The most vital question. Who's going to win the world cup?

Reading through the constant soul searching over Aikido and its' current state/future direction, I feel we sometimes miss asking ourselves the most vital questions such as:

Who's going to win the world cup?

Spain have to be favourites but they've fluffed it before. My heart says Argentina because of the genius that is Lionel Messi plus Maradona is the manager (the mad old goat!).

IF Rooney is in top shape, England could finally do well. They've a decent manager (at last!) and Gerard/Lampard/Cole are all world class. I'm also looking forward to watching Robben for the Dutch.

My final four:

Spain, Argentina, England and either Netherlands or Brazil.

Golden Boot:

Rooney or Torres.

Players of the tournament

Robben, Messi , Drogba, maybe Kaka

Surprise of the tournament

The Ivory Coast

Nigeria and Serbia might do something special

Flops:

Portugal. If Dunga keeps the lid down Brazil could suffer too.

I hope the African teams give it some welly!

The last two cups were a little underwhelming so I'm hoping for a classic!

Oisin Bourke wrote: Reading through the constant soul searching over Aikido and its' current state/future direction, I feel we sometimes miss asking ourselves the most vital questions such as: Who's going to win the world cup?

The rowing world cup? - that runs every year. Three regattas each year, points awarded to the winners, with a maillot jaune held by the winners in each event.
The rugby world cup? - wait, that's next year.
The kiwis beat Serbia today... Not that I think they'll get very far, but...
W

You know, I've been feeling a little hollow lately...until I read this thread that is! Now, delving the depths of my soul I see it's clear: Argentina is the answer I'd like to see come true! ...Because I doubt the US will take it.
Reconnected with the heart of the Universe I can now sally forth.
Take care all!

Walter Martindale wrote: The rowing world cup? - that runs every year. Three regattas each year, points awarded to the winners, with a maillot jaune held by the winners in each event. The rugby world cup? - wait, that's next year. The kiwis beat Serbia today... Not that I think they'll get very far, but... W

Good result for the Kiwis. It's impressive that they managed a full ninety minutes resisting the temptation to pick the ball up and boot it over the crossbar.

I'm just jealous, mind, due to Ireland qualifying.

I just saw England vs Japan. Omigod... Rooney Gerrard and Joe Cole did well, but the rest of them? Headless chickens, I'm afraid.

Morimoto could do the business for Japan.

Edit

Oisin Bourke wrote: I'm just jealous, mind, due to Ireland NOT qualifying.

Oisin:

Maradona has done a poor job as a coach! Brazil has been acting like Italy (a team of prima donnas). Both teams have remarkable talent and a great propensity of playing poorly as a team. Germany usually plays very well as a team in major international competitions. England's style of football tends not to stack up well against teams with more controlled midfields and defenses. Spain and France are simply unknown as to how they will present themselves at the World Cup. Both have the potential to go far. US looked good one-to-two years ago to finally make it past round one. Lately, they have not been looking good at all. Africa can field some good teams but they do not play enough together to gel as solid teams. Most of the good players from Africa leave that continent as quickly as they can and only go back to their countries for as brief a time as possible. That leads me to discount any of the potentially better squads coming out of Africa.

Germany, Brazil, Spain, France appear to be front-runners in my book. My vote tends to go to Brazil, if not for the players, then for the female fan !

Marc

Hi Marc,

I agree, Maradona's a terrible manager, but he's probably the greatest player ever (that I've seen anyway), so I think they chose him as a talisman. I figure the Argentines' tactic is to listen him rant on in the dressing room, ignore him and basically get the ball to Messi and Tevez. How hard can that be?

Incidentally, I heard a rumour that Maradona learned Judo as a child and he partly credited that for his superb balance. Wonder if it's true?

You can't write off the Germans, but I think Ballack is injured, so he'll be a big loss for them.

I'd forgotten about the Brazilian fans! Another reason to set the alarm for the 3:30 am matches!

I'm hoping that it being the first World Cup in Africa will give a big boost to some of the African teams.

The great thing about the world cup is that teams with great players sometimes fall apart (France in Japan, Brazil last time, Spain all the time)
while mediocre ones can sometimes gel and do tremendously:

Cameroon in 1990 (Roger Milla!) Bulgaria and Romania in 1994
Turkey and South Korea... The list goes on.

Far too many people care far too much about a bunch of overpaid (yes, I'm jealous) posers chasing a little round ball around a grassy field. A thread that started for relief from over philosophizing about aikido seems to be in danger of getting exceedingly serious about ... a childrens ball game.

;-)
W

Walter Martindale wrote: The rowing world cup? - that runs every year.

Obvi the dude means the alpine skiing world cup. This next season is also a world championship year, and I'm betting on Lindsay Vonn to take both crystal globe and a lot of hardware at the Worlds, although Maria Reisch is going to press harder than ever. On the men's side, Aksel Lund Svindal.

Walter Martindale wrote: Far too many people care far too much about a bunch of overpaid (yes, I'm jealous) posers chasing a little round ball around a grassy field. A thread that started for relief from over philosophizing about aikido seems to be in danger of getting exceedingly serious about ... a childrens ball game. ;-) W

We're talking about the World Cup, not the World Series.

I thought he meant the soccer world cup too

Oisin Bourke wrote: We're talking about the World Cup, not the World Series.

People usually need to tell ME to lighten up...

World Series - a baseball competition that takes its name from the original sponsor of the competition, the New York World newspaper.
features a bunch of (mostly American, mostly overpaid) men taking turns to wave a stick at a little round ball.

World Cup - in soccer, a bunch of men, mostly overpaid, chasing a little round ball around a grassy pitch, and with a bunch of people watching, many of whom need to be restrained from killing each other, the referees, or the opposition players, should the result not favour their home side. There's a run-on sentence for you...

World Cup - in most other sports, a bunch of competitors in their chosen sport, representing their country in (mostly) amateur competition, although I know that the "true" amateur in any high performance sport is almost non-existent.

I'm trying to be a little funny in a discussion that has potential to get far too serious about a bunch of guys playing kickball. Yes, they're very skilled at the game but - look up "sport" in a dictionary - in most cases you'll see it defined as "Play" and "recreation"... People in sport (myself included) need to keep this stuff in perspective. I think it's called "stirring" or "sh*t disturbing" So much for Aiki...
W

Walter Martindale wrote: People usually need to tell ME to lighten up... W

Maybe you should listen to them.

Oisin Bourke wrote: Maybe you should listen to them.

I guess our senses of humour are sufficiently different that you can't tell I'm giving your leg a mighty pull. I now withdraw from the discussion. (Not being able to tell the ethnic background from your name, "pulling your leg" means "joking" in the Canadian version of english with which I grew up - just in case..)
Sorry Jun.
Walter

People are REALLY anxious here in Brazil about the World Cup.

Kaká and Luis Fabiano are not 100% healthy, Gilberto Silva, Kleberson, and Josué are not in their prime. For the first time, our better players are on the defence, with Júlio César (Suzana Werner´s husband), Lúcio and Juan in great shape.

But the brazilians main concern is not repeating the "circus" that was 2006. Fat players (Ronaldo was way over 100 kg), too much drinking, too much parties, too much TV shows, zero training...Dunga is doing a great job, with good results.

I just hope that France don´t cross our way again. 1986, 1998 and 2006 are enough...

Regarding our fans...yes, they are part of the show. But I am missing Sweden...

Thank God Argentina has Maradona as coach...(kidding)

Walter Martindale wrote: I guess our senses of humour are sufficiently different that you can't tell I'm giving your leg a mighty pull. I now withdraw from the discussion. (Not being able to tell the ethnic background from your name, "pulling your leg" means "joking" in the Canadian version of english with which I grew up - just in case..) Sorry Jun. Walter

Do you know, I was thinking exactly the same thing. I thought the World series quip was a rather elegant riposte, no? By the way, I'm Irish, and being humourless is sufficient grounds for the revoking of passports.

Now about the World Seri... Cup.

To add to their woes, I hear the Brazilians hate the new ball? One of them called it "supernatural".

A ghost ball...

Hello Jun,

Perhaps you should move this thread to the Humor section.

Best,

PAG

Oisin Bourke wrote: Do you know, I was thinking exactly the same thing. I thought the World series quip was a rather elegant riposte, no? By the way, I'm Irish, and being humourless is sufficient grounds for the revoking of passports. Now about the World Seri... Cup. To add to their woes, I hear the Brazilians hate the new ball? One of them called it "supernatural". A ghost ball...

Júlio César (goalkeeper) said that about the ball, because the ball moves by itself. He also said that this is a "supermarket ball", a ball for amateurs.
Robinho said yesterday that the guy who designed the ball have never kicked a ball.
But the "best" comment was Felipe Mello´s (Please note that I am translating what he said). He said that this ball is like a "nice girl", because it doesn´t like to be kicked .

Bruno Teixeira wrote: But the "best" comment was Felipe Mello´s (Please note that I am translating what he said). He said that this ball is like a "nice girl", because it doesn´t like to be kicked .

A silver tongued devil isn't he?

Then there's this one:

"Perhaps the strongest criticism of the Jabulani (The name of the soccer ball) has come from USA goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann, who said: "Technology is not everything. Scientists came up with the atom bomb, doesn't mean we should have invented it."

Well, all these guys are sponsored by Nike. Kaká, in a interview today, said that the ball is ok.

I just heard that Drogba broke his arm. This is too bad for Iviry Coast and for the World Cup.

Walter Martindale wrote: I guess our senses of humour are sufficiently different that you can't tell I'm giving your leg a mighty pull. I now withdraw from the discussion. (Not being able to tell the ethnic background from your name, "pulling your leg" means "joking" in the Canadian version of english with which I grew up - just in case..) Sorry Jun. Walter

Well then shouldn't we be talking about The Cup. Awarded to "the championship hockey club of the Dominion of Canada." which is currently being contested by two American professional hockey teams albeit primarily made up of Canadian players.

David Board wrote: Well then shouldn't we be talking about The Cup. Awarded to "the championship hockey club of the Dominion of Canada." which is currently being contested by two American professional hockey teams albeit primarily made up of Canadian players.

Lord Stanley's Cup? Bring back the "original 6" Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, NY Rangers, Boston, Detroit. On second thought, nah, Go Oilers!

Here's one - the "Thomas Lipton Cup" is a large silver trophy - a "mate" of the Americas Cup (Yachting), that is awarded annually to the rowing club that obtains the most points in the North Western International Rowing Association (Duluth, Minneapolis, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, St. Paul, Regina, Saskatoon, and a few other US clubs) The trophy is nearly a metre tall... Never a TV camera anywhere near the place, and nobody (to my knowledge) has taken to it with a hammer...

Here in NZ, you have to specify "Hockey" refers to a game where people run around a grass (real or synthetic) paddock with hooked sticks chasing a little round ball (soccer with sticks?). Ice Hockey refers to the skating game.
W

Walter Martindale wrote: Lord Stanley's Cup? Bring back the "original 6" Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, NY Rangers, Boston, Detroit. On second thought, nah, Go Oilers! Here's one - the "Thomas Lipton Cup" is a large silver trophy - a "mate" of the Americas Cup (Yachting), that is awarded annually to the rowing club that obtains the most points in the North Western International Rowing Association (Duluth, Minneapolis, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, St. Paul, Regina, Saskatoon, and a few other US clubs) The trophy is nearly a metre tall... Never a TV camera anywhere near the place, and nobody (to my knowledge) has taken to it with a hammer... Here in NZ, you have to specify "Hockey" refers to a game where people run around a grass (real or synthetic) paddock with hooked sticks chasing a little round ball (soccer with sticks?). Ice Hockey refers to the skating game. W

Go Oilers!! First pick.

I spent enough time in Australia to know that Hockey isn't just played on ice. And that Footy has at least three if not four different meanings. And cricket is, well, cricket

David Board wrote: Go Oilers!! First pick. I spent enough time in Australia to know that Hockey isn't just played on ice. And that Footy has at least three if not four different meanings. And cricket is, well, cricket

Cricket... Is that "Test" - "ODI" or "Twenty-20"?
Cricket, the only game I'm aware of where you can play for 4 or 5 days, end with unequal scores, and call it a draw.
W

Twenty-20.. tsk... who's idea was it to 'americanise' the sport?