Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Pool Recaps

I've been away for a bit, but I'm back. Sorry for the lack of posts. There has been a rise in the number of derogatory comments directed towards individuals, so from now on, any mean-spirited comment directed towards a specific individual will be deleted.

Now, instead of recapping all the games of the last 4 days, I'll provide an overview of each pool. Recaps will continue tomorrow.

Group A:

This pool is pretty much wrapped up. Norway closes out against Poland, and no matter the result, they will finish at the top of the group. Chile will finish in second. This pool went pretty much as predicted. Norway and Chile proved to be the best teams in the pool, but they were given a couple scares. Italy should have tied Norway at the very end of their game, Austria put a real scare into Chile, only losing 3-2. Austria, Poland and Italy all played very good soccer. All the games between those three teams have been one-goal games, so they've been very exciting. They worked hard and put on a very good show. This pool closes out tomorrow with Norway taking on Poland at 7:30.

Group B:

Ireland dominated their fairly easy pool. The only real battle was for second, when Serbia battled Germany. Germany won 4-3 in a very exciting game in the last minute to virtually lock up the second spot. Serbia played very well in tournament and improved substantially this year. Botswana played with their usual hustle this tournament, making every game they played exciting to watch. Nigeria fell from their status last year, but were still fun to watch. They played to a 3-3 draw with Botswana, in possibly the best game of the group next to the Germany-Serbia game.

Group C:

In what has been the most exciting pool, Group C is still wide open, pending the results of tonight's games. There are so many scenarios that can happen that I won't bother stating them on here. The main thing is that EVERY TEAM can still go through. I, nor anyone else, would have never expected the group to turn out like this. This is the tournament at it's best. Scotland tied Ukraine by scoring in the last minutes once again, making it the 3rd straight game Ukraine has lost/tied because of a goal in the last two minutes. It doesn't get any more exciting than that. Games tonight will decide the group.

Group D:

Another pool that is turning out to be very exciting is Group D. Greece tied a strong Laos team, which makes tomorrow night's game the deciding game in who will go through in second. Greece will have to win to go through, England needs a tie or a win to go through. Both teams are very strong and this battle will be an epic one.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

What was score of Canada v. Ukraine???

After Scotland v. Jamaica 2-2 tie, winner of Canada/Ukraine is through!

But if Canada Ukraine tie, they will have to do a Jamaica/N.Ireland shootout. Dat be Crazy!

Not_Anonymous said...

No they wouldn't.. Jamaica beat NI in round robin so Jamaica goes through.. but last I heard Ukraine was up 4-0 late in the game. Good bye Jamaica..

Anonymous said...

so ya not_anonymous proved to be NOT SMART at all. ukraine with the win ties jamaica 5 points. goal differential means nothing unless ukraine and jamaica tied in round robin... jamaica 2 ukraine 1.. ukraine your jamaican me crazy .. good bye ukraine

Not_Anonymous said...

My bad.. NI and Jamaica tied.. My mind must have been somewhere else. If Ukraine and Canada had tied then you are right, Jamaica and NI are dead even.

You are also wrong though anonymous, as if Ukraine wins, which I think they did, there will be a three way tie. In the case of a three way tie, goal differential does come first, then goals for, then goals against. So if it was a three way tie Ukraine moves on because prior to tonight they had an equal goal differential to NI and Jamaica so a win would obviously put them at least one up.

Anonymous you can correct someone without being a dick about it you know. Especially if you plan on being incorrect with your correction.

Anonymous said...

Who cares from what I saw in that group none of those teams deserve to go through and they should just rule out Chile and go to semi finals.

Anonymous said...

Ukraine Ukraine!!! finally!!!! now it's time! Good try Jamaica maybe you should concentrate on soccer and not dance lessons!

Anonymous said...

so in the playoffs

Ireland vs England or Greece
Germany vs Laos
Ukraine vs Norway
Chile vs Scotland

wow

Anonymous said...

or waite if greece wins does portugal goes through

Not_Anonymous said...

No Portugal has 6 points, England has 6, and Greece has 4. A win by either Greece or England will put them through and a tie puts England through. Greece getting a tie vs Laos knocked out Portugal for good.

Anonymous said...

Was anyone else disgusted by how pathetic Canada played last night? With the tournament on the line they were completely uninspired. Scotland and Jamaica weren't much better in their game either. It looks like Norway got shafted by finishing first in pool A because Ukraine played the best of any teams in last nights game and is looking like they might live up to their preseason hype.

Anonymous said...

No they won't

Anonymous said...

the only way to win in this tourny is to have everybody doing thier part and when your strikers are getting back before your mid to make tackles in your own 18 some one is not doing the job.paul was on his game and team dooley I mean canada's defence got very little help.

Not_Anonymous said...

Still on that team Dooley thing? I thought that was over with a long time ago. Team Canada is run by the Dooleys, just like other teams are run by other people. Team Otitiju, team Trawegger, team Collins.. I could go on. Just because you don't like the way the Dooleys run the team and won't create your own team, don't keep on with the same lame joke about Team Dooley, I mean team Canada.

Ukraine Finally found a way to get the ball into the net, which makes their performance look a lot better, but every game they have played they have really dominated the play. I made predictions earlier that Ukraine would move on and that them vs. Norway would be the game of the Quarter Finals and I stick to that prediction.

Anonymous said...

Norway should be able to beat Ukraine in the quarterfinal. The game will definitely be good but Norway usually finds a way to get the win against teams that match up well with them. The only way Ukraine manages to go to the semis is if the keeper plays out of his mind and steals it for them

Anonymous said...

Blasphemer!

Ukraine has a very good shot at beating Norway, and they beat them badly something like 3 times in exhibition games. Granted, neither team had their full lineup, but Norway is by no means got it easy. If Ukraine wins, I could see them in the final easily.

Anonymous said...

norway played ukraine twice in exhibition play. first was a tie and the other ukraine won by 2.

Anonymous said...

Anyone know of any pictures or vids online for this tournament?

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, I forgot how much exhibition games matter. Never mind that after all those great exhibition games Ukraine still managed to play terribly and tie NOI and lose to Jamaica. Let's keep harping on how they beat Norway in exhibition when Norway had only 10 players. The goaltender will be the only factor

Anonymous said...

yeah real good insight...cough idiot cough

Anonymous said...

ukraine squeaked through but good on them for playing hard when it mattered! Canada was very disappointing last night. They played like garbage. The norway-ukraine game should be very very exciting but so should the rest of the quarters. Germany will prove tough for laos because they are bruisers, i hope greece goes through to provide ROI a little resistance with their good defence. For me the chile scotland game will be great. These teams match up well!

Anonymous said...

Laos will go to semis with no problem

Anonymous said...

Laos, get your "will" in order

Anonymous said...

In group B i believe Serbia was definately the better 2nd place team, they out classed Germany on many levels in there 4-3 loss. Germany managed to capitalize on Serbia's biggest fault throughout the tourny there remarkable terrible div 5 goal keeping. Anyone who was at the game would have witnessed Germany's 3 goals that any division 3 goalkeeper could have stopped, they were weak goals and everyone knows Germany got lucky. Germany is a bunch of out of prime hacks which honestly has worked so far with the exception of ireland dominating them physically and in skill, the score to that game could have easily been 15-0.. But I hope when germany plays laos they dont change anything and play like they have been ( bunch of dirty hacks) because frankly Laos coming off a poor performance against greece could be real intimidated if Germany starts there aggressive, dirty, anti football style...

Anonymous said...

Obviously the last comment is from a distraught, spineless Serb player/fan. You are one of those people that should just go curl up in a corner and die. You just slammed your own Keeper. You make me sick.
First of all Germany beat you fair and square. It's not Germany's fault that your team are a bunch of pussies. Actually you are the pussy as your team played well and lost. This game of Football is supposed to be played physically. There are people that end up breaking their ankles, legs, hands, arms etc playing this sport - oops forgot, you play with yourself, therefore, you wouldn't know. Germans played to win. We had many chances, but, we did not put them away. You got lucky with your three goals. You will see a different German Team when we play Laos. We did not show up against Ireland - that will never happen again. The physical part of our game will never go away. Go watch paint dry - that should be your speed and temperament.

True German Futballer

Anonymous said...

Gut gesagt Deutscher!

Anonymous said...

if ukraine comes to play tonight norway will be in trouble

Anonymous said...

the winner of laos and germany plays the winner of norway and ukraine

Anonymous said...

True German, there is a line between playing tough and playing dirty.
Tackles that lead to legs being broken because they are intentional and premediated need to be eliminated from the game.
Tough challenges where the players wins the ball and still plays physical is all part of the game, and I agree with that.
What I dislike is players that blatanly come through the backside of a player and fail to realize that they just committed a foul.
If your going to tackle tough atleast have the understanding of what is a foul and what isn't.
I think a two foot challenge is fair aslong as the player gets all the ball. Once the player tackles above the plain of the ball or fouls the player via a two footer, then they should know that they deserve atleast a yellow and/or possibly a red.

As for the Serbia comment, that was one of the most bitchassedness comments left on this site. Not only did you post without a name, but you sounded like a true pussy crying because you lost a match.

by: Julio

Anonymous said...

For once I actually agree with Julio's comment because that was a pretty pathetic whine job, Serbian guy.
I don't agree that Germany played really dirty or unfairly. Pretty much every good team in this tournament has had their share of dirty tackles and Germany was nothing special. If you go into a big game and won't slide tackle because you're afraid of being dirty then your team's gonna get tooled. Stuff happens but so far I don't think any tackles have been "intent to injure" and although the refs have been garbage, they've at least kept that under control

-Norway player

Anonymous said...

wow - some of you "anonymous" are just plain rude - "die", "broken bones", "part of the game"??? where did you learn to play? you are there to play the game fairly and win, not mutilate people!! hats off to all the "responsible" players - and of course GO UKRAINE!!!