Group of death!

[Dirkiyo]

Only 2 days left untill the opening of the FIFA world cup Germany 2006!

Which group is "the group of death"?

A.
Poland
Germany
Costa Rica
Ecuador

B.
England
Paraguay
Trinidad and Tobago
Sweden

C.
Argentina
Côte d'Ivoire
Serbia and Montenegro
Netherlands

D.
Mexico
Iran
Angola
Portugal

E.
Italy
Ghana
USA
Czech Republic

F.
Brazil
Croatia
Australia
Japan

G.
France
Switzerland
Korea Republic
Togo

H.
Spain
Ukraine
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia

 

[OZZYGT]

Although I don't think there's a "group of death" in this world cup, I voted F as for the most challenging...it's so, so.

The easiest group has got to be group A...I mean for germany


Ciao...

 

[Canadian Speed]

F. or B.

 

[Famine]

It's Group C.

You have perennial almost-favourites Argentina, perennial almost-favourites Holland, not-quite African Champions Côte d'Ivoire and a team which is, to all intents and purposes, Yugoslavia, never easy to beat.

You can pull the top two out of any other group with ease - but Group C has two relatively obvious teams and two seriously unknown quantities which could easily cause an upset - Côte d'Ivoire especially so.

 

[Omnis]

What about group E?

I think the Ivory Coast might have the potential to pwn with eboue on board. That guy pretty much owns.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Famine agreed with me!

I was just to lazy to give a reason immediatley

After watching the Ivory Coast in the African Nations I think they'll be this tournaments Senegal. That combined with the Netherlands very inexperienced team and I can see them making it through the group stages.

[EDIT]

What about group E?

I don't rate America well enough to displace The Czechs or Italy. Even if Italy are doing badly.

 

[OZZYGT]

It's Group C.

You have perennial almost-favourites Argentina, perennial almost-favourites Holland, African Champions Côte d'Ivoire and a team which is, to all intents and purposes, Yugoslavia, never easy to beat.

You can pull the top two out of any other group with ease - but Group C has two relatively obvious teams and two seriously unknown quantities which could easily cause an upset - Côte d'Ivoire especially so.

I think group F is similar to group c, as far as your point of view Famine,
The Country that is most likely to come out on top is Brazil and Argentina, respectevely. The second hardest rival would be Japan and Holland, then the group is left with countries that are also good such as Croatia who could compare to Yugoslavia, and as you said, a rebelation team like Côte d'Ivoire with Australia who doesn't lack experience of participation in the World Cups.

I Just thought that Japan, could make another impressive performance like the previous cup; so that's what made me think of Brazil having some trouble with the group.


Ciao...

 

[Famine]

Japan?

That was a joke, right?

Brazil will stroll it. There's no telling who'll be second - whoever is least bad of the remaining three. You can't say for sure (insofar as "sure" applies anyway - remember France last time out?) that any of the teams in Group C will make the knockouts.

 

[Race Idiot]

African Champions Côte d'Ivoire

Egypt won the african cup of nations and Ivory Coast lost. Although they are still one of the top african sides at the moment and yes I agree with you about group c being the hardest.

 

[Famine]

Sorry about that. No idea what I was thinking.

 

[OZZYGT]

Japan?

That was a joke, right?

you know, like I said and because I don't subestimate teams like someone else...*ahem* [cough]famine...[/cough] ... thought that Japan, deserved to be considered among challenging teams after they showed what they could do on a world cup. Yes, the last world cup was crappy because many "important" or favorite candidates to the tittle got disquallified early in the competition...but Japan finished first in group H to qualify for the second round...and got defeated by turkey in a match that many people considered "not fair" due to the referee's poor performance.
u know...just giving some heads up to my japanese mates

BTW Race Idiot..you just joined the "correct famine" club , which consists of only 2 members I guess ...


Ciao...

 

[FormulaGT]

Japan?

That was a joke, right?

Brazil will stroll it. There's no telling who'll be second - whoever is least bad of the remaining three. You can't say for sure (insofar as "sure" applies anyway - remember France last time out?) that any of the teams in Group C will make the knockouts.

You say this group is nothing?! Your MAD!!! (Not really, but this is football, right?)

Brazil, yes a walk through.
Croatia is a strong team.
Japan dominated the hosts in the second half to claim a one all draw.
And Australia. How could you write them off so easily? They battled with your 'perrenial almost-favourites' Holland to claim a one all draw, even with 10 MEN for the last 40 minutes of the match. Australia also had more shots on target than Holland.

Never write off the #43 ranked Aussies, we could be going through...???

FormulaGT

 

[Race Idiot]

You say this group is nothing?! Your MAD!!! (Not really, but this is football, right?)

Brazil, yes a walk through.
Croatia is a strong team.
Japan dominated the hosts in the second half to claim a one all draw.
And Australia. How could you write them off so easily? They battled with your 'perrenial almost-favourites' Holland to claim a one all draw, even with 10 MEN for the last 40 minutes of the match. Australia also had more shots on target than Holland.

Never write off the #43 ranked Aussies, we could be going through...???

FormulaGT

Any side that gets physical with Japan is going to win and Australia are a very Physical team. Players like Viduka,Culina ,Bresciano, cahill and the like will pretty much dominate Japans weak defense and mediocre keepers.

Also Japans forwards are pretty mediocre with most of their goals coming from their fantastic midfield, which is the only good thing about the team.

Most people seem to forget that Japan was a home nation in 2002 and I know this sounds stupid but I think this does make a difference in performance.

Croatia are allright but nothing special and i'd put my odds on the aussies to beat em and come through as runners up in the group.

Well what do I know anyway I could be completely wrong in the end. With somehow Japan and Croatia qualifying and the other two dropping out.

 

[ExigeEvan]

BTW Race Idiot..you just joined the "correct famine" club , which consists of only 2 members I guess ...

3 Now

 

[livemusic]

Most people seem to forget that Japan was a home nation in 2002 and I know this sounds stupid but I think this does make a difference in performance.

Yeah, that makes a huge difference in my opinion. That's why I think Germany stands a chance of winning this one.

The hardest group in my opinion would be the group B. England is the strongest team there, but Sweden and Paraguay have fairly good teams too. Trinidad & Tobago, well, who knows...

 

[Famine]

you know, like I said and because I don't subestimate teams like someone else...*ahem* [cough]famine...[/cough] ... thought that Japan, deserved to be considered among challenging teams after they showed what they could do on a world cup. Yes, the last world cup was crappy because many "important" or favorite candidates to the tittle got disquallified early in the competition...but Japan finished first in group H to qualify for the second round...and got defeated by turkey in a match that many people considered "not fair" due to the referee's poor performance.
u know...just giving some heads up to my japanese mates

They got host-nationed. Host nations always perform well - usually overperforming.

All Japan are is a midfield.

 

[markj_87]

Group C is the hardest to call. I've got money on a Brazil-Argentina final, so basically I need Argentina to win group C (assuming Brazil don't slip up in their group).

 

[El Gigante]

Now that i think about it, group C does look pretty tough! I think Argentina will go through but it's too close to call between he other sides. Holland are the best team out of the three but Serbia & Montenegro and the Ivory Coast can be great on their day.

 

[Touring Mars]

Group C is harder than Chuck Norris

Although, if you add together the Official FIFA Rankings for each team in each group, you get this:

(The lower the total, the 'harder' the group (the number in brackets is the sum of the teams minus the rank of the lowest ranked team, and next to that is the seeded team in that group...)

Group A - 113 (74) (Germany)
Group B - 106 (59) (England)
Group C - 88 (44) (Argentina)
Group D - 91 (34) (Mexico)
Group E - 68 (20) (Italy)
Group F - 84 (42) (Brazil)
Group G - 133 (72) (France)
Group H - 105 (60) (Spain)

From this, Group E is (on paper) the toughest group - but it also illustrates the daftness of taking FIFA rankings as the benchmark, since Italy are ranked 13th, but Czech Republic are ranked 2nd (?!) and USA are 5th (?!?!) (but Italy are the seeded team, and favourites to win the group...)

 

[Dimitrov]

B or C.

 

[Super Greek]

i think group f is the group of death because theres japan top team in asia
croatia are going ok
australia in top form
and brazil the world champions