And will you be cheering for other AFC nations at all just because they're your neighbours? Personally I've got little idea who may do well.I know only a few Japanese players,Park from Man Utd,Harry Kewell(is he fit now?),Tim Cahill...that's it. I think Japan is going to get thrashed because from what I've seen our team is a bunch of prima donnas who are more concerned about how many highschool girls come asking for autographs after each match than playing good football.Not that I blame them for that,mind. It will be great North Korea can spring surprise again.If they sink a big team someone will probably come up with a torpedo joke and be forced to apologise. Aussies have a decent chance of progressing beyond group stage as Ghana are without Essien and Serbia are inconsistent but I'm not sure if I will like to see them do well. South Korea have a chance too as Greece have been sh1te since the autumn of 2004 and Nigeria are quite inconsistent.I'd like them to do well as Koreans on BigSoccer are mostly funny and sharp-witted mofos. What are your thoughts? This thread is about the World Cup 2010 btw.If you are dying to talk about World Cup 2014,go here.
North Korea have already tried to spring a surprise..................by trying to have their 3rd goalie substituted for a striker in their Squad of 23. FIFA are on top of those dirty little cheats though.
Yeah,that's a stupid rule,isn't it?I already posted this on WR but if a country wants to bring one goalkeeper and ten strikers they should be able to do that. Edit: Deleted the "personal attack" part.Sorry Caeser....
Supporting all the asian teams. I think Australia and South Korea will do well. Overall i think the world undestimates the AFC and i hope we can suprise a few people.
Unfortunately I think only South Korea can progress to the round of 16 since Nigeria are shite and Greece are all defense and nothing else. If they can sneak a goal past the Greeks they can take second place. A lot of people are writing off Ghana because they don't have Micheal Essein but that was the case in the African Cup of Nations and they played very well without their major stars. I think they'll be too tough for the Aussies. Japan have a tough group and unfortuntely they didn't look good in the run up to the tournament. North Korea were pretty much doomed since the draw.
sadly i doubt any of the Asian teams will make it past the group stage. Korea will most probably become 3rd place above greece. North Korea wont even get a point. Japan and Aussies might get a point or two but not enough to get them out of the group.
I can't comment on Nigeria. We might be able to find out how strong they are w/o Mikel when they face up against North Korea in a friendly match today. When Nigeria faced KSA last week, they used a lot of reserves so it's not a fair measurement in terms of how strong they are. TBH, Greece is a more concern for me as they're a team that can be very tricky for an Asian side. We might be able to dominate them in terms of possession, but they're a team who are extremely strong at set-pieces. Just one goal off the CK/FK early in the first half would put them in a very good position against us. So, yes, Greece's aerial threat is devastatingly scary. Just have a look at the average height of Greece NT; 7 out of 23-man squad are over 190cm & another 4 at 188cm. In fact, I heard Greece NT is the second tallest NT in the world in terms of average height. Just for reference, Korea NT's average height is pretty tall as well, standing at 181cm which is one of the tallest in Asia, and almost on par with the European NTs.
I'm actually basing it on their dismal African nations cup campaign. I still can't believe Kanu is still playing in the NT at the age of 51 years old.
I think South Korea will get out of its group, and I say that as a complete neutral. I don't expect any other Asian team to advance.
The rupee is stronger than the yen though. Just saying On topic: I wish all the AFC teams do well. But realistically speaking, and looking at recent form, South Korea and Japan have a fighting chance at advancing. Cameroon and Denmark have been dismal in most of their friendlies. Greece and Nigeria too aren't exactly 'hot' at the moment. Four points for both the teams in their respective groups just might see them through. North Korea has played well against the Greeks. They did not bunker like how we (or at least I) had expected them to. Do you guys think they could pull off a draw against a Drogba less IC? I don't think they stand much of chance against the other two.
Unfortunately none of the AFC teams look very likely to progress: 1. South Korea have the best chance. Greece is terrible and I don't see them getting a point. The progression will be decided between South Korea and Nigeria. Despite what some people are saying Nigeria has made a marked improvement as a team and look the likelier to win second place (even moreso taht they will have a strong home crowd supporting them). 2. Australia look like they have a shot. Serbia has been terrible in friendlies, as has Ghana. At least Ghana shows some promise, but Serbia shows none. Australia was way better in friendlies thn both teams. Germany is the team to beat. A very even group and whoever makes it out of the group I won't be surprised. 3. Japan has been dire in preparation matches. That said Denmark and Cameroon haven't exactly been remarkable themselves. Holland seems out of reach, but Japan look the least likely to get anything out of the world cup from this group. Cameroon is just too quick, while Denmark is too solid. 4. North Korea are doomed and their fate was decided in December.
Just saw this from Korea forum, Actually, Korea Republic's average height is 182.48cm. I thought it was 181cm, but it probably was derived from the 26-man preliminary squad. -------------- Average Squad Height (23 players) in cm 1 Serbia 185.96 2 Greece 185.26 3 Denmark 184.87 4 New Zealand 184.74 5 Germany 184.48 6 Slovakia 184.04 7 Slovenia 183.87 8 Australia 183.78 9 Nigeria 183.61 10 Switzerland 183.26 11 Cameroon 182.65 12 Brazil 182.61 13 Korea Republic 182.48 14 Algeria 182.17 15 France 181.96 16 England 181.74 17 Portugal 181.48 18 Italy 181.26 19 Netherlands 181.09 20 USA 181.09 21 Ivory Coast 180.96 22 Paraguay 180.91 23 Spain 180.91 24 Uruguay 180.52 25 Japan 178.78 26 Ghana 178.44 27 Argentina 178.04 28 Honduras 178.00 29 Mexico 178.00 30 South Africa 177.91 31 North Korea 177.74 32 Chile 176.48 Avg. Player Height 181.53
average height can be deceiving. it's the average height of the first XI that counts. In such a ranking i.e. Cote d'Ivoire is much taller than Portugal.
You have to look at the reason for the rule, though. It used to be that the squad was only 22 players (so basically, a First and Second XI), but in a couple of WCs countries had both goalkeepers either injured/suspended at some stage of the tournament. I think the last one was Belgium in 1982. So FIFA gave teams permission to bring an 'extra' goalkeeper for emergencies. It was never really intended to allow the team to bring an extra field player - just to allow teams extra cover for the GK because it's such a specialised position.
Argentina peak early in these tournaments so i see them advancing, South Korea have the best chance of advancing to the round of 16 if they can get at least 4 points assuming Argentina takes 9. However,i would'nt be surprised if Greece pull a Switzerland on them and get an early 1-0 result, putting huge pressure on the Koreans to take points from Argentina in the second match, the final match with Nigeria could be an exciting open affair, as both teams have great stamina and pace. Again, assuming both sides need three points.
now that i think about it korea do have a chance. Korea should get three points from greece unless the greeks get a early goal and start defending. They should be able to grab a tie from nigeria, seeing that nigeria will probebly beat greece, it will be down to which ever team beats greece with the higher GD and loses to argentina with a lower GD. But who knows, maybe Argentina wont advance past the group stages, dont forget people this is Football. u can never predict what will happen. as far as we know North Korea can top their group
I was wrong about how Japan would do but it was rather how sh1tty Cameroon played than how well Japan did.If Cameroon had any sort of cohesion among them they would've score three in the first half an hour.Don't know what Eto'o was doing on the wing,don't know why Alex Song did not play.This may play to our advantage as I'm sure pressure will grow on Le Guen to play the best players in their best positions from game 2. Australia should be able to put their act together from game 2 but tim Cahil's sending off is a massive blow.It was a harsh decision but he knew what he'd done as soon as he slid in from behind and it was totally unnecessary.I feel for the guy though.He's my favourite Aussie player.