World Cup 2006 - Groups

[Rhye]

Spain may never live up to their expectations but they do regularily qualify and importantly got to the quarter finals in the last world cup and were somewhat unlucky to go out to South Korea. Mexico were the weakest seeds.

Though it doesn't count, it has to be said that Spain is 1st in UEFA ranking.

BTW, they weren't unlucky with South Korea.
Korea just bought the referees, like they did with Italy.

 

[FredLC]

wow, i didn't even know there had been the seed,because of italian journalists on strike


I think we had a bad deal this time. Czech rep. is scaring, the USA have improved, and there's a huge risk of getting Brazil in the second phase (that means death)

I haven't studied the chart yet, but I think that for Italy to meet Brazil in the round of 16, one of us needs to be the top, the other needs to be the second on their respective groups.

All respect to our adversaries conceded, my money is in that both will get first spot, so we should not meet at least until the round of 8. Every commentary here is beting that we will see a Brazil/Czech Rep. game in the second stage...

 

[Rhye]

you can count on italy to get through, but not to be the 1st.

 

[willemvanoranje]

My World Cup Prediction:

going from the 2nd phase...

Brazil will win in the final, Italy will win the 3rd place..

 

[luiz]

Also a little interesting fact on group C:

The Côte d'Ivoire team has Bonaventure Kalou... and the Dutch team might have his little brother, Salomon Kalou (if he gets his passport).. two brothers playing each other on a World Cup.. it probably happened before, but still it's a nice fact if it comes true.

Is there any dutchman in the dutch team?

 

[Hitro]

Is there any dutchman in the dutch team?

All the ones who do the diving, like van Nistelrooy.

 

[willemvanoranje]

Is there any dutchman in the dutch team?

Well.. we have a lot more native people in our national team than Brazil has in the seleção.

But to answer your question the way you'd like... here's a list with players that in my opinion have a nice chance to go to the World Cup.. divided in Dutch players and Dutch players with a foreign background (Surinamese, Dutch Antilles, Maroccan)

Babel, Boulahrouz, Davids, Van Bronckhorst, Castelen, Landzaat, Maduro, De Jong (8)

Van der Sar, Timmer, Kromkamp, Opdam, Mathijsen, Heitinga, Van der Vaart, Sneijder, Van Persie, Kuyt, Van Nistelrooy, Robben, Vennegoor of Hesselink, Cocu, Vlaar, Zoetebier, Stekelenburg, Ooijer, Lucius, De Cler, Van Bommel (21)

Now from the 'Dutch' part more will fall of of course, than from the others.. I'd just like to add that almost all of the 'foreign' players were born here in the Netherlands and have never possessed any foreign passport (with exception of Kalou if he gets the Dutch nationality)..

All the ones who do the diving, like van Nistelrooy.

Another German trying to reverse the truth

And the statement is completely false.. It would mean only Van Nistelrooy and Robben are Dutch..

 

[classical_hero]

What are your crunch game for each of the groups? Remember ionly pick one, even if you have a tough time, especially considering Group C.

Here are mine.
A: Poland Vs Ecuador. To decide who will join Germany
B: England Vs Sweden. To decide who tops the group as both will have qualified
C: Serbia Vs Montenegro vs Netherlands. To decide who goes with Argentina.
D: Mexico Vs Portugal. To see who tops the Group.
E: Italy Vs Czech Republic. To decide who joins USA
F: Australia Vs Croatia. To see who joins Brazil.
G: South Korea Vs Switzerland. To see who joins France.
H: Tunisia Vs Spain. To see who joins Ukraine.

So here are the two teams from each Group to advance.
A: Germany and Poland
B: England and Sweden
C: Argentina and Serbia and Montenegro. Sorry to all the Dutch here.
D: Mexico and Portugal
E: USA and Czech Republic
F: Brazil and Australia. I had to include us advancing past the knockout stages.
G: France and South Korea
H: Ukraine and Tunisia.

I will not go any further than that ATM.

 

[luiz]

Well.. we have a lot more native people in our national team than Brazil has in the seleção.

The players of the Seleção are all natives... they may be a bunch of mercenaries playing in Europe, but that makes them more brazilian, not less

 

[Grisu]

The only thing I'm interested in with that is to eventually beat you with no contestation after those 2 draws from the qualifying phase

I can assure you, that feeling is mutual
But I agree that it should be impossible to get the same opponent as in the WC-Qualifiers...

Not that I'm complaining about the strength of the group. France certainly is one of the weakest opponents we could get from the seeds....and I just don't know enough about either Togo or South Korea, but a win here certainly is possible.....

personally, I'd have preferred Germany as the european adversary in the group, but you can't have everything

 

[willemvanoranje]

The players of the Seleção are all natives... they may be a bunch of mercenaries playing in Europe, but that makes them more brazilian, not less

no no, about every single one of them has a european or african background! Of course this goes back at least 100 years, but still!

How many players of the seleção are actually Tupi or Guarani? (and I'm not talking about the team from Campinas hehe)

So seeing from that point of view, either both our national teams are 100% Dutch/Brazilian, or we have more natives than you

 

[downtown]

daaang, very tough draw for the Americans. We'll need all we can muster to beat the Czechs


oh. and brazil is going to win again

 

[luiz]

no no, about every single one of them has a european or african background! Of course this goes back at least 100 years, but still!

How many players of the seleção are actually Tupi or Guarani? (and I'm not talking about the team from Campinas hehe)

So seeing from that point of view, either both our national teams are 100% Dutch/Brazilian, or we have more natives than you

The Tupis and Guaranis came from Asia some 15,000 years ago, so they're also immigrants

But certainly you can see the difference between players of an immigrant nation and the "imported players" from France, Holland and England.

oh. and brazil is going to win again

 

[Red Door]

The USA doesn't stand a chance in their draw. Even if they miracuolosly finish second in the group, they're probably going to have to play Brazil.
My prediction, Italy wins the Cup by defeating England 4-1.

 

[willemvanoranje]

But certainly you can see the difference between players of an immigrant nation and the "imported players" from France, Holland and England.

Oh yes.. although at this moment you really can't include Holland anymore.. not with the team of today. The days of Kluivert and Seedorf are over.. not to mention those of Gullit and Rijkaard... the important players are Robben, Van Nistelrooy, Cocu and Van der Sar...

 

[Hitro]

C: Serbia Vs Montenegro vs Netherlands. To decide who goes with Argentina.

Quite a bet. As it stands now I'd say the Netherlands are better than Argentina and quite possibly the best team in the world. Even if that should be over the top, thinking Argentina would be so much better that they'll win the group no matter what is not realistic.

 

[mitsho]

If anyone is interested, Spiegel.de made a simulator which simulates () the WC '06. Although it is in German, you should be able to understand it. Just fill in the gaps with your result and it will give you the tables of the groups and the draws of the final. Quite a handy tool, I do think.

Here's the link

I had to add my sheet too, comments:
-I had to let Spain win, since they will knock us Swiss out... And Brazil winning all the time isn't fun anymore...
-When now looking at the thing again, I think I might have been a bit overenthusiastic for Euroteams, but well, it's only a game..

And here are some translations:
Alle Gruppen : All groups
Vorrunde : Group round
Finalrunde : All final matches
Achtelfinal : 8 finals
Viertelfinal : quarterfinals
Halbfinal : Semi-final
Elfenbeinküste : Cote d'Ivoire/Ivory coast

 

[Inter4]

Spain winner? Boy you are optimistic.

 

[naervod]

I had the Netherlands 2-0 winners over France in the final and the USA advancing to the semis. OK, that may be a little optimistic, but not unrealistic. I had them top of group E simply by drawing Czechs and Italy and beating Ghana 3-2 while the Czechs drew Ghana and USA, beating Italy. We got first place on GD which set us up against Croatia, which I predicted a 2-0 victory for us, followed by a matchup with Switzerland, which predicted 1-0 to us, before we would go out 3-1 to France and get fourth place after losing 2-1 to England in the 3rd place game. Croatia and Switzerland are good teams though, so I think those results could go either way. Some interesting matchups in the later rounds were Brazil 2-1 Czech, Holland 2-1 Germany, France 2-1 Brazil, and Holland 2-0 England.

 

[mitsho]

Spain winner? Boy you are optimistic.

As I said, the one who will beat my team then has to win... Seriously, I think the Spanish will do as always, quarterfinals, and that's it.
The Netherlands however, I think they could do well, and Brazil of course, never to forget...