Posted on 06/10/2006 5:54:26 AM PDT by soccer_maniac
One of the most fancied teams in Germany, England will open their FIFA World Cup™ campaign against Group B rivals Paraguay today -- LIVE NOW on ABC: England v Paraguay
We still have a striker problem though. McBride honestly is a hard working journeyman. He does fine for Fulham, fine for the US, but he is not "special" here.
We are actually pretty solid in 3 out of the 4 in the back, solid in midfield, just gives us some strikers and we will be dangerous.
It used to be that we just had a great goalie and 1 decent field player with 9 Joe Schmoes, so we are making progress.
You post a thread about soccer, and for some reason some folks seem compelled to come and tell everyone they don't like soccer. Geeze, the thread title was clear enough. If the subject isn't of interest, then stay away.
Now, I'm far from a soccer "maniac" -- in fact, I know little about it. But I'm trying to learn, and am gaining an appreciation for the sport, slowly but surely. And as an Anglo-Bavarian American, I have three teams to root for.
We're making progress. Everyone likes to kick this country around. I say we're better than Europeans - at everything and we will master THEIR sport too. Bring it on!!!
Sweden vs Trinidad&Tobago -- Live on ABC in 25 minutes!!!
Match Facts
· This will be the first meeting between these teams.
· Trinidad came fourth in their group and then beat Bahrain 2-1 in a two-legged play-off to qualify.
· Trinidad is the smallest country at the 2006 World Cup finals, with a population of just 1.3 million.
· Trinidad are currently ranked 47th in the FIFA World rankings, 31 places below group B opponents Sweden.
· This will be Sweden's 11th World Cup Finals, they reached the final in1958 as hosts and have also made the semi-finals twice (1950 and 1994).
· Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic attempted 91 shots for Juventus in Serie A this season, only 3 players attempted more.
· Sweden averaged three goals a game in their 10 qualifying games, more than any other team in the European qualifying zone.
· Trinidad and Tobago played 20 games in qualifying for World Cup 2006, more than any other team.
· Sweden's Freddie Ljungberg won three penalties for Arsenal in the Premiership this season, more than any other player in the division.
Yes, but kicking it in the right direction is what counts.
The announcers were truly awful. You can’t have two Americans calling an England match!
They can play as professionals in European leagues. A lot of other players in this World Cup have done that. And there's home-grown talent in the MSL. These things all take time. Fortunately, we have a number of experienced veterans of past World Cup tournaments to take the youngsters under their wing and show them how its done.
Well good for you :)
I'm not sure why we have so many jerks here on FR. I must have seen 100 "soccer is gay" comment over the last year. What makes them read a soccer thread if they hate it so much??????
I like the Irish guy on ESPN - much more into it.
Swedes offer T&T tough baptism
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060524/1/6w8k.html
Well, I have tried to get into Serie A matches, but maybe it's the coverage that drives me nuts. I usually mute it if I'm watching it on FSC. (If you watch FSC, they have an infatuation with saying "Peruzzi" every chance they get. Hehe!)
More MLS games are on TV these days, but they are on at times when most Americans aren't home or watching something else.
As they say, "that's why they play the game". If we were to believe the pundits all the time, then there would be no reason to have a World Cup.
Watch Univision. If you can't understand the color commentary, you just can enjoy the game. Or if ABC's bench gets on your nerves, just shut off the volume. It won't be long now before Sweden plays Trinidad and Tobago.
Could not agree more. Hope England appeal against the yellow card given against Gerrard, that was not called for at all. It was pathetic on the referees part, and I hope that particular ref has no further part in the tournament. There was a profile of the ref on Sky News a couple of days ago, and I thought he was a bit dodgy then.
They're not headed home. They've got two more matches, one against Ecuador and one against Poland. The Poland match was a bit of a shock but Germany should still take the top of their bracket. Was it just me, but England didn't seem on the ball today.
Hmmm...I thought it was breaking pitches that caused problems for most.
With regard to kicking a soccer ball, there’s a lot more to the game than that. I can kick a soccer ball, but could never play soccer. Not many folks can use their head—literally—to accurately pass a ball to a teammate.
Particularly looking forward to watching Argentina and Brazil (the current Cup holders).
That really set the tone for irritating the crap outta me today. I hated listening to him. GGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRR!
If they do, I believe they'll come in second in their group
It's surprising that so many Americans support other countries' teams ahead of their own.
I wouldn't have given soccer another look but a recent vacation to England finally got me interested. I mean it wasn't like every newspaper didn't have something about Rooney on the front page....
They are rated 800-1 to win the World Cup and Sweden and England are going to run up cricket scores against them.
So that 1-0 win might be the difference between us winning the group and finishing second - assuming we draw with Sweden.
England really miss Rooney.
Owen and Crouch don't gel and at the moment Lampard and Gerrard don't either.
Some positives though - Beckham's passing was good and Joe Cole looks like he could be one of the stars of the World Cup.
You can't really tell how good a team is until they play another top team. That's why these group games don't mean much. Germany looked good yesterday but who wouldn't against that team...?
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