Who will win the world cup?

Jivin Turkey

Ive been looking at bets for next season and saw the odds for next years WC which led me to this. So who do people think will win?

The winners rarely come from outside the continent that the competition is played in, so Im going to go for a European team.

Spain as always have a great side, lots of potential, the perennial question, will this be their year?

France have been pretty shocking, I cant see them doing it, having said that, assuming they qualify an underdog tag could suit them.

But Im going to go for Holland, they are putting together a decent side, and have looked very good in a tough qualifying group. Nice odds too.

http://www.paddypower.com/bet?action=show_type_by_main_market&category=SOCCER&ev_class_id=6&id=3034

Chucky the tree

i have a terrible feeling it will be england.

Guy:Incognito

Chucky the tree wrote:

i have a terrible feeling it will be england.

I'd love to see Carra get a WC winners medal.

Jivin Turkey wrote:

Spain as always have a great side, lots of potential, the perennial question, will this be their year?

Course not, its never going to be their year

Chucky the tree wrote:

France have been pretty shocking, I cant see them doing it, having said that, assuming they qualify an underdog tag could suit them.

I think France's time was the 2 year spell when they won the EC and WC. I reckon it'll be a while before they do it again ( barring a mare from a few top teams)

Chucky the tree wrote:

But Im going to go for Holland, they are putting together a decent side, and have looked very good in a tough qualifying group. Nice odds too.

Bit like Spain, never seem to be able to put in the final push, maybe it's a character issue.

KdjaCL

Chucky the tree wrote:

i have a terrible feeling it will be england.

I share same terrible feeling.



/Brazil on tv weds night see how they getting on vs Argentina.

kdjac

Cianan2

I would've said Argentian, but after they lost 2-0 to equador the other day, i dont think so... Maybe Holland or Spain for me, but i dont know. (Ivoted Holland.)

_blank_

What TV is that on?

Somewhere on Sky is it?

mayordenis

not italy or spain for me.
holland in there with a shout.
still think argentina have a great chance.

KdjaCL

seansouth wrote:

What TV is that on?

Somewhere on Sky is it?

Bravo 7.30 weds night

kdjac

Chucky the tree

Stekelly wrote:

I'd love to see Carra get a WC winners medal.

.

he'll be fourth choice CB. Cant see him featuring a huge amount.

Guy:Incognito

Chucky the tree wrote:

he'll be fourth choice CB. Cant see him featuring a huge amount.

As wrong and all as that situation is, he'd still get a medal as part of the squad. Ericsson is like Kerr in that he seems to have a couple of players that are guarenteed a game as long as they turn up, regardless of form. If people are to be honest (Ericsson especially) based on form, Terry and Carra are the England Centre half pair that should be starting.

Best thing for ENgland could be if Ferdinand and Campbell got injured.

Cianan2

Actually, thinkin about it...Portugal might be in for a shout.

eirebhoy

Chucky the tree wrote:

i have a terrible feeling it will be england.

Not with Sven in charge, thats for sure.

cournioni

I honestly think if we qualify, and have all of our players fit. Ireland will be in there with a big shout.

Guy:Incognito

PORNAPSTER wrote:

I honestly think if we qualify, and have all of our players fit. Ireland will be in there with a big shout.

Nah, we had 1 shout, 3 years ago. It was a very poor tournament last time, and if we're being honest with ourselves thats what it would take for Ireland to be world champions. Probably won't happen twice in a row.

Pepe LeFrits

Stekelly wrote:

As wrong and all as that situation is, he'd still get a medal as part of the squad. Ericsson is like Kerr in that he seems to have a couple of players that are guarenteed a game as long as they turn up, regardless of form. If people are to be honest (Ericsson especially) based on form, Terry and Carra are the England Centre half pair that should be starting.

Best thing for ENgland could be if Ferdinand and Campbell got injured.

Don't agree with that, Ferdinand and Campbell are an awesome pairing and don't forget the World Cup is another season away. A lot could change by then. Terry and Carragher have had excellent seasons, but both are still relatively unproven for England.

Brazil look like having an absolutely awesome team once again, but their dominance is getting tiresome so I hope someone else wins it. No one team in particular stands out to me, England have a shot at it but I don't think their midfield combination of Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham + 1 is good enough against the better passing teams. Holland under Van Basten are certainly capable, but if I had to put money on it now i'd go for Italy (after Brazil).

sikes

PORNAPSTER wrote:

I honestly think if we qualify, and have all of our players fit. Ireland will be in there with a big shout.

i reckon if u had said that beofre greece won eu2004 some people would have laughed at you. but everyteam going intot eh tournament will feel they have a chance after what greece did.

i tend to agree with you, think we will have a great chance. just gotta get there ad there will be more irish there than anyother other country..apart from germany

(yes i know i edited it !!)

Guy:Incognito

kaids wrote:

Terry and Carragher have had excellent seasons, but both are still relatively unproven for England.

Thats because of Ericsson's selection errors though.

Nobody can dispute that they have been the top two English Centre halfs this season, yet they havnt played.

KdjaCL

Stekelly wrote:

Thats because of Ericsson's selection errors though.

Lol England havent lost and look pretty damn sure of getting out of that group, another bad manager?


kdjac

Guy:Incognito

kaids wrote:

Brazil look like having an absolutely awesome team once again, but their dominance is getting tiresome so I hope someone else wins it. No one team in particular stands out to me,

Woul'nt be the best thing if that happened. Without checking, I think they'll have won twice as many as anyone else if they win it.

kaids wrote:

England have a shot at it but I don't think their midfield combination of Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham + 1 is good enough against the better passing teams.

Again, Ericssons selection policy will be his undoing. He doesnnt seem to understand that just because 4 players are individually good, doesnt mean they play well together or are suited to playing in the same team. He seems to pick players and then worry about the formation after. It doesnt seem to bother him that players are'nt compatible.

Pepe LeFrits

Stekelly wrote:

Thats because of Ericsson's selection errors though.

Nobody can dispute that they have been the top two English Centre halfs this season, yet they havnt played.

And hence it's impossible to know if they'd be the best pairing.

There isn't a great deal of time left for experimentation, and Carragher and Terry are both very similar defenders so throwing them together could risky, especially if they come up against pace. If next season, we see a repeat of last season it should be Ferdinand & Terry together. They complement eachother well and have played together.

If/when Campbell gets back to regular football, and he plays like he did last year, then he should be in the team no question. He was an absolute monster in Euro 2004 and was one of the main reasons Arsenal had their unbeaten league campaign.

smemon

ireland can match anyone. enough pessimism, everyone knows what ireland are capable of and are simply too afraid to be confident.

realistically, if we qualify, we stand a good chance of finishing 4th imo. on a good day, we can beat anyone.

Guy:Incognito

KdjaC wrote:

Lol England havent lost and look pretty damn sure of getting out of that group, another bad manager?


kdjac

They have a piss easy group. Put the other thread to one side for a minute, his selection is wrong and he's the only one who cant see it. Theres no disputing the top two centre halfs. Gerrard and Lampard can't play together. Mourinho copped that and dropped his interest in Gerrard. Based on form, Gerrard needs to be an alternative to Lampard, not a partner.Beckham being guarenteed a place is another error.

I'm by no means anti-english, I really hope they do well (can't see the point in wishing bad on players that I otherwise support every week) but with the players they have, it would take some monumental **** up to fail to qualify from their group.

Guy:Incognito

smemon wrote:

ireland can match anyone. enough pessimism, everyone knows what ireland are capable of and are simply too afraid to be confident.

realistically, if we qualify, we stand a good chance of finishing 4th imo. on a good day, we can beat anyone.

Yes, but we need 7 good days to coincide with 7 matches in a 4 week period, its a big ask. The difference is that teams like Brazil dont need to be on top of their game to win it. The reason for the pessimism is that we're not among the best in the world it wuld take a strange set of circumstances to win it, and I believe that happened at the last world cup, but unfortunately it coincided with another incident which cost us dearly, so we'll never know.

KdjaCL

Stekelly wrote:

They have a piss easy group. Put the other thread to one side for a minute, his selection is wrong and he's the only one who cant see it. Theres no disputing the top two centre halfs. Gerrard and Lampard can't play together. Mourinho copped that and dropped his interest in Gerrard. Based on form, Gerrard needs to be an alternative to Lampard, not a partner.Beckham being guarenteed a place is another error.

I tend to think he picks what the media tells him too but he has done a decent job last 2 tourneys they been knocked out by eventual finalists. And based on form are usaully in the top 5 Euro Bookies(they favs in england :eek: ) choice as eventual winners.

I would go with Ferdinand and Terry tbh.


kdjac

smemon

Stekelly wrote:

Yes, but we need 7 good days to coincide with 7 matches in a 4 week period, its a big ask. The difference is that teams like Brazil dont need to be on top of their game to win it. The reason for the pessimism is that we're not among the best in the world it wuld take a strange set of circumstances to win it, and I believe that happened at the last world cup, but unfortunately it coincided with another incident which cost us dearly, so we'll never know.

since the last world cup, porto & liverpool have won the champions league and greece have won the euro's. for ireland to win the WC, it wouldnt be that big of a shock tbh, we're not the 50th ranked side in the world anymore, ireland are hovering around the top 10 and deservedly so.

if greece can win the euro's, ireland can win the world cup.

Drag00n79

KdjaC wrote:

Bravo 7.30 weds night

kdjac

Unfortunately, Bravo are not showing the match live (01:45 Thursday morning). Instead they are showing it "as live" at 7.30 on Thursday evening. It's a real shame as they have the rights to show it live.

Guy:Incognito

KdjaC wrote:

I tend to think he picks what the media tells him too

Which is why Beckham is haveing such a good england career. I really think he needs to be stronge and drop players if they are unsuitable/not playing well, regardless of who they are. The Lampard/ Gerrard thing needs serious attention, it won't serve him well against the top teams.

Hes been fairly lucky so far, in that the Brazil defeat last timewas landed at Seamans' door. The media will round on him sooner rather than later and the sad thing is that it can be prevented by him being a stronger manager. The England managers job is pretty much lose/lose. The media pressure for certain players to be picked, then rip into you if the same players fail to deliver the goods. They really are counter productive.

Guy:Incognito

Shamrok wrote:

Unfortunately, Bravo are not showing the match live (01:45 Thursday morning). Instead they are showing it "as live" at 7.30 on Thursday evening. It's a real shame as they have the rights to show it live.

Yeah they should really show it at both times, to ctaer for the late night folk, and again the following evening. It's not as if anyone would miss out on any quality programming.

Guy:Incognito

smemon wrote:

since the last world cup, porto & liverpool have won the champions league and greece have won the euro's. for ireland to win the WC, it wouldnt be that big of a shock tbh, we're not the 50th ranked side in the world anymore, ireland are hovering around the top 10 and deservedly so.

if greece can win the euro's, ireland can win the world cup.

IMO we dont deserve to be in/near the top 10, its largely due to friendly results. Someone posted the elephant rankings (I think thats what they're called) which dont take into account friendlies and I think we hover around 20 -25. Greece playe dto their strenghts brilliantly, as did Liverpool and Porto. Ireland have'nt done nearly as well.

Chucky the tree

smemon wrote:

ireland can match anyone. enough pessimism, everyone knows what ireland are capable of and are simply too afraid to be confident.

realistically, if we qualify, we stand a good chance of finishing 4th imo. on a good day, we can beat anyone.

we cant even beat israel sure.

thejollyrodger

Chucky the tree wrote:

i have a terrible feeling it will be england.

HAHAHAHHA

Draupnir

I think Sol seems to be suffering a bit now and would have to say Ferdinand and Terry would be my first choice. Campbell is immense though and if he can regain his form has to be first choice. Carragher for me, isnt a world class defender. One swallow doesnt make a summer and he seriously lacks pace. Great season though.

Off topic, if Sol does return to full form, himself and Senderos would be some centre back pairing.

Zombienosh

It seems way too early to call anyone, As we all know anything can happen, and almost everyones in with a chance, look at the last one, most of the favourites went home early.

Lex Luthor

eirebhoy wrote:

Not with Sven in charge, thats for sure.

I agree here...England have one of their best chances to win it in a long time, but Sven hasn't got what it takes to take them all the way.
I'm gonna stick with the boys in Green, assuming they qualify

Big Nelly

I went for Holland....watched there game the other day against Romania and they are a good side and havent lost since new manager took over!!

thejollyrodger

I cant belive anyone is rating England. Fair enough they always do qualification well. Sven is great at that. But when it comes to the WC Finals England always go out. They dont have the hunger or ability. England are a such an ordinary side in the WC with just 1 or 2 great players.

The irish team has yet to jell. We still not playing at our top level yet. There is more hunger in the team and I reckon we will get further than England

eirebhoy

KdjaC wrote:

I tend to think he picks what the media tells him too but he has done a decent job last 2 tourneys they been knocked out by eventual finalists.

They did well at WC2002 because he played Nicky Butt (luckily for England he hadn't really got a choice). They did not do well at Euro 2004 though, when you consider the players they had to choose from.
They couldn't keep the ball against the French (who were also poor at Euro 2004).
The Swiss battered them for the opening 60 minutes (ok, we were bad against Switzerland but England were even worse). Haas got sent off on 60 minutes and it was all over then. Even still, Switzerland had 55% possession in that match (I doubt that would have been the case if Sven played a holding midfielder).
The only match they played well in was against Croatia yet still conceded 2 goals.
Portugal absolutely slaughtered them for most of the match. 61% possession. We didn't even have that against Israel. And 35 shots. :eek:

England were either matched or beaten in the possession stats in all 4 games. The only team they put more passes together against was Croatia. That is ridiculous when you look at the players at the managers disposal. Even though Carrick was one of England's best players in the US and Sky Sports news spent a load of time talking about how the Lampard-Gerrard partnership is no good without the ball, Sven will not change his team. I really would be going mad if I was English.

IMO, Poland are doing better than them in their group. The only reason Poland aren't ahead of them is because they gave them way too much respect and sat back when they met (like Israel in Tel Aviv vs us). I seen England in Azerbaijan and they were probably lucky to win the game. Azerbaijan gave them no respect and could have easily snatched the draw. England have to travel to the millenium stadium in September. Wales can get a draw if they are really up for it. Poland have 2 more home games and they then travel to England. If England drop points before that match Poland will only need a draw to win the group.

Kingp35

I thought this was a "who will win the world cup" thread not a thread about england selection policies. Who the hell cares about that worry about your own country's policies

Gangsta

what channel are brazil playing argentina on? I'd love to see that game.

_blank_

KdjaC in this thread wrote:

Bravo 7.30 weds night

So it's a toss up.

Quality match with the hope of some good play.

Or the Argentina -v- Brazil match

Drag00n79

It's not live on Bravo. Deferred coverage on Thursday evening instead. See other post above.

jank

Brazil....just look at their attacking quality they have an embarresmnt of riches.

Definate favourites for me but its all about form at the end of the day. If they win it they get to keep the world cup.

thejollyrodger

Here, what about the Germans ? Never write off the Germans. They are hosting it and are hungry for it. I reckon they have a great chance of going all the way

Big Nelly

Cant see the germans winning....they have no strike force to talk of....look at the state of them at the Euro's......still going with the Dutch.......very impressive in all area's of the pitch......

_blank_

As I post this, people have voted Ireland into second place behind Brazil.

:rolleyes:

Jesus, it's time you took off the green tinted spectacles people.

~Rebel~

^^heh, true^^

Went for Brazil myself, yet another amazing team coming together!
Wouldn't rule out any of the big guns though, germany def in with a shout - just when you think they're crap they pull it out of the bag! Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Holland, Czechs, Italy, England (sadly - though as usual will probably amount to less then the sum of their parts), even france all in with a decent shout imo. I think teams can up their games for the World Cup much more then Euro Championships.

<edit> Where are the Czechs in that list? To be honest id give them a better chance then a lot of the teams mentioned..

thejollyrodger

The dutch will never win it. They had their golden days and they are all long gone. They are weaker now and with all the usual infighting it just spells a mediocre campagin for them


France are never going to win it either. They will be lucky to get out of this stinking group !! All their best players are gone

yeah.. we have turned into little englanders. I cant see ireland winning the World Cup but voted for them anyways

Pigman II

I think IF we qualify then we have a good chance of actually taking it. Kerr has proved he knows what to do in the finals of touraments and if he can get his act together by then then I reckon we have a chance.

The beauty of World Cups (unlike qualifying groups) is that you only have to 'not lose' games to stay in contention.

Kerr is better than most at this. So 1 win 6 draws and a lot of peno-practice and who knows

thejollyrodger

with Fantastic given in goal we willl go all the way(sarcaism)

Seriosuly.. Given is useless at peno's

Pigman II

thejollyrodger wrote:

with Fantastic given in goal we willl go all the way(sarcaism)

Seriosuly.. Given is useless at peno's

Perhaps we could teach him to do Riverdance on the line to put off the taker.

BaZmO*

Pigman II wrote:

Perhaps we could teach him to do Riverdance on the line to put off the taker.

He tried that on Saturday and look where that got him.

B.