[Pirata Morado]

The World Cup of Soccer is about to start and it will be a good distraction from baseball and the pathetic Mariners.

Who do you root for?

[senior octobre]

I'm pulling for Mexico, Cameroon, Nigeria and Ivory Coast. USA never plays well. I love the World Cup. I'll watch every match if I can.

Group A:

South Africa 125-1
Mexico 80-1
Uruguay 100-1
France 18-1

Group B:

Argentina 7.5-1
Nigeria 100-1
Korea Republic 200-1
Greece 150-1

Group C:

England 6-1
USA 66-1
Algeria 400-1
Slovenia 200-1

Group D:

Germany 12-1
Australia 125-1
Serbia 66-1
Ghana 66-1

Group E:

Netherlands 11-1
Denmark 100-1
Japan 250-1
Cameroon 100-1

Group F:

Italy 12-1
Paraquay 80-1
New Zealand 2000-1
Slovakia 200-1

Group G:

Brazil 5-1
Korea 1000-1
Côte d'Ivoire 33-1
Portugal 28-1

Group H:

Spain 4-1
Switzerland 200-1
Honduras 500-1
Chile 66-1

odds for entertainment purposes only.

This post has been edited by senior octobre: 11 June 2010 - 10:20 AM

[Sancho Panza]

Spain, but I'd put money on Argentina.

[Schuxu]

Germany off course. Unfotunately Ballack is out :-(

[Sancho Panza]

Yeah, that dealt a big blow to Germany's chances. They'll still get through the group, I think, but then...

When I show up somewhere to view a match, I'm always wavin' the flag of whoever is providing the drinks. I've got one each for Portugal, Spain, South Africa, France - boo, but their wine's good - and Germany.

Sancho the weather vane!

[Huindekmi]

GO IRELAND!!!!!

Oh. Right. Dammit.

Well, I might as well be neutral. GO SWITZERLAND!!

[senior octobre]

England was a good number for some time, but it has dropped quite a bit.

[Marco]

In the previous 18 World Cup tournaments every time they played outside Europe NO european club ever won it. Better do not forget that trend which is confirmed on the contrary too - just once a no-european club won the Cup when they played in Europe, Brazil in Sweden, 1958. The easiest bet ? Brazil vs Spain of course even if often in the past it was not the most exciting team to win the Cup. It's a long tiring and unusual tournament which is played in a month timespan under enormeous amount of pressure and in late rounds the matches require a lot of intangibiles from players and coaches.
My choice is Argentina.

This post has been edited by Marco: 21 May 2010 - 02:26 PM

[Sancho Panza]

Huindekmi, on May 21 2010, 11:11 AM, said:

GO IRELAND!!!!!

Oh. Right. Dammit.

Do we feel your pain or what. If it's any consolation, Pirata sez that his guys are gonna punish the guilty party. Pledge a donation to a worthy cause!

This post has been edited by Sancho Panza: 22 May 2010 - 08:03 AM

[senior octobre]

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=1QlLZuehOQA

Ronaldiho

[Sancho Panza]

Numbers 9 and 5 were not the most artistic of the lot, yet my favorites, outplaying as he had to the entire defense single-handedly footedly.

[senior octobre]

I like the one where he's flat footed and just standing there at the line and he says (okay, I'm not dave henderson) you are not guarding me I'll just kick it in.

[anunderwaterguy]

Pirata Morado, on May 19 2010, 08:20 PM, said:

The World Cup of Soccer is about to start and it will be a good distraction from baseball and the pathetic Mariners.

Who do you root for?

What did you think of Mexico tonight against England? I thought they were very unlucky and were much the better team in the first half. They passed the ball better, they created much better opportunities and yet still went in 2-1 down mainly because 1) Peter Crouch is a giant and 2) the linesman missed a fairly obvious offside decision. Ok the defending wasn't great, but the performance overall was far better than the last time I saw Mexico play (the last time I saw them play was when Sven Goran Eriksson was the manager). Surely if they pass the ball as well as that they should progress from Group A.

Anyway I managed to get some time off work and some flights, so I'm going to go to South Africa and take in a few games. I'll be supporting France, for family reasons. Algeria, Slovenia and the USA have my support as well.

[Jpax]

What do you think of USA's chances this year?

I see them getting out of the first round as long as they don't take Slovenia and Algeria lightly and are ready to play.

I always like to watch Brazil and Argentina play, but the last couple World Cups have been fairly dominated by European teams.

[Sancho Panza]

Jpax, on May 24 2010, 06:52 PM, said:

What do you think of USA's chances this year?

Even to slightly better than even.

At least they are better than last time, when our group included a pre Cup dark horse as well as the eventual champion. We played the latter 1:1 yet did not advance.

This post has been edited by Sancho Panza: 25 May 2010 - 04:46 AM

[Sancho Panza]

One of my most memorable Cup matches was the semifinal in Italy between England and Germany in 1990. Two different cultures with the same bull-dogged tenacity. Tactics cast to the wind, it's up and down the pitch the whole match, no quarter asked none given, like when "two nations came to death grips on the farm lands of Pennsylvania".

England's horse is Gascoigne, aka Gazza, a rough, mercurial character who knew every trick, both high and low. Well midway through the second half, Gazza seizes the ball at midfield, and he's off to the races down the left sideline, Brehme breathing down his neck in hot pursuit. Just before Gazza reaches the corner to strike a cross, Brehme pulls the emergency brakes from behind. Bang. Down goes Gazza, hard, like a sack of cement. Gazza immediately leaps to his feet, and - to the astonishment of millions of spectators - with a big grin on his face turns to offer a handshake to the equally astonished Brehme. Gazza, for all his faults, could take it as well as he dished it out. Respect.

Regulation ends, deservedly, 1:1. Second act, overtime, same as the first, so that we arrive at that last, unfair but most dramatic and tragic of them all, the penalty shoot-out. Some poor soul standing alone at the penalty mark with the crushing weight of an entire nation's hopes on his shoulders will eventually misfire, and as fate would have it, it's Pearce and Waddle for England.

[Marco]

1966, World Cup in England (Rimet Cup was named at that time, until Brazil brought it home definitely winning it for the 3rd time in Mexico 1970). Preliminary round robin, Italy losing 1:0 to Russia in the second match is forced to win next one vs. North Jorea to go on in the tournament. National TV broadcasting, at the end of that match the Italian speaker declares to the nation:
“Today we lost to Russia but don't worry ...... on Tuesday we have a very easy match vs. Korea !!” On that Tuesday, July 19 Italy lost again 1:0, the team went back home with the worst infamy of its history, its coach fired and that TV speaker retired after a glorious career.



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This post has been edited by Marco: 25 May 2010 - 02:43 PM

[senior octobre]

Guardado raring to go again

Quote

What I’m most excited about though, is the Opening Match. The whole world will be watching us and I think any country would love to have that opportunity.

FIFA.com story

[anunderwaterguy]

If the USA don't qualify from the group they're in it would be pretty disappointing. Slovenia are not a great side - even Scotland beat them 3-0 in Slovenia the last time we played. They're a very small nation who went on a good run in the qualifiers and got a bit of luck against Russia in the playoff (where they won despite being outplayed). Algeria have some good players, but are very beatable.

[Sancho Panza]

anunderwaterguy, on May 24 2010, 03:10 PM, said:

I'll be supporting France, for family reasons. Algeria, Slovenia and the USA have my support as well.

Given your allegiences, you've got quite a dilemma in group play.

Do I recall correctly something you posted a few years ago that included a family tie with Italy as well? If not, it wouldn't be the first time that my memory failed.

Sancho: Doc, ya gotta do somthing, I'm losing my memory!

Doc: That's terrible. How long has this been going on?

Sancho: How long has what been going on?