World Cup 2006

[FlaFlu]

Here's my group analisis:

Group A:

Germany
Costa Rica
Poland
Ecuador

An easy draw for the home team, they will make it trough question is with who??? The three other teams are prety even, all of them play an atacking minded style, and neither of the thre made it to the second round in Korea-Japan.Poland beat Ecuador in a friendly a small while ago 3-1 but friendly's really dont mean anything, if i had to choose i would pick Costa Rica but it is anybodys game here. My picks Germany and Costa Rica

Group B:

England
Paraguay
Trinidad and Tobago
Sweden

This is a fun and ironic group, once again England have to face Sweden like in tha last World Cup, the only diference is that now the English have a Swedish coach, then you have the perennial third team from south america Paraguay, i really think Sweden can top this group plus they have the advantage of playing the newcomers T&T first, speaking of witch the Socca Warriors will have some fun but it'll be a real surpreise if they make it trough, they will probably play the rol of spoiler in the group, who ever looses point's against them will be eliminated. I'll pick Sweden and Paraguay.

Group C

Argentina
Ivory Coast
Serbia and Montenegro
Netherlands

Holy Shit!!!!! Welcome back to the World Cup Dutchies we've missed you and here's the welcoming present.....The Group of death!!!! Once again Argentina is placed in the hardest group of them all, will they fail again??? I dont think so but you never know with them Argentinians.
Ivory coast also get a welcoming party in their first try, i was wishing for this team to come in with a splash but now it's really hard to say, even Serbia and Montenegro who beat Spain in their qualifying group can sneak in. Damn this one is hard but im going with the favorites. Netherlands and Argentina make it trough.

Group D

Mexico
Iran
Angola
Portugal

Talk about a weak group, if not the weakest.Nothing hard to predict here Portugal have the experience and ability to make it through after crashing out in the last edition and Mexico always make it to the second round. Angola is the wild card here i have never seen them play but they did eliminate Nigeria so there must be something up their sleeve if they survive their first game against Portugal they might just have a shot. If you dont know Angola is the first african portuguese speaking country to make it to a world cup.Iran will have some nice vacation's in Germany and a lot of time to shop around. Mexico and Portugal with little doubt.

Group E
Italy
Ghana
Czech Republic
USA

Here's another cracker for ya, this one is going to be exiting.Will the italian catenaccio be able to saty upright against ofensive powerhouses like USA and the Czech Republic, its going to be hard to say but a real dandy to watch. Ghana round out the group not being an easy oponent at all, the Ghanaian's qualified for the first time but this team's debut in a World Cup is somewhat overdue after being World Champions in various lower age categories.This team will be a stern test for all of the other teams. I'm going with an inmense upset here Czech Republic and Ghana(you read it right) qualify.

Group F

Brazil
Croacia
Australia
Japan

This is a well rounded group, the world champions should not have any trouble making it trough, but the second slot is really up for grabs.
Once again Zico the Brazilian legend standing only behind Pele in his country has the dificult task to beat his own country, the first time they played was in this Year's confederation's Cup 3-2 for Brazil was the final score, the Aussies come back after quite some time, their is some chance of them getting to the second round but they must play a lot better than they did in the Confederation's Cup.Then we have Croacia a team that beat the Dutch to third place in France 98 and a team that topped their group in qualifying.Not an easy group but i'll go with Brazil(duh!!) and Japan.

Group G

France
Switzerland
Korea
Togo

Cake walk for France here, Switzerland end up with France again after they played each other at Euro 2004, the Swiss are young and rising and have a chance in this group, Korea look for a good fallow up after their good perfomance in 2002 thay also have a chance, Togo are newcomers to the big dance having eliminated the last World Cup cinderella in the process(Senegal) still they have a lot to learn and will have fun but dont look for them to qualify. France and Korea should make it trough

Group H

Spain
Ukrane
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia


After a rough ride in the qualifying round's it seems like the Spaniards will finally catch a break, they should qualify with ease.Shevshenko's Ukrane qualify for the first time and they were the first European team to do so after a splendid qualifying round, now can they keep it up???. Tunisia enter the draw as the actual African Champions, they achieved that goal in 2003, they have a chance in this group.Then we have the eternal qualifiers yet somewhat underachiever's Saudi Arabia, once again i dont think this team has a chance.It's Spain and Tunisia for me.

Well thats it, the first match will be played june 9th in Munich
Germany-Costa Rica.

I cant wait!!!!!!! :eusa_dance: :xyxthumbs: :yes: ;)

Damn, those were some bold but crappy predictions. :D

[acab]

:shithappens: 1:0

[ajaxperu]

10 more min to go, come on Holland! this game is getting more violent every minute

[ajaxperu]

this referee sucks, he wanted to be more important than the players today. a real idiot

[acab]

v. ivanov is stuped prostitute. and figo is the meanest shit-eater i eve seen. everything come from him and the russian whore. ivanov must sent him off when he headed v. bomel i think, but noooooo he show him only yellow. thet was 1 of the spupedest desicions i ever seen. HUP HOLLAND

[ZoefdeHaas]

Ok I don't know where this Stalin fuck came from but get him out.

Portugal, I have already mentioned few players I didn't like in previous posts now add: Figo, Deco, and Petit. What abunch of fuck faces isn't this suppose to be a "beautiful" game? They turned into a cock fest and played unfairly in every aspect (good goal, but Maniche is a rat) and to be kicked out of the World Cup in this manner is very painful, to be cheated from a shit face ref and non-sportif team is just unbelievable.

Applauds to Holland for their campaign.

[Cedric]

Well, I can't say the dutchies were exactly brillant, to be honest.... Overall, they were less dirty than the Portuguese, but as long as there is Van Bommel in the dutch squad, there are big chances that the game is dirty... (Not to mention Robben who showed again that he can be almost as great as a Portuguese in acting).

What a crap game anyway.... :pukey:

[dws]

Van Basten :nooo:

[AsgAarD_xxx]

England vs Mexico was one of the most boring game on this World Cup... There was a big chance that England advance, but with a game like that they won't have to say much in the quarter-finals...

Holland vs Portugal seemed to be one of the best games, and it looked like in the first half. Fantastic goal for Portugal, then the red card (and hope for a better game for Holland), but in the second half Ivanov lost control of that. Referees want to be on the top during the World Cup and they do everything just to read about themselves in the newspapers... Ivanov had a great first half in my opinion... As far as I remember he didn't make any mistake. Geez, we could quote Metallica's song - and justice for all. The second half, on the contrary, was totally crap. I don't know how is it possible, that there are 5 referees watching the game, they are able to talk to each other, and no-one cam see what happens on the field... Figo should be sent off, Costinha should be kicked much earlier etc... But - as Cedric noticed - Holland didn't take their chance. I don't know if it's van Basten's fault. Maybe he should change van Bommel or Dirk Kuijt? Or maybe give a chance to van Nistelrooy?

[Cedric]

Ivanov had a great first half in my opinion... As far as I remember he didn't make any mistake.

He did at least one, Costinha should have been sent-off earlier, and some people says that Boulahrouz could have received a red card for his foul on Ronaldo (at least, he wasn't acting this time ;) ), but I don't know.
One thing is for sure, it was difficult to keep the control of that game...
1 Van Bommel against 11 clones of him ? I would have killed some of them or stopped the game... :X

And I must I have nothing against Van Basten... :yes:

[Ayman]

If Mr Van Basten had brought Huntelaar instead of Vennegoor then who knows....

[dws]

Huntelaar may have made a difference ...... Van Nistelrooij for Kuijt may have made a difference. However, Oranje didn't lose because of the strikers. Oranje lost because the midfield failed.

[Ayman]

dws said:

Oranje lost because the midfield failed.

Well we all know van Bommel is over rated

[dws]

dws said:

Oranje lost because the midfield failed.

Well we all know van Bommel is over rated

You are being too kind, Ayman.

A very disappointing World cup for Oranje ............. a set of (non)performances on a par with Euro 2004.

Van Bronckhorst :nooo:

Van Bommel :nooo:

Van Basten

Sneijder :nooo:

Van der Vaart :nooo:

Kuijt :nooo:

[Van der Vaart]

I Think this squad has a big future ,for EK 2008 and WC 2010 .

Imagine :
Stekelemburg
Tiendialli
Boulahrouz
Heitinga
Emanuelson
Schaars
Van der Vaart
Hofs/Sneijder
Robben
Van persie/castelen
Huntelaar

and Kuyt ,Van Bommel yet ,De Ridder ,Maduro ,De Jong ,Babel
I hope very much for this future guys

[AjaxPDX]

The worst foul of the match was late in the first half when the Portugal defender went into Robben with his leg at shoulder height and went studs first straight into Robben's chest inside the box. Not only did the referee not call a penalty, but he called the foul on Robben. If you were to point to one moment where the players lost respect for the referee, where the referee lost control of the game, and where the tone was set for the negative second half of calls... that was probably the moment.

With that said... Holland didn't play particularly well. A very intense and exhilerating match... unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons.

[SE6Ajacied]

Well, that did nothing at all to reform my predjudices against Portuguese footballers....but then van Bommell was hardly any better, the man is a disgrace, I saw him take a knock in the stomach and go down clutching his face, just like Rivaldo against Turkey.

Good to see solidarity between our players I suppose. After Heitinga had been badly fouled Sneijder ran right over and laid into the Portugese player, pushing him to the floor...the ref had an absolute diasaster though, I think it's fair to say he'll be joining Grahma Poll on the plane home :nooo:

[jakobg]

People call Robben and Ronaldo cheating wankers, but god damn Kuyt fell down easily yesterday. He could have been booked 10 times for diving.

Otherwise, sad to see Holland eliminated like this. Great game to watch though, even if the actual football wasn't always in focus.

[DanK]

oh oh! two down (sweden / holland) - hopefully not one to go. C'mon Aussies...give me something to chear about.

I cant believe (again - maybe I shouldn't be surprised actually!) how shitful the ref was. I wish I could watch a game where the team I support actually get the correct calls.

All this could have been avoided if the ref had made the correct call on Figo. If he was sent off as he should have been, no retaliation would have come (maybe).

I agree with some of the posts, and have heard the same in post game comments. Hollands midfield never took control of the game, and that was the case for all their games. Period.

I am still sticking with 2008/2010 as year years of the Orange!

Oh yeah - van bommel is a bloody disgrace...man that hurts saying that of someone wearing orange.

[dws]

Figo has been cleared to play in the QF v's England. I'm happy that Figo will play ..... eventhough he behaved like an arse last night ..... this seems to even out the stupid decision to red card Deco.

[acab]

el pesetero - figo is a shame 4 football. he is a stinky shit, fucking portugiese gypsi.- zigeuner

[SPL]

A sad way to go out. The referee lost control of the match and should never be allowed to take charge of internationals in future.

For Holland Van Bommel is a thug and Boulahrouz was lucky not to have had a red for that first really bad tackle on Ronaldo.Kuyt is as bad as Robben with diving .

As for Portugal Figo is a disgrace. He should have had a red for headbutting and then dived to get Boulahrouz sent off. This man should be banned from the rest of the WC. His actions caused the breakdown of discipline in the game and FIFA should set an example .

The Dutch midfield was too lightweight especially with both VDV and Sneijder together.

On their Wc performances I doubt the big Italian clubs will come in for Wes
or Heitinga . As for Babel's brief start he looked like a duck out of water.

Even with KJH I am not sure Holland would have won last night but surely he is in a different class to the PSV farmer!!!!!

[Kowalczyk]

Exactly what I expected, to be honest.

In fact: I just grabbed a sh*tload of poins in a World Cup pool I play in, as I predicted a second round 1-0 exit against Portugal for Holland... (before the tournament stated).

Too bad, but this lot is not good enough (yet). They had like 70% possession and a few chances, so perhaps they would have deserved a goal, but even then: what happened to them against Portugal was what should have happened against Ivory Coast (who definitely deserved at least a draw against us).

For some reason it doesn't really hurt (also because I was in Atlanta, Ga., yesterday and watched the game at the airport, where there was no World Cup/football atmosphere at all).

K.

[ajaxusa]

World Cup 2006 - A Time To Make War

As awful as that game was yesterday - and it was bloody awful - it reminded me how serious the tournament is. Time to make friends? Bullshit. Time to do whatever it takes, whatever you can get away with, to grab that trophy. Half the teams out there would cut their own mothers' throats to put their hands on it. And the other half are going home.

[Blind3]

Was on the road from Cincinnati to Columbus and damn near fell asleep listening to England V. Ecuador. I did fall asleep later while watching the Oranje get knocked out. Miserable cardapalooza.