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Ouch US seed in the group of death

Mebeverine said:
All thsis tuff about "three top 10 teams in the same group"...

The FIFA World Rankings are a load of crap.

http://www.soccerphile.com/soccerphile/news/fifa.html

those are the latest rankings and the way they are worked doesn't take in to account strength of opposition. The seedings that FIFA give are much more realistic in terms of how good a team is.

For example, if you think England should be ranked below America and Mexico then you need your head examined.

I'd say the top 10, in terms of actual ability looks something like this

Brazil
Argentina
England
Italy
Holland
Spain
Czech Republic
France
Portugal
Germany


And then after them you have teams like Sweden, Poland, USA, Mexico etc who I think are on a similar level. I presume Ivory Coast are up there as well, but I haven't seen them play.

THE USA's best chance is that the Czech Republic don't qualify; I say that because I can't see Baros scoring as many as he did in Euro 2004, and Koller is a waste of space. That said, you have to find a way to get the ball past Petr Cech.

For me Italy are as good as through, they are a far better drilled team this time round and Luca Toni could make himself into a star.

Ghana will be tough. very tough.
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You forgot Nedved is back, and Rocisky and Nedved are one of the two better midfielders that play in europe.

The Czech's are a strong team. I doubt koller is a waste of space there is a reason he is on Borutia dortmund in germany who played a long time with out losing a game.

He's a good player and creates space for Baros, The Czechs will surprise like they did in Euro 2004.
 
wpgfishfan said:
Italy is ranked 12 which means they should finish 3rd in a group with the #2 and #8 team. I say they finish top 2 which means they do better than their ranking

I think the ranking that is off is France. They have been terrible for 4 years now but they luck out in an easy group so they will advance and probably keep their ranking
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Last game Between italy and the Czechs I believe was a draw 1-1 in Italy.


The Czechs got major FIFA points for there impressive play in Euro 2004. They also had a long stretch of not losing a game.

The Czechs and Italians should lock up this group after there first 2 games. when they both go 2-0-0. Which would make the last game very interesting because the loser most likely will end up playing Brazil in the round of 16, while the winner would end up going to the other side of the bracket and playing a much easier game against Croatia and have no chance of meeting Brazil unless its in the final.

Winning this group is critical.
 
KTownsDolphins said:
Last game Between italy and the Czechs I believe was a draw 1-1 in Italy.


The Czechs got major FIFA points for there impressive play in Euro 2004. They also had a long stretch of not losing a game.

The Czechs and Italians should lock up this group after there first 2 games. when they both go 2-0-0. Which would make the last game very interesting because the loser most likely will end up playing Brazil in the round of 16, while the winner would end up going to the other side of the bracket and playing a much easier game against Croatia and have no chance of meeting Brazil unless its in the final.

Winning this group is critical.
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Yes because these teams are going to walk all over the US...:rolleyes:
 
Prime Time said:
Yes because these teams are going to walk all over the US...:rolleyes:
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I honestly think Ghana is going to be a tougher competition for the Czechs. If the Czechs win this group I see no reason why they can't make the semi finals. If they come in second then yah the exit for the round of 16 will be inevitable facing the Brazilians.

I've seen the Czechs play and yes they didn't look good against Netherlands last time out, however Nedved wasn't playing and neither was Koller. With Nedved in the midfield the Czechs seem to play a lot better. He controls the flow of the game. He's a big contributing factor playing for Juventus normally.

I never said the states would be a cake walk, I just don't think there as skilled as the Italians or the Czechs from what I've seen. The americans play one tough team in Mexico. CONCACAF is terrible, and when they do play countries of significance they play them in friendly's and we all know friendly's usually don't have the top stars as they want to avoid injury.

We'll see June 12, when the Czechs play the USA in the opening match.
 
:confused: Has any one actually seen Ghana play ?

All I'm reading is that the 'Black stars' will be very tough, even tougher than the U.S. But I don't see anyone up front that can finish against quality teams.
Essien, Appiah, Kuffour are all quality players but apart from that it's mostly young players playing in Ghana.

Also I'd like to point out, they did finish first in their group in qualifying but they did benefit from playing in the weakest group african group (with only SA a legitimate threat)
 
KTownsDolphins said:
I honestly think Ghana is going to be a tougher competition for the Czechs. If the Czechs win this group I see no reason why they can't make the semi finals. If they come in second then yah the exit for the round of 16 will be inevitable facing the Brazilians.

I've seen the Czechs play and yes they didn't look good against Netherlands last time out, however Nedved wasn't playing and neither was Koller. With Nedved in the midfield the Czechs seem to play a lot better. He controls the flow of the game. He's a big contributing factor playing for Juventus normally.

I never said the states would be a cake walk, I just don't think there as skilled as the Italians or the Czechs from what I've seen. The americans play one tough team in Mexico. CONCACAF is terrible, and when they do play countries of significance they play them in friendly's and we all know friendly's usually don't have the top stars as they want to avoid injury.

We'll see June 12, when the Czechs play the USA in the opening match.
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Here is a question for you...do you think the 2002 WC Squad was better then the 2002 Portugal WC Squad. I bet you don't and guess what US beat Portugal 3-2...

Czech will qualify I agree (although I do not think they are as good as some people say but thats my opnion) and Italy is very OVERRATED. The have an outstanding defense but they lack a creative midfielder, like a Riquelme or Zidane or Beasley or Nedved. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Italy will be this World Cup's Argentina.
 
Prime Time said:
Here is a question for you...do you think the 2002 WC Squad was better then the 2002 Portugal WC Squad. I bet you don't and guess what US beat Portugal 3-2...

Czech will qualify I agree (although I do not think they are as good as some people say but thats my opnion) and Italy is very OVERRATED. The have an outstanding defense but they lack a creative midfielder, like a Riquelme or Zidane or Beasley or Nedved. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Italy will be this World Cup's Argentina.
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So you have Czech's first, USA second and is little old Italy gonna be 3rd or 4th??

Any team can beat any team in soccer. It is the one sport where luck and reffing have a huge influence on the game.
 
wpgfishfan said:
So you have Czech's first, USA second and is little old Italy gonna be 3rd or 4th??

Any team can beat any team in soccer. It is the one sport where luck and reffing have a huge influence on the game.
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If you don't finish first in this group you might as well go home, second place will buy you a round of 16 match against Brazil,

This group is tough, and it's even tougher now that you basically have to win it to give yourself a good shot.
 
Italy will fall in 3rd If not 4th...Mark my words.
 
I'm an Italian citizen, born in Naples, Italy, 1972... however, I was born at an American Naval Base Hospital, so I am also a US Citizen...

When the World Cup Seedings came out, I knew I was gonna be torn.

I followed Italy for Soccer growing up, cuz the US team sucked, and I was "Italian".

But the US Team has really come on the last 10 years which I've enjoyed watching.

So yeah, I'm torn. Being a fan of both teams really, and being a citizen of both countries, I'm stuck.

I think I'm gonna just watch and try to not root one way or the other until round one is over. I'm gonna wuss out and just root for the team that goes the farthest (probably Italy).
 
NY_FinFan_72 said:
I'm an Italian citizen, born in Naples, Italy, 1972... however, I was born at an American Naval Base Hospital, so I am also a US Citizen...

When the World Cup Seedings came out, I knew I was gonna be torn.

I followed Italy for Soccer growing up, cuz the US team sucked, and I was "Italian".

But the US Team has really come on the last 10 years which I've enjoyed watching.

So yeah, I'm torn. Being a fan of both teams really, and being a citizen of both countries, I'm stuck.

I think I'm gonna just watch and try to not root one way or the other until round one is over. I'm gonna wuss out and just root for the team that goes the farthest (probably Italy).
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Were you a Napoli fan back in the day??
 
wpgfishfan said:
Were you a Napoli fan back in the day??
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I lived in Italy from 1971-1975...in Verona....they never had much of a team but I have always liked ChievoVerona. I also have always been a big Juventus fan. Nobody goes as crazy as the Italians on game day.....much crazier than most Americans over "football." Once you start following soccer and you realize all the skills and strategy you become a fan for life.
 
Roman529 said:
I lived in Italy from 1971-1975...in Verona....they never had much of a team but I have always liked ChievoVerona. I also have always been a big Juventus fan. Nobody goes as crazy as the Italians on game day.....much crazier than most Americans over "football." Once you start following soccer and you realize all the skills and strategy you become a fan for life.
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I think Brazilians, English (England), and Mexicans to name a few have fans who go crazier on Game Day. I also agree with your last sentence :up:
 
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