Knock-out stages — World Cup 2010

[sysyphus]

And so history repeats itself: The Italians and French collapse early and it's the Brits vs the Germans again, and England's only hope for victory is to call in reinforcements from the Commonwealth and hope that the Russians attack from the other side.

Edit: Dammit, Godwynn beat me to it.

 

[scherbchen]

ugh that looks like a nasty road for our national team. I can see a victory over the English because they have been playing less than stellar but then going against Argentina and then Spain? nasty.

 

[Infantry#14]

I'm hoping both England and US advance to the semifinals. Then they will have a rematch and settle the score once and for all (for 3rd).

 

[Tee Kay]

Well, do remember that the last two victories England had against Germany, namely 1945 and 1966, they achieved victory because of Soviet help.

I suppose their best chance then is if Ravshan Irmatov, Uzbeki referee, is appointed to the match, as no Russians or Azerbajanis are doing this world cup.

The referee will be Jorge Larrionda from Uruguay.

So, can we safely say Germany will win...?

 

[kalif]

well, it's gonna be the english this time. we're too unexperienced and inconsistent this time. so the tournament is at least 4 to 6 years too early for our team. nevermind, england won't win it all, eventhough most of us gerries will cheer for them after we've been defeated.

 

[Sofista]

we're too unexperienced and inconsistent this time.

This is the right time for me to ask: why so few players from 2006 were retained? They were young, had accounted themselves greatly... have they generally floundered?

 

[Till]

A lot of the young players are still there. There have been some retirements, some have stagnated, but mostly we just had even better talent coming out of the U21 recently.

2006 squad:

1 GK LEHMANN Jens – (Arsenal, ENG) retired
2 DF JANSEN Marcell – (Borussia Moenchengladbach, GER) in squad
3 DF FRIEDRICH Arne – (Hertha Berlin, GER) in squad
4 DF HUTH Robert – (Chelsea, ENG) dunno
5 MF KEHL Sebastian – (Borussia Dortmund, GER) dunno
6 DF NOWOTNY Jens – (Bayer Leverkusen, GER) retired
7 MF SCHWEINSTEIGER Bastian – (Bayern Munich, GER) in squad
8 MF FRINGS Torsten – (Werder Bremen, GER) too old/fallen out with manager
9 FW HANKE Mike – (Wolfsburg, GER) not good enough
10 FW NEUVILLE Oliver – (Borussia Moenchengladbach, GER) retired
11 FW KLOSE Miroslav – (Werder Bremen, GER) in squad
12 GK KAHN Oliver – (Bayern Munich, GER) retired
13 MF BALLACK Michael – (Bayern Munich, GER) injured
14 FW ASAMOAH Gerald – (Schalke 04, GER) not good enough
15 MF HITZLSPERGER Thomas – (VfB Stuttgart, GER) floundered
16 DF LAHM Philipp – (Bayern Munich, GER) in squad
17 DF MERTESACKER Per – (Hanover 96, GER) in squad
18 MF BOROWSKI Tim – (Werder Bremen, GER) not good enough
19 MF SCHNEIDER Bernd – (Bayer Leverkusen, GER) retired
20 FW PODOLSKI Lukas – (FC Cologne, GER) in squad
21 DF METZELDER Christoph – (Borussia Dortmund, GER) floundered
22 MF ODONKOR David – (Borussia Dortmund, GER) floundered
23 GK HILDEBRAND Timo – (VfB Stuttgart, GER) not good enough

 

[Munch]

England shouldn't beat Germany based on form, but the fact that we'd be meeting Argentina in the quarters suggests to me that we will.

Ha yes, we'll beat Germany on penalties and consider that score settled, then we'll beat Argentina with a sly handball and consider that score settled too. Then it's ok if we lose to Spain.

 

[Volum]

I have this strange feeling that England will win 1-0, without impressing much.

Unfortunately, the same feeling tells me Ghana sends out the US tonight

 

[Munch]

Seeing as the World Cup has so far defied prediction, I'm revising my predictions by instead basing them only on coin-toss.

Uruguay (dropped the coin in Uruguay vs South Korea, presume this means that game goes to penalties) vs Ghana
Slovakia vs Brazil

Mexico vs England
Japan vs Spain

-==-

Uruguay vs Brazil
Mexico vs Japan (to penalties)

-==-

Uruguay vs Mexico

-==-

Mexico to win the World Cup!

 

[Zelig]

Netherlands is probably the clearest favorite.

Chile gave Spain trouble today with 10 men.

I would not put Brazil as a clear, runaway favorite at all.

sure, there are favorites, but I really do not see any huge favorites, the way we would have said Italy was a huge favorite over New Zealand....

Netherlands is the favorite to make it to the finals, mostly because of their overwhelming odds vs. Slovakia. Brazil is still the favorite to win the WC.

 

[classical_hero]

South Korea nearly scored from a free kick. He hit the post.

 

[azzaman333]

Uruguay goal.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Brazil is still the favorite to win the WC.

Why the hell Brazil? Spain or Argentina are the top bets IMO (even though Spain got beaten my Switzerland they remain an incredible team with tremendous skill). Netherlands and Brazil are a second-rate bet.

And I have a feeling that Germany will be beaten Still will be a very entertaining game tomorrow.

 

[azzaman333]

Argentina? Seriously? Their defense has more holes than a sieve.

 

[Volum]

Paul the psychic German octopus has a 100% rate for guessing the winner of Germanies games so far, and he says Germany is going to win.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/sp...-Octopus-predicts-World-Cup-match-result.html

 

[Zelig]

Why the hell Brazil? Spain or Argentina are the top bets IMO (even though Spain got beaten my Switzerland they remain an incredible team with tremendous skill). Netherlands and Brazil are a second-rate bet.

And I have a feeling that Germany will be beaten Still will be a very entertaining game tomorrow.

Because I trust Nate Silver's projections more than I trust people's feeling of how good certain teams are.

Spain is barely favored over Portugal - if they win that match, their odds of winning the cup go way up.

 

[lithium30]

Goooooooooallllll!!!!!

 

[azzaman333]

Dammit Uruguay stop playing defensive crap.

 

[Pangur Bán]

The Koreans missed so many chances. I think they were a bit unlucky ... they would have scored a 2nd for instance if the water on the pitch hadn't slowed the ball from going into the net. But I suppose if you can't finish the kinda chances Korea had, you're probably not gonna progress far at this level.

The ending was strange. The Koreans were filling up the Uruguay end; but the Koreans weren't prepared to launch the ball into the box, even though having all those players around the penalty box deprived them of the ability to pass it forward.