FIFA Confederations Cup 2013 - Official Discussion Thread

[Franknburger]

Oh, Phil, you sound like you would be happy to watch football alone. Why aren't you glad about casual observers coming along and joining you in watching this fascinating game? Ignite them, don't scare them away ..

[Franknburger]

I don't think we will see many goals between Spain and Italy. Without wanting to get involved into discussing Spanish football philosophy, they tend to have a rather poor finish (possibly their biggest weakness, and the main reason why other teams can hope to compete with them). Italy, OTOH, excels both defensively and in their finish, with room for improvement in-between. So, it will at maximum be a 1:1 after full time, most likely a 1:0. I predict something like 65:35 ball possession in favour of Spain, 16:5 shots on goal (on target 3:3), and give Italy a 49% chance to score the winning goal (possibly around the 40th minute).

Oh, and by the way: You can be a fan of your team, an at the same time respect other teams, and admit it if  the other team was better.  Check out this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gkqL0I20sI

and this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ntOEkT6ggs

and this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mrmnlxqIqg
(also look at the comments!)

[Franknburger]

Can I take from your comments, Andi & Phil, that you both would be happy if Germany became World Champion in 2014 (which means, somebody, probably Spain, needs to take Italy out of the tournament first, as Germany vs. Italy is a hopeless case for Germany) ?

[Franknburger]

We will probably be thrown out in the group phase, after losing 1:2 to a team from ex-Yugoslavia (how about Bosnia this time?), and getting a last-minute Ibrahimovic equaliser in the deciding match against Sweden..
It should have been 2010 - Germany really played the best football, and could have beaten Spain (unlike the 2008 Euro final, when Spain was definitely better, and had played superbly throughout the whole competition). Most likely, we will have to wait for the next tournament hosted by Italy ..

[Franknburger]

Well, you'll be waiting at least twenty years until another World Cup hosted by Italy since 2018 and 2022 are decided, 2026 is going to a CONCACAF country and 2030 is supposedly going to Uruguay-Argentina for the 100th anniversary.

Also, Germany can't go out in the group stage as you describe it. You can't have three European nations in a group.

Well, in that case, what about the following scenario..

France somehow manages to contain internal rivalries long enough to throw out Brazil in the round of 16, before breaking apart against Ghana. Argentina beats Spain 3:1 (2 goals Messi, 1 goal Di Maria), but is subsequently defeated in penalty shoot-out by Uruguay. Also in the round of 16, Italy loses 0:1 to Portugal (Christiano Ronaldo free-kick), while England surprises the Netherlands. England-Portugal is ultimately decided by penalty shoot-out (hard to predict who would win it). Meanwhile, Germany gets a nice walk through via South Korea and Mexico (not that they are playing a bad football, but they are the kind of teams Germany usually does well against). Under that scenario, I thing Germany might get another star ..

[Franknburger]

I think you will find Germany is to be booted out in the round of 16 by Belgium.

Yep, that is equally likely as my scenario above .)

[Franknburger]

Ugh, hopefully Italy stops the bad guys tomorrow. Brazil won't stand a chance against the Spaniards.

Definitely not. Uruguay is difficult to play, but Brazil was still pretty disappointing. A lot of talented individuals, but not much playing together.

[Franknburger]

Congrats, Phil!
Italy lost the game it deserved to win, and won the one it deserved to lose, but that's football.

[Franknburger]

What was that???
O.k., Spain is tired after 120 minutes against Italy. But I never expected Brazil to play so physical, so European. First a goal in Gerd Müller style, and then Neymar paying tribute to Wayne Rooney...

[Franknburger]

In Germany, the final was watched by some 2 million people, which is quite a lot considering the timing.
I don't think staying up until midnight is much of an issue here. A Champions League match with ET and penalty shoot-out will not finish much before midnight. Even a standard CL/EL group stage transmission will, after the live match, have reports on other interesting games and run until midnight. And, IIRC, the 2002 WC in Japan and South Korea had pretty weird transmission times for Europeans, which did not keep myself or most other people I know from watching.

Of course, it is making a difference whether your country has a team in the competition or not (and Austria is often occasionally on the 'not' side ..)