[AWR]

Originally Posted by ronmexico Wow...USA in the top 4 and England not even on the list! Bold

Feeling bold.

Based on the group C scenario of US beating England and Slovenia drawing with England and the US. (All win against Algeria.) Big IFs but there it is. US then beats Serbia (penalties), Uruguay (2-1) and losing to Brazil (3-1) in semis and again against Argentina (2-0) in Third Place match.

My hardest pick was Brazil over Netherlands in the Quarters. That's probably a mistake.

Originally Posted by CFP Spain beat Poland 6-0 in their latest warm-up match. Looking scarily on form.

With 6 different goals scorers too: D. Villa, D.J. Silva, X. Alonso, C. Fabregas, F. Torres, P. Rodriguez.

Yikes. Especially good to see Torres back. What a fun team.

[ronmexico]

Feeling bold...

I hope you're right...I want to see us get all George Washington on their asses!

On that note, I wonder what would be some good shit talking chants the Yankees could come up with if we were to maintain a lead over England...

[Chinney]

I am surprised to see the relatively high rankings of the USA generally among the pics of the AN’ites on this forum, while I don’t even have them in my pick of 16. I am becoming nervous about my choice, but I’ll stick with my prediction of them not getting out of the Group stage, despite their relative high FIFA ranking.

As for the World Cup, or soccer generally, being a crapshoot, I would agree that talent will usually win out – as evidenced by the pretty consistent showings of the top ranked teams among the finalists in the World Cup, including the winners and runners up. That said, any tournament that uses a single-match knockout system, as the World Cup does after it gets down to 16, will have an element of crapshoot to it. This element might be a bit exacerbated in respect of soccer by a tendency for low scores and the use of the shootout. I hate, hate, hate shootouts.

[AWR]

I said I know it's your game, but I like it, like it, yes I do! Said I like it... [Sung a la Mick Jagger in It's Only Rock and Roll)

I once saw Scotland play the US at RFK stadium is a World Cup warm up. There being no animosity whatsoever between the clubs, the only chant I heard was from the Scots in the crowd: "We fuckin' hate En-glund, we fuckin hate En-glund....".

[CFP]

Hmm. I'm English (well, Italian father notwithstanding. Sorry Dad.) and I've a very ominous feeling about Saturday. I hope I'm wrong.

[AWR]

No worries, Chinney, CFP. The US could just as easily end up with a draw and two losses and be on the first flight home. They are one of those cusp teams, who can light up a game with awesome athleticism or implode brains with their lack of football/soccer "institutional knowledge".

[CFP]

I only want to see good football. No team deserves or should expect to progress just by the sum of their 'star' players. If the US team comes out and plays attractive, attacking football, and beats a complacent England, good for them.

[Moogs]

Originally Posted by lightning_bug It may be a total crapshoot, but there is one thing you can pretty much take to the bank in the modern era of the World Cup: Germany, Italy, France, Brazil or Argentina will win. Spain, England, and the Netherlands will challenge. Beyond that, yes, it is a giant game of keno.

That's because those are the teams that pay the refs the most money.

Argentina, well, they have Diego Maradona at the head of the table, and he appears to be completely invincible and born lucky, so they'll find their way to the title match by divine Providence.

I hope all of you think this way in the pool and rank Argentina highly. Yes yes! Invincible Maradona. He'll snort some coke, waive his hand to the team and all will fall into place!

Originally Posted by Hassan i Sabbah You're sort of counting out that amazing effort of will that can see a bad team 'deserve' to beat an excellent one. And it can be wonderful to watch.

Don't misunderstand my comment folks, I LIKE watching World Cup soccer. I think it's great. I just think the way things pan out in many situations has as much to do with luck and circumstance, as rosters or tactics. "Anything can happen" is more true in soccer than any other sport, might be another way to put it. That's why I say it's a crap shoot. In some sports you can look at the rosters, coaching, matchups and pick things right most of the time. Here, other than the obvious candidates like Brazil, Germany, Spain, Italy, etc (the ones who pay the refs ), it's much less certain.

When you have a sport where scoring is almost as rare for very good teams as mediocre teams, then you have a situation where 1 goal often decides things, where ties are common, etc. So your team could be average talent, playing average, making mistakes... but if you score that one goal at the right time and you can play good D / Goal, then in many cases you will beat a very good team on that day. Other than the obvious cases, there's just less pattern to what happens in soccer.

Originally Posted by ronmexico I completely disagree! I can't think of a sport that's less of a crap shoot. Perhaps there are a few more upsets in the WC because too many of the world's best players are way overplayed, exhausted, and injury prone once it rolls around.

See above.

[AWR]

Payoff?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...p-2010-referee

FIFA, like UEFA, the UN, US investment houses - filled with crooks as one would expect.

The neutrality of certain reffing in a number of recent World Cups has been questioned. I remember especially the lopsided calling in South Korea vs Italy and vs Spain; Brazil vs. Australia (2002 also).

It sucks to see, and I hope this chucklehead doesn't influence Saturday's game.

[Frank777]

I haven't followed World Soccer enough in the last two years to rank 16 teams. But I'm a Brazilian fan through and through.

Brazil for the win!

[Noel]

Here's my shot in the dark:

Portugal
Brazil
England
Argentina
Netherlands
Germany
Italy
France
Spain
Chile
USA
Cameroon
Mexico
Paraguay
Ghana
Greece

[Hassan i Sabbah]

Originally Posted by Noel Here's my shot in the dark: Portugal Brazil England Argentina Netherlands Germany Italy France Spain Chile USA Cameroon Mexico Paraguay Ghana Greece

Portugal winners. I'm prevented from considering this possibility by the prospect of Christiano Ronaldo's smugness becoming dense enough to bend light.

[Chinney]

Originally Posted by ronmexico Feeling bold... I hope you're right...I want to see us get all George Washington on their asses! On that note, I wonder what would be some good shit talking chants the Yankees could come up with if we were to maintain a lead over England...

I am looking forward to the USA-England match. To make it even more interesting, maybe they should revive the 1776 stakes: the winner gets to keep North America above the ‘Spanish territories’. If those stakes are too high, they could revive the ones of 1812 instead: the winner gets to keep Canada. Or maybe it’s that the loser gets to keep Canada. I’ll have to re-read my history on that one.

[Moogs]

Originally Posted by AWR Payoff? It sucks to see, and I hope this chucklehead doesn't influence Saturday's game.

Wouldn't be surprised. You just know there are some big wigs in all the countries with bigtime teams, who try to bribe officials. Would be nearly impossible to catch them. Italy and Argentina would be my top choices for payoffs, followed by Mexico.

[Foj]

I wonder if there will be any hyper excited announcers during any of the matches.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIdE2ms9F14

[Elysium]

Insanity...

Spain
Netherlands
Germany
USA
Brazil
Argentina
Italy
Nigeria
Serbia
Portugal
England
Mexico
Cameroon
Slovakia
Honduras
South Africa

[Maciej]

My list, from 16 down:

Netherlands
Brazil
Germany
Spain
England
Ital
Argentina
France
Portugal
USA
Paraguay
Cameroon
Mexico
Chile
Serbia
Greece

I'm going with the Netherlands, but hedging my bet with a Brazil.

[tomoe]

Here's my blind guess...

Spain
Brazil
Portugal
Côte d'Ivoire
France
Italy
Germany
USA
England
Netherlands
Mexico
South Africa
Uruguay
Slovakia
Honduras
Greece

Last week finally got the chance to see a taping of The Daily Show and they filmed the 3 possible outcomes for the USA-England match. John Oliver (who in English for those that don't know) was on the green screen and "in South Africa" while John Stewart was still in New York. It was hilarious to watch because the different outcomes (which were all very funny) played out such that even a tie was portrayed as devastating for England's ego.

[Chinney]

Very little time to get your picks in. 15 minutes before game time of the first match tomorrow: 1500 GMT.

Should be a great tournament.

[ronmexico]

I just arrived in nyc. We are watching the first match at a south african restaurant in brooklyn. The us eng match at a bar my friend owns in manhattan with 60 of our closest friends. he has the first floor reserved for our group. Good times

[Chinney]

Sounds like fun!

[Moogs]

Watching US-England with brother-in-law (Spain) and nephew tomorrow. And on the outside chance any of you missed it, here is maybe the greatest sports spot ever. If this doesn't get you jazzed up for the games (speaking to Americans mostly), nothing will.

Go Full Screen and 720p.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwzTTdEIrvs

[kieran]

I'm rooting for the U.S. and whoever is playing Mexico. I hope Mexico loses their first 3 and is gone.

I'm heading down to the new MLS Philadelphia Union stadium to get a sneak peek before it opens and watch the US-England match. They're supposed to be showing the game on the big screen, but if it's not a good watching spot, I'll just head home and watch it from the comfort of my own house.

Let's go Yanks! (One of the rare times you'll see me say that, as a Phillies/Red Sox fan. )

[Moogs]

Originally Posted by kieran I'm rooting for the U.S. and whoever is playing Mexico. I hope Mexico loses their first 3 and is gone.

I too would like nothing better, however knowing better, I had to rank them somewhere in my final 16. Although if they lose all 3 games you're probably hoping for a death sentence since they'll probably be gunned down by drug lords when returning home.

[Chinney]

Ack. I'll be working all flippin' day, so I won't be watching much soccer. I think that they will have a big-screen TV set up in the basement of the building with the games on, so maybe I'll be able to catch a few minutes at lunchtime.

[Hassan i Sabbah]

OH MY GOD THE WORLD CUP IS ABOUT TO START

capitals are cool

[Maciej]

ESPN3 for the win!

[Chinney]

And all your picks are final as of....now.

Game on.

[Yontsey]

That waived off goal for Mexico in the 1st half was one of the worst calls I've ever seen.

[kieran]

If you look at the replay though, he was actually offsides, but not by much.

An extremely close call, but it ended up being right.

Here's a TwitPic of the play