World Cup...Germany 2006

[wisehandpoker]

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Germany are HORRIBLY underrated by you guys (bookies have it spot on with 2nd or 3rd faves), home advantage in football is HUGE and even more so in the world cup. With plays like Bastian Schweinsteiger and a boss like Jurgen Klinsmann, they have a lot of potential for this world cup.

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amen. Pretty sure the Germans showed last time that good coaching is more important than talent. I think it's 25% of the WC home teams that have won the event. I expect that number to go up.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

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Germany are HORRIBLY underrated by you guys (bookies have it spot on with 2nd or 3rd faves), home advantage in football is HUGE and even more so in the world cup. With plays like Bastian Schweinsteiger and a boss like Jurgen Klinsmann, they have a lot of potential for this world cup.

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amen. Pretty sure the Germans showed last time that good coaching is more important than talent. I think it's 25% of the WC home teams that have won the event. I expect that number to go up.

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I'm pretty sure most of the home winning teams have also been excellent teams.

most educated observers will tell you that this German team is far below average (by German standards). of course, German WC success is second only to Brazil.

yes, home field is huge. but on a neutral field, Germany is probably not as good as say Czech Rep. or Holland, and is a very clear notch below Brazil, Argentina, Italy, and England.

[bigt2k4]

home field advantage...
could England be considered to have home field advantage? I'm sure 95% of the fans at all of their games will be English fans and they will be louder than the German fans at the Germany games

[Silent A]

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home field advantage...
could England be considered to have home field advantage? I'm sure 95% of the fans at all of their games will be English fans and they will be louder than the German fans at the Germany games

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Only when they play Paraguay and Trinidad. When they're against Sweden, Germany, Netherlands or even portugal, forget it.

My thoughts:

Northern Europe = good for Northern European teams and bad for countries who don't have too many players in Europe (i.e. Brazil and Argentina will do well but no other non-European team).

Tunisia is the African team with the best shot at the second round followed by Togo (although i'd love to see Angola oust Mexico). Neither will get by France or Spain though in Round 2.

Also, I'm dismissing outright the chances of any of the Asian, concacaf, or also ran South Americans (i.e. Equador and Paraguay). 1 or 2 will make the round of 16, but that's all. (Yes, I'm going on a limb here).

My vision of the final 8:

Germany vs Neth/Arg group winner
France vs Italy/Cze group winner

Eng/Swe group winner vs Arg/Neth runner up
Brazil vs Spain

From there on in, it's a crap shoot

[Fallen Hero]

If Argentina wins the group I think Portugal will have a pretty easy match against Holland, otherwise I agree with your list.

EDIT: I also think Sweden/England have a great chance at beating Germany

[Silent A]

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If Argentina wins the group I think Portugal will have a pretty easy match against Holland, otherwise I agree with your list.

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"Pretty easy"? No such thing against a team of Holland's calibre. Not a gimmie for Holland, obviously, but I can't see how they'd be a considered less than 50% to beat Portugal when it's being played in Germany.

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EDIT: I also think Sweden/England have a great chance at beating Germany

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Less than 50/50 I think because of home advantage.

[trigstarr]

i see there's no Ireland... nice

[clayftknight]

Portugal beat Holland?! hahahahahaha

holland and Argentina will both win their last 16 matches with their fingers up their noses.

[Fallen Hero]

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Portugal beat Holland?! hahahahahaha


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Holland was the easiest game Portugal had in the last euro cup. Portugal's team got even better since then. Holland would have to show some massive improvement to be a favourite.

PS: Brazil is overrated, they're the biggest favourites but they're still overrated.

[bigt2k4]

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home field advantage...
could England be considered to have home field advantage? I'm sure 95% of the fans at all of their games will be English fans and they will be louder than the German fans at the Germany games

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Only when they play Paraguay and Trinidad. When they're against Sweden, Germany, Netherlands or even portugal, forget it.

My thoughts:

Northern Europe = good for Northern European teams and bad for countries who don't have too many players in Europe (i.e. Brazil and Argentina will do well but no other non-European team).

Tunisia is the African team with the best shot at the second round followed by Togo (although i'd love to see Angola oust Mexico). Neither will get by France or Spain though in Round 2.

Also, I'm dismissing outright the chances of any of the Asian, concacaf, or also ran South Americans (i.e. Equador and Paraguay). 1 or 2 will make the round of 16, but that's all. (Yes, I'm going on a limb here).

My vision of the final 8:

Germany vs Neth/Arg group winner
France vs Italy/Cze group winner

Eng/Swe group winner vs Arg/Neth runner up
Brazil vs Spain

From there on in, it's a crap shoot

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huh? I can guarantee that for every England game a minimum of 80% of the fans will be English except for if they play Germany and maybe Netherlands(70% then). Even against Germany I still think at least 30-35% of the fans will be English.

edit: also, English fans are by far the loudest as well. Against Portugal in Euro 2004, they were definitely louder than the Portuguese fans despite being slightly outnumbered(60-40% in my estimate)