Official Football Thread

So, 0-0 between Honduras and Switzerland - Spain and Chile are through.

This means South America has actually got all five teams through to the second round - Argentina, Brazil, Chile. Paraguay and Uruguay.
 
Albie said:
As for Roger Milla ads, we have a coke ad running as frequent as that focusing on goal celebrations.
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That's the one.
Chile has shown quite a bit of risk taking defensively in the first half. That's going to cost them against Brazil.
Genghis Khan said:
The teams I expect to come out on top of each group:
A -- Mexico, France
B -- Argentina, Greece
C -- England, USA
D -- Germany, Serbia
E -- Netherlands, Cameroon
F -- Italy, Slovakia
G -- Brazil, Portugal
H -- Spain, Chile
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11/16 teams made it through. 
 
9/16 for me

Will-I-Am said:
Round of 16 :
France, South Africa, Argentina, Nigeria, England, US, Germany, Serbia, Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Paraguay, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland
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Genghis Khan said:
I will be one of those cheering 'OLAY', as I hoping for Spain to win it this year.  :)
I would also like to see Germany, England and Netherlands to go far.  I only wish bad luck on Italy and France, the latter because of the unfair way they made it into the finals.
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I also wished Greece would be eliminated even though I expected them to make it.  So three of my least favourites this year bit the dust early.

Forostar said:
You had exactly the same expectations as me, Genghis, so also 11/16 for me.
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Congrats!  I originally had Japan instead of Cameroon.  Should have stuck with my guns.



I predict the bold teams win.

Uruguay v Korea Rep.
USA v Ghana (a repeat of last WC 2006 where Ghana won 2:1)
Netherlands v Slovakia
Brazil v Chile
Argentina v Mexico
Germany v England
Paraguay v Japan
Spain v Portugal
 
Genghis Khan said:
I predict the bold teams win.

Uruguay v Korea Rep.
USA v Ghana (a repeat of last WC 2006 where Ghana won 2:1)
Netherlands v Slovakia
Brazil v Chile
Argentina v Mexico
Germany v England
Paraguay v Japan
Spain v Portugal
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I originally said that these following teams would make it to the quarter finals:
France, Argentina, England, USA, Netherlands, Italy, Brazil, Spain

But with the knowledge of today, I'll follow Genghis. Exactly the same. Germany really made a better impression than England and I think that Japan could beat Paraguay. Uruguay replaces France and will beat South Korea after extra time. ;)
 
Albie said:
I have not made my prediction as yet, but here goes for "Round of 16" only:

South Africa, France, Argentina, South Korea*, England, USA, Germany, Australia, Cameroon, Netherlands, Italy, Paraguay, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Chile.
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11/16 for me as well. Who would have expected to have both Italy and France go so early?

Still, quarters:

Uruguay v Korea Rep - no real surprise.
USA v Ghana - home support to take them through.
Netherlands v Slovakia - the Dutch should see the Slovak's off.
Brazil v Chile - I thought about this, but Chile looked very prone tonight to too many yellows/reds.
Argentina v Mexico - again, no surprise.
Germany v England - could I bet any other way?
Paraguay v Japan - Japan looked OK, but Paraguay should get through.
Spain v Portugal - Yep, I'm going with the Portuguese here.
 
Uruguay v Korea Rep - obvious
USA v Ghana - Donovan and Dempsey will see them through
Netherlands v Slovakia - Dutch are simply too good
Brazil v Chile - Chile doesn't have a hope
Argentina v Mexico - major upset now.
Germany v England - The Three Lions will win this one.
Paraguay v Japan - Fuck Japan!
Spain v Portugal - Spain will win the battle of the Iberian peninsula
 
Uruguay v Korea Rep - Uruguay have arguably been as good as anyone. Korea are decent but not special.
USA v Ghana - Tough one. I can see this going to penalties but I'll back the USA because they have more star players.
Netherlands v Slovakia - Easy.
Brazil v Chile - See above.
Argentina v Mexico - Argentina have been great. Mexico beat France but my old Sunday League team probably could.
Germany v England - Hopefully.
Paraguay v Japan - Paraguay were better than I expected in the group stages. Japan should run them close though.
Spain v Portugal - Spain are the ultimate team still, even if they struggled through the group stage.

A lot of home wins there.
 
Uruguay v Korea Rep.: I was more impressed by the South American team here. They are rock solid in defense and have taken most of their scoring opportunities well. Korea were lucky to not concede more against Nigeria.
USA v Ghana: The Ghanese have shown little creativity, both their goals in the group matches coming from penalties. The US have shown much more attacking-wise. But they need to be patient as Ghana defend well. Still think the Yanks will take this one.
Netherlands v Slovakia: Well, the Slovaks beat Italy, but the Dutch have been much more solid than the Azzurri were. And against Paraguay the Slovaks showed next to nothing. Netherlands win this 9 out of 10 times.
Brazil v Chile: Well, if Chile continue to give away chances like they did in the first half against Spain, this could just end up very ugly, And as Albie mentioned, Chile are effective harvesters of yellow cards.
Argentina v Mexico: Argentina have more class, but I expect the Mexicans to give them a fight. Still think Maradona's men will go through (I expect them to go to the final, actually).
Germany v England: Well, I will keep my fingers crossed for the Three Lions, but Germany have shown much more confidence so far and have played the better football. But hopefully the Slovenia match helped England get rid of the nervousity we saw so much of against Algeria. A couple of German players are also doubtful as to whether they can play or not.
Paraguay v Japan: As I said earlier, Japan beat a very disappointing Cameroon and a Danish side which I haven't seen poorer in a long time. Paraguay have been solid and should take this. But look out for Japanese free kicks, it seems they have figured out how to do it with this ball.
Spain v Portugal: This is toss-of-a-coin close in my opinion. The Spanish have been great over the last couple of years and their poor performances are rarer than Portugal's. Still, there's enough class in the Portuguese team to take advantage if Spain are not at their best.

While I'm at it, I'll guess the quarters as well - given that my predictions for the round of 16 hit home.

Argentina v Germany: Argies to win it.
USA v Uruguay: The weakest quarter-final of them all. I actually think Uruguay is the team to look out for here.
Spain v Paraguay: I think Paraguay are the weaker of my eight predicted quarter-final teams. Spain should win this.
Brazil v Netherlands: Watch out for the Dutch! Brazil have not impressed me as much as they normally do, and in Netherlands they face a team that defend better than any team they have played so far. This might frustrate them. And they were not exactly running over Portugal (albeit they didn't need to either, since a draw would see them win the group).
Then the semi-finals:
Argentina vs Spain: A potential classic this one. I predict ARgentina to win it. Spain have not yet managed to get their second striker (Torres) going, and only one real goalscorer in top form might not be sufficient.
Netherlands vs Uruguay: The Dutch have an easier task in the semi than in the quarters - so if they can overcome Brazil they will surely be able to overcome Uruguay. But this one oozes few goals and extra time.
This leaves us with a final between Argentina and Netherlands. I won't come with any predictioins for this. The biggest question marks in my predictions are: Portugal v Spain, Brazil v Netherlands and the two involving Germany.
 
ok, a few time left...

Uruguay v Korea Rep --> Uruguay
USA v Ghana --> Ghana
Netherlands v Slovakia --> Netherlands
Brazil v Chile --> Brazil
Argentina v Mexico --> Argentina
Germany v England --> England
Paraguay v Japan --> Japan
Spain v Portugal --> Spain
-------------------

Uruguay -Ghana --> Uruguay
Netherlands -Brazil --> Brazil
Argentina -England --> Argentina
Japan -Spain --> Spain
-------------------

Uruguay -Brazil --> Brazil
Argentina -Spain ---> Argentina
-------------------

Argentina

As EW mentioned the big question mark here is Netherlands. We may see it even winning the Cup.
And it's the only country I won't be too sad if it beats my Argentina 
Fumeur13.gif

For the sake of dirty '78 but also because they've been good and dignified kids during those years, very very capable and not too much blah blah /tears...
 
And all the clogs! How can you play footy in clogs!  :D

Uruguay up 1-0 over South Korea. Surprised? I'm not. Forlan and Suarez have been spectacular so far.
 
I think Uruguay are unlucky not to be leading by more. Okay, Korea had a free kick hitting the post after five minutes, but two referee/linesman calls have gone against Uruguay that would probably ended in goals or at least huge changes:

  • Forlan's tackle of the last Korean defender, where Suarez was ruled offside. The replay showed it was not offside
  • The penalty they were denied after 44 minutes. The Korean had his arm above his shoulder, obviously to "make himself bigger", thus blocking more of the goal for Pereira.

Also, horrible defending on the goal. No one follows Suarez, and Jung should have been able to catch the cross.
 
Genghis Khan said:
Koreans have pressured a lot in the latter half of the first.
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They have, but they don't have much to show for it. They have only produced one really big scoring chance and that was the first free kick.
 
Eddies Wingman said:
I think Uruguay are unlucky not to be leading by more. Okay, Korea had a free kick hitting the post after five minutes, but two referee/linesman calls have gone against Uruguay that would probably ended in goals or at least huge changes:

  • Forlan's tackle of the last Korean defender, where Suarez was ruled offside. The replay showed it was not offside
  • The penalty they were denied after 44 minutes. The Korean had his arm above his shoulder, obviously to "make himself bigger", thus blocking more of the goal for Pereira.

Also, horrible defending on the goal. No one follows Suarez, and Jung should have been able to catch the cross.
Click to expand...

The Koreans, as Japanese do have a way of exploiting those free kicks.  I have not seen the replay on the hand ball, but the commentator asked "was it ball to hand, or hand to ball."  I'm sure the TV pundits will discuss it soon.
 
The Swedish TV pundits at least agreed it was hand to ball. (I watch on Swedish TV because I don't have the particular Norwegian channel which shows this match). And I agree with them.
 
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