World Cup 2006

The total football... So unlucky in 1978- twice the bar in the final... And they should have won with Germany in 1974... BTW- if you remember Dutch team- do you remember Polish? :) We were 3rd in that World Cup (in Germany) and we... kicked out England in qualifiers, after the Wembley game (1:1, England needed to win). Man, THOSE were the days... Poland 3-, Argentina 2, Poland 7- Haiti 0, Poland 2-Italy 1... Those were the days...

ACTUALLY- that reminds of the best game Poland ever had- in qualifiers to Euro 1976 Poland won with netherlands (the team with Cruyff, Neeskeens and all) 4:1! In revange we lost 0:3 but this first game is considered the best any Polish team ever had...

I'll never forget your goalkeeper (can't spell it mind you - Thomachevski?), he was on top form in the qualifier at Wembley - I watched it on tv at the time! We hammered your goal from all angles and couldn't score and then you pop up and sneak one in.

Did your forward win the Golden Boot at the '74 World Cup finals? Can't remember his name.

Tomaszewski- yes, and than in the finals he saved two penalties, firts goalkeeper to do so in the World Cup history. Yep, Lato was the strikers name, he scored 7 goals. Man, the second best scorer during those finals was ALSO Polish- Szarmach who scored 6... It was really nice, attacking football... Although against England @ Wembley it was defence only :) Man, everybody in Poland still remebers this game :)And now- what a coincidence! Again the last game in qualifiers, AGAIN the World Cup is in Germany, again we need onlya draw :) Man- that's a deja vu :) The good thing is this time- both teams will probably go through no mattetr what :) But I wouldn't mind it being the same way all along- like Poland in semis :) Naaah- impossible... Good old times... Back to the topic though- I econ it will be a good times and DON'T think that any of those two teams will do extremely well in Germany...

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]the_antihero wrote: [/QUOTENAME]funny isn;t it.. I read in the paper that the damage Katrina cost was 19 billion dollars.. and Germany got 10 billion for organising the WC in 2006...

sometimes I wonder what's more important for people.[/QUOTE]

Football is a great global sport and brings people all over the world close to each other (well, not always ;) ). It's not weird that such a great event costs loads of money. And I don't think we need to change that either. Btw.. Most of that 10 billion euro/dollars/whatever is commercial money.

That doesn't mean we (as football supporters) don't care about the Katrina victims. You can't compare those two things.

funny isn't it.. I read in the paper that the damage Katrina cost was 19 billion dollars.. and Germany got 10 billion for organising the WC in 2006..."

The same way you can say- funny, look how much money Bill Gates has...

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Bob The Shrek wrote: [/QUOTENAME]I think Roman Abramovich should use his money to bribe the British Govt. to give those in the Chelsea squad who need it, UK citizenship - then England might win it ;-)
[/QUOTE]

He spends his money not only on Chelsea... He use it to help CSKA (current UEFA Cup winner), some hockey teams in Russia etc.

Yeh and when he dies, pretty much all of his money is going to charity, and he is only leaving a small amount (well approx. £10 million is a huge amount of money, but a small pecentage of what he is worth) to his children.

I actually find that pretty amazing. Not many people realise how much he actually gives to charity.

And that has so much to do with football... ;)

Favorites: Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, England, Spain, some African team as usual, and the USA might make it to the final eights.

USA- no way, Sunday's not every day...
And I can't see any African team doing extremely well- unless it's going to be a huge surprise... So far South Africa and Nigeria blow their chances of even reaching the finals, Senegal is almost out I think... But I think this World Cup will be more normal than the last one- Korea and Turkey in top 4- or last Euro... Something like that happens once in 20 years... And I honestly hope that teams playing as boring game as Greeks in 2004 are gonna be out after group stage...

But there will be few teams that will make few surprises- Czechs will be strong again, Serbia & Montenegro and let's not forget Ukraine, first European team to qualify (although the group wasn't extremely difficult).

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Fenderek wrote: [/QUOTENAME]
let's not forget Ukraine, first European team to qualify (although the group wasn't extremely difficult). [/QUOTE]

Champions of Europe are not difficult?

Tom, do you know goalkeeper - Kowalevski (something like that)? Does he play for national team of Poland?

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Serry... wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Champions of Europe are not difficult?[/QUOTE]
I recon it was mostly luck and discipline- they got on top and that's about it- they'll NEVER repeat that. Just before Euro 2004 (about week before it started) they lost to Poland. After- they lost agains Albania. C'mon... Turkey was also underachiving- and I'm sure it will be next 10-15 years for them to get to top 4 in the World Cup... That's what I think anyway. But of course I respect their achievement, that's why I think they may make few surprises at this tournament...

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Serry... wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Tom, do you know goalkeeper - Kowalevski (something like that)? Does he play for national team of Poland?[/QUOTE]
Kowalewski- yes, he was playing in Legia Warsaw previously... He's I think now 3rd choice goalkeeper in Polish team (5 caps so far)- after Dudek (FC Liverpool) and Boruc (Celtic Glasgow)- quite a choice we have there I'd say...
But there's another player playing in Russian league I think- Jop from FK Moscow. He's pretty good and he played in last game (against Wales), he may be a first choice also against England...

Jop Mari(us, ush, usz - I don't know how does it spell!)... Yeah, he's one of the best players (I guess he's a defender) in our League

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Fenderek wrote: [/QUOTENAME] And I honestly hope that teams playing as boring game as Greeks in 2004 are gonna be out after group stage... [/QUOTE]

I think the Greeks while not having the most skilled players in 2004, they were indeed the best team and that's why they won the Euro 2004. The fact that they were the underdogs was more than a good reason for them not to underestimate anyone, and that's where all the other teams failed. The Greeks carefully analized every single one of their rivals, and despite all the odds against them they realized that like all teams their rivals also had weaknesses and they took advantage of that to achieve victory. After all, they didn't get to the final for pure luck, they had to leave behind some of the strongest teams in the tournament like Spain, Portugal, France, and Czech Republic.

People need to be reminded that football is all about scoring goals and not allowing rivals to score them. You could have a team that plays aBrazilian style of 'jogo bonito', but if they can't score goals pretty much everything else they do in the field is useless. So stop being jealous of the Greeks, they won square and fair even when they didn't have a team of Ronaldinhos, Figos, or Zidanes.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Fenderek wrote: [/QUOTENAME] And I honestly hope that teams playing as boring game as Greeks in 2004 are gonna be out after group stage...
[/QUOTE]

It may have been boring but it was clever, effective and outsmarted teams like Portugal and France.

And it has made football more unpredictable as smaller teams are achieving the task of overcoming the big teams.

That's why i find it really hard in saying that Brazil are going to be favourites, because a smaller team can easily put them out.