World Cup 2006

[Guest muddatrucker]

Couldn't Defoe be put into the squad ahead of someone else like, let's say someone random like... Hargreaves?

In theory, I think he can yes. However he's only there because of Rooney, and if Hargreave's was to be injured/assassinated before the final date another player would be flown out.

I think anyways.

Edited June 5, 2006 by muddatrucker

[fineintent]

Carlos Alberto scored the Brazil goal Dan.

[Dan]

(Y)

Fucking awesome goal.

[IAceI]

Carlos Alberto scored the Brazil goal Dan.

[DMN in the House]

In reference to Be's earlier statement about the US, I can understand that. From whats been said in this topic, we're ranked 4th or whatever, I just don't see how that is.

Probably politics, trying to get the US excited about the sport, but its just not going to happen. If I didn't know a ton of people from Brazil, I probably wouldn't care that much either.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

USA are ranked 4 because they play Guatemala, Canada and Honduras to qualify

Anyways, anyone else watch that short series "World Cup Heaven and Hell" on ITV last week? Great stuff.

Fed my would-be-Sun-newspaper-reading-self.

[The Third Dukes]

The US is ranked fourth (now fifth) because FIFA takes wins and losses into account a little TOO much, ignoring strength of schedule. It's kinda like how the AP poll always puts Gonzaga in the Top 5 when they play teams like Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount and keep winning.

There's another version of the rankings that uses the chess formula which puts the USA at #18 behind Uruguay, Romania, and Iran. The truth is probably somewhere in between, but I'm not feeling up to figuring it out. All will make more sense in Group E, where really you have three teams for two spots no matter what the Eurocentric pundits say.

The whole problem with rating USA or Mexico is that they're so dominant in their own region, plus very few teams play will play them. The US has a hard time getting friendlies outside of the CONCACAF region (with England being a notable exception) unless it's the run-up to the Cup. So the US is stuck beating up weaker competition most of the time, or facing Mexico for the billionth occasion. This means Mexico (#4 FIFA, #15 ELO) and the US (#5 FIFA, #18 ELO) will have a wild disparity from one ranking system to another. Such is life.

As it is, if you take the FIFA and the ELO rankings and "combine" them -- that is, reduce both to a percentage distance between the highest and lowest totals, then multiply -- you get this:

Rk TEAM			   FIFA	ELO	TOTAL

01 Brazil			 100%	100%   1.000

02 Netherlands		 93%	 97%   0.902

03 Czech Republic	  93%	 95%   0.890

04 France			  91%	 96%   0.867

05 Spain			   91%	 94%   0.863

06 England			 90%	 95%   0.855

07 Argentina		   90%	 93%   0.837

08 Portugal			91%	 92%   0.835

09 Italy			   88%	 94%   0.828

10 Denmark			 89%	 91%   0.807

11 Mexico			  92%	 87%   0.801

12 United States	   91%	 87%   0.796

13 Germany			 84%	 91%   0.762

14 Sweden			  86%	 89%   0.761

15 Turkey			  88%	 86%   0.754

16 Nigeria			 89%	 85%   0.752

17 Cameroon			87%	 85%   0.740

18 Uruguay			 83%	 88%   0.7292

19 Croatia			 83%	 88%   0.7287

20 Romania			 83%	 87%   0.72331

21 Iran				83%	 87%   0.72327

22 Japan			   85%	 84%   0.718

23 Greece			  84%	 84%   0.709

24 Egypt			   86%	 83%   0.708

25 Ireland			 81%	 86%   0.697


   Poland			  82%	 85%   0.694

   Cote d'Ivoire	   81%	 83%   0.673

   Tunisia			 84%	 79%   0.666

   Korea Republic	  82%	 81%   0.662

   Paraguay			79%	 83%   0.6576

   Costa Rica		  83%	 80%   0.6571

   Switzerland		 78%	 84%   0.656

   Australia		   74%	 85%   0.631

   Serbia/Montenegro   74%	 84%   0.622

   Ukraine			 74%	 83%   0.608

   Ecuador			 76%	 78%   0.595

   Saudi Arabia		79%	 72%   0.563

   Ghana			   73%	 72%   0.524

   Trinidad and Tobago 73%	 70%   0.509

   Angola			  70%	 71%   0.500

   Togo				69%	 65%   0.449

Which I think is a tad bit more representative of the nations' strengths, as (thanks to ELO) it takes both schedule strength and wins/losses into account, while (thanks to FIFA) making sure the last few years have precedence.

So the bottom line is that any set of world rankings is only going to generate controversy and the solution is to hold the World Cup every summer. Who's up for it?

[Chris the Human]

I'm not familiar with the ELO ratings system, but I do like that it takes into account opposition strength (even if it isn't beneficial to Australia, since our highest ranked local rival is New Zealand).

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Nice work Dukes. That ranking looks a lot more realistic. But grrrr Czech Republic!

[Guest Ringo Mars]

So far, I've noticed 8 goalkeepers slam the WC's ball (Robinson, Lehmann, Dida, Casillas, Buffon, Abondanzierri, Cech and Isaksson), apparently it's slippery and will lead to blunders.

This is clearly part of Sepp Blatter's plan to appeal to Americans

[therockbox]

Thank god Calamity James isn't playing, he'd never get hold of it.

[ONO]

The official WC ball is pretty light. It's nice, I like it. Beckham will have fun with it. Even I can take a perfect freekick with it.

[Xero Gravity]

They should play with one of those brightly coloured balls you can buy in any toy shop for a quid. Even Zach Gowen could take a perfect free kick with one of those

[Quom]

I think Australia will do alright. We are nothing special but I do think we may be able to make it out of the stages. Kewell is important as he offers something to keep the defenders minds off Viduka. We really need another tall striker.

[IAceI]

So let's move on from Australia's chance of winning (or lack of ¬_¬) and do something else.

Who do you all think will be player of the tournament (MVP for you Yanks )?

I'm going to go out on a limb because this is who I said for Euro 2004 and he didn't disappoint - Bastian Schweinsteiger.

[Steeb]

Messi, if/when he gets fit. Can't explain why, just a feeling.

[AJ]

So far, I've noticed 8 goalkeepers slam the WC's ball (Robinson, Lehmann, Dida, Casillas, Buffon, Abondanzierri, Cech and Isaksson), apparently it's slippery and will lead to blunders.

This is clearly part of Sepp Blatter's plan to appeal to Americans

Every time a big tournament comes around like the World Cup or the Euro competitions you can guarentee the goalkeepers will moan about the balls. It's almost always that they're too light and/or too fast. It's like they're making up excuses before they've even made a mistake.

[Guest muddatrucker]

This time I feel for them, the ball isn't stitched, its glued and its coated in plastic, hard to handle, they all reckon its a ball for outfield players and the crowds, not the keeper.

Edited June 7, 2006 by muddatrucker

[Sir Alan LCSugar]

I think Adriano will have to do something big to overshadow his side, and I also think he can do it.

Like SSTB said, Leo Messi may well have a major say as to how far his team will go, possibly the same with Ronney and us.

[AJ]

England have a mental block which prevents them doing well in World Cups, according to Germany and Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.

Germany kick off the World Cup when they meet Costa Rica on Friday and they could meet England in the second round.

Lehmann said: "England have a great team - their best for years - but we have more experience in World Cups.

"We believe we can do better than England as they've had problems in the past and that's now a mental block."

The Arsenal star - now first choice for Germany ahead of Oliver Kahn - was speaking at a media conference on Wednesday.

He said: "They know how to play well but they do not know how to go through a whole tournament.

"We have been there and done it. They haven't."

Germany have won three World Cups (1954, 1974, 1990) and finished runner-up on four occasions while England have only reached the final once, when they won the competition in 1966.

You have to give it to Lehmann. It must be hard work being such a prick. “We have been there and done it. They haven’t.” He speaks as if it was he and the current German team who lifted the cup. This year’s German team is different to those of the past that won World Cups and the English team is different to years gone by too. So to me, that sounds pretty ridiculous.