SO Kofi, Let me ask you this, if you field such a team of stars, why are you getting your butt handed to you by the likes of mighty Zimbabwei in a game your team certainly wanted to win? Why is Mexico beating you soundly? Although I didn't see the game, it been said that they totally dominated possession and that the score could have easily been 4-0 or 5-0. I didn't notice you disputing that point other than to say if you had Essien your team would have played better. Which brings us to the point of this post, after your top 2 or 3 players, it appears that your team is NOT very good, hence getting beat all the time without them and not winning anything spectacular when you do have them. And that leads to the final point, come WC time, thanx for playing and we have some lovely parting gifts.
I expect some upsets and all teams will get at least one point and no team will win all three. I suspect Italy and the winner of the US-Czech game will go through.
Which at this point youd have to say the Czech's are supreme favorites. Tough at this point to figure out how the USA will get all its pieces together by June. Injuries, and lack of form leave the USA in dire straits. Reyna, Obrien, Johnson, Dempsey, Beasley all have issues at this point. Dempsey's boneheaded suspension is the worst of it all, but something tells me he's not good enough to compete with the czech's anyway. USA's saving grace is Arena...he will place the team with the best chance to win on June 12...problem is, will the team be any good?
No one thinks the USA has better players than the Italians or Czechs and I agree that if someone said that US players were better than the Italians or the czechs than that would be silly. However to think that the US will make it through the group stage because the US team will be better conditioned, play better as a team and be better managed than the Czech and Italian teams is not silly. Actually I think its a reality those two teams are going to have to face. How often do the top two teams in the group both make it through anyways? I remember in the last WC when Italy lost to Mexico who the US beat, and Italy was eliminated by S. Korea who the US tied with. I remember the WC favorite France being knocked out in round 1 after opening the cup with a loss to Senegal and Argentina who was also one of the top ranked teams in the tourney being elimianted in the Group stage. I also remember the Czechs not qualifying for the last WC, it all goes to show that anything can happen. I think the Czechs and USA go through with the Czechs winning the group. However the US will have some luck on its side with Brazil somehow finishing second to Croatia. US goes past Croatia and Brazil gets its act together and knocks out the Czechs.
i just find it amazing how people can say that italy is gonna finish in last... or the us can top the group ... sure anything can happen.. but i'd love to know the chance of that...some poeple have to use some common sense... i read some of these things and dudes are talking about the us like there almighty .... for example redtyre: USA and Czech Republic advance! << even look on the next page for another example ...
stuff like this... good luck scoring agianst the usa???????????????????????? oh thats cuz Oguchi Onyewu is just as good as Nesta,Cannavaro,Zambrotta and i guess since luca toni has just scored like 25 goals this season against some of the best defenders in the world hes not gonna score agianst the great american ...Oguchi Onyewu
With all your great stars, you managed 1 GOAL against us in 2002 and that was b/c of a defensive mistake by someone no longer in our player pool. And be honest with yourself, the Italians aren't really known for lighting up the nets, but rather for scoring one and putting 11 people behind the ball. But hey, you beat Germany 4-1 and we lost to them by the same score, so rest easy on that and don't expect much from us on June 17th....
against zimbabwe there 6 regular startes missing (muntari, kuffour, amoah, a.gyan, essien, kingston) and appiah turned out to be injured. not an excuse to lose against them, but as you can see it wasn't "such a team of stars" btw draws against the likes guatemala, panama and canada don't look too impressive either. what are trying to say with the bold part? are you refering to the usa - germany game? are you seriously thinking the us team did not want to win against germany? 1-0 in a more a less home game and the goal being scored in 75th minute is soundly? so how do you call the loss of the usa against germany? if you didn't see the game, then please don't refer to what could have happened if... i agree with you that ghana has not as much depth as italy for example, but if you say that ghana has only 2 or 3 good players (which would be appiah, kuffour and essien) and say that the others are not very good (the likes of mensah, addo, amoah etc) then the us team hasn't got any good players. btw as we all have seen against germany, depth isn't the strenght of the us team either, so don't get me started.. time will tell
On paper ( and in real life ) the Italians are the tops in the group. The Czechos historically have a knack for tripping the Italians 1-0. If Italy attacks in this World Cup ( wouldn't that be something ) they should cruise into the second round. The Czechos clearly the second best team in the group should also advance. As a USA fan, I have to admit, we have no strikers (only forwards) , deficient left back play, and a bit of a plodding and predictable style. Trust me , the Italians won't lose any sleep worrying about our forwards. Teams with good speed like Ghana also tend to give us problems. Unlucky to be in this group, but do have a slight chance of advancing, as the real pressure is on the European sides to produce. Perhaps we can lull them to sleep with our offense ?
I hope Italy's coach thinks the same way this guy does the only thing USMNT has to worry about is Italy's soccer history (and thats all it is.. history), sure they have great players but not the best otherwise they would have won every single word cup (they've only won 3 cups, last one in 1982). Italy isn't what it used to be. I predict the Italy-USA match will be won by a single goal. World Cup Winners Year Winner Score Runner Up Host 1930 Uruguay 4-2 Argentine Uruguay 1934 Italy 2-1 Czechoslovakia Italy 1938 Italy 4-2 Hungary France 1950 Uruguay 2-1 Brazil Brazil 1954 Germany 3-2 Hungary Switzerland 1958 Brazil 5-2 Sweden Sweden 1962 Brazil 3-1 Czechoslovakia Chile 1966 England 4-2 Germany England 1970 Brazil 4-1 Italy Mexico 1974 Germany 2-1 Netherlands Germany 1978 Argentine 3-1 Netherlands Argentine 1982 Italy 3-1 Germany Spain 1986 Argentine 3-2 Germany Mexico 1990 Germany 1-0 Argentine Italy 1994 Brazil 3-2 Italy USA 1998 France 3-0 Brazil France 2002 Brazil 2-0 Germany Korea/Japan how they won the Spain 1982 World Cup 1982 WC Spain Group Stage: Poland 0:0 Italy Peru 1:1 Italy Cameroon 0:0 Italy (they got lucky they got through group stage) Italy 2:1 Argentina Italy 3:2 Brazil Poland 0:2 Italy Germany 1:3 Italy Matches Italy VS USA 2002 Italy 1:0 USA @ Italy 1992 USA 1:1 Italy @ USA 1990 Italy 1:0 USA @ Italy (WC) 1934 Italy 7:1 USA @ Italy (WC) Last 12 Italy Matches 2006 Italy 4:1 Germany @ Italy 2006 Côte d'Ivoire 1:1 Italy @ Switzerland TIE 2006 Holland 1:3 Italy @ Holland (Impressive) 2006 Italy 2:1 Moklova @ Italy 2006 Italy 1:0 Slovenia @ Italy 2006 Belarus 1:4 Italy @ Belarus 2006 Scotland 1:1 Italy @ Scotland TIE 2005 Ireland 1:2 Italy @ Ireland 2005 Ecuador 1:1 Italy @ USA TIE 2005 Italy 1:1 Serbia @ Canada TIE 2005 Norway 0:0 Italy @ Norway TIE 2005 Italy 0:0 Iceland @ Italy TIE Wins: 6 Loses: 0 Draws 6 = 50% (Pretty impressive considering Italy is the cream of the crop of soccer)
oh that's right. Italy only have 3 World Cups while the United States has...oh wait...the US has never made it past the quarters.
well, you have to separate those people (read: spazzos by the WR fools) from American fans who are realistic. You dont really believe the USA is a bad as you are saying they are? At full strength, the USA can at least compete with everyone in the group. Chances are, they wont be at full strength, but you gotta play the hand you are dealt.
... u just waisted like 20 min or how ever long it took you to get all that of your life.. cuz in the end ... and due to recent form italy is/our better then the u.s - and hey since you like searching so much stuff up about italy - why dont you tell me the last time italy came from behind to win a game... and compaire that to how many times they did it in 05 and 06...
Switzerland's current ongoing record is about as good as any European team, they only lost that playoff game to the Turks but won the series. In their group, they had to tend with France, Israel, Ireland (impressive). Compare to Belarus, Slovenia, Norway and Scotland who all can play impressive football as well. I think, Italy lost a friendly to Iceland since the Euro-Cup.
Wasted.... W-A-S-T-E-D. No worries, though. You have already proven through your comments that you aren't the sharpest knife in the drawer (meaning your intelligence level isn't high). I'm glad that you and your countrymen are so confident and it sounds like you will be in Germany through July 9th. All the best.
sorry im not 32 W-A-S-T-I-N-G my life on a soccer board trying to correct a 16-year olds spelling... and i wont even say what else i have for you cuz there already gonna yellow card me
yup, but when was the last time they won the world cup? 1982? 24 freaking years ago, Italy has a great soccer history don't get me wrong. All I'm saying if Italy produces the best players then why haven't they won all the freaking world cups? why are there big ass gaps? 1938-1982 a 44 year gap 1982-2006 24 year gap. I'm not saying USA is better nor am I saying USA will beat Italy, and nethier should you guys say Italy will beat USA cause' Italy has the best soccer players in the world. Have a nice day