GROUP A PREDICTION

1. GERMANY (2.0 Konstantirank Points)
2. POLAND (0.83 Konstantirank Points)
3. ECUADOR (0.50 Konstantirank Points)
4. COSTA RICA (-1.0 Konstantirank Points)

GERMANY: 16 goals in their last 4 matches suggests hitting the back of the net isn’t a problem. However a 4-1 defeat to Italy and a lucky 2-2 draw against Japan alternatively suggests their defence struggles against better quality opposition. Should win the group fairly easily though. ITA 1-4, USA 4-1, LUX 7-0, JAP 2-2, COL 3-0
Player to watch: Miroslav Klose. His goals will be the key to success for Germany.

POLAND: Very inconsistant. Coach Pawel Janas seems to have a ‘if you score for the national team I won’t pick you for the Finals squad’ attitude since top scorer Frankowski as well as Sosin and Saganowski have not been selected. A 1-0 win against Croatia gives some hope (despite being outplayed for most of the match) since all previous wins had been against weak opposition. Should scrap into 2nd place. USA 0-1, SAU 2-1, LIT 0-1, FAE 4-0, COL 1-2, CRO 1-0
Player to watch: Jacek Krzynowek. Fine attacking midfielder capable of playing at the top level.

ECUADOR: Poor run of form up to the Finals, not winning any of their warm up matches. However, all their games have been against reasonable/strong opposition and have been very tight affairs. Expect them to be stuffy opposition but they seem to lack a goalscorer to get them into the knockout stages. HOL 0-1, JAP 0-1, COL 1-1, MAC 1-2
Player to watch: Ivan Kaviedes. Ecuadors star player but hasn't so far lived up to the hype.

COSTA RICA: Three defeats out of three in the run up. Can usually be relied upon to be defensively weak with a strong attack, but the goals have dried up recently leaving Costa Rica likely to prop up the group. Be warned though, Costa Rica have caused more than a few surprises at previous Finals and can’t be completely discounted. IRA 2-3, UKR 0-4, CZE 0-1
Player to watch: Paulo Wanchope. Currently without a club side but the rubbery legged striker has the potential to pose problems for defenders.

>>>>>Next Group B.

But, remember --

ECUADOR HAS A SHAMAN.

That's the wildcard.

As an American, I will state:
Nobody gives a shit about the World Cup! It's just soccer -- a fourth-tier sport. Now NASCAR! That's where it's at!

I love all this stuff that comes out at WC time.

I think Ecuador's going to need a bit of conjuring up some altitude effects though. They might have been getting close results recently, but that's still not going to be enough to get the job done.

Pop Todd is talkin' crazy.

You just say that cos when they say it's a World Cup, it actually involves teams from, y'know, places not in North America.

You mean there are places not in North America?
I mean... besides Iraq, whose ass we have to kick!

Sen. Ol' Vodka Tits LooGAR Post of the Day.

But Todd - IT'S THE TOP SPORT IN ISRAEL.

Germany vs Poland. Thats gonna be a war, inside & outside the staduim.

GROUP B PREDICTION

1. ENGLAND (3.6 Konstantipoints)
2. PARAGUAY (1.3 Konstantipoints)
3. SWEDEN (0.83 Konstantipoints)
4. TRINIDAD & TOBAGO (-1.1 Konstantipoints)

ENGLAND: England performed as expected in the run up to the finals, struggling a little against the better teams (Uruguay), comfortably beating the average teams (Hungary) and trouncing the poorest teams (Jamaica). They have one of the strongest group of players but more often than not they have failed to reproduce club form at international level. Being grouped with Sweden, whom they have not beaten in over 30 years, may also be a concern and anything less than 3 points in that match could blow the group wide open. Still if all goes to recent form they should top the group.
URU 2-1, HUN 3-1, JAM 6-0
Player to watch: Steven Gerrard. Forget Rooneymania, Gerrard will be the architect of any English success.

PARAGUAY: Have proved to be draw specialist in the warm up matches and only lost one match, unluckily to Mexico, in five games. Clearly they are a tough team to beat. Although they have not scored freely they have been consistant in front of goal, grabbing 1’s and 2’s in almost all of their matches an important trait in international football. Losing all time top scorer Jose Cardozo to injury will be a blow but Paraguay still look likely to make the second stage.
WAL 0-0, MEX 1-2, NOR 2-2, DEN 1-1, GEO 1-0
Player to watch: Carlos Gamarra One of the best central defenders around.

SWEDEN: On their day Sweden are a handful for any team but the side’s confidence has been shaken by poor form in 2006. For a team with some wonderful attacking talent (Ibrahmovic/Larsson/Ljungberg) they have struggled to score goals and a comprehensive 3-0 defeat to Ireland suggests the defence might be underperforming too. They may be bouyed by their historical success against England but despite this they might just miss out this time on the 2nd round.
IRE 0-3, FIN 0-0, CHI 1-1
Player to watch: Christian Wilhelmsson Not the biggest star in the side but a much underappreciated and very talented winger.

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: 6 months ago Trinidad & Tobago were troundling along just fine but a worrying slump in form recently suggests nerves are starting to show as they get closer to their Finals debut. Unless they improve dramatically the Soca Warriors could be embarrased by the rest of the teams in the group, particularily when up against the talent packed forward lines of England and Sweden. Keeper’ Kelvin Jack will have to be inspired form if T&T are to even salvage a point.
ICE 2-0, PER 1-1, WAL 1-2, SLO 1-3, CZE 0-3
Player to watch: Dwight Yorke Past his best now but still likely Trinidad & Tobago's best hope of making an impact.

>>>>>Whenever I have a spare 20 minutes Group C

germany, man theres just an extent to rigging the draw

GROUP C PREDICTION

1. HOLLAND (3.5 Konstantipoints)
2. SERBIA & MONTENEGRO (3.0 Konstantipoints)
3. IVORY COAST (1.13 Konstantipoints)
4. ARGENTINA (0.5 Konstantipoints)

HOLLAND: Although unconvincing at times, the Dutch national side has put together an impressive series of, admittadly low scoring, results. With Van der Sar in goals and Van Nistelrooy always dangerous upfront, Holland seem well served at either end of the field but a lack of discipline in a rather sparky midfield (Cocu, Van Bommel, Sneijder) and many niggling injury worries within the squad might see them fail to achieve their full potential.
ECU 1-0, CAM 1-0, MEX 2-1, AUS 1-1
Player to watch: Philip Cocu The veteran midfielder will be responsible for holding together a relatively inexperienced Dutch side.

SERBIA & MONTENEGRO: A low key build up to the finals makes it difficult to fully analyse their chances at the 2006 finals but their outstanding record in the qualifiers (1 goal conceeded in 10 matches) and the few recent friendlies they have played suggest Serbia & Montenegro could be real dark horses in the tournament. Hardly free scoring but if they can take the lead they are among the hardest teams in the world to break down. A good bet for the 2nd round and maybe even further.
TUN 1-0, URU 1-1
Player to watch: Dragoslav Jevric Could emerge as one of the best goalkeepers in the Finals.

IVORY COAST: Easily the best of this years African contingent and would be a good bet to qualify from most groups but they have been unfortunate to be drawn into possibly the toughest group in the Finals. Lots of goals, both for and against in the warm up matches allied to some great natural talent indicates Ivory Coast could well be one of the most entertaining teams at the Finals. However the better organised European sides will just edge them out.
ESP 2-3, SUI 1-1, CHI 1-1, SLO 3-0
Player to watch: Emmanuel Eboue The full-back has been outstanding for Arsenal this season.

ARGENTINA: Like Serbia & Montenegro, a sparse warm up schedule makes it hard to accurately gauge if they are genuine challengers. Although they cruised to a 2-0 win over makeweights Angola, a surprise 3-2 defeat to a hardly inspiring Croatia side points to apparent weaknesses. No doubts that they are laden with individual talents but there are serious concerns around their ability to fight and scrap their way out this very tough group. Could be in for a shock with a group stage elimination.
CRO 2-3, ANG 2-0
Player to watch: Juan Roman Riquelme Huge, if inconsistent, talent. Argentina will need him to be at his best.

how long was i alseep?

Argies & Ivory Coast to go through for me. The most intruiging group, can't wait for this one. The dutch boys looked in better form against down under though. Any chance of a player to watch series for each country. Be interesting who you pick out. With Messi & Heinze back, riquelme floating behind the front two, Cambaisso(sp) holding & Tevez on the heels of every defender, i'm starting to think the argies could push quarters at least.

argentina are the only team in current world football who can convincigly beat brazil on their day

i got a feeling S&M will go throo (with holland crashing maybe) just cuz of that defence. that group is tight tho, yeah anything could happen, a lot depending on the 1st two games/momentum

also, dutch defence

thanks for these, kon. exactly what i needed to help me enjoy the first world cup i will actually attempt to pay attention to.

I'd put lots of money on Argentina winning its group.

those serbians look like straight thugs for real

POLAND!!!!!!

And how the hell did Argentina & England end up in seperate groups? I thought they always played. I love that rivalry

GROUP D PREDICTION

1. IRAN (3.0 Konstantipoints)
2. PORTUGAL (2.3 Konstantipoints)
3. MEXICO (2.0 Konstantipoints)
4. ANGOLA (0.0 Konstantipoints)

IRAN: It was goals a plenty from Iran in the warm up matches and although they are unlikely to keep many clean sheets their attacking prowess could catch the possibly complacent Mexico and Portugal off guard. An experienced side, a winning habit (they have dominated Asian football for more than a decade now) and a clutch of excellent Bundeliga based pros (in particular look out for the excellent Mahdavikia) are positive signs that Iran can pull off a major shock and qualify for the knock out stages. Quite possibly the surprise team of the competition and definitely a team to watch.
COS 3-0, CRO 2-2, BOS 5-2.
Player to watch: Mehdi Mahdavikia. Superbly creative midfielder.

PORTUGAL: Portugal cruised through their warm up matches but since they neglected to play any serious opposition their rather laid back approach to the build up might come back to haunt them - they will not have it so easy in Germany. However, a squad that includes world class players like Ricardo Carvalho and Cristiano Ronaldo should do enough to get to the later stages. Much may hinge on striker Pauleta, his superb strike rate in friendlies and qualifiers has not been matched in tournament Finals. He famously failed to score at Euro 2004.
SAU 3-0, CAP 4-1, LUX 3-0.
Player to watch: Ricardo Carvalho. The worlds best centre back.

MEXICO: A consistent qualifier from the weak CONEMBOL federation, their FIFA ranking of 4 seems excessive for a side no more than decent. Although Rafael Marquez won the Champions League this year with Barcelona, star striker Jared Borgetti couldn’t get a game at one of the Premierships lesser lights, Bolton. There warm up matches, while mopping up any minnows, clearly showed an inability to compete against strong European sides. Will perform admirably without getting to the second round.
GHA 1-0, PAR 2-1, VEN 1-0, CON 2-1, FRA 0-1, HOL 1-2.
Player to watch: Jesus Arellano. Highly talented winger with great dribbling ability.

ANGOLA: For the first time in almost 20 years the African sides (excluding Ivory Coast) at this years Finals seem easy meat for the rest of the qualified nations. Angola came from nowhere to qualify and look likely to go back to nowhere very quickly. In their friendly matches Angola defeated lesser African nations Mauritius and Lesotho but against good opposition they received a string of defeats and rarely looked like scoring. Certainties to finish bottom of the group.
KOR 0-1, MAU 5-1, LES 3-1, ARG 0-2, TUR 2-3, USA 0-1
Player to watch: Mantorras. Was a highly rated youngster at Benfica but injuries have seen his star wane significantly.

GROUP E PREDICTION

1. CZECH REPUBLIC (3.5 Konstantipoints)
2. ITALY (2..67 Konstantipoints)
3. GHANA (2.25 Konstantipoints)
4. UNITED STATES (1.85 Konstantipoints)

CZECH REPUBLIC: Plenty clean sheets, plenty goals and plenty wins mean the Czech Republic, probably the best side at Euro 2004, will go to Germany in high spirits. Things might not be as rosy as they seem though as the talismanic Pavel Nedved is injury prone and past his prime and they avoided any matches against strong opposition for their warm up matches. However with Petr Cech in goal they aren’t likely to give much away and they possess a potent attack and midfield. Should top the group.
TUR 2-2, SAU 2-0, COS 1-0, TRI 3-0.
Player to watch: Petr Cech. The worlds best goalkeeper.

ITALY: Currently on an 18 match unbeaten run however many of those results have been draws and they haven’t looked terribly convincing outside Italy. Typically Italian, they don’t score many but are strong at defending. A failure to put teams away when on top could see them throw away important points but will be very difficult to beat.
GER 4-1, SUI 1-1, UKR 0-0
Player to watch: Luca Toni. One of the best strikers in Europe this season.

GHANA: Ghana are coming into form at the right time with each of their recent results better than the last. A narrow defeat to Mexico has been followed up with a draw against Turkey and impressive winning margins against Jamaica and South Korea. Especially strong across midfield where they are able to compete with most teams.
MEX 0-1, TUR 1-1, JAM 4-1, KOR 3-1.
Player to watch: Michael Essien. Chelsea paid a huge transfer fee for a reason.

UNITED STATES: US football has come a long way since their shambolic performances at Italia 90 but those excited by their current position in the FIFA rankings are likely to be disappointed. A drubbing by Germany and a surprise home defeat to Morocco were blots on a reasonably successful friendly campaign but 1-0 wins against the likes of Latvia and Angola suggest goals might be hard to come by against sterner defences. Well organised by Bruce Arena they won’t be disgraced but unlikely to have the firepower to get to the next stage.
POL 1-0, GER 1-4, JAM 1-1, MOR 0-1, VEN 2-0, LAT 1-0, ANG 1-0
Player to watch: Claudio Reyna. Good experienced midfieler with a fine range of passing and decent scoring record.

What does "clean sheets" mean?


Thanks for doing this Darrin. I'm going to try and catch some of these games if they're on TV here.

Did I go into Ron Manager speak there? Not that you'll know who Ron Manager is either!

A clean sheet is when a team doesn't concede a goal, i.e a 2-0 or a 1-0.