Paulie Gualtieri
R.I.P. Tony Sirico
- May 18, 2016
- 12,417
- 3,118
Oh. Interesting. Sounds like something I should have known.Good thing we're from different confederations.
Oh. Interesting. Sounds like something I should have known.Good thing we're from different confederations.
Yeah, Australia moved to the AFC some years back for better quality competition. Has left the OFC for us to dominate but not really develop in.Oh. Interesting. Sounds like something I should have known.
I presume G?
Quite possibly the most boring groups ever. I feel for my friend who managed to get the tickets to a game in Saint Petersburg and now find out it will be a match up between Iran and Morocco.
Spain v Portugal will be nice. Russians got an easy group, I still wonder if they pull through.
There is no real 'group of death' imo, felt FOX overrated Mexico's group, Mexico should finish 2nd in that group no questions asked, anything less would be a massive disappointment for them.
The most interesting scenario in terms of creating knockout round chaos would be if Germany had their usual early game doldrums hit against Mexico. Let's say that happens and they lose. I don't think they will but let's just say.
I have seen lots of people here who are picking Mexico over Sweden. And how is it wrong to pick Sweden over Mexico? If they can advance over the Netherlands in a tough group and beat France and eliminate Italy, im pretty sure they can beat Mexico as well. Not to mention the North/Central American qualifiers aren't even close to the the competition level of the European qualifiers, advancing through the european qualification system is way more impressive.lots of people picking sweden over mexico. i just dont see it. of course anything can happen but that 2nd spot in the f is also doomed with Brazil most likely being the opponent.
man this is hard.
Can't really ignore that Sweden had a tough qualification and still made it through though can you?Mexico has a lot better technical ability and speed, but yes, they are even as teams. Sweden is a hell of a lot taller and has a major set piece advantage because of it. The qualifiers don't really mean anything, neither team will have played an opponent like each other.
Can't really ignore that Sweden had a tough qualification and still made it through though can you?
Would Mexico have made it through if they were in the european qualification instead? Just speculation obviously, but they wouldn't have been a sure bet, that's for sure.
Most of the 1st seed teams in the playoffs were pretty strong. Sweden came in as a 2nd seed and had to face Italy. None of the potential teams Sweden could have faced were favorable opponents to be fair, just some opponents that were more reasonable to beat. Would Mexico have been a 1st seed if they were playing in Europe? Impossible to know as it all speculation and different circumstances compared to how it is now. Im not so sure though. If not, they would have faced a tough opponent that could have ultimately eliminated them.They both would have imo. Plenty of groups put weak teams in the playoff that they're better than, and some of the teams that qualified they're better than too. The style of football Mexico plays is perfect for beating teams like that. When they play more technical teams they usually get destroyed.
As for you 2nd column, Italy hadn't missed a World Cup since 1958 before they played Sweden.
Doesn't really matter what Italy had and didn't have. They still had World class players at their disposal and arguably the best organized defence in international football. They should have qualified no matter who is sitting at their bench.Italy also didn't have a coach who won zero top flight trophies in his entire life until this qualification to be fair. Still can't believe that.
Both Mexico and Sweden are about equal, we'll see what happens. A lot depends on which players are in good form when the tournament starts too. If let's say Forsberg and Hernandez get hurt then who really knows what happens.