World Cup and European leagues

cawcdad · June 15, 2006, 11:27:42 AM

And there's smack talk at the world cup.

T&T coach says that England is only a set piece team.

We'll see if that jumps up and bites 'em in the butt.

Ecuador sure put the hurt on Costa Rica. Should be an interesting game with Germany to see he goes #1 from the group.

Jim Matson · June 15, 2006, 11:42:52 AM

Costa Rica today reminded me of the effort put forth by our US team against Czech - tried to set up too much and didn't go wide enough. I also don't think slow transitions win World Cup matches.

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · June 15, 2006, 11:45:04 AM

Costa Rica has been surviving on the leg of Paulo Wanchope, which works just fine in CONCACAF, but we all saw today what a solid squad can do to a team with one weapon.

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · June 15, 2006, 02:27:23 PM

Brave show by the Soca Warriors. 174 minutes without allowing a goal (including 45 with only 10 men) that is quite a showing for T&T. It also looks like England may have woken up a little bit.

Just think, if Paraguay wins the last game today, T&T will still have a shot at moving on to the next round.

Greek Tragedy · June 15, 2006, 02:31:15 PM

The T&T coach also said David Beckham is better at selling t-shirts than playing soccer.

England advances with a ho-hum 2-nil win. Crouch scores but doesn't even do his robot-dance. Gerrard with a very nice 2nd in injury time. Beckham assists Crouch and Rooney comes in at the 58th minute mark. Doesn't do much, but what do you expect for a guy that's been out since the end of April. With England through, Rooney may not even play vs. Sweden, though he'll probably want to get a little game action to get sharper.

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · June 15, 2006, 04:08:00 PM

I have to disagree with you OS, Rooney might not have been too productive with the ball, but his entry energized the crowd and visibly woke up the England players. They were much sharper and seemed to work together better after his entrace. This is probably due to increased crowd support, but that came when Rooney got in.

As much as I wanted a good robot dance, I think Crouch was smart to forego it as the Japanese ref was calling the game quite strict (see Hilsop's yellow card--horribly rough call-- time wasting in the 46th minute??).

cawcdad · June 15, 2006, 05:34:39 PM

I agree with hoops fan. Rooney may not have done much with the ball but he along with Lennon (who did play well) brought in some much need enrgy to the English side. Fans and team alike.

Sweden finally scores a goal!!!!

Mr. Ypsi · June 15, 2006, 06:05:36 PM

Yeah, and it only took them 178 minutes to do it!

They must have one helluva defense. There was mention that they scored only 3 goals total in 10 qualifying games - yet they qualified. The only way I can figure that is that they won 3 games 1-0, and had a number of 0-0 draws. I wonder who last scored on them?

Poor Paraguay - TWO and out (and both games 1-0). I imagine that third game is going to be a tough one to get up for.

David Collinge · June 15, 2006, 08:30:45 PM

Quote from: Mr. Ypsi on June 15, 2006, 06:05:36 PM
They must have one helluva defense. There was mention that they scored only 3 goals total in 10 qualifying games - yet they qualified.

Not three...THIRTY. Three per game. Sweden's preliminary results

Mr. Ypsi · June 15, 2006, 09:52:38 PM

Quote from: David Collinge on June 15, 2006, 08:30:45 PM
Quote from: Mr. Ypsi on June 15, 2006, 06:05:36 PM
They must have one helluva defense. There was mention that they scored only 3 goals total in 10 qualifying games - yet they qualified.

Not three...THIRTY. Three per game. Sweden's preliminary results

Ah, that is rather different than what the announcers said!

Still, their opponents have yet to score in the World Cup itself.

Thanks for the correction.

David Collinge · June 16, 2006, 12:37:39 AM

Twenty of Sweden's thirty goals in qualifying were against traditional powers Malta and Iceland (the last team to score on Sweden, by the way.) Sweden's prelim group was pretty soft, with Bulgaria and Hungary both sporting sub-par teams. Croatia was the only other decent team in their group, and they swept the Swedes, 2:0 aggregate. But the Croats were held to a shocking 1:1 draw by the Maltese (ranked a robust 125th in the world--just ahead of Vietnam--and 13:0 aggregate losers to the Swedes), proving once again that anything is possible in football.

Does anyone besides me think that the Queen has no clothes?

England gets a lot of hype, but they've looked pretty poor in two matches so far, one against a Paraguay squad playing even more poorly, the other against a Trinidad/Tobago eleven they probably should have thumped. I expect Sweden and England to play to a lifeless 0:0 draw, giving England the group and a probable date with Ecuador. They should be able to beat the Andeans (provided it doesn't come down to a shootout with the winning penalty on Beckham's foot

), but no further, as their quarterfinal opponent is probably either Holland or Argentina--and the way the Queen's Men are playing, it won't take the Hand of God to oust them.

Greek Tragedy · June 16, 2006, 08:34:27 AM

Quote from: Old School on June 15, 2006, 02:31:15 PM
Beckham assists Crouch and Rooney comes in at the 58th minute mark. Doesn't do much, but what do you expect for a guy that's been out since the end of April.

Let's try this again. I said Rooney didn't do too much. You guys even said it. Hoops Fan said he didn't do much with the ball and cawcdad also said the same thing. That's what I'm saying.

I said nothing about the rest of the squad, crowd and what not. I agree that England looked energized, as did the crowd, when Rooney came on. But, I was simply talking about Rooney and HE didn't do too much. That's all. Don't translate my post about Rooney into my general feeling on the England squad as a whole.

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · June 16, 2006, 09:12:56 AM

1. Iceland's not that bad; certainly not bad enough to be lumped in with Malta.

2. That Trinidad squad is smart and experienced and they earned every bit of respect they've gotten this year. Yeah, England was playing pretty poor for the first 45 minutes, but to say they should have thumped T&T is a bit much. I would have agreed before the Cup, but Trinidad is really proving themselves at least competitive. (A win over Paraguay and a little help from England, they are still alive.)

3. Argentina, Holland an Mexico going today? This is what the World Cup is all about.

cawcdad · June 16, 2006, 05:21:01 PM

Argentina just dismantled Serbia-Montenegro. The Serb team looked they didn't even want to be ther in the second half. The Cambiasso goal on the back heel from Crespo was one of the sweetest I've seen.

An exciting game between the Netherlands and Ivory Coast. The game to see who is the group winner between Netherlands and Argentina should be a barn burner.

And WOW!! Angola ties Mexico. Another stellar goalie and team performance from a squad not expected to do much. These African teams got game!!

Mr. Ypsi · June 16, 2006, 06:41:17 PM

If Angola beats Iran (which I predict) and Mexico loses to Portugal (I see that one as 50-50), Angola may go through. Mexico is currently +2, while Angola is -1, but if EITHER game cited above is by more than 1 goal, Angola has caught or beaten them. (And, of course, if Portugal somehow loses to Iran [big doubties!], Angola could also go through with a Mexican win over Portugal, though not with a Mexico-Portugal tie.)

If Angola and Mexico tied on goal differential, and since they tied head-to-head, remind me what the next tie-breaker is - is it fewest goals allowed?

I found it interesting that at least 3 of Angola's starters appeared to be white - I would assume they are Portuguese who remained after independence.