WC Germany 2006 _ Pick the Winner

[Rob2012]

TEAM P W D L F A PTS

A

1. Germany 3 3 0 0 7 2 9

2. Poland 3 2 0 1 6 2 6

3. Costa Rica 3 1 0 2 2 5 3

4. Ecuador 3 0 0 3 2 8 0

B

1. England 3 3 0 0 5 0 9

2. Sweden 3 2 0 1 4 1 6

3. Paraguay 3 1 0 2 1 4 3

4. Trin Tob 3 0 0 3 0 5 0

C

1. Argentina 3 2 1 0 6 3 7

2. Holland 3 2 1 0 6 4 7

3. Ivory Coast 3 1 0 2 4 5 3

4. Serb Mont 3 0 0 3 2 6 0

D

1. Portugal 3 3 0 0 7 0 9

2. Mexico 3 2 0 1 2 2 6

3. Angola 3 1 0 2 2 5 3

4. Iran 3 0 0 3 1 5 0

E

1. Italy 3 3 0 0 6 2 9

2. Czech Rep 3 1 1 1 2 3 4

3. United States 3 1 0 2 2 3 3

4. Ghana 3 0 1 2 2 4 1

F

1. Brazil 3 3 0 0 6 1 9

2. Croatia 3 1 1 1 1 2 4

3. Japan 3 0 2 1 2 3 2

4. Australia 3 0 1 2 1 4 1

G

1. France 3 3 0 0 8 2 9

2. South Korea 3 1 1 1 4 3 4

3. Switzerland 3 1 1 1 3 4 4

4. Togo 3 0 0 3 2 8 0

H

1. Spain 3 3 0 0 6 1 9

2. Ukraine 3 2 0 1 5 3 6

3. Tunisia 3 1 0 2 2 3 3

4. Saudi Arabia 3 0 0 3 0 6 0

Round 2

GERMANY beat Sweeden

ARGENTINA beat Mexico

ENGLAND beat Poland

PORTUGAL beat Holland

ITALY beat Croatia

FRANCE beat Ukraine

BRAZIL beat Czech Republic

SPAIN beat Korea

Quarter Finals

ARGENTINA beat Germany

ITALY beat France

ENGLAND beat Portugal

BRAZIL beat Spain

Semi Finals

ARGENTINA beat Italy

BRAZIL beat England

Final

BRAZIL beat Argentina

3rd Place

ENGLAND beat Italy

[Mikel]

My prediction, witch are worth nothing at all. (Go Japan!!!).

Groupe A.

1. Germany (7)

2. Poland (7)

3.Costarica (3)

4. Ecuator (0)

Groupe B.

1. Sweden (9) (I am shure they can beat England and Paraguay)

2. Paraguay (4)

3. England (4)

4. Trinider and Trobago (0)

Groupe C.

1. Argentina (9)

2. Serbia Montenegro (4)

3. Holland (4)

4. Ivory Coast (0)

Groupe D.

1. Mexico (7)

2. Portugal (5)

3. Iran (4)

4. Angola (0)

Groupe E.

1. Italy (9)

2. Czech Republic (6)

3. U.S.A. (3)

4. Ghana (0)

Groupe F.

1. Brazil (7)

2. Japan (7)

3. Croatia (1)

4. Australia (1)

Groupe G.

1. South Corea (5)

2. Switzerland (5)

3. France (5)

4. Togo (0)

Groupe H.

1. Spain (7)

2. Ukraine (5)

3. Saudi Arabia (3)

4. Tunesia (1)

Second Round:

Germany beat Paraguay

Argentina beat Portugal

Sweden beat Poland

Serbia Montenergo beat Mexico

Japan beat Itali (I belive... lol)

Korea beats Ukraine

Brazile beats Czrech Republic

Switzerland beats Spain

Quarter finals

Argentina beat Germanie

Japan beat Korea

Serbia Montenegro beats Sweeden

Brazil beat Switzerland

Semi Finals

Japan beat Argentina (I wish...)

Serbia Montenegro beat Brazil (Hey, its POSSIBLE)

Third Place Final

Brazil beat Argentina

Final

Japan beat Serbia Montenegro

:wwww:  :suspect:   Have you ever watched a football? Do you know what football is?

Japan beating Italy?

Switzerland beating Spain?

Serbia (without Montenegro) beating Brazil?

[Mekky]

Ukraine will be the big surprise of this world cup, like was Turkey in 2002, but ukrainians can go to the final and win it, maybe against the dutch.

[Faster]

Ukraine will be the big surprise of this world cup, like was Turkey in 2002, but ukrainians can go to the final and win it, maybe against the dutch.

The Ukrainians don't have the depth or experience. Turkey has a very developed league, Ukraine doesn't. The suprises of the tournement will be Cote D'Ivoire, Croatia, Iran and the USA. The possible surprise winner in my mind is Sweden. It has an all-around good team

[Mekky]

Ukraine will be the big surprise of this world cup, like was Turkey in 2002, but ukrainians can go to the final and win it, maybe against the dutch.

The Ukrainians don't have the depth or experience. Turkey has a very developed league, Ukraine doesn't. The suprises of the tournement will be Cote D'Ivoire, Croatia, Iran and the USA. The possible surprise winner in my mind is Sweden. It has an all-around good team

Don't forget that in euro qualification for world cup, Ukraine was  qualified really easily, like Portugal  

[Faster]

Ukraine will be the big surprise of this world cup, like was Turkey in 2002, but ukrainians can go to the final and win it, maybe against the dutch.

The Ukrainians don't have the depth or experience. Turkey has a very developed league, Ukraine doesn't. The suprises of the tournement will be Cote D'Ivoire, Croatia, Iran and the USA. The possible surprise winner in my mind is Sweden. It has an all-around good team

Don't forget that in euro qualification for world cup, Ukraine was  qualified really easily, like Portugal  

Ukraine also had the fortune of Denmark, Greece and Turkey collasping on them

[LinkParkFn]

I think the winner will come out these 3 teams: Brazil, Argentina, and the Czech Republic. And I have another 3 who have a legit shot: England (even without Rooney, they will be tough for anyone to beat, Lennon could be the breakout star), France (they will be determined to put their 2002 performance to rest once and for all), and Italy, even though they're perennial underachievers.

[baron-pierreIV]

I think the winner will come out these 3 teams: Brazil, Argentina,

Wasn't Argentina sent home in the first round in 2002?

[Rob2012]

I think the winner will come out these 3 teams: Brazil, Argentina,

Wasn't Argentina sent home in the first round in 2002?

Yes  :laughlong: but they are looking very strong coming into this tournament.

[Faster]

What are you smoking Rob, they practically limbed into the tournement. There last 5 games were dreadful. A lot of teams are getting overrated right now, France, Spain, England, Italy, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Germany and Argentina. This tournement is Brazil's to lose, like the last one was Italy's, its up to one of the aforementioned teams to live up to the billing and actually perform in the 6 matches.

[baron-pierreIV]

What are you smoking Rob, they practically limbed into the tournement. There last 5 games were dreadful. A lot of teams are getting overrated right now, France, Spain, England, Italy, Netherlands...

what was that again, faster?  :suspect:  I missed it the first time...

[Rob2012]

I haven't heard anyone really rate Spain coming into this tournament, so I find it hard to believe they are overrated. Same with Italy in fact. If anything, I'd probably say Italy are underrated.

[NYCD 2012]

No Offence , but I feel England is over rated , its been 40 years since they won , and basically , I don 't think they can face to likes of Brazil , Argentina , Germany , Holland and Italy

BTW , 2002 was a bad year , Holland did not qualified , Argentina out in the 1st round , France at bottom of their group and so on ......

[Rob2012]

England probably are overated to be honest. But I'd say we could match any of the sides you've listed NYCD with the probable exception of Brazil.

[Mikel]

The Netherlands are the overrated

[Stu]

I agree with Rob, any of those possible games could go either way, the teams are quite evenly matched, with the exception of Brazil who would undoubtedly be considered the favourites in those games - but even they wouldn't be considered the inevitable victors.  Although the teams from both Germany and Italy haven't displayed their greatest play recently they often seem to provide a formidable opponent on the world stage, and of course Germany will be at home.  

Japan/Korea provided quite a few surprises (France, Argentina, etc) - there are chances for other teams to do well in Germany and perhaps some of the favourites will leave early - these results are virtually impossible to predict (though perhaps a Japanese victory over Serbia in the final is pushing credibility too far, especially as they lost to lowly Scotland in Japan earlier today).

[Quintana]

Italy are actually playing very well at the moment, currently the best national team in Europe imho...

They've won 5 of they're 6 last games:

WCQ Belarus 1-4 Italy

WCQ Italy 1-0 Slovenia

WCQ Italy 2-1 Moldova

Friendly Netherlands 1-3 Italy

Friendly Italy 1-1 Ivory Coast

Friendly Italy 4-1 Germany

[Faster]

Italy are actually playing very well at the moment, currently the best national team in Europe imho...

They've won 5 of they're 6 last games:

WCQ Belarus 1-4 Italy

WCQ Italy 1-0 Slovenia

WCQ Italy 2-1 Moldova

Friendly Netherlands 1-3 Italy

Friendly Italy 1-1 Ivory Coast

Friendly Italy 4-1 Germany

Italy has nothing, their players aren't up to it when it comes to scoring. I will always maintain that they will not get into the first knock-out stage.

[Stu]

Italy are actually playing very well at the moment, currently the best national team in Europe imho...

They've won 5 of they're 6 last games:

WCQ Belarus 1-4 Italy

WCQ Italy 1-0 Slovenia

WCQ Italy 2-1 Moldova

Friendly Netherlands 1-3 Italy

Friendly Italy 1-1 Ivory Coast

Friendly Italy 4-1 Germany

..true, they've done better than I thought! :blush:  Actually I made another error...Scotland only drew against Japan to win the Kirin Cup earlier today.

After seeing the Italian results I looked at the same for some of the other favoured teams.

Brazil have won 4 of their last 6 games.

Friendly Russia 0 - 1 Brazil

Friendly UAE 0 - 8 Brazil

Friendly Croatia 1 - 1 Brazil

WCQ Bolivia 1 - 1 Brazil

WCQ Brazil 5 - 0 Chile

WCQ Brazil 3 - 0 Venezuela

The Netherlands have won 4 of their last 6 games.

Friendly Netherlands 1 - 0 Ecuador

Friendly Netherlands 1 - 3 Italy

WCQ Netherlands 0 - 0 FYR Macedonia

WCQ Czech Rep 0 - 2 Netherlands

WCQ Netherlands 4 - 0 Andorra

WCQ Armenia 0 - 1 Netherlands

England have won 5 of their last 6 games.

Friendly England 2 - 1 Uruguay

Friendly Argentina 2 - 3 England

WCQ England 2 - 1 Poland

WCQ England 1 - 0 Austria

WCQ N. Ireland 1 - 0 England

WCQ Wales 0 - 1 England

Germany have won 3 of their last 6 games.

Friendly Germany 4 - 1 USA

Friendly Italy 4 - 1 Germany

Friendly Germany 0 - 0 France

Friendly Germany 1 - 0 China

Friendly Turkey 2 - 1 Germany

Friendly Germany 4 - 2 South Africa

Argentina have won only 2 of their last 6 games.

Friendly Croatia 3 - 2 Argentina

Friendly Qatar 0 - 3 Argentina

Friendly Argentina 2 - 3 England

WCQ Uruguay 1 - 0 Argentina

WCQ Argentina 2 - 0 Peru

WCQ Paraguay 1 - 0 Argentina

[Stu]

The USA have won 5 of their last 6 games.

Friendly USA 1 – 1 Jamaica

Friendly Germany 4 – 1 USA

Friendly USA 1 – 0 Poland

Friendly USA 4 – 0 Guatemala

Friendly USA 3 – 2 Japan

Friendly USA 5 – 0 Norway

The Czech Republic have won 5 of their last 6 games.

Friendly Turkey 2 – 2 Czech Republic

WCQ Czech Republic 1 – 0 Norway

WCQ Norway 0 – 1 Czech Republic

WCQ Finland 0 – 3 Czech Republic

WCQ Czech Republic 0- 2 Netherlands

WCQ Czech Republic 4 – 1 Armenia

The Ukraine have won 3 of their last 6 games.

Friendly Azerbaijan 0 - 0 Ukraine

Friendly Ukraine 1 – 0 Japan

Tournament Serbia and Montenegro 1 – 2 Ukraine

WCQ Ukraine 2 - 2 Albania

WCQ Ukraine 0 – 1 Turkey

WCQ Georgia 1 – 1 Ukraine

[Quintana]

@stu Good job  

About Argentina. Their current results aren't looking good. However, they were the first team from South America to qualify for the World Cup. After that they played with sort of a B team, hence their poor results in the last WCQ games.

I do have my doubts about them though. Brazil totally ripped them apart at the Confederations Cup and England and Croatia showed that they can be beaten. They have a lot of talent but not a new Maradona or a Batistuta. Riquelme is a good player when properly used but you have to sacrifice others to do so. They have young and very talented strikers (especially Messi and Tevez) which are also very inexperienced and inconsistent and they don't have a single reliable goalkeeper.

[arwebb]

I thought the Argentinians had left Riquelme out of their squad.

[Stu]

@stu Good job  

About Argentina. Their current results aren't looking good. However, they were the first team from South America to qualify for the World Cup. After that they played with sort of a B team, hence their poor results in the last WCQ games.

No, I agree......how the teams play in WCQ's, and especially friendlies, don't always predict how well teams will perform in a World Cup - I remember Germany's qualifying games for Japan/Korea weren't the most impressive performances and yet they (somehow) managed to reach the final.  I also don't believe that the USA would have been able to beat Norway 5-0 if it had been an important match.

[Quintana]

Marco van Basten has announced the Dutch 23 this morning. We'll be lucky to reach the second round... Van Basten showed his Ajax and AZ Alkmaar fetisj once again although he didn't include the only Ajax player who actually had a good season (Huntelaar).

Goalkeepers

Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United) - Reliable, way past his prime though. Is our captain, although Cocu is the real leader.

Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax) - Unreliable

Henk Timmer (AZ Alkmaar) - Unreliable but the only alternative we have to Van der Sar.

Defenders

Khalid Boulahrouz (Hamburger SV) - Very strong guy, tends to make one mistake every game but good defender overall

Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Barcelona) - A good leftback going forward but a disaster when he actually has to defend.

Tim de Cler (AZ Alkmaar) - Another leftback. Defensively marginally better than Van Bronckhorst. Not too good going forward though.

John Heitinga (Ajax) - Played horrible for two years but got selected based on two or three decent games lately (he didn't make the pre-selection). A central defender and right back.

Kew Jaliens (AZ Alkmaar) - Right back and a horrible one, don't understand his selection at all.

Jan Kromkamp (Liverpool) - Another right back. Did allright for us last year but hardly played this year. He went to Villarreal in the beginning of the season and moved to Liverpool halfway the season. Hardly played for any of them. I didn't expect him to be selected although he's definately better than Jaliens.

Joris Mathijsen (AZ Alkmaar) - A reliable central defender. Not world class but useful.

André Ooijer (PSV Eindhoven) - The best defender we have. Can play both as a central defender and as right back. Very strong and reliable, also good going forward creating an extra player on midfield when we have posession. Doesn't seem to be a Van Basten favourite though.

Midfielders

Mark van Bommel (Barcelona) - Fysically the strongest midfielder we have. Good going forward, not as good going backward although he apparently improved that game while playing at Barça. Not a Van Basten favourite.

Phillip Cocu (PSV Eindhoven) - The best and most important player we have. Experienced, smart, good tactician, good technique and quite strong. He's the leader of the team, although Van der Sar is the captain. If he's fit, he will play.

Denny Landzaat (AZ Alkmaar) - Useful player although he didn't have a good season. Comparable to Van Bommel although not as good. A Van Basten favourite.

Hedwiges Maduro (Ajax) - Young and unexperienced. Not even a regular at Ajax where he had a terrible season. Shouldn't be selected.

Wesley Sneijder (Ajax) - An arrogant midget. I hate this guy and I'm not going to waste anymore words on him.

Rafael van der Vaart (Hamburger SV) - Seems to have picked up his career at HSV after some terrible seasons at Ajax. I believe he got voted Bundesliga player of the year (not sure though). Sometimes brilliant, sometimes hopeless. Can play both as a left midfielder, a number 10 (just behind the strikers) or even as a striker.

Attackers

Ryan Babel (Ajax) - Another player who's not a regular at Ajax. He's got pace but that's about it. Horrible player, shouldn't go to Germany imho. He usually plays as a winger although in reality is neither a winger nor a striker.

Dirk Kuyt (Feyenoord) - A guy from my home town who went to same primary school as I did. Not the most talented but known for his never say die attitude which makes him a fan favourite. Plays as a striker for Feyenoord but usually at the right wing for The Netherlands. A Van Basten favourite.

Robin van Persie (Arsenal) - Our very own problem child. Extremely talented and blessed with a lot of skill (probably has the most talent of the entire team). Is known for doing a lot of stupid things off the pitch which affects his performance on the pitch. Can play both as a left winger and as a number 10 just behind the central striker.

Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United) - Used to be an allround striker before he moved to Man Utd where he transformed in a real poacher. He has a big fight with Ferguson at Man Utd and hopefully will use that anger to score a lot of goals for us. Our number one striker.

Arjen Robben (Chelsea) - The best winger we have, although his season was quite poor. I hope he stops diving and whining and actually starts playing football now.

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (PSV Eindhoven) - He's what we call a "breekijzer" which means he will be used in the last 15 to 10 minutes when we have to score. Not very talented or pleasant to watch but very strong and tall (and dare I say mean). He can 'cause hell in the enemy lines by pushing, pulling and kicking at everything that moves.

I hope we will play as follow:

---------------- Van der Sar

Ooijer ----- Mathijsen -- Boulahrouz -- Van Bronckhorst

Van Bommel ------- Cocu -------------- Van der Vaart

Van Persie ----- Van Nistelrooy --------------- Robben

I fear we will play as follow:

---------------- Van der Sar

Heitinga -- Mathijsen -- Boulahrouz -- Van Bronckhorst

Landzaat ---------- Cocu ------------- Van der Vaart

Kuyt --------- Van Nistelrooy ---------------- Robben

[Mekky]

List of the 23 french :

http://fr.sports.yahoo.com//lalistedes23.html

I feel only sad to see Mickael Sylvestre, I never liked him, and to don't see Gregory Coupet in first position ... but overall it's nice, it's an experienced team with a lack of young but young inside are genious, cissé, ribéry, malouda...

I felt sorry for Robert Pirès, but well, life goes.