Thursday, May 3, 2007

On to the Playoffs!

With Portugal securing second in their pool last night, and Norway getting first, the playoffs are all set.

First off at 6- Ireland v Portugal
Ireland comes off playing a fairly easy pool, while Portugal had a tough road to get here. This could work in Portugal's favour, as Ireland haven't played a very strong team yet and aren't sure how to work their strategy yet. However Ireland won't need much to get going, and should win fairly easily. Ireland will take it 3-0.

Next Laos plays Canada at 7, a team that maybe shouldn't have made it out, but nonetheless did. Laos has proved themselves to be a very strong team and Canada will be a good test for them. Canada is once again highly underrated and could topple Laos. Laos is a very quick and agile team and can exploit Canada's weaknesses in speed and agility, but it will be very tough to beat Canada, as they play very well as a team. I think Canada can pull off the upset of Laos, but either way it will be a hard-fought game. ......mmmmmm I'm gonna go with Canada on this one, just because Canada is coached well and plays very solid as a team. (Note:I love the upset, so I have to take at least one in the quarter finals.)

Thirdly, Greece takes on Norway at 9.
Greece should be able to dominate Norway with their superior play. Greece is solid all around, while Norway only has a couple bright spots. Canada plays a lot like Greece and Canada dominated Norway(even though it was only 3-2), so I expect Greece to do the same. Greece takes 'er 4-2.


Finally, Jamaica plays Italy at 10.
Italy surprised a lot of people with how well they've been playing and only lost to ireland 4-2. However Jamaica is a very good team and will be able to capitalize on breakdowns in Italy's line-up. Jamaica wins 3-1

50 comments:

Anonymous said...

how did canada kill norway they had three shots all game and scored. norway took it to them in the second half but just couldnt buy a goal, but what ever you were wrong more then once in the first round lets see how good you can do this round, also norway finish second coming out of the round robin only behind ROI

Anonymous said...

Greeece over norway? BAHAHA. Canada beat Norway because they were missign their best defender. Canada had three shots...3! and they were lucky one player played good. Norway couldnt buy a goal, but tehy have 13 in their last two. Laos will beat Canada

Anonymous said...

My choices:

Ireland to DOMINATE Portugal.

Canada to keep it close to Laos, 5-3 Laos.

Jamaica to beat Italy, 3-1.

Norway and Greece to go into extra-time. Norway in extra-time.

Anonymous said...

My picks:
Laos 5-1
Ireland 40-1 when it matters
Norway 4-2
Italy 2-1

Anonymous said...

Greece beat Norway with superior play? Clock cleaner you are unforgivingly stupid. Norway carried the play in all their matches and were unlucky against Canada. Greece is good, but I don't think they'll be able to match a team that NEEDS TO PROVE THEY BELONG AT THE TOP

Anonymous said...

You're right judging by this site Norway is desperate to prove they belong.... I'm not sure typing on the internet is the way to do it though.

Anonymous said...

canada sux ballz

Anonymous said...

canada killed norway

no way norway deserves to make it through.

if they ever get to play a team like ROI or Laos, they'll get killed for sure.

Anonymous said...

You gotta love people that come on these things and try to prove that someone's elses predictions are wrong.

Calling someone stupid because they try to predict something a certain way IS ONE OF THE STUPIDEST THINGS YOU CAN DO. Quit being such a asshole.


By the way Solskjaer, how did Man U do the other day?

apparently they got PUMPED....bitch

Anonymous said...

too bad stupidist isn't a word buddy. Again, after the games, nice predictions clockcleaner...

Anonymous said...

I ahve to say that I am disappointed that McDonald's is the main sponsor for this event.

At the same time I have to recognize that the Regina business community is sloww to act and see business potential.

The beef I have (no pun intended) is that no thlete in their right mind would consider McDonald's as part of a well rounded diet. Specially for a soccer player.

What's worst is that the kids around this tournament will believe the since McD's is sponsoring soccer, that it is okay to eat the garbage they sell.

I hate it that Holness sold out. But I hate it even more that he probably had no choice because the Regina business community didn't step up to sponsor this event and allowed such evilness to take over it.

I'm torned. On the one hand WCP CUp is great, but on the other hand, I see the spirit and soul behind it being sucked right out of it.

Next year, I hope it's different. I rather see Curry Chicken and Somosas, Empanadas and Perogies than McShit.

Anonymous said...

By the way, to all those paying attention; I went 4/4 on my predictions. (third from the top).

ROI did dominate Portugal.
Canada did hang around with Laos (I predicted 5-3, score: 3-1).
Jamaica 3 Italy 1.
Norway over Greece in a close match.

If you want me to tell you the numbers for the lottery, let me know.lol.

Anonymous said...

stupidist isn't a word, you're right.

but i said stupidest, which is a word, you big dumb idiot.

way to go, first you spell the word wrong. I said stupidest, you said stupidist. second, you were wrong, because stupidest is a word.

too bad there's not some filter that can eliminate retarded posts. sorry buddy.

Anonymous said...

i agree that calling someone stupid because of predictions is dumb. however, there are 4 more games to be played so let's concentrate on these games and may the best team win.

Anonymous said...

I find it completely retarded that this is a soccer blag yet people are correcting each others grammar. Who give's a sh*t how someone spells the word, the fact is what they are saying. If this was a grammar convention then by all means do what you do, but for now just worry about the soccer.

On that note, too bad there were no real upsets last night. It would have been nice to see Portugal, Italy or Greece go through.. but I am happy to see Laos moving on. Let's hope they can fight their injuries and give ROI a run for their money.. if nothing else hopefully they will finally make ROI break a sweat. On the Other side I'm rooting for Jamaica just because I'm not much of a Norway fan.. like some of the ROI players, some of team Norway has a very public ego that I am kind of sick of reading and hearing.

Anonymous said...

I've noticed this site seems to virtually ignore the Women's portion of the tournament, but they have had some really good games. Friday Canada plays England at 6 and Chile plays Germany at 8 and those should be good games as well. Hopefully they get a lot of fan support as well.

Anonymous said...

You guys can hate on Norway, because, you all do, but they won and backed up their supporters in the most exciting game of the night. And you want to talk about public egos? look at Ireland...but they deserve to talk because they're champs. Let people talk and give their egos a boost if they're winning...do not hate on that. And yes clock cleaner has shitty predictions. Laos is probably the best team but who knows with the final 4 teams all being extremely good

Anonymous said...

The dude who went four for four is a genius...predictions for the semis?

Anonymous said...

I predict El Salvador to win the Gold medal like they did they first year. I predict Mike Collins will finally come out of the closet and I predict That...oh wait thats all I predict.

Anonymous said...

fuuuck

Anonymous said...

Norway Haters eat your comments. They're in the final with Ireland and I hate to say it but thats the way I figured it would turn out. Their team is jsut golden in the last 15 minutes when they turn it up a notch.

Rightfully so the best two teams in teh tournament made the final. Tough luck for Laos I really liked them.

Anonymous said...

It just goes to show you that it takes more than nice uniforms and track suits to win. After a bit of a slow start Norway is playing fabulous soccer and deserve to be in the final. And to respond to the "ego" comments, find me a team in this tourney that doesn't have one.

Anonymous said...

YES. Thats right, Norway was victorious. It seemed that they were the better team today...and man their defence was solid even without one of their star defenders. They just played Ireland really tight and had an OUTSTANDING performance from a deserved MVP in Adam Payette. They picked him up from last year and look at he responds.

I guess it just goes to show that you dont need 20 star players but rather a TEAM of players to win. It also helps when the crowd is pro-Norway. WELL DESERVED AND WITH CLASS!

Anonymous said...

Yah Adam Payette is "gold"!! He always scores clutch goals. He's the go to guy. I know cuz I played with him before and let me tell you he score pretty much every goal on our team. I honestly think he's a better player then Mike COllins, without the attitude! Way to go Adam your my hero!

Anonymous said...

It is nice to see ROI lose. They have some great players (Bachelu was the best player in the tournament by far) but they also have a group of players like Collins who seem to think that cheep shots after the play, fat egos and blowing kisses to the fans after diving for PKs is what gets you to the top. They really need to see how real players with class approach the game, before, during, behind the ref's back and after the game (take a cue even from players on your own team like Bachelu). Also, the ROI coach lost the game for them by not making subs. The ego monsters were fatigued at the end and could not run with the full Norway bench. Good on Norway who, on the night, battled very hard and deserved to win.
I look forward to next year!

Anonymous said...

The final was amazing...too bad for ireland about the extremely one-sided reffing

Anonymous said...

one sided reffing is bullshit. even if it was one sided (which it wasn't.. at all) i wouldn't blame the refs because of their non-stop bitching after every single call.

Anonymous said...

ONE SIDED REFFING! Come on folks, give credit where credit is due. Norway played a great game and was able to do it with their skill not cheap shots. We all know Hans is never quick to give cards unless they are well deserved. Norway was the first team to give ROI a real run for their money and stepped up to the challenge. I wouldn't say they either team outplayed the other but in that game the best team won, bottom line.

I think it's great that Adam Payette got MVP and I might add well deserveed but we can't forget about the other outstanding players that Norway has. Many of whom it took to feed the ball to Payette.

The other admirable thing about Norway compared to ROI is that they used their WHOLE bench which shows the difference in depth of the team.

Well deserved win Norway - Way to go!

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure the reffing was extremely biased. I am a neutral who really enjoyed the game but come on. Ireland could not get a call their way at all. Awful by the ref. I'm not taking anything away from Norway they played well. I think other people who aren't on team Norway or team Norway fans should comment.

Anonymous said...

Team Norway were lucky that's all, Their play isn't all that.
They could have been out should they have failed to score some stupid amount of goals against Northern Ireland.

Honestly the organisers have done a great job putting this event together. and the managers and coaches and of course the players.


One thing that I would like to see changed in the next tournement is that the refs should show some red cards to the players who can't even control the ball and who are there just because they played some football or rugby and they go to hurt people. Those guys should not be allowed to play.

Great job everybody

Anonymous said...

if we're so lucky why the hell did we win the tourny?? so we scored 10 goals, if we were not that good greece should have beating us(they did not) jamica should have beating us(they did not) oh yeah i guess that was lucky to, oh and if we were so lucky how did we beat ireland in the final, let me guess the ref was on are side, bullshit! give credit to norway,

Anonymous said...

Put it this way, If I was to make a team and was to choose players I would take 80% of them out of the Republic Of Ireland team. and the other 20% from the other 19 teams.
That's how good they are.

However I do give credit to Norway for winning the tournement. But simply they weren't the best team.

But That is the nature of Football.

Same with Greece winning the EuroCup in 2004, but They are not that good.

Anonymous said...

wow, i still cant believe you think norway is not a good team!!!! we have lost one game in two years!! but what ever i have the cup and you dont

Anonymous said...

norway seriously isn't that good at all. they've got a couple decent players. If you match all their players up to ireland players, every ireland player is better. if you matched up every position on both teams, ireland would win hands down. many other teams would beat norway at matching up too.

sometimes teams get hot and win it all, exactly like greece in euro
2004. The best teams don't always win.
I'm still in shock norway won, but they played very good and congratulations to them for winning.

Anonymous said...

and another thing about this WCP Cup.

i noticed an abundance of terrible grammar. Every time I looked at a game recap in the paper, on the net, or at the facility, i saw so many names spelt wrong. Sometimes they got the entire name wrong(i.e. Hanley Collins) The final was on tv late last night and after the game they spelt "congratulations" wrong and the name of the announcer.

all it takes is one person who isn't retarded to look these things over.

Anonymous said...

what ever man i guess you have no idea about soccer!

Anonymous said...

You all can say whatever you like to help you sleep at night. The bottom line is Norway and Ireland played exciting soccer and made it to the game you wish you did. The jealousy is evident in the meaningless beaks!! Stop trying to bring them down to your level and prove yourself next year just as Norway did this year!!

Anonymous said...

to bad im the guy who made team norway thanks buddy so what ever makes you sleep better at night good luck next year

Anonymous said...

I am a neutral fan and I can't believe people are arguing over who is the better team. Maybe Ireland has a stronger team on paper, but like I've heard a million times, games aren't won on paper they are won on the field and Norway won on the field when it counted. This time they were the better team and no arguing or fighting by anyone is going to change that.

Just like Greece in Euro, they aren't the most stacked team but they show strength in other areas, be it through team work, coaching or maybe some depth on the bench. You can say Ireland is better all you want, and some players were fantastic on Ireland, but long story short, Norway has the trophy.

Anonymous said...

YOu can say that having a bunch of stars is not effective but has anyone seen ROI's record for the last 2 years. I believe it is 11-1-1. Seems to be working for them.

Anonymous said...

I never once said ROI was bad, obviously they are incredibly strong. All I was saying is that I see non-stop arguing about who is better and based on the result of this tournament, Norway was the better team this time. ROI is a fantastic team though and I saw them walk over every single team they played this year, other than Norway and possibly Laos but they couldn't win the final game that mattered.

Anonymous said...

i like how everyone says norway sux and how u say "HAS ANYONE SEEN ROI record 11-1-1" ya and who tied and beat them. o wait norway tied them last year and beat them this year so there record against the terrible norway team is 0-1-1. i guess the refing in 2006 was one sided too. has anyone seen norways record its 10-2-1 wow the terrible team has a better record against "the best team" head to head and one more time then them over all

Anonymous said...

I'd like to know where those 10 wins came from considering you won 6 games this year and 1 last year? Its really pretty simple math.

Anonymous said...

norways record is 7 wins 1 loss and 2 ties over the two years

Anonymous said...

either way they r still have a better win % head to head against a team that is 'way better' then them. the difference between a better team, and better individuals is the TEAM and thats why ROI lost because they r a bunch of individuals worried about there individual egos

Anonymous said...

If Norway is so good then why do they spend so much time on here trying to convince everyone they are good.

Anonymous said...

Lets put this to an end the tourny is over! Norway is not trying to convince people that they are good, we are, we may not have the best team on paper but we play good as a team, ROIis a very good team most of those guys have played with each other for years so they are also a good team! on paper they are a great team, the thing that made that a good final is that both teams really hate each other from past games we have played! To be honest everyone wants to beak a winner last year everyone beak ROI now its team norways turn! and I never understood the beaking of norway what did we do that everyone hates us? and to beak ROI for not making subs is dumb all those guys play 90 mins everytime they play im not going to say much about that because leigh already did! or to beak them because of there roster, they have never broke a rule so lets just Put this whole beak show away!

Anonymous said...

Yes, credit is definately due...Norway played well and capitalized on their opportunities. I love this team to be at the top in the future as well. The only thing i can't help but think about is whether or not they would have beaten Jamaica had their keeper not have had to stop playing at the end of the first half. Some of their 2nd half goals were questionable...but like i said, no excuses. A win is a win is a win.

Anonymous said...

here comes 50 comments!

Anonymous said...

Mcdonald's sponsors Kevin's diet !? Whaaaatt!?