FIFA!! World Cup! Yahoo!

[Nicole Marie]

BIG NEWS! And big games! <P>Two great matches happend early this morning. The US vs. Germany. Germany won 1:0, close to their prediction of 2:0. This was a great game and amazing efforts were taken by both teams. But the Europeans advance to face the winner of Korea vs. Espana on the 22nd (tomorrow).<P>In the game between Brazil vs. England, another great match putting Brazil on top 2:1. England scored the first goal early in the game but Brazil showed their amazing foot work and went on to score 2 beating England. Now Brazil faces the winner of the match between Senegal vs. Turkey on Saturday.<P>YOU MUST WATCH! THIS IS HUGE! (I'm still voting on Brazil)

[Peter]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Colin:<BR><STRONG>Peter in the UK, you were great in correcting the futball to football, but then you blew it with you new (incorrect) version of "idiosyncrasies".</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Now, now, Colin, don't go spoiling a beautiful friendship.....<P>

[Peter]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by A. Senna:<BR><STRONG>ENGLAND!!!!<BR></STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Indeed. Tell me, Mr. Senna, do you regret never taking part in the INDY 500?<P>

[Peter]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by EJA:<BR><STRONG>Uh oh. Nau Peter lukes leik and ideot.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Red I am, Ethan, red I am.<p>[ 06-24-2002: Message edited by: Peter ]

[EJA]

Hmmm, Peter, what's that they used to say, "better red than dead?" Personally, I think it's better to be dead than red. Of course, quite often one <I>is</I> red when one is dead, at least, that's what I've read. Goodness, I'm morbid today. Or is that badness???

[Nicole Marie]

What a weekend!<P>Espana lost to Korea! What!? I can't believe it! It was an excellent game, ending in a penalty kick shoot out with Korea winning 5:3. So they move on to face Germany tomorrow morning. Who is going to win that match? I'm not sure. I'd say Germany but Korea has suprised me through these games.<P>In other news, Turkey beat Senegal! Another suprise since Senegal has been playing so well. But they lost 0:1. And now Turkey moves on to face Brazil on the 26th. Yeah right! Turkey had a nice run but it will be over soon.

[Peter]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by EJA:<BR><STRONG>Of course, quite often one <I>is</I> red when one is dead, at least, that's what I've read. </STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I thought one turned blue after death?? I'm gonna go the whole hog and turn red, white AND blue. Really patriotic, like.<P>

[Nicole Marie]

Big game, big game! Germany beats Korea 1:0!! But the real game was in the audience! The fans were mostly for Korea so the energy in the stadium was amazing!<P>So now Turkey plays against Brazil tomorrow morning. And the winner of that game (Brazil) will go on to play Germany on the 30th!

[Nicole Marie]

Brazil wins 1:0 against Turkey! Great game played by both teams. Now Brazil moves on to face Germany on the 30th for the 2002 World Cup title! If Brazi wins this will be their 5th World Cup title. And Korea and Turkey will play tomorrow for the winner of third place in the game.<P>In other news Portugal fires head coach Oliveira! He made some bad moves with the Portugese team during the world cup (I'd have to agree). So he was canned to the delight of most in the country.

[Nicole Marie]

Brazil Wins! Brazil beats Germany 2:0 to take home the 5th World Cup title for the country! <P>A great game with two goals made by Ronaldo. And as irony has it the next World Cup games (in 4 years) will take place in Germany. Interesting... the Germans are ready to take home the Cup in 2006. <P>In other news, Turkey takes third place beating Korea. So the standings are 1- Brazil 2- Germany 3- Turkey and Korea coing in 4th place.<P>So until then teams will play matches against eachother. Players will go back to their teams and continue to play this great sport and we'll see you in 2006! (Oh and remember the Euro Cup is coming!)

[Serenity]

Nicole, I had forgotten how much of a soccer fan you are. Do you want to make a prediction now or will you wait until next month? USA! USA! I think they'll have their hands full with the Czechs in their first match.

[bignaf]

don't hog the board, serenity!

[Serenity]

Just answer the topic Big.....

[Nicole Marie]

It'll be Brazil again.... You can't beat them.

But who will win their groups?

Group A - I'm stuck between Germany and Poland. Poland has a great team this year but they always do something dumb during the matches. Germany makes few mistakes but does not score high, plus the World Cup is at home for them... So it's one of them.

Group B - England

Group C - Argentina / Netherlands

Group D - Portugal. Angola was a Portuguese territory and they are trying to sue to get some Portuguese players to play for them but nothing will come of it. Iran will be easy to beat. Mexico will play a good game but it'll be Portugal.

Group E - Czech Republic. The US has a good team this year but Czech is an amazing team. They are top in the world and a very tight team. They will move forward. The problem with the US is, the division they play in has some really bad teams. They play teams like El Salvador (ranked #129 last I checked). So what happens is they play really bad teams, win against them and their ranking goes up due to the wins. This is why the US is #5. (There is a whole debate on how FIFA ranks teams.) But they don’t get the practice in against teams that are in the top 10 and are actually a challenge. For the US to start emerging from their groups further they have to play more friendly games with the top 10 to get the practice in. Stop screwing around with the easy wins and play some really tough games in the off season for the practice. They are not used to playing a challenging team and this is why they will be beat by the Czech Republic.

Group F - Brazil

Group G - France

Group H - Spain

[Serenity]

Nicole, you know your futbol. Our lists are almost identical and although I want this hemisphere to do well, it's generally tough to play in Europe where the level of competition is so intense. The CONCACAF teams may be overrated but the South Americans usually play tough leagues.

[Nicole Marie]

Serenity - You are right about the South American teams. Argentina will have a good shot this year and of course... Brazil. The SA teams play many friendly games against the worlds top teams so they often have the chops to play these big matches. I'd love the US to stop screwing around with the Latin American (Central American) teams and play many, many games against some heavy teams.

How did your list look for this years World Cup?

My father-in-law manages a regional team football in Portugal. The team ranks fairly high in the country. He has several contacts that were able to reserve tickets for him to the Czech vs USA on the 12th and Portugal vs Iran on the 17th! What a great time he's going to have. They sold tickets through a lottery system but I heard there was a bit of abuse on how this took place and many people are buying scalped tickets at over 1500 Euros!! I could not even imagine spending that much...

[Serenity]

I picked 2 teams from each group that I thought would go on to the next round:

A) Germany and Poland
B) England and Sweden
C) Argentina and Netherlands
D) Portugal and Mexico
E) Czechoslovakia and USA/Italy
F) Brazil and Croatia
G) France and Switzerland
H) Spain and Tunisia

Of course I like upsets, underdogs and surprises!

[DavidS]

I honestly respect those like you who know about soccer (in Aus they call it "footy", and in the USA "football" means something quite different - closer akin to "rugby" or "rugger").
Me, I grew up next door to the Arsenal ("Gunners") ground, followed by Spurs (Tottenham Hotspur), so I've had about my fill of "lager lout" supporters.
Where I now live is also not far from the Ramat Gan ("National") Stadium (adjoining a mall I frequent); when an important match is scheduled I do not venture out, and keep my hatches battened down.

[Catmando]

World Cup 2006 is only another day away!

Because of my French heritage, I am cheering for France.

However, I also like Portugal, and would also like to see Spain finally live up to their potential.

I still believe in the end, it's Brazil's to win or lose.

I predict a Brazil versus Sweden (my darkhorse pick )in the finals.

[Serenity]

Ecuador looked good yesterday against Poland. They won fair and square. Germany looked strong; a little iffy on defense but they'll improve. I'm going to check the second half of England vs Paraguay in a few minutes.