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[Falch]

What the hell where those Australians doing? They injured Sneijder, Cocu and Gio. Talk about anti-football, the way they injured one Dutch player after the other. Also, Netherlands was denied a penalty (australian touched the ball with his hand, in the penalty box). Wilkshire's red card was the least Australia deserved.

Still, Holland dominated (65% ball possession), and with a little more luck, they would have won. Other than one magnificent save by Vd Sar, and that penalty, Australia really didn't create much, and Viduka was disappointing. I'd expected more from Australia actually. Schwarzer was great, though. Australia won't survive the poule, they'll get beaten by Brazil, and Croatia or Japan.

 

[Fatalah]

I was just wondering why Greece didn't make it into the tournament this year. Didn't they win the EuroCup 2 summers ago? I don't follow soccer at all, but I'm curious as to why they didn't make it in. If they were the best of Europe 2 years ago, what happened since?

I know the EuroCup and World Cup are separate tournaments--Do you guys consider it odd that Greece couldn't make it in with the solid play they had only a few years ago?

Or was Greece not expected to get in this year because of changes to the team (different players, new coaches, etc.)

 

[Wes]

I was just wondering why Greece didn't make it into the tournament this year. Didn't they win the EuroCup 2 summers ago? I don't follow soccer at all, but I'm curious as to why they didn't make it in. If they were the best of Europe 2 years ago, what happened since?

I know the EuroCup and World Cup are separate tournaments--Do you guys consider it odd that Greece couldn't make it in with the solid play they had only a few years ago?

Or was Greece not expected to get in this year because of changes to the team (different players, new coaches, etc.)

The European Cup qualification is relatively easier to get into for european nations than the world cup. The Euro Cup has 16 places. The World Cup has 18 places for european teams and 32 teams compete altogether.

Although the current world ranking is 19 for Greece that is largely due to the fact they won the Euro 2004 championship. I'm sure before then they were ranked much lower, around 40 or 50 my guess.

They did play well in the championship I'll give them that, but the main reason they won is that their opposition played very badly when they met. They faced France and the Czech Republic on their way to the final and in each one their opposition just played badly whilst Greece were playing far above themselves.

I can't remember the final too well but it was a relatively poor effort by Portugal after they went a goal behind even though they were the host nation. Greece were 100-1 outsiders to win and those were just odds for that team.

Just because they won that competition it doesn't automatically make them a better team (despite what the fifa rankings will lead you to believe).

Their World Cup qualifying group had the Ukraine, Turkey and Denmark in. All of these are considered more established footballing nations than Greece I would say. The Ukraine qualified top and are in the World Cup. Greece finished 4th in their qualifying group.

They were mostly just lucky to win the Euro 2004 cup, but were definetly deserved winners in the final match. Either way I was glad they won as the Greeks were incredibly jubiliant about their triumph and the Athens olympics were only a week afterwards and it made for a great atmosphere there.

 

[seanoff]

Team MP W D L GF GA Pts
Ukraine 12 7 4 1 18 7 25
Turkey 12 6 5 1 23 9 23
Denmark 12 6 4 2 24 12 22
Greece 12 6 3 3 15 9 21
Albania 12 4 1 7 11 20 13
Georgia 12 2 4 6 14 25 10
Kazakhstan 12 0 1 11 6 29 1

tough group, unimaginative negative play. Lets face it they fluked Euro2004 this is a more realistic result.

 

[psycho_snake]

P.S. Ruud van Nistelrooy will rule this world cup as he leads Holland to win it all. IMO, the best player in the game today.

Despite my love for Van Nistelrooy there is no way that he is the best player in the world, nowhere near. Van Nistelrooy has done superb at manchester united. he's scored 150 goals in just over 200 matches is an amazing feat which has made him a fan favourite at old trafford and a player that no one wants to see not wearing a United shirt, but thanks to our dumbass manager who only gets into arguements with our best players, we could be seeing him walk away from Manchester United very soon.

Im going off track a little now. Van Nistelrooy might have an amazing goal ratio, but there is more to a players game than goals. Van Nistelrooy does have his fair share of trickery and sometimes has an excellent pass, but you cant compare that to some players. As shinobi pointed out, he isnt even the best player at United, that tuitle deservedly belongs to that potato headed scouser that gerrard calls Wazza. Compare Van Nistelrooy to Rooney. Whilst van Nistelrooy might score more goals than rooney, he doesnt provide much as rooney does. Rooney creates chances, he drops deep, he has an amazing pass, amazing strength and is often seen helping defenders. Sure Ruud does some of those things, but he doesnt do it as well as or evenm as frequently as Rooney.

 

[dasein]

Soccer is such a damn friggen beautiful sport!












.

Spoiler

Brazil FTW

 

[psycho_snake]

We're going to see a repeat of 1982. Back then Brazil were considered unstoppable but they crashed out early. The same thing will happen this time round. I was watching Brazil-Zew Zealand and although they played nice football they didnt look too efficient. obviously any team can have a bad day, but Brazil just seem too confident. They're going to take things for granted and i dont think they're going to do as well as people expect.

 

[psycho_snake]

No one seems to be talking about the 6-0 thrashing that Ebgland gave to jamaica. Its amazing houw tiems change. Just a few months back people were booing crouch, now they adore him. He scored a hat-trick against jamaica and he helped with Lampards goal. Our 6ft 7 lanky robot is proving to be a very important player.

 

[Wes]

We're going to see a repeat of 1982. Back then Brazil were considered unstoppable but they crashed out early. The same thing will happen this time round. I was watching Brazil-Zew Zealand and although they played nice football they didnt look too efficient. obviously any team can have a bad day, but Brazil just seem too confident. They're going to take things for granted and i dont think they're going to do as well as people expect.

I can see Brazil crashing out too. There just seems to be too much "they're unstoppable" talk circulating. No one is really talking about anyone else challenging them. Reminds me a bit of how everyone thought France would do in 2002 and we know how that went.

Although I'm English and I hope my home team go all the way I wouldn't begrude a victory to a team like Spain or The Netherlands. Spain have such a strong squad but don't seem to gel well on the international stage and always underachieve. Not much unlike England in that respect.

Just heard some bad news about the Dutch chance though:

Three Dutch players were injured in a 1-1 draw with Australia in a FIFA World Cup™ warm-up on Sunday.
Midfielder Phillip Cocu was the first Dutchman to limp off after he sustained a thigh injury 10 minutes before the break. Midfielder Wesley Sneijder and defender Giovanni van Bronckhorst also suffered ankle problems in the second period.

 

[Fatalah]

The European Cup qualification is relatively easier to get into for european nations than the world cup. The Euro Cup has 16 places. The World Cup has 18 places for european teams and 32 teams compete altogether.

Although the current world ranking is 19 for Greece that is largely due to the fact they won the Euro 2004 championship. I'm sure before then they were ranked much lower, around 40 or 50 my guess.

They did play well in the championship I'll give them that, but the main reason they won is that their opposition played very badly when they met. They faced France and the Czech Republic on their way to the final and in each one their opposition just played badly whilst Greece were playing far above themselves.

I can't remember the final too well but it was a relatively poor effort by Portugal after they went a goal behind even though they were the host nation. Greece were 100-1 outsiders to win and those were just odds for that team.

Just because they won that competition it doesn't automatically make them a better team (despite what the fifa rankings will lead you to believe).

Their World Cup qualifying group had the Ukraine, Turkey and Denmark in. All of these are considered more established footballing nations than Greece I would say. The Ukraine qualified top and are in the World Cup. Greece finished 4th in their qualifying group.

They were mostly just lucky to win the Euro 2004 cup, but were definetly deserved winners in the final match. Either way I was glad they won as the Greeks were incredibly jubiliant about their triumph and the Athens olympics were only a week afterwards and it made for a great atmosphere there.

Thanks so much for the details. I sure do wish Greece was in it this year though, I need a country to cheer for besides the US.

 

[Wes]

Thanks so much for the details. I sure do wish Greece was in it this year though, I need a country to cheer for besides the US.

Why not cheer for England?

 

[MrPing1000]

Thanks so much for the details. I sure do wish Greece was in it this year though, I need a country to cheer for besides the US.

Iran Obviously

 

[B-B-Bomba!]

On the subject of Greece, it's also fairly commonly felt that they were able to play better as a team than more famous sides in the tournament - and teamwork has an enormous part to play in this sport. We've just seen Brazil, of all teams, given a prediction of crashing out early, due to having fantastic players, but no cohesive spirit. (I didn't see any of the recent warm up matches btw). And just now both Spain and England were fairly portrayed as underachievers on the world stage. Their squads generally look excellent on paper, but when it comes time to step up to the plate, the players don't understand one another well enough to form a unit, and are unable to fully represent the footballing spirit of their nation. I hate this about England, in particular.

It seems to be a problem with bringing big name players together. In Euro 2004, Greek players seemed to be unknowns, but knew how to play together. I don't know whether it's strictly true that they were able to spend more time training as a team, than England, Spain or Portugal? Perhaps it's down to management - fostering team spirit is certainly something managers have to take care over.

Anyway none of this explains why they ****ed up getting into the World Cup. A large part of it would have been having such a difficult group. Also, they would no longer be a surprise package; the underestimated underdogs they were in the Euro. Teams would prepare very carefully on how to beat them; and when your opposition have a good plan on how to shut you down, and you lack a certain depth of responses, as it might be fair to say that Greece do ... then life becomes a lot more difficult.

 

[Shinobi]

Greece's win two years ago was a fluke. They won what, four straight games 1-0? Averaged maybe two decent goal attempts a game during that stretch, and got their goals almost as much from sheer luck as any skill. They were also the most boring team to win a high level competition in the last 30 years.

That said I'm sad they didn't qualify, because Greek fans are as cool as any in the world. And they deserved to win in 04 because in my mind if you can get that far while being that flukey, you deserve whatever spoils you get. But was I surprised they didn't qualify? Not a bit. Pace, patience and skill can overcome a defensive-minded team, particularly if they lack pace and skill themselves. And as the previous post stated, teams were prepared for Greece this time around, not taking them lightly anymore while being better able to attack their defense.

 

[Shinobi]

Oh yeah, forgot to talk about Crouch...the way I see it, he's a magnet up front. He can draw the attention of defenders from the long balls and crosses and set up Owen or a midfielder that's closing in, and I think he holds the ball pretty well. I doubt Crouch will get more then a couple of goals, but that to me is a bonus...because of the way teams have to play him due to his physique, it gives Owen or whoever else is the striker a bit more space. But if Crouch gets any space himself he's now showing that he can do some damage, which is a continuation of his second half form with Liverpool. A player like him seems to get better with confidence, and he's got that in abundance now.

 

[BatiGOOOOOOL]

Greece's play in Euro 2004 may not have been the most spectacular thing to see, but you gotta give them credit for their win. Of course, any champion needs a little luck, but the way Rehaggel built that team was genius, at least for the tournament in question.

Sure, they had few goal chances, but their opponents, more often than not, looked lost thanks to the greeks' extremely effective tactics in defense and midfield. Thankfully for them Charisteas was on a lucky streak and if he just had one touch the whole game long, he'd put it in the back of the net.

 

[Incognito]

Can't wait to see America bring the trophy home.

 

[Prine]

Soccer is such a damn friggen beautiful sport!

Then use the REAL term dammit. FOOTBALL!

Can't wait to see America bring the trophy home.

:lol

And Crouch is pretty good with his ball control. Some of the passes he was supplying to Oen and Joe Cole were superb (against Jamaica)

 

[Incognito]

No, thanks XD

This rocks ^^

That's ****ing awesome.

 

[lachesis]

I'm losing my faith in South Korea. I thought they would be fit enough to go through as 2nd in their group - but as of now, I think France and Switzerland will go up without any problem. Why? Korea lost to Ghana today, like 3-1.

On the other hand, my main team Spain, Germany, USA, and Brazil all looks to be in good shape. Go, Raul!!

 

[BatiGOOOOOOL]

Can't wait to see America bring the trophy home.

Keep your ignorance to just one sport please. Don't ridicule yourself any further.

 

[xabre]

Australia won't survive the poule, they'll get beaten by Brazil, and Croatia or Japan.

Croatia can't even beat Poland and Japan struggled to beat Malta.

 

[speedpop]

Croatia can't even beat Poland and Japan struggled to beat Malta.

This is the thing - out of all the friendlies played with Group F's teams, only Australia and Brazil have done anything significant.

Australia's match against Netherlands was expected with the Dutch possession rate (if you think they will play any game without a high percentage there, you must be fiddling yourself) and the first half for the Dutch was dominative. But it was the sheer fact that yes it was a physical game, but teams that have less than 11 men in a side for over 30 mins usually don't keep the game to a draw - especially a side that is ranked some 50-odd lower than the team they are playing.

Schwarzer cemented his role as starter goalkeeper though, some of those saves were great. Van der Sar played a good match too with a killer save from a somewhat mediocre header from Viduka in the 1st half.

The whole reason though is why it was such a good match in my opinion is because they played a formation with a lone striker, something they have done several times in the past, but in this game we actually created scoring opportunities and harrassed the Dutch defence several times. Easily turn the page back to exact time period last year and Australia was nothing but a "defender gets ball by a stroke of luck, lobs it up to Viduka where he has to do all the work and get past 3 or more defenders". The Australia that is playing now is light years beyond the Australia that was playing a year or more ago.

 

[jett]

Thanks so much for the details. I sure do wish Greece was in it this year though, I need a country to cheer for besides the US.

I hope the Greek football team gets struck by lightning. Soon. Eurocup '04, never forget.

 

[enjoy bell woods]

brazil hexa am comings euros teams am a joke

 

[Wario64]

brazil hexa am comings euros teams am a joke

:hippo

 

[enjoy bell woods]

haha, I'm so clever

 

[Wes]

And Crouch is pretty good with his ball control. Some of the passes he was supplying to Oen and Joe Cole were superb (against Jamaica)

Only problem with crouch is when balls are played at a very very fast pace to his feet, or slightly off the ground. It's hard to move his stalk like legs into a turn or a roll past the defenders shoulder. I know this as I'm the same height as him :lol

Best he can do is to control it and then look for options, which isn't too bad as his role is to hold up the ball for midfield support or look for Owen making a run past him.

 

[Shompola]

Croatia can't even beat Poland and Japan struggled to beat Malta.

I believe that Japanb wont win a single game and end up being fourth in their group... Japan and SK are such overrated teams anyway. They did good 4 years ago.. but since then they have been weak... SK had luck even qualifying for WC. Australia however is better than I thought and they have a good chance qualifying to 1/8s.

 

[sfa3hugo]

I believe that Japanb wont win a single game and end up being fourth in their group... Japan and SK are such overrated teams anyway. They did good 4 years ago.. but since then they have been weak.

Japan is alot stronger than everyone thinks. Don't forget this team outplayed a pretty much full strength Brazil who had 3 of their 'magic quartet' (robinho was in place of fatnaldo) in the confederations cup last year. Brazil was lucky the ref bailed them out and disallowed a ligitimate japanese goal making the final score 2-2 and ensuring that they scraped through on goal difference to the second round.

Japan has at least as much chance as progressing as Australia and Croatia do but they'll only go through if they can overcame their defensive frailties (especially from set pieces).

South Korea is shit though, I'll give you that.

 

[yilmazz]

Thanks so much for the details. I sure do wish Greece was in it this year though, I need a country to cheer for besides the US.

Cheer for the Ivory Coast!

 

[Falch]

Croatia can't even beat Poland and Japan struggled to beat Malta.

On the other hand, Japan tied 2-2 against Germany, after being 2-0 up. Scored both goals through great technical skill and insight (versus the Germany goals, which where free kicks I believe). With Australia having such weak defense (relatively to their midfield and attack), they could potentially rip open Australia's defense on pure technical skill combined with speed and agility.

Croatia will match and probably surpass Australia's physical play, plus they have more individual quality and experience.

 

[SantaC]

Can't wait to see America bring the trophy home.

:lol :lol

 

[psycho_snake]

I can see Brazil crashing out too. There just seems to be too much "they're unstoppable" talk circulating. No one is really talking about anyone else challenging them. Reminds me a bit of how everyone thought France would do in 2002 and we know how that went.

Thats exactly what I was thinking. I remember all the hype surrounding Francer back in 2002, everyone was saying that the trophy was theirs. They had zidane, trezeguet, henry, basically their attack looked unstoppable and a good squad and whilst the reest of the squad wasnt as good as the likes of their strikers, they still looked good enough to easily win it, but they seemed to believe all the hype surroundingthem, they believed that they were better than they actually were and they received the shock of their life when they lost to senegal. After that it was very difficult to recover from that loss. fance were obviously very down and I dont think that they recovered from that loss, therefore resulting in their exit of the tournament at the group stages.

Brazil look the same. They've got a ****ing unbelievable strikeforce, but other than that they have a team thaat a lot of countries can cope with. As for the hype surrounding their strikers, im not so sure if they will underperform. Ronaldinho might because he's got every eye waiting for him to get the ball and run with it and when you;e under that pressure it isnt easy, Adriaono should be fine, he;s been good in the pre world cup preparations. kaka will be good as usual. he's the least talkjed about attacking player, which is shocking since he's superb. Ive left Ronaldo last because I think that he will be Brazil's star. Ronaldo has had a bad year and people are not expecting him to be excellent, but football365 dont call him a chubby genius for nothing. When ronaldo is in a comfortable environment and is on form he can be the best striker in the world. Im sure that if Ronaldo never had the injuries he did then he would be the best player in the world by a mile. Whilst he isnt going to ever be as good as he could have been, Ronaldo has this knack of playing amazing during the world cup.

Even if their strikers do perform, I still believe that Brazil will flop because the rest of their team isnt amazing. Teams like Netherlands, Enbgland and Italy should have any problem coping with brazils defence and midfield. Emerson is the only player who is capable of controlling the best midfielders, Gilberto doesnt strike me as the type of player who can cope with people like gerrard.

 

[Prine]

Change your avatars!

Psycho, Wes... do it now!

 

[Wes]

Change your avatars!

Psycho, Wes... do it now!

I will do. But when the inevitable CrouchBot gif appears I'm swapping to that :lol

 

[Prine]

Good man! Crouch bot is ****ing hillerious :lol

 

[Wes]

I wonder which thread will get the most action. This one or the NBA finals (through the same period of time of course).

 

[Luna104]

I have also chosen a World Cup-flavoured avatar. It's on!

 

[Wes]

I have also chosen a World Cup-flavoured avatar. It's on!

Heh I like it luna. Your team has a tough group. Good luck!

Whilst I'm here, anyone else signed up for the fantasy football game on the official website?
It's free and quite well presented. We can set up a league for NeoGAF supporters

 

[Falch]

I have also chosen a World Cup-flavoured avatar. It's on!

Nice avatar Luna, you Dutch too? Do you mind if I take that as my avatar also, for as long as Oranje is still in the WC?

 

[Hooker]

I've been sporting my WC avatar for ages, the Dutch lions will roar upon the world once again ^^





"Hup Holland Hup, laat die leeuw niet in z'n Hempie staan"

 

[tracky_dacks]

Anyone interested in a NeoGAF World Cup Sweep?

Your nation didn't make the Finals and/or don't know how to follow? Well here's your chance to get behind a team... even if it is Togo. First 32 (well 31) to express interest will get assigned a random team and if you win, well... give yourself a pat on the back! Actually maybe perhaps a mod/admin can arrange for the winner to receive a custom tag of their choice or something?

 

[Ghost]

Ive changed my avatar, the flag is translucent, partly because i like my old avatar, and partly because i wanna leave open the option to bitch at Sven if things dont go our way

 

[Luna104]

Nice avatar Luna, you Dutch too? Do you mind if I take that as my avatar also, for as long as Oranje is still in the WC?

Of course I don't mind -- I stole it too. Just copy and paste the image source, it's on Gaming Age Image Hosting.

 

[MrPing1000]

I'll be supporting the dutch. Your home shirt is awesomeness. Cantona will be pleased.

 

[Outdoor Miner]

I am obligated to root for Mexico. Not that I have a problem with that this year, seeing as how we're fielding a decent team and I'm liking the new manager.

That said we haven't been lighting it up in the warm-ups, and we're capable of unpleasant surprises. Please god don't lose to Iran. :lol

 

[Hooker]

I'll be supporting the dutch. Your home shirt is awesomeness. Cantona will be pleased.

Our away shirt is way better!


The white, with the diagonal flag ^^

 

[Falch]

Of course I don't mind -- I stole it too. Just copy and paste the image source, it's on Gaming Age Image Hosting.

haha k then, thx.

Our away shirt is way better!


The white, with the diagonal flag ^^

I disagree, the home shirt looks much better. The away shirt looks like a shirt for a Miss Election, with its diagonal flag.

 

[Shinobi]

Can't wait to see America bring the trophy home.

:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

This is why you're one of my favourite posters...