Football (Soccer) Thread

[Sahib]

I think I'll adopt America as my WC nation.
USA! USA! USA!

[Valmy]

I think I'll adopt America as my WC nation.
USA! USA! USA!

Oh and Slovenia really?  What about the Confederations Cup?  Respect!

[FunkMonk]

I got pretty excited today when I learned of the US's group. Plus I think the US is in it's usual uptick cycle.

'94 - Up (first time to qualify in centuries, great just to make it to Round of 16)
'98 - Down (Spanked, by Iran no less )
'02 - Up (Quarterfinal action )
'06 - Down (Spanked again)
'10 - ??? (hopefully up)

We should be able to make it to the second round, where there's a good chance we'd play Germany in a rematch of the 2002 quarterfinal.

Valmy, I suggest synergizing as soon as possible.

[Josephus]

Group G is certainly the group of death. couldn't be a better drawing for us Porto haters!!

People are certainly underestimating Slovenia. Didn't they beat the Russkies. IIRC they have an imprenetable defence, and England doesn't exactly have poerful forwards. The Usa will always be a challenge to beat. I think it's a three-way run for those two spots. It's no group of death or anything, but close enough.

Fucking Italians got a nice break. As did the Spaniards.

[Valmy]

I got pretty excited today when I learned of the US's group. Plus I think the US is in it's usual uptick cycle.

'94 - Up (first time to qualify in centuries, great just to make it to Round of 16)
'98 - Down (Spanked, by Iran no less )
'02 - Up (Quarterfinal action )
'06 - Down (Spanked again)
'10 - ??? (hopefully up)

This actually supports your theory but the US did qualify in '90 and went 0-3.

[FunkMonk]

Oh yeah, forgot about '90. 

[Valmy]

Oh yeah, forgot about '90. 

Which is totally understandable as it was a very forgetable performance.

[Jacob]

What's Cameroon like these days?

[HVC]

Group G is certainly the group of death. couldn't be a better drawing for us Porto haters!!

[The Larch]

What's Cameroon like these days?

An awesome striker, a few recognizeable names and that's it, basically.

[dps]

Oh yeah, forgot about '90. 

And technically, in '94 we didn't qualify;  we got in as the host nation.

Anyway, my provisional picks to advance:

A
Mexico
Uraguay

B
Argentina
Nigeria

C
England
United States

D
Germany
Serbia

E
Netherlands
Denmark

F
Italy
Slovakia

G
Brazil
Ivory Coast

F
Spain
Chile

[Josquius]

Group G is interesting, 3 teams that are tipped to go all the way in one group....I guess Ivory Coast go out. Unfortunatly.

Anyone know if they're doing anything about those annoying horns (visulas? something like that)
They ruined that little tournament last summer.

[Neil]

I think Japan will advance and Denmark won't.  Denmark doesn't have any heart.

[Mr.Penguin]

I think Japan will advance and Denmark won't.  Denmark doesn't have any heart.

Japan may have the heart and some technical finesse, but Denmark has physical strength and some technical finesse. Question is does physical strength beat heart, yes it does more often than not... 

[PDH]

Denmark also has fans willing to get their team disqualified if they know the ref's are out to get them - that is the blindly stupid passion one expects in futbol.