The X wrote:Thierry. wrote:Surprised no one said anything about the World Cup Draw.
A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece
C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal
H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile[/b]
I thought about posting but frankly I seemed to be the only person interested.
I am reasonably happy with New Zealand's draw. Granted I would've preferred Group B or C but we have a chance to get a result or two, most likely against Slovakia. We are highly unlikely to advance unless we can pull out a win in opening game against Slovakia & steal a draw against Paraguay & hope other results go our way.
Group G is clearly the toughest group. Imagine how tough that would've been if it was Australia instead of North KoreaAnd the prize for scraping to the 2nd spot is a 2nd Round matchup with Spain
Very early random predictions:
POOL STAGES FINAL STANDINGS
A: France, Mexico, South Africa, Uruguay
B: Argentina, Nigeria, Greece, South Korea
C: England, USA, Slovenia, Algeria
D: Ghana, Germany, Australia, Serbia
E: Netherlands, Denmark, Cameroon, Japan
F: Paraguay, Italy, Slovakia, New Zealand
G: Ivory Coast, Brazil, Portugal, North Korea
H: Spain, Chile, Switzerland, Honduras
2ND ROUND
France defeat Nigeria
Germany defeat England (penalty shootout)
Netherlands defeat Italy
Ivory Coast defeat Chile
Argentina defeat Mexico
Ghana defeat USA
Paraguay defeat Denmark
Spain defeat Brazil
QUARTER FINALS
Germany defeat France
Netherlands defeat Ivory Coast
Ghana defeat Argentina
Spain defeats Paraguay
SEMI FINALS
Netherlands defeat Germany
Spain defeat Ghana
FINAL
Netherlands defeat Spain
If Brazil can win their Group then they could advance far. As always, it's all crap-shoot at this point.
I wouldn't say Group G is the toughest group. Brazil is not performing at the same level as when they won it in 2002 and where every country was scared of them, likewise with Portugal under-performing, especially in the qualifiers where they were very very very lucky to make it and could've not qualified very easily because of their shit results. Imo, Group D is the hardest, we all know Germany, Ghana has become a quality side as of lately and can easily beat the best in the world with their quick-attacking style of play. Serbia was very impressive in the qualifiers and hopefully it won't turn out like in 2006 where we had the best defense in the world during qualifiers (conceded only 5 goals) then when it came to the actual WC, struck by injuries, get 6 goals put through us in 1 game. But now it looks like we will have a fully-fit first choice squad and all the best players will be there so I don't know how you put Australia to finish infront of them and Serbia last.
I actually agree alot with Jae's predicitions, don't know about Brazil winning it, but we'll just have to wait and see lol.
I saw the game live and I could only 1 second of it. English channels only show the first seconds because the images were brutal. And this thing to Ramsey happened exactly 2 years and a couple of days after Eduardo's and they were very similar.
Karma.
