Friday, June 11, 2010

First round picks!

Now that the tournament is underway, the pool is locked in and we can see each other's picks!

Here's a screenshot, because I'm lazy very busy and important.


This is also the official trash talk thread for the first round.Have at it!

21 comments:

  1. So Bob, you don't think Argentina will advance?!

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  2. And Ricardipus doesn't think France will make it... I'm not watching the game that's on right now, but I understand it's not exactly a classic, so you might be right!

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  3. Funny, we're almost unanymous (sp?) on results in groups F and H (with one exception in each group).

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  4. So it seems the big swings in this round will be Algeria vs. USA, and RSA vs. France. And Serbia/Ghana/Australia. That's where there seems to be a lot of disagreement...

    France? Nah, my choice was based more on wanting to cheer for Uruguay (Ynot, I say?).

    And Cath - you are the only person who chose Slovakia. I'm a little surprised by that... and disheartened, I thought I was being terribly clever in choosing Paraguay as a dark horse.

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  5. P.S. Pika - if Slovakia wins for Cath, then Honduras will win for me. So it is said, so it will be. QED. E&OE, and so forth.

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  6. Argentina almost didn't qualify, and TBH I don't rate their coach.

    If it was handball, it would be a different matter entirely: I'd predict them to reach the final against France.

    Australia?!!! Not even The Beast gives them a chance. Well, he didn't after I explained that it wasn't Aussie Rules.

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  7. Pika, yeah, not much variation at this stage!

    Ricardipus, I was torn on Slovakia vs. Paraguay. Time will tell!

    BTW I saw Canada play Honduras in a world cup qualifier in Vancouver 5 or 6 years ago. They were about as good as Canada. So please don't get your hopes up too much!

    Bob, love the handball comment! Poor Ireland :(

    The South American qualifying tournament is brutal. I wouldn't count the Argentines out based on that.

    I remember the Australia-Brazil game as one of the best of the 2006 World Cup, and I'd love to see a rematch!

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  8. Shoot, I forgot to sign up for this ...
    But obviously there is only 1 possible outcome. NL and NZ will meet in the final and NL will come out victoriously but NZ will then win the rugby WC next year. No doubt at all.

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  9. I see Bob and I are the only ones who believe in Ghana?! Then again, i'm pretty sure my picks were done in the middle of the night with a blind fold ;)

    (And why I forgot the Hand that France pulled I don't know.... maybe because I loved Henry before that? ah... me and my heart ^^)

    BTW, I just ran into one of the post docs from Ireland who is going to watch the game tomorrow with a bunch of other international post docs. Funny enough (?) they seeem to be a bunnch of non-englanders... as in scots, irish, wales and even a north-ireland and yes, they are all going to cheer for US. "The lesser of the two evils" and "well, it would be nice to have them kick the arrogance out of the English" was two of the comments. (I've thought arrogance would be equal in that game, but sure... what can I say about history and oppression!?)

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  10. and OHHHH IIHHH I got bragging rights :D (thanks Cath! Made my Friday better!!) weheee...

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  11. Nina, oh no! That's too bad. But please feel free to join in the banter!

    As an England fan I hope you're wrong on both fronts. But I do usually end up supporting NL when England go out of football tournaments!

    Chall, I'd blame the ref much more than Henry, if that helps!

    See this article on the "Anyone But England" movement among some non-English Brits :) I loved living in Glasgow, but this kind of thing made it really, really hard sometimes.

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  12. Cath: the scottish/walsh/irish post-docs cheering for USA doesn't surprise me! If you go into any pub here in Ireland during any England match, everyone cheers for the other side, regardless of who it is. It's just how it's done. My friend, who is English, has actually decided to watch all English games at home, as he doesn't want to be the only one supporting England in the pub. He says is very very very uncomfortable.

    And it looks like I am the only one supporting Slovenia - well, of course I have to. :-) Go Slovenia!

    Btw, a bit of trivia for you: Fabio Capello is almost Slovenian - from a small place only 20km from Italian-Slovenian border and actually worked as a sports commentator for the Italian minority programme on Slovenian radio before he became a football player.

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  13. Oh sorry, that postdocs comment was for chall, not Cath.

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  14. I trust you're going to let me know when I need to pick things for the next round, because I'm not actually following this at all.

    And the fact that I haven't followed it since 2002 is reflected in my pick for Korea. They were good then! I remember that, because I was in Paris and the security guy on the Notre Dame joked to two Korean tourists that they were out of the competition, but they weren't at that point. And I also remember that Holland wasn't playing that year, because in the train from Prague to Vienna the train conductor saw my passport and started singing "Ohne Holland gehe wir nach WM!" and everyone laughed. ("We're going to the World Championship without Holland" - a hit in germany that year!)

    I was probably traveling throughout the entire event, and that is the only reason I even knew anything about it - because you meet random people who talk about The Game Of The Day and how Your Team is Out.

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  15. Well, South Korea won today.

    The Argentina result was just a blip. :-)

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  16. Sure, Bob. Sure.

    South Korea are a decent team still, even without some of the dodgy refereeing that took them to the semi-final on home turf! I didn't think they were better than Nigeria, but I could very easily be wrong.

    And yes, I'll remind you when it's time for the next round of picks!

    Pika, all your comments are belong to me! Mwa ha ha ha!

    (sorry)

    I didn't dare watch England games in pubs in Glasgow either, unless I had tons of big burly friends for backup. But I didn't necessarily feel safe even at home, after the time my then-boyfriend (also English) and I were watching an England-Scotland game (definitely did not want to venture out for that one). When we cheered an England goal, some guy from one of the other flats started banging on our door and telling us to shut the f*&% up. And not in a friendly way.

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  17. After 1 game, it looks like my picking the USA to finish 1st in Group C isn't looking too shabby, eh?

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  18. :)

    Although Pika is the only one to have picked the team that currently leads our group...

    (and thank you for your restraint, by the way! When I saw your name pop up in my email I braced myself for much worse than this :) )

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  19. Lookie who is the only one who picked Group C correctly. ;)

    U-S-A!

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  20. Nice work, Thomas! And you escaped playing Germany, too...

    I didn't see the last minute goal, but the one that was disallowed in the 1st half looked perfectly good to me. So justice was served!

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