Saturday, April 5, 2008

Preview A Pool: Group D

Group D

Laos
England
Portugal
Greece
Colombia

Group D for Death. This year's Pool of Death has three of teams from last year's Pool of Death, Laos, England and Greece. After beating out favorites El Salvador and Germany last year, Laos and Greece are no longer underdogs. England will be looking to redeem itself after a dismal showing last year. Portugal, now the underdog, could play the same role Laos and Greece played last year. Colombia will be trying to survive against these powerhouses, however, they could play the role of spoiler and ruin some team's aspirations for the playoffs.

Prediction: England, Laos, Greece, Portugal, Colombia. This is pretty straight-forward prediction. I've predicted no real upsets here, which surely means there WILL be upsets. Greece certainly has the ability to go through, but Laos and England have too much skill to be out of the tournament before the playoffs. Portugal and Colombia are good teams, but the most they'll be able to pull is an upset of one of the top three teams.

Game to Watch: England vs. Laos

109 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greece has the potential to be beat Laos if Laos comes in thinkin they can walk over them

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I'm liking Greece over Laos.

Anonymous said...

greece sux balls

Anonymous said...

well said anonymous, who i'm guessing is an immature laos player

Al Ligator said...

It'll be Laos and England.

Anonymous said...

nope i play for columbia

Anonymous said...

i wonder how england will play vs laos ,greece, columbia Portugal

there 1st game will see how well they play together..


do u think columbia will pull an upset on england

Anonymous said...

in all honestly group C is the group of death. sure in D you have Laos and England, but greece and portugal are getting way to much credit for past results. both teams have gotten worse and columbia is a much like those teams. no suprise laos and england through.

in C mediocker teams like scotland canada and ukraine will cause tighter games with the 'new weaker' jamaica. if northern ireland can back up there talk its five mediocker teams in one pool, which will cause a very close run for those top two positions.

my opinion

Al Ligator said...

You have a point. You know what you're getting with Laos and Greece and with England(pretty much), but Group C has a bunch of teams that are relatively unknown and need to prove themselves.

Both groups will be very interesting to watch.

And I hope Columbia can upset someone, but I doubt it. I'll be watching every single game so I don't miss a huge upset.

Anonymous said...

PLEASE REVISE YOUR TEXT. IT IS TEAM COLOMBIA, NOT Columbia. People are making the mistake of inserting a 'U' when it is an 'O'. It would be like writing Kanada, rather than Canada.

Not_Anonymous said...

I understand what you are saying, but this is not a formal document, it's just a blog site.. it is difficult to get people to spell an unfamiliar eight-letter word when they won't even take the time to spell "you" and "are". People spell words wrong all the time, so please don't take offense to it. If Steven Harper can't spell Canada then I may be offended, but if Jingo Jango Bingo Bango puts a "K" instead of a "C", it could be backwards for all I care, it still wouldn't bother me.

Al Ligator said...

No, my mistake. I know it's Colombia, but some reason I put a "u" in there instead. Sometimes I forget which one is right.

It's Stephen Harper. Jesus.

Not_Anonymous said...

You're right.. it is just Steven Harper.. I could care less what he says let alone how he spells..

I was really just trying to point out that asking people to be grammatically correct is a waste of time on here because most people could care less about spelling and will likely do it on purpose next time just to be pricks.

Al Ligator said...

No...I meant PH not V in Stephen. Come on. You should know how to spell the Prime Minister's name.

Anonymous said...

They're updating the WCP site! Hooray!

Anonymous said...

You bet, the updates will be done April 9th, 2010!!! I can't wait!

Anonymous said...

I will go crazy and say that Greece and England will advance in this pool. Everyone is picking Laos so I want to be different. No really justification except that Laos will find it difficlut to play so well as a team this year.

Anonymous said...

Well what do you know...the WCP site is partly finished. And it looks way worse than before.

Anonymous said...

who cares how you spell col-U-mbia you suck and you will lose all your games.. peace homes

Anonymous said...

all u guys are forgeting one thing laos has going for them this year. They added a good coach in Pancho. I have seen the stuff he is working on with laos and they will be a stronger team on offense and defense. Also pancho coached a number of the players on the england team in years past, he knows how to shut these guys down. and last but not least laos has added more quaity players to there roster. Should be a great game.

Anonymous said...

i do not think pancho can coach his way out of a wet papper bag as for helping laos that is just a lost cause

Anonymous said...

alright so the actual website went from being nice but not updated, to being not nice and not updated, now it's back to being nice and not updated.

A plea: Don't change the entire format. Just update what's already there. The site looks good already, it just needs updating.

Anonymous said...

yeah just freakin update it

Anonymous said...

every one in the pool and pool c looks good

Not_Anonymous said...

How can you say Poncho can't coach his was out of a paper bag and that Laos is a lost cause?? Loas got 4th last year and has virtually the exact same team and Poncho is an excellent coach, he will do nothing but help them improve. I am not saying they will definately do as well this tournament, but I think they will play better as a team this year than they did last year.

Anonymous said...

laos got a few breaks last year that is how they did well as for pancho he would need more time to prepare and that is something they do not have

Not_Anonymous said...

What do you mean more time to prepare? He has been coaching them for the last few months and he still has another few weeks to go. And Laos practices a lot. That is a lot more time than most teams have taken.. Look at England, they probably won't even know each other's names before the tourney starts, let alone play together like a team.

Anonymous said...

thats good that he has been coaching them for months and they have been practicing alot, because they definitely need it
boun couldn't score if his life depended on it and jiyu or whatever his name is, is going to contract a turf virus from diving so much.

Anonymous said...

I heard Laos is havin another tryout because there in the group of death, so they plan on taken better players

Anonymous said...

What does everyone think of the schedule that just came out?

Looks pretty good to me. I love how they made an effort to put the headliners(or best games of the day) as the last games of the night.

Anonymous said...

I'd say Ukraine vs. Jamaica on the night of day 3 for sure though.

maybe England vs. Portugal on day 2 as well.

Anonymous said...

who did u hear this from? they been in the group of death the last two years.. i think they are fine with the players that they have.. i cant waite to see there game with england


england vs portugal is going to be a good game. i want to see how portugal will handle the fire power of england

Anonymous said...

Colombia won 3-0 against Italy on Monday. No surprise, but I am starting to second guess Colombia here. I believe they are the only team to have actually beat Ukraine. Also, Greece's goalie has a knee injury. Not great news for them!

Al Ligator said...

Wow, Columbia could really make an impact on this tournament. If they could do some damage in their pool...well that would be what I call EXCITEMENT. Go Colombia!

Anonymous said...

Laos v Ireland tonight at 10

frenchie said...

anyone watch the laos v ireland game? what was the score?

frenchie said...

who scored? how many Brett get?

Anonymous said...

Laos 5 ROI 2. who is the older white guy Laos had playing in the middle

frenchie said...

really?! that's crazy. i'm not sure who the older white guy in the middle is. there's bryan, but isn't he defense?

Anonymous said...

was it a good game??? i heard both teams looked good..

Anonymous said...

ROI had no subs, both teams were exicting to watch. Laos used the width of field and there pace effectivley. Roi played through the middle of the field with Brett. First goal for roi was soft, goal keeping error from Evan,let it slip through his hands. Great game to watch, fast paced and lots of chances on both sides. ROI was missing Beno at the back and Chad did'nt play for Laos

Anonymous said...

the older guy in the middle could have been Brian or Adam Ailsby. Thought Bonne had a good game for Laos, had lots of pace and took on ROI defenders lv1. Brett was solid for ROI scoring a nice goal with a solid header! Things are heating up!! can't wait till the 19th when its all for real.

Anonymous said...

if you think about it ROI doesn't sub anyway so ill give them that they were missing beno but like leigh said last year ireland doesnt sub because they are all physically fit to play the whole game so laos winning is impressive

frenchie said...

roi is a solid team, and since most of their players play for milan, you know their all around a good team who plays as a team and knows how to distribute the ball. The question is how long can their reign as one of the top teams last?

Anonymous said...

Considering some of the players they are rumoured to have picked up from Saskatoon, my guess is they will continue to be one of the top teams in the World Cup.

frenchie said...

I think they will be one of the top teams this year because their pool isn't that hard. they'll be in the semis for sure.

Al Ligator said...

Yeah, Ireland will be alright. No subs is killer against a team like Laos. I know they don't really sub anyways, but still you need a break every now and then. Laos did good.

They're likely to meet each other again in the playoffs. We'll see though. Gonna be interesting.

Anonymous said...

so was that girl ok or did she actually break her leg or knee, if she didnt get an injury wow, thnx for delaying the game last nite

Anonymous said...

thanks for bringing that up

Anonymous said...

she torn her acl....iheard and is out 4 a while

Anonymous said...

People who use numbers instead of words really make me angry.

Al Ligator said...

Great...now the WCP Cup site won't be ready until the 16th. Really, that would take me about 2 hours max to update if I was doing it. They better be doing something crazy over there because they've been working on it for around 10 days.

Anonymous said...

At least they have the pools and schedule up. It's not like the site is useless. They likely didn't hire a professional who works all day, everyday on the site. My guess is it is someone who has a lot of other work to do so they put up what is necessary leading up to the tourney and will keep doing more when they have time. They aren't making this tournament to make money, it's to help grow soccer in the city and something entertaining for the community so most of the people running the tournament are volunteers.

Anonymous said...

I don't know about the whole not making money on this thing. Can't tell me that someone is not making a bundle of this one!

Anonymous said...

yes, the RSA by jacking the rent on WCP and all those exhibition game bookings for half field and quarter fields for practices. Nero (I mean Dennis) is just wallowing in the cash claiming soccer is benefiting from it - yeah right! that's why there is a new league now.

Anonymous said...

I believe field prices went down actually.

Anonymous said...

Don't be ignorant and act like you know what you are talking about and don't point fingers at Dennis. He is the Executive Director but he does not control prices. The whole organization is run by a group of board members who dictate what Dennis does.

There is a new league because some people would prefer to leave the RSA and make another small league rather than join the board and help make this league better. Everyone has a problem but there are too few people who are actually willing to act on, and now we finally have people willing to step up and make a difference but rather than work with the RSA they choose to oppose it. Opposition is fine, but too many people say all this crap about the RSA all because there is someone, or some people, out there who are making up all these lies about the way things work.

Anonymous said...

People want to go on and start their own league because they aren't listened too. You can only ask things to change for so long before you go off and do things better. It seems to me the RSA's sole purpose is to administer that facility. Poopoo

Clock Cleaner said...

We don't need another heated debate on an irrelevant topic. This is all being worked out right now, with the RSA and the proposed new league trying to come together and make changes to do whatever is best for soccer in Regina. Let's save league discussion until after the tournament.
I will leave the previous comments up, just because it's good to get people interested about how they can improve soccer.

Any further comments concerning the RSA and the new league will be deleted.

Which night of the tournament do you think will be the best?

Anonymous said...

Every night! WOOOOOOOOOO!

Anonymous said...

Laos dominated England 5-0. That is all.

Anonymous said...

England and Portugal will be playing on Sunday in the Group of Girth. England will crush Portugal, ensuring a solid 4th place finish in group D.

Anonymous said...

I think Laos entered the wrong tournament. I don't think they realized the continents cup comes later in the year. Just wait til Europe gets a hold of Asia or shall we say "Laos".

Anonymous said...

LAOS RULES .

Anonymous said...

hahah u can tell mike collins is better about laos
I think Laos entered the wrong tournament. I don't think they realized the continents cup comes later in the year. Just wait til Europe gets a hold of Asia or shall we say "Laos".

Anonymous said...

I wrote that and I don't even know who Mike Collins is....?

Anonymous said...

yeah...that anonymous isn't what I would call "intelligent" or "capable of logical thinking"

Anonymous said...

Mike Collins and Mike Sweeney should go on a date.

Anonymous said...

i love how you say i wrote that and don't put your name... good one buddy.. what was the use of that. You could have said mike collins didnt post that or just put your name

Anonymous said...

Who do you guys would think would win between little santamaria and mike anyways?

Anonymous said...

Mike Collins is my hero.leave him alone! You guys are just jelous cuz your not as cute and hot and awesome as he is. Just leave him be! And his girlfriend is ugly! watch out -MC there is apetit blond eying you down. Hater ca go to hell.

Anonymous said...

Whoever trash talks Collins girlfriend is a loser who probably hasn't had a date for his entire life. Leave the trash talk to Collins and not his girlfriend. She doesn't do anything to make people trash talk her. If you want to trash Collins, fair enough, he deserves some insults based on the stupid stuff he does.

Anonymous said...

You mean the Santamarias are like a the Power Rangers? Man that would be cool. My favorite Power Ranger was the pink one, she was hot!

Anonymous said...

Premier player you are right on with the power ranger comment.
Hot.

Anonymous said...

Very hot.

Clock Cleaner said...

Eddie, unless you know the truth of what happened, keep your comments off this blog.

Anonymous said...

its kinda interesting how clock clean cleaner erases comments about ppl but yet comments about collins he keeps on....hmmm makes me think....good job clock...

Clock Cleaner said...

Enlighten me. Which comments?

Anonymous said...

well there are some comments about the santamarias you took off right away. you leave the collins and sweeney comments on

Anonymous said...

Yeah, my Power Ranger joke lost a lot of it's luster when you removed the comment that the Santamarias should combine into one big fighting machine. You ruined my joke Clock Cleaner. I hate you.

Clock Cleaner said...

The ones about the Santamarias pertained to a legal matter, and that issue isn't going to be debated here.

Premier Player, the fighting machine comment that your joke relied on had some nasty things in it, so I deleted it. Tough bananas.
I have draw a line somewhere with these comments.

Anonymous said...

I only make one or two funny jokes a year and you ruined it clock cleaner, for that I will forever call you my enemy.

Anonymous said...

Legal issues? weak did he phone you up and said he was goin to press charges on you? cmon get real if your goin to take some off then you might as well take this blog off

Anonymous said...

anon: you're an idiot. I wish i knew your name so I could laugh at how stupid you are when I see you.

Not_Anonymous said...

There are legal issues between Collins and the Santamaria(s) involved. I do not know the details so I will not comment any more about it than that. But clock cleaner got rid of the idiotic comments because people are talking about a serious issue of which they really know nothing about.

Premiere player, you are right, the pink ranger was definately the hottest one and you deserve credit where credit is due.. you made a funny. I hope you don't take the loss of your joke too hard so that you can continue to entertain us in the future.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, I got another joke to keep you entertained. How did the chicken cross the . . . shoot, wait give me a second . . . Oh yeah, why did the chicken drive across . . . shit, I can't think of it. It has something to do with a chicken and a road. I got no material left. Damn you clock cleaner, DAMN YOU!!!!

Not_Anonymous said...

My God Clock Cleaner.. What have you done?

Anonymous said...

well Colombia did nothing in this tournament, thnx for coming out

Not_Anonymous said...

Anonymous, you've done nothing for this blog but thanks for coming out. Columbia had fantastic fans and had a few exciting games in a tough pool. Put them in Norway's pool and things could have been a lot different. I hope they come back next year with even more fans and make things even more exciting.

Anonymous said...

Premier player said...
I will go crazy and say that Greece and England will advance in this pool. Everyone is picking Laos so I want to be different. No really justification except that Laos will find it difficlut to play so well as a team this year.
April 7, 2008 8:36 PM


Anonymous said...
i do not think pancho can coach his way out of a wet papper bag as for helping laos that is just a lost cause
April 8, 2008 2:20 PM


Very good job. You can both predict EXTREMELY well.

Anonymous said...

I believe I also said Scotland, Ukraine, ROI, Germany, Norway and Chile would advance. I got 7 out of 8 right. Geez, that really is bad! I wish I could pick as well as you anonymous, wait, you never made picks.

Anonymous said...

Laos Rules....Go Laos Go..qit bein a bunch of haters...

Anonymous said...

Do you honestly think that the reason Laos has done so well is because of Pancho? Or the reason ROI has done so well is because of Dennis?
I doubt it...

Not_Anonymous said...

I think the coaches make a difference on the teams. Not so much for ROI because almost all of their players are semi-pro anyways, but look at how Laos plays this year, so much more calm, so much more controlled.. With virtually the exact same team as last year, you have to look somewhere other than simply the players to find the cause for change and I think Pancho made a difference. Great job by him and by the players to improve so much.

Anonymous said...

that is a bunch of crap...they have laosian (spelling) players on the team but only 2 - 3 play in a game. the rest sit and what. wow that is great as for a team who starting players are not of heritage but 1. Then pancho puts them in when they are up by two or three goals at the end of the game.
think again. almost their whole team is not from laos....this is speaking from 1st hand knowledge also. i know the person who started this team 2 years ago and left because of this.

Anonymous said...

I am completely on board with that. They made no effort to follow any rules. They are already allowed to pick up anyone who is asian but that was not enough they needed 8 white guys. I think Brian scoring goals and jumping around with a bunch of little laosian fans is the funniest thing I have ever seen.

Anonymous said...

OH SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!!! YOU COMPLAINING MOTHER FUCKING BABIES.... seriously.. the laos players play and if there not playing other asian players are playing.. where do you expect other asian players to play for a white team so that if that team does well they can get beaked too.. think about it seriously just face the fact that laos is actually doing well because they work as a team, they have no so called stars .. i haven't heard any talks about one single player because like 8 different ppl have scored.. but yet ppl still talk shit just stop being fucking babies and develop your teams since they obviously dont play well together don't blame other teams who work hard for each other.

Anonymous said...

WOW…WOW… settle down man....we are just making a point. The heritage thing is a big part of this. There are many Asian communities in Regina, not just Laos. Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Cambodia, Philippine, and countless others. whey don't they start a program of their own and play for their true country. You are putting them all under one umbrella it is a country of heritage not a continent like Asia. You need to think about things before you speak like you have in your blog. As for the Laos players playing they got maybe 2 minutes in the whole game there were only 2 Laos player who actually played any real time. One i know did not even see the field in the semi or quarter final. Very disappointing.

Anonymous said...

What England guys. Kash is one who people think he is good. That quarter final game he gave the 1st three passes he tried away...he is to be playing semi pro...man there is way better players out there...who is he or his father blowing to make that team. He has no concept...tries to make a 50 yard pass to old man Edmonds and feeds it to the corner to make him run. A player of his caliber supposedly should know a guy like that wants it to his feet. It just seemed like a night mare out there for him. He just kept giving passes away again and again. He could not handle the taunting from the crowd so he changes sides 8 minutes into the game and never came back to the fan's side of the field. He really sucks i can't believe people think that he is good. Some one will line him up like everyone wants to line up Collins and take him out. Just like Collins tried to do in the quarter final against Murphy his own team mate from the Accelerators. Then after the game Kash is all buddy buddy with Collins thinking that is ok to do (your own teammate). I can't believe that. Some one needs to finish those two off. Teach them a real lesson about physical play. Not the candy ass game they play.

Anonymous said...

The end of your statement makes no sense.

Anonymous said...

What makes no sense....it is clear or don't you play soccer

Anonymous said...

seriously if there was enough chinese, filipino or any other asian countries that have enough players that play soccer they would make their own teams.. clearly that is not the case you dumbass.. and just because some of the players did not play as much towards the end of the tournament.. clearly your team sucks and thats why your team is out because you play equal playing time in fucking big games.. good job buddy..

Anonymous said...

So if France does not have a team can all the French people just play for anyone in Europe?

Anonymous said...

yea.. well thats where many players are playing you dumb fuck.. if you haven't realized many players from teams are not from the fucking country get that through your fucking head!!!!

Anonymous said...

Ok stud. Your 2 weeks in the sun is done go back to the terrible football you play the rest of the year round.

Not_Anonymous said...

To the guy bashing Kash:

You must have some sort of personal issue with the guy. From what I saw he did not play well but neither did the rest of the team. Either way, just the fact that you are willing to write that much on one guy puts him above you. Maybe if you had left a name or something, then people could see who a real soccer player is according to you, but in the mean time I guess they will just have to keep focusing all of their attention on Kash because an anonymous blogger is nobody and his/her opinion means nothing. For all we know you could be one of the guys on the field that Kash burned and you are just upset about it.

To the Laos bashers:

Yes they have other Asians, but they have 9 Laocian players, which is as much, if not more, than many other teams have for heritage. If you are going to bitch about it, do it straight to the WCP Cup committee because they approved every single roster. No teams cheated, because in order to cheat, it would have to be something that is not allowed by the organizers.

I think the organizers are doing a great job and I think things will get more strict as we move along, but the tournament is still young so we don't have the freedom to have the most strict rules as of yet.

I hope more teams do what Laos did this year and get a good coach and start working hard earlier on so that they play well as a team rather than just throwing together teams last minute like many do. We have seen countless times teams who have amazing players but play horrible together due to no practice.

Anonymous said...

.. finally someone with some sense.. the funny thing is people call laos a garbarge team.. oh wait let me get that one quote from an idiot.. " A LOST CAUSE..", and when laos starts winning they are labeled as cheaters.. makes a lot sense, NOT. People need to get their shit straight. Laos worked hard this tournament, not because they have any big stars!!!

Anonymous said...

And next year they will really have no one so you can prove how hard they work.

Anonymous said...

Like show respect, Laos did well; they made it to the final and played in an enjoyeable final with a great crowd atmosphere.
Whether they are 100% following the heritage rule, that is very hard to go by; enjoy the soccer! Enjoy the atmosphere, as soccer is played on the pitch and not on some paper talking about who is born where.
So shut up already about Laos cheating and recognize that they faired well in the tournament.

As for the Kash comment. Kash may not be the greatest player of all time, but atleast he is a quality guy on the field. He doesn't take runs at players and he does well for himself. If you have the balls to talk trash about someone, why can't you post your name and step up and see if you can do better?

It's ridiculous how many people talking about how badly they want to run Collins, but it's all talk and your all just a bunch of pussies that talk a big game, so drop it. If your going to run him, run him and shut up already!

As for coaching making a difference, some coaches do, other just stand on the bench hoisting a flag as if they were actually from that country. What makes it worse is that they threaten 19 year old kids about how he is going to get his players to quote "kick their ass", real classy by a coach of sheer quality!

By: Julio