I don't know, I think Croatia and Germany will walk away with that group. Austria - Germany is a big rivalry though, for the Austrians at least.
There's been some complaints over the last couple of days about trolling in this forum. Please leave the national stereotypes at home Thanks
That tournament was co-hosted with The Netherlands who advanced to the semis after winning their group and destroying Yugoslavia 6-1. So the theory stands. Switzerland will advance to the Semis, Austria will probably go out in the groups.
Italy could easily have been out when you consider the dive to cheat australia and the struggle against a 2nd rate US side.
Even if you are right, they will have a hard time advancing without a big victory over Germany (given your scenario). If the team they lost to wins the Croatia - Poland game, Austria is out. If the game ends in a tie, Austria is either out (if head to head is the first tie breaker) or it comes down to goal differential. If the team that Austria tied wins the Croatia - Poland game then it comes down to GD.
Dude, Italy is better, get over it! Do you have any idea how many people have complained about German wins? How about Switzerland 1954? Your coach pulled out all of the primary German players out of the Group game against Hungary and instead resorted to violence by kicking and punching. Ferenk Puskas, as a consequence didn't even play the quaterfinal or semifinal. He came in injured to play the final. Why did your coach did that? Because if West Germany would have beaten Hungary, they would face all the teams that came first in the group which meant facing the 1950 World Cup finalists, Brazil and the then-World Champions Uruguay. Hungary came into the last game tired, injured, and exhausted after beating the two forementioned. West Germany was practically given a bye into the final after easy wins over Yugoslavia and Austria. That is why I am not very impressed about the so-called "Miracle of Bern". You also talked about Italy vs West Germany in the 1982 final. It wasn't that West Germany were tired...Italy was just really good! What do you expect when your team just finished defeating the two kings of South America?: Argentina, the then-World Champions, and Brazil, who had legends such as Zico, Cerezo, Socrates, Junior, Eder, and Falcao. After beating both Argentina and Brazil, Italy were just on an all-time high! The faced Poland in the semifinals for the second time. In the group game, Italy rarely managed a tie against the Poles. But in the wake of its brilliant second-round performance, Italy easily dispatched Poland in the semifinal through two goals from Paolo Rossi, who was reborn in the match against Brazil. BTW, Poland wasn't exatly tired after the second round, neither. In 1986, France took on and defeated the only two three-time World Champions, the then-World Champions Italy and Brazil who had basically the same team as in 1982. Two huge games in a row, and going to penalties against Brazil, was obviously a huge and exhausting process. West Germany beat a tired and exhausted France 2-0. To add insult to injury, they RARELY beat Morocco 1-0 in the second round and BARELY made it past Mexico in the quaterfinals in Monterrey (Anyone in CONCACAF can tell you that unless you play Mexico in the Azteca, you will most likely win. Anywhere else and shame on you). I can pull more if you want. Just ask.
There is no such thing as merit in football. If you win, you win. If you lose, you lose. Such things as deserving are for childish losers. There is, however, such a thing called robbing someone else.
Do you really want to start that crap about whether that was dive or not. No one is able to be objective on that point. Those who dislike Italy say it was a dive. Those who like Italy say it wasn't. And IMO after watching the video countless times, I'm still not sure. And if you still want to argue all I have to do is cut and paste from the old WC forum. But man, how boring would that be?
Well i don't want to get into all that at all - merely pointing out that the wonderful Italian team of 2006 was actually not all that wonderful - and certainly not clearly better than Germany
I can't help but think that if we had a second round robin phase at the 2006 WC like we did back in the seventies, Italy would not have made it to the finals. But what is better: fairness, or drama? The single elimination format after the group phase certainly makes the WC much more dramatic, but also less able to determine the best team. But I disgree that the US team that Italy struggled against was "second rate". They were, certaily, third rate or worse in the Czech game, but against Italy (and I just rewatched that game recently), they played very well, up to their full potential.
This is true. The only group close to the "group of death" that I can think of was in the 1958 WC: Germany, Argentina, Czechoslovakia, Northern Ireland. The 1966 one with Argentina, Spain and Switzerland was no too bad either.
The Germans just seem to get incredibly lucky in the draw....in 2002 they somehow managed to get through to the final without beating a single european team along the way...and the euro teams were nearly 1/2 the field. In fact the only decent team they played was Brazil in the final.....having got through Saudi Arabia,Ireland,Cameroon,Paraquay,USA and S. Korea.....
If there is such a thing, this is a very good draw for Croatia. Playing in Klagenfurt and Vienna is also great news, expect a Croatian invasion (I guess it will be no different with Germans and Poles...). Too bad about the small capacity of the Klagenfurt stadium. I definitely expect Croatia to make the second round.
Maybe these aren't all the official "Group of Death" groups but certanly no easy task. In the last two, Germany didn't even make it out of the group stages. 1988 West Germany Italy Spain Denmark 1992 Netherlands Germany Scotland CIS (Italy didn't even qualify so all in all not an easy group) 1996 Germany Czech Republic Italy Russia (Czechs were a fianlist) 2000 Portugal Romania England Germany 2004 Czech Republic Netherlands Germany Latvia (Dark horse Latvia actually tied Germany)
What about Euro 2000, with Portugal, Romania and England? Euro 2004 with Czech Republic and Netherlands (two 1/2 finalists) was also a tough 1st round group. The Euro 1996 group with Czech Republic, Italy and Russia (two finalist) was the best group of the tournament. Arguably this is the first time since the Euro changed to 16 teams finals that Germany didn't get the tough group. There is a reasonable argument to be made that in 1996 and 2000 Germany was in the Group of Death.
Strange group, most Polish fans feel that it was the best draw possible, especially having Croatia and Austria in there, widely considered (in Poland) the weakest teams from pots one and three. And Austrians seem to fancy their chances as well. I can't wait to see how this group turns out!
But your question was if they "EVER get a tough group" not if they go though. As far as going through, sometime they do, and sometimes they don't.
Is this the 2006 excuses thread? lol Should of, Could of, didn't. You beat Arg. on PKs with a cheat sheet, then you lose in a stadium you've never lost before. Bad karma my friend. And what if Italy did go your route? Well, the WC Final was pretty much that scenario, how did it end? And considering head to head, let's not count friendlies because they really don't matter but only for bragging rights. In a major tournament, Germany has never beaten us. That is the monkey on the back.
Exaclty, just like England when it comes to actually qualifying! Somtimes they do, sometimes they don't!