OT: World Cup 2010
by Useful_Idiot on Dec 4, 2009 4:13 PM PST
65 comments
The World Cup draw was held today in South Africa to determine the 8 groups of 4 teams, and here are the results:
Group A:
South Africa
Mexico
Uruguay
France
Group B:
Argentina
Nigeria
South Korea
Greece
Group C:
England
USA
Algeria
Slovenia
Group D:
Germany
Australia
Serbia
Ghana
Group E:
Netherlands
Denmark
Japan
Cameroon
Group F:
Italy
Paraguay
New Zealand
Slovakia
Group G:
Brazil
North Korea
Cote d’Ivoire
Portugal
Group H:
Spain
Switzerland
Honduras
Chile
So the "Group of Death" appears to be Group G, with Brazil, Ivory Coast and Portugal all having excellent teams. The U.S got off pretty lucky, in my opinion. England will be the favorites to easily win this group, but the top two teams in each group move on to the elimination stages and the U.S will be expected to finish ahead of both Algeria and Slovenia. If they finish second in Group C, the U.S will play the winner of Group D- likely Germany.
What are your thoughts on the 2010 World Cup? Apparently U.S fans have purchased the most tickets of any country so far, though that will surely change as the tournaments gets closer. I'm personally very excited to see England v. USA, which could feature a Donovan- Beckham face off and will likely be the only time I root against the great Wayne Rooney. Just for kicks, I'm going to predict England to shut up the critics and finally win the whole thing, with the United States upsetting Germany in the round of 16 but going down to the Brits in the next round. Look for Cameroon to get further than expected with upsets over Italy and perhaps even the Netherlands, and definitely tune in for a possible "elite 8" match up of Spain and Brazil.
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2 in 2 days!
Giant Dirtbags: John Bowker, Steve Hammond. MIA List: Todd Jennings, Brian Anderson
Jeremy Affeldt induces DP's
by Giant among Angels on Dec 4, 2009 5:24 PM PST up reply actions
Fixed
Wall-E for Best Picture 2008
Cain is able... Keane is able
by Useful_Idiot on Dec 4, 2009 5:47 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Yeah…I’d understand football, or hockey, or basketball, but soccer is about as American as Communism.
Not to start an argument, but that statement is retarded
Wall-E for Best Picture 2008
Cain is able... Keane is able
I was a communist in elementary school, but I stopped when my parents didn’t want to drive me to communism practice anymore.
Also, I was never good at communism.
GROUGTHINK ALERT
The first Chester Arthur fanboy ever.
I see what you're saying
Are you calling Sarah Palin a Communist Mom?
Wall-E for Best Picture 2008
Cain is able... Keane is able
Hockey isn’t American.
I don't know about that, to the groin.
by howtheyscored on Dec 7, 2009 8:37 AM PST up reply actions
Check out Nate Silver
538.com has a great discussion of this. I have a student who’s a full-fledged British soccer hoodlum—great guy, very entertaining, knows his soccer, the kind of Brit repat who loves going to college in America because he discovered that American girls think a lower class British accent is sexy. A fact of which he has taken, rumor has it, full advantage. Anyway, we had a nice chat after class about the draw, and he told me that he wouldn’t have any choice but to slice out my liver with a beer bottle if the US beats England, but that it wouldn’t be personal. I told him I wouldn’t take it personally either, but this is America, and we do have the second amendment . . . Call it a sort of sports fan detente. Plus he’s flunking my class, and doesn’t take that personally either—he said to me ’it’s not like I’ve been to class or done any assignments. So it’s all good. Plus I’ve met three amazing birds in here." Anyway, I’ve turned him on to baseball, and he wants to bring some mates to cause trouble at a Dodger game next season. He thinks Timmy is ‘brill.’
Fulfilling your Gus Benusa needs since 2009!
The U.S stunned England by knocking them out in 1950, and a lot of English fans still haven’t gotten over it
Wall-E for Best Picture 2008
Cain is able... Keane is able
I think the truth is nearer to
‘a lot of English fans don’t actually know about this’
On the scale of traumatic losses by England teams (and God knows, we’ve had enough), that one ranks below Germany, Germany, West Germany, Argentina, Argentina, Scotland, Hungary, Holland, Portugal…. the list goes on.
In no way is this game being seen as a change for ‘revenge’; actually, the general sentiment seems to be one of looking forward to the game, knowing that England can afford to slip up, but at the same time, expecting them to win.
I suspect that you think tilting at windmills means something other than what it does
Only because it happened 60 years ago. Still one of the biggest upsets of all time
Wall-E for Best Picture 2008
Cain is able... Keane is able
by Useful_Idiot on Dec 5, 2009 12:05 PM PST up reply actions
Right. But psychologically, it means nothing in England
whereas the thrashing that Hungary gave England in 1953, that still looms large.
it’s not the ‘upset’ bit I disagree with, it’s the ‘and a lot of English fans still haven’t gotten over it’ bit which isn’t true.
I suspect that you think tilting at windmills means something other than what it does
Also, there are several flaws in SIlver's rankings
as much as I respect the guy, the rankings are essentially flawed.
For instance, he puts way too much emphasis on past performance (going back over four years!), gives credit for players playing in big name leagues (I call this the Nike co-efficient), and generally tries to squeeze too much out of too little information.
The essential problem with trying to predict international soccer is that it’s so dependant on immediate form, which in turn, depends a lot on things like ‘sanity/sobriety of coach, ’fitness of players’, and, well, the ever popular ‘things clicking into place during training camp’. It’s one thing to look at teams and say, yes, they have decent players, they should be good, but realistically speaking, you could ask a 14 year old kid, and he’d tell you that Spain and Brazil are favorites to win, with a group of five or so teams behind them. And he’d be right, too.
I suspect that you think tilting at windmills means something other than what it does
sanity/sobriety of coach
I’m tempted to say Argentina is in trouble. But maybe Maradona can proove you just need to be at one end of the spectrum way crazy or way sane, to be a successful manager. Middle level blandness, nicely sane, but not super-logical. Very dry, but drunk on vet savvy. = Bochy
co-dad w/AfDC of
Ishikawa, the Topps Rookie All Star Team's First baseman. Does he get a chance in 2010?
I don’t like basketball
Adopted brother of Jason Jarvis. To pass the time during the offseason I decided to try my hand at blogging about photography and music.
I don’t thin it is US fans buying tickets so much as US scalpers…
by positiveuphemism on Dec 4, 2009 9:50 PM PST reply actions
i’d imagine we’ll both be pretty happy with that draw. We’ll stand a good chance of winning the group and you’ll stand a decent chance of making it through to the next round. It’s not a good idea to ignore Slovenia or Algeria though, Slovenia did beat Russia, Czech Republic and Poland to make it to the world cup and are a decent side.
Proud parent of Waldis Joaquin!
Slovenia
And drew and won against Slovakia IIRC.
co-dad w/AfDC of
Ishikawa, the Topps Rookie All Star Team's First baseman. Does he get a chance in 2010?
We lost to Slovakia with a significantly less than complete squad. No Donovan, no DeMerit, and no Howard, along with many other absences.
Joe Martinez: You are cool.
When it's all said and done, America will be remembered for three things: The Bill of Rights, jazz, and baseball.
I chose Brazil, mostly because it’s the easy choice. I don’t believe so much in their defending and who knows if they’ll be able to get Maicon and Dani Alves on the field at the same time, but they have so much attacking talent it’s ridiculous.
Joe Martinez: You are cool.
When it's all said and done, America will be remembered for three things: The Bill of Rights, jazz, and baseball.
I also love Cote d’Ivoire’s attacking talent, obviously. I mean, who couldn’t love Didier Drogba’s ability to fill the onion sack. They’ve got a real good team this year.
Joe Martinez: You are cool.
When it's all said and done, America will be remembered for three things: The Bill of Rights, jazz, and baseball.
please don't take this the wrong way
but the only person who says ‘onion bag / sack’ when referring to the goal is Tommy Smyth – no-one in the UK or Ireland had ever heard of this phrase before he started using it
I suspect that you think tilting at windmills means something other than what it does
I just think its a silly thing to say and I’m okay with that.
Joe Martinez: You are cool.
When it's all said and done, America will be remembered for three things: The Bill of Rights, jazz, and baseball.
oh, ok, cool. I didn't mean it as a criticism, more of a heads up
but if you’re aware of it, ignore me. Which is fairly good advice at the best of times.
I suspect that you think tilting at windmills means something other than what it does
I don’t love it
Wall-E for Best Picture 2008
Cain is able... Keane is able
by Useful_Idiot on Dec 5, 2009 12:03 PM PST up reply actions
why did Australia have to end up in THAT group?
"My friend once told me a story about San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum. He said his cousin went out to a bar in San Francisco and saw Lincecum there. He went up to him to give him a handshake.
Lincecum refused. He didn’t want to give him a handshake. He wanted to give him a chest bump."
cmon, you're not looking forward to Australia - Serbia?
There’s going to be a riot on Bondi Beach!
I suspect that you think tilting at windmills means something other than what it does
Nah, there’s plenty of good teams I enjoy watching, like Brasil, Cameroon, and Nederland, but the Italian style makes for an absolutely dreadful game to watch. It’s the soccer equivalent of the Four Corners in basketball (before the advent of the shot clock in college).
Italian soccer sucks. /falls over. Sorry, Ambrosini just tackled me again. Linebacker-style.
Joe Martinez: You are cool.
When it's all said and done, America will be remembered for three things: The Bill of Rights, jazz, and baseball.
WHY DOES THIS COMMENT EXIST?
NOBODY CARES!
I don't know about that, to the groin.
by howtheyscored on Dec 7, 2009 8:38 AM PST up reply actions
England v USA
I went to a friendly in Wembley a couple of years ago. That was fun, but I never really knew which side I was rooting for. This World Cup match up will be torturous for my sport soul.
co-dad w/AfDC of
Ishikawa, the Topps Rookie All Star Team's First baseman. Does he get a chance in 2010?
I don’t know anything about soccer except that some guy named Kaka played for Brazil.
"All I know is right now, you comeback and do you dwell on that? I think you're man enough to take it, you're man enough to chew on it, to spit it out and you learn from it. ... I think winners let it go. I think losers dwell on it and talk about it all week and that screws you up for the next opportunity going forward." - Mike Singletary after the 49ers loss to the Vikings
his name means poo!
"My friend once told me a story about San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum. He said his cousin went out to a bar in San Francisco and saw Lincecum there. He went up to him to give him a handshake.
Lincecum refused. He didn’t want to give him a handshake. He wanted to give him a chest bump."
by Tim LinCyYoung on Dec 5, 2009 7:36 PM PST up reply actions
I prefer John Terry
Wall-E for Best Picture 2008
Cain is able... Keane is able
by Useful_Idiot on Dec 6, 2009 12:43 AM PST up reply actions
My generalizations on soccer fans from partying with them in Germany '06
Brits: they chant. tons.
Australian: always in a good mood. carried blow up ’roos everywhere.
Croat: always in a bad mood. super hot gals.
Argentine: really didn’t like the mexican fans at the second round game. partied with them on the train from stuttgart to leipzig for the game against mexico.
Mexican: really didn’t seem to like US fans. they did have fun before the second round game, though.
Brazil: man, they seem to dance everywhere instead of walk. they just had a great, great time.
French: didn’t see many of their fans, anywhere.
German: some of the nicest fans i’ve ever met. they were always handing out beers, wishing everyone luck and being awesome hosts. one of my friends there with us said this is in direct contrast to the last time he was there, and he’s 1/2 german.
Ghanaian: they were super happy to beat us but were real nice about it. we shared tons of hugs.
Ukrainian: intense.
Dutch: they seemed pissed at their coach at all times. they were also super hot. we wore orange because our friend is dutch and they loved it. hup holland.
Korean: i LOVE korean soccer fans. i partied with some in 2002 after they beat spain and they carried the good vibes to germany.
US: i swear there were more female fans there than male fans, but that’s probably because i was looking for gals.
watching the game each night at the big screens outside the stadiums was just a giant party. we were honest-to-god scared of the croats, who were there to kiss ass and chew bubblegum and must have run out of gum. the overall vibe was amazing (if you talk to someone for more than a minute you hug them, buy each other a beer and wish them well). i am online this morning looking at flight deals for june 11.
Dodgers fans eat their young.
I flopped to the ground just reading this.....
….I’ll hold my knee for the next 20 minutes.
Go Dutch!
Plotting the ultimate demise of Gore51 (never met him, I dunno he could be swell) so as to adopt Kyle Nicholson.
"I don’t know much about sabre-stats but there’s nothing better than white tea and poptarts first thing in the morning" - tk
by Whiteteaandpoptarts on Dec 7, 2009 7:54 AM PST reply actions
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