From: Mart van de Wege on
Clément <lcmello.listas(a)terra.com.br> writes:

> Great match by Japan to oust Denmark. The Asians' match against
> Paraguay is wide open, there are no favorites.
>
I was very impressed with Japan.

They seem to have some confidence issues, because they started fairly
timidly against the Netherlands; only to start really playing once they
realised they were indeed holding up well, and becoming very dangerous
in the end.

I didn't pick up their start in the Denmark game, but from what I saw in
highlights and commentary, they didn't really get going until the first
goal. If true, this might be a boost for them; they might finally have
picked up that yes, they *do* belong in this tournament, and yes, they
have gotten that good.

They have a fairly positive, forward attitude, and some wonderful
players. Everyone is raving about Honda, but what about Endo with his
precision passes and free kicks? Or Matsui, who keeps raising hell both
down the flanks and through the center?

I like 'em. Japan-Paraguay could be a fun match.

Mart

--
"We will need a longer wall when the revolution comes."
--- AJS, quoting an uncertain source.
From: milivella on
Clément:

> On Jun 24, 4:44 pm, Lleo wrote:
>
> > On 24 jun, 16:29, Clément wrote:
>
> > > HT
> > > DEN 0-2 JPN
> > > CMR 0-1 NED
>
> > > My sophisticated prediction bid dies today. I'll keep dreaming of
> > > sophistication while I make my research on Calcio Catania.

> > milivella's research about Vasco is still a possibility :-) (that was
> > your bet, wasn't it?)
>
> Yes, but in another game that, I'm convinced, Milivella carefully
> crafted just to beat the hell out of innocent RSSers. =)

That was the idea, but this doesn't mean that things cannot go the
other way round... "Who wants to fool will be fooled." Let's check
milivella (thanks for having spelled it correctly! ;) ) vs. Clément's
chances (I'm putting me first just because I proposed the bet and
picked first, so you're actually playing "away"):

m C
? BRA ?
? ESP ?
? ENG ?
? ARG ?
? GER ?
1 FRA 0
0 ITA 0
0 POR ?
1 SER 0
1 CIV 0
0 CHI ?
1 CMR 0
0 GHA ?

milivella's score: min 4, max 9 (actually 5-8, since I'll get 1 and
only 1 between ENG and GER)
Clément's score: min 0, max 8 (actually 1-7, since you'll get 1 and
only 1 between BRA and CHI)

It's like my tournament has ended, I won't score any more point (bar a
major upset or Brazil winning the cup), while yours starts here, since
you have been forced to pick other-than-group-exit results for most of
the teams. It's still very open!

Indeed you just need a very realistic scenario like the following one
to score 6 points and make me research about mighty Vasco:
- USA beat GHA (1 point for you)
- ARG beat MEX (1), then they either play against GER (1 in any case)
or lose against ENG (1)
- ESP beat POR (1), then win against JPN/PAR, then lose against ARG/
GER/ENG (1)
- (as I said, you got 1 point from BRA vs. CHI anyway)

What the heck.

--
Cheers
milivella
From: Jesper Lauridsen on
On 2010-06-24, Cl�ment <lcmello.listas(a)terra.com.br> wrote:
>
> And Tomasson scores in a rebound of his own failed PK. 1-2 now. Go
> Denmark!

A hattrick. Missed a penalty, scored a goal, and got injured. All in
the same action. The man's a regular Kinder Egg.

With the goal, his first since February 2008, he finally ties the all-time
scoring record for Denmark.