411 replies to this topic

[Libains]

Well, the World cup starts Friday, just thought I'd make a topic to make some predictions/friendly bets and whatnot, and argue as to whether football is ever worth it at all (and it is, all you heathens)

There is a very good BBC predictor that can be found here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/w...010/8709313.stm

And my prediction can be found here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sol/shared/inc/v4/wo...1d4rjuk9rudrd9u

(With a bit of luck for England)

Main points to note:
Brazil second in their group to Portugal
France second to Mexico
South Africa (hosts) out in the first round
Argentina out before the semis
Netherlands to lose to Portugal

If I'm realistic, England to lose in the semi to Portugal, and Spain to win it

Btw, Chyros and I also have a £10 bet on Argentina not making it to the semis, I say they won't make it, he thinks they will.

With that, let the hypothesising begin

[Chyros]

I predict Argentina beat Brazil 2-1 in the finals with Spain beating France 2-0 for the best of the rest. Messi top scorer. France beats England.

A: 1st France 2nd Mexico
B: 1st Argentina 2nd S-Korea (just for the heck of it)
C: 1st England 2nd US (even though nobody in the US will notice)
D: 1st Germany 2nd Ghana
E: 1st Netherlands 2nd Japan
F: 1st Italy 2nd Slovakia
G: 1st Brazil 2nd Portugal
H: 1st Spain 2nd Chile

Or so I sincerely hope because I made a bet on this .

Though I've bet the Netherlands are beated by Brazil, we all know they will actually be destroyed by Portugal. And Argentina will make the semis.

[Alias]

Italy will just take a dive and cheat their way to the final again.

[Mbob61]

I finally decided to put a bet on this year and went with spain to win.
I hope Argentina do well though. The more we can see of Messi the better.

Mike

[Shirou]

Argentina will go out in the quarter finals, losing to England, and Maradona will be lynched. They can only rely on individual quality and I'm sorry but every team is going to drown Messi in big defenders, and he has never performed well on an international tournament. Messi will be the disappointment of the show.

Netherlands will meet Brazil (no, not Portugal, fuck no lol) in the quarters and likely our weak defense will lose us 2-3 in the final minutes. Against Portugal if we lose a new national trauma will be created. Whowever we face will be the group winner and likely the best of the two, so perspectives aren't good either way.

Oh and did I mention France being beaten by South Africa and being thrown out in group stage. Really, they play like absolute crap. Do not underestimate South Africa's home advantage. We have seen what happened in South Korea, haven't we? I can already picture Domenech going absolutely crazy, losing the match, losing the group and blaming the Vuvuzelas. Lastly, nobody really seems to care about Uruguay. They do have potent attacking players and hell, if France can let China score and win the match, Uruguay sure as hell can do so too.

Spain will win, against either England or Germany in the Final.

Edited by Trivmvirate, 10 June 2010 - 10:48.

[Chyros]

Trivmvirate, on 10 Jun 2010, 12:41, said:

Netherlands will meet Brazil (no, not Portugal, fuck no lol) in the quarters and likely our weak defense will lose us 2-3 in the final minutes.

We both know that this is what is supposed to happen and that it won't happen in the end anyway . The Netherlands lost against Portugal in 2002, 2004 and 2006 .

Though I have them set as being eliminated as soon as they meet Brazil in the quarters I have to say I think our team is in good condition. Who knows, perhaps we might actually achieve something before our trademark terrible loss .

[BeefJeRKy]

I am a supporter of Argentina. And no they do have more than just Messi among them Carlos Tevez, Higuain, Diego Mileto, and Javier Mascherano. As long as their plays don't heavily rely on Messi, they'll do great and hopefully even win the title. Of course I also think Spain and Brazil are both great contenders. And I oppose all who support Germany because their fans are the most annoying

I think England has much better chances this year as well. And Netherlands will likely stumble as they usually do. Italians will of course dive their way through (I remember that match against Australia in '06 what BS). And I believe France will lose before reaching the quarter finals

[CJ]

DDR, on 10 Jun 2010, 20:49, said:

I think England has much better chances this year as well. And Netherlands will likely stumble as they usually do. Italians will of course dive their way through (I remember that match against Australia in '06 what BS). And I believe France will lose before reaching the quarter finals

Just saw that Domenech's face at the news, which means he still is France's team trainer, which means they're likely to lose even before the qualifications

[Chyros]

Bar the last five minutes, what few chances South Africa had were spoiled terribly. Terrible amount of ball loss on their side to the Mexicans, too. Their best thing so far seems to be their keeper Khune. I have bet Mexico will win this match, and if they can get their (so far very sloppy) act together I'm sure they can win this.

Edited by Chyros, 11 June 2010 - 15:10.

[TehKiller]

I am glad to announce Phase One of my SA prediction has been true (which was ending in 1-1)

Phase 2 and 3 include a 1-0 defeat to Uruguay and a 3-0 defeat to France

and now that my opening prediction went through I might aswell use my well saved budget and start visiting the bet shop again.

[Chyros]

Crap, if they hadn't cancelled that first hit by Mexico mine (2-1) would've been true instead >.> . Have a 1-2 defeat to France put down next.

[Libains]

I had them down for a 1-1 draw so it's good for me!

Reckon France Uruguay may be a tight game, but with goals. 3-2 Uruguay methinks.

[TehKiller]

I refused to play France and Uruguay due to my principles. I just dont bet on games where I support one of the teams (in this case Uruguay)

[Chyros]

Bloody hell, Uruguay are turtling the match to death and Anelka is costing France everything. In addition they have Ribery covered at every turn. Getting 2-1 (or even 1-0) is going to be a nightmare D: .

[Libains]

Chyros, on 11 Jun 2010, 20:18, said:

Bloody hell, Uruguay are turtling the match to death and Anelka is costing France everything. In addition they have Ribery covered at every turn. Getting 2-1 (or even 1-0) is going to be a nightmare D: .

Indeed. :(

Fingers crossed that they open up the game a little more in the second half, Forlan is looking threatening, but his younger half, Suarez, doesn't seem to be doing much bar being found offside.

[Chyros]

Bleh. How did Anelka and Gourcuff make it 70 minutes before they were taken out in the first place?

And is anyone else retroactively hoping it wasn't South Africa they're holding it in? The constant buzzing of those horns is driving me mad .

[Libains]

That.
Was.
Terrible.

Not a good game at all. Don't mind the horns at all though, I think the whole atmosphere and culture is simply phenomenal. Great place to hold the World Cup.

[Shirou]

Aside from expecting this from France, I think Uruguay should really have exploited this more. They have good strikers in the front and they should have attacked more. Forlan only needs a few oppurtunities to make that goal and Suarez does also have some potential being top scorer in our competition. It would at that point would probably have decided the game.

As showed Anelka doesn't have a clue about what he is doing, why don't they just get rid of him. Uruguay needn't be so defensive.

On a side note. Amazing goal by Tsabalala from the South African side, and an amazing miss in the final minutes.

Edited by Trivmvirate, 11 June 2010 - 21:33.

[Chyros]

AJ, on 11 Jun 2010, 22:26, said:

Not a good game at all. Don't mind the horns at all though

You've got to be kidding. They even keep blaring those things right through the national anthems and you still don't mind them?

Not a bad start so far. South Korea make a few mistakes here and there but work a lot better than the Greeks who are doing very sloppy at best (very high degree of ball loss). I'm wondering if Mr. Kim is watching .

I must say I'm impressed by some of the South Korean actions here and there. They don't focus on defence a lot but their defenders are very efficient, I must say. And some their attackers seem to be at least a little proficient in martial arts because I'm seeing back kicks and roundhouse kicks . Good team work, too - none of them seem egotistical at all. The fouls are all on the Greek side too, compared to the quite civilised Koreans. I think this is at least one factor in how they are able to march up, with all the free kicks and all.

One thing I'm surprised about is that the Greeks aren't attempting to use more high balls. They're significantly taller than the tiny Koreans, especially Samaras (I think if he shaved off his beard he'd look a little like you, John ). Korean keeper is doing well too, considering he he the sun shining straight in his face.

Edited by Chyros, 12 June 2010 - 12:24.

[Mbob61]

Not too bad for Argentina. A win is a win i guess. The Nigeria goalie played a blinder though.
A much better performance by the south koreans.
I'm looking forward to watch us stamp on some americans tonight

Mike

[BeefJeRKy]

The first ten minutes of Argentina's game were intense. Then it slipped into a defensive armageddon. But yeah the Nigerian goalie is world class. I expect him to be snapped up by some european club soon.

And I won't be able to watch England vs the USA. I have a beach party to attend.

[Chyros]

Mbob61, on 12 Jun 2010, 18:15, said:

I'm looking forward to watch us stamp on some americans tonight

Yeah, I'm looking forward to the "father-son battle" as well .

Scope, on 12 Jun 2010, 18:26, said:

The first ten minutes of Argentina's game were intense. Then it slipped into a defensive armageddon.

Indeed D: . I hadn't coutned on them being that afraid to be honest. Messi of course didn't stop trying to score for a second but was his usual selfish self leading to all misses. Still, a win is a win I guess, even if they could have made it 3-0 easily.

[BeefJeRKy]

Higuain had his fair share of fails as well.

[Mbob61]

Scope, on 12 Jun 2010, 17:36, said:

Higuain had his fair share of fails as well.

Well, rather than fails, i think it was more successes for the goal keeper.
I think they should have started with Milito but he had an alright game i think.

Mike

[Libains]

To be fair this is what I kind of figured would happen to Argentina, they're good, but I just feel they're lacking something. Interestingly, their right flank looked really, really weak. Against better teams they could really be in trouble down that side.

Now, to put the colony in their place