Football 2010 Winner speculation

[Rogerio Kioshi]

French coach blank over not shaking Parreira's hand

This is not fair play.

[Christophe Verré]

Jothi Shankar Kumar wrote:France vs South Africa - Don't know for what reason they should play this match!

I don't see any reason why they should not. Why shouldn't they ?

[Christophe Verré]

Rogerio Kioshi wrote:French coach blank over not shaking Parreira's hand
This is not fair play.

We really didn't need that... It's been a complete fiasco. I'm relieved this tournament finally ended for the French team.

[Joe San]

The decider for England today. Hope they do not follow France!

[Christophe Verré]

The decider for England today.

I feel that David Beckham is bringing bad luck to his team by sitting on the bench. What is he doing there ?

[Paul Sturrock]

Christophe Verré wrote:

The decider for England today.

I feel that David Beckham is bringing bad luck to his team by sitting on the bench. What is he doing there ?

No idea. Capello asked him to come. Some of the UK press are unkindly suggesting he's there as translator. He just looks unneccessary, but the suspicion is he's really there to help England's bid for the 2018 world cup.

[Sridhar Santhanakrishnan]

Paul Sturrock wrote:

Christophe Verré wrote:

The decider for England today.

I feel that David Beckham is bringing bad luck to his team by sitting on the bench. What is he doing there ?

No idea. Capello asked him to come. Some of the UK press are unkindly suggesting he's there as translator. He just looks unneccessary, but the suspicion is he's really there to help England's bid for the 2018 world cup.

Looks like it, hope England win today. They might get a easy draw comparitively right upto the semis (Uruguay, Serbia...)

[Hussein Baghdadi]

Englad doesn't deserve to qualify, a historical poor performance.
It is now Germany vs. England.

[Chris Baron]

John Todd wrote:It is now Germany vs. England.

And that is nothing less than a football classic

[Paul Clapham]

Christophe Verré wrote:

Rogerio Kioshi wrote:French coach blank over not shaking Parreira's hand
This is not fair play.

We really didn't need that... It's been a complete fiasco. I'm relieved this tournament finally ended for the French team.

I think people might overlook Domenech being an as... having character flaws if the team had been winning. But since the team flamed out, Domenech is now in the spotlight and will take the blame for everything.

[Christophe Verré]

Chris Baron wrote:

John Todd wrote:It is now Germany vs. England.

And that is nothing less than a football classic

+1. Looking forward to it.

[Pushkar Choudhary]

Just seeing the draw for the Round of 16 and the Quarterfinals.
On one side, you have Uruguay, S. Korea, USA and Ghana, none of which could be called as great teams or world beaters today. And still, one of these would feature in the semifinals.
And on the other hand, you have Germany, England, Argentina and Mexico, of which, Germany and Argentina both definitely are champion teams and England and Mexico aren't far behind. And still, only one of these 4 would be there in the semifinals. Looks unfair, doesn't it?

[Christophe Verré]

Pushkar wrote:Looks unfair, doesn't it?

No. That's how the groups were randomly made. There's no strong/weak factor. It's exciting to see other teams emerging.

[Hussam Odeh]

Portugal

[kareem m mahameed]

ARGENTINA WITH MARADONA

[Ulf Dittmer]

Christophe Verré wrote:

Pushkar wrote:Germany and Argentina both definitely are champion teams and England and Mexico aren't far behind. And still, only one of these 4 would be there in the semifinals. Looks unfair, doesn't it?

No. That's how the groups were randomly made. There's no strong/weak factor. It's exciting to see other teams emerging.

The groups weren't quite random. 8 teams were seeded into the groups, and so were guaranteed not to play each other until the KO round: Brazil, Italy, Spain, Argentina, England, Netherlands, Germany and South Africa. (South Africa being host, and the others being the highest-ranked teams at the time.) Plus, the chance that teams who had played each other in the qualifying round would play again at the World Cup was minimized by further "regional seeding".

England still wouldn't have to play a top-ranked team if they had won their group as expected. Mexico is only ranked #17. So I'd say it is fair (if one accepts that top-ranked teams are seeded at all, but that's pretty common).

[Christophe Verré]

Ulf Dittmer wrote:The groups weren't quite random. 8 teams were seeded into the groups, and so were guaranteed not to play each other until the KO round: Brazil, Italy, Spain, Argentina, England, Netherlands, Germany and South Africa. (South Africa being host, and the others being the highest-ranked teams at the time.) Plus, the chance that teams who had played each other in the qualifying round would play again at the World Cup was minimized by further "regional seeding".

I'm learning something I thought they were just picking numbers one after another.

[Rizvan Asgarov]

Hi All,

According to yesterday's results:
Germany will play with England. & Ghana will play with USA.

[Joe San]

Germany has to compete with two tough teams for them to reach the Semi's.... England and Argentina.... and as spectators we are going to have a nice time watching the matches!

[Evandro Rezende]

Brasil, i think and i hope
even knowing that many brazil's good players are not in this world cup

[Rodrigo Tomita]

Paul Sturrock wrote:Still, only one team in the entire history of the world cup has won it outside of their home contenent (Brazil), so maybe Ghana is where your money should go?!

Or... Brazil again?

why? I'm Brazilian

[vijin das]

..........GERMANY .........

[W. Joe Smith]

I was watching the Daily Show with John Stewart last night, and he said something I found interesting. It went something like "If the US wins the World Cup, does that mean the rest of the world has to start calling it soccer?"

My vote is yes, yes they do .

[Joe San]

Argentina also looks stronger. I guess like the last time (in 2006), Argentina and Germany played the Quarter finals and again the same might happen this time and I feel Argentina looks a stronger side than Germany. But we can never guess. Like I said before, as spectators we have some wonderful matches ahead.

[Joe San]

Brazil vs Portugal - Can Portugal do a 14-0 against Brazil???

[Renan Oliveira]

Jothi Shankar Kumar wrote:Brazil vs Portugal - Can Portugal do a 14-0 against Brazil???

kkkk no .

I guess 3x1 to Brazil.

[Peter Rooke]

Brazil to win. The heat in South Africa will not cause them as many problems as it will for the European teams...

Here's my view:
Netherlands - of all teams I would like them to win, but they just don't seem to be able to do it....
Argentina - great players - if they can beat Brazil... Not sure about Maradona - but he is a character
Germany - always going to work hard - always have a chance
Spain - best players, but I don't think they can beat the South American teams
Italy - always have a strong team.

[Ulf Dittmer]

Peter Rooke wrote:Brazil to win. The heat in South Africa will not cause them as many problems as it will for the European teams...

Um, "heat"? It's mid-winter there. If anything, the average temperatures should be much closer to what Europeans are accustomed to.

[Rob Spoor]

Well, Italy certainly isn't going to win this

[Joe San]

Unbelievable by Slovakia..... Unfortunate that the world champions Italy are out of this tournament! Guess the Germans should be happy!

[Chris Baron]

Jothi Shankar Kumar wrote:Italy are out of this tournament! Guess the Germans should be happy!

Absolutely. What's bad for Italy is good for Germany in football, because we never win against them

[Peter Rooke]

"The heat in South Africa..." - my mistake - still Brazil to win
But hang on the Italians have been knock out with France!! Whats going on?
Maybe its time for a new world cup winner, a country that has not won the Jules Rimet cup...

[Paul Clapham]

Peter Rooke wrote:But hang on the Italians have been knock out with France!! Whats going on?

A lot of the earlier evaluations of Italy relied on Buffon being in goal. But now he's got a bad back, or whatever it is... anyway, going with the second-string goalie could have made the difference.

[Rob Spoor]

It's still surprising to see both finalists of 4 years ago now already leaving after the group stages.

[Shashika Wickramarachchi]

Uruguay!!! first world cup winner shall make a new history.. lol

Uruguay!!!

[Christophe Verré]

Paul Clapham wrote:A lot of the earlier evaluations of Italy relied on Buffon being in goal. But now he's got a bad back, or whatever it is... anyway, going with the second-string goalie could have made the difference.

Don't put all the blame on the goalkeeper. When they'll stop crying and outrageously simulating fouls, they'll deserve to win (yes, I don't like Italia's team )

Brazil vs Portugal tonight: bring out your beers folks

[Vijitha Kumara]

I'm not much in to Football as with Cricket But one of Brazil, Argentina, Portugal and German have a great chance for the title. They've got some great players in their bags. Looking forward to today's game, should be a great one; Brazil vs Portugal.

[Chris Baron]

Christophe Verré wrote:Brazil vs Portugal tonight: bring out your beers folks

Both are qualified yet, so the match might be rather less interesting, if they both pace themselves. And it's a lottery where Spain places in Group H. So there's no influence from this aspect neither.
But i'll watch it anyway.

[Christophe Verré]

Both are qualified yet, so the match might be rather less interesting, if they both pace themselves.

Damn, I thought they would fight for the 1st place. So we can't expect the intensity of an elimination game, can we ? I'll bring the beers anyway

[Paul Sturrock]

Chris Baron wrote:

Christophe Verré wrote:Brazil vs Portugal tonight: bring out your beers folks

Both are qualified yet, so the match might be rather less interesting, if they both pace themselves. And it's a lottery where Spain places in Group H. So there's no influence from this aspect neither.
But i'll watch it anyway.

What, are you writing off a Brazil win and Ivory Coast wining nine nil then?!