Who is your pick to win the FIFA World Cup

[Squatch]

Poll question: Who is your pick to win the FIFA World Cup

Starting this Friday (in my beautiful homeland of Bavaria).

[progmom]

1. NEDERLAND!

:bounce:

[Squatch]

2. Fixed

[sasquatch]

4. NINE

Deutschland VORWARTS!!!
:bounce:
If team USA can that would be cool but if not than please make it Germany.

[Squatch]

8. Kaiser Franz Song

Official song of Team Germany

Link

[progmom]

11. nee

Oranje leven!!

[Spider Jerusalem]

20. Maybe, if Van Nistelrooy stays injury-free...

with him healthy, they have a good chance of winning their group; without him, not so much, I think.

[DemExpat]

40. Oranje BOVEN....

:D:D:D

DemEx

[progmom]

44. thanks

it's been a few years. :blush:

[Jeroen]

22. Dat lijkt mij ook ja ;-)

Duidelijke zaak.

[progmom]

31. Welkom!!

:bounce:

(Ik ging naar school in Eindhoven met een Jeroen.)

[huskerlaw]

38. Damn Straight!

They're gonna kick ass and take names...according to my entirely unbiased* friends who live in Eindhoven. ;)

*inasmuch as soccer-crazed Dutch folk can be unbiased regarding their national team...

[Beware the Beast Man]

3. My money's on Ned.

[dolo amber]

5. I hear this is England's year

:thumbsup:

[sasquatch]

7. For a fan riot yes, winning no

[ikri]

9. Yay for tired stereotypes! n/t

[Squatch]

10. It looks like Germany might take the Hoolicup this year:

Link

[ikri]

12. Apparently the worry is Polish fans

Polish hooligan army to invade World Cup.

[Squatch]

13. Polish neo-Nazis? What in the Fuque?

[ikri]

19. The hooligan problem is a lot worse in mainland Europe

Thanks to previous tragedies, like Heysel, the English hooligan problem has largely been stamped down on. Most of the problems with English fans abroad now stem from overzealous local policing - fans have been charged at by riot police during games after being pelted with missiles by local fans, etc.

Whilst British police have issued banning orders to some suspected hooligans to prevent them from traveling outside the UK during the World Cup, there are very few restrictions in place to stop the following "fun seekers":

Italian "Ultras", a bunch of neo fascists who exercise a huge amount of control over their local teams and, as such, generally aren't stopped.
Dutch Hooligans, inspired by English gangs from the 1970's, there's a video of them in action too. There are stories of gangs of rival clubs meeting in fields away from towns to fight each other with medieval style weaponry like maces!
German hooligans like those who appeared in France in 1998 and beat a French policeman into a coma.

And there are many more. Spanish fans aren't seen as hooligans by many, but their fans can be very racist.

There will be trouble in Germany, from a personal standpoint I just hope that if any problems occur it doesn't include English fans.

[Kellanved]

43. debatable

The numbers of Hooligans are comparable. The English big brother state and lack of borders make it relatively easy to control the British hooligans - which is why I believe that you are right: Polish and German groups are far more likely to make trouble.

[Kellanved]

42. Yup

Polish and Russian neo-Nazis are a huge problem at international soccer matches. I am not able to understand that phenomenon either.

[sasquatch]

25. Ah-hem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWd1G3k_8Vs

[ikri]

29. Far-right scum from over 10 years ago

The instigators of the violence will have been banned from traveling to watch an England game since that game. Incidentally, it's worth noting that British police had warned that members of these groups would be traveling but the warnings were either ignored or weren't taken seriously.

The people responsible for the trouble at that game were members of groups like "Combat 18" and no real football fan has any respect for them.

[Scruffbunny]

28. If they do that chant again, I'll hit 'em.

What they were chanting to be mean to Germany. War ganz bloed!

[JohnKleeb]

6. Poland in case someone forgets them

[JunkYardAngel]

60. Yeah, don't forget Poland !

Like most people in Ireland, I'm supporting them for the World Cup.They don't have a prayer though!

[TheMightyFavog]

14. I'd just like to see England and USA go at it.

And if Tem USA beats England, the reaction in the British papers.

[sasquatch]

26. Headline: "London burns to the ground!"

:D

[SteppingRazor]

34. Or this: "Brits Pull Out of Treaty of Paris; American Revolution Still On"

:)

[sasquatch]

48. I wouldn't know how to feel about that though

[ikri]

35. June 1950 & June 1993

A USA team has beaten an England team twice in the few meetings between the two teams.

The game in 1950 (USA won 1-0) served as a wake-up call to the English management. There was a serious level of jingoism involved in the management of the England team that believed that England were simply superior to everyone else. Losing to the USA and being humiliated 3 years later at Wembley against Hungary (Hungary thrashed England 6-3) finally made people realize that just being responsible for creating the game was no reason that England should always win.

The game in 1993 (USA won 2-0) came at a painful period for England. The then manager, Graham Taylor, was already being compared to a vegetable in the British press and losing to the USA did him no favors. He quit the England job 6 months later.

On neither occasion did civilization end, nor were there riots in the streets. For probably 95% of English football fans the England team is secondary to the club teams we support, I'd rather see my team (Newcastle United) win something than see England win anything.

For the record, for the USA to face England both teams have to make the semi-finals of the World Cup at the very least, there's no possibility of the teams meeting before that point in the competition (Chart of the competition's structure courtesy of the BBC).

[underpants]

15. Brazil is the smart money

but a wager on the World Cup is fools gold.

[devilgrrl]

16. Italia

They're good at soccer... right? :shrug:

[Spider Jerusalem]

18. Except for penalty kicks

(I still remember the 1994 World Cup final, down to a shootout on penalty kicks, when Roberto Baggio lofted one straight OVER the goal to lose the match for Italy...)

[texasleo]

17. Mexico

[T_i_B]

21. Why so many votes for England?

Kiss of death I tell ya! Especially with Rooney's poorly foot.

[mwooldri]

37. Plenty of English DUers in the lounge + lots of optimism.

I'm English, I voted for England to win.

Reality? Probably Brazil but hey, it's been 40 years since our last win, so I reckon it is our turn.

Mark.

[ikri]

41. This England fan is a realist

We haven't got a chance.

England's coach Sven-Göran Eriksson doesn't pick players on merit, preferring to pick the players he likes personally. More importantly, he's tactically naive. When England need to score a goal to either win a game or equalize for a draw historically he makes very conservative tactical changes that never lead to victory.

He's a good excuse for why we won't win again.

Brazil all the way, no one else comes close.

[T_i_B]

47. Not so much manager-bashing with me

Every England manager gets bashed for something or other. Personally I just prefer to be pessimistic about these things. I just find that when you start to expect England to win that's when things go wrong. Plus of course, a pessimist is never disappointed!

[edwin]

23. Holland will ...

... beat Brasil in the final game. No doubt about it.

[Common Sense Party]

24. Dale Argentinaaaa!!!!! (okay, a guy can dream, can't he?) n/t

[Scruffbunny]

27. Dude.

Brazil will pwn. No doubt. I probably should have said Germany as I am living here, but I'll be honest.

[Common Sense Party]

30. BTW, "Brasilia" is a city. "Brasil" is the country. n/t

[Squatch]

33. Thanks, Rand McNally

:P

[StellaBlue]

32. ENGLAND!!!!

nt

[Kickin_Donkey]

36. France ...

Allez les bleus!

[DemExpat]

39. Hup Holland Hup!!!!!!

:kick: :kick: :kick:

DemEx

[Scout1071]

45. U-S-A! Put them in the poll as an option please!

An option other than "other." Ridiculous, we are a top ten team these days and make it to the Quarterfinals last time around. Some respect, please.

Other than that, I'd go with Brazil as the heavy favorite.

[Blue_Tires]

46. as i said earlier

the only team that can beat Brazil is Brazil's bench! a month from now you are all invited to the victory celebration at CPD's house!

[billyskank]

49. England?? You're all nuts

Brazil are going to win.

[seemunkee]

50. TRINIDAD

I know nothing about soccer, but my Trini friend is psyched they made it in.

[Blue_Tires]

51. wow

no love whatsoever for Spain, Portugal and the Argies...those three sides are pretty stong

[sasquatch]

52. Fuck the Iberians!!

:evilgrin::P

[Blue_Tires]

56. but the Liberians didn't qualify!

:silly: :rofl: :spank: :+

[mvd]

53. Germany - location means a lot in the World Cup

[Nordic65]

54. Yes, Germany - home team advantage...

The final will be a repeat of 1974: Germany - Holland, 2-1

[nickgutierrez]

55. I'm picking the Netherlands

Although they did have three pretty significant injuries in their last friendly. If those guys are good to go, I think only Brazil might stop them.

[Nailzberg]

57. Sverige

[PittPoliSci]

58. i'd love to see the US win.

if for no other reason than to watch the rest of the world go absolutely bat shit crazy.

Why would they go crazy? because American citizens would be like "oh, that's cool. they're no Pittsburgh Steelers or (insert football team here)." there would be no riots, there would be no coverage on the news, and there would be no parade for them.

[HEyHEY]

59. Kentucky!

[Zech Marquis]

61. besides the powerful frm Brazil

Look out for Italy, Argentina, and since Rooney will be playing some part after all, England. i do expect Holland, Japan, and the Ivory Coast to cause some upsets along the way too. Germany? no, not yet...

[Blue_Tires]

62. ttt !!