This is what I think will happen in SA2010
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From: JK on 5 Mar 2010 15:17 MH wrote: > > > JK wrote: >> MH wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> 1994 - ??/ I remember hype surrounding Colombia, and of course >>> Brazil. There were high expectations of Italy, Germany and NL too. >> >> >> Brazil. >> >> >>> 1998 - Brazil by a mile. They were champions, absolutely devastating >>> at Copa America 1997, and had Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Denilson etc. etc. >>> >> Brazil >> >>> 2002 - Argentina and France probably in reverse order. >> >> >> And, yawn, Brazil. >> > \ > Disagree on that one. Brazil scraped qualification in what 4th ? place > and had not had brilliant results in the run in. It was not clear that > Ronaldo would recover, and Ronaldinho was a bit of a wildcard. Your memory is better than mine. I meant that they were in the group of favorites with France and Argentina, not a sole favorite. I agree that France and Arg were the favorites. What a massive pair of flops. >>> >>> 2006 - Brazil ? I would think so. >> >> >> Defnitely. >
From: Lleo on 5 Mar 2010 17:13 On 5 mar, 13:26, MH <nos...(a)ucalgary.ca> wrote: [snip] > I would be interested to hear what other's recollections of what their > sense of who the favourites were in various years would be. It is so > easy to be influenced after the fact by results. > > [snip] > 1986 - Brazil, France. Maybe Denmark in there as well ? I only remember flashes of that WC... for some reason, Denmark playing Scotland, Brasil losing to France in the QF and the score of the final. > 1990 - Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Netherlands - I am not sure if there > was a clear pretournament favourite. The first WC I actually watched, I don't remember any clear favorite here either. > 1994 - ??/ I remember hype surrounding Colombia, and of course Brazil. > There were high expectations of Italy, Germany and NL too. My recollection is of Germany as the heavy favorite. > 1998 - Brazil by a mile. They were champions, absolutely devastating at > Copa America 1997, and had Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Denilson etc. etc. Agreed. > 2002 - Argentina and France probably in reverse order. I remember Portugal and Italy were well regarded too. > 2006 - Brazil ? I would think so. Indeed. -- Lléo
From: Lleo on 5 Mar 2010 17:32 On 4 mar, 23:51, Enzo <s_debgu...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > On Mar 4, 8:40 pm, Alkamista <alkami...(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > > > > > It seems like RSS has weauxfed the living daylights out of Brazil and > > Spain over the last few months, just like we had done with Argentina > > and France in 2002 and Brazil and their Fab 5 in 2006. So I am almost > > convinced that neither of these teams will reach the final, much less > > win the cup. > > Also, the "this may finally be Africa's cup" has gone overboard. > > Therefore it is almost guaranteed that all their teams will implode, > > with Eto'o and Drogba throwing some hissy fits against their coaches > > and SA going out in the group phase with their coach and some > > Scandanavian referee having to be placed under military protection. > > Next England, who had already been weauxfed out a year ago by their > > tabloids, as well as Jellore and Higgs. > > Holland will never win the WC in their entire existence so that leaves > > the usual boring suspects, i.e. Italy, Germany, France, and > > Argentina. > > To get to the semi's, Lippi will probably resort to catenaccio against > > Brazil and Spain and eliminate both on penalties after 0-0 draws > > (followed by Benny denouncing all allegations of catenaccio by saying > > that we are biased and out of touch). Germany will probably get a key > > goal every game from Klose and see out the rest of the game like > > robots and advance. Freakshows Maradona and Domenech will probably > > pull some unbelievable luck out of their behinds and advance to the > > SFs (god save us from Bob then). > > After that, it's a random crapshoot. I predict that either Italy or > > Argentina will win the cup. > > Nothing of this sort will happen. The top teams are now even > more isolated at the top than in recent world cups. Brasil has > not lost a game in ages, Spain is close by. Since Spain will > not win two major tournaments in succession, and since the > only other outfit that can challenge Brasil ( England ) will probably > fail a pk contest somewhere down the line, I think the conclusion > is foregone. I think so too but my conclusion is different than yours. I think this will be Argentina's cup. They have an easy enough first round group to fine-tune the rougher edges (like Brasil in 2002?) and when they click, it'll be plain sailing. After all, this is a cup, you may need no more than a decent squad with one or two great players to carry you all the way, as Argentina itself has demonstrated in 1986. Sure, Messi is not Maradona, but he doesn't really need to be. OTOH, although things look good for Brasil right now, it wouldn't surprise me to see a first round exit here (like Argentina in 2002?). It's a very even group, if it comes down to goal difference both Portugal and Ivory Coast will play NK after us, and that is ruling out the Asian upset. Or maybe we lose to one and draw the other for an 1-1-1 record, usually only good enough for 3rd place. I think it's a pity, because that would throw all the good work of Dunga down the toilet, and he would be even more reviled here. As for the others, well, I suppose everyone has a fair shot. Maybe Italy can stop the Argentinians, but I'm not really betting on it. -- Lléo
From: Insane Ranter on 5 Mar 2010 17:57 On Mar 5, 11:26 am, MH <nos...(a)ucalgary.ca> wrote: > Alkamista wrote: > > On Mar 4, 8:51 pm, Enzo <s_debgu...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > >>On Mar 4, 8:40 pm, Alkamista <alkami...(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > > >>>It seems like RSS has weauxfed the living daylights out of Brazil and > >>>Spain over the last few months, just like we had done with Argentina > >>>and France in 2002 and Brazil and their Fab 5 in 2006. So I am almost > >>>convinced that neither of these teams will reach the final, much less > >>>win the cup. > >>>Also, the "this may finally be Africa's cup" has gone overboard. > >>>Therefore it is almost guaranteed that all their teams will implode, > >>>with Eto'o and Drogba throwing some hissy fits against their coaches > >>>and SA going out in the group phase with their coach and some > >>>Scandanavian referee having to be placed under military protection. > >>>Next England, who had already been weauxfed out a year ago by their > >>>tabloids, as well as Jellore and Higgs. > >>>Holland will never win the WC in their entire existence so that leaves > >>>the usual boring suspects, i.e. Italy, Germany, France, and > >>>Argentina. > >>>To get to the semi's, Lippi will probably resort to catenaccio against > >>>Brazil and Spain and eliminate both on penalties after 0-0 draws > >>>(followed by Benny denouncing all allegations of catenaccio by saying > >>>that we are biased and out of touch). Germany will probably get a key > >>>goal every game from Klose and see out the rest of the game like > >>>robots and advance. Freakshows Maradona and Domenech will probably > >>>pull some unbelievable luck out of their behinds and advance to the > >>>SFs (god save us from Bob then). > >>>After that, it's a random crapshoot. I predict that either Italy or > >>>Argentina will win the cup. > > >>Nothing of this sort will happen. The top teams are now even > >>more isolated at the top than in recent world cups. Brasil has > >>not lost a game in ages, Spain is close by. Since Spain will > >>not win two major tournaments in succession, and since the > >>only other outfit that can challenge Brasil ( England ) will probably > >>fail a pk contest somewhere down the line, I think the conclusion > >>is foregone. > > > It's a cup, not a league. And it's not even two-legged in the > > knockouts. Any one of 6-7 teams can win it. We've heard the same > > invincible argument many times in the past, and not least in '06. The > > only other times post-WWII that the 100% clear pre-tourney favorite > > won it was in '70 > > England were also quite heavily favoured IIRC England I bet thought they were favorites in 1974 and 1978 too....
From: Insane Ranter on 5 Mar 2010 18:00
On Mar 5, 5:32 pm, Lleo <lleo...(a)lycos.com> wrote: > On 4 mar, 23:51, Enzo <s_debgu...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > > On Mar 4, 8:40 pm, Alkamista <alkami...(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > > > > It seems like RSS has weauxfed the living daylights out of Brazil and > > > Spain over the last few months, just like we had done with Argentina > > > and France in 2002 and Brazil and their Fab 5 in 2006. So I am almost > > > convinced that neither of these teams will reach the final, much less > > > win the cup. > > > Also, the "this may finally be Africa's cup" has gone overboard. > > > Therefore it is almost guaranteed that all their teams will implode, > > > with Eto'o and Drogba throwing some hissy fits against their coaches > > > and SA going out in the group phase with their coach and some > > > Scandanavian referee having to be placed under military protection. > > > Next England, who had already been weauxfed out a year ago by their > > > tabloids, as well as Jellore and Higgs. > > > Holland will never win the WC in their entire existence so that leaves > > > the usual boring suspects, i.e. Italy, Germany, France, and > > > Argentina. > > > To get to the semi's, Lippi will probably resort to catenaccio against > > > Brazil and Spain and eliminate both on penalties after 0-0 draws > > > (followed by Benny denouncing all allegations of catenaccio by saying > > > that we are biased and out of touch). Germany will probably get a key > > > goal every game from Klose and see out the rest of the game like > > > robots and advance. Freakshows Maradona and Domenech will probably > > > pull some unbelievable luck out of their behinds and advance to the > > > SFs (god save us from Bob then). > > > After that, it's a random crapshoot. I predict that either Italy or > > > Argentina will win the cup. > > > Nothing of this sort will happen. The top teams are now even > > more isolated at the top than in recent world cups. Brasil has > > not lost a game in ages, Spain is close by. Since Spain will > > not win two major tournaments in succession, and since the > > only other outfit that can challenge Brasil ( England ) will probably > > fail a pk contest somewhere down the line, I think the conclusion > > is foregone. > > I think so too but my conclusion is different than yours. I think this > will be Argentina's cup. Hand of god goal from the benches? |