USA and Holland. With soft spot for England all the African countries, especially the hosts, and, strangely, DPRK (just because they are such massive underdogs and going up against major powers). With all my heart and soul I hope Japan gets crushed in all 3 games (possibly) and the South Koreans embarass themselves (likely), there is no such thing as "east asian unity".
blah chengb02 be nice it is opportunities to make big money off our great eastern asian brothers i would bet south korea 1-1 argentina and probably north korea draw with ivory coast mr. kim jong il probably wouldn't let the team go back to pyongyang without a point
I am being nice, I didn't say how much I really hate them...I would bet Argentina beats South Korea 4-0 and that North Korea fails to earn a point, which Dear Leader will be perfectly okay with as nobody will know a thing about it in DPRK, plus I think they are realistic about their chances.
Don't underestimate the DPRK. Have you seen Jong Tae-se and Hong Young-jo play? The Chollima is known as being resilient. They just might surprise everyone and make it out of the group now with Nani out. I am kind of hoping Japan will get a break since they have been so miserable lately. Japan is underrated while South Korea is overrated, IMO. There is such a thing as East Asian unity, I am all for it. Prove to the world that yellow men can jump!!
sadly some asians do not want to be yellow i remember seeing korean poster stating that they feel bad to be branded as chinese/japanese because they look like us actually i wanna ask is there any 'successful unity' that combined three different cultures together 'harmoniously'?
Come on Golazo. Don't turn this perfectly good thread into another thread about Japanese p0rn. On a serious note, yes I do think our three countries have a lot in common (certainly more than we admit), it is just that so far we haven't outgrown our skin-deep and childish pseudo-nationalism (as supposed to true nationalism) to embrace one another.
+1 On a side note I was talking to a British guy in a bar last night and he said he was happy England avoided a group with Russia, Croatia, or the Czech Republic. I thought he was joking at first but I quickly realized he was serious. Moral of the story? Not all British lads are knowledgeable about soccer.
Will probably be keeping an eye on England and Argentina this WC. England because of HK, and plus the fact that if you think about it, they are the underdogs who do have a chance of going far. Argentina because of Maradona and their overtalented front line. Sorry boys, no love from me for the other AFC teams. Australia can go to hell, DPRK can follow suite. Japan will likely crash and burn on its own accord. I don't like South Korea's sense of self-entitlement when it comes to qualifying for this tourney, but because of Ji-sung, I won't hate on them completely .
DPRK is everybody is favorite underdog. That alone makes it a phony underdog. If you want a real underdog go with Japan. Nobody here seems to think too highly of the Japanese team despite its achievement, which, is the sign, of a true underdog. USA and Japan are the truest underdogs of this WC. Forget East Asian unity, I want Pan Pacific unity. USA! Japna!
story time: so when i was studying in manchester (a city in england for those who dont know) there was a bar that has a ps2 and winning eleven game for those who dunno, i am actually a hardcore czech republic fan! (with other teams include china of course, and england + canada + hong kong..) and i actually won 3rd place in the winning eleven vancouver tournament few years ago with czech republic national team. so i used czech republic again! and the whole crowd laughed at me "why the bloody hell you use such team? czech republic? come on!" so we played, and the british lad use england of course i lose 2-0 at first time whenever they score a goal they would slowly play the replay and the whole crowd would taunt and jeer me then yeah, i changed strategy. put milan baros up front with jan koller as CF moved jankoluvski from defense to the midfield on the left side. crowd start taunting me for wasting time. at the end. i fcuked him over with 3-2 with last two goals as free kick (free kick in winning eleven is quite difficult) the whole crowd went silent and the guy was pissed, cursed me, etc etc. and the next thing is. people start lining up and forced me to use czech republic and vowed to beat me till i am down. and i was down 4-0 next game with the opponent using barcelona again, i was taunted, and the best thing for an asian dude living in england (especially after 11pm) is stfu and go home. the more you win, the more danger you would be in, and the more you lose, the better that you are quiet and just leave. (believe me, manchester is fcuking racist after 11pm) moral of this story is: typical english support WITHIN england never respect other teams they would just insult/taunt other teams with no manner and unsound reason. i would have to say: even if china team win, at least our typical continental rivals such as korea (dokebiteam/woorijim) and japan (forgot who) would come and congrat us and praise us --- and i think in real life they would do that. england team? not really. majority of them would whine like effing delusional loser. and whenever they lose, they would go on national tantrum (hence the continuous quarterfinal exit in world cup and euro, you will see the whole england is in national emergency/agony )
Have we met in real life? Or have I totally forgotten that conversation? Or are you drunk? Nice Winning Eleven in Manchester story.
Come on guys be nice, if Italy can fluke their way to another cup in '06, then at least save a wee bit of space in your heart for the England boys to finally lift one after all these years. The English folk take their game seriously, and while it does border on ridiculous when you look at their NT shortcomings making headline news and causing national concern, I guess you have to take into consideration it for them is a matter of national "pride". I mean, ntg or anyone else from Canada can attest to the national panic just a few months ago during the Olympics when our NT Hockey team lost a group stage game to the US. People were on the verge of suicide or riot, but quickly jumped back on the bandwagon when we managed to salvage gold in OT in the final. From what I've heard from relatives living in England, it does indeed seem to harbour a lot more of a xenophobic attitude than say Canada. But I guess thats what happens when "Asian" means ur Indian, not Oriental.
I wonder why a lot of you guys seem to be passionate about England, is it because many of you are from HK? I've got no love for the Brits whatsoever, both as a soccer team and as a country in general. I too hope they crash and burn. To me they are just a bunch of overrated snobs. If I had to list the least favorite teams England and Brazil takes No.1 and No.2 respectively.
I lived there for 5 years and Brits are generally very passionate about the game of course... I agree with you that they can sometimes pass off as a snobby bunch, but which of the top nations aren't? I'd challenge you to find Italians or Spanish fans who aren't. I remember playing a bit of soccer when I was on vacation in the Caribbean. My friends and I were put in to a "Chinese" team... and the others were a bunch of Brits. I remember they were musing at a German who was pretty skilled... but laughing us off. We ended up doing okay and scoring a few on them, and I had overheard a comment from one of them saying "Maybe he's got a bit of British blood in him." Always thought that was a bit funny and ironic at the same time.