FIFA World Cup - Germany 2006 (2 Viewers)

GooooooOOOOOOAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllll!






Fellows, it's that time again. 4 days till the opening match (Germany vs Costa Rica) on Friday June 9th. I don't know what to do with myself .

I will be watching a great deal of the games at a friends' after work (Tivo). It's gonna take some serious will power to avoid seeing the results before hand on the key matches. The time difference is a killer in that regard.

How are HTF football fans dealing with this?

Who will you bee rooting for? Who's gonna win?

Note: This thread is for football (soccer) fans only.

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H

I'll be watching via my PVR as well....GO ENGLAND GO !

My DVR will be very busy over the next month as well.

Who will I be rooting for?

Who is likely to win?

Well for me, that will be:







All first time qualifiers.

I have strong ties to all three countries, being from one and having lived in all three. The euphoria of qualifications among my friends and family was undescribeable. Back home, the gvt gave the day after off, to celebrate. Understand that for us, we grew up literally (and I mean literally) dreaming about this day. It is the stuff of legends.

That said, expectations are largely in check :frowning:. Just being there ( and avoiding embarassement ) is the win.

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H

What channels are broadcasting?

ABC/ESPN

I don't have the schedule at hand, but they should show everthing in HD (which I'm not getting down here).

In the US, it will be ESPN and ABC. TSN and SportsNet will be showing games in Canada. Not sure about who and where in Europe and elsewhere.

If you're a Time Warner customer and receive Channel Guide magazine, the schedule for all of the games are listed for the month of June.

I went to the US - Trinidad qualifier game last year. Fun stuff, but neither team was very good. The US completely dominated the game, but failed again and gain to materialise their opportunities to score after the first goal within like 4 minutes of start.

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H

I backed the US even when they were bad, so I’m hoping for a good showing this year (but I’m not hopeful for a win, as I think their FIFA rating is too high).

After that, I’ve always loved Brazil and they won the World Cup when I was in Sao Paulo. I now live in Mexico, so I’ll hope they do well. I also lived in Argentina, so I’ll be rooting for them a bit—the same with Australia, but they will be lucky to get a single point in their pool (actually they will have to play well to score a goal).

The US is in one of the ‘groups of death—the other, Group C’, but for a change, they are one of the reasons that the group is so tough. And if they advance they will likely meet Brazil.

Yeah, Cote d'Ivoire (one of my underdogs ) is in that other group of death, with Serbia & Montenegro, The Netherlands (!!!) and Argentina (!!!!!!).

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H

ESPN2 will also have games. All of them will be in HD provided your provider has it. Directv will be showing them in HD-lite

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I haven't kept tabs on either Italy or the Czech Republic, so it's possible that the US may be on equal footing with their Group E rivals, but Brazil is on a different plateau. I think the US squad is capable of reaching the quarter finals, but that will be the extent of their run, IMHO.

My dark horse (no pun intended) pick in this tournament is Côte d'Ivoire.

Both Italy and the Czechs are in another class, and Ghana is no cakewalk. This may not be the group of death, but it is the group of serious illness. The US would have to have an extremely impressive showing to get out of its group. Short of a major miracle involving the US winning the group, they face Brazil in the first elimination round, which means that even if they manage to squeeze into the round of 16, that's the end of their run.

Eh... Miracles happen. That's the beauty of the World Cup .

I had no idea the Czechs were that good though. The truth is, outside of major events such as these, I just don't watch much soccer since I moved this side of the Atlantic. I do plan to do something about it this year, and acquire a cable package which includes the Fox Soccer Channel.

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H

As a citizen of the Cinderella of Latin American football (Venezuela), I'll be rooting for our southern neighbor, Brazil. Argentina can suck it

I mostly think it's Brazil's cup to lose, but then I flash back to the 1998 implosion and well... It ain't over till it's over. Cautious optimism is the order of the day for me.

Some trivia:

Brazil and Germany are the only countries to ever reach the final match three cups in a row (Germany in 1982-1986-1990 and Brazil in 1994-1998-2002). Brazil won two out of three (1994 and 2002), while Germany won only one (1990).

If Brazil reaches the final this year, it will be the only team to reach it four times in a row, as well as having a shot at winning an unprecedented sixth world title, twice that of the nearest contenders (Germany and Italy have three apiece).

Since 1990, the losing team hasn't scored a goal in the final match, whereas in every cup before it, the losing team always scored at least one goal.

ESPN ran a nice story on what FifA is trying to do in order to curb racism in Europe. Apprantly they are going to clamp down hard on the fans of their squad if the fans doing racist things. I was surprised by the article as I didn't realize how bad it was in Europe.

Needless to say I haven't liked soccer at all but having watched several matches on FOX soccer, I'm starting to get into it..

The Netherlands (I was born there), although I don't really expect them to get beyond the quarter-finals (at best).

All this talk of HD: the local (monopoly) cable company just launched an HD trial, of which I suppose the World Cup is the kick-off centrepiece. I was lucky enough to get into the trial, so I'll actually get to enjoy my HD display properly for the first time, watching the World Cup

Unlike Holadem (and the rest of you Yanks), our problem in Asia is that matches are played in what for us is the middle of the night. So we either stay up late, or wake in the middle of the night (3 am...) and go to work the next day bleary-eyed, or bunk off altogether. Productivity always takes a hammering every four years...

That REALLY betrays the fact that you're American and/or watch with US commentary...

Dvr's are wonderful things especially ones with HD.

This is news?! Most serious footballers detest the Argentine team, no thanks to the legacy of one Diego Maradona. Also, Argentina plays a pretty rough game, definitely not the "beautiful game" the Brazilians love.

I think Germany has a chance to win it all, mostly because you know sooner or later Portugal, Spain or Mexico will disappoint their fans and who knows how long Italy will last in the knockout rounds.

By the way, it's a good idea to keep an eye out for the local weather report before each game. The Adidas +Teamgeist ball used this year is a bit sensitive to wet fields and the ball could travel quite errantly in wet conditions.