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Why is everybody forgetting the Germans?

 

South Korea!?

Congratulations!

I'd never have thought it before the game. The italians loose because of one thing, their achilles heel: Trying to defend a 1-0 lead. Ok, it might be typical football since goals are so very scarce, but it's also so stupid.
Don't fix it if it ain't broke is a good maxim which the italian coach should learn to follow instead of ruining a working italian side with his idiotic substitutions.

It was pure joy to share this victory with the South Koreans!

There are still a few favorites left in the tournament; mine are Brasil and Spain. Both teams with enjoyable offensive football.

 

Cough, cough.

Brazil perhaps? They were 3rd favourites with the English bookies anyway, at the start of the tournament.

 

Brazil indeed! England is out! And I thought England would win. Curse of the Invoker strikes again!! Now it looks like Brazil is going to get the cup.

I hereby predict:
Spain wins
Senegal wins
--
germany wins
brazil wins
--
brazil wins

we'll see

 

Brazil 2 - England 1

I'm English and I'm not oo bothered that we are now out of the world cup. But God, do I know some people who will, it'll be fun rubbing it in while it lasts.

It was quite agood match in my opion, Brazil will go on to do big things, oh yes...

 

GERMANY IS IN THE SEMI-FINALS!

(not forgotten, just delayed ) I'm not happy with the game, germany was playing relatively weak. However they won eventually. My nightmare in the last 20 minutes was that the USA could make the equalizer and win with a bloody golden goal - only to be slaughtered in the semi-finals since the core of their team would have been banned due to yellow cards.
Amazing that our tame has come that far - no one in Germany seriously expected our team in the semi-finals

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited June 21, 2002).]

 

Germany has done well, that's true enough.
Win vs Saudi-Arabia
Draw vs Ireland
Win vs Cameroon
Win vs Paraguay
Win vs USA
Real impressive! Imagine if Germany meets South Korea in the semi-finals! Hasn't this world cup been completely strange? You can't trust the "good" football countries this summer.

 

Earl Grey, you don't need to imagine it. South Korea just beat Spain. It's going to be a South Korea V Germany semi final

 

Ackk! Can't find words... there are no words for this!

 

OMG! What have I done!! I've created a monster!! Whichever team I pick looses! Curse of the Invoker on full force attack!

Semi Finals:
Turkey-Brazil
Korea-Germany

I think spain deserved the match against Korea. There were a few mistakes by the linesman which probably cost the game to Spain. Oh well.. Congratz Korea! And Turkey was really good against Senegal. They deserved the win imo. What a worldcup!

I still say a Germany-Brazil final though. I mean come on. That's the logical thing after all!

 

Turkey vs. Senegal (golden goal) ... Berlin just like the other major cities in Germany are flagged red today. The turks in germany are freaking out today

Germany vs. Brazil would be cool - fancy football at least from one team , Germany vs. Turkey would bring with it inherent fan conflicts (making it much less attractive). However, next german opponent is South Korea ... we'll see.

 

And South-Korea will beat the Germans, they will be world champion in fact. The president of South-Korea promised Hiddink (trainer of S-Korea) already a stadium named after him, a statue and a hotel owner promised Hiddink free beer for the rest of his life. Hiddink is a hero to the Koreans. If they become world champion indeed, I'll bet they are going to change the name of their coutry to Hiddinkia.

[This message has been edited by Silverblade (edited June 22, 2002).]

 

How can Korea not win? They have had the support of the referees throughout the whole tournament. Very cleverly done but there is a derfinative pattern. Their opponents have gotten lots and lots of dubious offsides against them, a few wrongly judged goals etc etc. The koreans have played amazing and they deserve their place as much as any other team BUT I dont think they would have been where they are if the refs hadnt been so nice to them.

 

I suppose Hiddink could cause a revolt and overthrow the Korean government if he wanted

Yeah, Korea's last three matches have been controversial. Portugal, Italy and Spain in a row. Italy and Spain's valid golden goals have been disallowed. I hate to get into conspiracy theories. But yeah the home team does get some favorable calls that ultimately effect the result of the game. I guess that's what makes Collina a great ref. Japan-Turkey match, he's refreed very well.

In any case Korea does play good ball and with a little luck, they're in the semis. But their roll comes to an end imo in Germany game. Yeah Germans don't look that good and Korea's football resembles USAs a lot. And USA could've taken Germany out. So It's a possibility Korea will be in the finals.
But the Germans have been consistent throughout and their crosses will be lethal imo.

 

South Korea are doing amazing, it must be some thing about playing in your own home land, like in France 98, where, surprise surprise, France beat Brazil and won the whole thing, so maybe South Korea will win the whole thing too.

 

I defenately support South Korea, since Hiddink is the only Dutchy in the whole tournament. Too bad it has to be this way, with all the mistakes and things.

Hiddink is a demi-god in Korea now. You should have seen the list of presents he got!
Free beer, free traveling, statues, street/hotel/stadion-names, car, etc etc.
He is the most important person for the Dutch relation with korea, and allready everybody is buying Philips iso Samsung... What soccer can be good for....!

 

Dammit! The dutch don't even get into the world cup yet still they will probably be in the final.....how do they do it?

 

Germany vs South-Korea 1-0

+++ halftime-report +++

Good match till now, one good chance for both teams each. Germany's defence is compact, concentrated and robust and their offensive play is getting better - without results though. The weaknesses and lack of self esteem as seen in the of the match vs. USA have seeminly disappeared. South-Korea is playing well and their players are agressive, disciplined and fair. South-Korea's defence is playing well either.

However, when Germany is pushing towards South-Korea's goal the Koreans are subject to make mistakes - hopefully the german pressure increases in the second half. The second half will become a really interesting.

+++ update +++

GERMANY IS IN THE FINALS !!!! 1-0 vs. S. Korea - wonderful shot by Ballack!

Yay! Both teams were strong but Germany eventually was the better team. FINALS!

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited June 25, 2002).]

 

The curse is finally over! YAY But a Korea loss was predictable. If there's a conspiracy as some seem to claim, then Korea plays in the 3rd place match in Seul, Korea in front of its fans If no conspiracy, Korea has pushed their luck too far + they run and exert themselves a lot on the field, they're bound to be tired. While Korea is a good team and plays very well, Spain and Italy had deserved to advance instead imo. Oh well.. good hosting and good football Korea. Congratz! And Congratz to Germany of course!!

Brazil-Turkey match on the other hand is a bit harder to predict. Both teams have been increasing their performance. Turkey has played very good ball in only one game in this tournament imo. That against senegal. So that rules out a definitive brasil victory. And the first game against Brasil-Turkey, they didn't deserve the win imo. That last minute penalty shoud've been a freekick instead. Still, brasil is brasil and I think they'll advance and win the cup in the end.. We'll see
I predict a 2-0 brasil lead and a final score of 2-1 in favor of brasil for the next match

 

Hehe, I remember the English were elated when they beat germany 5:1 in the qualifier match. But now England is out and Germany is in the finals. I think somebody once said that it is a characteristic of great teams that they win even when they play badly

I wonder, which of the three remaining countries is England supporting? Traditionally don't like Turkey and Germany and Brasil knocked them out...