The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

I found a very interesting site designed to make Hognostications about this World Cup:

http://www.spotfire.com/WorldCup/

It is a little late for me and I have not used it but you might find it useful in the future.

My Hognostications for today's matches:

Korea, France and Brazil

But ...

... all three are facing worthy opponents. Togo is a mess but they might play at their best during the worst of times. I do not blame you if this does not make sense to you. It is Africa guys. They are used to fight under the worst circumstances. The Swiss are the big unknown (do not tell that to Ireland ). Croatia has nothing to lose.

By the way, I just realised that there are three French speaking teams playing today.

As predicted in the previous post, Togo had a GREAT game. What a pity that they lost. They could and should have won.

Korea won fair and square but if they had not sent Togo's Captain off with a 2nd yellow card, the result might have been VERY different.

Africa is SO close to win in the World Cup with more than one team. I feel for them and their fans. They should be proud.

tcwest10 wrote:Soccer is not technically a sport.

i think your brain is broken...

have you ever watched a game in your life?

TincoSkin wrote:

tcwest10 wrote:Soccer is not technically a sport.

i think your brain is broken...

have you ever watched a game in your life?

PLEASE take it to that other famous forum if you want to pick up a fight. I want to keep this thread out of -that- ignominious forum.

I thought Italy looked pretty good last night. They started this tournament a lot more impressively than they usually do. They could have scored a hatful of goals with some more clinical and precise play going forward. Ghana looked like they might be a threat early on, but they seemed to wilt and, by the end, the Italians were in complete control.

They weren't brilliant, but they certainly looked like a threat to make a big noise in this tournament.

I listened to some of the France-Switzerland game on the radio on the way home from work today, and it sounded dire. The commentators sounded like they were ready to chew their own arms off by the end, just for entertainment.

It may be a little early to say this, but I'm going to risk it. Zinedine Zidane is finished, a spent force. Still has some magic in him, but unlikely to impact a game like he used to. Should never have come out of retirement. There, now I've said that, he'll probably be the player of the tournament!

Not long now until Brazil make their entrance to the competition. Unlike many, I refuse to fawn and dribble over some misty eyed mythical image of how the Brazilians play football. Nevertheless, they have some outrageously good players, a fact that is better appreciated if you look at the names of some of the players that didn't even make the squad.

Brazil are obviously favourites, but I'll be interested to see which Croatian team turns up - they can be tremendous when they're in the mood.

UK Skins Fan wrote:I listened to some of the France-Switzerland game ...

It may be a little early to say this, but I'm going to risk it. Zinedine Zidane is finished, ,...

France v. Switzerland was a defensive struggle. Both came out NOT TO LOSE. They succeeded.

Apparently, France has not scored a goal on a World Cup since 1998!!!

Zidane is not done but, as a group, France is not at the top of its game. Better than 2002 but not as good as 1998. They -might- get better though.

UK Skins Fan wrote:Brazil are obviously favourites, but I'll be interested to see ...

They still are. They defeated a good Croatian team at half engine. They did not show their full game yet. But the interesting part is that Ronaldo was substituted by Robinho. Ronaldo was pretty harmless today. I never thought I would say that even if Real Madrid fans have been saying so for over a year now.

Brazil looked like they could take the ball any time they wanted, and take it anywhere they wanted.

However, they only scored one goal, and Croatia could have popped one in, just one, at any time.

Brazil invincible? I don't think so.

The next round will be interesting.

**

Has anyone imagined what the US soccer team would be like if the next generation's Sean Taylor would choose to play soccer in high school?

i thought brazil looked beatable today... i only got to see the first half but ... for instance.. emerson looked like he could have been a grandfather for half the people of the other team... he was slower and had to make ugle tackels to stay with it, he got a yellow for it... they are beatable and i think they will be.

Redskin in Canada wrote:

TincoSkin wrote:

tcwest10 wrote:Soccer is not technically a sport.

i think your brain is broken...

have you ever watched a game in your life?

PLEASE take it to that other famous forum if you want to pick up a fight. I want to keep this thread out of -that- ignominious forum.

No need. I always throw that in when I read about another sport here.
It passes the time...

Take a look:

One


Two


Three


And Four




OLE OLE Y OLE!!



Nothing more to say. Good luck to you on the rest of the World cup [/b]

Spaniardskin, check your PMs

Done. i don´t have idea Sorry

Redskin in Canada wrote:

Apparently, France has not scored a goal on a World Cup since 1998!!!

How about this one - France have not won a game in the World Cup finals for twenty years, except when the tournament was played in France!

Redskin in Canada wrote:

UK Skins Fan wrote:Brazil are obviously favourites, but I'll be interested to see ...

They still are. They defeated a good Croatian team at half engine. They did not show their full game yet. But the interesting part is that Ronaldo was substituted by Robinho. Ronaldo was pretty harmless today. I never thought I would say that even if Real Madrid fans have been saying so for over a year now.

Yes, they are still the favourites, but they showed almost nothing last night. The way they started the game, I thought they were going to put on a real show, because they were quick to the tackle and were playing at pace. But at some point, Croatia got a foothold in the game (or were allowed to get a foothold) and after that, I thought they were the better team. Croatia certainly deserved a draw - they had several opportunities to score, and Brazil's goal came out of the blue (of course, a lot of their goals do!).

You can take the view that Brazil just didn't play well, or you can take the view that they are actually not as good as everybody thinks. After one game, it's still too early too tell, just as it is for England, Italy, Portugal, Holland, Germany and the rest.

If there is one team that can just turn it on when they feel like it, then that team is Brazil, but they will need to improve by a huge amount on last night's showing.

Ah, Spain. Let me say first that I did not see the game today, as I have work to do. But I was impressed by the scoreline. I'd be interested though to hear from anybody who watched the game, because the score alone doesn't tell the story of how well they played. From the highlights I have seen, they benefited from a lucky deflection for one goal, and were awarded a truly bizarre penalty for another goal (but I haven't seen a slow motion replay of that incident). From what I saw, the Spanish striker was given a penalty for falling over - he even managed to get a shot away!

Spainardskin wrote:Done. i don´t have idea Sorry

Don't worry about it--it's good to have you here.

So, we've now seen all the teams play one game, and who do I think will win the tournament based on performances so far? The answer is I haven't a clue! This is the most wide open World Cup for years, and the only team that can change that is Brazil.

I've been most impressed so far by Argentina, Holland, Italy and Czech Republic. Of the other "contenders", Brazil were awful, England shambolic (at least for forty five minutes), Portugal mediocre, and Germany decent but I suspect flattering to deceive. I can't judge Spain because I didn't see them play. Mexico were fair, but they're not contenders to win, and I still think Ivory Coast and Ghana will have something to say in the remaining games in the group stage.

UK Skins Fan wrote:... I'd be interested though to hear from anybody who watched the game, because the score alone doesn't tell the story of how well they played.

In a word: IMPRESSIVE.

Certainly the best first game by ANY team in the tourament. Things wen well with a couple of lucky situations BUT still they dominated a powerful Ukranian team from beginning to end.

UK Skins Fan wrote:Ah, Spain. Let me say first that I did not see the game today, as I have work to do. But I was impressed by the scoreline. I'd be interested though to hear from anybody who watched the game, because the score alone doesn't tell the story of how well they played. From the highlights I have seen, they benefited from a lucky deflection for one goal, and were awarded a truly bizarre penalty for another goal (but I haven't seen a slow motion replay of that incident). From what I saw, the Spanish striker was given a penalty for falling over - he even managed to get a shot away!

The are some lucky plays, but the game game was absolutly dominated by spain. From the minute 1 to the end, the ucrainians looks so tired from minute 1, there was 32Cº on the field, and spains touch and touch de ball. great game for some many players, Xabi (Barcelona Midfielder) Fernando Torres, David villa... And on the other way Shevcheko was absolutly lose on the field. the 4-0 is real. And the refferes invalid a Senna`s goal also.

Xcuse My english but i hope that you understand me.

I understand you just fine - football is an international language Wish my Spanish was as good as your English.

So, Spain really were good. Try not to get too excited - I remember them beating Denmark (I think?) five nil in the World Cup once, but they went out in the next round. It's about time they made the last four though.

UK Skins Fan wrote:So, we've now seen all the teams play one game, and who do I think will win the tournament based on performances so far? The answer is ...

OK, let us get started with whom do we think will go to the next round first. My choices were:

Group A
Germany
Poland

Poland is in very deep trouble. Ecuador might make it there instead.

Group B
England
Paraguay
Paraguay may not make it here either. Sweden might.

Group C
Argentina
Netherlands
So far so good.

Group D
Mexico
Portugal
So far so good.

Group E
Italy
Czech Republic
So far so good.

Group F
Brazil
Croatia
Australia and Croatia will play for a spot here.

Group G
France
South Korea
The most unpredictable group of them all.

Group H
Spain
Ukraine
Ukraine will rebound. Spain will go through.

I still like my choices in general.

It is often said that the good teams find a way to win when playing badly. By that logic, England might just be the best team in this tournament!

Another awful looking performance against Trinidad and Tobago was tedious to watch for us England fans, so I dread to think what it was like for the neutrals out there. It is to be hoped that the coach saw what an improvement there was when he made the substitutions and changed the formation, allowing both Gerrard and Lampard to roam forward from midfield, instead of taking it in turns to stay back and defend. These two players are the best in England's team (at least until Rooney reaches full fitness), and they simply have to be used properly. The alternative is to drop one of them, because they are both being wasted at the moment.

Having said all that, Frank Lampard could normally be relied upon to have scored two goals from the chances that he had today. A major positive was the performance of Aaron Lennon when he came on (kudos to welch and the other Spurs fans!). Football really can be a wonderfully simple game - find yourself a quick winger, tell him to run around people and cross the ball into the path of incoming forwards.

Another major positive? Well, we've qualified for the next round after only two games, and can rest some players for the final group game. A win for Sweden later this evening could still mean that England would need a draw to win the group, but this is the best position that England have been in in a World Cup since 1982, if my memory is correct.

This is shaping up to be a typical England World Cup campaign - labour to an unconvincing place in the second round, proceed onwards until encountering top quality opposition, and then produce your best performance whilst losing gallantly and returning home with honour intact. On the other hand, there is just the possibility that the team will stay in Germany long enough to find it's form, and do some serious damage in the later stages.

UK Skins Fan wrote:Another awful looking performance ...

... A win for Sweden later this evening could still mean that England would need a draw to win the group, but ...

True and true.

Trinidad is not as bad as some people might think. But England is not in shape yet to face Germany or the Netherlands with confidence for sure.

The right formula of players and formation has not been found yet. This is the job of your Swedish coach. Swedish? Oh my!