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Somebody had to do a World Cup thread…
Group E
Italy
Ghana
Czech Rep
USAThis group has been the most entertaining, and most profitable one for me so far, i have enjoyed all of the games in this group, so i will do a quick preview of the last 2 games, and what i expect will happen…
Ghana vs USA
I thought the USA put up an inspired effort against Italy, playing 2 men short and with 1 player less than the Italians for most of the 2nd half, but unfortunately for them, that game may have just killed them physically, they left the field bloodied and bruised and that is not a positive sign heading into the match with Ghana…Besides that, the Americans have yet to score a legitimate goal in this tournament, their lone goal came courtesy of an Italian defender putting the ball in his own net.
Ghana, who i bet on to beat the Czech Rep at odds of 8-1, totally wowed me with that performance against the Czechs, they have suddenly sprung to life after a nervous beginning against Italy in game 1, they are very young and just getting better with every passing minute it seems, i like them to beat the USA in their final group match and advance into the playoff round and do some damage, i am a bit impressed with them so far…go dark stars
Prediction
Ghana to win over the USA
Italy vs Czech Rep
Italy is good, really good in fact, they have yet to give up a legitimate goal in this tournament, and you know forwards Toni and Iaquinta are about to explode, they are all over the other teams goal’s like vultures, just a matter of time til they find the net.
Could things get any worse for the Czech Rep, they are already the oldest team in this tournament, and now they have lost their top 4 forwards to boot, that is an unbelievable stroke of bad luck…their captain Smicer got injured just before the tourney started, Baros, their top scorer has yet to play, and looks like he won’t play at all, Koller, scorer of their 1st goal in this tournament went down with an injury in game 1 and hasn’t played since, Lovenkranc(or whatever his name is)got stretchered off in game 2 and he is out, not at all good news for the Czechs, who must find a way to score on a team that has yet to allow their opponents to score a goal in 2 games, if they can’t score goals and beat Italy with their 5th string attack they are out…and that is what i expect to happen here, Italy needs at least a tie to advance to the playoffs
Prediction
Italy to get the result they need and the Czech Rep to go home…Italy might push for the win here, since the 2nd place team in this group will face Brazil in the playoff round…in previous World Cup play, Italy and the Czechs have met twice, with Italy winning both times
I think you are right in both of your predictions.
Ghana vs USA is a close call. It is going to be an entertaining match, with both teams really wanting to win (if USA shows the same spirit they showed against Italy). Ghana will however win, because they can attack as much as they want thanks to USA’s non-threatening offense, which has been lacking at best. 2-0 Ghana.
Italy vs Czech is a no brainer. Czech’s best strikers are out of the game and their defence is just terrible. Ghana would’ve scored about half a dozen goals if Petr Cech wasn’t the best keeper in the tournament and even USA managed to get couple of good scoring opportunities. Lucky for Czech, Italy is usually happy to win games by a small margin, even though they often could just murder they opponents if they really wanted to. Motivated Italy is going to do what they do best: win 1-0.
Now that I made my predictions, go bet against them. I’m always wrong, so you are going to make some easy money… :3eyes:
Yipee
I love it when i’m perfect
Astronaut, we made a killin
Do i retire undefeated or push it a little more ?
I think i’m gonna push it
And i think that pushing will go on Switzerland tomorrow
The Swiss have looked best in their group, and even though they have trouble scoring goals, they can shut it down pretty good on defense
A good effort tomorrow wins them the group and gets them a playoff match vs a shaky ukraine team likely, or an even shakier tunisia team
Korea have been very lucky to not already be eliminated, they scored late to tie france in a game that should’ve been 2-0 for france when the ref dissallowed a clear french goal, they were completely outplayed by france and deserved nothing from that game…in their first game vs a hopeless togo team, they were losing 1-0 in the 2nd half until the ref kicked out one of togo’s players, allowing korea to score 2 goals after that with the extra man.
Their luck runs out against switzerland…i expect a typical swiss defensive shut down of korea, a low scoring tight game is what the swiss will want, and that’s what they’ll make happen tomorrow…switzerland to win 1-0
Glad to see a World Cup Thread.
Would love to be the devils advocate and disagree with some predictions, but they look good to me so no point in being the spoiler.
Any thoughts on the next rounds and of course the final?
Italy to get the result they need and the Czech Rep to go home…
Unfortunately you were right:unhappy:. All the injuries destroyed our offence. Moreover we got the red card in the middle of match. Now we go home, maybe next time:)
Anyway I’m looking forward to watching the rest of the cup.:drunk2:
Lovenkranc(or whatever his name is)
LOL:) It’s Lokvenc…
Any thoughts on the next rounds and of course the final?
Will do that later today
impreza wrote:Unfortunately you were right:unhappy:. All the injuries destroyed our offence. Moreover we got the red card in the middle of match. Now we go home, maybe next time:)These things happen, i don’t know why but they do…same thing happened to my team Serbia, a freakish set of injuries hit our entire starting defense…we had to play guys with 0 international experience, which would explain the 6-0 loss to Argentina, our defensive captain and Manchester United player never played a minute of this tournament, blew out his knee in the warm up, then the other central defender also blew out his knee just before the Argentina game in the warm up(oddly enough, i once blew out my knee in warm up just before a game, go figure…those warm ups are deadly), and yet another one of our starting 4 defenders went down as well…after all the talk about us having the best defense in qualifying and giving up only one goal in 10 games, we come here and give up more goals than anyone else
What can you do
I’m gonna do the Brazil vs Ghana game, and before everyone starts telling me Brazil will win, you should know that i am very bias here, i’m riding Ghana and a 1000-1 futures bet on them to win it all.
So the hard road starts with Brazil who have an extreme advantage in experience over Ghana, that will be the hardest thing to overcome obviously for Ghana
but…
Brazil is beatable, and if Ghana don’t beat them, somebody else will, there are faults in this Brazil team, the most noticeable one is that half the Brazil starting lineup is sporting pot bellies, and the other one i noticed is the one i hope Ghana can exploit…Brazil’s 2 key outside defenders, Carlos and Cafu are 36 and 40 years old, nearly 20 years older than the Ghana forwards that will be running at them all game long.
The right side of Brazil’s defense is the weak link, Japan scored on them from there, Australia should of scored on them also from that position…Ghana on the other hand, likes to attack that side, having scored most of their goals from that side, and forward Gyan #3 for Ghana is a deadly young player who plays that side and could’ve scored 5 on the Czechs
The intangeables come into play here
Brazil is a big draw, and FIFA always do all they can to ensure everything is well in Braziloland, and this game is no exception, FIFA suspended Ghana’s captain Essien, who plays for Chelsea, as a little insurance to help old man Brazil make it through safely…Ghana just had 2 players suspended for the last game, their 2 goalscorers conveniently enough
The effects of having your captain and key player suspended for the biggest match of your life can be quite demoralizing, especially on a young team like Ghana, but FIFA know exactly what they are doing, i’ve said it many times, and i’ll say it again, soccer is the dirtiest game in the world, and FIFA is the most racist, bias, and unfair organization in all of pro sports, completely corrupt, i hate them for what they do to the little guys who work so hard to overcome only to get screwed by FIFA in the end
Essien means as much to Ghana as Ronaldinho means to Brazil, he is a key fixture in the midfield, so it will be like this…
Ghana will not get favourable calls in this game, they will never get a penalty kick awarded in their favour no matter what any Brazilian does, every marginal offside call will go against them and favour Brazil, etc, etc…they will need a superhuman effort for the entire game just to overcome all the garbage coming their way…Brazil makes FIFA soooo much money, i guarantee you they don’t want to lose them just yet
It’s nice to be a 40 year old Brazilian with a stomach the size of a soccer ball coasting through the World Cup on a street paved with gold, without even being able to run across the field
I hope Brazil get smoked, they deserve it
I was actually at the Brazil – Australia Game in Munich last weekend. Fantastic game I have to say. The atmosphere is amazing there. Great experience. Australia should have scored, but Brazil can intimidate like no other. They are a momentum team – will still go a long way – but my money is on Argentina or Germany.
I got my tickets outside the stadium for 350 Euros, i think the sticker price was something like 30 Euros – maybe im in the wrong game lol.
Would anyone have predicted Australia to get through to the next round? Well they did it yesterday – despite such bad refereeing for all 3 games: i think that should be noted somewhere. :woohoo:
Anyone willing to chance their reputation on Australia beating Italy? I have Australia scoring at least once….
Paul@BetUSA wrote:I was actually at the Brazil – Australia Game in Munich last weekend. Fantastic game I have to say. The atmosphere is amazing there. Great experience. Australia should have scored, but Brazil can intimidate like no other. They are a momentum team – will still go a long way – but my money is on Argentina or Germany.I got my tickets outside the stadium for 350 Euros, i think the sticker price was something like 30 Euros – maybe im in the wrong game lol.
Would anyone have predicted Australia to get through to the next round? Well they did it yesterday – despite such bad refereeing for all 3 games: i think that should be noted somewhere. :woohoo:
Anyone willing to chance their reputation on Australia beating Italy? I have Australia scoring at least once….
I’m assuming with those comments that you and Betusa will be offering the Italy/Australia game as a pickem right ?
oh no
you’re offering australia at 7-1 odds to beat italy
looks like you guys aren’t really believing that will happen either
Lets get the playoff games up here
Germany vs Sweden
Germany is gonna just overpower Sweden here…no point even going into detail, i’ll just keep it short…in 9 previous games in world cup or euro cup meetings, Sweden beat Germany only once, and that was the 1958 world cup in sweden, where the swedes went on to lose in the finals…Germany owns them…combine that with injured star striker ibrahimovic missing from the lineup and you can kiss the swedes goodbye
Argentina vs Mexico
Argentina in a total destruction, Mexico cant score, their star striker borgetti is also out, it does not look good for a team that has a record 0 wins and 5 losses against the 3 teams in their quarter of the draw, argentina, germany, sweden…adios amigos
If ever there was a situation where one could bet his life, this would be it…expect to see the big marquee matchup that everyone wants to see, Germany vs Argentina…and that’s what will happen if they both win, and they will both win
If only everything in life was this easy
I was again looking forward to disagreeing with some of the picks but I agree with the Germany / Sweden & Argetina/Mexico predictions.
Brazil vs. Ghana – I agree that Brazil is beatable and not as strong as people like to believe. But, I dont think Ghana is going to do it this time. The Brazil team should get through based on their experience and the intangibles mentioned. Even though they dont appear to be the fittest or youngest team they are still capable of some nice “one-touch” type soccer.
Germany vs. Argentina – Could be the match up of the tournament potentially and will be a good game. Germany gets the nod on this one.
Yipee
Switzerland puts up the blank on Korea, 2-0…rollin rollin rollin
I’m feelin it now, let the games never end
Kevin-what are you talkin about…looking forward to disagreeing with me…what are you, a glutton for punishment or something…just step aside and let the shooter roll
My instincts kept telling me Swissyland…that they would do what Turkey did in the last World Cup, go on a massive tear…Turkey almost won the whole damn thing last time, this is the same kind of team…you cannot score on them
I’m sure somebody will eventually, but not for a little while longer…got these guys going at 200-1 and Frei to take home the Golden Boot at 250-1…not likely to happen, but i see signs of life
Next up is Ukraine -3 starters…kiss them goodbye, they are very unimpressive at full strength, never mind depleted, they won’t score on the Swiss either
England vs Ecuador
Not sure how teams coming off 3-0 defeats play next time out in the World Cup, but i’m pretty sure it’s not good…England in a walk here…this should be pretty easy, England can outplay them, outrun them, have better quality players, and more depth…don’t see anyway Ecuador can stop Lampard and Gerrard from taking control on the field…too easy
Portugal vs Holland
This looks like it’s gonna be a great game, both teams can score and have some talented players
I will take Portugal in here, but it will be tough, these are 2 of the big boys going head to head
I like the way Portugal is coming into this game, coach Scolari, who won the last World Cup with Brazil has this team in good position for a big run
Portugal also has a good record all time against the Dutch, losing only once in 9 games, a 1-0 loss in Holland, and outscoring the Dutch 11-5 in those games
I look for Cristiano Ronaldo to come up huge in here, and Figo, Deco, Pauletta, will bring their game…on the other side, Robben looks good as always, but Van Nistelrooj looks like he’s struggling a bit
A lot of good players on both teams who can make the difference between winning and losing, but i gotta go with Portugal in a close one here, just because they look a little bit better…yeah, i got them at 30-1…just took it today actually…if they get by Holland, watch out England…they will take you out again, for the 4th time in a row…Euro 2004, Euro 2000, WC1986, last 3 times Portugal and England met…Portugal won all 3 of those games…this Portugal team is a contender
Kevin-what are you talkin about…looking forward to disagreeing with me…what are you, a glutton for punishment or something…just step aside and let the shooter roll
lol… Okay shooter, looking forward to your predictions. Should I mortgage the house to bet on your picks? :woo-hoo:
Anyways, thanks for a good World Cup thread…
