NationStates Jolt Archive

Group A:
Germany
Costa Rica
Poland
Ecuador

Group B:
England
Paraguay
Trinidad and Tobago
Sweden

Group C:
Argentina
Cote d'Ivoire
Serbia and Montenegro
Netherlands

Group D:
Mexico
Iran
Angola
Portugal

Group E:
Italy
Ghana
USA
Czech Republic

Group F:
Brazil
Croatia
Australia
Japan

Group G:
France
Switzerland
Korea Republic
Togo

Group H:
Spain
Ukraine
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia

England and Brazil have it reaaaal easy. The US is in a relatively good position to make it to the Round of 16, at least. Whaddya'll think?

England and Brazil have it reaaaal easy. The US is in a relatively good position to make it to the Round of 16, at least. Whaddya'll think?

England don't have it that easy. Sweden might prove tricky, and we are prone to fucking up. if that were to happen against Paraguay.

Group A:
Germany
Costa Rica
Poland
Ecuador
This could almost be rigged. Poland is a pretty good team, but it could have been so much harder for Germany. I think they should be able to beat Costa Rica and Ecuador easily, and at least draw with Poland.
My Picks:
1. Germany
2. Poland

Group B:
England
Paraguay
Trinidad and Tobago
Sweden
Paraguay isn't bad, but probably not good enough to beat England or Sweden. T&T is here first time round, it would be a big upset if they could do anything.
1. England
2. Sweden

Group C:
Argentina
Cote d'Ivoire
Serbia and Montenegro
Netherlands
That's tough! Anything could happen, but short of an upset, Argentina and the Netherlands will make it.
1. Argentina
2. Netherlands

Group D:
Mexico
Iran
Angola
Portugal
I would've liked Iran to play the US...:p But this is hard to tell. I think Portugal should go through first, but the other spot is pretty open between Mexico and Iran.
1. Portugal
2. Mexico

Group E:
Italy
Ghana
USA
Czech Republic
I'm afraid the US is in trouble here. As I said before, I haven't seen them play for more than three years, but Italy and the Czech Republic would have to be big favourites.
1. Czech Republic
2. Italy

Group F:
Brazil
Croatia
Australia
Japan
They reckon if Australia can beat Japan, and draw with Croatia, and only lose by a small margin against Brazil, it could make it. I don't exactly think so.
1. Brazil
2. Japan

Group G:
France
Switzerland
Korea Republic
Togo
No idea how good the French really are, but I'd say they'll pass through. Korea and Switzerland are both pretty good teams, but I'd give the Swiss the nod, because Korea no longer has Guus. :D
1. France
2. Switzerland

Group H:
Spain
Ukraine
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia
Spain and Ukraine should make it through relatively easily. Tunisia didn't impress that much in the Confed Cup, and the Saudis were beaten...8:0 was it? Spain is kinda prone to not doing as well as they could in tournaments.
1. Ukraine
2. Spain

The USA is so boned. How sad.

Paraguay have the potential to be real dangermen in England's group and Sweden are a tough team. If we beat one of them we should be OK though.

So now I'm starting to pick stuff:

2nd Round
Argentina - Mexico
Germany - Sweden
Portugal - Netherlands
England - Poland
Czech Republic - Japan
France - Spain
Brazil - Italy
Ukraine - Switzerland

Quarter-Finals
Argentina - Germany (....brrr....well, maybe)
Czech Republic - France
Brazil - Ukraine
Netherlands - England

Semi-Finals
Germany - Czech Republic (now I'm just getting more and more hopeful :p )
Brazil - Netherlands

3rd Place
Czech Republic - Netherlands

Final
Germany - Brazil (http://www.frenchapartment.org/smilies/flag_german.gif)

In my opinion England and Germany in particular will sail through. Whether they play each other is another matter, but if we do it'll be the most watched match in modern times over here.

My father's already called me saying that England will win the World Cup in 2006 ;)

EDIT: We're not going to lose to Holland :P

Whether they play each other is another matter, but if we do it'll be the most watched match in modern times over here.
Mmmhh...European Championship 1996 Semi-Finals.

Hehe (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2002/955747.stm)

I found this great little prediction website. Everyone should play around a bit with it, cuz it calculates everything automatically.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sol/shared/spl/hi/predictor/html/football/world_cup_06/default.stm

A: Germany, Poland
B: Sweden, England
C: Holland, Argentina
D: Portugal, Mexico
E: Italy, Czech Republic
F: Brazil, Croatia
G: France, Switzerland
H: Spain, Ukraine

Round of 16:
Germany vs. England
Sweden vs. Poland
Holland vs. Mexico
Portugal vs. Argentina
Italy vs. Croatia
Brazil vs. Czech Republic
France vs. Ukraine
Spain vs. Switzerland

Quarterfinals:
England vs. Holland
Italy vs. France
Sweden vs. Argentina
Brazil vs. Spain (upset of the tournament)


Semifinals:

Italy 2
England 1

Spain 3
Argentina 2


Finals: Italy 1, Spain 0


Italy's played well recently against the powers.

What a fantastic draw. I woke up early to see it, but am slightly irritated at not staying awake to make the first concerning thread.

My home teams, Poland and Spain, should both qualify comfortably, but my resident nation, Australia, has it mighty tough. They'll need to beat Croatia and Japan, because they won't beat Brazil... :p

Germany vs. England
Germany's actually got a reasonable record against England.
Since 1980, it was 7 wins, 3 losses and one draw. But there were a lot of penalty shootouts.
Regardless, it'll be a big game.

http://www.dfb.de/dfb-team/db/dfbnat.php?action=bilanz&liga=Nationalmannschaft&lang=E

We got so shafted! Italy and the Czech Republic? Fuck all!

Woo! Go Trinidad and Tobago.

Togo!! Togo!! Togo!!

Goin' all da way!

(US got screwed...CONSPIRACY!!)

I'll never understand why FIFA has to create these groups of death every World Cup.

I'll never understand why FIFA has to create these groups of death every World Cup.
It's a relatively complex process that is to ensure that every group has teams from different regions, such that not all South American teams are in one group, and all Europeans in another.

So they put them together into batches, grouping together teams from the same places, and they take into account rankings and economic concerns as well (for example, the made it such that Brazil and Germany play at least once in every stadion, as the home team and the defending champions).

Then they take one out of every batch at random, and put those together in groups. At least that part is done at random. It is conceivable that the US (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/team_guides/4369168.stm) for example could have had an easier group...but chances are it would have had to deal with tough opposition nonetheless.

Afterall, that's why they're all there.

:mad: I'm not really liking what I'm hearing. Everybody has already written off the teams that aren't the traditional powerhouses. In fact, if the World Cup was they way some predicted I wouldn't even bother to watch it.

I hope Saudi Arabia and Tunisia go far and I think they have a fighting chance to get out of group stage.;)

I'm also hoping Iran will be able to take on Mexico and Portugal.:(

And obviously, I'll be cheering for all the African countries.:p

And I hope the U.S. gets killed at the outset.:sniper:

I was hoping the US and Iran would face off. But they won't.

Everybody has already written off the teams that aren't the traditional powerhouses.
There will be upsets, I guarantee you that. The point is just that if we were able to predict, or even anticipate them, they wouldn't be upsets.

And the Czechs are not a traditional powerhouse, but I think they'll go far.

I'm going to be watching Groups D and E.
Three top 20 nations in each.

I was hoping the US and Iran would face off. But they won't.
Yeah, the Iranians really enjoyed that last time. :)

http://www.iranian.com/Opinion/March99/IOTY/team.html
http://iranfootballteam.com/Iran-football-team-pictures-videos.htm#Iran-US-Video-Clips

aaah this is great
even if australia get absolutely smashed, aussie football is gonna go OFF