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I shouldn't worry. We got the bronze 12 years ago, which means it's going to take another 20 or so years for us to get over our collective shame of actually doing well in a sport that's not ice hockey.Quote:
Originally Posted by RJbibliophil
(Though unlike SOME countries, we at least managed to qualify... :D )
Brazil is a clear favorite. just look at their forwards and attacking midfielders: Adriano, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Kaka, Robinho... their defense and goalkeepers used to suck but now they are pretty good too
Germany plays at home so they are clearly one of the contenders. Although they don't have a lot of stars( ballack and kahn) it usually doesn't stop them. Was it Lineker who said that football is a game when two teams play an equal game for 90 minues and then germans win.
I'll be happy if England wins. they really do have a good team, but my prediction is that they will lose in the quaterfinal
I like Dutch and Czech teams and wish them luck- they are always fun to watch. Spain and Portugal have good teams as usual, but they never win anything.
Italy and France I think won't do that well. Argentine and Mexico should be good this year
Unfortunately US is in the same group as Italy, Czech republic and ghana. Not a lot of chances to advance...
Ok, I'm picking Argentina this time around. Everyone seems to be ignoring them, which is a dangerous thing to do. I dont really mind tho' so long as England dont win it - it's bad enough hearing about 1966 all the time, I dont want to have to listen to 2006 constantly as well (yeah, I know typical scotsman....anyone but england :lol: )
kilted exile, how come you don't enjoy listening about Sir Alf Ramsey and goals by Hurst in the final against Germany? ;)
As far I remember though Denis Law, who is probably the greatest Scottish player of all-time, played during the 60s in Man. United. So it wasn't such a bad time for scottish football :p
Yeah, its amazing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Boris239
Scottish football was excellent in the 60's - Celtic win the European Cup in '67 (and do the treble 30 odd years before Man U, and with 11 players born within 50 miles of the stadium - surprising noone ever mentions that eh?) and of course we became de facto world champions in '67 when we went down to Wembley and made them look silly - Jim Baxter doing keepy-ups on the sideline and nobody able to stop him :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Boris239
On the subject of greatest Scottish player though that is not Denis Law. he is in the top 10 however no.1 has to be Jinky Johnston (and thats coming from a Rangers fan) My personal favourites from that era however will always be Dave Mackay and Billy Bremner - the two players I tried to model my play after, unfortunately the only real similarity was the disciplinary record ;) )
For those of you unfamiliar with these 2:
http://www.derby.org/gaz/ramsnet/gal...ave_Mackay.gif
Unfortunately no Scottish players of such level now.
I thought that Barry Ferguson will become really good.
As you are Rangers fan, you should also remember Ally McCoist. His record is pretty impressive.
What do you think about Hearts now? I think it was bought by Romanov recently so a lot of money is invested.
I see a lot of people predicting England's victory. I know I'll get a lot of flak for this comment but if Beckam is playing England will not make it too far. He's become a bit of a hotdog in my opinion, and they are starting to pass to him for "ol times sake" rather than his "superior" skill.
........ go iran
Quote:
Originally Posted by IrishCanadian
You'll get no flak from me for that, in fact I'll take it further. Beckham is possibly the most overrated player I have ever seen. He has no pace, can't defend, can't tackle, can't dribble, argues constantly, and seems to think he has a divine right not to be touched. He can hit a good pass and is good to use at set-pieces, he is not so much better than others however to make up for his glaring failures. Playing out wide his pace kills him, and in the centre he loses his main skill: crossing.
Englands midfield should be:
Joe Cole Frank Lampard Steven Gerrard Shaun Wright Phillips
Beckham is a pretty good player, but nothing close to Zidane, Figo, Nedved etc. Using Madrid language- he isn't a Galacticos. It's very profitable to have him in a team- shirt sales are really big, and he has a huge number of stupid fans and most of them don't understand football too well. Especially these new fans from Asia who were treating him like a God when Madrid was playing.
i voted Czech Republic, although it's probably more wishful thinking then a realistic prediction... i don't know the first thing about football/soccer (the only football i ever watch is EuroCup and WorldCup.. but i liked what i saw of the Czech Team in the last EuroCup.. they fight hard and don't give up... most of the top teams are kinda conceited and can't be bothered to give their best, they just assume they'll win by default and when things turn out a bit more difficult they'll find somebody to blame it on...
my other faves would be France, Korea, Japan.. for no real reason at all...
by the way, I'm unfortunate enough to live in one of the world cup cities (Nuremberg), so I'll be your special reporter on what's going on down here (terrorist attacs, wild stampedes, English hooligans clashing with German hooligans, Iran's Achmadineechad popping by)..
well, i don't actually live in Nuremberg, but it's my birthtown and only 20mins from where i live now...
15-Jun-06 Nuremberg ENG:TRI 18:00
11-Jun-06 Nuremberg MEX:IRN 18:00
22-Jun-06 Nuremberg GHA:USA 16:00
18-Jun-06 Nuremberg JPN:CRO 15:00
http://www.easycredit-stadion.de/pre...adion_voll.jpg
Not like I'd care about football too much (I'm more into ice hockey ;)) but it'll be nice to get a medal when we didn't get it in ice hockey :p
I would like that Mexico wins, but one has to be realistic....
I am with Brazil, nevertheless we cannot underestimate our opponents, we can be taken by a big surprise. Like the one of "The Baseball World Cup", yes I am talking about JAPAN. They beat Cuba with all of his "big stars players" to win the Gold Medal.
In honor of this thread, I thought I'd post this smiley I found.
http://www.smilies.smileyville.net/smilies/868.gif
I didn't know they made smileys of my little brother! WOWQuote:
Originally Posted by Virgil
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/5071520.stmQuote:
Ghana is the worthiest team to support at the World Cup according to a website ranking nations on national ethics and "global citizenship" criteria. The World Development Movement says its table highlights global poverty and the inequality of nations at the World Cup.
Fans can find out which are the best aid givers, the most indebted or the least corrupt and cheer them on.
Sweden and Tunisia join Ghana near the top of the list. The USA, Saudi Arabia and Australia are at the bottom.
Benedict Southworth is director of the WDM - part of the Make Poverty History campaign.
She said: "Whoshouldicheerfor.com is a fun and interesting way to think about a serious issue, that of global poverty and inequality between the nations competing in the World Cup.
"When their favourite team isn't playing many people will want to shout for a country that has the odds stacked against them.
"Some of the poorest countries in the world are playing in Germany, let's give them some support."
WDM's World Cup supportability rankings were determined by averaging each country's position across 10 criteria.
They were: Life expectancy, national income per person, military spending, aid spending, carbon emissions, income inequality, health spending, external debt, corruption and the number of companies among world's largest 500 multinationals.