Group Finish Predictions

Mexico is a more technical than Honduras, by a mile. They tend to be better ball players. While Honduras relies (for the most part) on pace and strength. Honduras does have Technically gifted player, Like Julio Cesar "Rambo" De Leon, David Suazo, Amado Guevara, Ramon Nunez or Dani Turcios. But Suazo for example as technically good as he is, his strength and pace is what has kept him in top tier football. Wilson Palacios, Maynor Figueroa, Hendry Thomas are more of your average Honduras player.
I must say Reinaldo Ruenda is working hard on ball possesion and passing of the team, which require alot of technique. You can see plenty of evidence in the recently played game between Honduras and the US.

Now Costa Rica plays similar to Honduras, with less pace but more Cohesive team play.

Panama is just not in the level of football of the three above. Not a good test per say. Even though their game has its roots in the Colombian style of football if you must ask.

 

thanks for the response.

those fast and strong forwards have always been a problem for Chile, but in general terms the teams we have had the most success against have been those we consider technically inferior but physically superior (Colombia, Peru, Denmark, Slovakia etc..).

 

I don't think we are very technically inferior. we're good enough to hold our own against the big boys. tbf. the only non technical players are Pavon and our centreback Osman Chavez. and David to some extent. but he still can beat you on a dribble. our attacking wingbacks are good technically. especially Emilio Izaguirre our leftback. Sabillon is not as good. but he isn't bad. he's fast as heck though. and knows how to cut inside very well.

Edgar Alvarez is a fast son of a gun. and technically gifted. Ramon is technically gifted as well. Wilson Palacios is technically good when he has to be. he can shake 1-2-3 players if needed but he sticks to winning it then looking for a good final ball or a good pass, but he can beat you as well when he dribbles so dont get it twisted. Hendry Thomas is...a train wreck. wreckless tackler, but most times his tackles are on point. he is a strictly defensive wall. not much of the venturer or complete midfielder as Wilson is. he needs to work on his passing big time. Costly, is crazy with the ball tricks for a tall lanky player. he can dribble past a lot of players if given the chance. Amado is an old school dribbler. nothin pretty, just dribble to not lose the ball and then pass the ball off, but he can set plays up so don't sleep on him. Danilo is a good dribbler as well. a good attacking mid/ wing player. can cause havoc if let into the area. but he's bad at back tracking. Rambo is a what his name is. he's adventurous, animated, takes smart risks. he can dribble. take viscous spot kicks and bring energy to the team.

so we may be faster and much more physical then your team but don't get it twisted, we also have some happy feets, that can beat you on a 1v1 easily.

 

yeah, i mean every team has players that are good with the ball at their feet, after all theyre all professionals.

what i meant is that our players are, for the most part, nothing if not skilled. Its basically what defines this team going forward, with Alexis Sanchez, Hubeto Suazo, Jorge Valdivia, Matias Fernandez, FAbian Orellana etc... they´re all incredibly technically gifted players.

What Mati did to Cambiasso and Maschenrano, what Alexis did last week to Jankulovski and Gattusso, what Sauzo has done to everyone...if our players are able to create space they´re usually able to beat most defenses... doesn´t mean we always win, but we usually do better against teams who are more powerful and fast than skilled and technical, thos who are better in the air than on the grass....

 

Spain should win the group, but I am taking Chile over Switzerland for the second-place spot. These guys scored tons of goals in the South American Qualifiers and played very well as a team. Marcelo Bielsa is a great coach and someone who knows how to get the best of a group of young players. I expect their speed and stamina to cause some problems for the Swiss.

 

Spain in first place

Chile in second place, Switzerland might be able to take second. I'd say it's 60/40 Chile

Honduras in 4th place.

 

This group is easy to predict - there is way to much quality difference in this group to be able to field a surprice.

1- Spain
2- Chile
These two might change places.
-------
3- Switzerland
4- Honduras
These two might also change places.

Spain is together with Brazil the most talented side in this turnament. And they are generally more consistent than before.
Chile is very good. Fast, technical soccer which will blow Switzerland and Honduras away. This will be a group with a lot of goals, even if Switzerland has a good defence, they will struggle hard to lose with less than 3 goals against both Spain and Chile. I will not even speculate the cruel things that will happen to the Honduranian defense......

 

I believe most of you massively underestimate the golden Swiss generation and massively overrate Chile... I would say they are equal teams and either can go through

 

The swiss can't play soccer, they have proved it again and again. I have seen several games with Chile. There is just no comparison between the heavy and slow Swiss and the fast and nimble chileans. A good trainer the Chileans have as well.

 

If Chile plays at their top level they are as good as anyone in the tournament, with a few exceptions (Spain, Brazil...).

Only recently have they begun to play consistently, however, and whether they will be able to continue that into the WC is the big question.

Having watched dozens of games from every team in this group, i have no doubt that their is a huge gap in quality between Chile and both Switzerland and Honduras. But in the end that doesn't mean shti.

capitalizing on scoring chances, who scores first, lucky bounces etc...thats what will determine what happens in this group

 

Eliminated first round 2002 World Cup for playing too wide open tactically with Argentina. Bielsa has to emerge from that shadow.

Chile can draw other South American teams into their trap. It remains to be seen what they can do with a plodding, cynical, bunkering Swiss side.

I've seen that sort of play rewarded far too often in World Cups to dismiss it outright (look at Ukraine's absurd "run" to the quarterfinals in '06 with a bogus penalty win over Tunisia and a 0-0 they won in penalties vs. the Swiss).

 

Spain 2:0 Swiss
Chile 3:1 Honduras

Spain 4:0 Honduras
Chile 1:1 Swiss

Spain 3:2 Chile
Swiss 1:1 Honduras

Spain - 9pts
Chile - 4 pts
Swiss - 2 pts
Honduras - 1pts

Spain cruise to easy wins vs the Swiss and Hondurans. Chile put up a good fight vs spain in final game.

chile surprise with their flair and speed.

Swiss play dour style and draw against a Honduran team who will play better than their record. Alvarez for Honduras will surprise people with his speed and composure down the flanks.

 

What a ridiculous statement.

We are about to play our fourth consecutive major tournament after Euro 2004, WC 2006 and Euro 2008 (fine, we were hosts.) To top it off we won the U-17 WC last year. Pretty good for a nation that can't play the sport at all, eh?

I don't mind if people favor Chile in the group as we haven't been convincing lately, but the above is simply mindless drivel.

 

I think this is a very hard group. Spain is the strongest, with Chile, Switzerland, and Honduras following in that order. However,I would not discard major upsets in this group.

 

1. Spain
2. Chile
3. Switzerland
4. Honduras

Switzerland worries me, I could see them frustrating our young talent.

 

Could not agree more. The Swiss are super organized, so if Spain plays like Barca, lets say that Switzerland plays like Inter, and we saw how frustrated Barcelona got.

The Swiss with hard work and determination can draw Spain and beat Chile with a low scoring game. I wonder how Hitzfeld would play Honduras, we do attack but not with the same possession or beautiful footy that Spain and Chile display, so I don't know if Switzerland would stay in their game and let Honduras attack, or if this might be the game where Switzerland tries to take charge and be the dominant team.

 

this is very true. I can see the Swiss advancing in this group


Thing is this...the first game will be the most important.

If Chile goes into the Switzerland game with a 3pt advantage on them (beating honduras, swiss losing to spain) then Switzerland HAS TO open up a bit....

If they go in tied or with a 1pt or 2pt difference...then the swiss team can still play a defensive, closed, counter attacking game and expect to beat Honduras and for Chile to lose to spain.


I am convinced that if Switzerland are forced to play more offensively then Chile will demolish them with their quick passing, faced paced style...

If Switzerland go in hoping to win but still benefitting from a draw, then they can very well frustrate Bielsa's men and take the game.

Chile, regardless of what happens against Honduras, will always play the same

 

Chile
Spain
Honduras
Switzerland

 

Switzerland had easy qualifications (and hosts in 2008) and played horrible in all tournaments. Yes, I understand that the Swiss consider their soccer generation "golden", compared to earlier Swiss teams, but on a international scale it is a very poor team indeed. Sorry, but this Swiss team will be roadkill in the World Cup. Cudos for qualifing though.

 

Again...getting to the Round of 16 is not being "roadkill". Switzerland is certainly capable of that, although Brazil will then crush them.

They're horrible to watch and made Greece look exciting by comparison in the qualifiers, but that doesn't mean they won't advance.

Chile hasn't seen anything in CONMEBOL that remotely resembles a bunch of big Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1-level players bunkering and clogging the middle, then heading every cross away and countering.

I would love to see Chile advance, but Bielsa seems so gullible to me tactically at the World Cup level that I fear for them.

 

I respect Switzerland and Honduras.

They will play all their chances against us, so those rivals will be very hard to beat. I'm sure.

If some people think that HON or SWI will be "easy" rivals, then they're very wrong.

 

I don't think Switzerland has an even remote possibillity of reaching the Round of 16. Chile and Spain are way too strong. A lot of commentors on this board is really underestimating Chile quite a lot (no Chilean players with best 11 in this group for example). Chile has a VERY talented team which will absolutely crush the slow heavy Swiss players. Switzerland getting 3 points from Honduras is entirely possible though, but that won't get them in the round of 16.

 

I keep hearing about Chile but they didn't look so hot against Mexico the other day --- I know they were missing some guys but.... I still think it will be Spain and Chile though.