World Cup 2006

[FlaFlu]

Another team that calls my attention is France despite the fact they haven't been great lately. Henry has been in an awesome shape and I bet Zidane will want to have a good last performance in a world cup.

Yay. I've always been a fan of the French national team. Since the days with Platini, Tigana, Rocheteau etc. If they get their team right they have the best chance of the Euro sides at the World Title.

Do you really think so? I'm betting on France to be the big surprise in a negative way, actually.

[ajaxperu]

The main problem with Peru is the poor work we've had with our young players and the lack of attitude of some of our guys. When the 70's and 82 generation of great players ended we had no one to replace them and our best guys belonged to a team called Alianza but a tragical accident (their plane fell on the way back to Lima after a game) killed all of them.

Today I can say we have one of the best attacks in South America, with Farfan, Pizarro and Guerrero. But that's about it, our midfield is old ( Solano and Palacios wont last any long) and our defenders are not safe. But we have 4 years to get things working again, there are some interesting new players coming up (very few but good ones). But what we need to do is get them out of Peru. You guys might not know this but Farfan was very critized here because he was seen as a player that couldn't score goals in Alianza. He left and look at what he has accomplished in PSV. But everytime he comes back he gets involved in scandals (apparently he got a girl pregnant the last time he came). Pizarro only scored 2 goals in the last qualifying games and he has an average of at least 20 goals per season.

Lots of things have to change here, we have to follow Venezuela's example, they were seen as the "cinderella" of South America and now they can beat anyone. So we have to change our attitude and start winning!

That game against Argentina was actually 6-0. Really embarrassing and lots of stories have been told about it. There hasn't been any prove of a bribe so far. But I'll tell you something, our goalie was from Argentina... :nooo:

[FlaFlu]

Pizarro only scored 2 goals in the last qualifying games and he has an average of at least 20 goals per season in the Bundesliga.

Pizarro has never even scored 20 goals in one Bundesliga season so there is no way he could average 20 goals a season in that league. He averages 13.14 goals per season in the Bundesliga.

[ajaxperu]

my mistake Thomas I counted the German Cup ones and the Champions League goals

[FlaFlu]

That's what I thought. :xyxthumbs:

I must say I'm a bit surprised by what you said about Farfan. No such news has ever been in the Dutch press.

[Kowalczyk]

I guess this is the best place to post this at this point...

There's a pretty cool Marco van Basten interview/profile on UEFA.com at the moment. Check it out!

http://www.uefa.com/magazine/news/Kind= ... 23287.html

K.

[DanK]

Well another day of WC action and another night without much sleep. The country here is going absolute bonkers about the Australian come back win against Japan, and why not? We might as well make the most of it until next Monday morning (local time) when we meet Brazil.

No matter how well we played, no matter how much spirit this team showed, I just cannot see us getting anything from Brazil, but stranger things have happened i guess. I would be happy with a small loss, then try to get something from the Croatia game. Either way, at least the dream is still alive for another week.

Tim Cahill has become an overnight hero and Guus has just confirmed his god like status here. I think the country loved the passion he showed during the game. His arguing over Japan's first and his argie-bargie with the officials, then his pumping of his fists and jumping around after our 2nd and 3rd was great to see. Nice one Guusie :worshippy:

What I also really, really liked was when the national anthem was played (Advance Australia Fair), Johan Neeskens was singing along. Was a really nice thing to do. He gets my vote for that. I can't believe the Football Federation wouldn't hurry in keeping him and Arnould on after the WC.

BTW - I meant to post this earlier, but van der Lem AND Ruud Krol both put their hands up for the Socceroos job after the WC. And why wouldn't you? Great weather and great women :D but I really don’t think this will happen. Nice try though.

The Egyptian referee from the game (ABD EL FATAH Essam) apparently told Schwartzer that he made a blue in giving the first Japanese goal. Interesting thing to say, but not sure if FIFA will be happy he did that.

Onto other games…Sorry to my US of A friends. The Czechs were THE most impressive team to date by a mile, although there is a thing as peaking to early. Rosicky’s goals were fantastic. Nice work from Arsene Wenger in signing him before the WC. His value would have just doubled. It’s going to be tough for the Stars and Stripes from here on in, but don’t give up hope boys.

Italy were strong as always, which sucks as even we managed to do the impossible and get out of our group, we will play either Italy or the Czechs’ the way its going. It doesn’t get any easier that’s for sure!

[ZoefdeHaas]

I'm happy for Hiddink. :cheer:

[aveslacker]

I'm still depressed. I'm tremendously embarassed. I hope the US team is 1000x more embarassed than I am, and I hope they come out and play like men in the next game.

:nooo: X'C :pukey: :oops:

[Tom_]

No matter how well we played, no matter how much spirit this team showed, I just cannot see us getting anything from Brazil, but stranger things have happened i guess. I would be happy with a small loss, then try to get something from the Croatia game. Either way, at least the dream is still alive for another week.

Dan, I'm still worried about our chances of getting out of this group. Our passing and finishing was downright terrible until the last 10 minutes and our defenders were constantly slow and out of position. I thought the game could have gone either way but we got very lucky at the end.

Unfortunately for us the Croats looked quite good against Brasil. I appreciated the way they played and actually found myself wanting them to win despite what that would've meant for Australia. It was really good to see some men playing football without rolling around pretending to be injured. And their fans were great as well. I think Australia's in trouble unless Japan does us a favour.

What I also really, really liked was when the national anthem was played (Advance Australia Fair), Johan Neeskens was singing along. Was a really nice thing to do. He gets my vote for that. I can't believe the Football Federation wouldn't hurry in keeping him and Arnould on after the WC.

Job hunting maybe :D

The Egyptian referee from the game (ABD EL FATAH Essam) apparently told Schwartzer that he made a blue in giving the first Japanese goal. Interesting thing to say, but not sure if FIFA will be happy he did that.

Actually I thought it was the linesman's fault. The ref's view was blocked by two or three towering Australians. But we should've been winning at half time anyway with all the chances we squandered.

[dws]

Dan, I'm still worried about our chances of getting out of this group. Our passing and finishing was downright terrible until the last 10 minutes and our defenders were constantly slow and out of position. I thought the game could have gone either way but we got very lucky at the end.

Japan should have had a penalty from Cahill's crazy tackle just after he had equalised. However, that in no way should detract from the great character Austalia showed in fighting back to win the game in the space of 6 minutes.They will need to show the same resolve in the games v Brazil and Croatia if they are to realise what is a slight chance for qualification to the second round. Good luck. You will need it. :xyxthumbs:

[ZoefdeHaas]

Brazil were boring. Croatia couldve drawn or even won if they actually worked harder.

[DanK]

Japan should have had a penalty from Cahill's crazy tackle just after he had equalised. However, that in no way should detract from the great character Austalia showed in fighting back to win the game in the space of 6 minutes.They will need to show the same resolve in the games v Brazil and Croatia if they are to realise what is a slight chance for qualification to the second round. Good luck. You will need it. :xyxthumbs:

Yeah. Not much has been made of THAT tackle. Could have easily had a penalty against Cahill (hero to villan in 1 minute!).

After seeing the way Croatia played against Brazil, I don't like our chances at all, but I am not giving up hope. It would have been better for us had Brazil scored 2 or 3 today, but Croatia could have easily gotten points out of this one. Thumbs up to their fans today as well, totally behind the team. You would have thought that they were the ones who won the game.

As I said, I am not giving up hope (that would have gone if we screwed up against Japan). Playing Croatia will be a 'derby' game in a number of ways b/w our two countries so this will surely help our boys fire up.

Who knows maybe if the ref is on our side, a bit of luck and some more of that Aussie grit/spirit maybe, just maybe... :eusa_pray:

Plus I also have Holland of course :eusa_dance:

[Henk de Gier]

Dan, I'm still worried about our chances of getting out of this group. Our passing and finishing was downright terrible until the last 10 minutes and our defenders were constantly slow and out of position. I thought the game could have gone either way but we got very lucky at the end.

Japan should have had a penalty from Cahill's crazy tackle just after he had equalised. However, that in no way should detract from the great character Austalia showed in fighting back to win the game in the space of 6 minutes.They will need to show the same resolve in the games v Brazil and Croatia if they are to realise what is a slight chance for qualification to the second round. Good luck. You will need it. :xyxthumbs:

Japan should have had a penalty, that's right, but with that error th ref neutralized his earlier error (the Japanese goal was a double foul against Schwarzer). So in the end, nobody can complain.

[AsgAarD_xxx]

Tonight is "all or nothing" game for Poland. I'm afraid that draw won't give us advance (even if we'll beat Costa Rica). As Janas has said yesterday we'll probably play the same tactict as against Ecuador (4-5-1), but it will be a few changes in the squad. The press supposes that Żurawski will be our playmaker (Szymkowiak starts the game on a bench), the only striker will be Smolarek, and Jeleń will be the right winger.

Once again I would like to ask you for supporting polish national team (but now try to do it better than last time ;) ).

[Henk de Gier]

Poland will win, and it's worth to make a bet on unibet.com with a 7 to 1 quote ;)

[aveslacker]

Tonight is "all or nothing" game for Poland. I'm afraid that draw won't give us advance (even if we'll beat Costa Rica). As Janas has said yesterday we'll probably play the same tactict as against Ecuador (4-5-1), but it will be a few changes in the squad. The press supposes that Żurawski will be our playmaker (Szymkowiak starts the game on a bench), the only striker will be Smolarek, and Jeleń will be the right winger.

Once again I would like to ask you for supporting polish national team (but now try to do it better than last time ;) ).

Good luck Poland!

[ajaxperu]

best of luck to Poland :cheer:

Great game by Spain, very impressed. That last goal was a beauty.

[AsgAarD_xxx]

Yep... Great game of Spain. Ukraine was completely smashed! Ok, Spaind will win their group, that's for sure. But what's next? Would it be as usual - great game in qualifies, great game in a gruop stage, and crap in the final rounds? They have solid squad, with great attack and good defence.

PS: A few guys from Electronic Arts made a computer simulation of tonight's game. And according to this simulation, Poland will win 1-0 after Smolarek's goal :headbang: . Germans will be on attack whole game, but Boruc will save all the shoots. Hehe sounds great for me :D .

[aveslacker]

best of luck to Poland :cheer:

Great game by Spain, very impressed. That last goal was a beauty.

At least someone lost by a worse score than the US.

[aveslacker]

Exciting game so far at the half, even though it is 0-0. Go Poland!

[Ayman]

I can see a goal coming, I cant wait till the Poles are knocked out!!!! :cheer:

[Henk de Gier]

I hope the Poles win this one

[Ayman]

They too shit to win it

[Henk de Gier]

the Germans are shit too