World Cup Discussion

[RedSoxFan]

I agree. O'Brien definitely should have gotten a midfielder spot ahead of Reyna. O'Brien was awesome. Reyna sucked the game he was our playmaker, put played well after he was shifted to the side. O'Brien shined as playmaker when he took over for Reyna. How Reyna was the lone US player on the squad when he was our team's biggest disappointment is beyond me.

Sanneh probably deserved to be on there too.

Friedel deserved to go instead of Rustu.

And they say they have some "technical committee" that decides the players? And Pele is on it? And they make these kinds of mistakes?

[Andy The Clown]

Should have been O'Brien or Sennah( forgot how to spell his name) instead of Reyna.

As for Donovan, is he a misfielder or a forward? As a forward, no he does not make it. As a midfielder maybe.

For goalie it can go either way between the Turkish goalie And Freidel, but the Turkish really had more spectacular saves.

Only 16 players made the team, 2 per quarterfinalist. That the US has only one, is not surprising.

[RedSoxFan]

My quick predictions for the weekend:

South Korea 2, Turkey 1, in extra time. I think the home crowd will make the difference in this one. I wouldn't be surprised if Turkey took this, though.

Brazil 3 Germany 0. Brazil avenges its 3-0 defeat in the last World Cup final against France. Brazil has just been playing too well so far. Germany did look much better against South Korea than it did against the US, but it's still not good enough for Brazil. Germany will also be missing Ballack.

[Han Solo]

Great game between Turkey and South Korea. Turkey won 3-2. I'll let RSF give the full rundown, but suffice to say - quickest World Cup goal ever - 10 seconds I think it was.

[RedSoxFan]

Brazil 2 Germany 0

Germany actually has the better of the early play. They had a good chance in the 11th minute, as Schneider send in a low cross. Had Edmilson not cleared it, Marcos might not have gotten to it and a German was right there.

Two yellow cards early on could make things interesting later on: Roque Junior in the 6th minute and Klose in the 9th. These players might not get sent off with a 2nd yellow, but they will have to play a little more conservative when making tackles.

Brazil with a great chance in the 19th minute. Ronaldo had a great timed run into the box and Ronaldinho served whim with a beautiful cross. Ronaldo had to one-time it do to the oncoming Kahn but the outside of the foot touch for the far post went just a couple feet wide.

Then in the 24th minute an ambitious cross into the box was just inches above Klose's head right in front of the goal: if it was lower Klose might have been able to nod it in.

Another good chance for Brazil in the 30th minute, and again it was Ronaldinho with a good pass on a well-timed run by Ronaldo. This time it was a chip over the devense, but Ronaldo could not completely gather control of the ball before Kahn got there.

Then in the 42nd minute, Kleberson received the ball a few yards out of the box. He was well defended and got off a poor shot at the top of the box. This is the 2nd time Kleberson has poorly taken an ill-advised shot when he should have retained possession and tried for something better. But just as I criticize him, Kleberson takes a shot, in the 45th minute, just outisde the box and hit the cross bar!

Ronaldo could have scored in the final seconds of the first half. Roberto Carlos sent a strong pass 10 yards in front of goal. Ronaldo was there, turned, but his shot was blocked by the outstretched leg of Kahn.

It goes into the halftime still scoreless. Germany seemed to play better tecnhically, with better possession and buildup, but that primarily was in the first 25 minutes. We saw a lot of flair and individual skills from the Brazilians, and some great two-man hookups. Brazil dominated the last several minutes, with a couple really good opportunities, but just couldn't score.

Germany almost scored right away in the 2nd half. A cross in the box was headed towards goal by Jeremies. The header was well struck but it happened to hit a defender and was cleared.

The 50th minute almost saw a goal scored on the most amazingly struck free kick I have ever seen. The ball swerved perfectly around the Brazilian wall from 30 yards out and appeared destined for a goal an inch inside the post but somehow Marcos' outstretched hand on a diving save deflected the ball enough to have it hit off the post.

It begins to rain lightly. The pitch is already damp from rain before the match, and we could see some slips and interesting bounces from the ball.

The Germans take a couple more shots over the next few minutes from outside the box that go a couple yards high.

Brazil has a chance in the 61st minute. Cafu pushes up on the right side and gets sprung with a pass from Ronaldinho, but his cross along the ground goes a few feet in front of two of his teammates.

Neuville had a good chance shortly thereafter. Schneider sent the ball into the box and Neuville one-timed it attempting to add more pace to the ball and redirect it a little but he barely made contact and Kahn was there.

And Brazil has scored in the 67th minute! Ronaldo stole the ball from a German defender and passes it to Rivaldo nearby. Rivaldo dribbles for a couple yards towards goal and unleashes a shot just outside the box. It was a hard, dipping strike, and reached Kahn directly a couple feet off the ground. Whether it was the wetness of the ball or just the force of the strike, Kahn could not gain control of the ball, and bounced a few feet away from him. Ronaldo ran on to the ball and kicked it in the net.

Four minutes later Jeremies sees a good strike get deflected just wide of the post, Brazil looks hungry for another goal.

The German legend, Bierhoff, comes on in the 74th minute for Klose. Klose had an outstanding beginning to the tournament with a hat trick vs. Saudi Arabia, but only scored twice more in the first round and did not score in the 2nd round.

The game may just have ended in the 79th minute, and its more beautiful soccer by the Brazilians. Kleberson crosses the ball along the top of the box. Rivaldo, who was marked, unselfishly dummies the ball and it goes to Ronaldo, who was open. Ronaldo touched the ball to settle it size up his opportunity, and unleashes his shot just in time to avoid a slide tackle by a German player. Ronaldo's strike was along the ground and perfectly inside the post. Ronaldo now has 12 goals in two World Cups, tying Pele for the most in Brazil's history.

Bierhoff nearly gets one of the two goals back in the 83rd minute. A pass happens to find him open in front of goal and his one-time strike was well struck but somehow Marcos managed to get his hand on the ball for the deflection.

It's final, Brazil has one its fifth World Cup title by the score of 2-0. They are still the only team to win the Cup outside of their home continent. The most interesting aspect of the match coming in was the highest scoring team of the Cup, Brazil, against the team which had allowed just one goal coming in.

It was the three R's who starred today, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, and Ronaldo. Three of the very most gifted players in the world, they showed their talents on the biggest stage in the world, the most watched sporting event ever with 1.5 billion people, one out of every four humans on earth, expected to watch. Ronaldo more than made up for his abysmal performance in the '98 World Cup Final with a performance well worthy of the Man of the Match award. He'll also take home the golden boot as the highest scoring player of the Cup, with 8 total. Rivaldo and Klose tied for second with 5 each.

[Traina]

Yay, Brazil! It was a fantastic game! What a perfect end to this World Cup. A chance to see superb football.

[RedSoxFan]

Turkey 3 South Korea 2

The third place game was actually played yesterday. I didn't take notes during it, so I'll just write a brief summary.

The game was actually quite interesting, and a record breaking event occurred right from the start: a goal in just 10 seconds, the fastest ever in the World Cup. Turkey had the opening touch, and sent it to the Korean back line. Hong Myung-Bo must not have thought the game had started as he was a little lazy with a pass to a teammate and Sukur. Sukur was supposed to be the star of the team but hadn't scored all Cup until now, as after he intercepted the pass he struck into the side of the goal.

It didn't take long to level the score for the Koreans. Lee Eul-Yong scored on a 25 yard direct free kick. It was a beautiful curling ball that went just inside the post.

Turkey again had a one goal lead just four minutes later. Good teamwork from Mansiz, Basturk, and Sukur led to a tap in by Mansiz.

Mansiz added one more for good measure in the 32nd minute. It was a give and go involving Sukur that Mansiz chipped over the keeper.

Korea had a lot of pressure in the 2nd half, but couldn't find the back of the net. That is, until it was too late: three minutes into second half stoppage time Song Chung-Gug's shot was deflected and trickled in past Rustu.

Both teams have a lot to be proud of from their performances in this Cup. Korea was one of the last teams one would expect to make it to the final four, and Turkey was a surprising member given the strength of teams that were (or were supposed to be) on that half of the 2nd round. It will be interesting to see how well these teams carry their momentum into international competitions over the next couple years.

[Shrek]

I question how Schneider failed to get booked around the 37th minute. Rivaldo made a nice slide tackle, and Schneider jumped "over" him. From the replay it looked like he actually looked down at Rivaldo before planting his studs squarely in his chest. IMHO, he should have been sent off, but he didn't even go into the book.

[Cynic]

I question how Schneider failed to get booked around the 37th minute. Rivaldo made a nice slide tackle, and Schneider jumped "over" him. From the replay it looked like he actually looked down at Rivaldo before planting his studs squarely in his chest. IMHO, he should have been sent off, but he didn't even go into the book.

I think that was an accident. He couldn't help stepping on Rivaldo due to momentum--he was running fast. So I don't think that was a bookable foul.

[Han Solo]

RSF - thanks for all the great game summaries!

[VP]

Ever since CONCACAF went 3-0 in the first round of matches, I've been hawking the regional angle of this World Cup, so I'll give my final summary.

Records
SA 10-6-4 (.600) (Brazil had 7 of the 10 wins)
NA 5-4-3 (.542) (only 2 wins after the first set of games)
Eur 24-22-16 (.516) (all 15 teams won a game except Slovenia & France)
Afr 4-7-6 (.412) (3-3-3 after 2 games, 1-4-2 thereafter)
Asia 5-9-3 (.382) (hosts 5-3-3, others 0-6-0)

Average Placements
NA 12.67 (USA 8, MEX 11, CRC 19)
Eur 15.27 (GER 2, TUR 3, ESP 5, ENG 6, DEN 10, IRE 12, SWE 13, BEL 14, ITA 15, POR 21, RUS 22, CRO 23, POL 25, FRA 28, SLO 30)
SA 17 (BRA 1, PAR 16, ARG 18, ECU 24, URU 26)
Asia 19 (KOR 4, JPN 9, CHN 31, KSA 32)
Afr 20 (SEN 7, RSA 17, CMR 20, NGA 27, TUN 29)

There's no weighting either for later rounds or higher placements. I.e. a finals win should be worth more than a 1st round win, but it isn't here. Also, there's certainly a bigger difference between 1st and 5th than between 21st and 29th, but that doesn't show up here either.

Draw your own conclusions, but the New World certainly performed well. Did I hear right yesterday that Brazil is the only nation ever to win the WC away from it's home continent? That's pretty amazing. With that fact, although Kor and Jpn were impressive, Asia certainly goes at the bottom of the barrel in my opinion, and if all were right with the world would lose one of their spots to NA for 2006. I know that won't happen.

[Traina]

Concacaf certainly deserves more spots in the tournament. Why are there only 3 spots?

[Dr T Non-Fan]

I think that's "home hemisphere," as Brazil won in 1994 in Pasadena.

[Andy The Clown]

Brazil also won the 1958 World cup, which was held in Sweden.

[RedSoxFan]

Right, Brazil winning in Sweden and the US still counts for them being the only team to win outside one's home continent (no hemisphere language necessary).

[VP]

Argentina won in Mexico in 1986; thus the 'hemisphere' language.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Sorry, I didn't read that right. Have they ever won on their home continent? I'm guessing yes.

[Shrek]

Year Host Winner

1930 Uruguay Uruguay *
1934 Italy Italy *
1938 France Italy
1950 Brazil Uruguay
1954 Switzerland W. Germany
1958 Sweden Brazil
1962 Chile Brazil
1966 England England *
1970 Mexico Brazil
1974 W. Germany W. Germany *
1978 Argentina Argentina *
1982 Spain Italy
1986 Mexico Argentina
1990 Italy Germany
1994 United States Brazil
1998 France France *
2002 Japan/S Korea Brazil

[Captain America]

U.S. makes Top 10. (http://espn.go.com/soccer/news/2002/0814/1417882.html)

[Tom Servo]

That's pretty amazing. With that fact, although Kor and Jpn were impressive, Asia certainly goes at the bottom of the barrel in my opinion, and if all were right with the world would lose one of their spots to NA for 2006. I know that won't happen.
Well, yesterday FIFA allocated the spots for the 2006 World Cup.

Europe - 13 + Germany (host country)
Africa - 5
Asia - 4.5
S. America - 4
N. America - 3.5
Oceania - 1

Asia's 5th place team place N. America's 4th place team for one spot.
So basically, CONCACAF gained 0.5 spots, Oceania gained 0.5, Europe lost 0.5 spot, S. America lost 0.5 spot.

[VP]

I can live with that. This means a team like Honduras or Jamaica will play someone like Iran or UAE.