The FIFA World Cup: Which country will win and who will be the star?

[incywincy]

So it all kicks off today in Munich. The best footballers (not soccer players) on the planet will be competing in a festival of the beautiful game.

So who do you think will win the trophy? Who will win the Golden Boot? And who will be the new kid on the block that everyone will be talking about.

WebmasterWorld is a global forum so there must be lots of different opinions out there.

[Old_Honky]

Have to agree with Brazil - their current team outclass every other by a factor of 10:1.

Clear winners - whatever country you want to put them in.

This seems to be a common view but if you look at Real Madrid with a surfiet of Brazilian players this season by common consensus their best player by a mile has been one David Beckham of this parish. (He may be a one trick pony but it's a damn good trick) I think England are the better team at the moment and if they meet - Brazil will go down.

Crouch and Owen are enough but we have Rooney and Walcott in reserve.

[giggle]

Great match to kick off the world cup. Costa Rica did well but a couple of cracking goals from the Germans sealed the match.

The England match tonight is on at a perfect time over here in Bangkok - 8pm kick off - 6pm off to Pat Pong for a few beers before the match starts. Could be a great Saturday night.

[Nybo]

The great days for Polish football began in Germany in 1972 with Deyna and Lato etc. They did not return yesterday.

[jdhuk]

Itīs coming home,
Itīs coming home, itīs coming
Footballīs coming home ....

My dream scenario
England v Germany final, Rooney score's the winning goal in stoppage time = street celebrations.

COME ON ENGLAND!

[trillianjedi]

I think England are the better team at the moment and if they meet - Brazil will go down.

I am English so would natually be over the moon if you turn out to be correct, so I really do hope I'm wrong ;)

Crouch has indeed been fantastic. Personally I wouldn't play Rooney - I don't think he'd actually be able to add much to the team now and I really think England need to play a team game.

Individualism is for the Brazilians and South Americans. We don't do it quite so well.

I would also hate to see Crouch pushed out at the final stages - eg England get to the semi-final and Crouch gets shoved onto the bench in favour of Rooney.

[Essex_boy]

England to win.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

Crouch and Owen are enough but we have Rooney and Walcott in reserve.

I am sure the others will be shaking in their boots at the thought of facing Walcott ;)

[lorax]

Watched the taped match of Germany and Costa Rica. The sportscasters were talking up Podloski as Germany's version of Beckham. I was impressed. A Germany England match would be exciting to watch!

[johnafrid]

And I just miss the good old days of the last FIFA world cup in 2002 when I was one of the sys admins for the entire broadcasting systems with access to all the stadiums and all the matches that I wanted to watch. The best part of the job was to get paid by the hour while watching 4 matches a day in the virtual stadium at yokohama broadcasting center. The vitual stadium was giant screen bigger than 2 cinema screens where you could see the entire stadium in front of you. The virtual stadium matches felt alot better than the actual matches in the stadiums.

[Rightz]

england v paraguay

2 mins 46 secs. England score!

6 mins. Paraguay's goalie goes off injured!

lol

[jecasc]

WOW. Sweden against a courageous Trinidad and Tobago 0:0. Even though Sweden had one player more.

And England only wins because Paraguy beat itself with an own goal.

Now perhaps there is still a chance for the german team to make it to the finals besides its weak defense. At least if that means we get to see six goals in every match I do not mind the boulevard press backbiting the german defense.

[Patrick Taylor]

It's interesting to see which countries are in, and which aren't. I notice the USA and Iran are both in. Nice if they meet.

Australia are in, but I don't give them much chance, and yet they are so strong in the Olympics and tennis (but then they have that stupid Aussie-rules football to contend with).

[Old_Honky]

I am sure the others will be shaking in their boots at the thought of facing Walcott ;)

They should be, why do you think Arsenal snapped him up from Southampton? His outings for the Saints were pretty impressive.

BTW I thought Ivory Coast were extremly unlucky against the Argies. For most of the match they were the most impressive team. I think they will beat Holland.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

BTW I thought Ivory Coast were extremly unlucky against the Argies.

So you probably thought that the Paraguayans were also unlucky against the English?

[Old_Honky]

BTW I thought Ivory Coast were extremly unlucky against the Argies.

So you probably thought that the Paraguayans were also unlucky against the English?

Yes; the guy that deflected Beckham's kick into the goal certainly was.

[sonny]

If the US doesn't take it, then I would like to see England win it all.
Where's the "seal dribble" player? I thought he played for Brazil or Argentina

[Old_Honky]

the "seal dribble" player?

?
Please explain.

[Nybo]

> Please explain.

A search in your favorite search engine might help.

[incywincy]

I see that England are back to their old ways. Take the lead then sit back and hope the opposition doesn't score. What poor second half performance.

Argentina are the best I've seen so far.

[larryhatch]

I Googled up "seal dribble" and found 1700+ results.
Something to do with head bouncing.

I tried "seal drool" and only got one crappy page. -Larry

[Visit Thailand]

Agree with the comments on England. I personally think Gerard is being under utilised and should be captain.

Couple of good games today though. The Australia v Japan and US v Czech Republic. I think these two will be pretty interesting to watch.

[lawman]

Sort of like knowing what Dick Trickle means to stock car racing.

[RonPK]

I hope it's over soon - the combination of nice weather here in .nl and world cup football is killing traffic to my sites...

[powerstar]

<<<I notice the USA and Iran are both in. Nice if they meet.>>>

In the Finals...

[rj87uk]

I think Iran are a good team! I hope they beat the USA :)

[Dayo_UK]

>>>I think Iran are a good team! I hope they beat the USA

Like last time they meet in Italy 1990 World Cup. (I think Italy 90 - might have been France 98)

US played offside in the opponents half :)

[incywincy]

There's some big speculation going on in the English Media regarding whether Rooney will play against Trinidad and Tobago.

[trillianjedi]

The US have a pretty decent team. I agree their game with the Czech Republic could be a good one to watch.

[Visit Thailand]

In fact all tonights matches should be very interesting - none are very easy to predict.

I am sure we will see Rooney play for England against T+T, but all h ell will break loose if he were to get injured.

[Dayo_UK]

I think Rooney should be played just to wind up Alex Ferguson :).

>>>The US have a pretty decent team. I agree their game with the Czech Republic could be a good one to watch.

Yep, and the Czech arent as good as they were a few years ago. Could be a minor shock on the cards - but I still think the Czechs will be to strong for the US.