sorry didn't see the other thread by cameron...

True true ... The US has it real bad for them. I would say that theirs is the actual "group of death" !! .. not the one with Argentina.

Ghana's a pretty strong team too .. never underestimate !! .

But on the other hand ... Brazil and Spain has it way too easy ..

they should breeze into the 2nd round ( if all goes well ie; one just needs to remember france and argentina in 2002 !!! )

the ticket lottery starts tomorrow morning... I may see if I can get some cheap seats (they are selling the cheapest for $50 - scalpers are going for $600)

We (Sweden) got England again. Good news since we haven't lost to them in the last 12 or 13 games I think. Last time was in 1968. This is going to be sweet!
Hopefully I'll be able to get a few tickets...
Wish we had gotten a harder group overall tho. My grandma could beat Trinidad & Tobago for crying out loud.

But Englands on a roll, we beat the Aussies in the Ashes after 18 years, maybe we'll beat the Swedes this year.

I think its time we reclaimed the sports that we invented...

Come on England!!!

my money's definitley on england to win. they've got a fantastic team.

A glimpse into the future:

england - paraguay 1-0
sweden - trinidad & tobago 3-0
england - sweden 2-2
paraguay - trinidad & tobago 3-1
sweden - paraguay 1-2
england - trinidad & tobago 4-0

england 7
paraguay 6
-------------
sweden 4
trinidad & tobago 0

(I'm actually betting money on that conbination)

Also predict that Germany, as host nation, will rise to the occation and do very well.

i concur with those that said spain's and brazil's groups are super
easy...brazil deserves it, but what has spain done? the weakest
top seeds seem to be spain and maybe even mexico...i know there's
another..but as an american i find it odd that we lost out in seeding to
mexico when all we've done is beat them in head to head competition
outside of mexico city...

i like england's team as well..and it's time for portugal's golden
generation to live up to its name. i hope the u.s. goes through or
i'll have to cheer for sweden...especially since norway is already out
(my teams through my parents)

sabbo...i agree...
crouch is an example of why basketball players shouldn't play
soccer. he's good for set pieces and as a target, but useless for
anything else. his dribbling skills are non-existant. seems to
me that he's a waste of space up front and that he's making
one of their other forwards play out of position...

Italy — USA, 17.06.2006, Kaiserslautern
Brazil — Australia, 18.06.2006, Munich
WA — RB, 24/06/06, Munich

just put down for the ticket lottery... doubt I'll get them but (Germany/England or Germany/Sweden should be fun)

Guess I am the only one on Architnect that is rooting for T&T.....A win over England would be great!

I agree with sabbo ... why on earth is Cisse not in the starting lineup ?? ... though I'm not really a liverpool fan, I rooted for them during the finals of Champions legue ( cant stand AC Milan ... dont know why !!) ..

Anyway ... any guesses for the golden boot

by my guess ... Ronaldo need 3 more goals to top the all time goal scorer in a world cup.

But it's too close to say who would be top scorer ... somehow there is too much talent on display this time.... mmmm i think i would say one of the brazilians .... or ???

You all got nothing to complain: we're in Pool C - pool of death

The Netherlands got's to beat Argentina, Ivory Coast and Serbia Montenegro, absolutely the toughest pool this WC

....or: Wayne Rooney.
The kid will be on fire. He just needs to watch his 'bully boy' temper and he's destined to achieve great things. He will terrorize defenses along with Owen who seems to be back on top form as well.

.nl....
hate to disagree..but the u.s. is in a pool with three of the top
twelve according to fifa..and ghana (the weak seed) is ranked
50th and hasn't lost a match in two years...half of their team plays
in the epl... italy and the czech republic (how did they not get
seeded over spain) are also both very good.

the netherlands deserved better as well..but not making the last
world cup really hurt your chances. i know the ivory coast has some
players, but know nothing about serbia montenegro...but it seems
to me that if the netherlands has the quality they seem to have
that they should qualify for the second stage...

I think France has the easiest group (Switzerland, South Korea and Togo);

Group C (Netherlands, Argentina, Serbia and Ivory Coast) is being considered the group of death...Ivory Coast is considered the strongest African Team today); Argentina x Netherlands is a game worthy of being a world cup final;

Group E, is also very difficult, but the FIFA ranking formula needs to change. There is absolutely no reason to compute the past 8 years into the current ranking;

simples...yeah france's group is pretty weak.

and i understand your point about fifa's rankings...but how else
can they rank? the teams rarely play each other (other than maybe
in the world cup or random friendlys that are little more than
scrimmages). and holland sort of deserves their group since
they didn't qualify for the last world cup. though they did finish
in the semis of euro 2004...so did the czechs.

and argentina though typically a strong side...was eliminated
in the first round of 2002...though they were in a true group of
death as i recall...sweden, england, nigeria, argentina. ouch.

You can't knock Crouchie. Look at the run Liverpool are on and who has been playing. And he is finally scoring as well. He is the perfect counter to Liverpool's smaller quicker forwards. He holds the ball up well and is very good at knocking down balls into another forward's path.

I think Cisse is awesome as well (he is my start forward on my Winning Eleven 8 team). But until he gets in consistent form he'll be rotated.

Brazil 2006: The Three "S,s" Every one must know about this Country. Soccer, Sun, Sex. All very important aspect of Brazialian Life.
World Champions 2006 in the making.

i'd just like to see a final without brazil..or heck a semifinals without
brazil...only just to see some different teams.. nothing against
brazil. they do play beautiful futbol.

Yes, and well the Women....they do have nice futbols...

oops bundas....

Though I think that Wayne Rooney is a good footballer, I feel he’s overrated sometimes. Must be because of his bad boy behavior!!... I’m a fan of well behaved sports heroes setting an example (right then call me a cliché!!) I used to love Gary Linekar for the same reason. I’d like to see Shearer come out of retirement to help England out.

On Netherlands … I agree that they are in a tough group … but I think that the Group that US is in, is the toughest group. Frankly, I thought they were one of the best teams for the last world cups… were shocked when they didn’t make it through. But then I guess having stars in a team is not good enough, if you can’t play as a team!! (I’m talking to you, Real Madrid!!)

I personally love the Brazil team. I think they are all amazing players and a team filled with superstars!!... I recently went for a game of theirs vs. the UAE … and they trashed UAE 8-0!! .. All the stars were there except Ronaldo, who was injured in the league game...
Point being … we started doing a Mexican wave and Carlos and Cafu joined in...

Too humble these Brazilians…..

A quote from the Brazilian coach: - … “we have a problem with our team!! … I don’t know who should sit on the bench!!” – I guess that sums it up then

sporadic.

with wayne rooney i think there is something with his bad boy
image...but i think the fact that he's so young and has been
such a prolific scorer is the main reason he's become famous.

brazil is amazing...when you can play several players of the
year on the same team you know you have something
special...i mean ronaldo will have scored more goals than
pele by the time this world cup is over...although probably
in more games...haven't checked it out, but i assume.

i just hope someone gives them a good game...and as it
looks now they won't have one until, at the earliest, the
second round.

Argentina beat Brazil 3-1 this summer (although they beat us 4-1 a month later). They're not unbeatable, and the world cup is not a league (where Brazil would obviously win), after the second round anything can happen...
Whichever team from group C passes to the second round will be very hard to stop afterwards.

IMPORTANT FACT: since 1962 world cup winners have alternated between South America and Europe. Meaning 2006 corresponds to a European nation. My bets: England, Hollland, or Germany, in that order

Wow arqa ..

I never noticed that .... but c'mon, you know thats just coincidence !!

Crouch just scored another brace in Japan.

Sporadic-Supernova...I don't know about coincidence..there is still a lot of controversy surrounding France3x0Brasil 1998 World Cup final; :)))))))))

A poll at a Brazilian newspaper is giving Sao Paulo no chances in beating Liverpool sunday, for the World Championship in Japan; i would have to agree...it's sad, but although Brasil seems to have the best players in their national team, Brazilian teams can't keep their players from transferring to Europe...Kaka' (Milan) was a former Sao Paulino;

Its all about getting paid. All the money is in Europe. And the clubs only stay in business from selling players to Europe.

And the thing about Rooney is that he just straight up attacks a defense. He will run at them full speed and plow his way through. Its amazing to watch. I don't know of any players that seem to have the same attacking mentality.

mwad...
that was my thought...rooney seems to be really strong behind
the ball...it seems as though he comes out of challenges more
often than not still going forward..

and a serious question...
how many goals has crouch scored now? i still see that as an
experiment waiting to fail..i feel as though you can see defenders
licking their chops every time he tries to dribble...

Crouch has scored two premier league goals and has one assist...but remember he went on a run with the Saints last year and ended with 12 goals in the Premiership...not too bad playing for a relegated team.

Crouch has scored two premier league goals and has one assist...but remember he went on a run with the Saints last year and ended with 12 goals in the Premiership...not too bad playing for a relegated team.

And Cissee and Garcia only have 3 a piece also, so its not like any of their forwards have any kind of form at the moment.

cisse is second to gerrard in total goals this year for liverpool...
11 total (3 PL, 8 EU)
crouch has 4 total (2 PL, 2 WC)

gerrard has 12 total (1 LC, 3 PL, 7 EU, 1 WC)

(lc-league cup, pl-epl, eu-european championships, wc-fifa qualifying)

i don't really have anything against crouch...but it seems as though,
from the numbers, that cisse is the better scorer at least...but i guess
i should see a few more games.

A lot of those goals from Cisse and Gerrard are from the pre-season Champions League games against very lesser opponents. They routed some of those teams pretty bad.

I just like Crouch because he adds some spectacle to the game. Something to laugh about....the Andre the Giant of football.

Ya....world cups....an National Players....why can't we go back to the good ole days when a Brazilian was a Brazilian. If it can't be just take
a look in the crowd for the Flag....Brazilians are proud people...and great football players, volley ball players...and the women excellent beach babes...

EARLY FINALS FOR CHAMPIONS LEAUGE;

21 february:
Bayern Münih (Almanya)-AC Milan (İtalya)
Benfica (Portekiz)-Liverpool (İngiltere)
PSV Eindhoven (Hollanda)-Olympique Lyon (Fransa)
Real Madrid (İspanya)-Arsenal (İngiltere)
22 february:
Ajax Amsterdam (Hollanda)-Inter Milan (İtalya)
Chelsea (İngiltere)-Barcelona (İspanya)
Glasgow Rangers (İskoçya)-Villarreal (İspanya)
Werder Bremen (Almanya)-Juventus (İtalya)

i am pertial to barcelona. go barca go..

That is going to be a great great game. I need to notify my boss that I need the 22nd of February off. And the 21st; Arsenal and Real...mouth watering soccer madness!

I'm rooting for England

I think Lyon will win the champions league this year... them or Juve.

Rootin' for the second in line, of SouthAmerican powerhouses: Argentina. And ... let's stop underestimating the US team. They're currently ranked higher than Italy, and they have come along way since 94'.

One word.

Sao Paulo 1 x 0 Liverpool

Sao Paulo 1 x 0 Liverpool

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/soccer/12/18/bc.soc.clubworldchampio.ap/index.html

DEVicox,

I agree that the US has come a long way in football ....
but i hate it that they call it soccer and tries to feed it to the rest of the world .

anyway .. i think the problem is that they dont have a history or tradition in football ... for example how many players from the US team can you name when asked suddenly ? .... i could get 3 . try any of the other super teams now ... ( lame argument .. i know) ..

they have to perform consistently for some time and then elevate themselves.

+ some of the coments that the US players made after their win over Mexico was done in bad taste .. and showed bad sportsmanship.

and that freddie guy is overrated ...

good luck tho .. i know that the US has a good TEAM ..

sporadic...
no history in football..
actually they've had a national team since 1935. but you're right
about their history with leagues and the like..

as far as naming 3 members of the national team...
you're right that is a sort of a lame argument.

kasey keller, brad friedel, tim howard all play goal in europe...beasely plays for PSV...bocanegra, mcbride
play for fulham, john obrien plays in holland..brian lewis for leeds, reyna for man. city..bobby convey plays for reading..jonathan spector plays for charlton, conor casey for fsv..in all 16 players on the u.s.
squad play in europe...and the rest play in the u.s.

it is true that the mls is only 10 years old or so as compared to the
epl..serie a...bundesliga etc..but it's helping to produce a better
team year after year..and the younger players are opting to play
in europe instead of here...i think the bias towards u.s. players
which existed for years is coming to an end.

freddy adu is still theoretically 16 years old.

as far as the comments after the mexico game...i think that those
were mainly from donovan...after years of getting heckled and
called out from the mexican press for not performing...also after
comments made from mexican players making excuses for losing
to the u.s...saying that the u.s. play a boring brand of soccer with
no fluidity and the like..

can you name more than three players on italy, holland, germany,
spain?

as far as calling it soccer...the italians call it calcio..do you hold it
against them?

i love soccer and love that the u.s. is starting to compete...
i think if you look at their world cup performances since 1984 they
have been playing consistently good football..this world cup will
go a long way in showing how far they've progressed...or if they
have...they've proven they're able to be the second tier teams
consistently..now they have to take the next step and prove they
can beat the elite teams as consistenly as they get beaten by
them.

actually they u.s. have had a soccer federation since 1913...

i grew up in Brazil, and moved to the US when i was 15 years old. in terms of youth soccer and talent development, the amount of infrastructure, organization, opportunity for soccer in the usa is tremendous; ...in brazil we all played Futebol de Salao (variation of indoor soccer) due to the lack of space; there were no children's soccer teams to play on the weekends, schools in brazil didn't have organized teams...all we had were professional clubs' talent scouts, and passion...if the american culture develops a passion for soccer, the usa would have everything to become a super power;