The awesome WC 2010 shock n awe thread

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minasthiryt
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Re: The awesome WC 2010 shock n awe thread

Post by minasthiryt »

Razvanica wrote:European teams rarely won an World Cup outside Europe. Plus, weather in South Africa is really strange these days and teams from the Southern emisphere will have an extra-advantage. I could bet that there will not be more than 1 European team in the semi-finals.

Let me say that I disagree with you and say that although the weather in the host country of this World Cup tournament are just not conducive to European countries, for African teams (if you refer to them) can not deal with technical game of Europeans relying only on physical condition. As we know most of the leagues in Europe have - recently completed and the players still have a good physical condition.
I think the team that will have a strong team spirit,that team will win the tournament (see Greece in 2004) and in my opinion that team will be Spain.

:)
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Re: The awesome WC 2010 shock n awe thread

Post by Razvanica »

minasthiryt wrote:Let me say that I disagree with you and say that although the weather in the host country of this World Cup tournament are just not conducive to European countries, for African teams (if you refer to them) can not deal with technical game of Europeans relying only on physical condition. As we know most of the leagues in Europe have - recently completed and the players still have a good physical condition.
I think the team that will have a strong team spirit,that team will win the tournament (see Greece in 2004) and in my opinion that team will be Spain.
Not only African teams are in the Southern emisphere. South American teams or Asian teams are there too. I agree that Spain is the most powerful European team and if it's going to be an European team to win this World Cup than it's them. But I really see an African team in the semi-finals (Algeria, Cameroun, Ivory Coast). And I think that Brazil will be joined by another South(Cental) America team (Uruguay, Mexico, Chile, Paraguay). So there's only one open spot for European teams. And although I would love to see Italy in the last 4, the best bet remains Spain.
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Re: The awesome WC 2010 shock n awe thread

Post by minasthiryt »

@Razvanica, I know geography 8) ...talking strictly about football is scarcely influenced by climate .. we think that everything depends on the 22 players faced in a match and their technical skills.

is true that sometimes if you have a good physical condition is an asset but is not sufficient ... and I think teams that could win the WC and they are not in Europe are: Agentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Mexico.

In 2002 South Korea has come far in the tournament in a certain situation which I do not want to talk and I hope will not happen again with any one of the african team.

The only country in Africa can get access to the upper stage of the competition is Ivory Coast.

But better is to wait matches :P
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Re: The awesome WC 2010 shock n awe thread

Post by SBroccoli »

Interesting list.

I don't agree with them all, though.

Group A, I'd expect South Africa to advance. The host almost always does.

In group C USA isn't that easy to wrtie off. Not so sure.

In group D I think Ghana is going to qualify on the expense of Serbia. African teams will have ½ of a home advantage.

In group H I'm convinced Chile will qualify. I saw some of their matches and they are fast as lightening and i.a. defeated Argentine (or was it Brazil?). The climate they are going to play in will be familiar.
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Re: The awesome WC 2010 shock n awe thread

Post by SBroccoli »

Razvanica wrote:European teams rarely won an World Cup outside Europe. Plus, weather in South Africa is really strange these days and teams from the Southern emisphere will have an extra-advantage. I could bet that there will not be more than 1 European team in the semi-finals.
I think you're mistaken! It's winter in SA and the temperrature will in many cases be around 18 deg. This is not an advantage to the latin countries. On the contrary. It benefits countries from the northern hemisphere (e.g. Netherlands).

Climatic differences means an enormous lot. The high-humidity and massive heat ion Mexico and Seoul meant that european teams were really bogged down on stamina after the first 4 matches.
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Re: The awesome WC 2010 shock n awe thread

Post by calin_g »

SBroccoli wrote: In group D I think Ghana is going to qualify on the expense of Serbia. African teams will have ½ of a home advantage.
hehee, then you don't know serbia.. i think they're in the top 10 in the world now, i definetly go with them if someone asks me for the surprise of this WC. i'm tempted to bet real money that they'll reach the semis
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Re: The awesome WC 2010 shock n awe thread

Post by SBroccoli »

calin_g wrote:
SBroccoli wrote: In group D I think Ghana is going to qualify on the expense of Serbia. African teams will have ½ of a home advantage.
hehee, then you don't know serbia.. i think they're in the top 10 in the world now, i definetly go with them if someone asks me for the surprise of this WC. i'm tempted to bet real money that they'll reach the semis
I'll bet you 5 friendly homematches that they don't. Deal? :)
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Re: The awesome WC 2010 shock n awe thread

Post by calin_g »

Of course, it's a deal
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Re: The awesome WC 2010 shock n awe thread

Post by Razvanica »

SBroccoli wrote:I think you're mistaken! It's winter in SA and the temperrature will in many cases be around 18 deg. This is not an advantage to the latin countries. On the contrary. It benefits countries from the northern hemisphere (e.g. Netherlands).

Climatic differences means an enormous lot. The high-humidity and massive heat ion Mexico and Seoul meant that european teams were really bogged down on stamina after the first 4 matches.
Actually, weather in South Africa these days (or at least in Cape Town) is exactly like the weather in Australia and South America. Somewhere around 20 degrees during the day and somewhere around 5 degrees at night. And lots of rain (well, this is not exactly like Australia, but still)... I see Chile and Paraguay adapting much faster to this than Spain or Portugal.

My bets are:
A: Uruguay and South Africa
B: Argentina and South Korea
C: England and USA
D: Germany and Australia
E: Holland and Cameroon
F: Italy and Paraguay
G: Brazil and Portugal
H: Spain and Chile
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Re: The awesome WC 2010 shock n awe thread

Post by SBroccoli »

18 or 20 deg....who cares? The point is it's not the melting 35 that it was in Seoul, Madrid or Mexico.

A 'normal' climate takes away the extra advantage that the latin an african countries usually have when it's boiling hot.

As for current trends: Denmark lost it's last training match 1-0 to SA. Losing is one thing, but losing in such a pittyfull, feeble and embarrasing way is a different thing. I think it was something like 3 shots on goal the entire match. And I dunno about passes completed, but it must have been around 25%

Oh, and did I mention Netherlands defeated Hungary 6-1 at the same time :shock:

3 key-players still out with injuries. We need a f'ing miracle...
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Re: The awesome WC 2010 shock n awe thread

Post by minasthiryt »

So: South Africa - Mexico 1-1

is a surprising result or not?
I expect a draw, but Mexico's national team performance disappointed me... :roll:
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Re: The awesome WC 2010 shock n awe thread

Post by calin_g »

those "vuvuzelas", those horns they blow non-stop in the stadiums are so god damn annoying :x and i just don't get it... what is the purpose of blowing one of those all match long?? you go to a football match to watch the game or to make noise? :| if they wanna support their team, they should shout or sing, how is making a lot of noise a way of supporting your team? and only if they did that just at South Africa's matches, i would understand that, it's a cultural thing, it's in their habbits to blow their lungs out on the stadium, but when France plays Uruguay it seems to me to have no meaning
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Re: The awesome WC 2010 shock n awe thread

Post by minasthiryt »

calin_g wrote:those "vuvuzelas", those horns they blow non-stop in the stadiums are so god damn annoying :x and i just don't get it... what is the purpose of blowing one of those all match long?? you go to a football match to watch the game or to make noise? :| if they wanna support their team, they should shout or sing, how is making a lot of noise a way of supporting your team? and only if they did that just at South Africa's matches, i would understand that, it's a cultural thing, it's in their habbits to blow their lungs out on the stadium, but when France plays Uruguay it seems to me to have no meaning
are like a swarm of flies :lol: :lol: :evil:

I don't know how those players play in such an atmosphere... :roll:
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Re: The awesome WC 2010 shock n awe thread

Post by Razvanica »

it's just like the fans that play the drums during games. Spain has a well-known fan who does that, Manolo. Normally, a single vuvuzela makes a sound similar to a trumpet, but when you have 10K vuvuzela on a stadium... And about France-Uruguay, there were mostly their fans that were using vuvuzelas. South Africans had a very low number of tickets for these games and those few who had the financial means to buy tickets were not able to find them. The 3 South Africans I know who went to this game needed our help to buy tickets from Europe, because they could not find any in South Africa.
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Re: The awesome WC 2010 shock n awe thread

Post by calin_g »

of course, i wasn't so naive to believe that africans filled the stadium for france-uruguay cause they wanted to blow their vuvuzelas, they're too poor to afford tickets.. [besides i heard somewhere (maybe here on this topic) that if you wanna fly to south africa from burkina faso or something like that, your plane must go first to paris, cause there are no direct routes to SA]. anyway i don't care about the blowers' nationality, i don't care who's on the stadium, africans, europeans, martians, i just wanna here the ref's whistle and the bones crunching at fouls, god dammit!.. :mrgreen: and of course, i would like that my ears won't "bzzzzzzz" for minutes after every match i watch on tv.. :(
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