Posted on 06/29/2006 10:46:37 PM PDT by soccer_maniac
The Elite Eight!! The quarterfinal round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany gets underway Friday with a pair of highly-anticipated matches. The hosts kick things off against Argentina in Berlin (10:55 a.m. ET; ESPN). Italy will face Ukraine in the day's second game (2:55 p.m.; ESPN2).
Two of the quarterfinals are rematches of championship games: Brazil-France (1998) and Germany-Argentina (1986 and 1990).
(Excerpt) Read more at fifaworldcup.yahoo.com ...
You could say the same of Argentina in 1978. But I wouldn't.
I will say that if Zidane plays like he did against Spain, France will be tough. Sometimes it takes a few games for the real good teams to gel.
Argentina was lucky that Resembrink hit the woodwork.
Alright, I just read about the Cufre red card. I think I am starting to get a picture of the situation, and the verdict stands:
Disgraceful behaviour by the Argentinian players.
Now, go beat Italy, and then loose to England.
Cheers.
Whoever is improving on form through the tournament is a team you want to watch. Forget what France did before and look at the wreckage of Spain. Italy looks more like Italy today than any game in the tournament. One can not say the same of Brazil (for the moment).
Tomorrow this criteria will be applied once more. That will provide some useful feedback.
Germany can not be happy to meet again the team that dismantled them 4-1 just the before the World Cup.
Forza Italia.
Very true. Brazil and Argentina started brilliantly and have gone backwards. Italy and France were ordinary and have got better (although Italy's improvement has more to do with the crooked refs). So watch out for England who have been crap all tournament but could be coming into some great form.
If England can't find itself with an undermanned Portugal, it's a bad sign, no matter the result.
That is what usually happens with the good teams, it takes a few games to get them to play well together. Usually in the Group Stage, the weaker teams have a slight advantage, because their players tend to play together in the national league instead of being spread all over the globe, even though their talent level is significantly less.
England play better against the top teams. Portugal are one of the better sides, however, they won't have Deco or Ronaldo and look average. We just have to watch out for their diving, dirty tactics and general whining.
I thought Ronaldo was a go for the match. Deco being out is a huge loss. It could be terminal. He's so important to them, I don't know how they recover.
It mainly hinges on our defence (and more importantly the referee) not falling for the Portuguese tactics and our midfield dominating the possession.
Lampard, Gerrard, Cole and Beckham have to take a stranglehold on the game. I hope Carrick is there playing the defensive midfield role he managed to quiet effect on Sunday.
I'm pretty sure that's a folk etymology. I've also heard that "wop" is a corruption of "guappo," Italian for "handsome" but also having some unflattering connotations as well.
http://www.bartleby.com/61/81/W0218100.html
http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxwopxxx.html
Well the midfield needs to prove itself. I expect Joe Cole to lead the way.
Beckham hasn't done much at all, apart from two freekicks. It's about time he strung some decent passes together. Lampard has been getting in good positions but wasting the sort of chances he normally takes for Chelsea. Gerrard has played well but not as well as he can.
Terry has been excellent in defence and he is so big that he can also score goals from freekicks and corners.
I'm hoping we can get an early goal and watch as the Portuguese lose all their discipline and start fouling everyone in sight like they did against Holland.
England will have to lift their game to get through to the semis.
Good luck, lads!
Just came in on the newswire:
The Argentine coach just annouced he's leaving the team!
Ouch....
We should save our best for seeing off the Frogs and Krauts.
It's usually the exception for a coach to coach a team for more than one World Cup. Arena was one of the few that also coached in 2002.
His Kraut counterpart Klinsman would have made the same announcement. And will do so, after England thrash Germany in the final.
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