World Cup!

johnsenior1973

Off course The Netherlands will win this year. All the games in the quaulify round won andnot one singe draw or loose n the other played matches. And the best dutch players are well organised players in the best clubs all over the world.

So this time the Netherlands will win

As a Chelsea fan I'd love to see Arjen Robben win the World Cup. He's a magnificent player.

But it's Holland. You can have the best side in the world but they'll all decide they hate each other and/or the coach and you'll end up beating yourself.

Maybe Spain winning the Euros will help the Dutch squad to realise that winning the World Cup transcends any petty arguments they have and Holland will be able to use the talent at their disposal. I'm not so sure though. I just think that countries like Germany, Italy and Brazil have the tradition of winning World Cups that goes beyond the players at their disposal. For me it'll be one of those sides or Spain who lift the WC.

olishea

Well I can safely say England won't win.

dermotcoll

I would love to see England get to the final against Germany and then lose in a penalty shoot out!!! Carlsberg dont do world cups but if they did!!!! Classic.

P.S. Its only because the media in the UK will not give over about it for 50+ years - it does get on my man boobs somewhat!

leedeetee

@dermotcoll said:

P.S. Its only because the media in the UK will not give over about it for 50+ years - it does get on my man boobs somewhat!

I agree, and I think the tabloids get on 100% of sensible football fans nerves. They are the sensationalist trash which unfortunately, educated the uneducated (through the back pages anyway).

Just waiting for the first England player to be mocked up as a Lion, draped in a St Georges flag saying some tripe like "this is our time".

bubbalove

@solo said:

I should be supporting my country of residence (USA), but I shudder the arrogance of them actually winning it or doing better than expected as the media will as per usual elevate them to Gods, heroes and world beaters.

Of course they would elevate them as such! The US has talent but in no way do we compare to the talent of say Spain, Netherlands, and Germany. If we make it past England and the first stage I'll be a happy camper. Anything after that would just be icing on the cake! GO USA!

solo

NBC pissed me off during the Winter Olympics, concentrating on the US 3rd place more than the actual winner of an event, during the introductions of the contenders they would get to the American team/individual and then voice over with their adoration muting the intro of the other participants. They would elevate even the most mediocre US member as world beater, hero, champion before an event and after when they had lost, failed to finish or been disqualified there would be 100 excuses why it was not their inability to win but bad judging, cheating or foul.

I hope ABC/ESPN are not so one sided, and give all teams a fair coverage and accolades when due. The argument during the Olympics was that I was watching on an American network, but that's bullshit as I have watched World competitions from other countries without the bias, and we call ourselves a country comprised of many cultures, I hope it shows this time.
I do not mind interviews and pre and post game team USA talk, I just hope that during the games they do not waffle too much and/or cut out intros and other countries national anthems.

bubbalove

I definitely agree with you about the whole Olympics coverage. I didn't want to hear about the Americans that lost either. Hopefully ABC/ESPN will cover the World Cup the right way without bias. I'm just ready for some Futbol! Anyone down for a friendly game of Fifa?

utiler

I think it will be hard to beat Holland although you could throw a blanket over a number of teams in this catagory..
Dark horse - Ghana.

hvanessen

Oke, you right about good player who didn't want to play together. That was always the question in Holland for players from Ajax/Feyenoord/PSV but we let it see in 1988 when we won the european titel.

But now we have a new coach who wants the see a team working for eachother. Therefore are very good player who wants to play alone not selected. The power off Holland is a good working team with good and succesful players. I think (and hope) we go to the final against Germany and then we get a new chapter of the history between Holland en Germany

hvanessen

ING Bank is the sponsor of the Netherlands soccer team. They made a commercial where the Netherland (nickname Orange after the name off the royal family) is marching up in South Africa.

Watch the video of the country who will succeed in the world championships on http://webtv.ing.nl/wk/?mid=82758

solo

[flash=600,400:3ksz8nsi]http://www.youtube.com/v/PFv-1t6HUQs&feature=related[/flash:3ksz8nsi]

Pretty catchy tune

leedeetee

Some very interesting friendlies today:

Spain v Saudi Arabia
Serbia v New Zealand, and
Slovakia v Cameroon

Could give an indicator as to what kind of tournament many of these will have.

hvanessen

Interesting meeting tonight.

The Netherlands - Ghana

When the Netherlands win this match, they have won 18 games without any loss or draw. The orange legion is a winning path to the world title.

leedeetee

@unknownuser said:

Interesting meeting tonight.

The Netherlands - Ghana

When the Netherlands win this match, they have won 18 games without any loss or draw. The orange legion is a winning path to the world title.

Very confident there!

I'm sorry but I think Holland will struggle to win the world cup, I think you're defence isn't strong enough and players such as Kuyt and Babel, leave a lot to be desired. Happy to be proved wrong though.

hvanessen

Attacking is the best defence. The dutch team wil play always attacking with the big four.
van Persie (Arsemal) Kuyt (Liverpool) Robben (Bayern Munich) Sneijder (Inter Milan) we have a very good attacking side. Also we have other good players such as van Bommel (Bayern Munich) and van der Vaart (Hamburger SV).
Last week we played a very good match against Mexico (2-1 won) who is also a competitor in South Africa. And the poule off the dutch with Japan en Cameroon and Denmark is not so stark.

Mike Lucey

Hi Guys,

I came across a nice World Cup Planner Chart that some of you might find useful. Further details can be had at iGIZMO http://issue.igizmo.co.uk/1Y4beaad26e032e807.cde

Mike

WC Planner Chart.jpg

ig44_worldcupplanner.pdf

solo

Thanks Mike, my boys will use this for sure, they are Americanized and this world cup is going to be an education on soccer, they are stoked!

(my youngest was mortified that soccer was more popular than 'football' in the world, and confused when I explained that the 'World series' did not include the world)

leedeetee

Nice find Mike, in a similar vein, if you want to see where your predictions end up, use this spreadsheet. It's a free Excel sheet with a schedule of all tournament games. It automatically calculates the position of each football team according to game scores you put in.

Have a play!