Holy Group E bias, Batman! As of this writing, 22 of 43 respondents either picked the USA, or the team that beat them, the Czechs. The USA scored one goal of their own in 3 games. The Czechs completely collapsed once they started playing the class competition within the group. Everyone has their own opinion, of course - but come on. Who did I pick? The Koreans. The only team eliminated who got more than one result out of the two games. The team that got seriously jobbed on the second goal against the Swiss - even though (as it turned out with the France result) a tie still would not have gotten them through. If the US can claim that the second Ghanan goal screwed their chance to win, I can claim the same about the effect of second Swiss goal on the Koreans. They had the same goal differential as the Czechs, and they didn't have a U.S. to thrash by 3 goals to help them get there. My second choice would be Paraguay - the only team to be eliminated who scored as many goals as they allowed. Two heartbreaking 1-0 losses doomed the South Americans.
Well, I"m in full agreement. I think both the Czechs and the US showed themselves to be long on hype and short on performance. I'm very fond of the IC still. Played hard and kept within a goal of both the Netherlands and Argentina and could have quite reasonably won those matches. I think they would have advanced in nearly any other group. Korea had the most points of any team, it's true. I was sad to see them go out.
I can't say a thing against the Ivory Coast. Fun team to watch, and as you say, they played their hearts out against two teams that have to be among the tournament favorites moving forward. Definitely worthy of the votes they are getting here.
the chechs by far their chances took a dive after the US game when they lost Koller they had no forwards as Koller and Baros were not able to play
I think that Cote D'Ivoire were the best African team in the competition, put them in any other group and they would've most likely advanced. I think Paraguay's sched. hurt them more than anything, had they played Trinidad earlier, they could've got more confidence in their offence. The Czech's looked good in their first game, even without Koller, but they had nothing in the second, and the red card killed them in the third, so I'm not sure where I stand with these guys.
my pick was czech republic, they played very very well, but if they played ghana last, they might have beaten italy, ghana crushed their team and it was a sad defeat for them and it probably ruined their mental strength my second pick would be korea, i enjoyed watching them play against france and switzerland, they played well but was a bit unlucky
You remove the top two strikers from any team and they will more than likely struggle. England wouldn't have gotten out of Group E and have shown absolutley no cutting edge because of their strikers' lack of fitness. I think the Czechs were the most talented, but were so heavily reliant on their starting XI that its not surprising that it all ended in tears. Even the bench was absolute pants and Nedved and Poborsky showed their age in the second two games while Stejner was pants. That said I voted for the IC. They are the team that showed the most who bowed out. I also think they would have been dangerous going forward with their depth while the Czechs would have wilted under the heat in the QFs even with a fully fit squad. I'm a US fan and can say that we don't deserve consideration for this title. We had a chance at advancement gift wrapped for us after creating no credible scoring opportunities within the box during the first two games which is incredible. Yet our players still looked a gift horse in the mouth and loused it up.
The Ivory Coast are my pick. They were absolutley fantastic in their first ever World Cup. Considering they were put in a group which also contained Argentina and Holland they still managed to play good football. I honestly believe they were fulling deserving of a point against Argentina and perhaps Holland. They earned a lot of respect by taking the game to the Argies and the Dutch instead of just sitting back. If only they were more clinical in front of goal we could have seen a very different outcome. They even showed tremendous heart and courage to come back from 2 goals against Serbia and Montenegro despite the fact they were entertaining. In any other group I think they would have qualified.
If the question was 'Which team had the worst World Cup?' you'd have a valid point. But it wasn't. So you don't.
Just out of curiosity did you see any of England's group stage games? Dire and at times back to the wall stuff. They wouldn't have gotten out of Group E or C with the performances they put in.
I voted for the Czech's. Someone should start a poll about the size of the field and who didn't belong! I like the fact that there are so many matches but a lot of the ones I saw had teams that were clearly in over their heads.