Quarters
In the Round of 16, I was 7 for 8, only missing the Spain - France game (went with my heart, not my head, there).
Predictions for the quarters:
Argentina - Germany
I think Argentina has been slightly overrated. Steve Goff of the WaPo said in his chat that Riquelme has been the MVP of the tournament so far. Really? He's been pretty good, but the MVP? He's got no goals and three assists. So, No. Hell, he's not even the MVP of his own team - that's Maxi Rodriguez. Argentina has a lot of attacking options, and I like the fact that they've put in Tevez for Saviola. But they can't play all of their strikers at the same time. Messi has yet to really show what he can do, and I don't think he will this game either. And while I like their defense, I think it can be beaten - Holland showed that. Germany, OTOH, has picked up their defense a lot - Metzelder is playing nicely, although can he hang with the quicker Argies? - and their offense is really going great guns. And of course Germany has the home field advantage. Should be a great game. Germany 2 Argentina 1.
Italy - Ukraine
Hey, will Sheva score? He's scored all of one real goal so far (that joke in the Tunisia game shouldn't count). So he's been disappointing. I haven't seen as much of the Italians as I'd have liked so far. They played fine against Ghana (and we see that Ghana was a pretty good side, especially with Essien in). And they were fine against the US too - the US played well against them, but it was such a screwed up game that it is hard to take any lessons from it. I didn't see the Czech game or the Round of 16 game against Australia. But for all the wailing of disappointment so far, they've given up how many goals? Zero. I don't see Ukraine scoring either, unless Sheva somehow breaks out of his slump. Italy 1 Ukraine 0.
England - Portugal
Man, this is a tough match to decide. Portugal is playing without Deco and (it looks like) Christiano Ronaldo. Yikes. With them playing, I think it would be a definite win for Portugal, given how they are playing right now. But without them? It's going to be tough. England is of course playing poorly, but their defense has been fine. England 0 Portugal 0. Portugal wins on penalties.
Brazil - France
Another match that is pretty tough to call. As I mentioned below, France is playing very well in the back. Brazil is playing OK, but you know what, I think France has a shot it it. But a shot is not enough. France 1 Brazil 1. Brazil wins on penalties.
BTW - who to root for now??? USA out. Holland out. Spain out. There goes the three teams I like.
Predictions for the quarters:
Argentina - Germany
I think Argentina has been slightly overrated. Steve Goff of the WaPo said in his chat that Riquelme has been the MVP of the tournament so far. Really? He's been pretty good, but the MVP? He's got no goals and three assists. So, No. Hell, he's not even the MVP of his own team - that's Maxi Rodriguez. Argentina has a lot of attacking options, and I like the fact that they've put in Tevez for Saviola. But they can't play all of their strikers at the same time. Messi has yet to really show what he can do, and I don't think he will this game either. And while I like their defense, I think it can be beaten - Holland showed that. Germany, OTOH, has picked up their defense a lot - Metzelder is playing nicely, although can he hang with the quicker Argies? - and their offense is really going great guns. And of course Germany has the home field advantage. Should be a great game. Germany 2 Argentina 1.
Italy - Ukraine
Hey, will Sheva score? He's scored all of one real goal so far (that joke in the Tunisia game shouldn't count). So he's been disappointing. I haven't seen as much of the Italians as I'd have liked so far. They played fine against Ghana (and we see that Ghana was a pretty good side, especially with Essien in). And they were fine against the US too - the US played well against them, but it was such a screwed up game that it is hard to take any lessons from it. I didn't see the Czech game or the Round of 16 game against Australia. But for all the wailing of disappointment so far, they've given up how many goals? Zero. I don't see Ukraine scoring either, unless Sheva somehow breaks out of his slump. Italy 1 Ukraine 0.
England - Portugal
Man, this is a tough match to decide. Portugal is playing without Deco and (it looks like) Christiano Ronaldo. Yikes. With them playing, I think it would be a definite win for Portugal, given how they are playing right now. But without them? It's going to be tough. England is of course playing poorly, but their defense has been fine. England 0 Portugal 0. Portugal wins on penalties.
Brazil - France
Another match that is pretty tough to call. As I mentioned below, France is playing very well in the back. Brazil is playing OK, but you know what, I think France has a shot it it. But a shot is not enough. France 1 Brazil 1. Brazil wins on penalties.
BTW - who to root for now??? USA out. Holland out. Spain out. There goes the three teams I like.
posted by Al at 8:32 AM
2 Comments:
well, al, i've been a little busy lately so haven't had a chance to catch up with this blog, but fwiw, i picked germany and italy today, and pick england and brazil tomorrow, although brazil was actually my toughest pick, in that the grand old french men are looking revived (had to love that last goal by zidane!).
in fact, going forward, i then picked germany and brazil, with brazil winning again (just to get it on the record and all).
as for mvp, i agree that it's rather odd to consider roquelme the best to date; after today, i'd say i'm leaning to klose or buffon, but we'll see what tomorrow brings.
btw, were i sven, i'd count on my back 4 and use beckham as a distributor from the back in order to get lennon in on the wing: i think beating portugal will require that england move the ball on the ground via lennon, cole, and rooney.
but i'm not sven, and were cristiano likely to play tomorrow, i might even pick portugal, but without deco and cristiano, it's asking for too much from figo. anyhow, england has to win a shootout one of these tournaments, don't you think?
Howard - I've been busy too, unfortunately - in fact I haven't seen the first two quarters yet, and didn't see much of the final 4 Round of 16 games. And that's even WITH TiVo.
As you can tell, I also think that Brazil-France will be a great game. I was extremely impressed with how well France has improved over the past couple of games - especially on the defensive side.
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