In Retrospect: Your Top Five Matches of 2006 ...

[Dr. Wankler]

... and your bottom five, too, if you want.

My top five, off the top of my head, in no particular order:

Germany/Argentina.
France/Spain
Argentina/Mexico.
Germany/Italy
Croatia/Australia

Bottom Five:

Switzzzzzzerland/Ukraine
S & M/Argentina
France/Switzerland
Portugal/Netherlands
Ukraine/Saudi Arabia

[17mika]

... and your bottom five, too, if you want.

Switzzzzzzerland/Ukraine
S & M/Argentina
France/Switzerland
Portugal/Netherlands
Ukraine/Saudi Arabia

Portugal netherlands I think was still entertaining.
And you're missing England Portugal... 4 me it was the most boring game ot the whole WC.. It really seemed that both teams were just waiting 4 the PK.


As far as the best ones (excluing Italy's one, that I am not able to judge):
France/Spain
Argentina/Mexico
Australia/Croatia
Saudi arabia/Tunisia
Brasil/Ghana

Talking about Italy's ones.. Both Italy-Ghana and Germay-Italy were great games, but i cannot compare it unbiasedly with the others..

[RegginaCalcio]

Italy vs Germany
Argentina vs Mexico
Argentina vs Ivory Coast
Italy vs Ghana
France vs Spain

[GRBomber]

Argentina x Mexico was just an interesting game!
Just an endless midfield battle.

[PaddyClaretman]

[QUOTE=17mika]Portugal netherlands I think was still entertaining.
And you're missing England Portugal... 4 me it was the most boring game ot the whole WC.. It really seemed that both teams were just waiting 4 the PK.

[QUOTE]

And Italy didn't do that on Sunday? Okay, it wasn't a fantastic match, but England were far more ambitious with 10 men than Italy were with 11 and a one man advantage. I can't remember Italy once seriously threatening France from the beginning of the second half onwards.

And you found England v Portugal more boring than Switzerland v Ukraine?

[17mika]

And Italy didn't do that on Sunday? Okay, it wasn't a fantastic match, but England were far more ambitious with 10 men than Italy were with 11 and a one man advantage. I can't remember Italy once seriously threatening France from the beginning of the second half onwards.

And you found England v Portugal more boring than Switzerland v Ukraine?

I'm not judjing how good are the teams.. I'm Just saying how entertaining the Match was :)

As I said I cannot juge how entertaining are Italy's games in the WC, because they're never boring 4 me that I'm a supporter. I'm sure is's the same 4 you 4 England's ones

I'm not rating England.. I just said that the game was very, very boring. The attitude of England was very good when they were 10.. but they were too tired to do something more..

Yes.. I think Ucraine Switzerland was better.. the first half was quite entertaining.. then you're right that in 2half and ET it wasn't good at all.

[GrandeCannavaro]

Arg vs. Mexico
Ita vs. Germany
Arg vs. Ivory Coast
Fra vs. Spain
Cro vs. Aus

Honorable mention: Swe vs. T&T and Fra vs. Brazil

[Excape Goat]

France vs Italy. I thought it was an entertaining game. Both sides wanted to beat each other in the first half. The pace of the game was fast. In the 2nd half, the game got boring, but it was not Argentina-Germany boring where both sides cancelled each other in the midfield. France had a few good chances with their wingers having the performance of their lives. Italy appeared to be dead, but they did have their chances. Toni had a goal disallowed. Pirlo's freekick was nice too. Then, we had the Zidane incident.

Italy vs Germany: The best goalless draw I have seen..... I meant the first 90minutes.

France vs Spain.

Tunisia vs Saudi Arabia: end to end battle. Both teams played the beautiful game as well.

Germany vs Costa Rico: 4 great goals and a sloppy German defense that made the match more even.

Argentina vs Serbia: Sorry, I like goals. The Aregentinians attacked beautifully.

I did not see Mexico-Argentina(due to VCR failure).

[Nanbawan]

France v Spain.

I must be biased somewhere...

[benztown]

Germany vs. Italy
Germany vs. Poland
Germany vs. Agrentina
Argentina vs. Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast vs. Holland

[RegginaCalcio]

And Italy didn't do that on Sunday? Okay, it wasn't a fantastic match, but England were far more ambitious with 10 men than Italy were with 11 and a one man advantage. I can't remember Italy once seriously threatening France from the beginning of the second half onwards.

And you found England v Portugal more boring than Switzerland v Ukraine?


I'm sorry but England was the most boring team to watch out of the big 8 teams. Easily the most boring. I was expecting much more from them.

[Fan123]

WORST MATCHES:

England -Ecuador - I didn't even bother watching after 10 minutes.

England - Paraguay - Oh, it was the heat that made us like this!! It's not that we suck, it's b/c God made the weather like that so we can play like crap.

England - Trinidad - Omg, omg, I can't even talk about how disgusting

England's performance here was. Yes, they scored and won, but they did no better than Sweden.

Saudi - Spain - Spain rested, so it pretty much sucked.


See the common denominator: England involved in MOST of the boring matches. No one can say anything about Ukraine, Switzerland, Saudi, etc. b/c all/most of them went into the WC not expecting much, but with the English, they were saying they'll WIN. Maybe the media will learn not to be so arrogant before they actually win something?? Even the Germans, Italians, Dutch, Portuguese etc.. didn't go in saying "We'll WIN."

Best:

1. Italy - Germany
2. Holland - Portugal
3. Argentina - Mexico
4. Argentina - Ivory Coast
5. Holland - Ivory Coast

[Fan123]

[QUOTE]

And Italy didn't do that on Sunday? Okay, it wasn't a fantastic match, but England were far more ambitious with 10 men than Italy were with 11 and a one man advantage. I can't remember Italy once seriously threatening France from the beginning of the second half onwards.

And you found England v Portugal more boring than Switzerland v Ukraine?

You forget one small thing my friend. Switzerland and Ukraine have nothing to prove, NO ONE expects ANYTHING from them. I don't know who on earth would have actually thought those two could play EXCITING football. England on the other hand, is different. England went into this tournament thinking they could win it all b/c they are just soo good, but the result was more than disappointing. Not b/c they lost to Portugal, but b/c they sucked at all the matches they played in.

Look at Ivory Coast, they went home early, but still manage to win fans and impress the world with their football talents. They play THREE matches, lost 2 and won 1, went home, but they won so much more than England (thought to be a world powerhouse) can ever do in FIVE matches. That's sad and pathetic.

[Buschkauz]

Best:
Italy vs Germany
Argentina vs Mexico
Argentina vs Ivory Coast
Italy vs Ghana
Germany vs. Poland

Worst:
England vs. Paraguay
England vs. Ecuador
Switzerland vs. Ukraine
Ukraine vs. Tunisia
Japan vs. Croatia

[Dominican Lou]

Best:

France vs. Spain
Argentina vs. Mexico
Argentina vs. S&M
Ghana vs. Czech Republic
Holland vs. Ivory Coast

[Crimen y Castigo]

Italy / Germany
-- Grosso! The classic finish to a heavyweight battle.

Tunisia / Saudis
-- Al Jaber! The Old Man scores off the bench, only to be undone by Jaidi.

Argentina / Mexico
-- Maxi! The goal of the tourney.

Germany / Argentina
-- Jens! Two great goals, one keeper's greatest moment.

Ghana / Czech Republic
-- Gyan! The only major upset of the tourney as the Black Stars make their mark.


Honorable Mention:

Germany / Portugal
-- SCHWEINSTEIGER!!! A whole 90 minutes of shouting the best name in the Cup. Plus C.Ronaldo gets to the show the world yet again what a diving classless punk he is. If only Nowotny would have come on solely to headbutt Figo and/or Pauleta in the chest, it would have made the top 5.