WC: Nerrazzurri Style (R)

Gli Azzurri Per Vita!

 

USA USA USA! Other than for the US, I'm cheering for North American sides, as usual. So go Mexico, and go Honduras! Even though Mexico is our (USA's) fiercest rivals in CONCACAF, I always cheer for them. That is going to be an intense group stage for them, however. They should be able to beat Uruguay and South Africa in Group A, but Uruguay is no pushover and you can never take a host nation for granted. To play in the first match of the World Cup is going to be an amazing moment for the Mexicans. I expect that they will rise to the occasion and take the 3 points, but just think what that atmosphere will be like. A stadium filled with South Africans supporting their team, with Mandela inspiring them, and who knows how many other South African heroes in attendance. It will be an incredible challenge for Mexico.

Honduras is going to have a hard time beating Chile for the second spot behind Spain in Group H, but I think they might surprise. They have strong leadership and are a gritty team. Although, if Honduras gets into the knockout rounds and the US stumbles and does not, it could get ugly in here.

Other than the North American sides, I think I'm like a lot of people in that I would love to see an African team go far. Check out Match 44 on June 24th in Group E: Cameroon v. Netherlands in the last match of that group. Eto'o v. Sneijder! That could be an enormous match if either one of those teams get surprised by Japan or Denmark.

 

My fav will be the Dutch. But I doubt they will win it, they always crumble in the later stages and they have a week def that will cost them somewhere along the way. Altho I expect a strong start and maybe the most entertaining football from them in this tournament.

I think that Spain and Brazil have the most complete teams and are the strongest teams in the WC. They are in good form and my best bet is that one of them will lift the cup. Dunga completely transformed Brazil in the most organized team at the moment and the play very good, not spectacular like they used to but they win with very little trouble. Spain broke there loser duck in the European championship and they look and play fantastic, can they do it we will see.

Argentina could have had a fantastic line up but Maradona is in his own world. Despite possessing maybe the most talented team just behind Spain I think they we will get overrun pretty fast witch is a shame. If they had a better coach I would put them just behind Spain and Brazil to win it.

Germany is always dangerous and even if they are almost never among top favorites they always do good, so I'm guessing a good bet is the will make it at least to the quarters or more. Same can be said about Italians but the difference is they always had strong squads but played week. This year they have a bad squad and they play bad but you can never write them off, highly doubt they will do good but you never know tradition is on there side.

Teams that have potential are England, Portugal, France and Serbia. Didn't form a opinion yet but all 4 can do good, it will all depend on how they start and play, so far none of them impressed me enough as they all had there ups and downs.

About the African teams I think none of them will do good despite having a opportunity to play at home soil. They all look bad and unorganized. Coste d' Ivory has the most talented squad but will find it very hard this term around. I think they had better teams and played better in the last WC so all of them will fail.

I hope Dutch win it since Croatia is not here.

 

I must say that I'm very disappointed with WC so far. I know there is a lot of games still to played but the football is just plain bad. So many mistakes, very little constructive football, players under pair.....

And top of that those damn vuvuzelas or whatever they are called make this WC so poor. Even with the redaction here in cro that cut the sound to minimum on tv so its less annoying you can hear them so much. Even the damn English fans, around 40k, could not be louder than those horns so they gave up pretty fast. I can only imagine how bad is it there on stadiums for fans and players. I really hope they ban them.

Only Germany played good till now and South Korea was a pleasant surprise with some attractive football. Argentina had so much potential yet they heavily rely only on Messi, a more organized team will stop them with little effort.

Very disappointed with the quality of football, by far the worst WC I watched in my lifetime so far.

 

Well Italy is doing exactly as I expected, after all its Juve in disguise.

Hope Spain and Brazil live to there expectations, Ivory and Portugal shod be a good game. I hope....

 

What I think is going on is that so far the match ups have pitted a lot of sides against each other who are not too familiar with one another's styles of play - with the exception of USA-England Saturday and Denmark-Netherlands this morning, of course. It looks to me that the players are playing not to make a mistake that would devastate their side's chances in the first match of the group. The Serbia-Ghana match was a good example of what can go wrong in the first match that can make advancing very, very difficult. There are a lot of variables that I can see putting these squads on edge: the unfamiliarity with their opponents, the new ball, the different atmosphere, and a lot of players in their first World Cup. The careful, cautious play in some of these matches doesn't make for terrific football, but I think the play in the second matches of the group stage is going to be much improved. There are going to be some "must-win" matches for teams, whereas most of the first matches were "must-not-lose."

 

Maybe it's just me, but I don't really recall a whole lot of good first games in the last couple of World Cups. This seems pretty much the norm before teams get past the nerves of playing in the World Cup/start panicking and throwing everything at each other to get points and qualify to the Round of 16.

 

For me its not really the nerves or playing safe. I expect that, but the whole inability of players and teams to put 3 simple passes together in a safe zone is unbelievable. Its just abnormal IMO. Its like friendly's, very little determination or individuals that try to make a difference.

They all seem way off, nobody can create anything. For example just in today's all 3 games they were like 10 goal scoring opportunities at most and half of them were from mistakes if not more. It seems like nobody is ready.

Dunno maybe its just me but I expected way more class. Way to many mistakes at the event of the year from very solid teams.

Samora listed some of the potential problems. We will see but as far as I think we wont see many good games in this WC.

 

Really enjoyed watching Switzerland play today, particularly Lichtsteiner. Always enjoyed his play the times I've seen Lazio play, which weren't very many times this past season due to their underwhelming displays.

 

Yea finally some drama, great game. Lets have more of the same in next games.

This complicates things if Spain finish second they will probably meat Brazil right after the groups.

 

Man I went nuts today...

I haven't really posted much since I left for Europe 2 weeks ago, but man... this is the life. I just graduated from college and I haven't been out of California since coming from Serbia 14 years ago when I was 9. I went and watched MotoGP at Mugello in Firenze the first weekend I was in Europe, as my uncle lives in Slovenia, and then we drove through Monday morning from 2am through Bibo's homeland to Serbia.

Man, it's such a nostalgic trip. Imagine going to a place you left 14 years ago constantly thinking about it. It's something else.

As for the World Cup, I can already sense Metro thinking "Enough with the story bullshit," it has been a roller coaster for us here in Belgrade. We went from a poor display vs Ghana and a stupid handball by Kuzmanovic to nearly being eliminated. Then today we turn it around and beat Germany with a touch of luck, and a brilliant save by Stojkovic.

I really don't know what the third round of matches holds, but one thing is for sure.. the drama is starting to go into another gear.

Both USA games were pretty crazy and fun to watch, and I couldn't believe the 3rd goal for the US was disallowed. On the replay I couldn't see one foul. If anything the Slovenians were tugging the jerseys of the Americans. Therefore, after a dismal first round the World Cup is starting to gather speed slowly but surely.

My things to look out for in this next two rounds of group football:

1. Can Spain pick themselves up and beat a Chile side who looked pretty good against Honduras? If they can't.. so much for the "favorites tag."

2. How far can Mexico go? Since watching them play against England in a friendly 3 weeks ago I knew if they could tighten up a little more defensively they could go far. Terrific pressure on defense, and good possession football... And they just shamed the French.

3. Uruguay is hanging around.. Yet it will be interesting to see if Mexico and Uruguay draw so both automatically qualify. If they go for the win that opens the door for France again. Both Uruguay and Mexico want to qualify but I think neither wants to face Argentina.

4. Look for Korea to beat Nigeria and get second in Group B.. yet Greece will be highly motivated vs Argentina, thus it is still very interesting.

5. Group G is yet to explode.. and I think Brazil vs Ivory Coast will do exactly that.

6. The Dutch are warming themselves up.. I think they can take Brazil if they play the way they know.. but I am largely unsure of their defense.

There are many questions to be answered, as many teams still have a shot at the final 16. This is on of the most interesting World Cups since I have started watching in 1994 in terms of upsets thus far.

 

I still loathe the Nad's, but I respect their determination. Not many could have saved their world cup aspirations twice. Donovan has had a great tournament as well.

Anyways.

Argentina.

We will either be annihilated, or rise above our deficiencies and achieve one of the greatest victories in our history.

Vamos Mexico!

 

Are you kidding me? Did you watch the game?

I never get really into games from a neutral perspective... but that red card was ridiculous. I mean, the way that Spaniard went down, it was Barcelona Part II.

I really liked Spain, but he rolled like a little b***h. I would have given him a yellow for diving.

I hope they get knocked out by one of England, Germany, Argentina, or Portugual.

Because from a sportsman like perspective they don't deserve to be there.

Personally, I hope USA gets to the semis. They have shown such heart, but realistically I think they will lose to Uruguay in the quarters.

I am hoping for a Holland-Argentina final or a Brazil-Argentina final. I think those two games would provide the most fireworks.

 

If USA had a real coach . . . ugh.

Sad to see it end.

Oh well, I guess now I can sit back and hope one of our Nerazzurri gets to hoist the trophy.