2006 FIFA World Cup

[Brent Burns]

My friend and I were discussing that this year we have witnessed teams winning the title for the first time except for Virginia had won the DI title again. We saw Miami Heat win the NBA title for the first time, University of Florida winning the NCAA DI basketball title, Carolina Hurricanes winning the NHL title, etc.

Do you think that would ever happen in the World Cup? Would the conventional wisdom still say that there will be a nation winning the title again such as Germany or England or Brazil or Italy? Would the newcomers such as Switzerland or Ghana or Australia or Portugal would ever win the World Cup for the first time?

[cjwilhelmi]

Question for you guys who follow world cup more than I do: What are the rules for yellow cards in the knock out rounds? For the round robin it was two and you sit but if you only had one it was erased after that round.

[Brendan Barry]

Italy v. Aussie


Biggest Crock ever. I can't believe it.

[cjwilhelmi]

Italy 1
Australia 0


Italy scores on a PK in the 93rd minute

[jessexy]

Silly little International Soccer Ref Question for Jesse (or anyone else) - Why do the referees hold the whistle in their bare hand? Why would they use a finger whistle like we use in lacrosse or a whistle on a neck laynard? It seems like they are holding in thier hands and they would drop it or something. The whistle has to be a pain when they are dealing with all the cards, etc.

they actually use a wrist lanyard to hold the whistle with. I know some referees that use the finger clips and it gets int he way when you show cards and have to write. the neck lanyards never worked because we dont carry the whistle in the mouth during the game.

My friend and I were discussing that this year we have witnessed teams winning the title for the first time except for Virginia had won the DI title again. We saw Miami Heat win the NBA title for the first time, University of Florida winning the NCAA DI basketball title, Carolina Hurricanes winning the NHL title, etc.

Do you think that would ever happen in the World Cup? Would the conventional wisdom still say that there will be a nation winning the title again such as Germany or England or Brazil or Italy? Would the newcomers such as Switzerland or Ghana or Australia or Portugal would ever win the World Cup for the first time?

Conventional wisdom says we will have a repeat winner. Italy, England, Brazil, Argentina, France and Germany have all won before. Portugal are looking good right now, but they have star players that have to sit out cuz of suspension v. England. Spain looks good, but their path is through France then Brazil. not good.

[FLAK]

Question for you guys who follow world cup more than I do: What are the rules for yellow cards in the knock out rounds? For the round robin it was two and you sit but if you only had one it was erased after that round.

I believe its the same, just that the ones from the round robin dont carry over, not 100 percent sure though.

[jessexy]

ok, its now time for my picks to die by. i couldnt find that old thread where i made predictions, but here's another shot. For the record, im going to do my picks for the First Round now, then we'll re-visit when the knockout phase begins on the 24th.

Group A-Germany and Poland
Ecuador brings a fight, but Germany is too close to Poland to not capitalize on a pseudo home field advantage that brings. Germans cake walk through, but there is a death match with Poland in game 2.

Group B-Sweden and England
So Rooney is back, but he doesnt start until game 3 when the Lions and the Swedes are already qualified. Sweden wins that one to take the top of the group and the easier game in the Knockout round.

Group C-Holland and Ivory Coast
Argentina disappoints. they have the most firepower and experience, but too many individuals bring the team down. Holland brings a lot of fans over and the Orange overpower every team in the group. Ivory Coast rides the back of Drogba to the second round.

Group D-Portugal and Mexico
Angola gives Portugal (the former colonial ruler of Angola) alot to handle, but Portugal makes it through. Mexico destroys the other two teams. Both are through when they play to a boring draw in game 3.

Group E-Italy and USA
US stuns the Czechs 1-0 in the opener to take the 2nd spot (and a match with Brazil in the second round). Italy dominates everyone to take all 9 points.

Group F-Brazil and Australia
Brazil is Brazil and isnt even troubled yet. Australia fights one out against close relative Croatia and gets a win in their first trip to the World Cup Finals. The Aussies have too many major Euro league players to get nervous and make mistakes.

Group G-France and Switzerland
Boring group. these teams are clearly going through to the next round easily. Korea rode the home crowd last time, but cant handle the pressure this time.

Group H-Ukraine and Spain
another soft group, though Tunisia could get a surprise draw or two. Ukraine destroys the Spanish in the opener to take the group.

since i made my picks earlier, Ill review and then continue into the knockout round.

I missed big on Poland, but got Germany.
I had Group B correct, even though the Swedes had to sneak through.
Group C had me guessing because i knew one African team would get through and I didnt wanna pick Ghana (cuz that meant the US would be out.........on second thought). i thought Argentina would choke, but they are now my favorites to meet Brazil in the final game. i knew Holland was young and RVN has been out of form and not scoring goals since January. he rode the Man U bench this season also.
Group D was spot on perfect, but Mexico gave me a scare.
Group E was a nightmare. as i said any team could advance and it turns out that Italy used experience and Ghana used confidence of the unknown.
Group F was correct again
Group G was correct
and Group H was correct. I did pretty good, now that im writing this down here.

All in All 13-16 aint bad. and nobody picked Ghana so we wont count that one.

Now i wont count the games already played, so ill start with the Swiss v. Ukraine. Shevchenko is good, but the Swiss havent let a goal in yet in the tournament. Swiss go on.

Brazil defeats Ghana, but the Black Stars dont go down easily. they are missing Essien, but their goalscorers are back. the referee may play a part in this also. Lubos Michel is from Slovakia and could let some rough play go. that favors Ghana.

Spain defeats France, but i hope for a few moments of beauty from Henry and Zidane. SPain is looking very strong, though, and we may see alot of goals in this one.

Argentina over Germany
Italy over Swiss
Portugal over England-winning ugly matters until you play someone that can counteract ugly with ugly. we saw that from Portugal v. Holland and they win even without Deco and Costinha.
Brazil over Spain-Brazil is too much.

Argentina over Italy-The Argentines are too technical and match up well with Italy. they win
Brazil over Portugal-a grudge match. too many similarities to compare the teams. it comes down to individual players and Brazil wins that one.

Argentina over Brazil. a dream final and this one will be remarkable.

[jessexy]

Australia fights one out against close relative Croatia and gets a win in their first trip to the World Cup Finals

Huh?

Lots of Croatian refugees fled to Australia throughout history. there are many players of Croatian descent on the Australian roster for the World Cup. In fact, some of the players qualify to play for either Australia or Croatia because of their ancestry (even though you have to choose).

i watched Australia v. Croatia on Friday and the announcers wouldnt stop talking about the historical relationship between the two. interesting that Guud Hiddink (the dutch coach of Australia) started a new goalkeeper of Croatian descent even though his regular starter is Top 10 in the world. and the team captains were actually roommates for their first club Dinamo Zagreb (in Croatia) when they were rookies.

Here are the players with Croatian lineage on the Australian squad.

Ante Covic (GK0
Zeljko Kalac (GK)
Tony Popovic (D)
Jason Culina (M)
Josip Skoko (M)
Mile Sterjovski (M) he is Serbian
Mark Viduka (F)
Joshua Kennedy (F) plays currently in Croatia.

[Brent Burns]

From the words of our USLIA in-house soccer expert-jessexy, I would imagine that Argentina will be prepping for Germany's blitzkrieg offense this Friday evening, would they? From Germany's round robin games and from last Saturday's game against Sweden, Germany's time of scoring the first goal of the game would be around the 6th minute mark. I am sure the Argentines will be using more of Messi and Tevez to match speed for speed with Klose, Prinz Poldi, and Ballack.

On the other hand, I agree with jessexy that we will be witnessing the battle of the physical armadas in the flesh on the field between England and Portugal. I am sure Beckman and Company would be hoping that Cristiano Ronaldo would not be back on the field, but they will still practice to play against him anyway. Have the English team ever played against any goalie like Portugal's who can kick the ball all the way almost close to the goal?

[Brent Burns]

It is half-time now with Swiss and Ukraine tied at 0-0. That ref sure let them play, and both teams have received no yellow or red cards. That is quite a far cry from yesterday's POR-NED game. We will see if that will hold true in the 2nd half for the Switzerland-Ukraine game with no cards, but I would not be surprised that a few of them would be handed out later.

[JosueSays]

Why take Frei out!? I'm sure he could have made one! arggg, frustrated that the better team didn't win. Switzerland had a very strong team this year. Oh well, the Ukraine is not far off from them. Good game

Exciting games tomorrow

[Brent Burns]

Now i wont count the games already played, so ill start with the Swiss v. Ukraine. Shevchenko is good, but the Swiss havent let a goal in yet in the tournament. Swiss go on.

Switzerland and Ukraine tied yesterday, and Ukraine advanced with a win in a penalty shoot out over the Swiss. Ukraine will face off against Italy.

Brazil defeats Ghana, but the Black Stars dont go down easily. they are missing Essien, but their goalscorers are back. the referee may play a part in this also. Lubos Michel is from Slovakia and could let some rough play go. that favors Ghana.

Ronaldo is now the top marksman with 15 goals in World Cup, and his team handily wins over Ghana, 3-0. Brazil will play in a rematch with France (recall the 1998 World Cup when Zidane had two headers).

Spain defeats France, but i hope for a few moments of beauty from Henry and Zidane. SPain is looking very strong, though, and we may see alot of goals in this one.

You got your wish, Jesse with Zidane's beautiful assist which was deflected and then headed in by Vieria. Then Zidane did it again with his goal which was a thing of a beauty. France advances with a 3-1 win over Spain. Les Bleus against the Selecado (sp?) Ribery also was something to watch with his dazzling cutting and dribbling moves. An interesting fact: Zidane, Vieria, and Ribery scored goals and also got yellow cards. Jesse was right that there were a lot of goals in this game- all in all- 4 goals. The most exciting game so far.

Final 8:

Germany vs. Argentina

Italy vs. Ukraine

England vs. Portugal

Brazil vs. France

Any predictions??

[cjwilhelmi]

Final 8:

Germany vs. Argentina

Italy vs. Ukraine

England vs. Portugal

Brazil vs. France

Any predictions??

Dont know if I'm right, I really dont know much about soccer but here is who I would like to see win this next round.

Germany over Argentina by 1
Italy over Ukraine by 2
England over Portugal by 1
Brazil over France by 1

I would really like to see Zidane continue in the tournament but Brazil just has too much firepower. If England still had Owen I would pick them to win it all but I just dont know only having one true striker.

Anyway there are my uneducated guesses.

[horn17]

Argentina
Ukraine
Portugal
France

All advance....England has been lucky so far, but did play much better in the second half, so it should be be the best match of the weekend...personally, i think brazil looses 3 -1 to the mighty French...Ukraine pulls an upset and knocks of Italy, which Italian team shows up????...Argentina looks like to be the class of the tourney...

[Rob Graff]

I am a complete soccer neophyte.

I will root for a "Falkland Crisis Part Deux"

England v. Argentina