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Post by Panda on May 28, 2006 8:36:24 GMT 1
This what the pundits, websites and magazines are predicting for the World Cup:
TERRY VENABLES:
Winners:
Brazil
Runners-up:
Argentina
Semi-finals:
England
France
Quarter-finals:
Germany
Portugal
Italy
Spain
2nd round:
Poland
Paraguay
Serbia & Montenegro
Mexico
Czech Republic
Croatia
Switzerland
Ukraine
1st round:
Costa Rica
Ecuador
Trinidad & Tobago
Sweden
Holland
Ivory Coast
Angola
Iran
USA
Ghana
Australia
Japan
South Korea
Togo
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia
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frag
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Post by frag on May 29, 2006 13:37:56 GMT 1
The Serbs to qualify ahead of Holland and Ivory Coast? Interesting... also, he's put all 8 of the seeds in the Quarter Finals...
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on May 29, 2006 13:40:49 GMT 1
The Serbs actually have a pretty good team, if they wernt in such a hard group id see them qualifying with ease
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frag
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Post by frag on May 29, 2006 13:46:44 GMT 1
Yeah, I agree... same with Cote D'Ivoire... it's gonna be very tight.
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Post by Panda on May 29, 2006 14:15:09 GMT 1
The Serbs to qualify ahead of Holland and Ivory Coast? Interesting... also, he's put all 8 of the seeds in the Quarter Finals... Portugal aren't a seed. Mexico, bizarrely, are the seeded team in that group. |
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Post by Panda on May 29, 2006 14:19:14 GMT 1
FOUR FOUR TWO MAGAZINE:
Winners:
Brazil
Runners-up:
Italy
Semi-finals:
England
Holland
Quarter-finals:
Germany
France
Argentina
Spain
Second round:
Costa Rica
Sweden
Portugal
Mexico
Czech Republic
Australia
South Korea
Ukraine
First round:
Poland
Ecuador
Paraguay
Trinidad & Tobago
Serbia & Montenegro
Ivory Coast
Iran
Angola
Ghana
USA
Croatia
Japan
Switzerland
Togo
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia
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frag
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Post by frag on May 30, 2006 23:31:45 GMT 1
The Serbs to qualify ahead of Holland and Ivory Coast? Interesting... also, he's put all 8 of the seeds in the Quarter Finals... Portugal aren't a seed. Mexico, bizarrely, are the seeded team in that group. I realised that today... my world cup wallchart doesn't say who the seeds are, so I just naturally assumed that the bigger nation would be seeded. Mexico and USA ranked top 5 in the world for beating Guatemala and Panama? Silly. |
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frag
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Post by frag on May 30, 2006 23:34:26 GMT 1
FOUR FOUR TWO MAGAZINE:Winners: Brazil Runners-up: Italy Semi-finals: England Holland Quarter-finals: Germany France Argentina Spain That's very similar to what I had when I went through the bbc predictor ages ago... |
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Post by Panda on May 31, 2006 17:58:30 GMT 1
Portugal aren't a seed. Mexico, bizarrely, are the seeded team in that group. I realised that today... my world cup wallchart doesn't say who the seeds are, so I just naturally assumed that the bigger nation would be seeded. Mexico and USA ranked top 5 in the world for beating Guatemala and Panama? Silly. It's mainly because of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which took place last summer. FIFA gives all continental championships the same status when it comes to the weighting value awarded to the ranking points for the game. This is pretty stupid as there are obvious gulfs in class between the confederations and without Mexico and the USA, CONCACAF would probably be the weakest, bar Oceania. The tournament was won by the USA (who beat Panama in the final, funnily enough). It's so weak they usually invite 2 non-CONCACAF teams to participate. Last year it was Colombia and South Africa. FIFA do have some sort of regional weighting factor when calculating points but it only takes into account the strongest nations from each confederation and thus, doesn't really do its job properly. The other reason is the Confederations Cup, FIFA's mini-World Cup which takes place when the year ends in an odd number. FIFA give this the same status as the continental championships, despite the fact that Sepp Blatter is the only person in the world who gives a toss about the tournament. Mexico were in as 2003 CONCACAF champions and got to the semi-finals, explaining their stupid amount of ranking points. The fact that FIFA don't bother using their own rankings when deciding the World Cup seeds speaks volumes. |
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Post by Panda on May 31, 2006 18:07:34 GMT 1
I've posted about this site before on here but it's worth mentioning again. www.eloratings.net/It's an alternative system to FIFA's rankings and whilst not perfect, seems to present a better overall picture. These are the rankings for the teams in the World Cup. FIFA's rankings are in brackets. 1(1) Brazil 2(3) Holland 3(10) England 4(2) Czech Republic 5(8) France 6(5) Spain 7(13) Italy 8(9) Argentina 9(7) Portugal 11(19) Germany 12(16) Sweden 13(23) Croatia 15(4) Mexico 17(5) USA 18(23) Iran 21(42) Australia 22(29) Poland 26(44) Serbia & Montenegro 26(18) Japan 28(35) Switzerland 29(32) Ivory Coast 30(33) Paraguay 33(45) Ukraine 35(29) South Korea 38(26) Costa Rica 39(21) Tunisia 45(39) Ecuador 56(48) Ghana 57(34) Saudi Arabia 60(57) Angola 64(47) Trinidad & Tobago 80(61) Togo |
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frag
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Post by frag on Jun 3, 2006 12:57:04 GMT 1
Yeah, that looks more like it...
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Post by IndiElectronica on Jun 7, 2006 17:14:06 GMT 1
i can't understand why England is rated so well! I DO hope i'm wrong and they win it, but i don't think it's a very good team at all i'm afraid to say  |
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Post by Chris on Jun 7, 2006 17:16:26 GMT 1
Out of 6 pundits predicting in a tv mag I was reading today,two said England will win it,one said Argentina and the other three said Brazil.
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Post by Panda on Jun 7, 2006 18:07:01 GMT 1
i can't understand why England is rated so well! I DO hope i'm wrong and they win it, but i don't think it's a very good team at all i'm afraid to say It's the best team we've had for at least 20 years... |
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Post by Robin on Jun 8, 2006 10:00:40 GMT 1
I notice everyone's playing it a bit safe with their predictions. There's nearly always a surprise team in the mix, last time it was Turkey and South Korea. Who will it be this year, i'll tip one of the following to cause a surprise: Iran, Tunisia or Ivory Coast!
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Jun 8, 2006 10:13:51 GMT 1
Ukraine are my surprise  My predictions have Brazil playing Italy in the 2nd round rather than the final! |
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Post by Chris on Jun 8, 2006 10:23:30 GMT 1
Ukraine are my surprise My predictions have Brazil playing Italy in the 2nd round rather than the final! Interersting Thor,that's what I've been thinking too as Italy may mess up and not win their group. Would be some second round match then. |
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frag
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Post by frag on Jun 8, 2006 13:41:06 GMT 1
Italy, Czech and Brazil are three of the top six teams in the competition this year... and either one of the first two will play Brazil in the 2nd round, or one of them goes out in the first round!
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Post by Admin on Jul 7, 2006 10:30:28 GMT 1
So who has been closest as we near the end?
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Post by Panda on Jul 7, 2006 17:20:59 GMT 1
Terry Venables correctly predicted 7 of the 8 quarter-finalists, but only 1 semi-finalist (France).
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My predictions have Brazil playing Italy in the 2nd round rather than the final!