" Upsetting " World Cup

[Kropotkin]

African countries might be doing very well at the WC but I'm not sure that and the number of african is reasons enough to give them more places. Afterall, there's not much more african teams that can make a impression in the WC. A lot of the countries really sux.

[Bas]

Re: The Mysteries of the World Cup

Originally posted by Mr. President
1. How did Saudi Arabia, who would almost have done better if they had not turned up against Germany, come within three inches of defeating Cameroon in their second game?

2. How did Uruguay not defeat a French team with a pile-of-crud goalkeeper who also had to play with ten men for more than an hour?



Romania and Yugoslavia are entering a "down" period. Gheorghe Hagi and his generation have faded away, and no-one is coming up to replace them. Yugoslavia is similar. As is Croatia. I'm not saying these teams might not be good in Europe, but they haven't matched the standard of other (mostly South American, but Italy impressed me) teams at the World Cup.

1. The Saudi's clearly had an off-day against Germany, and Cameroon is good but overrated.

2. They were clearly too afraid of losing. Now, beating Senegal can be sufficient (depending on the scores), while losing would mean the end. They should have pushed on though, France was very vulnerable.

3. Actually, those weaker European teams were weak, but not any weaker than the traditionally weak Asians, the weak South American teams (Paraguay, Uruguay and Ecuador were unimpressive,and certainly no better than, say, Denmark, Croatia or Belgium), or the CONCACAF. The hosts were okay like always, and I'm afraid the 3-0 CONCACAF record was a fluke. Costa Rica beat China (a debutant from Asia), USA beat Portugal (great job, but Portugal is notorious for underachieving), and Mexico only won because of a penalty and a red card for Croatia. But we'll see if they can keep it up.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Take it away from England, whose time has long past .

[pchang]

Fifa Rankings

Based on the Fifa Rankings, I guess you would have to add UK vs. Argentina

[Buck Birdseed]

Originally posted by Boddington's
It would take a third more time.

[Flubber]

4 games instead of 3 so 4/3 means 1/3 more time I guess.

But it would likely be more time as you would need 5 game days for each team to get 4 games and their "bye"

[Buck Birdseed]

Exactly. It goes from six games overall to ten games overall, an increase of 2/3 not 1/3.

[TheArsenal]

Re: The Mysteries of the World Cup

Originally posted by Mr. President
1. How did Saudi Arabia, who would almost have done better if they had not turned up against Germany, come within three inches of defeating Cameroon in their second game?

2. How did Uruguay not defeat a French team with a pile-of-crud goalkeeper who also had to play with ten men for more than an hour?

1. The Saudis lost to Germany so badly for a couple of reasons. (a) They looked nervous and tight and this lead to disorganization all over the pitch. And after a goal or two, they were simply stunned and intimidated. (b) More importantly, the Saudis weakness, their small size and their weak aerial game, played directly into the Germans strengths, their considerable size and their strong aerial game. It was not coincidence that five of the 8 goals were from the head. Cameroon, while a good team, can't exploit these weaknesses the same way.

2. The French are that much better, and were that much more motivated not to go out of the tournament in humiliation. Even a man down they looked livelier on attack and far more dangerous because Uruguay does not know how to use an extra man. They put 3,4 men on Trezeguet when one of those extra men should have pushed up, or made runs in the box to take care of their numerical advantage. They do know, however, how to hack.