Thunder Strike's Football 2010 World Cup guide

[Gangs]

hehe,

also, nice predictions TS.

[Leo]

My predictions:

Group A:
France-Group Winner Easily
Mexico-Eh, maybe, maybe not, who knows
Uruguay-Wouldn't be surprised if they get handled by South Africa fairly easily
South Africa-Home Team advantage could be huge, watch for them to fight for the #2 spot in this group

Group B:
Argentina-Winnarz of group
Greece-Not enough info on this team
Nigeria-Like most African teams, will play with a lot of heart, start the series out fast, even give the big names a little scare, but don't expect too much
South Korea-They're Asian, that's about all I know of this team

Group C:
Blighty-Will probably advance with the US, but this whole group is weak and anyone could get out
USA-Will win some close games on lucky shots and might make it through
Slovenia-They're European?
Algeria-Will challenge Blighty and the US for a spot to stay alive

Group D:
Germany-Group winnar
Ghana-Along with the Ivory Coast, they are the best examples of what I said about Nigeria, look for them to make a nice story for a time, but don't write them into the next round just yet
Australia-if this were rugby, we could just name them champions, too bad it isn't
Serbia-will challenge Ghana for that #2 spot

Group E:
Netherlands-Along with Denmark, should cruise to the next round
Denmark-Should cruise to the next round, expect some big games later from one of these two teams
Cameroon-not enough info
Japan-look up South Korea

Group F:
Italy-Clear group winner
Paraguay-Decent team, don't have high expectations for them, though
Slovakia-not enough info
New Zealand-my dark horse to sneak into the next round and then get pummeled by a big name team

Group G:
Brazil-Will have a tough fight, but I expect them to move on to the next round
Portugal-Also no promises, but should move on
Ivory Cost-Best African team in my opinion, but they got stuck with two teams that are clearly better and will struggle against them, would move on in some other groups, but in this one, they should be glad to beat up on North Korea
North Korea-Should be glad that they made it this far

Group H:
Spain-Probable group winner
Switzerland-Will put up good games, but I don't expect them to advance
Chile-Will play some memorable games and may even upset a few bigger teams in the next round, but eventually, they will be clearly eliminated by a better team
Honduras-Like the Swiss, will play some good games, but ultimately are not good enough to advance

[Arsenal 10]

arsenal u r so racist

Your Mum is racist.

[Thunder Strike]

New Zealand-my dark horse to sneak into the next round and then get pummeled by a big name team

No, just no.

[Thunder Strike]

Gravedigging this since the world cup starts in a few days.

[Leo]

Reading my own thoughts from a few months ago feels like reading someone else's work. However, I think I was spot on with those projections then and think I might actually have guessed pretty well with how the general plot will go in these games. We won't know for sure, though, for at least another week, and I personally can not wait.

[Gangs]

Forum needs more football topics.

[Ganon5]

Too many already

[Gangs]

You're a pink panda, wtf do you know?

[RAA]

My predictions. Soccer will eventually become the most popular term for the sport in and out of the U.S. / Spain will win the World Cup in 2010 / the U.S. beats England this weekend, but goes no further.

[Gangs]

I hope you swallow a handegg and die!

[Saratine]

Have to say i disagree with your group E.
I'd rate Japan and Cameroon much higher than Denmark at the moment.
Japan have plenty of good players and pushed England in the warm-ups.
Brazilian football has gone haywire, so I reckon it'll be a Spanish/German final, with Spain winning.

Also, I'm from Ireland. We have a different game called football, and we still call 'soccer' football,
so, to all you Yanks, it's football.

[Arsenal 10]

Netherlands will win. End of story.

[Thunder Strike]

Have to say i disagree with your group E.
I'd rate Japan and Cameroon much higher than Denmark at the moment.
Japan have plenty of good players and pushed England in the warm-ups.
Brazilian football has gone haywire, so I reckon it'll be a Spanish/German final, with Spain winning.

Also, I'm from Ireland. We have a different game called football, and we still call 'soccer' football,
so, to all you Yanks, it's football.

Japan lost every one of their warm up matches so they are looking terrible right now.
And the Germans don't look that great with a few injuries and I think they lack enough truly world class players in their squad to make it to the final.

As Arsenal said, the Dutch will win it. Although Spain is a possible alternative

[Gangs]

Netherlands? Are you serious?

[Leo]

As surprising as it is, gangs, the Dutch actually have a very rich history of good soccer and are still a very good team that can somehow challenge anyone.

[Gangs]

Gimme a break, if you're talking about the qualifying stage, they got it really easy. I wouldn't be surprised if they made an early exit, the Danes have got it in for them and Cameroon is looking good, imo, Netherlands luck has run out.


EDIT: A slightly unrelated but apt example. History doesn't cut it, Indians have a really rich history of good CRICKET but look at how we're doing now.

[Leo]

The Dutch are still really good, regardless of history. I don't expect the Cams to do much damage this year. As much as I love watching African teams play because of their penchant for speed, they are still unable to hang with the big boys through 90 minutes of grueling actions.

[Thunder Strike]

History may not be very helpful but current form is.
The Dutch had a spotless qualifying record and had an excellent build up and impressive results in their warm up matches. They possess some world class players and have shown at Euro 2008 they have the potential to rip apart even the best of teams. Their defence is their main weakness but hopefully with their attacking strength they can out-score any opponents they come across.

[Ganon5]

You're a pink panda, wtf do you know?

I know there will be lots of "men" lying on the ground in "pain" because someone brushed against their leg