Brazil, though still good, are not the team they once were. Argentina stuttered their way through qualifying, and some of Maradona's picks are odd. England will have to successfully take a penalty at some point or other. France and Italy are too old. Germany too one dimensional.
The Netherlands are a good outside bet I reckon.
Still, only one team in the entire history of the world cup has won it outside of their home contenent (Brazil), so maybe Ghana is where your money should go?!
That was a nice surprise yesterday for me as a German. It was a very intense feeling when i realised, that this team could really make it. And it's not only the attacking, Jaikiran, it's how well they played together in all situations.
They were the first of the favourites so far who played like favourites. Very impressive, though Australia didn't really look like much of a team.
Chris Baron
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I think the German team made it look easy. But that is also because two new players, Özil and Müller, could play freely due to their anonymity. But that was yesterday. I afraid in the future the'll get the attention they devserve
I do not think Australia to be serious contenders for a game like football. They should be happy playing cricket. The real challenge for Germany lies with Ghana and Serbia. Let us see how the German team takes them. In any case should they win, I would be happy to see the celebrations in the streets here in Germany.
And as a note form the yesterday's match, I guess the Australians thought they were playing Soccer rather than Football. So many yellow cards to their players....
Jothi Shankar Kumar wrote:And as a note form the yesterday's match, I guess the Australians thought they were playing Soccer rather than Football. So many yellow cards to their players....
Poor refereeing I thought. No way Cahill deserved a straight red.
Ulf Dittmer
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Paul Sturrock wrote:No way Cahill deserved a straight red.
Didn't see the Oz/German game but I think it showed German to be the real deal and Australia to be less than the hype.
I look forward to improvement by Australia but hope Germany is able to treat the others similarly
Chris Baron
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Paul Sturrock wrote:Poor refereeing I thought. No way Cahill deserved a straight red.
That's true. He even drew his lower legs to his thighs to avoid the impact. It must have looked completely different from the referees perspective.
I'm not underestimating Germany but you can hardly consider Australia a team (speaking of teams surely ).
An attacking team will put Germany in a deep trouble.
BTW, I'm Spain/Barcelona fan since 1994
There are just too many and this is one of the things I like about this sport!
Also, somehow I am finding it hard to support one team. I like different players from different team for their game. I support individuals rather than one team.
I began to hate this game.
Football now is for defensive teams, no one really cares about playing attacking and beautiful football (except 2 or 3 teams).
Football now is:
defense (counter attack if possible) and then defense and defense within the defense.
I have been with you Spain since 1994 and I'm still.
Chris Baron
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Yes, all the major favorites underperformed so far. I wonder if it's simply to cold in South Africa for the teams of Spain, Italy and Brazil Few associate cold weather with Africa, but it's winter there.
I think it will get interesting from the France-Mexico match on. And friday will be super.
I only watched the first half of Spain-Switzerland. Spain was pretty aggressive. How the hell did they lose ? I'm glad France went away with just a draw
John Todd wrote:I began to hate this game.
Football now is for defensive teams, no one really cares about playing attacking and beautiful football (except 2 or 3 teams).
Football now is:
defense (counter attack if possible) and then defense and defense within the defense.
I don't see the defensive style lasting. No one wants to loose their first game, but after that games become much more like knockout matches that teams absolutely have to win.
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