Official Eyesonff World Cup 2006 thread

As it's less than 3 months until the 2006 World Cup begins, I have created this thread to countdown to the biggest single sport competition in the world.

Who does everyone consider the favourites to win? Who will be top scorer? Will Rooney, Messi, C.Ronaldo and Ronaldinho light up the tournament? Will Beckham miss a penalty?

I personally think this is England best chance of winning a major tournament in my life-time. If we can keep Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard fit, we have as good of a chance of winning as anyone, Brazil included IMO. I'm a bit concerned about Owen and Ashley Cole not being fit though....

Oh, and for all the Americans on here, you have a pretty good chance this year too! Not like any of you care:p

Soccer huh?

It's getting a bit bigger here in Australia now that we're in the World Cup and that we have a proper national league.

We'd still rather see our cricket, rugby or league teams succeed in the global arena but I'm not completely bored by soccer so I suppose there's a little bit of anticipation in me.

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Originally Posted by Mo-Nercy

Soccer huh?

It's getting a bit bigger here in Australia now that we're in the World Cup and that we have a proper national league.

We'd still rather see our cricket, rugby or league teams succeed in the global arena but I'm not completely bored by soccer so I suppose there's a little bit of anticipation in me.

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Don't worry, after we win the World Cup, Freddie and the boys will go down to your place and regain the Ashes.

And then there's always the Rugby World Cup, who won that last time...? Oh, I remember...:D

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Originally Posted by tomamar04

Don't worry, after we win the World Cup, Freddie and the boys will go down to your place and regain the Ashes.

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But you have the Ashes. :(

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Originally Posted by Mo-Nercy

Soccer huh?

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No, we're talking about football. Get it right.

Anyways, as for the actual World Cup, England have a really good shot at it. We need to maintain momentum in our last 2 friendlies, so that we go into our group with high morale. The group itself should be easy. The only hard team are Sweden and even they've got a huge gap in quality between their players and ours.

As long as we keep our main players fit, and get Ashley Cole back to match fitness we'll be competitive. Owen will be fine, no doubt, and probably better off after having the mid-season break. Paul Robinson is becoming more and more world class with every game. A defence made up of Neville, Terry and Ashley Cole would be almost unbreakable. Shame Rio is such a weak link. In midfield, we've got two distinct tactics now, which makes a change, and Joe Cole can be an amazing supersub as we saw against the Argies. Up front: Rooney, Owen. Nuff said.

Other teams that will do well... Brazil, obviously. Germany are hosts, so they'll reach the semis. Italy, Netherlands and Portugal all have a shot too. France are still living in the past too much to win it, Argentina aren't European, and Spain will be too inconsistent again. As for individual players, Ronaldo sucks against any defence that doesn't give him space to play. I'd pick Ronaldinho, Rooney, Riquelme and Robben as the main players to watch.

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Originally Posted by HowlingMonkey

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Originally Posted by Mo-Nercy

Soccer huh?

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No, we're talking about football. Get it right.

Anyways, as for the actual World Cup, England have a really good shot at it. We need to maintain momentum in our last 2 friendlies, so that we go into our group with high morale. The group itself should be easy. The only hard team are Sweden and even they've got a huge gap in quality between their players and ours.

As long as we keep our main players fit, and get Ashley Cole back to match fitness we'll be competitive. Owen will be fine, no doubt, and probably better off after having the mid-season break. Paul Robinson is becoming more and more world class with every game. A defence made up of Neville, Terry and Ashley Cole would be almost unbreakable. Shame Rio is such a weak link. In midfield, we've got two distinct tactics now, which makes a change, and Joe Cole can be an amazing supersub as we saw against the Argies. Up front: Rooney, Owen. Nuff said.

Other teams that will do well... Brazil, obviously. Germany are hosts, so they'll reach the semis. Italy, Netherlands and Portugal all have a shot too. France are still living in the past too much to win it, Argentina aren't European, and Spain will be too inconsistent again. As for individual players, Ronaldo sucks against any defence that doesn't give him space to play. I'd pick Ronaldinho, Rooney, Riquelme and Robben as the main players to watch.

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I wouldn't say Rio is a weak link. I think him and Terry work well together, Rio is our best centre-back on the ball. I don't think Joe Cole will be usd as a sub anymore, I would've thought he's almost definatly in the starting 11.

I can't wait for England vs T&T. Should help Rooney's case for the golden boot....:D.

My dark horse is Serbia. I think they could casue a couple of shocks in their group.

Midfield still worries me on the England team though, it seems as if there could be a better player somewhere, I reckon Parker has a chance but he probably wont be in so soon, I say he'd be an England player for Euro 2008, but still there needs to be a better player in midfield to strengthen the chain of midfield, Owen will be fit, no doubts but I think he should give Paul Robinson a good slap for breaking his foot, "sir you broke my foot, I shall now slap you for revenge"

Ukraine are the new Turkey/Croatia/Sweden! (European dark horses coming third)

England will reach the quarters, then Sven will put on Owen Hargreaves in goal and Jermaine Jenas up front. Sol Campbell will have a pefectly good headed goal disallowed, and we'll lose on penalties. Then Sam Allardyce will become manager and we'll fail to qualify for Euro 2008. :D

Teams that can win it, graded in tiers:

God tier:
Brazil
Top tier:
England, Holland, Argentina
Middle tier:
Italy, Germany
Bottom tier:
France, Portugal, Czech. Rep, Spain

Germany have a crap team by their standards, but they do have home advantage. I feel like I've missed a team. Ah well. And no, I'm not saying the bottom tier teams are crap. Far from it. I'm saying they can win it.

EDIT: A word on Rooney. The reason why he was so successful in Euro 2004 was because he was unknown. After all the mad hype about him, and about Lampard too, the other teams will closely try to stifle them. I think this is good news for Michael Owen and Joe Cole. I'm pretty much convinced that Owen will be England's top scorer, and that Rooney will only score one or two in the competition. Joe Cole is in incredible form, so look out for him too.

I think Brazil will win it. :(

As for our Top Scorer I think it will be Rooney or Owen. :bigsmile:

I think that we have a better chance than usual for victory in the coming World Cup. Not only have we solved our left-side problem, but we also have more strength in depth than usual going into the tournament. Right-back is a somewhat weak position, but apart from that we have a good replacement for anyone who might be injured. Also working to our advantage is that Sven already knows that he'll be losing his job once the tournament is over, so he won't be quite so afraid of taking a few risks. The only thing that worries me is that while the team contains some great individuals, they might not function as well as a unit. Gerrard and Lampard are never quite as commanding for their country as they are for their respective clubs.

We're certainly good enough to top our group, and even failing that I can't see us failing to qualify. Once we've done that it's simply a matter of consistency, which is something we've been improving on recently. A lucky draw in the knockout stages would give us the confidence we need to take on the better sides. If we can avoid Brazil and Argentina until the semis then we should be in with a shout.

On the subject of top scorers, I think Rooney will out-score Owen by a couple of goals. The kid is so good at beating players, it'd take a team with a bloody good defence to mark him out of the game. And Trinidad and Tobago ain't it. :D

Go U.S.A.!

Down with england, down with england!

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Originally Posted by Lost Number

Down with england, down with england!

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Only British team there matey!

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Originally Posted by tomamar04

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Originally Posted by Lost Number

Down with england, down with england!

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Only British team there matey!

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pwned. If the squad learns team work and less ball whoring they'll massacre all, even brazil but that's mere words, England, teamwork, may aswell camp at yellowstone for the next few years.

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Originally Posted by tomamar04

Only British team there matey!

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I care why?