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Post by nferg18 on Dec 4, 2009 14:32:14 GMT -4
what a draw for the USA, if we can bet england in the 1st game we might have a chance. Its gonna be fun to see what happens in june.
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Post by Seattle Slough on Dec 4, 2009 14:36:07 GMT -4
Fuck England, we got this shit.
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Post by nferg18 on Dec 4, 2009 14:40:15 GMT -4
can we beat Germany in the 2nd round? assuming we go 2-1 and Germany goes 3-0
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Post by Seattle Slough on Dec 4, 2009 16:08:58 GMT -4
I think we can, I feel Germany isn't as good as they were the last world cup and its on neutral playing field.
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Post by Seattle Slough on Dec 4, 2009 16:09:23 GMT -4
We need Davies and big O to be healthy though, not sure how they are coming along.
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Post by Erbes on Dec 4, 2009 16:10:57 GMT -4
People dont realize how good Algeria and Slovenia are. Algeria is a fast team. If you seen any of their games, wow. The US cannot handle a fast paced game. Just look at all of their games against teams like Honduras and Mexico. Slovenia are no push overs either. They knocked Russia out contention this year! I see England advancing easily because they just have skill far and beyond any of these teams, plus they can match the pace of Algeria. So I see Algeria and England coming out of this group.
Im a huge France fan and I love that they got one of the easiest groups. This French are playing nowhere near their potential and I think some good confidence boosters in the group play should help them come the KO stages.
Group G could be one of the toughest groups ever. Brazil and Portugal are 2 and 5, respectively in FIFA rankings and throw in the Ivory Coast at 16 and you have nuts group.
Should be a fun World Cup all in all. I have Spain winning it all, with my sleeper pick as Germany. If I had to pick outside of Europe I would say Argentina, although struggling mightily just to get in, they always seem to pull it together when it counts plus they have the best player in the world in Messi.
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Post by Jogo on Dec 4, 2009 16:24:34 GMT -4
Very good draw for the US. Algeria and Slovenia are clearly 2 of the worst teams that could have been drawn. Even England is probably the most beatable (outside of South Africa) of the seeded teams.
Group G is clearly the toughest. Ivory Coast is the best African team. Portugal - Brazil is like an early final.
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Post by Seattle Slough on Dec 4, 2009 16:50:24 GMT -4
People dont realize how good Algeria and Slovenia are. Algeria is a fast team. If you seen any of their games, wow. The US cannot handle a fast paced game. Just look at all of their games against teams like Honduras and Mexico. Slovenia are no push overs either. They knocked Russia out contention this year! I see England advancing easily because they just have skill far and beyond any of these teams, plus they can match the pace of Algeria. So I see Algeria and England coming out of this group. Im a huge France fan and I love that they got one of the easiest groups. This French are playing nowhere near their potential and I think some good confidence boosters in the group play should help them come the KO stages. Group G could be one of the toughest groups ever. Brazil and Portugal are 2 and 5, respectively in FIFA rankings and throw in the Ivory Coast at 16 and you have nuts group. Should be a fun World Cup all in all. I have Spain winning it all, with my sleeper pick as Germany. If I had to pick outside of Europe I would say Argentina, although struggling mightily just to get in, they always seem to pull it together when it counts plus they have the best player in the world in Messi. Fuck France and there bullshit cheating ways. I didn't mind Henry, until now. The only thing seems bullshit and Fifa would rather have France in the cup instead of Ireland, because of popularity. That is the worst call I have ever seen in my lifetime of watching futbol. How could you not have a replay of a blatant hand ball, how the hell does a ref not see that. How as a player can you not even really try to use a foot, but just grab the ball and keep it in play, not even a random tap of the hand to make it go a certain way, he grabbed the fucking ball and held it in play. Apparently, the futbol refs didn't show and we had rugby refs. You have to at least have replay around the goal, i don't care about penalties in the field of play in futbol, just around crucial plays that really decide games, that shouldn't.
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Post by Erbes on Dec 4, 2009 17:50:51 GMT -4
Hey I whole heartedly agree with you. I definitely think there should have been a replay. I watched it live and as I saw it, I thought immediately it would be called. FIFA was the one who said no replay, not Henry, not France.
In defense of Henry, I believe him when he says he didnt mean to do it. Its a big moment in the game and he just instinctively reached out and touched it. There were actually three things that could have been called on that play: 1. France was offside before the free kick, 2. Henry's handball, 3. Gallas was offside. There definitely should be replay, like the way tennis uses EagleEye. 1 challenge per half for the manager, but cant be used to determine fouls.
With that being said, the ref didnt call it and France is in the World Cup and Im happy about that. Definitely should have been a replay, but oh well. VIVE LES BLEUS!!
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Post by Erbes on Dec 4, 2009 17:52:20 GMT -4
PS France got their punishment... not being seeded. Should have gotten the nod over the Netherlands, but Im happy they didnt because they play in the second easiest group.
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Post by Seattle Slough on Dec 4, 2009 18:22:30 GMT -4
How did they get their punishment? They played like shit and put themselves in that position to play against Ireland. If anything they should have been put in the group with Brazil, that would have been punishment, not one of the easiest groups in the world cup.
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Post by Steve on Dec 4, 2009 18:26:03 GMT -4
People dont realize how good Algeria and Slovenia are. Algeria is a fast team. If you seen any of their games, wow. The US cannot handle a fast paced game. Just look at all of their games against teams like Honduras and Mexico. Slovenia are no push overs either. They knocked Russia out contention this year! I see England advancing easily because they just have skill far and beyond any of these teams, plus they can match the pace of Algeria. So I see Algeria and England coming out of this group. Yeah, so what...USA proved that they can play with the best at the confederations Cup beating Spain and getting up on brazil 2-0. Not saying that were going to win, but my point here is that we should get through this group fine as long as Big O comes back. Davies was playing well, but BIG O needs to come back for any shot.
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Post by Erbes on Dec 4, 2009 20:05:36 GMT -4
Ha what does the Confederation Cup matter? The team that has won the Confed Cup has never gone on to win the World Cup... So I think Spain is okay with losing. And saying that they got up on Brazil is a counter point. Just goes to show they cant handle pace. How do you blow a 2 goal lead in 45 minutes? Dont get me wrong I would love to see the US win the World Cup, it would go a long way to prove that we can actually play a world game (outside of bball that is). Its just not going to happen. Not enough Americans play overseas to get the experience necessary. And its not their fault, they just arent good enough (see: Landon Donovan and Bayern Munich).
If O comes back they have a shot. But no Dempsey means all the scoring will be on Jozy and Landon, and Landon blew it big time in the MLS Cup so we have to hope that doesnt carry over. Bocanegra needs to move back to the center of the defense because he cant handle any wingers, just not fast enough. Tim Howard is great. He will keep the US in games with great play on set pieces. I hope Bradley gives more time to Torres (speed kills) and Felhaber (great holder) because they can control games and feed Donovan.
This was definitely best case scenarios for the US and the more I talk about it, the more I could see them moving on, but certain players have to step up.
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Post by Steve on Dec 4, 2009 20:33:15 GMT -4
Ha what does the Confederation Cup matter? The team that has won the Confed Cup has never gone on to win the World Cup... So I think Spain is okay with losing. And saying that they got up on Brazil is a counter point. Just goes to show they cant handle pace. How do you blow a 2 goal lead in 45 minutes? Dont get me wrong I would love to see the US win the World Cup, it would go a long way to prove that we can actually play a world game (outside of bball that is). Its just not going to happen. Not enough Americans play overseas to get the experience necessary. And its not their fault, they just arent good enough (see: Landon Donovan and Bayern Munich). If O comes back they have a shot. But no Dempsey means all the scoring will be on Jozy and Landon, and Landon blew it big time in the MLS Cup so we have to hope that doesnt carry over. Bocanegra needs to move back to the center of the defense because he cant handle any wingers, just not fast enough. Tim Howard is great. He will keep the US in games with great play on set pieces. I hope Bradley gives more time to Torres (speed kills) and Felhaber (great holder) because they can control games and feed Donovan. This was definitely best case scenarios for the US and the more I talk about it, the more I could see them moving on, but certain players have to step up. I wasn't saying it mattered, but it proved that the US (when healthy) can play with the bigger teams. And damn, I guess I missed it, what happened with Dempsey because he's another guy you really can't afford to lose as well?
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Post by Seattle Slough on Dec 4, 2009 20:34:45 GMT -4
I would say compared to previous world cups, the US squad has a ton of players that play outside of the US, that is why its almost going to be a premier league match against England, because of so many players of the US in the Premier league.
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