Official World Cup Thread

[Rodion Romanovich]

Both England, Paraguay and Sweden disgraced themselves yesterday... Overall pretty boring day if it hadn't been for Argentina - and the last twenty minutes shown by Côte d'ivoire... England at least seemed to have potential that wasn't shown in the game vs Paraguay, but Paraguay was way below normal standards and Sweden had a ridiculously inefficient offensive. I'm a bit disappointed that my predictions were so far off, I seldom cheer on a single team but am cheering on whichever team needs to score another goal to bring the results closer to my prediction . Not that it matters, because I'm not betting any money on it, only honor

Of the remaining games of the first round, these are the ones I'm looking forward to most:
SCG:NED - probably holland wins, but Serbia isn't to be underestimated, plus it's a tight group so it's exciting to watch
ANG:POR - because it's Portugal!
USA:CZE - will USA surprise again? Czech rep is always good to watch. Is Baros still injured? If not, it'll be good entertainment
AUS:JPN - I love the playing style of Japan!
BRA:CRO - Brazil's first game!
ENG:TRI - let's see if it was Trinidad that was good or Sweden that was bad... And if England has the potential it seemed they had in last game
ARG:SCG - a nice group of death game
NED:CIV - another nice group of death game
ITA:USA - again an interesting game. Italy living up to the rumour or USA surprising again?
JPN:CRO - Japan again!
FRA:KOR - two interesting teams in an interesting meeting
ECU:GER - the only really difficult to predict outcome of game of group A, I suppose
SWE:ENG - Swedish team vs Swedish coach, always fun to see where the loyalty lies
NED:ARG - the two IMO top teams of the group of death meeting in battle!
CZE:ITA - another great game of this group
JPN:BRA - last Olympics Japan nearly beat Brazil (IMO they would have if the ref hadn't been supporting Brazil). Japan has a playing style incompatible with Brazil's playing style and the only team in this cup that I really think has a great chance of beating Brazil