Official World Cup Thread
OK. It's about 24 hours until the madness officially begins, so that means it's high-time for prediction time. I am part of a Thursday night gentlemens' betting organization known as the PPC (nothing to do with PowerPC), and I have assembled a list of popular bets with odds that will be used in tonight's meeting.
So here goes:
Outright Winner:
England, Italy, Netherlands
Top Scorer:
Van Nistelrooy, Rooney, Shevchenko, Gerrard, Luca Toni
Groups:
A - Germany wins, Germany & Poland go through.
B - England wins, England & Sweden go through
C - Netherlands wins, Argentina & Netherlands go through
D - Portugal wins, Mexico & Portugal go through
E - USA wins, Italy & USA go through
F - Brazil wins, Brazil & Australia go through
G - Switzerland wins, France & Switzerland go through
H - Ukraine wins, Spain & Ukraine go through
Most Group Goals:
A - Poland
B - England
C - Netherlands
D - Portugal
E - Czech
F - Brazil
G - France
H - Ukraine
Most Cards in Group Play:
Mexico, Ghana, Argentina
I am also going to go ahead and proclaim that the Semifinal matches will be:
1. Netherlands v. Ukraine
2. England v. Brazil
Enjoy!
So here goes:
Outright Winner:
England, Italy, Netherlands
Top Scorer:
Van Nistelrooy, Rooney, Shevchenko, Gerrard, Luca Toni
Groups:
A - Germany wins, Germany & Poland go through.
B - England wins, England & Sweden go through
C - Netherlands wins, Argentina & Netherlands go through
D - Portugal wins, Mexico & Portugal go through
E - USA wins, Italy & USA go through
F - Brazil wins, Brazil & Australia go through
G - Switzerland wins, France & Switzerland go through
H - Ukraine wins, Spain & Ukraine go through
Most Group Goals:
A - Poland
B - England
C - Netherlands
D - Portugal
E - Czech
F - Brazil
G - France
H - Ukraine
Most Cards in Group Play:
Mexico, Ghana, Argentina
I am also going to go ahead and proclaim that the Semifinal matches will be:
1. Netherlands v. Ukraine
2. England v. Brazil
Enjoy!
Comments
Looking forward to England getting totally stuffed by Paraguay tomorrow.
Have a couple of students from Holland working with me for 6 weeks, so im officially supporting Holland this time.
Originally posted by MarcUK
Great opener. Germany have defense troubles, but what goals!!!
Looking forward to England getting totally stuffed by Paraguay tomorrow.
Have a couple of students from Holland working with me for 6 weeks, so im officially supporting Holland this time.
There's an English-themed pub nearby that is putting on a breakfast tomorrow (we are five hours behind GMT). I might go, since it's a two minute walk from my apartment.
Peter Crouch hat trick!
Originally posted by MarcUK
Great opener. Germany have defense troubles, but what goals!!!
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Actually, Germany have Klose, Ballack and Lehmann. This is, what counts
in the end, boy.
Finale:
Germany vs. Argentinia
Germany wins 3:1
Semi-Finale
Brasilia vs. Italy
Brasilia wins 4:2
Mark my words.
That said...Segovius could be right. It's a short tournament and any of the powers could get on a hot streak and then...lookout.
Germany could certainly grow and win some matches and then get into the knockout stage and somehow manage to win.... ugly...or via penalty kicks. With just enough.
My prediction of teams that could get hot like this....Germany, Brasil, France, USA (yeah), England and the argies.
I want someone who's never won it to win....if Brasil doesn't win it that is.
I agree that Costa Rica really gave them a go; perhaps Germany is not the real powerhouse some people think. (They were outclassed by Japan recently in a rather big way). I jjust hope they don't go completely physical and lead the entire tournament that way.
Edit: oops. Caught a different angle. It's clearly not an own-goal.
Originally posted by Gilsch
I don't know about Germany. That a weak team could score 2 goals and almost mount a comeback (at 3-2)against them is testament of how weak Germany is. I've maintained it all along.
But both of CR's goals were because they were stupidly running an offside trap that failed. And Germany dominated the entire game.
Just because the score was close doesn't mean the game was.
Italy 3 Brazil 2 in final
Originally posted by mmbarthez
Go Italia!
Italy 3 Brazil 2 in final
I'm not sure if it's possible for Italy and Brazil to meet in the final. I'll run through it again, though.
Originally posted by segovius
I'm with Barbara - was thinking Brazil would win but after watching the match it is clear Germany have a great chance.
It's not so much the attack or the dodgy defence - it's that they have somehow finally rediscovered the old German spirit. The 'we cannot lose we are Germany' vibe.
And they can only get better.
I think if Germany sort out their defense they could go all the way, but if they have a defense like that, against a better opponent, they would get hammered. Costa Rica had what? 3 shots on target, and scored 2 of them.
As long as it makes exciting games, Im all for it. Go Holland!!
The crowd is amazing: they boo at everything, possibly even their own booing. They were even noisy during the Paraguay anthem.
Argentina, England, Spain
Top Scorer:
Ronaldinho, Rooney, Shevchenko, Klose, Messi
Groups:
A - Germany wins, Germany & Ecuador go through.
B - England wins, England & Paraguay go through
C - Argentina wins, Argentina & Netherlands go through
D - Portugal wins, Mexico & Portugal go through
E - Italy wins, Italy & USA go through
F - Brazil wins, Brazil & Japan go through
G - France wins, France & South Korea go through
H - Spain wins, Spain & Ukraine go through
Most Group Goals:
A - Germany
B - England
C - Argentina
D - Portugal
E - Italy
F - Brazil
G - France
H - Ukraine
Most Cards in Group Play:
Mexico, Ivory Coast, Argentina
Originally posted by segovius
oh right, it's the eurocentrism.
Originally posted by segovius
I don't think we've seen the world cup winners there.
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