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Who will win the World Cup 2002? |
| Date: |
30/05/02 (43 review reads) |
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Advantages: It's a carnival
Disadvantages: some people just loathe football
****WARNING**** This is an incredibly long opinion. Do not attempt to read in five minutes as it could cause spontaneous combustion of the brain. ****WARNING****
Hello Dooyoo
God it?s been a while since I wrote on this thing. Hell, I thought I?d forgotten about it.
Anyway, it?s 6:30pm on the 29th of May. I?m stumbling around on the net and I see this long forgotten link in my favourites section and I discover Dooyoo again. Down at the bottom (you?ll miss it if you aren?t looking for freebies) is a competition link to win free tickets to Homelands. Anyway I click on it and I discover another competition to win 500 ipoints by writing about who you think will win the World Cup.
Well to cut a long story short I?m a student so I?m unlikely to pass up a free offer but there is a small problem here. I?m not exactly the biggest football fan.
Don?t get me wrong. I can tell my Slovenia?s from my Spain?s and I know my Cameroon?s from my China?s; but I couldn?t name Southampton?s left back (a very devilish question to ask that one) or the only goalkeeper to score more than five goals from his country. (Actually I can do that one. It?s Jose Luis Chilavert of Paraguay.)
I too groaned when Beckham was stretchered off and cheered when he scored that goal against Greece. But I won?t be there at 7:30 in the morning to see the all important match between Mexico and Ecuador.
But none the less I persist because I?m hoping that if I don?t win my ticket to Homelands I can at least buy it with my brand spanking new ipoints courtesy of Dooyoo.
Now having read lots of these other predictions on Dooyoo I?ve come to the conclusion that most people just write a little about each group and say who they think will go through. Not me. I?ve just come back from the shrink you see and I decided that I?m going to predict every single match result that it is going to happen. I also worked out that if I?m right and I put just 1p on the
accumulator at Ladbroke?s its worth something like a million quid.
I?ve written each result in the group; an overview of the group and the final group table. At the last sixteen it gets a bit more interesting so those that don?t like football skip to that point and watch the surprises roll in.
So after that incredibly long boring and tedious intro here is HITME?s foolproof guide to winning a million squid by betting on the world cup:
GROUP A
FRANCE SENEGAL URUGUAY DENMARK
France 3-0 Senegal
Uruguay 2-1 Denmark
Denmark 1-1 Senegal
France 2-1 Uruguay
Denmark 0-2 France
Senegal 1-2 Uruguay
The opening match will be an easy one for the impressive Zinedine-zidane-less France. Just like all the conspiracy theories about the opening match 4 years ago there will be much talk over two controversial penalties awarded to France at the beginning of the first half. Senegal will have all the play throughout the game and will start camping out in the French half. The Senegalese keeper will get on target two or three times and then Barthez will score in the dying second by simply punting the ball up field in order to clear it off his own goal line. (I probably won?t write this much about each match as I have to post this by midnight.
Otherwise the rest of the matches in this group will be pretty standard and Uruguay will qualify second after a very unlucky defeat to France. After their sensational match with France the Senegalese side will fail to impress again.
FRANCE 9pts
URUGUAY 6pts
SENEGAL 1pt
DENMARK 1pt
GROUP B
SPAIN SLOVENIA PARAGUAY SOUTH AFRICA
PARAGUAY 1-0 S. AFRICA
SPAIN 3-1 SLOVENIA
SPAIN 2-1 Paraguay
Slovenia 0-2 S. Africa
Spain 3-1 S. Africa
Slovenia 0-2 Paraguay
What I first of all want to know is who the hell is Slovenia and how the hell did they qualify for the world cup? Surely they can?t even have a
hope? Or have they got fans similar to those in England who will treat it as a life or death matter if they don?t get to the next round. Funnily I don?t think they will get to the next round. I?m not sure exactly why but it?s just a little hunch I have.
Paraguay look a promising side. It?s true that England beat them 4-1 I think but they didn?t exactly have a full strength squad. South Africa are looking likely to host a World cup sometime soon but their football will have drastically improve before they get anywhere in this competition. Overall a nice easy little group for Spain to warm up in.
SPAIN 9pts
PARAGUAY 6pts
SOUTH AFRICA 3pts
SLOVENIA 0pts
GROUP C
BRAZIL TURKEY CHINA COSTA RICA
Brazil 1-0 Turkey
China 1-1 Costa Rica
Brazil 3-1 China
Turkey 2-0 Costa Rica
Brazil 4-0 Costa Rica
Turkey 2-1 China
Brazil haven?t played well in recent years and they had a near disastrous qualifying campaign to get to Japan and South Korea but none the less they are here and I expect them to win the group with only a minor hiccup in their opening game which they will only win in the lat five minutes. It?s like I?ve got a crystal ball or something isn?t it?
Turkey has some very exciting players coming through so expect some lively flair from them. China and Costa Rica. Not much to say about them really other than I think they are here to make up numbers.
BRAZIL 9pts
TURKEY 6pts
CHINA 1pt
COSTA RICA 1pt
GROUP D
S.KOREA POLAND US PORTUGAL
S Korea 2-0 Poland
US 1-3 Portugal
S Korea 1-1 US
POLAND 1-2 Portugal
S Korea 0-3 Portugal
Poland 2-1 US
Portugal are amongst the favourites to win the competition so it won?t be a surprise when they qualify with maximum points after some impressive performances. S. Korea?s victory over Poland will pretty much guarantee their qualification to the next round and it wil
l be justifiable success. They have performed impressively recently especially against France.
Poland are a team who I originally thought would qualify but they will have an awful start and will only improve in time for their last game against the US. The US is quite honestly a bunch of prats and it will surprise me if they manage to string more than 3 passes together in total during their games.
Portugal 9pts
S.Korea 6pts
Poland 3pts
US 1pt
GROUP E
GERMANY SAUDI ARABIA IRELAND CAMEROON
Ireland 0-2 Cameroon
Germany 4-1 Saudi
Germany 3-0 Ireland
Saudi 1-3 Cameroon
Germany1-1 Cameroon
Saudi 1-2 Ireland
Ireland no longer have inspirational skipper Roy Keane and will fall at nearly each hurdle. They did well to get this far but with the team completely split after the Keane fiasco and their preparations ruined they are virtually guaranteed to be going home early. Cameroon is probably the best they have ever been and the last sixteen beckons for them.
Germany is nowhere near their former strength but in a group like this there is no chance that they?ll be taking an early bath.
Germany 7pts (top on goal difference)
Cameroon 7pts
Ireland 3pts
Saudi Arabia 0pts
GROUP F
ARGENTINA NIGERIA ENGLAND SWEDEN
ENGLAND 2-1 SWEDEN
Argentina 3-1 Nigeria
Argentina 1-0 England
Nigeria 0-0 Sweden
Argentina 0-1 Sweden
Nigeria 1-4 England
Just this morning Sven finally got to train with his full 23. Those brave souls who could go so far and yet could go nowhere. If my predictions falter then this is going to be the undoing of them. The Group of Death is hardly the draw that any team would want but even so I think it will still bode well for Sven?s men. The 4-1 defeat of Nigeria will just put us through with darius vassell scoring in the dying seconds of extra time as the whole of England erupts in a mad fury.
Sweden w
ill provide the crucial result at just the right time courtesy of a stunning lob from none other than Freddy Ljungberg who will promptly be knighted by the queen.
England 6pts (top on goal difference)
Argentina 6pts
Sweden 4pts
Nigeria 1pt
GROUP G
ITALY ECUADOR CROATIA MEXICO
Croatia 2-1 Mexico
Italy 2-0 Ecuador
Italy 1-0 Croatia
Ecuador 1-1 Mexico
Italy 3-1 Mexico
Ecuador 0-2 Croatia
Italy is a class side. Few teams will ever be able to match their skill and their finesse. Clearly then they go through clear winners then. That Ecuador Mexico tie will be the turning point in this group though. Only kidding. It will be a one all draw with both goals in the first 6 minutes.
Croatia could do well though if they get some momentum going in the last sixteen. I?ve not seen who they will play though so they could get someone like Brazil and go out in the round of sixteen though so we?ll have to wait and see.
ITALY 9pts
CROATIA 6pts
Ecuador 1pt
Mexico 1pt
GROUP H
JAPAN BELGIUM RUSSIA TUNISIA
Japan 0-0 Belgium
Russia 0-0 Tunisia
Japan 2-0 Russia
Belgium 2-0 Tunisia
Japan 6-1 Tunisia
Belgium 1-0 Russia
This is the biggest joke of a group there has ever been. Ok so they want Japan to do well and get really far but if I hadn?t watched the draw on TV I?d have sworn this was a fix. I may write more about this as a conspiracy theory OP if I get the chance but this is distinctly suspicious.
So Japan end up winning this group (well there?s a surprise!) and Belgium are pretty much the pick of the rest. Is this group just here so that the good teams in other groups can get even further without trying? Makes you wonder though doesn?t it.
Japan 7pts (top on goal difference)
Belgium 7pts
Russia 1pt
Tunisia 1pt
That finally concludes the group stages. It is likely that everyone
is now asleep. I know I am and I haven?t even started the last sixteen stages yet. There may be one or two little upsets in there but that is what I think will happen in Japan and Korea. Now the good news is that there are just 16 games left to go. Just a thought: there had better not be an upper limit on the number of words you can write because in word this is already 7 pages long.
LAST 16
FRANCE 1-3 ARGENTINA
WOW! I didn?t think this would happen. This could be the final but obviously it won?t be. This will be a very big and very exciting match and will be very fast paced football. Veron will stand out tall in this match and will dominate his midfield from the word go. A great match up and this is honestly what the world cup is about.
ENGLAND 2-0 URUGUAY
Engerland! Engerland! Engerland! The entire country will pull a sickie and watch this and be rewarded by a domineering performance form the three lions.
BRAZIL 4-0 BELGIUM
Well if Belgium are going to get to the last sixteen then they can?t expect much more. This will be very one sided and yellow shirted ones will be in full flow and at their peak
JAPAN 1-2 TURKEY
Japan have always looked to me like they will crack under the slightest bit of pressure and this superior youthful TURKEY team will pull out all the stops to prove it.
GERMANY 1-0 PARAGUAY
Typical German efficiency will win through in this close match. The Paraguay side will have most of the possession and look much better but I don?t think they will quite break down a brilliantly organised German team.
SPAIN 1-2 CAMEROON
After a slothly group campaign the Spanish side will fail to wake from their siesta and be caught off guard by the exciting African side.
ITALY 3-1 S. KOREA
Although the Korean are impressive, not even home soil advantage will help them against the Azzuri. They aren?t quite that good, at least not yet.
Expect more from them in 2006.
PORTUGAL 4-0 CROATIA
This will be a thrilling display of skill, panache and pure footballing genius. The winners will be walking around the Croatian team like it was a training match.
QUARTER FINALS
ARGENTINA 2-1 BRAZIL
Argentina won?t have an easy route to the finals. This will be no walk in the park for the Argie?s. Brazil will pull some sort of will he /won?t he scare with a great player in the days before the match but just like 4 years ago it won?t work.
ENGLAND 1-0 TURKEY
A close match in which the Brits will win through. This could just be sentimental patriotism, but at least I?m being realistic in that we won?t win the damn cup. But I do feel that unless England get to the semi finals then one more England manager will be job searching.
GERMANY 1-2 ITALY
The Azzuri progress even further in an enthralling encounter which will cause much controversy. Accusations of diving will be rife during the match and at least 2 players will be sent off.
CAMEROON 0-3 PORTUGAL
Compared with Argentina?s route to the finals Portugal have had a walk in the park thus far. Cameroon are impressive but I think that at the moment the last eight is their realistic limit.
SEMI FINALS
ARGENTINA 1-0 ENGLAND
In an exact repeat of the earlier fixture England will play their hearts out but still lose out to a team that is impressive to say the least. The English press will pretty much crucify the England team but I actually think that England will do well to lose 1-0 at this late tired stage of the competition. It won?t be a memorable game but people will remember the result for years to come.
ITALY 1-3 PORTUGAL
3 or 4 goal wins are becoming the norm now for Portugal and this will continue their impressive streak. Italy are an incredible strike but I just can?t see them winning this at all. The manner of this v
ictory will be similar to the manner in which a cleaner flicks aside a fleck of dirt. Simple glossy football is the way to win world cups and this is an amazingly good Portugal team who can play just that sort of football.
3rd Place Playoff
England 1-2 Italy
Good we may be but world beaters we are not. This Italy side will be playing for their lives as the only media group worse than the British is the Italian press. In the end though both teams will be crucified in the press for losing out in the semi finals so this result will be worthless.
FINAL
ARGENTINA VERSUS PORTUGAL
I have never seen a world cup final live but they all seem to have been quite anti-climatic affairs. Not so this one. With the 2 best teams scoring 7 goals between them it will be a lively affair. The final result well you already know that. Portugal will win. But wouldn?t it be a little too revealing if I told you the score? As I said before this result could be worth millions of pounds and quite honestly I?m greedy. I may reveal to you at a later date how close I was but just for the minute I?m leaving my cards in my pocket. I think my crystal ball may be a little too accurate for me to be too revealing.
Hope I kept you entertained with that. It is as I said at the beginning rather long. This is actually page number 9 in word. Anyhow even if you don?t like football I hope you enjoy the world cup. I know I will even when I am watching Ecuador versus Mexico.
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