World Cup 2006 - Groups

[Dell19]

A Germany - England game in the first knockout round after we drop points to Paraguay but qualify due to drawing with Sweden. England to win the game by a goal but then go crashing out to Holland in the next round on a massive bout of over confidence.

Netherlands beat Sweden in the semi final whilst Italy knock out Brazil on penalties and then lose to Holland in the final with Holland fitting Stapel's winning criteria of being neighbours with the host. Brazil win to come third.

Predicted Ecuador to get through instead of Poland. USA to lose out on qualifying due to losing to Italy whilst the Czechs get a point. Oh and Sweden get to the semis by beating Ecuador and Argentina.

 

[FredLC]

A: Poland Vs Ecuador. To decide who will join Germany

Sounds fair. I give an advantage to poland, though - Ecuador ain't quite the same outside high grounds such as Quito.

B: England Vs Sweden. To decide who tops the group as both will have qualified

Equally fair, but Paraguay has a few good players and might mean trouble.

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

Any prospect on this group is an exercize of futurology.

D: Mexico Vs Portugal. To see who tops the Group.

Here I agree.

E: Italy Vs Czech Republic. To decide who joins USA

Placing the USA above both Italy and Czech Rep. as the only certainty seens pretty unjustified.

F: Australia Vs Croatia. To see who joins Brazil.

Hmmm... I think Croatia will advance instead of Australia, and, while Australia has a stronger defense than Japan, I would not count them out so soon. They have been evolving quite a lot, and have virtually as much a chance of biting the second spot as Australia IMHO.

G: South Korea Vs Switzerland. To see who joins France.

Fair enough.

H: Tunisia Vs Spain. To see who joins Ukraine.

This is possible, since I heard Ukraine has evolved a lot in the qualifying tournament, but I'd still place Spain as the Top Dog in the group. The fury never really gets results, but has good players and it can change...

Regards .

 

[naervod]

I think Groups C and E are very hard to predict. The USA certainly has the quality to grab a point of both Italy and the Czechs, and if they beat Ghana as well, anything could happen. In Group C, one would think Holland and Argentina would advance, but with Serbia having one of the best defenses in qualifying, it could be hard to break them down at the back and Nikola Zigic will be a threat at the front. The Ivory Coast have some talented players and could definitely go somewhere too. They could very likely be the Senegal of this WC.

 

[naervod]

Just thinking also about the Second Round, Italy or Czech Republic vs. Brazil would be quite a cracker.

 

[Nobody]

I Predict the Australian team coming down with a nasty case of sars, the New Zealand team getting all the way to the Finals and defeating Brazil 1 - nil

 

[willemvanoranje]

well.. the thing is I think, that if Australia can't go, Uruguay would..

 

[Rhye]

simulating the WC with mitcho's sheet, England was my winner.

 

[Drewcifer]

I think the US has it's work cut out for it if it is to advance out of group play, things are definitely stacked against us. My main hope is that we don't embarass ourselves.

I am only a casual fan at best, I generally only watch the World Cup and the US and Mexico's qualifying matches that are on TV around here (I am stunned that Trinidad qualified from what I saw of them). I am really looking forward to this World Cup though, I work with people from several different countries; five countries in my kitchen - four of which have qualified (US, Mexico, Ecuador and Brazil; there is one guy from El Salvador, he is rooting for Costa Rica 1st and the US 2nd). This has the main topic of conversation at work this weekend, it should be interesting.

What do you all know about Ghana? I asked my night sous chef (who is from Brazil so he is the resident "expert"). His opinion was that it has some good players and has been up and comming for the last 10 years - they might be at the point where they have arrived as a dangerous sleeper team in the early rounds. The consensus in my kitchen is that Italy will probably advance but it will be a pretty intense three way battle to get the other spot out of Group E.

 

[naervod]

I'm wondering if Luca Toni can keep up his form all the way to summer. He has been in magnificent form for club and country in the past few months, but will he be able to keep his form after a whole season of playing?

One advantage I just thought of that the USA has is that a good amount of its players are domestically based (Donovan for example), and the MLS is a summer league, meaning that the World Cup for most players will fall after a tiring season while for many US players, it will come only two months or so into the season and they will be a bit less exhausted.

 

[willemvanoranje]

What do you all know about Ghana? I asked my night sous chef (who is from Brazil so he is the resident "expert"). His opinion was that it has some good players and has been up and comming for the last 10 years - they might be at the point where they have arrived as a dangerous sleeper team in the early rounds. The consensus in my kitchen is that Italy will probably advance but it will be a pretty intense three way battle to get the other spot out of Group E.

Well.. Appiah is one of their best known players I guess... Essien, Abubakari Yakubu, Mensah, Gyan..

And I think your kitchen is right haha..

 

[col]

Essien and Yakubu are world class players - and Ghana are probably the best African team right now which makes them pretty dangerous.

 

[willemvanoranje]

Ivorycoast ain't bad..

 

[Gr3yL3gion]

Man, my favorite team is in Group C.

I hope they really go all the way!

 

[Dell19]

Tunisia can't be that bad either.

 

[classical_hero]

Hmmm... I think Croatia will advance instead of Australia, and, while Australia has a stronger defense than Japan, I would not count them out so soon. They have been evolving quite a lot, and have virtually as much a chance of biting the second spot as Australia IMHO.

I do remember that you said that Uruaguay would beat Australia to make it to the World Cup. Remember that. So I think you are wrong again, but that is the whole fun of Prediction. Also it will be great to meet Brazil. I know we have know chance, but who knows what could happen, especially after the last World Cup. Who would have thought that Fracne would not score a goal and that Argentina would be knocked out in the group stages.

 

[willemvanoranje]

Australia has a chance, but Croatia is better at the moment... I would prefer Australia though

 

[FredLC]

No, I said I would have preferred to see Uruguay at the cup than Australia, to see all nations which won in the dispute, and because Uruguay was traditional. I have even said that you had to create your result in Sidney, because no way you would win in Montevidéu, but other than that, anything could happen.

As far as I know, everything went excatly as i said it would.

Besides, I'm not dooming Australia right now; what I am saying is that Japan is also competition. Don't think beating them is something you can depend on.

Regards .

 

[Lambert Simnel]

Bleh. I find it very hard to get excited about these groups, except possibly Group C. I suspect that many of the predictions we've had so far are a bit overly euro-centric, but it does feel a bit like the first phase is just there to give a bit of a warm-up for Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and a dozen or so European teams. I suppose there will be a couple of upsets, but I might skip the first phase and just start paying attention from the knockout rounds.

 

[Dell19]

I think its partly to do with the African nations being generally new to the world cup so its difficult to get excited about them since we don't know how they will perform. Very much the same situation with South Korea and Japan as there is a lack of belief that they can match their performances from the last world cup.

 

[Dell19]

I think its partly to do with the African nations being generally new to the world cup so its difficult to get excited about them since we don't know how they will perform. Very much the same situation with South Korea and Japan as there is a lack of belief that they can match their performances from the last world cup.