I can't remember correctly but I think Tim and I of all the people on this list are the only soccer fans I believe. Maybe Erick too. In that note, what do you think of next year? Who'll take it all, etc. I'm surprised 4 out of the 5 African teams are brand new this year, could produce another Cameroon 90 or Senegal 02 (underdawgs going far).....It's the usual crowd from North America as well as South (unless if Australia beats Uruguay which I think they can and should). Usual crowd from Asia as well except for Iran instead of China this year - like a rehash of 98.
Most people will predict the usual Brazil to take it all, but I just can't see it. I can't see a team being in the finals 3 consecutive World Cups.....teams I can really see take it all would be either France, England (although they tend to choke in Playoff stages), Holland, or perhaps Argentina. But I'd solely say a tossup of either France or Holland. I don't think Japan or South Korea will go far as they did in 2002. Homefield goes a long way, and now they're in Europe. I'd be surprised if they can make it to the Rd of 16 (but really, it'll all depend on the group drawing).
United States should do well IAOI (if and only if) they get a good draw. If they get stuck with a group that has 2 exceptional teams, I can't see them advancing. Personally, United States got lucky in 2002. If Portugal had only tied South Korea (they had so many shots "called back" and 2 hit the crossbar), the US would've never advanced....then they played Mexico instead of Italy in the Rd of 16. Don't get me wrong, I think the US has VASTLY improved since the 90s, but until they beat a "big" team this coming World Cup (any of these would do for me: Argentina, Brazil, France, Italy, England, Holland, Germany), they're still just that "good team." I admit, I was stunned when they beat Portugal and tying South Korea (IN Korea) in 2002.....but they went on to lose to....Poland?
I'm paying attention to other sports as well (particularly football and basketball), but usually around fall of a year before the World Cup is when I become soccer attentive. That being....now.
Oh, is it true Gov Richardson is refunding NM residents for gas prices? I heard about that.
Monday, October 24, 2005
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Crap. I thought our splog wall was high enough... We apparently need a couple more feet.
While never a big soccer fan, I have been known to watch parts of the world cup... Alas, however, my comments will not be up to par with yours.
Yes, there is a gas tax rebate in the works for New Mexicans. Unfortunately, since Steve Forbes is not the mastermind, it will be graduated, so you can expect to only get about half or less of what someone in the near poverty status would, which is about $150.
None the less, I guess it's still some of your money back.
Crap. I thought our splog wall was high enough... We apparently need a couple more feet.
While never a big soccer fan, I have been known to watch parts of the world cup... Alas, however, my comments will not be up to par with yours.
Yes, there is a gas tax rebate in the works for New Mexicans. Unfortunately, since Steve Forbes is not the mastermind, it will be graduated, so you can expect to only get about half or less of what someone in the near poverty status would, which is about $150.
None the less, I guess it's still some of your money back.
Awwww yeah man...I've been following qualifying for the last 7 or 8 months, obviously paying most attention to our boys (actually ranked in the top 10 for 6 months now). I think we've got a shot at the quarters this year, but like you, it will depend a lot on the draw. We'll get a better draw this year because we finished atop in CONCACAF qualifying - even beating out what most would consider a superior Mexican team. Bruce Arena is a great coach, he's one of the only international level coaches who really cultivates a team dynamic, and that's our greatest advantage. No big superstars on our team so all that internecine fighting that plagues other organizations does not affect ours. We've got solid finishers in Donovan and Beasley (the best player on the team, no doubt) and a solid leader in midfield with Reyna, as long as he stays healthy. And I saw guys like Tony Sanneh shut down an international superstar in Michael Ballack in '02 so I think our defense is pretty solid. The real key to US success, IMO, is the great Kasey Keller. Our keeper is best in the world, hands down. Well, maybe Kahn is better. But I have never seen anybody with better instincts in goal than Keller, and on top of that he provides a stable and secure presence to our back line. If Keller has a bad Cup, then so do we.
I think Brazil wins it all. They are that good. They nearly took it in France, and that was with a team that was inferior to their current team. There is just no team that can match their talent. There are some European challengers that might take it all though...
My personal favorite, as always, is Holland (other than the US, of course). I've loved Dutch football ever since I witnessed Dennis Bergkamp's tenacity in 1994. I think they've got a very good chance this time - especially it being in Europe. Generally, European teams win when the big dance is in Europe.
Should be an entertaining Cup. I really hope Trinidad & Tobago qualify because they've never been and they are such an entertaining team (plus there's a Trinidadian in Nicolette's lab). The African situation is volatile and full of unknowns, which I'll be extremely interested in. I'm a bit underwhelmed by the Asians, though, and I think w/o home field advantage they'd be hard pressed to advance - unless they draw some crap teams.
My only goal is to somehow get TiVo or DVR so I can record all games. Finally, all of them will be broadcast by either ABC, ESPN, or ESPN2.
I KNEW there was a catch to Richardson's plan.....I swear.....
A lot what I'll say here may be agreeance/repeats of what Tim said, but anyways, I'm sure the only games that'll be viewable at a reasonable time (i.e. our daylight) will be United States games on ABC or ESPN2. Thank God for TiVO is all I gotta say. If they ARE gonna show all games, it'll be of course live where all of us are gonna be asleep.
United States HAVE been doing well in recent memory, I believe weren't they #6 overall in the world at one point? I think they're like 7 or 8 now. Somewhere in the Top 11. Main credit in my personal opinion goes to Bruce Arena. Coaches previous to him frankly...well, sucked. They had really zero concept of the sport. Arena has the team well-bred to the point there's very little bickering and there really is no major shining star. It's like he really knows the sport (unlike Team USA basketball which to me is a compilation of NBA stars....James and Anthony are just young overpaid punks that whine about playing time, but that's just my opinion). He doesn't play favorites either and plays the players that gel the best. If he did play favorites, his son Kenny would be on the team of course. He knew he already qualified for the World Cup, so he plays the young players that have potential of making the 2010 team. Imagine Freddy Adu on team USA this year? I'm sure it was good reasons to bench the guy on DC United due to his whining.
US DID finish top of CONCACAF at the very last game (Mexico losing to Trinidad/Tobago...I'll bet Mexicans are shocked at that one), thus I'm wondering if they'll be one of the 8 seeded teams come drawing team. It's a good chance. In my personal opinion, Mexico for quite a while been overrated. They've got quality players in Blanco, Borgetti, Marquez, etc. but in my opinion better in the past when they had Campos and Hernandez.
I think the strongest aspect of the US team is the defense - especially goalies. With guys like Kasey Keller and emerging stars like Tim Howard and Kevin Hartman, what the US MAY lack on offense, they strengthen with defense. Really the only goalies I can think of that are better than US's would probably be either Oliver Kahn or Fabien Barthez (if the guy just shape up on/off the field).
I think the overall advantage of the US is we have LOTS of emerging young stars (i.e. future success) as compared to in the past. Convey, Adu, Quaranta, etc to name a few and a lot of them are stars now (Donovan, Beasley, etc.)
My personal favorite is of course the US, but I always have to cheer for my Japan for biased reasons of course :-) Japan is another country (like the US) that has vastly improved since last decade. Ever since in the 90s they decided to start the J League, soccer has IMO overtaken baseball in popularity over there. But Japan is not up to par frankly yet. Until they beat a big team (and no, Russia and Belgium are not considered big to me), will I think they're ready. With these 2 teams, I'd have to cheer for England as well as that's my other heritage. Those 3 and *gulp* France....ugh, I just can't by sheer principle cheer for them :-) - so I usually stick to US, Japan, and England.
Trinidad/Tobago have a real good chance in advancing. They have good players in Stern John and among others. I don't see anything redeeming about Bahrain quite frankly.
Africa, again, is the biggest surprise for me. The only thing I know about these African teams is Didier Drogba on Ivory Coast and the Angola team from what I've read/seen are quite flashy actually. There are actually observers say they can surprise big time (of course, depending on the draw). I mean, they beat out Nigeria, so that says something.
With Asia, I'm pretty "blah" on them this year. Again, frankly Japan and South Korea did well last time because of homefield advantage. Soccer is one sport where homefield can go a long way.
Yeah, Iraq has a team, but unfortunately qualifying in Asia started earlier than the war so that kinda disrupted things for them.
I wouldn't knock the Americans too much - I don't think they "got lucky" in '02. They had a couple bad games, especially against Poland - but all teams have bad games. In the one that mattered, against Mexico, they completely dominated. Almost totally. That was an awesome game. Then, they totally dominated the Germans - the Germans just had a superman in goal. I truly believed they deserved to go to the semis that year, although they probably would have lost to the Koreans (home field advantage, eh?).
I think they will have a tougher time this cup, though, just because it is held in Europe. There are a ton of European teams and Europe is so small that many teams get homefield advantage just because it is held in Europe. Also, I think we're hated a bit more in Europe than in Asia so I bet anti-Americanism gives us "negative" homefield advantage.
I'm still upbeat though. If Reyna can stay healthy, Donovan and Beasley stay healthy and on fire (or McBride or somebody else picks up their slack), and Keller remains a stalwart leader in the back we'll be in good shape. I'm looking for another quarterfinal appearance this time around.
Iraq did well in the Olympics though :-) 4th place I think? They always actually had a team, it's just they weren't really good in the past. They're still not as good, but with the war, teams like Iraq and Afghanistan couldn't really compete persay. Kinda interesting soccer I believe is THE sport that's most influential with politics involved.
I don't think the United States is horrid. My main point all along is until they beat a "good" team, to me, they're just....."good." I said "lucky" in 2002 because I really think they did get a lucky break. If Portugal would've scored 1 goal in their game vs South Korea, US would've never advanced. Talk about wiping your brow.
The US thoroughly beat Mexico in 2002 but I predicted that going in (as I said, I think Mexico's overrated). Then they played Germany and hate to say this but the Germans were pretty much in control most of that match, so I guess we disagree here. Once Ballack scored, they played defense virtually the whole time. I know one can probably say Americans dominated in that game because they were pretty much on the offense majority of the game, but typical Germany, like Italy, did that intentionally. That was the point after Ballack scored - they sat back and played defense. If they would've won that game, the whole World Cup scenario would've been amazing. In the semifinals, you got Brazil and Turkey on one side and you got prennial underdogs in Korea and US in the other. That game would've been stiff but I would've honestly have given it to the Koreans (home field). Imagine that for a finals in 2002. Brazil vs Korea. That would've been historical. It was historical enough that Korea finished 4th.
US beat Portugal, I'll give you that (that stunned me actually) and tied South Korea (IN Korea)....I feel they should've at least tied or beat Poland. But hey, it's interesting they beat the best team (in my opinion) in that group in Portugal but lost to the worst. My predictions for that group was Portugal, South Korea, United States, Poland. So that group stunned me and in my opinion, 2002 proved the US is for real. In 2002, really that group, group A (France finishing last), and group F (Argentina not qualifying) were groups I didn't do well with predictions.
I'll say this, if they reach the quarterfinals AGAIN in 2006, THEN I'll say US is credible. Period.
I agree with the part in that the US will have a tough time in Europe. Like Mexico, they'll probably have idiots in stands chanting Osama. We're hated in Europe so I can near guarantee we'll be booed if we win or tie a game. It'll be more "political" now than it was in 1998 (the "peaceful" years) and 2002 (9/11 wasn't really mentioned). I can't wait for the draw to see what 3 teams we're paired up against. But then again, Bruce Arena has amazed us before and I'm sure he'll teach these guys to ignore the crowd. After all, they managed to tie Korea in Korea. I GUARANTEE if that game was played elsewhere, the US would destroy them. It'll still be tough though - but not as tough as I'd say a Mexican crowd. Man, I think we lost however many times I can count and tied them once over there.
So yes, I think US has what it takes to make it to quarterfinals (at least), but again, it depends on the draw.
I don't think Mexico is overrated. I rank them as one of the top 3 teams in the Americas, with Brazil and Argentina being the other two. Mexico has proven themselves over the years and in Cups past. They've got one of the best non-European leagues. They've got the talent. They've beaten top flight teams in the past and are quite capable of it now. I think the fact that we've got their number means we are on the verge.
Germany did not dominate the match with the US. I'd call it evenly matched. After Ballack scored, it became lopsided, with us getting all the good chances.
I think we're already a credible power in the football world. Not enough to be called a constant power, but on the level of a "lurking threat" type European power - one of the Balkan states. This may be our chance. Look at how weak the traditional European powers have been lately - I mean, Greece wins Euro '04? The Czechs are one of the best? Those are nontraditional powers. The big powers are no longer treating us as a routine thrashing, I think they treat us as they treat Mexico. Again, this may be our Cup - every Cup, some dark horse pops up (Croatia, Turkey, etc.) so this may be ours.
Germany '06!
Well, yes, for the Americas, Mexico is definitely in the top 5 along with Brazil, Argentina, and the US. Hell, what other teams are there? But for the world? No.
The only way Mexico can beat us is if we play in Azteca. Other than that....
I guess my definition of "dominate" is a little different. If the other team controls the ball 60+% of the time, doesn't always necessarily mean they did better. We'll get all the good chances because that's what most European teams do after they score, they play defense. I see that a lot especially in Italy and Germany did that quite often last time as well. So in THAT essence, Germany controlled it (it went the way they wanted it). But oh well.
The best way to put the US is like you said: A lurking threat. I'd even label us as spoilers because lots of countries still take us for granted. They may not think of us as "whippings" anymore, but I still believe certain nations wouldn't take us TOO seriously still.
World Cup may change things for European teams (and most teams in general). Greece and Czech Republic are certainly creeping up. But Germany going into 2002 wasn't even thought of (it was mainly France and England really for Euro) and they went all the way to the finals.
Yes, World Cup in recent memory has had that one darkhorse (Bulgaria in 94, Croatia in 98, Korea AND Turkey in 02). Of course I sometimes feel those are just haphazard lucky teams. Look at Bulgaria in 98. Sunk. Look at Croatia in 02. Sunk. I'm predicting same for Korea and Turkey. Maybe not as much as Turkey. I'm sure another one will be created in 06.
To tell the truth, I think this is all moot. The current fight in the world is really over who is second best. Nobody is better than Brazil. I put the Brazilians at at an order of magnitude greater than any other team in the world in terms of talent.
That said, down in the lower orders of magnitude there is the next highest tier of talent that I think we've now cracked. This tier includes Italy, Germany, England, Spain, Holland, France and Portugal. Mexico and Argentina also represent the Americas. When you take three factors into account - team dynamics, talent, and intangibles - I think we've got an edge on at least half of those countries. Our talent is not up to par with theirs but the other two factors are in our favor.
My favorite European team is Holland, and they are anything but a defensive team. They are constantly attacking, so I think that colors my view of European football somewhat. I still think we dominated that game with the Germans. We at least had them rattled for the full 90 minutes.
I agree with Brazil being the best. Even if Ronaldo/Rivaldo doesn't play, there's always Ronaldinho, Robinho, Adriano....the midfield is stacked with stars like Alex, Kaka, Gilberto, Juninho, Belletti, Roberto....defense still has Cafu, Roque, Lucio, Carlos, goalies are abundant with Marcos, Dida, etc. It's like their BENCH can beat a lot of teams in the world. They didn't even play Romario in 2002 and they still did well. Or was it 1998? Either year, they did well without him. Yes, I didn't pick them to win in 2006 and I'm still sticking with it, but there really is no denying that talent-wise, Brazil's freakin stacked.
Yes, Oliver Kahn was definitely "kept on his toes" throughout the entire game vs the US, I guess we just have different views on that. I just personally feel the Germans wanted to stay back after the goal (well, at least that's what Voller and Ballack said) - and that they did successfully. Donovan and a few other players had several chances in that game, it's just Kahn (IMO) is the best goalie in the world right now.
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