[quote]Kuz wrote:
Breakdown wrote:
Kuz wrote:
The draw was held last night to determine the pools for the 2006 World Cup in Germany… and to no surprise to me, I think the U.S. was hosed by our good friend at FIFA in their draw:
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/051209/1/5nx0.html
Italy and the Czech Republic in the same pool? I can see being ranked #8 in the world did not do us a damn bit of good. Meanwhile, England, Spain and France got it pretty light (at least in my estimation), while Argentina definitely drew a very tough draw.
You’re still relative new boys to the World Cup. I think performance at previous tournaments and world ranking over the past 3 years was more important than current world ranking in allocating the seeds. The world ranking system is pretty meaningless anyway.
You can’t say that England got it that light - Paraguay will be no pushover and Sweden have some quality players. France’s group isn’t as easy as you make it out either.
Your group may be the “group of death” but if you come out of it then it won’t happen again - stop whining and get on with it!!
Easy for you to say since your draw is really NOT that hard. Paraguay will be a light challenge and Sweden is only a challenge in that they give England more of a hard time than any other side.
In addition, our world ranking has been consistently strong over the last 3 years - heck the #8 spot is a drop for us.[/quote]
I just think that the world rankings don’t really mean anything. Correct me if I’m wrong but when was the last time the US beat a “big team”. Yes you do win a lot of games but the opposition is often poor. It isn’t your fault that you tend to play poor sides in World Cup Qualifying games and the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
When you’ve played big teams, such as Holland, Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Italy or even Turkey you have lost. To me that indicates that you aren’t quite deserving of a higher status in world football yet. I do still think that you could have a very successful tournament. The Italy game will be fascinating.
If Lippi can pick the correct players in the correct system then the Azzurri will be very tough to beat. In my (limited!) experience of world cups, no matter how poorly the Italians or the Germans are playing leading up to the tournament, they do tend to be there or there about come the later stages.
I think that most people underestimate Paraguay. They have a habit of making it to the second round. Carlos Paredes looks a superb player too. Manchester United could do (and have done) a lot worse that. Sweden have some exciting forwards too. It won’t be as easy as people are suggesting (although I hope it will be!)