i just like to see france take the loose change and go back to mountains. because of their away goals we are not in the world cup. buhu for turkey who would be the second home team in germany. go blue.
For what it's worth it would be an AMAZINGLY epic victory if T&T beat England on thursday. smallest country in the world cup EVER. Post colonial power man - it's not likely - but hey - here's to hope!
ahemm... i didn't say swiss were all chocolate to be eaten... that faithfull match in istanbul perhaps was an early quarter final match in world cup. all that french playmaking and expertise melts away in front of swiss defence.
like they shared corbu, they might share the points.
Good for the Swiss team...except for that guy that tried the Maradonna fisted header at the end of the game. The should've given that guy a red card, not just yellow.
i have to say... i am so incredibly frustrated with bruce arena... what kind of an idiot tears down his players 15 min after they are emberassed on a massive international stage infront of a HUNDREDS of millions of people...
he is a horrible coach for several reasons exemplified by the czech game...
first off, he starts with a 4-5-1... basically conceding confidence and attacking, aggressive soccer from the opening minute.
secondly, he has branded our team with a style of soccer which is not played to our strengths... actually, we have no style of play... there is no cohesion, there are no runs, there is little off the ball movement...
the beauty of soccer is that skill can be offset by fitness, we need to play to that strength... use our mid and striker speed, ATTACK italys defense, send it long, run them out, counter attack on every opportunity... the beauty of the states team is there are no stars, our bench players, as proven in last game are as good as our starters... we are one giant b team...
i wouldn't say the formation was the wrong choice. the 4-5-1 stood a better chance of defending the czech attack/goal up the side in the 5th minute . i blame the outised middies for being weak the whole game, which deserved a lashing from arena.
btw, anyone in the know about how to watch the games via internet? i don't own a tv.
ole' ...
the champs have arrived...precision passing, talent and risk taking for creative purposes. they got them all.
oh no, what happened to ukrania? they had their prime in qualifiers. this is definatly not the same team. their prime minister gets the pointers
4-0
next...
Brazil played terrible against Croatia, joga bonito my @zz, Croatia was the one playing better, they desreved the tie at least, i hate how brasil is sooo overhyped, everyone thinks they're winner when they havent even played a game... i dunno i think they have the best players, and love the way each of them play, but i doubt they r the best team....and i dont think they will win the world cup, i think Italy, Germany, Argentina and/or England can be the surprise winner...
anyways also hate all the ppl who have no clue about football cheering for brasil... duh!! is like cheering for the bulls in the jordan era...c'mon, dont go always w/the winner, specially when they're not playing like winners....
basically, right now i can walk out of my house but i can't use my car. the street is blocked and there's a huge party going on down the block [i went for a while but it reached drunken jumping stage very quickly]. first time to octavos, ever, vamos tri!!
Strong Buy: Czech, Mexico, Spain, Ecuador
Buy: Germany, Brazil, Croatia, Italy, Portugal
Hold: Argentina, Netherlands, South Korea
Sell, Sell, Sell!!!: USA, England, Poland, Japan
Their performance against the Ivory Coast was medicore. Plus, I used to be a big fan until they started competing for the World Diving Championships instead...
I'm still holding onto Argentina for the moment - Argentina vs Netherlands should be good.
Oh! France can go into that sell sell sell!!! category. T&T (the IPO you wish you were in on) still has a chance.
really? mexico impressed you guys that much? i have to say, that i'm a huge supporter of el tri, but even though they won convincingly against iran, that one game didn't really impress me much. i know they have to play much better than that to be able to advance past the second round. i don't know, i guess we mexico supporters tend to be overly critical. any thoughts smokety?
Yes indeed. Next game will be tough, as Jared Borgetti is out with an injury. If they would have come out attacking last game, and not relied on their midfield to trip the opposing side so much, they would have scored earlier. Mexico always finds a way to derail their own game ... but this team seems more poised and faster than their 2002 squad.
And as for the "overhyped" Brasil.. Kind of hard to overlook the fact that Ronaldo and Ronaldino have the fattest paycheck out of all international soccer players... but seeing how out of shape Ronaldo was in the other day had me less than convinced about their victory...
Brazil basically played a man down against Croatia . . . and still won. And Robinho was quite impressive coming in for Ronaldo.
Mexico is a 'strong buy' not so much for how they played, although I think they played well, but rather, how they played relative to other teams who I think they are on level with: England, Netherlands, Argentina. These are my little four: solid teams you always expect to make a run for the cup. Right now (I know, it's still early) I think Mexico can take England or the Netherlands out.
Spain was impressive - especially that last goal - but they were also a man up for most of the second half. They should really breeze through to the second round (don't they have a 23 game winning streak?)
I say let's wait till the end of the first round before making any grandiose claims. For example, Mexico might have won big against Iran, but they played Iran...not exactly a soccer power. I'd wait till they play Portugal...
Fine. I'll admit it. Argentina is playing pretty well against S-M. But, I'm still rooting against them. Look out for those famous dives during the 2nd round!
The Bronze: Sweden will win against England and face Ecuador in the 1/8 finals. Strengthened by a fairly comfortable win they will eventually (and against all odds) make it all the way to the semis where they will lose to Argentina. In the bronze match they will face Italy who will lose on acount of being very disappointed in not reaching the final.
The Silver: With Jan Kollar back in good form after his injury in the game against the US the Czech republic will beat Italy in previously mentioned semi final and then lose to Argentina in the final with the only goal of the match.
The Gold: Argentina will fairly comfortable march towards the gold medal after having beaten Mexico in the 1/8 final after a late over-time goal by Tevez.
There you have it. I'm always right about these kind of things...
Although I also hope that Spain will do very well...
good football insight, all of you. i didn't realize that there were many knowledgable soccer fans here on archinect. =) anyway, mexico and angola kick off @ noon, and i'm stuck @ work! i'm going to have to disconnect from the outside world and watch the rebroadcast on telefutura tonight. vamos tri!!!
I have to downgrade Mexico after that. That was really a poor performance. And now they have to play Portugal while Angola plays Iran? Hats off to Angola, very passionate play (likewise for Ivory Coast . . . that really sucked.) It's getting interesting.
Man, I love being in Argentina right now. My wife and I watched the game in a little bity town called Las Lomitas about 300km west of Formosa. Man, the whole town exploded after they destroyed SM. The schools let all the kids out and they paraded around the streets on foot, on scooters, in cars...all covered in the baby blue of the Argentine flag singing Argentina, Argentina, Argentina!
I have not seen such amazing team play ever, almost flawless execution of team soccer - excuse me, futbol.
I have a few great pics that I will post on my flickr site when I get back to the land of web access via my laptop.
although today's result is very disappointing, i'm not counting them out just yet. typical mexican soccer... they always seem to rise up to the level of great teams (argentina, brazil, etc.) and can manage to win. on the other hand, they overlook "weaker" opponents and play like crap...
Wow! Yesterday I wanted to be in Quito, now I wish I was with jasoncross.
I guess the big game tomorrow is USA vs Italy? The Italians are looking good, if they score first it's over.
Keep in mind, many of the Ghana players are on European clubs...the US nat'l team needs to take this cue and get their talented players out of the MLS and on to real competition!
as for Mexico, I took a couple of hours off work to watch the match with the extended family of a native Mexican co-worker of mine...the lack-luster performance was off-set by some tasty ceviche, homemade guacamole, and the chanting of my co-viewers.
Hopefully they play better against a cocky Portuguese team...
jasoncross, that sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime experience! I look forward to the images...
ghana forward appiah and goal keeper kingston play in turkish 'super lig'.
i am very impressed with african ecole' in the making last ten years or so. it has the best of latin america and european playing.
regarding to legioners of african players; you can get a superb african player at a fraction of the cost of european or brazilian player.
lets not forget, soccer is a huge industry and biggest teams in the world are successful corporations. like real madrid, chelsea etc.
i love the american uniform. not the blazing red white and blue but understated maroon and black left vertical band. looks very humble, free and experienced. good luck usa. you can do it...
any archinecters available for real-time commentary?
to start, I must say I'm a bit disappointed that Donovan is starting today. But Bruce Arena is changing things up a bit which is good. We definitely need to get wide today. Ghana showed how to play brilliantly as the underdog by letting the ball move instead of the players. Took a page right out of Argentina's book.
If only we can somehow get a quick booking for the Italians, and can play the game 10 v 11. That would help out too.
World Cup Predictor Game
i just like to see france take the loose change and go back to mountains. because of their away goals we are not in the world cup. buhu for turkey who would be the second home team in germany. go blue.
i mean swiss take the loose change.
For what it's worth it would be an AMAZINGLY epic victory if T&T beat England on thursday. smallest country in the world cup EVER. Post colonial power man - it's not likely - but hey - here's to hope!
ahemm... i didn't say swiss were all chocolate to be eaten... that faithfull match in istanbul perhaps was an early quarter final match in world cup. all that french playmaking and expertise melts away in front of swiss defence.
like they shared corbu, they might share the points.
HA! that's pretty funny...shared corb....heheh...
Good for the Swiss team...except for that guy that tried the Maradonna fisted header at the end of the game. The should've given that guy a red card, not just yellow.
I'm definitely rooting for TNT as well.
England didn't exactly play like superstars in their first match and TNT held their own, tho barely, against Sweden.
i have to say... i am so incredibly frustrated with bruce arena... what kind of an idiot tears down his players 15 min after they are emberassed on a massive international stage infront of a HUNDREDS of millions of people...
he is a horrible coach for several reasons exemplified by the czech game...
first off, he starts with a 4-5-1... basically conceding confidence and attacking, aggressive soccer from the opening minute.
secondly, he has branded our team with a style of soccer which is not played to our strengths... actually, we have no style of play... there is no cohesion, there are no runs, there is little off the ball movement...
the beauty of soccer is that skill can be offset by fitness, we need to play to that strength... use our mid and striker speed, ATTACK italys defense, send it long, run them out, counter attack on every opportunity... the beauty of the states team is there are no stars, our bench players, as proven in last game are as good as our starters... we are one giant b team...
wow... long ramble/rant
i wouldn't say the formation was the wrong choice. the 4-5-1 stood a better chance of defending the czech attack/goal up the side in the 5th minute . i blame the outised middies for being weak the whole game, which deserved a lashing from arena.
btw, anyone in the know about how to watch the games via internet? i don't own a tv.
ole' ...
the champs have arrived...precision passing, talent and risk taking for creative purposes. they got them all.
oh no, what happened to ukrania? they had their prime in qualifiers. this is definatly not the same team. their prime minister gets the pointers
4-0
next...
Well, atleast the US isn't the worst team so far.
Bad calls or no bad calls, thanks Ukraine!
VIVA MEXICO!!
Brazil played terrible against Croatia, joga bonito my @zz, Croatia was the one playing better, they desreved the tie at least, i hate how brasil is sooo overhyped, everyone thinks they're winner when they havent even played a game... i dunno i think they have the best players, and love the way each of them play, but i doubt they r the best team....and i dont think they will win the world cup, i think Italy, Germany, Argentina and/or England can be the surprise winner...
anyways also hate all the ppl who have no clue about football cheering for brasil... duh!! is like cheering for the bulls in the jordan era...c'mon, dont go always w/the winner, specially when they're not playing like winners....
un saludo a todos, adeu
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/040326/040326_mexsoccer_hmed_11a.hmedium.jpg
wow .. what a team spain has turned out to be ... I just realized that they were also (probably) the least talked about team in the world cup.
probably one of the better teams out there as far as the first round matchs go ....
and germany sure pulled out a rabbit in the 91st minute !!
wow ecuador!
basically, right now i can walk out of my house but i can't use my car. the street is blocked and there's a huge party going on down the block [i went for a while but it reached drunken jumping stage very quickly]. first time to octavos, ever, vamos tri!!
bravo ecuador...
cold shower for england?
i take that back...T&T, beaten but not defeated...
Heartbreaking loss for T&T ... how ironic that Crouch scored ENG' first goal ... it seemed like he was just wasting time on the pitch ....
After seeing everyone play, I have to say:
Strong Buy: Czech, Mexico, Spain, Ecuador
Buy: Germany, Brazil, Croatia, Italy, Portugal
Hold: Argentina, Netherlands, South Korea
Sell, Sell, Sell!!!: USA, England, Poland, Japan
I say sell to Argentina.
Their performance against the Ivory Coast was medicore. Plus, I used to be a big fan until they started competing for the World Diving Championships instead...
I'm still holding onto Argentina for the moment - Argentina vs Netherlands should be good.
Oh! France can go into that sell sell sell!!! category. T&T (the IPO you wish you were in on) still has a chance.
ya, T&T only if:
they win against Paraguay,
Sweden loses to England,
and the -3 goal differential is made up for in the process...
I hope they make it into the round of 16, that would be incredible.
Spain has been the most impressive.
then, Mexico, Czech and Germany...
really? mexico impressed you guys that much? i have to say, that i'm a huge supporter of el tri, but even though they won convincingly against iran, that one game didn't really impress me much. i know they have to play much better than that to be able to advance past the second round. i don't know, i guess we mexico supporters tend to be overly critical. any thoughts smokety?
Yes indeed. Next game will be tough, as Jared Borgetti is out with an injury. If they would have come out attacking last game, and not relied on their midfield to trip the opposing side so much, they would have scored earlier. Mexico always finds a way to derail their own game ... but this team seems more poised and faster than their 2002 squad.
...reporting from ecuador: the match ended at 10am. it's 9pm and the party is still going on, + fireworks.
[well, we've never been to the 2nd round, after all]
And as for the "overhyped" Brasil.. Kind of hard to overlook the fact that Ronaldo and Ronaldino have the fattest paycheck out of all international soccer players... but seeing how out of shape Ronaldo was in the other day had me less than convinced about their victory...
Brazil basically played a man down against Croatia . . . and still won. And Robinho was quite impressive coming in for Ronaldo.
Mexico is a 'strong buy' not so much for how they played, although I think they played well, but rather, how they played relative to other teams who I think they are on level with: England, Netherlands, Argentina. These are my little four: solid teams you always expect to make a run for the cup. Right now (I know, it's still early) I think Mexico can take England or the Netherlands out.
Spain was impressive - especially that last goal - but they were also a man up for most of the second half. They should really breeze through to the second round (don't they have a 23 game winning streak?)
I say let's wait till the end of the first round before making any grandiose claims. For example, Mexico might have won big against Iran, but they played Iran...not exactly a soccer power. I'd wait till they play Portugal...
Fine. I'll admit it. Argentina is playing pretty well against S-M. But, I'm still rooting against them. Look out for those famous dives during the 2nd round!
6-0!!!!!!!!!
Argentina quickly becomes a Buy/Strong Buy...
all 3 of the 2nd half substitutes scored goals!
Messi is the future.
The Bronze: Sweden will win against England and face Ecuador in the 1/8 finals. Strengthened by a fairly comfortable win they will eventually (and against all odds) make it all the way to the semis where they will lose to Argentina. In the bronze match they will face Italy who will lose on acount of being very disappointed in not reaching the final.
The Silver: With Jan Kollar back in good form after his injury in the game against the US the Czech republic will beat Italy in previously mentioned semi final and then lose to Argentina in the final with the only goal of the match.
The Gold: Argentina will fairly comfortable march towards the gold medal after having beaten Mexico in the 1/8 final after a late over-time goal by Tevez.
There you have it. I'm always right about these kind of things...
Although I also hope that Spain will do very well...
hahah .. so who sold argentina ?? ....
that was crazy ... a master team in action !!
I think everyone played awesome on the team
good football insight, all of you. i didn't realize that there were many knowledgable soccer fans here on archinect. =) anyway, mexico and angola kick off @ noon, and i'm stuck @ work! i'm going to have to disconnect from the outside world and watch the rebroadcast on telefutura tonight. vamos tri!!!
I have to downgrade Mexico after that. That was really a poor performance. And now they have to play Portugal while Angola plays Iran? Hats off to Angola, very passionate play (likewise for Ivory Coast . . . that really sucked.) It's getting interesting.
Man, I love being in Argentina right now. My wife and I watched the game in a little bity town called Las Lomitas about 300km west of Formosa. Man, the whole town exploded after they destroyed SM. The schools let all the kids out and they paraded around the streets on foot, on scooters, in cars...all covered in the baby blue of the Argentine flag singing Argentina, Argentina, Argentina!
I have not seen such amazing team play ever, almost flawless execution of team soccer - excuse me, futbol.
I have a few great pics that I will post on my flickr site when I get back to the land of web access via my laptop.
Vamos Argentina!
although today's result is very disappointing, i'm not counting them out just yet. typical mexican soccer... they always seem to rise up to the level of great teams (argentina, brazil, etc.) and can manage to win. on the other hand, they overlook "weaker" opponents and play like crap...
Wow! Yesterday I wanted to be in Quito, now I wish I was with jasoncross.
I guess the big game tomorrow is USA vs Italy? The Italians are looking good, if they score first it's over.
the world have to reckon with african soccer from now on. they are talented, confident and cool.
it could have been gha 8 cze 0
i understand 10 men cze and all but not every team can exploit that as well as ghana did.
wow Ghana! amazing match. very fun to watch...
Keep in mind, many of the Ghana players are on European clubs...the US nat'l team needs to take this cue and get their talented players out of the MLS and on to real competition!
as for Mexico, I took a couple of hours off work to watch the match with the extended family of a native Mexican co-worker of mine...the lack-luster performance was off-set by some tasty ceviche, homemade guacamole, and the chanting of my co-viewers.
Hopefully they play better against a cocky Portuguese team...
jasoncross, that sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime experience! I look forward to the images...
ghana forward appiah and goal keeper kingston play in turkish 'super lig'.
i am very impressed with african ecole' in the making last ten years or so. it has the best of latin america and european playing.
regarding to legioners of african players; you can get a superb african player at a fraction of the cost of european or brazilian player.
lets not forget, soccer is a huge industry and biggest teams in the world are successful corporations. like real madrid, chelsea etc.
group 'e' is boiling.
orhan, i was saying the same thing you have been saying this game and the tourney as well, impressive play from africa.....
i love the american uniform. not the blazing red white and blue but understated maroon and black left vertical band. looks very humble, free and experienced. good luck usa. you can do it...
any archinecters available for real-time commentary?
to start, I must say I'm a bit disappointed that Donovan is starting today. But Bruce Arena is changing things up a bit which is good. We definitely need to get wide today. Ghana showed how to play brilliantly as the underdog by letting the ball move instead of the players. Took a page right out of Argentina's book.
If only we can somehow get a quick booking for the Italians, and can play the game 10 v 11. That would help out too.
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