World Football Thread VIII - The beautiful game?

[MikeH]

Every 2 years, there's the Europeans too...

Normally you are right but this is the best squad we've had since 1990. You need some luck to win it, no injuries, no dodgy decisions against you and probably need to win a penalty shoot out at some point, and we've missed a lot of penalties recently.

If I had to put money on it, I'd go for Brazil again though.

[alva]

Normally you are right but

You do that too, every two years.

best squad we've had since 1990.

Ah yes, you needed a lot of luck throughout the game, a dive and a one in a million (though nice one) goal from Platt to even us.

You need some luck to win it,

Yup...

no injuries,

You passed that bridge already, didn't you.


Let's face it, the moment the robot is on the teamsheet, is the moment you should realise you're in trouble.
Btw: he's not going to that 'dance' every time, is he? It's even worse than Keen's is, with his stupid cartwheel.

[Colonâ„¢]

Everybody knows the Italians and the Germans have a duopoly in luck.

[Hueij]

Why are there Belgians in this thread?

[MikeH]

I hope he does the dance every time, it's awesome!

[Colonâ„¢]

Originally posted by Hueij
Why are there Belgians in this thread?

We've been in the WC eleven times.

[MikeH]

In terms of number of World Cup Finals appearances Belgium have 11 and are in joint 8th place with Sweden. This is only the 8th appearance of the Netherlands.

http://www.counterglow.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31733&highlight=appearances+and+world

[alva]

Originally posted by MikeH
I hope he does the dance every time, it's awesome!

Don't get your hopes up of him doing it alot though.

Belgium have 11

I thought it was even more than that. In a dutch gameshow, the number was 13.

[Colonâ„¢]

BTW, checking upon WC history:

* 1930 - Champions
* 1934 - Did not enter
* 1938 - Did not enter
* 1950 - Champions
* 1954 - Fourth place
* 1958 - Did not qualify
* 1962 - Round 1
* 1966 - Quarter-finals
* 1970 - Fourth place
* 1974 - Round 1
* 1978 - Did not qualify
* 1982 - Did not qualify
* 1986 - Round 2
* 1990 - Round 2
* 1994 - Did not qualify
* 1998 - Did not qualify
* 2002 - Round 1
* 2006 - Did not qualify

I think it's amazing that such a small country managed to win the cup, essentially twice in a row, and reached the semis the next edition. They're still the only "small" country to have won the WC.

[alva]

Ah, so the dutch never won it then?

[Hueij]

Originally posted by alva
Ah, so the dutch never won it then?

The Germans stole it in '74 and in '78 we were cheated by the Argentinian junta

BTW, our under 21 team won the Euro championship yesterday so the future looks bright

[Colonâ„¢]

Originally posted by Hueij
BTW, our under 21 team won the Euro championship yesterday so the future looks bright

Wiki mentions nothing about this, so as of yet, I'll assume this isn't the case.

[Colonâ„¢]

Drats, I was apparently checking the 2007 edition article. You did win.


The odds of Belgium winning the next edition are pretty good though. We'll be fielding 2 Belgian teams instead of the usual 1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_U-21_Championship_2007

Group 4
Belgium
Greece
Rep.of Ireland

Group 9
Czech Republic
Belgium
Cyprus

[DanS]

There a report in the FT this morning about options for changing the game, including holding the World Cup every 2 years. FT's requires a registration, but here's a secondary summary that is free...

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=273619&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__sport/

[MikeH]

They will never, ever hold the world cup every 2 years. There isn't time in the international calendar. When Blatter mentioned it a few years ago the idea was shot down incredibly fast.

It's possible at some point there'll be some kind of European league, but I hope not. I like the current situation.