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Its going to be asked sooner or later, so what are yalls predictions for 2006? I have:
Group A: Germany, Costa Rica
Group B: England, Sweden
Group C: Netherlands, Argentina
Group D: Portugal, Mexico
Group E: Czech Republic, Italy
Group F: Brazil, Japan
Group G: France, Togo
Group H: Spain, Tunisia

Germany
Sweden Germany
N-lands
N-lands N-lands
Mexico Netherlands
Cz. Rep.
Japan Cz. Rep.
France
France France
Tunisia
England
England
C. Rica England
England
Portugal Portugal
Argentina
England
Brazil
Italy Italy
Spain
Spain Spain
Togo

Group E: Italy and USA

...ok so i sat here and looked at the lower portion of your post where you apparently picked some winners but i can't make any sense of it at all and now my head's about to explode

Group A-Germany/Poland
Group B-England/Sweden
Group C-Argentina/Netherland
Group D-Portgual/Mexico
Group E-Czech republic/Ghana
Group F-Brazil/Croatia
Group G-France/Korea Republic
Group H-Spain/Ukraine

Yeah, sorry about the first post...after I posted it I noticed it was messed up..but I didn't have time to edit it. Anyways I had England beating Netherlands in the final. Zidane10...interesting pick with Ghana coming out of Group E. I just don't see them getting more points than either the USA or Italy. They may be a sleeper...but this group seems too tough for that. I have Czech Republic and Italy coming out of that group. My sleeper team(last Cup's Senegal) is Togo. The last few cups, England had the talent, but not the experience. This year, England has the talent and the experience to win it.

I'll throw my opinion in I guess. Group A - Germany and Poland progess. Group B - England and Paraguay progess. Group C - Netherlands and Serbia and Montenegro progess. Group D - Mexico and Portugal progess. Group E - Czech Republic and the US progress. Group F - Brazil and Croatia progress. Group G - France and Korea progress. Group H - Spain and Ukraine progress.

This would mean the Round of 16 was -
Germany vs Paraguay
England vs Poland
Netherlands vs Mexico
Portugal vs Serbia and Montenegro
Czech vs Croatia
Brazil vs US
France vs Ukraine
Spain vs Korea

Quarters would be
Germany vs Netherlands
England vs Portugal
Czech vs Ukraine
Brazil vs Spain

Semis would be
Czech vs Netherlands
England vs Brazil

Final would be Czech vs England

does anyone know when the final groups will be released?

did aleksandrus really think I was making a draw from hypothetical groups?

Ghana and USA are coming out of group E....what, i can dream can't I?

oh sorry, didn't realize they were out yet.
i thought you were making guesses on how the groups would be decided.

but... i will take a gander on the final.
Group A
Germany&Poland
Group B
England&Sweden
Group C
Argentina&Netherlands
Group D
Mexico&Iran
Group E
Czech Republic&U.S.A
Group F
Brazil&Australia
Group G
France&Rep. of Korea
Group H
Spain&Ukraine

Netherlands over Brazil in the Final 1-0

My Picks for next round

Group A
Germany
Costa Rica

Group B
England
Sweden (if not Sweden then def. paraguay, but it's going to be tight)

Group C
Argentina
Netherlands (ivory coast 40% chance)

Group D
Portugal
Mexico (angola 60% chance)

Group E
Italy
Czech Republic (Hands down, sorry US but ur outta this one)

Group F
Brazil
Croatia

Group G
France
Togo (Switzerland 50% chance)

Group H
Spain
Tunisia

are you crazy? togo over rep. of korea? and tunisia over ukraine? Have you seen Ukraine play lately? I'm picking them to be surprise in their first ever world cup apearance.

Tunisia is a good team buddy, i think Dos Santos plays for them (if i'm right then here is the reason) he is a great striker, he is being scouted by most of Europe, scoring goals like a joke in the Africa Cup of Nations. (not sure if he plays on Togo or Tunisia, one of them)

Togo is underrated, Africa Cup of Nations Winners

Over

CAMEROON, NIGERIA, SOUTH AFRICA, IVORY COAST

Just because you've never heard of these teams, does not make them a loser in the round. Ukraine is decent, not the best of teams however. These are just predictions but i'm standing strong with the one's i have picked.

and how would u take Ukraine over Switzerland, Switzerland has a much better soccer team imo

I think Star11 is right...Ukraine is just a one-man show with Shevchenko, it worked in UEFA qualifying...but at this stage, you need a TEAM not a PLAYER. My picks(as shown in first post) are the same as Star11's except for I have Japan instead of Croatia.

Thanks, the reason i picked Croatia was due to the outstanding performance in 1998. I have to give it to them. Japan has produced its few wonders but I think they're still rookies to facing world class teams.

A- Germany Poland
B- England Sweden
C- Argentina Netherlands
D- Mexico Portugal
E- Italy US
F- Brazil Japan
G-France Switzerland
H- Spain Ukraine

Poland does not have a solid soccer team, US over Czech republic is EXTREMELY unlikely
Once again Japan is a rookie in the world cup so i think the most they will gain is 4 points
Ukraine, good team, not enough stars

what makes the czech republic so greater than the us?
the us will have all of their players rested and ready to go. They'll make it out of their group.

In 2004, the Czechs beat both Germany and the Netherlands during EURO 2004, and tied Italy in a friendly that year. In 2005, they went 9-3 in WC Qualifying, losing only to the Netherlands (twice) and Romania. They finished second in a fairly tough group. They are ranked second in the world for a pretty good reason.

Since 2004, the best US results have been splitting a pair of games with Mexico and a draw with Poland. The US went 7-2-1 in WC Qualifying, finishing at the top of a group that is not considered to be one of the strongest confederations in FIFA.

All teams will have their players rested and ready to go. FIFA is prohibiting all players from participating in club games for a few weeks prior to the World Cup.

Believe me, I hope you're right that the US will make it out of the group stage. But don't underestimate any of the teams in the group.

ukraine=not enough stars?
true, but stars do not make a team. from what i have seen, ukraine have been playing excellent team ball. going 7-4-1, they scored 18 goals with only 6 from shevchenko. this is just my prediction, we'll have to wait and see.

for the czech thing, lurker thanks for clearing that up, czech is a great team, ranked what like 4th in the world, i don't think the US deserves to be in the Top 10, not putting them down as a bad team, i just don't think that a top 10 spot should go to them, they are ranked on top of ENGLAND,let me type that again, ENGLAND, real madrid beat the MLS all stars (pretty much the US national) 5-0 !!!!!! 5-0 !!!!!! sorry but the US will NOT qualify to the next round this year, that is a statement i will stand by.

for ukraine - yes they do have a chance, but i'm pretty sure one african team will make it to the next round, for that i pick tunisia (otherwise togo) because people underestimate them when they have not been seen playing their soccer (i'm from africa, i know what teams are good )major shocker that cameroon, nigeria, and s. africa didn't make it !!!!


to Liverpool - the first post on this page - croatia over japan, dude come on !!! Croatia has a solid team, strikers, defense, midfield, THEY GOT IT i mean if i remember right they went to the semi's in 98 ? that was a while back i understand, but they are a good team

To be honest, I don't know all too much about either Japan or Croatia. I made my decision based on the Fifa World Rankings(Japan-15, Croatia-20) and Japan's dominance in qualifying. Croatia was inconsistent in qualifying, they beat Sweden, then tied Malta, and lost to Bulgaria. It depends on what Croatia team shows up.

YNWA

yeah i guess so, but i still stand with Croatia, i went according to the 98 cup, idk too much about japan, but i think s. korea is better

Poland actually does have a quite solid soccer team. They have an obvious lack of any Cup or competition hardware but I think in Germany this summer you will see a better and more hopeful team. Perhaps they still need about 2 years to bolster up, but they do indeed have a solid team that had a good qualifying run for the World Cup.

Zurawski, the famed striker, is doing great at Celtic (some concussions have prevented his playing but he has notched some goals and playing time). Fellow strikers Frankowski (Elche FC, but may transfer to Wolverhampton) and Gregorz Rasiak (Premiership striker) and Smolarek (in Germany) also Kosowski, Saganowski, and Brozek (Wisla Krakow) are lighting it up in Poland. The striker position will be well taken care of especially if Olisadebe plays (there has been alot of debate about this with him and the coach but he might.) It will be very difficult to pick a duo from this talented bunch to fit the 4-4-2.

Midfield looks very strong with Kryznowek (Bayer Leverkusen star) and Szymkowiak (playing in Turkey.) Defense has always been a strength with Klos (Wisla Krakow) and Baszczyński playing well in the Ekstraklasa.

Goalkeepers Dudek (European Champion 2005-Liverpool FC) and Boruc (has started this season for Celtic and has let in very few goals) will be well taken care of.

Most of these players are young guns and are playing abroad in great leagues like the Premiership and in Germany. Obviously they have quite a long way to go before they become a European or World power. They played close qualifying games with England and the Polish Ekstraklasa I think is headed up and getting more competitive. As a Polish national I am excited with the direction Polish soccer is headed and think it is a stretch to say they do not have a solid team. I would say that in a year or two they will emerge as a very competitive team, and they are beginning to be now. I favor them to pass from their group with Germany and hope for a good World Cup run.

aleksandrus - good rebuttle but ur picks dude come on. you are counting out Italy. Italy is a better pick than czech in my opinion. I seriously doubt the US offense will have a chance against one of the top goalies in the world and the best ranked defense in the world. if u lose to costa rica cuz a few player are missing. u will not be able to beat italy

you have england going through and england lost to northern ireland! just because somebody lost to someone of a lower standard, it doesnt mean they wont be able to put out a good showing!

England lost 1-0 and that is not even the subject we are discussing! If you want to discuss that here is my rebuttle. Look at the players on the team please

Michael Owen
Wayne Rooney
David Beckham
Steven Gerrard
Frank Lampard
Sol Campbell
John Terry
Leo Ferdinand
Jamie Carragher

is that enough ? if not here is more

look at the teams in England's group

Paraguay (not bad, but not good enough)
Sweden (only real threat in my opinion)
Trinidad and Tobago (hopeless)

and then you want to tell me that England won't go through
Go look at every previous post on this topic and i bet you my house that every single person has England going through to the next round.

The US will do good, but they WILL NOT beat Czech and Italy, i bet u Ghana will even beat the US

look here and u tell me how many significant wins u can find

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/team/results?id=660&cc=5901

i only saw 1 and that was when they beat mexico, everything else is just useless

i know, i know. Italy is awesome, czech is awestome. Ghana, number 1 team in Africa right now, but I have to go with the U.S. They, and the Ukraine, are the only two countries for which I have affiliation, of course i'm going to be a bit biased.

Also, I think that Air Maddox has a good point. You can't rely one outcome to determine a team's performance in the World Cup, it's a whole new ballgame.

i'm not saying england won't go through...i think they will go through also but like aleksandrus said, just because the us lost to costa rica doesnt mean they wont have a good showing!