The Official 2006 FIFA World Cup thread. (4 Viewers)

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I'm part Portuguese, so this could be viewed by some as being pretty biased... but I think that Portugal can win the world cup.

Firstly, the team is coached by 'Big Phil' Scholari, who has already won the world cup with Brazil in 2002 and took Portugal to the final of Euro 2004...a tournament that we should have won.

Scholari plays a 4-2-3-1 formation, which should look something like this;

GK: Ricardo

RB: Nuno Valente
CB: Ricardo Carvalho
CB: Fernando Meira
LB: Paulo Ferreira

CM: Maniche
CM: Costinha

LAM: Cristiano Ronaldo
CAM: Deco
RAM: Figo

CF: Pauleta


The trio of Ronaldo, Deco and Figo presents one of the most potent attacking threats of any team. Figo has recently enjoyed a new lease of life since joining Inter, and is one of my all-time favourite players; Deco is one of the best playmakers in the game today; and Ronaldo should improve upon his extremely impressive Euro 2004. I expect him to set the tournament alight. Maniche also provides a considerable attacking threat with his long-range shooting. Does anyone remember his amazing goal of the tournament at Euro 2004?

Perhaps you could say that having only Pauleta up front is a weakness, but the formation is such that attack can come from all angles, whilst men in Maniche and Costinha are still kept behind the ball. Benfica's Petit is another quality alternative in the midfield. Pauleta is also our country's greatest ever goalscorer, scoring regularly in the qualifiers and has also won France's golden boot award with PSG.

Whilst some other teams could be said to have a better defense, the back four of Valente, Meira, Carvalho, Ferreira, and Ricardo as GK is pretty solid. In any case...we have Ricardo Carvalho...who was infamously hailed in this forum by "Maniche" as being the best defender in the world today:rofl: .

Portugal should easily qualify from a group consisting of Angola, Iran and Mexico. Only problem is that the top two from this group have to play the winners that emerge from the group of death: i.e- most likely Argentina or Holland.

you copied and paste that from the FourFourTwo WC edition eh

 

[DRAGONZ]

He has been found out!

 

[matt#1]

you copied and paste that from the FourFourTwo WC edition eh

lol...most of the stuff I wrote was from Four Four Two...but that's not to say that I know nothing about the Portuguese side. I simply agree with what was written in that article and couldn't have put it any better myself. I have not been found out. If you read back through most of my comments in the football thread over the years...it is pretty clear that I do know what i'm talking about. I am part- Portuguese and have been watching the Portugal side run around since I was a kid. The only thing that the article failed to mention was Benfica's Simao and ex-chelsea player Tiago...who is playing brilliantly for Lyon this season. These 2 players provide further depth and quality to our already excellent midfield.

 

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RAM: Kaka
LAM: Ronaldinho

CF: Adriano
CF: Ronaldo

Those four are going to be very intimidating for the Aussie defense! Not only that , it will be like " ah crap Ronaldo isnt playing well, We'll just throw in Robinho our 2nd string forward " -_-

"well i don't think robinho is ready yet, lets chuck in Fabiano in there!!!"

 

[LMF^^]

Tiago would take over from Maniche in midfield, who haz been plain shit. I don't think he had the best of timez at Dynamo Moscow too befo he went back to ride on Mourinhoz dick. Will Jorge Andrade still be in the squad...? Or did he retire like Rui Costa...? Anyway I would expect Simao to see a lot of game time in Germany too, hez one of the finest playerz Portugal have produced recently. Fairly decent squad, but I think you guyz will miss Nuno Gomes, even though he ain't the most fearsome striker around, he still popz up here and there to score some goalz. Ricardo Vaz Te do look like a good prospect too, haven't seen too much of him but he doez score a few goalz fo Bolton.

 

[matt#1]

"well i don't think robinho is ready yet, lets chuck in Fabiano in there!!!"

"Fabiano isn't having enough of an impact...lets thrown on Baptista!"

 

[matt#1]

Fairly decent squad, but I think you guyz will miss Nuno Gomes, even though he ain't the most fearsome striker around, he still popz up here and there to score some goalz.

Andrade hasn't retired...but is injured...so that is a pretty big blow for us. Fernando Meira (Stuttgart) will probably parter Carvalho in the centre of defense instead.

I also think that Nuno Gomes will be missed...but I think Pauleta will do the job for us. If not, surely Ronaldo, Figo, Deco, Simao, etc will get plenty of goals anyway.

 

[johnny_87]

Andrade broke his leg, otherwise he probably would have gone to the Chelscum to replace the "Greatest defender in the world" TM.

I think having players like Nuno Valente in the starting line-up mean that they could be the difference, especially up against quality wingers from Argentina/Holland in the 2nd rd (Robben, Van der Vaart?, Messi, Gonzalez, d'Aleesandro - he has done well at Pompey)

 

[bobbetng]

quality wingers from Argentina/Holland in the 2nd rd (Robben, Van der Vaart?, Messi, Gonzalez, d'Aleesandro

speaking of Messi i seriously hope he plays. it will be a huge plus to have such a young talent like him on the world stage.

 

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speaking of Messi i seriously hope he plays. it will be a huge plus to have such a young talent like him on the world stage.

he will definately play, Peckerman will be an idiot if he doesn't use him

it is just a matter where he will start, bench, or partnering crespo up front

 

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As an Argentine I still think Messi is too young for the world cup. But everyone wants him there, so he will be. Our team is annouced tomorrow.


Anyway, I think after alot of deliberation, I have decided who I think will win.


My tip for the world cup: Uruguay.

age should not be a factor, look at rooney, owen, c.ronaldo and ronaldo. They were chosen on an international stage before their 20s, yet they played very very well..(well, apart from ronaldo since he didn't play much in 94)

Messi should get a bit of game time, given how Riquelme doesn't like getting closed down so quickly..Messi might be able to come off the bench and open up some room for him

 

[bJ_Bhoy 87]

age should not be a factor, look at rooney, owen, c.ronaldo and ronaldo. They were chosen on an international stage before their 20s, yet they played very very well..(well, apart from ronaldo since he didn't play much in 94)

Perhaps after this year we will add Walcott to that list????

 

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Perhaps after this year we will add Walcott to that list????

well, i'm not sure, given no one knows how he performs on a p.league level, let alone international stage
i was referring to Messi, Walcott should be a "surprise", more than "omg, the next rooney" hype...

 

[copious]

Lol Scaloni made the squad, representing my mighty hammers!

 

[pam17]

Squad just released:

Argentina Squad:

Goalkeepers: Roberto Abbondanzieri (Boca Juniors), Leonardo Franco (Atletico Madrid), Oscar Ustari (Independiente).

Defenders: Fabricio Coloccini (Deportivo La Coruna), Roberto Ayala (Valencia), Gabriel Heinze (Manchester United), Juan Pablo Sorin (Villarreal), Lionel Scaloni (West Ham), Gabriel Milito (Zaragoza), Nicolas Burdisso (Inter), Leandro Cufre (Roma).

Midfielders: Maximiliano Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid), Javier Mascherano (Corinthians), Esteban Cambiasso (Inter Milan), Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal), Julio Cruz (Inter Milan), Luis Gonzalez (Porto), Pablo Aimar (Valencia).

Forwards: Carlos Tevez (Corinthians), Hernan Crespo (Chelsea), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Rodrigo Palacio (Boca Juniors), Javier Saviola (Sevilla).

Seeing as you're a fellow Argentine I will ask you, how the hell did Zanetti get left out of our squad? WTF?

 

[_dhj_]

Why no Aguero? sure he doens't really have senior exp, but great player

 

[copious]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/england/4990422.stm

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson says he has not ruled out the possibility of using Steven Gerrard as a striker at the World Cup finals.


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interesting tactic. So You would think the mid may look like Cole , Lamps, Carrick, Becks.

 

[king_of_boredom]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/england/4990422.stm

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson says he has not ruled out the possibility of using Steven Gerrard as a striker at the World Cup finals.


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interesting tactic. So You would think the mid may look like Cole , Lamps, Carrick, Becks.

i'd love to see Gerrard as one of england's strikers, i think he'd suit it well.

and those two goals he got vs. west ham were pretty impressive.

 

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i think sven should consider starting sheringham

 

[copious]

Mate I tell you what Sheringham wouldnt look out of place in an England jersey at the tender age of 40