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The 2006 World Cup Draw

Italy?

Why is everybody so sure that Italy will advance? Yes I'm a bit biased, but I've got my money on C.R. and the US. I see both of them finishing 2-0-1 (tying each other) with the US winning the group only because they close out the first round against Ghana while CR and Italy battle it out, leaving the US with less pressure and motivation to run up the score and win on goals.

That happening should clear the path somewhat as I think second in F will be weak and the only real threat to the Americans out of G/H (as much as it pains me to say this) may be France. In my dreams, the semis pit the US and Mexico leading to the first soccer riots in America, all along the southern border. Once the riots happen, soccer will know that it has made it in the US.

As a side note, I do bear some rooting interest in the Brazilians by virtue of the family of one of my good childhood friends and another friend from college. So, in the event that my above plans fail, I will be hoping for another star on the yellow jersey.

Ok, now poke holes in my logic.
 
Macaddicttt said:
Wow. I never thought I'd see the day. A Norwegian rooting for a Swede. Amazing. :eek:

I thought Norway was all about, "It doesn't matter if you win or lose, so long as you beat the Swedes." I for one, on behalf of my Norwegian girlfriend, will be rooting against the Swedes.
Click to expand...

:D

I've never had anything against Swedes... possibly because I have relatives that live less than a metric mile from the border, some of which have, at one time or another, lived there or have relatives and/or friends living there.

I prefer to think of them as brothers and sisters, and will cheer for them unless, of course, we're playing against them.... ;)
 
dubbz said:
:D

I've never had anything against Swedes... possibly because I have relatives that live less than a metric mile from the border, some of which have, at one time or another, lived there or have relatives and/or friends living there.

I prefer to think of them as brothers and sisters, and will cheer for them unless, of course, we're playing against them.... ;)
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dubbz you're a classy guy.
::adds to list of MR people I would like to meet::
 
Found this predictor on the BBC's site.

Amaze and astound your friends and family with the accuracy and penetrating insight of your predictions. You could also post them here if you feel so inclined.
 
Blue Velvet said:
Found this predictor on the BBC's site.

Amaze and astound your friends and family with the accuracy and penetrating insight of your predictions. You could also post them here if you feel so inclined.
Click to expand...

I ended up with

1: Brazil
2: Holland
3: England
 
nbs2 said:
Why is everybody so sure that Italy will advance? Yes I'm a bit biased, but I've got my money on C.R. and the US. I see both of them finishing 2-0-1 (tying each other) with the US winning the group only because they close out the first round against Ghana while CR and Italy battle it out, leaving the US with less pressure and motivation to run up the score and win on goals.

That happening should clear the path somewhat as I think second in F will be weak and the only real threat to the Americans out of G/H (as much as it pains me to say this) may be France. In my dreams, the semis pit the US and Mexico leading to the first soccer riots in America, all along the southern border. Once the riots happen, soccer will know that it has made it in the US.

As a side note, I do bear some rooting interest in the Brazilians by virtue of the family of one of my good childhood friends and another friend from college. So, in the event that my above plans fail, I will be hoping for another star on the yellow jersey.

Ok, now poke holes in my logic.
Click to expand...

what logic? ;)
as mentioned before, I think group E is wide open and anybody could go through, including ghana. US is probably at their best ever. Italy is not particularly impressive nowadays, but the dominated their quali group and tend to do well in WC. Czech R, is not as good as it was a couple years ago, but still a very strong team (though i don't understand why they are ranked #2 in the world). ghana is the brazil of africa, and it would be crazy to underestimate them. however it's true that it favors the US to meet them late, rather than early.
I think eventually italy's experience will prevail and the US will end their run against brazil (unless they pull the upset of the century).
mexico got a very easy group, but i don't see them to go past argentina/holland.
but then, who would have predicted the 2002 group results?
 
Kind of an aside... but an interesting story that might interest those who follow the US and the Azzuri(sp?), who will Giuseppe Rossi play for (though maybe not in this World Cup)?

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=350666

Basically, he's a US-born player with Italian citizenship who currently plays for Man U. His preferred country though is Italy, and has apparently turned down the chance to play with the US in friendlies at least on a few occasions that I've read of... hoping instead to get a call from the Italian national team.

The catch though is that Italian players outside of the Serie A don't get a lot of consideration for the national team, so as of now he basically has zero chance at playing for Italy. Wonder if whoever wins that US-Italy match up gets his services?
 
aloofman said:
I ended up with

1: Brazil
2: Holland
3: England
Click to expand...

I'd like to see someone take out Brazil this time. I appreciate their talent, but I'm kind of sick of them. ;) I hope Holland does better than last time. I've always liked them, but they seemed to underachieve last World Cup. So many great players over the years... Davids, Overmars, Hasslebaink, Bergkamp, Kluivert... Van Nistelrooy, Cocu, Van der Sar... :cool:
 
I ended up with
1. Argentina
2. Brazil
3. England

Somehow, I dont believe this will eventuate.
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Ok, if you insist – England'll knock 'em out the competition for you. How's about that? ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks for taking care of that for me Jaffa Cake! ;) :D

Seriously, I will be following the English team closely as well - definitely enjoyed their performance in 2002 (except for that damn Brazilian kick from practically mid-field, but we won't get into that.... :eek:)
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Now you're entering the realms of fantasy... :D
Click to expand...

well after all those lousy penalty shots the last few times the english team is is bound to score a few penalties ;)

i'm not demanding that the germans are playing nice football and being unsuccesfull with it ... that would pretty obvious fantasy ;)
 
I wouldnt put my money on England actually scoring three pens even if they were given. Beckham would sky one into the stadium, followed by Gerrard:(

Bring back Danny Murphy I say!
 
The aussies are stuffed, we have to go up against 3 of the strongest sides. Brazil will clean us up, so will Croatia and then there's Japan.
 
mac15 said:
The aussies are stuffed, we have to go up against 3 of the strongest sides. Brazil will clean us up, so will Croatia and then there's Japan.
Click to expand...

objectively, it would have been hard for oz no matter the draw.
but I disagree that (other than brazil) they got a hard group: all considered you were quite lucky, as it could have been significantly worse. i think they will get some points.
 
~Shard~ said:
I'd like to see someone take out Brazil this time. I appreciate their talent, but I'm kind of sick of them. ;) I hope Holland does better than last time. I've always liked them, but they seemed to underachieve last World Cup. So many great players over the years... Davids, Overmars, Hasslebaink, Bergkamp, Kluivert... Van Nistelrooy, Cocu, Van der Sar... :cool:
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't particularly want to see Brazil win it again, but in each round it just seems unlikely that an opponent will beat them. If the U.S. upset them in the round of 16, it would be a miracle that Americans would celebrate for, oh, a couple days or so.
 
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