I was thinking about this an hour ago while looking at who are young guys will play in that tournament in UAE later this year. The draw was freaking awful and advancement will take some luck and terrific play. Well how about World Cup 2006? Granted we certainly haven't made it there yet, and we shouldn't simply assume that we will, however for the purpose of this thread I'd like to assume that. I imagine the seeded teams will be a little different this time around. Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Italy will probably repeat as seeded teams and who else? England, or maybe Spain, particularly if they do well in Euro '04? I don't know. What I'm wondering is which teams would fill us with dread if we were grouped with them. We've made great strides, but I'd hate to be as unlucky as our U-20 squad was in the UAE draw, that could conceivably really hurt us (although with the way we played this past summer, we showed we were capable of advancing potentially out of almost any group, based on our overall play). Just a cursory thought about potential teams finds me wary of France, the Netherlands, Germany (particularly because of hometown cooking, and their size advantage), Brazil, and Argentina. Other than that, there are some squads that scare me, Spain, England, Senegal (although they have weaknesses in the back, and at Goal), and Nigeria and Cameroon are always a threat. In South America I mentioned Brazil and Argentina, the Uruguay is solid, but we can keep up with them, Columbia and Chile seem to just be in the dumps of late, and Paraguay is just kind of there, finding a way to advance out of group play fairly often, but there are teams a great deal more intimidating than them. Anyway, which teams would you like our squad to avoid at all costs (and why?) when the draw for group play is made a little less than three years from now (some teams of course may be eliminated by not qualifying).
You don't want to end up in a group with Argentina, England and Sweden for instance. Otherwise, bring them on.
Teams to avoid? In 2006? Are we already going to discuss this?! heh heh Germany, the hosts. Brazil, the holders. And any country we have recently bombed or threatened to bomb. After that who cares, bring'em on. We should expect to give any group we end up in a run for its money in '06.
Turkey?! no they aren't, no more than we are anyways. I thought they were terrible in stumbling their way to the semis. The game against Senegal alone is one I wish I had never watched. And the borefest against Japan? Why did Japan even bother showing up for that game? They should have lost against Costa Rica in group play,which would have meant no second round birth. They did give Brazil more of a match than anyone expected. But they lost. Oh well.
Argentina, of course. Just think of their youngsters now, and imagine them in 3+ years. Brazil, obviously. Will be 2010 before we can think about matching them in a World Cup (I am making specific mention of WC to off set that grand victory in the Rose Bowl). Germany - the hosts. Spain, also with a fairly good set of youth. Perhaps this generation won't self destruct. Sweden, who will have the advantage of aged experience and youthful exuberance. France, who have a set of youngsters second only to Argentina...but maybe better. Turkey will be too old. Italy will be dangerous if they can manage to play a game with flair and adventure. It they play the same old 7-2-1, then anybody can beat them on any given day. England have yet to provide a consitant strike force, apart from the big tournament man of Shearer. Holland may be dangerous, but they, too, are getting old.
Brazil. Brazil is gonna be a MONSTER team in 2006. They have so much young talent (Kaka, Robinho, Diego, Leo and about 20 others) and also established "young" talent (Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Rivaldo etc) that by 2006 the combination is going to be and mark my words the greatest collection of players alltime on one team. So much so that it will be a huge problem for the coach to put just 11 on the field. This doesnt mean Brazil will win the Cup (82 they had 1 of the greatest teams ever and lost to Italy) but I wouldnt want the US even on the same side of the bracket.
Germany as the host is the abvious answer. Brazil is curious. They are going to have a lot of turn-over this time around. Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Emerson, Lucio, Roberto Carlos, Juninho...all these players might not be around. Of course you have Kaka, Ronaldinho and countless others filling in but you never know. I would say that England will be one of the favorites. They are very young right now. Emele Heskey won't be around (addition by subtraction), and you have to figure that one of Alan Smith, Wayne Rooney, James Baettie will step up along side Michael Owen. Steven Gerrard, Owen Hargraeves, Wayne Bridge, Ashley Cole are all on the verge of stardom. Actually, the key here will be how well Beckham, Paul Scholes, and Nicky Butt hold up. so I guess those would be the 3 teams I would like to avoid.
I think we can handle Poland next time. Poland had some early breaks (in the play and the officiating) which changed the game.
Turkey too old? I disagree with the Turkey will be too old analysis. They already started replacing the aging members of the team after the World Cup. They have a new crop of youngsters coming in to make their splash on Euro2004. Nihat Kahveci - Real Sociedad Okan Koc - (Genclerbirligi with potential transfer to Inter Milan next year) Tuncay - Key attacking midfielder that was instrumental in Turkey's U-21 smashing of the Italy in November. Ahmet Dursun - Besiktas striker that is threatening to take Ilhan Mansiz's starting spot. Berkant Gokhan - Galatasaray's 21 year old midfield brain who is just starting get some first-11 playing time under Fatih Terim this season. These guys should be in their prime within 3-1/2 years. There are tons of others faceless nameless youth who will probably be the surpise 21 yearolds themselves by then in the ranks. Turkey has a young population of 70 million. Do not confuse it with previous World Cup 3rd Place winners like Sweden, Crotia, Bulgaria which had populations around 4 million each and have aging/shrinking populations. i.e. "there is more where that came from".
Well, the way Rumsfeld likes to run his mouth, we don't even have to threatened to bomb someone to sour relations with them. I don't think we made any threats to France or Germany, we just had Rummy call them irrelevant in so many words.
Who would we most like to avoid? Gee, how about any team that's better than the US? Or........ Who gives a crap?
"I don't think we made any threats to France or Germany, we just had Rummy call them irrelevant in so many words." The only thing I can say to this is: if the shoe fits, wear it!
Uggh... I hope we're in the Group of Death in 2006 How about Germany USA Argentina Holland/Italy/England etc...