dissapointment...The Officiating. Awful officiating on many, many levels. I mean, there were missed offsides, missed penalties, incorrect penalties, awful dismissals, and even 3 yellow cards to the same player.
Allright, now given who advanced, here's who I would have picked.
Germany vs. Sweden
I have to go with my original pick, even though Germany was much better than Sweden in the group stages (Yes, I was wrong, but I won't rewrite history)
Argentina vs. Mexico
Based on performance, Argentina has to win this one. (yes I was right, although Mexico made us sweat it out....and if it weren't for a wonder goal in extra time, they might have won)
England Vs. Ecuador
Even though I heard that England was going to switch up the formation, in the midde of the tournament, I figure they have to win. Maybe just because the goalie wears pants and face paint...I mean, who does he think he is...Sting? (England won this one, albeit unconvincingly while David Beckham puked on the field)
Holland vs. Portugal.
I gotta pick Holland...perhaps because I hate players on both teams, but Holland has an Arsenal Player on it, and Cristiano Ronaldo is the antichrist. (in arguably the ugliest game I've ever seen, there were like 16 yellow cards and four red cards, the ref lost control and the players went overboard, but either way Portugal was able to win the match...I'm 2 for 4).
Australia vs. Italy.
I'd love to say Australia, I really would, but I think Italy wins this one, by scoring from a free kick then playing 10-0-0 football the rest of the way.
Ghana Vs. Brazil
Poor officiating means that there is no Michael Essien in this match for Ghana, so their best player, and one of the best in the world, gets to sit and watch because a referee wanted to be noticed on tv. Brazil wins this one, pretty easily, although Ghana puts a scare in them with some attacking play.
Spain Vs. France
Spain, I mean, they were able to rest all 11 starters from game 2 in their group stage in game 3, because they were so dominant...ALL 11.
Switzerland vs. Ukraine.
I'm going to go with the Swiss here, because of the Arsenal Factor. Senderos is out, but Johan Djorou is still on the team.
Ok, I promised you a diatribe on why the US team will never win the world cup, but I'm going to hold off on doing that until tomorrow, as I'm tired and I'd rather have something to do instead of work.
But I will leave you with my top three goals of the world cup so far starting with number 3.
number 2
And Number 1.
posted by fuge at 9:41 PM
1 Comments:
Picking the World Cup is tougher than picking March Madness, particularly because of the first/second thing which radically changes who teams will face on their way to the Cup. I picked Japan for christsake. Japan.
O'Brien is bad, but Balboa is just wrong. about everything. Did you see the Socceroo-Brazil match when he said that an Aussie player's not taking a strike on a ball that he thought had been called offsides (one day after Crespo got a yellow for doing so) was a mistake worthy of a child's league? The comedy peaked when Ronaldo got a yellow card for following Marcelo's instructions approximately 2 minutes later. Balboa didn’t appreciate the humor in the situation. He just shot his mouth off about that as well.
sign this.
The Portugal-Holland game was downright offensive. It was the ugliest match since … well, since the Portugal-Mexico match. One match like that and you can blame the officiating or the other team. Two matches like that and you pretty much have to conclude that Portugal is a dirty dive team. I was rooting for them at the start of today’s match only because I didn’t really want to root for Holland, but the next match between Portugal and England may be the first time I root for England. At least they play relatively clean ball. A few dives today, but that’s just the reality of Cup futbol.
The craziest thing of this World Cup is that Switzerland has not yet conceded a goal, and with a totally unconvincing Ukraine squad up next and a suspect Italian squad after that, there’s at least a reasonable chance that they could get to the semifinals of the World Cup without conceding a goal. That’s insane. And the will be punished by the World Cup Gods in the form of a beatdown at the hands of Argentina or Germany (I would love to call that match for Argentina right now, but I don’t know if Riquelme has his legs left after 210 minutes in the past week. Also, I’m watching a Pauly Shore movie on TBS right now and I’m not very confident about my judgement right now).
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