<p>Wow really bad refeering for Swiss vs Korea match. The handball inside the penalty area, plus the offside controversy.</p>
<p>I agree with bern except for the ones in bold.
GER vs. SWE = GER
ARG vs. MEX = ARG</p>
<p>ITA vs. AUS = ITA
SUI vs. UKR = SUI</p>
<p>ENG vs. ECU = ENG
POR vs. NED = POR</p>
<p>BRA vs. GHA = BRA
SPA vs. FRA = SPA</p>
<p>I dont think Brazil will win this year. THey seem a bit weak. I’m rooting for Spain (although they didn’t play to their highest potential with KSA) and Portugal… but the winners will prob be some other country.</p>
<p>Hey, refs make honest mistakes, like when Korea played France. It’s the nature of sport itself. Korea just wasn’t good enough, so it’s onward to Africa in 2010 now. I can’t stand the fact that some Korean fans are becoming like the whiny Italians in 2002, which is one of the biggest putdowns I can think of. Korea shined in 2002, and now, it’s someone else’s turn, like Switzerland’s. C’mon, when do they ever get their moment in the sun? After all, they’re the country famous for things that don’t exist (holes in Swiss cheese and those ever elusive bank accounts). Haha.</p>
<p>But I must say that some of the Swiss players seem to be thinking they’re playing handball, not football. I’ve seen a disproportionate amount of elbows, forearms, and biceps used by the Swiss, compared to any other team. </p>
<p>So now, I’ll be rooting for Brazil because well, there’s always going to be a feeling of the deeply satisfying kind when a bunch of dark-skinned samba boys dance for victory in the historical bastion of white supremecism. Or maybe the Netherlands, in honour of Guus Hiddink, and to further spite the Germans.</p>
<p>PS I don’t like the German team because two of their best players are Poles, with Polish names, who were born in Poland.</p>
<p>I know about players like Deco (Brazilian playing for Portugal), Alex (Brazilian playing for Japan), but neither are as important to their respective teams as Klose and Podolski are to Germany. Frankly put, no team seems to rely more on foreigners in 2006 than Germany, other than France. Germany’s scored 10 goals so far, and 7 of them have been scored by the Poles. What the hell… </p>
<p>This is not a racist issue or anything; if either Klose or Podolski were born in Germany, then they’d be German citizens and all would be fine. But this cross-country stuff cheapens the meaning of the World Cup IMHO. If this is the way to go, then why shouldn’t everybody just start kidnapping some Brazilians?</p>
<p>What does where you’re born influence in anything? Hes grew up in germany because of his parents… </p>
<p>By the way… if you start kidnapping brazilians at a young age and take them elsewhere they still wouldn’t beat the national brazilian team… because genes isn’t everything.</p>
<p>Bern> Please, Ecuador is not beating England! Its going to be England and Netherlands in the quaters with England beating Netherlands and then Brazil beating England in the semis :). </p>
<p>Germany vs. Argentina will be good. Germany looks ridiculously strong so I wouldn’t rule them out yet (even though Argentina is great as well). I wouldn’t rule out Brazil in the finals vs. Germany or Argentina either, I would actually say that Brazil will win. The Spain vs. France will be interesting and I bet France is going to put up a good match with Zidane. </p>
<p>The rest looks good though. But again, england is not succumbing to Ecuador!</p>
<p>oh come on…alright, Ecuador has to play a grade A game to beat an England team thats been subpar thus far. But even if England makes it…the Netherlands are def gonna win Damn England fans, hahaha</p>
<p>Spain and Germany look in excellent form too</p>
<p>spain obviously played well in the 1st round matches but it is known to screw up in the latter rounds though…so france could stand a chance now that zidane is back.</p>
<p>^Did you people even see France’s last 3 matches? It played best in its last without zidane… the teams was much better off without him and an added striker (trezeguet). </p>
<p>Argentina sucked today. I’d looked forward to seeing Argentina crush Mexico (not for any political reasons, I just think Argentina is much better), but it was pretty disappointing. Germany definitely lived up to all the hype.</p>
<p>Frddy, Zidane’s value is incalculable. But I agree that France is better off using two strikers, and he can do that with Zidane. At any rate, do not underestimate France. I’d say at this stage, they have as good a shot of winning the World cup as any team.</p>
