potential matchups
SO after enjoying a nice first round of matches (which highlighted germany's defensive frailities, lampard's ineffectiveness in spite of the fact that he won the man of the match award, sweden's impotency in front of goal, ecuador's tag as the surprise team of the tournament SO FAR and argentina's tag as one of the favourites of the competition), it is time to predice the potential BIG matchups that will occur in the world cup this year!
barring the group stage, which is quite obvious where all the action will lie, we shall first feast our eyes on the second round of matches! (: wont that be fun?
FIRST up would be ENGLAND v ECUADOR
england know all about poland, having drawn and beaten them once in their qualifying campaign. but how much do they know about ecuador, the side that conquered their closest rivals? ecuador showed in their 2-0 win over poland that they CAN play at low altitudes, and play a mean counter-attacking game that took poland by surprise.
NEXT, PORTUGAL v HOLLAND
portugal versus holland should serve up a very interesting debate. portugal's OKAY defence against holland's OKAY attack, and holland's young defence against portugal's aging strikeforce. the battle will lie mostly in midfield, where deco and simao take on cocu and sneijder. i feel scolari will have the credentials to negotiate portugal past this orange obstacle, if tom doesnt mind me saying that XD.
BRAZIL v the CZECH REPUBLIC
the number one team in the world versus the former number two team. brazil's young samba flair against the republic's aging warhorses. i cant help feeling the czech's will pull a big big surprise in this one, especially since it will be the final showing for many of their stars who are in their 30s already.
QUARTERS
ARGENTINA v GERMANY
of course you know who i'll be favouring xD. but seriously, after seeing wanchope put two past the german defence like nothing, i can't help feeling that the argentinians, with an obviously more potent strikeforce, will take this one like it was nothing. sorry all german sausages, you can say all you like but WE'LL JUST SEE OKAY?(:
FRANCE v ITALY
oh...i dunno...italy to nick this one? two mediocre teams who dont deserve to progress past this stage.
ENGLAND v PORTUGAL
another repeat of the euro fixture two years ago! will this one go to the penalty shootout? uhm...i dun think so. once again portugal's greatest weapon will be scolari, but i think this time england and eriksson will be better prepared to stand the test posed to them by the portuguese. and it would be a big big help if rooney could get some match time before this game, cos if he does he will tear up the portugues defence which feature many players he has come up against in the premiership and champions league.
SPAIN v BRAZIL
need i say more? okay watever...
i shan't go on to the semi-final stage in case i piss more people off XD. so...enjoy your world cup, and remember, when you drink, dun drive! (in case you decide to drown your sorrows in beer and wine, in which case i have nothing to say about how you managed to purchase those stuff anyway, or why your parents let you find their hidden stash so easily.)
barring the group stage, which is quite obvious where all the action will lie, we shall first feast our eyes on the second round of matches! (: wont that be fun?
FIRST up would be ENGLAND v ECUADOR
england know all about poland, having drawn and beaten them once in their qualifying campaign. but how much do they know about ecuador, the side that conquered their closest rivals? ecuador showed in their 2-0 win over poland that they CAN play at low altitudes, and play a mean counter-attacking game that took poland by surprise.
NEXT, PORTUGAL v HOLLAND
portugal versus holland should serve up a very interesting debate. portugal's OKAY defence against holland's OKAY attack, and holland's young defence against portugal's aging strikeforce. the battle will lie mostly in midfield, where deco and simao take on cocu and sneijder. i feel scolari will have the credentials to negotiate portugal past this orange obstacle, if tom doesnt mind me saying that XD.
BRAZIL v the CZECH REPUBLIC
the number one team in the world versus the former number two team. brazil's young samba flair against the republic's aging warhorses. i cant help feeling the czech's will pull a big big surprise in this one, especially since it will be the final showing for many of their stars who are in their 30s already.
QUARTERS
ARGENTINA v GERMANY
of course you know who i'll be favouring xD. but seriously, after seeing wanchope put two past the german defence like nothing, i can't help feeling that the argentinians, with an obviously more potent strikeforce, will take this one like it was nothing. sorry all german sausages, you can say all you like but WE'LL JUST SEE OKAY?(:
FRANCE v ITALY
oh...i dunno...italy to nick this one? two mediocre teams who dont deserve to progress past this stage.
ENGLAND v PORTUGAL
another repeat of the euro fixture two years ago! will this one go to the penalty shootout? uhm...i dun think so. once again portugal's greatest weapon will be scolari, but i think this time england and eriksson will be better prepared to stand the test posed to them by the portuguese. and it would be a big big help if rooney could get some match time before this game, cos if he does he will tear up the portugues defence which feature many players he has come up against in the premiership and champions league.
SPAIN v BRAZIL
need i say more? okay watever...
i shan't go on to the semi-final stage in case i piss more people off XD. so...enjoy your world cup, and remember, when you drink, dun drive! (in case you decide to drown your sorrows in beer and wine, in which case i have nothing to say about how you managed to purchase those stuff anyway, or why your parents let you find their hidden stash so easily.)