Official Football Thread

Group D is imo the strongest (certainly because Ghana is in it), and G (with Ivory Coast) and B (with Nigeria) are also very strong groups.

Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
This one might be more difficult than it looks like. Denmark did very well in their qualification, ending above Sweden and Portugal. Japan is the weakest but should not be underestimated, they're the strongest Asian country. Cameroon is a physically very strong opponent and I assume they might be the toughest country from the group.

Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria are imo very strong teams and I guess all their opponents will have a hard time.

I like it that England and the USA are together and Portugal vs Brazil will be very special.
I hope Switzerland will do well, they are not an unimportant outsider.
 
cornfedhick said:
USA got a great draw, I think. 
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USA should be wary of Slovenia, but I think they [USA] should get through this group. I'd like to think that England have the potential to win that group, but they have a habit of making it so hard for themselves - but I'm more confident with Capello in charge.

Foro, Group G is easily the hardest - 3 teams ranked by FIFA in the top 20. It don't get tougher than that. :D
 
Forostar said:
...the five countries where some of us forummers live (if I forget one, please correct me).

Pot 4 (Europe): France, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia
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Corrected. Though I don't think I'll live in Greece, coming summer.
 
Well, Albie, I rate Australia and Ghana higher than Ivory Coast and Portugal, and on top of that, I rate Serbia higher than North Korea. So in total, I find this group a bit harder. In the end we'll see which countries come furthest. ;)
 
Forostar said:
Well, Albie, I rate Australia and Ghana higher than Ivory Coast and Portugal
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Australia and Ghana higher than Portugal and Ivory Coast. Did I miss something Foro? Did Australia jump 16 places in the FIFA world rankings? Is Ghana's 37th ranking a mistake?

I know it could and (often is) argued that FIFA rankings are politically driven but I dont think ANYONE in their right mind could argue that Ghana are a better side than Portugal. Can you provide any evidence that would support your opinion. If you follow the link below you can see the average rankings for the four teams over the last 4 years.
http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranki ... 12&ty=2009


If Australia finish better than Portugal in the competition I'll run naked through the streets of Aberdeen crying "Foro is the one true prophet"


edit: er the link works but the teams default to Spain and Germany for some reasomn, you can change them and it'll give you lots of nice info
 
I rate those countries, so these are my own thoughts about those countries.

Portugal had a hard time qualifying, and Ghana is the best African nation of football (I rate them higher than Nigeria, and indeed, also higher than the Portugal of this season). Australia is a strong opponent. I suggest North Korea isn't, at least, I can't imagine they are much better than Serbia.

Which leaves Brazil and Germany which are both tournament gigants.

My point is this:
I feel that countries (whichever they may be) from group D will come further than group G.
 
Albie said:
USA should be wary of Slovenia, but I think they [USA] should get through this group.
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USA should be wary of everybody, as I think they may be a bit overrated after the Confederations Cup this summer.  That said, I still think they got the best possible draw. 
 
Manchester United's starting 11 against Wolfsburg yesterday:

              Kuszczak
    Park, Fletcher, Carrick, Evra
Welbeck, Scholes, Gibson, Nani
              Anderson
                  Owen

Can you believe that the final result was; Wolfsburg 1, Man Utd 3? For cod's sake, three of the defenders were midfielders! I really hope Evans, Brown and Vidic (or at least two of them) are back for Saturday. Playing this defense against Agbonlahor, Young and Carew could get really, really bad. And not bad for Aston Villa.
 
I am shocked! AZ Alkmaar was leading 1-0 vs Standard Luik and with that result AZ would continue to Europa League. A draw would be deadly, over and out.

And what happens in the freakin' 95th minute (1 minute after the 4 minutes extra time)? 1-1!
And which player scored? The goalkeeper!
How? A fantastic header from a free kick. Many strikers could learn from that. (Later I'll try to get a video from that goal).

Amazing goal, a terrible shock for AZ though.
 
Then we can summarize the group stage. The biggest surprises to me are:

- Liverpool out
- That Bordeaux won their group ahead of Bayern München and Juventus. I'd guessed Bordeaux in 3rd.
- Those East European teams have come up with some good results - like Rubin Kazan's win over Barcelona, or Unirea Urziceni's efforts to nearly deny Stuttgart a place in the final 16
- Atletico Madrid's lackluster performance

The draw for the first knockout stage is scheduled on next Friday.
 
Eddies Wingman said:
- That Bordeaux won their group ahead of Bayern München and Juventus. I'd guessed Bordeaux in 3rd.
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What was more impressive about Bordeaux is that they got more points than any other team that topped their respective group.

And I thought that Owen's hat-trick (his third goal was nicely taken, by the way - the Owen of old) signalled the start of a real headache for Mr Cappello. :D

And more - The Other Rooney.
 
Forostar said:
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Really impressive header, especially from a goalkeeper! It must have been a huge blow for AZ - it was the last thing to happen in the match!

(Digression: I wouldn't make a point out of that the goal was scored after 94:00. When the 4th official shows the lightboard with "4", it means at least 4 minutes - if the ref has decided that 4:30 is an appropriate amount of added time, the number shown is 4. Considering the free kick obviously was given about 4:20 (or even before), I think it was just fair that Standard were allowed to take it)

@Albie: I saw Southampton were interested in Rooney the Younger. Leads me to think of the start they've had to the season - being in a safe spot come Christmas after starting with -10 points isn't half bad. I guess you're paying attention to them since they are in League One like Southend? Do you think the Saints can actually come back from the economical turmoil to become (at least) a Championship club again?
 
Eddies Wingman said:
(Digression: I wouldn't make a point out of that the goal was scored after 94:00. When the 4th official shows the lightboard with "4", it means at least 4 minutes - if the ref has decided that 4:30 is an appropriate amount of added time, the number shown is 4. Considering the free kick obviously was given about 4:20 (or even before), I think it was just fair that Standard were allowed to take it)
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You're right about that, it's already painful enough without this aspect.
 
Eddies Wingman said:
Do you think the Saints can actually come back from the economical turmoil to become (at least) a Championship club again?
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I don't see why not - obviously, not next season but the season after. They have a good side and a good set of fans (I mean, the south coast is not exactly brimming with football clubs, you either have to choose a London side or opt for the Saints - or Pompey).
 
The footy thread almost at the bottom of the page? I've got to do something about that:

"Team of the Beast" 2009/2010

The first team in one of the top 5 leagues in the UEFA league ranking (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France) to get to 6 wins, 6 draws and 6 defeats.

In England, no team managed this in their first 18 games. (Stoke City came close, they had 5 wins, 6 draws and 6 defeats when they lost away to Manchester City). Now, all teams have played 19 games or more. Also in France and Italy there are no teams that had 18 6 6 6 24.

In Spain, Sporting Gijon and Villarreal might make it:

9  Sporting Gijón  17  6  6  5  18  17  +1  24
10 Villarreal 17 6 5 6 26 21 +5 23

In Germany, there are actually 3 clubs that all might end up on 24 points after 18 matches; Wolfsburg, Mainz and Eintracht Frankfurt.

8  VfL Wolfsburg 17 6 6   5   32:32   0   24
9  1. FSV Mainz 05 17 6 6   5   21:22   -1   24
10  Eintracht Frankfurt  17 6 6   5   22:24   -2   24

So, who will be "Team of the Beast" 2009/2010? The three German candidates all play against presumedly better teams on the firstcoming Saturday. Sporting Gijon play Atletico Madrid away.
 
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