World Football Thread X - Germany 2006

[pchang]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
switzerland is qualified no matter what if they tie south korea on friday.

I wonder if we will see Switzerland and SK push the ball around for 90 minutes and settle for a "hard fought" 0-0 tie?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
. . . .and the underachieveing starts . .. .

[q=pchang]I wonder if we will see Switzerland and SK push the ball around for 90 minutes and settle for a "hard fought" 0-0 tie?[/q]

Nah, because France plays at the same time. If they tie 0-0 and France wins by 2, South Korea goes home, as both Switzerland and France, in that case, will have a GD of +2 while SK has +1 (and all have 5 points).

[Datajack Franit]

Remember under which dirty ways SK advanced to the 2002 SF. Criminal referees against Portugal, Italy, Spain, then finally they were defeated by Germany. I don't think they have any trace of dignity to play a real match against Switzerland, so they'll probably settle for a 2-2 like Sweden-Denmark in Euro 2004 (arranged to kick out Italy)

[Imran Siddiqui]

You guys are missing the point. Goal Differencial is the FIRST tie breaker. If SK and Switzerland finish 2-2, and France wins 2-0, then France and Switzerland go on and SK goes home.

[reds4ever]

Bottom line is that if France win 2-0 they go through no matter what happens in the other game.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

honestly tho, there were too many lost balls in the middle and defense. you cannot play like this and continue to progresse. wicky is useless in attack, gygax faded after the first 30 minutes. yakin was good for about 10 minutes, then he too faded. he should be brought off the bench tho from now on, he gave a good boost.
degen too loses too many balls in the corner, and gets beat many times down the side.
senderos is slow, you saw kader and adebayo eat him up a few times.


dont complain about the game against italy - you guys shot yourselves in the foot. first you content yourself with a 1 - 0 lead (by content I mean you play with 10 guys behind the ball) and then totti goes ahead and dives and picks up a dumb red.


interesting fact that I didnt know during the game : with the score 1 - 0 for switzerland, it didnt matter whether they won 1- 0 or tied 1-1, they would still have had to beat SK and thats why the coach made only offensive substitutions to try to win 2 - 0, which means a tie against SK is enough (why btw, were not impressive it seems against eithe team, but I didnt see the games)

[Spiffor]

I've been watching the first half of Spain-Tunisia, which I've enjoyed profusely

I'm rooting for the Tunisians, and the current score fits me well

Though the Spaniards are clearly a superior team, they suffer here from exactly the same thing as France does: dominance means nothing if you can't land the ball in the net.

However, I think the Tunisians are going to be exhausted by the end of the match, and the Spaniard should finally manage to walk in the opposing goals, through sheer superiority of their individual players.

Considering how uninspiring they were in the first half, it seem the Spaniards really had this strategy from the beginning: outwalking the Tunisians

All in all, it's really an entertaining game. I'm having a blast

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by reds4ever
Bottom line is that if France win 2-0 they go through no matter what happens in the other game.

Don't worry: it's a big "if" already

[Lawrence of Arabia]

thats means that france would have to score.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
thats means that france would have to score.

Now, now, we did score yesterday. For the first time in 8 years

(On a completely personal basis, it does prove that it is possible to score once every eight years, which is a result I shall strive to emulate )

[Lawrence of Arabia]

[Flubber]

Originally posted by reds4ever
Bottom line is that if France win 2-0 they go through no matter what happens in the other game.

Thats my assessment as well

France is eliminated if they lose or draw
France advances if they win and the SK-Swiss game is decisive
France advances if they win by 2 goals and the Swiss and SK draw

[siron]

Originally posted by Flubber
France is eliminated if they lose or draw
France advances if they win and the SK-Swiss game is decisive
France advances if they win by 2 goals and the Swiss and SK draw

shorter flubber:

Bye bye Zidane.

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by Flubber



France advances if they win by 2 goals and the Swiss and SK draw

France advance if they win by 2 goals no matter what happens between the Swiss/SK.

[duke o' york]

Korea will crush the lowly Swiss! Or draw: anyway the lads are going through to meet Ukraine.