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The Soccer thread

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The_Chaser said:
You gotta feel sorry for North Korea, they make the World Cup which is a great achievement, draw the Group of Death and then their Dictator states that they can't broadcast matches in which they lose. Something tell that they won't be watching too many matches.

I feel as if people are underrating Asia football, South Korea and Japan are very skillful fast teams who can dominate games. However they can be weak to physical opponents and both teams don't have good strikers so they are prone to missing chances. Nevertheless, they are still good sides and I expect one of them to make round 2. The form of Park Ji Sung for Korea and Endo/Nakamura for Japan are critical for these nations success.

Australia on the hand are a stark contrast to Korea and Japan as they are better physically and mentally. Australia has become a master at grinding out results and taking their chances whilst the other Asian nations have not been. Defensively we are ok and the form of Mark Schwarzer is the most pivotal factor in making round 2 as he carried us through qualifying.

Overall, I feel Asian nations can present some suprises in the World Cup.
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This is not a question of feeling sorry. Ofc I am sorry for the North Korean ppl that live under dictatorship, but this is the world cup, if you can't be on par you shouldn't be there. For NK, it's time to put up or shut up.
They do, however, havea factor in their favor: they are a total mystery. Noone knows what they're capable of, the only thing we have is their qualifying results. We'll see what comes out of there.

About SK and Japan... I'm seeing SK winning at least one match, with some chances of progressing (but Nigeria is a pretty tough opponent for them...), but not Japan. Theya re not the same Japan that surprised the world in 2002 (neither is SK for that matter, but to a lesser extent)

I have alredy said what I think about Australia: they have a real chance of beating Germany for #1 in their group.
 
Anyways onto current events.

Kettering Town Vs. Leeds.
F.A. Cup 2nd Round Replay
Live on ITV4. 8pm K.O

I'll be in the south stand row L Seat 98 cheering on the Poppies!!

Although, we are most likely going to get beat... but hey you never know :P
 
I support two teams in world soccer, first and foremost my home country Australia and secondly my background country in Italy (lol at the last world cup >.<). Australia are frustrating to watch as they often play to their opposition, they play worse against shitty Asian countries like Oman and step up against the Italy's, Netherlands', France's and England's of the soccer world. Anyway, barring major injuries in the leadup, here are my predictions for each pool:

Group A

1. Mexico - Yes France are a bunch of choking bitches who shouldn't have made the World Cup.

2. France - Having said that, their pool is relatively weak.

3. Uruguay - Because they are better then South Africa

4. South Africa - Sorry guys, they won't win a game.

Group B - Wow tough pool

1. Argentina - They have to meet world cup expectations sometime, right?

2. Greece

3. Nigeria

4. South Korea

This is the one pool where I think any team has a chance of finishing any position, to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if the order I stated ends up being completely flipped.

Group C

1. England - Lol worst pool ever

2. USA - Done some good things in soccer

3. Algeria - They've been to the world cup before but still lol.

4. Slovenia - No comment

Group D - Wow very tough pool, I *think* the Germans will take it but all the other teams I reckon can finish anywhere between 2-4.

1. Germany - They know how to grind games out

2. Australia - Homer pick, but I honestly reckon as long as Schwarzer
performs at a high level and we continue to play hard, that even if we can lose to Germany we can go 1-1-0 or 2-0-0 in the other two matches.

3. Serbia - I reckon they will definitely not come second, and either surprise the fuck out of us and top the division or fail spectacularly like 2006.

4. Ghana - Probably the weakest team here but still have some very solid players

Group E - Harder then people give it credit for

1. Denmark - The Dutch always underperform at the group stage, and the world cup in general. Denmark are pretty solid.

2. Netherlands - Having said that, they'll still qualify

3. Cameroon - A real wildcard team, have the potential to beat anyone on their day but are painfully inconsistent.

4. Japan - Flashy but too many weaknesses imo

Group F - Che buona fortuna per Italia!

1. Italy - Forza Italia, campioni del mondo! (they should win this group easily)

2. Paraguay - The only team I could see potentially challenging the Italians for number one in the group.

3. New Zealand - Normally I can't stand them, but we all love an underdog and in soccer they are nowhere near as big douchebags as they are in rugby or cricket so I hope they do well here.

4. Slovakia - Mmm yeah...

Group G - Group of Death

1. Brazil - They are very consistent, especially in the group stages. They could end up missing out all together but they should finish first here.

2. Ivory Coast - Yeah I have them over Portugal, like a lot of the upcoming african nations they are very exciting and have a lot of firepower, I reckon they could even potentially win the group if they have all guns blazing.

3. Portugal - They are good enough to even snatch first from Brazil, but they are pretty inconsistent in world cup play historically. Watching their games against Brazil and the Ivory Coast will be a joy on the eyes, thats for sure.

4. North Korea - Lol I feel sorry for them :(

Group H - Why in the fuck do Spain always get such a fucking easy WC draw -_-

1. Spain - They'll cruise the group stages till they have their customary second round choke.

2. Switzerland - Probably the only team in world cup history to be eliminated without conceding a goal the whole world cup in 2006, they aren't really exciting but they are always a solid team.

3. Chile - The wildcard of the pool, can potentially cause a few upsets but in all likelihood will not.

4. Honduras - How in the fuck did they make the world cup?

Hope you all enjoyed my predictions :)
 
Eredivisie (Netherlands) predictions.

Ajax-NEC
Ajax has Anita and Enoh suspended. 3-1, Ajax is still better.Suarez, De Zeeuw and Pantelic.

VVV Venlo-RKC Waalwijk
VVV, RKC is last, VVV is doing quite well. Honda has to show what he has got for the WC. 3-1.

SC Heerenveen-Feyenoord
2-2 tie. Offensive play in Heerenveen, if it was in Rotterdam Feyenoord would win.

FC Twente-NAC Breda
Twente wins, 3-0. Both great teams, Twente is better if they aren't arrogant.

PSV-AZ
3-0. Advocaat new coach. PSV is better.

Vitesse-FC Utrecht
My second fave team (I live in Utrecht, but I am Ajacied) wins. Utrecht wins. 1-4. Mulenga and Van Wolfswinkel will do well.

Willem II-Roda JC
Willem II. Two sucky clubs. It is in Tilburg, 2-1.

ADO Den Haag-Heracles Almelo
0-3, Heracles is doing well, ADO isn't.

Sparta Rotterdam-FC Groningen
0-0. Defensive, two bad playing teams.
 
Wolfsburg 1-3 Man Utd
owen hat trick.. 30 million for tevez? or free for owen? :D
Leeds1-1 kettering in the FA cup.. currently in ET
 
phalanx said:
Wolfsburg 1-3 Man Utd
owen hat trick.. 30 million for tevez? or free for owen? :D
Leeds1-1 kettering in the FA cup.. currently in ET
Click to expand...

Manchester United win even with a quite improvising team of Ferguson. Owen with a great hattrick. Nani didn't play very good, dramatic actually. I hope he'll get better during the season
 
Leeds 1 - Kettering 1
(Leeds win 5 - 1 aet)

We played our hearts out, but the fitness of Leeds proved to be too much in the end, also alot of goings on in the backroom during extra time and after the game forshadow any acheivement Kettering had on this game.

Our chairman tried to run to the pitch during the first half of Extra time to sack our Assistant Manager (Our manager was in Goal, so all decisions were made by Asst. Manager) for subbing on Fowler. Stewards stopped him, but sacked Deenhan in the Press Confrence, and so our Manager then resigned from both management/team.

Also whole sqaud is behind manager so fun times at Kettering :)

Still that's what Football is all about, same with the World cup, I'll be cheering on the Underdogs... Come on North Korea, show the world what your made of.
 
Sapientia said:
poor wolfsburg :(

But Bayern finally reached round 2 :D
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Yeah, but I'm curious how many credits Van Gaal still has with the Bayern Munich board. This 1-4 win against Juve did give him some breathing space, but how long will the results of Van Gaal be inconstant
 
As we don't have though opponents in the next few weeks, we should win every game before the break and then Ribery and Robben will be able to play and the players understand van Gaal's football better, so I'm pretty sure the resulst will become constant then
 
2 things about the last european night

1- It's quite a sight to see Juve and Atletico losing by 3 goals to Bayern and Porto, respectivly. Is the world gone nuts. Specially for Juve, though they were leading until the half hour, it's disappointing to see such a bad game.

2- On the other hand, look at the teams that are going to the EUropa League (so far, 4 more will join them tonight):
Juve, Wolfsburg, Atletico and Marseille.
When UEFA created the EUropa League, they said they wanted it to look more like the Champions. Prophetic words.
 
Liverpool really are dreadful at the moment.. Another defeat in the Champions League, I have to say it's quite embarrassing for them - even if their opponent's in that group were decent, they should have finished top, let alone not get through. Arsenal next for them in the Premier League is going to be tough, though I'd obviously like to see a draw.

I was actually surprised to see such a make-shift Manchester United beat Wolfsburg 1-3 away! That gives us the Champions League record of 15 Away games in a row unbeaten, bettering that of (I think) Ajax some time ago who had 14.

In the next round, Man Utd could face a whole host of teams who they've already played recently in the earlier knock-out stages in the past few seasons: Inter, Porto, and Lyon. I'd really prefer not to get any of those, just because we've played them quite a bit recently anyway and I'd like a change. Other teams we can get include AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Stuttgart, and Olympiakos. Obviously, I'm hoping more for Stuttgart or Olympiakos as they're the poorest teams from that selection. However, Manchester United vs Bayern Munich would be a good game, and it'd be nice to see David Beckham make a return to Old Trafford with AC Milan. But knowing our luck, we'll definitely get one of the tougher teams as a 'reward' for winning our group. But, if you want to win this trophy, you have to beat the best teams in the world anyway.

I'm very happy that Man Utd are only two points behind Chelsea now. I think this is the time when those two teams start to pull away from the rest of the chasing pack. Arsenal and Liverpool I feel will likely be a draw, while Chelsea and Manchester United will overcome their tricky fixtures to extend their lead. Chelsea with no Essien does make them weaker, and hopefully they can fluff it some more when they lose players to the African Cup of Nations in January, despite having rather 'easy' fixtures, if you can call them easy in the Premier League.

CSKA Moskow are not going to be removed from the Champions League despite two of their players apparently failing a drugs test, so this relegates Wolfsburg to the Europa League, which is actually looking quite interesting with some big names in there!

Juventus
Wolfsburg
Atletico Madrid
Marseille
Liverpool
Ajax
PSV
Werder Bremen
Benfica
Everton
Sporting
Roma

And potentially Fulham, Valencia, and Villareal.
 
Serious EL candidates.
- Juventus
- Red Bull Salzburg
- Ajax
- Liverpool
- Olympique Marseille.
- Werder Bremen
- PSV (Pisvee)
- FC Twente (if they make the poule, it is a good team, but they start to be arrogant now they are leading in the Eredivisie and they are playing worse, but still lead, I think they can advance and make the poule).

My predictions: Juventus wins, Ajax and Olympique Marseille will also get far.
 
You left half the real candidates out, altaria.
Honestly, the EL is anybody's game. Look at all the teams (specially at havak's), it's a never seen before balance.
For the first time in my life, I see that past my bias there is actually a real chance for Benfica in this, after it's solid displays both in the league and the EL...

I believe half of Goodison Park thinks the same xD
 
Woot, we finally get a win over those lanky devils this weekend, hopefully one flattering enough to make them pay for all the years they've beaten us!

Ahem.

I'm a Villa fan, and with Milner looking twice the player Barry (aka scumbag forever) ever was in the middle, our football is finally coming together. We're no longer scraping for results, and that's a huge boost. We play like we played against Hull against Man U, they could very well wish they never turned up. Up the Villa!
 
Very happy with Premier League results. Man City and Chelsea both drawing in games is very good for us. Tottenham losing is also very good, and Man U are losing 1-0 at the moment. Just hope we can beat Liverpool tomorrow to get back no track Man U and Chelsea.
 
If Joel is very happy, then I'm in Nirvana... first win at Old Trafford in 26 years, with the added sweetness that comes with Spurs and Man City mucking it up. I hope there's a draw tomorrow, so Liverpool lose a bit more ground, and Arsenal are overtakable. We need to catch em in bad form for the upcoming match... I look forward to making 4 Big 4 victories out of 4 for the Villa!
 
I am so excited for the World Cup to come! Staying up till 2 AM to watch games! Also I feel bad for the Brazil pool...Holy Hell that pool will be a scrap feast and be so interesting to watch. Hopefully I will catch most of it, but gotta root for the home team. Go USA! I think we can make it past the group round, but we have disappointed before.
 
PSV-AZ 1-0. Not very nice. Even with 10 players, AZ deserved 0-0. But no, Lucky PSV get the win in the last minutes, just like many other times. But good, PSV and Twente have to come to the ArenA. It is unfortunately not enough to get Ajax on #1 in the Eredivisie. Hopefully PSV and Twente lose some points. Twente has to go to the Galgenwaard (FC Utrecht).

I only care about the Eredivisie, KNVB-beker and Europa League. AFC Ajax for life. I am a born Utrechter, that doesn't make me a FC Utrecht supporter.
 
Europa League Poule A.

Thursday 17 December.

Ajax-RSC Anderlecht
Dinamo Zagreb-Timisoara

1 Ajax 5-11 (7-3)
2 RSC Anderlecht 5-8 (6-3)
3 Dinamo Zagreb 5-6 (5-6)
4 Timisoara 5-2 (2-8)
 
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