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FIFA World Cup - Germany 2006 (1 Viewer)

AlexBC

Second Unit
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May 1, 2003
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259
Uffff, OK ...that was tight

I felt Ronaldinho played all right, just not great. Kaka was definitely the man of the game. Robinho didn't have much match time to play, but he pushed a good speed into the game.

But let's not forget Lucio and Juan, they played defense flawlessly. I dare say this is the best defense formation ever for Brazil (defense has never been our strength).
 

Ricardo C

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Yep, for the first time since I've been watching football, I saw Brazil's defense play as creatively and loosely as their offense.
 

Lew Crippen

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The first round of group play is now complete—standings and comments:

Group A: Poland was a disappointment not managing a single goal—if Ecuador can beat Costa Rica, Poland (likely) won’t advance.
1.Germany (3 pts)
2.Ecuador (3, but scored fewer goals)
3.Costa Rica (0 pts)
4.Poland (0 and 0 goals)

Group B: England as the only winner is in the driver’s seat—which is a good thing for them, as they did not look very impressive. Sweden must step it up against Paraguay or they will go home early. But for me the fun game in the next round will be to see if T&T can fight through again. Only one goal in the first round in this group.
1.England (3 pts)
2.Trinidad & Tobago (1 pts & tie with 3rd)
3.Sweden (1 & tie with 2)
4.Paraguay (0)

Group C: Argentina looks the best of the group of death (and to me the best so far of all 32 sides), but it is still going to be hard to advance. Very tough draw for the Ivory Coast. We will know after the next round, but it looks as though the big game will be Argentina v Holland.
1.Argentina (3)
2.Holland (3 but one fewer goals)
3.Ivory Coast (0)
4.Serbia & Montenegro (0 & 0 goals)

Group D: Mexico certainly looked the best in the first round. Portugal won but did not impress. Another group where the last match (Mexico v Portugal) may decide the seeding.
1.Mexico (3)
2.Portugal (3 but 2 goals behind)
3.Iran (0)
4.Angola (0 & 0 goals)

Group E: Of course the big disappointment was the loss by the US—not so much that they lost, but how they lost. Already reports are coming in of player/coach dissention. The US plays Italy next and could be eliminated before they even meet Ghana.
1.Czech Republic (3)
2.Italy (3 but one less goal)
3.Ghana (0)
4.US (0 & 0)

Group F: Australia is the big surprise here winning big. But they meet Brazil and that should give everyone a better idea as to both sides strength.
1.Australia (3 with a better goal differential)
2.Brazil (3)
3.Croatia (0)
4.Japan (0 & 0)

Group G: South Korea is temporarily ahead of France and Switzerland. France should also advance, but they will have to play better than they did in their first round.
1.South Korea (3)
2.France (1 and a tie with 3rd)
3.Switzerland (1 and a tie with 2nd)
4.Togo (0)

Group H: For a change, Spain might do well in this World Cup as they steamrolled the Ukraine 4–0. With neither Saudi Arabia or Tunisia expected to be much of a challenge, the fight will be for second place.
1.Spain (3)
2.Tunisia (0 and tie with 3rd)
3.Saudi Arabia (0 and a tie with 2nd)
4.Ukraine (0 and last on goal differential)
 

Haggai

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France is going to have to SCORE A GOAL in order to advance. After their goalless exit in '02, it still remains that the last goal they scored in WC finals competition was Manu Petit's last minute goal in their '98 finals win over Brazil! :eek:
 

Haggai

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Whoa, nellie...thanks, Holadem! Thems is some fine lookin' women.

The only picture they had of Zidane's wife isn't too glamorous, but I remember her being unbelievably hot from some pictures I saw a few years back. Here's a pretty good one:

 

Lew Crippen

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Being a bit depressed at the US performance, I was wondering if they could duplicate their finish of last, winning none and scoring no goals. So, with the help of Excel, I compiled a table of the standings if play ended now.

The good news is that the US is not last.

1Spain
2Czech Republic
3Germany
4Mexico
4Australia
6Ecuador
6Italy
8Argentina
9South Korea
10England
10Netherlands
10Portugal
10Brazil
14Saudi Arabia
14Tunisia
16Sweden
16Trinidad & Tobago
16France
16Switzerland
20Ivory Coast
20Togo
22Paraguay
22Serbia & Montenegro
22Angola
22Croatia
26Costa Rica
26Iran
26Japan
26Poland
26Ghana
31United States
32Ukraine
 

MichaelBA

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Artur Borac, the Polish goalkeeper, was spectacular! With just one bit of luck he could have stolen a win for them. I feel bad that he didn't at least end with a draw.
 

Lew Crippen

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He was indeed—but I thought that Germany deserved the win. They put so much pressure on in the last of the second half, that it seemed just that one shot went in.
 

Yee-Ming

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To make matters worse, apparently the last time they scored in a World Cup on "foreign soil" was -- twenty years ago :eek:

(That would be 1986, and that's because they didn't qualify in 1990 nor in 1994; WC1998 was held in France.)

As an aside, the press are now playing up the "Thierry Henry chokes in international games" hoary old chestnut again. The problem, at least IMHO, is that France don't play to his strengths, which is the fast-break (or should I say, extremely fast-break), whereas Arsenal do. So whilst he works very well for Arsenal, he doesn't for France.
 

Haggai

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By the way, what's with these "Play Beautiful" TV ads with Eric Cantona? They're very lame. The Cantona ads in '02, where he would preside over cage matches between various superstars, were MUCH better and very entertaining. Like the one where he started chanting, "Oo eez on fi-ahr? Henry eez on fi-ahr!"
 

Holadem

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Looking at the big picture, (Groups and Standings), everything is going pretty much as expected, there has been no real surprises so far, I think.

I guess Ecuador rather than Poland, and perhaps Australia's win against Japan. Also a couple of draws where a victory was expected, like Sweden vs T&T, and France vs Switzerland.

--
H
 

Lew Crippen

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Ecuador (currently) at the top of the group is a big surprise to me—but even bigger is how well they have played in their two matches. Germany will, of course be a big test.

I do hope that the South Americans don’t sit back hoping for a tie to clinch the top spot.
 

Holadem

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Right Lew, the way things are going, we could be looking at a Germany-England match on June 25th :eek:.

It's awfully early for either of these teams to be going home... It's gonna be the first titanic clash of this tournament :D.

--
H
 

MichaelBA

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 19, 2005
Messages
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England is stinkin' out the joint. WTF?! If this keeps up, all those Brits who took a sickie to see the game will be very sorry.
Rooney's back in, adding a spark. But T&T hanging tough. It's not that they've been great as much as England has just been blah.
 

Holadem

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Crouch puts England ahead. Bleah. I was actually hoping for a miracle for the little guys.

--
H
 

Ken Chui

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jun 20, 2003
Messages
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I actually grew up on the larger of the two islands, and I still have relatives there, but I would never, ever root for them in any international tournament (for personal reasons).
 

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