World Football Championship 2006, Let the mania commence ! Options

[milanius]

Okayyy... someone had to to this, someone who is in love with the game, enough of a man to admit he's a huge couch-potato and watches even the least significant games... but enough beatin' round the bush ! LET'S PLAY FOOTBALL !
Today is the opening game of WFC2006 and Germany is opening it against Costa Rica. Predictions, anyone ? (Starge, wink wink )

[stargelman]

Croatia wasn't all that bad in 1998, but we haven't heard that much from them since. I'm curious to see how they will fare. Obviously, I'm also curious to see how well Brazil does in their first three games. They tend to start almost too slow, not taking the first round serious enough and saving their energies for later. I hope this won't be the case now.

On Serbia vs. Netherlands: It reminded me of England vs. Paraguay, in that the stronger team should/could have won higher but somehow CBA to work up the energy. And yes, the Serbian team made a lot of unnecessary mistakes, almost as if they were intimidated.

Portugal vs. Angola: Well the Angolids tried their best I guess. The same can't really be said about Portugal. They should have shown a lot more than that. I have to admit I was a bit surprised by Figo though. I made pretty cruel jokes about him yesterday morning, comparing him to Lothar Mattheus, wondering whether he's bring his rollator. I thought back to the EC and how he barely moved on the field and did a lot more complaining than running, much less playing. Yesterday though he was one of the more active players and prepared the only goal, which came as a big surprise to me. Another player I noticed with the angry kid, Christiano Ronaldo. He had some good actions in that game.

Today, I'm looking forward most to the game USA vs Czechia, because I really want to see how good the Czech are right now. Same goes for the US team, but I don't think we can expect miracles from them yet. Maybe in a decade or two, who knows. Too bad those guys are not as good as the US women's team, which won the WC already

[Olav]

Obviously, I'm also curious to see how well Brazil does in their first three games. They tend to start almost too slow, not taking the first round serious enough and saving their energies for later. I hope this won't be the case now.

I remember one WC (I think it was the one 8 years ago) when Norway beat Brazil 2-1 quite early in the tournament. I've never seen Norwegians going so crazy, not before nor after that. So obviously Brazil did one of their energy-saving tactics back then...