World Cup predictions

[tetsujin1979]

Terry's gone public about a player's meeting with Capello tonight. Surely bringing this to the attention of the press will only make things worse for the manager?
Beat Slovenia and qualify for the second round and the win will be assigned to the players
Fail to qualify and the lack of faith of the player in Capello's management (underlined by the need for this meeting) will be front page news.

Either way, it will be painted as the manager's fault England are not playing as well as they can.

[Ciaran W]

Come on new zealand !

[Sullivinho]

Terry's gone public about a player's meeting with Capello tonight. Surely bringing this to the attention of the press will only make things worse for the manager?

I'd say the stone-faced Italian will absolutely love the sense of squad democracy that this projects. Doesn't undermine his authority at all. :D

In other news, Joe Cole was earlier spotted walking on water in preparation for his much anticipated role of messiah.

[elroy]

Italians held by NZ today and to be honest they deserved the draw. Bucketloads of possession but very few real chances created. So far this WC has been a disaster for me in the betting stakes.

[bennocelt]

Italians held by NZ today and to be honest they deserved the draw. Bucketloads of possession but very few real chances created. So far this WC has been a disaster for me in the betting stakes.

Tell me about it!!!!

Italy cheated a peno, was obvious the ref was going to gift them one, a bit bad that the World Champs have to cheat to beat a team as lowly ranked as NZ.

MON performance from R Neslon, brilliant

[Stuttgart88]

NZ goal was a mile offside and came from a push in the back too, in fairness.

[bennocelt]

NZ goal was a mile offside and came from a push in the back too, in fairness.

Fairness is not falling to the ground every ten minutes.
Offside, very hard to spot for the linesman me thinks
Italy always play like this...................

[tetsujin1979]

NZ goal was a mile offside and came from a push in the back too, in fairness.

I thought he was onside because the ball came off Cannavaro?

[Ciaran W]

Tell ya one thing, i wont miss any of the diving and rolling around when we get back into the league of ireland :D

[Noelys Guitar]

Its time to pick your quarter finalists. Mine are
Uruguay(after beating SK) v England(after beating Serbia)
Italy(after beating Holland)v Brazil(after beating Spain)
Germany(after beating US) v Argentina (after beating Mexico)
Paraguay(after beating Denmark) v Portugal (after beating Chile)

[bennocelt]

According to the Guardian R Herbert of NZ earns about 26,000 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Contrast to Capello, isnt he on 6 million.................?

[Stuttgart88]

I thought he was onside because the ball came off Cannavaro?The commentray said it was headed on by a NZ player and got a deflection from Cannavaro, the deflection not counting as a pass. The NZ guy only won the header because of a clear 2 handed push in the back. That's how I saw it anyway.

[bennocelt]

The commentray said it was headed on by a NZ player and got a deflection from Cannavaro, the deflection not counting as a pass. The NZ guy only won the header because of a clear 2 handed push in the back. That's how I saw it anyway.

But Stutt did you see it in real time, thats the point (mine anyway)?

[endabob1]

Looked a perfectly good goal to me, not offside because of the deflection and if you blew every physical contact like that the ref would be out of breath in 5 minutes. It was less contentious than the penalty imo.

[tetsujin1979]

The commentray said it was headed on by a NZ player and got a deflection from Cannavaro, the deflection not counting as a pass. The NZ guy only won the header because of a clear 2 handed push in the back. That's how I saw it anyway.
I missed the push, but if the deflection had rolled to the keeper, wouldn't it have been counted as a pass then?
Splitting hairs I know, but I genuinely didn't see anything wrong with the goal

Either way, New Zealand were good value for the draw. Italy badly missing Pirlo, and more questions about why Totti and Cassano were left behind.

[Stuttgart88]

I didn't see it real time - I only started watching after about 20 minutes and first saw the goal in the HT review. It looked a clear push, not even marginal, and I thought he looked a mile off. I'd have been suprised if I hadn't thought the same about the offside (not necessarily the push) in real time, but who can tell?

My gut reaction when I saw the Italy penalty in real time was "the ref won't buy that one". It turns out he did. The Yanks must be fuming - by the same standards they had 3 separate claims for a penalty against Slovenia, yet got penalised.

[tetsujin1979]

anyone got any thoughts on why the South American teams are doing so well thus far, and the higher ranking European and African nations have been poor?

[superfrank]

For the South Americans, they're used to being in winter at this time of year, Europeans are not. That'd be the best I can come up with.

As for the Africans, I have no idea whatsoever.

[bennocelt]

anyone got any thoughts on why the South American teams are doing so well thus far, and the higher ranking European and African nations have been poor?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/audio/2010/jun/21/world-cup-daily-podcast-italy-new-zealand-france

They give 5 good reasons................
1- The shorter football season in S America
2- The equator
3- 3/4 games at altitude every year
4- attacking style
5- .................mmmm cant remeber . sorry

[shakermaker1982]

They are just better?

[endabob1]

They are just better?

Surely not, it must be the ball, the altitude, the vuvuzelas, the weather, the time difference, the time of day they're expected to play, the boredom in the 5 star resorts.......

[shakermaker1982]

Surely not, it must be the ball, the altitude, the vuvuzelas, the weather, the time difference, the time of day they're expected to play, the boredom in the 5 star resorts.......

The English media crack me up.

Capello was God 6 weeks ago. Now he's just a Johny foreigner with poor English. He's also too hard on the players. Sven however was too lax. The Mirror has even published a day in the life of an English footballer at base camp South Africa.

[Sullivinho]

Cappelo was God 6 weeks ago.

Signed a new contract just before the WC. :D If only the FA had known they had a perfectly capable manager in 'JT'...

[osarusan]

This is a quote from the BBC -

Italy need to beat Slovakia on Thursday to guarantee their place in the second phase, but should they only manage a draw then New Zealand could deny them with victory over Paraguay in their final Group D match.

I'm assuming that the ways group positions are determined are:

1. Points
2. Result agains the other team with the same points
3. Goal difference
4. Goals scored



Am I not right in saying that if both Italy and New Zealand drew by the same score, they'd have the same points, same result against each other (1-1 draw), same goal difference (0, obviously, as they'd have drawn all 3 games), but NZ would have scored 2 goals to Italy's 1, and would go through on that basis?

Can anybody enlighten / correct me on this?

[osarusan]

Never mind, here it is from a pdf on the FIFA website (section 39.5, page 40): http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/fifa_wc_south_africa_2010_regulations_en_14123.pdf


The ranking of each team in each group will be determined as follows:

a) greatest number of points obtained in all group matches;
b) goal difference in all group matches;
c) greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.


If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria,
their rankings will be determined as follows:

d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between
the teams concerned;
e) goal difference resulting from the group matches between the
teams concerned;
f) greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the
teams concerned;
g) drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.
I still think that point C above would mean NZ could qualify with a draw, as long as it was by the same score as Italy's draw.

[Schumi]

I still think that point C above would mean NZ could qualify with a draw, as long as it was by the same score as Italy's draw.

If they draw with the same score, they draw lots, if NZ have a higher scoring draw, they go through.

[osarusan]

At the moment, they both have 2 points, goal difference of +/-0, but NZ have scored twice to Italy's once. So if they both had 0-0 draws in their final game, NZ would still have that 1 goal advantage which would be point 3 in the criteria.

[Stuttgart88]

I'd be very disappointed if a Spain win denies Chile, one of the most interesting teams of the WC so far.

[bennocelt]

At the moment, they both have 2 points, goal difference of +/-0, but NZ have scored twice to Italy's once. So if they both had 0-0 draws in their final game, NZ would still have that 1 goal advantage which would be point 3 in the criteria.


Osarusan,Italy havse scored twice.

[osarusan]

Oops! Yes they have! I was confusing their 1-1 draw with Paraguay with France's 0-0 draw with Uruguay.

[bennocelt]

I'd be very disappointed if a Spain win denies Chile, one of the most interesting teams of the WC so far.

Just like Spain tonight, messing against the worst team in the Wcup (IMHO) means that Switzerland will get through on goal difference
That Navro fella was AWFUL

[TheBoss]

If Spain were to beat Chile 1-0, the Switzerland beat Honduras. They would all have six points and the head to head cancels each other out, so goal difference between the 3 teams will be the same, will the results over Honduras be then included ?

[osarusan]

Spain winning 1-0 would give them a better goal difference than Chile.

If that happened, and Switzerland beat Honduras 1-0, Spain would finish top (+2 GD to the +1 of the other 2 teams) and Switzerland and Chile would have identical records in both GD and goals scored, so it would come down to the result between them, and Chile would go through.

If on the other hand the Swiss won 2-0, they'd match the Spanish on GD (+2) and goals scored (3), but go top because of the result between them. Spain would be second, and Chile would go out. If the Swiss won 3-1, they'd go top because of more goals scored (4 to Spain's 3), and Chile would be out.

All that's my understanding of it anyway.

[bennocelt]

Here.....................
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/standings/whatif.html

Also have to think of possible last 16 opponents - Brazil or Portugal?

[endabob1]

I was getting very irritated with Spain last night, I want them to win their group so I can see them in the 2nd round, if I end up watching Switzerland because they couldn't be bothered to break sweat against Honduras I will not be best pleased.

[osarusan]

2 more for South Africa (not impossible), Uruguay win 1-0 - the Bafana are through!

(or 1 more for S. Africa and a 2-0 win for Uruguay).

EDIT : Uruguay take the lead!!

[Stuttgart88]

SA had their chances to make it, but the best teams in taht group went through. Latin Americans are the teams on best form at the moment.

[strangeirish]

France Au revoir! Karma est une chienne!:D:nerd::D

[Stuttgart88]

Just watched highlights of Uruguay v Mexico. Both play lovely football, but both leave a lot of chances untaken, Mexico especially so. How did that guy miss that header in the second half?

[Sullivinho]

Martin Palermo. :D A guy who misses three penalties in one game and breaks his leg celebrating a goal deserves one in the World Cup. Fair play to him.

I will not miss Greece.

[Stuttgart88]

Palermo has some CV alright. Destined for greatness.

There's been a lot of very good (but not entertaining) stifling play from many of the lesser teams so far. Switzerland, Honduras, Japan, Greece and others have played to stifle quality teams, to a fair degree of success, but I'm not sure any of these will qualify or at best get into the last 8. I think Argentina deserve credit for getting their due tonight. The teams that have qualified so far (Arg, SK, Mex, Uru, Holl..anyone else?) are all teams that give it a go. Could be a really interesting second half of the tournament. If England get through I reckon they'll struggle to contain the attacking intent of some of the other qualifiers. I doubt they're as well drilled in stifling opponents as those I've mentioned above.

[bennocelt]

Is there any good site where I can catch up on previous games?

(as in the games that were not shown yesterday - UrU V Mex, Korea V Nig)

[superfrank]

FIFA.com has all the goals on their site.

[bennocelt]

FIFA.com has all the goals on their site.


Yeah but they have only highlights, I wouldnt mind seeing the whole game...............

[Schumi]

Yeah but they have only highlights, I wouldnt mind seeing the whole game...............RTE had them live on the web, they might have them on the RTE player maybe.

[OwlsFan]

No surprise. England get through. Surprise that the USA win the group. Germany vs England last 16? England win on penalties (for a change).

[Stuttgart88]

Can't complain with the England win, they were the better team by a mile. They were totally untested at the back, bar a few isolated scares. Slovenia's set pieces were truly shocking. I've no idea how good the German side is, so tonight will be interesting to see if they're up to it. I'd like to think they'll win convincingly but I think that England were lucky to avoid a winner of a stronger group.

I'm glad the USA prevailed. They've got some good players, and if Arsenal are looking to replace Fabregas with an overrated French tw@t when they could buy Landon Donovan they'd be stupid. He's been outstanding for me.

[Sullivinho]

Germany vs England? Yes please.

[Stuttgart88]

Germany will probably be better with Klose back, but they would miss Schweinsteiger if injured. My guess is that with Oz 2-0 up at the time they took him off as a precaution.

Lahm is a truly brilliant full back in my opinion.

Eng v Ger: I think both teams will make chances, it's just a question of who takes them.

[elroy]

The winner of England and Germany likely to play the Argies in the quarter as well. Much tougher route to the final for England now as opposed to if they had won the group.