World Cup...Germany 2006

[Victor]

lololololololololol at 5 votes for england.

[Victor]

[ QUOTE ]
ive just been getting into soccer, the teams i will be rooting for this summer are:

Argentina
England
Switzerland

rj

[/ QUOTE ]

no usa wtf? england and argentina wtf? they hate each other.

[Victor]

[ QUOTE ]
USA didn't achieve anything noteworthy

[/ QUOTE ]

if you think this you are seriously retarded.

[Fallen Hero]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
USA didn't achieve anything noteworthy

[/ QUOTE ]

if you think this you are seriously retarded.

[/ QUOTE ]

GroupA:
Romania
Switzerland
USA
Colombia

...

[junglewarfare]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
yeah I think people are GREATLY underestimating the home country advantage germany has.

in 2002 the host south korea got to the semifinals

in 1998 the host france won the whole thing

in 1994 the host US actually made it to the 2nd round (a minor miracle)

All three of these were pretty huge overachievements.

[/ QUOTE ]

south korea had huge referee help

france was a fantastic team

USA didn't achieve anything noteworthy

I'm not saying playing at home doesn't help but this Germany team needs a lot more than that.

[/ QUOTE ]

south korea made it to the semi finals. That is ridiculous.

the US actually getting to the 2nd round was pretty incredible, considering how bad we were back then. the team today and in 02 was way, way better than in 94.

[Rupert]

The very nature of home advantage is that the fans intimidate the referee and opposition hugely. Football is HUGE in Germany (especially compared to USA/South Korea when the world cup went there).

Brazil should walk the tournament but if they dont win it then it must be like 90% to come from Argentina/Germany/Sweden (I haven't studied the knock out round draw to great detail so this is more of an estimation)

[Fallen Hero]

[ QUOTE ]
south korea made it to the semi finals.


[/ QUOTE ]

your point being? They had a very well trained team with a few great players but they would have lost against Italy and Spain if they didn't get massive help.

PS: They were also a goal away from being out in the group stage and this discussion would look really silly. Football is a very volatile game.

[Rupert]

I think you can put most of the ridiculous refereeing decisions Korea got their way down to home advantage. The refs would never have bottled it in any other country.

In Germany I suspect the home advantage will be just as big, backed up with a very reasonable world class team, Germany could easily go all the way. Brazil are still by far the faves though

[wisehandpoker]

[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]

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.

[Victor]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
USA didn't achieve anything noteworthy

[/ QUOTE ]

if you think this you are seriously retarded.

[/ QUOTE ]

GroupA:
Romania
Switzerland
USA
Colombia

...

[/ QUOTE ]

columbia was a trendy pick to win it that year. everyone loved them. romania was very solid and got deep. dunno about the swiss.

regardless, usa was terrible back then and had little talent, experience or expectations. they were absolutely slammed in the prior wc. the world expected and was rooting for an embarasssment. instead usa came out and played with a ton of heart and got thru.