World Cup Footie Seedings

[vansmack]

Czech Republic on June 12 at Gelsenkirchen.
 Italy on June 17 at Kaiserslautern
 Ghana on June 22 at Nuremberg.
 
 
 What the hell am I gonna do inthese cities when the games not on?
 
 Thankfully, I should be surrounded by plenty of Italian and Czech women....

[allmy$to930]

The US is obviously in a bit of trouble...
 
 I think the team that should be the most pleased is Portugal...they should easily make the second round.  I think they will be a sleeper in this Cup--that is, if you can ever call Portugal a sleeper.
 
 I find this whole process to be a joke...a formula that takes the tournament from 8 years ago into consideration? The whole thing should be based on world rankings after the qualification stages. Or, at least create four pools based on the rankings and then randomly select.

[brennser]

Originally posted by vansmack:
  Czech Republic on June 12 at Gelsenkirchen.
 Italy on June 17 at Kaiserslautern
 Ghana on June 22 at Nuremberg.
 
 
 What the hell am I gonna do inthese cities when the games not on?
 
 Thankfully, I should be surrounded by plenty of Italian and Czech women....

you going smackie? pretty cool...

[pip]

Originally posted by vansmack:
  Czech Republic on June 12 at Gelsenkirchen.
 Italy on June 17 at Kaiserslautern
 Ghana on June 22 at Nuremberg.
 
 
 What the hell am I gonna do inthese cities when the games not on?
 
 Thankfully, I should be surrounded by plenty of Italian and Czech women....

Fortunately, Gelsenkirchen is close to Cologne and Nuremberg is somewhat close to Munich so you don't necessarily have to hang out in those cities. Kaiserslautern isn't far from Frankfurt, but I'm not sure if that's much of an improvement. Do you have tickets already? I tried and failed the last time around but I'll be making another attempt next week.

[HoyaSaxa03]

Originally posted by vansmack:
  Yep.

thought so, i was in london for that match ... with the world cup and the queen's jubilee, it was a crazy week

[stu47]

I call double bullshit now...the mexican draw (which should of been the US) is a joke....the portugese probably will win the group, but angola and iran
 
 instead, US is in the group of death (not a "traditional" group of death, but hell, you have at least one good team that wont go through in it)

[vansmack]

I am.  My brother-in-law and I have planning this for sometime.  Should be a blast.  We're hoping to get tickets for the US matches through the US distribution next week, but we also have corporate tickets for the some of the quarters and semi's locked up, but not knowing what teams, it's a crap shoot.
 
 Good luck on getting tix pip - I hope you're able to get some.

<img src="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dirty.sanchez/carr.gif" alt=" - " />

[ChampionshipVinyl]

Good Luck getting tickets.  Iam going the same route (US Soccer), but unfortunately will only be able to attend the USA - Ghana match.  BY then it, probably won't matter for the US
 
 

Originally posted by vansmack:
  I am.  My brother-in-law and I have planning this for sometime.  Should be a blast.  We're hoping to get tickets for the US matches through the US distribution next week, but we also have corporate tickets for the some of the quarters and semi's locked up, but not knowing what teams, it's a crap shoot.
 
 Good luck on getting tix pip - I hope you're able to get some.

[pip]

I got my application faxed in to US Soccer about an hour ago. I asked for a pair of tickets to US-Czech Republic and US-Italy. I'll be a little bit anxious until I hear back from them. They claim it's first come, first serve so I expect my chances are pretty good.

[vansmack]

Originally posted by pip:
  I got my application faxed in to US Soccer about an hour ago. I asked for a pair of tickets to US-Czech Republic and US-Italy. I'll be a little bit anxious until I hear back from them. They claim it's first come, first serve so I expect my chances are pretty good.

Thats impressive, my fax didn't go through until almost midnight PT.
 
 I talked to my buddy at US Soccer, and he said that if you get your request in within the first week, you should get tickets.

[vansmack]

Ghana plan Adu swoop
 Piers Edwards
 BBC Sport    
 
 Ghana are going to make a dramatic bid to lure teenage star Freddy Adu into representing them at next year's World Cup.
 
 The 16-year-old currently plays for the United States at youth level but is Ghanaian by birth. Yet he can switch nationalities because Fifa allow a player to play for one team at youth level and another at senior level as long as he makes the change before the age of 21.
 
 Now the Black Stars aim to convince the teenager to play for them at not only the World Cup but next month's Nations Cup as well.
 
 "We have decided to contact Adu to ask him to decide whether he would like to play for Ghana or the United States," Black Stars coach Ratomir Dujkovic told BBC Sport.
 
 "In the coming days, he will be contacted by the football association."
 
 The Ghana Football Association is planning their raid despite the fact that Adu is reportedly unwilling to play for anyone other than the United States.
 
 Earlier this year, the DC United star told the Washington Post newspaper that he would turn down a proposal from Ghana if they asked him to play at the World Cup.
 
 "We have just over a month to persuade him to come," Dujkovic explained.
 
 "I believe that if has sentiment for Ghana, he will play for the Black Stars."
 
 "And playing at the World Cup would be a big opportunity for him to show the rest of the world, not just America, that he is a great footballer."
 
 Ghana's bid to snatch Adu from America is audacious because the Americans are going to be one of their opponents at Germany 2006.
 
 At last Friday's draw in Leipzig, the two teams were paired together in Group E along with Italy and the Czech Republic.
 
 Adu's motherland will take on his adopted country on 22 June in Nuremberg.
 
 The teenage prodigy was born in Ghana but left at the age of eight when his mother won an immigrant visa to America in the Green Card lottery.
 
 Within a few years, he was playing for America's Under-17 team, helping them reach the quarter-finals of the World Championships in 2003.
 
 Should Adu choose to play for Ghana at senior level, Fifa rules state that he would not be allowed to turn out for the U.S. ever again.

[ChampionshipVinyl]

Originally posted by vansmack:
   

Originally posted by pip:
  I got my application faxed in to US Soccer about an hour ago. I asked for a pair of tickets to US-Czech Republic and US-Italy. I'll be a little bit anxious until I hear back from them. They claim it's first come, first serve so I expect my chances are pretty good.

Thats impressive, my fax didn't go through until almost midnight PT.
 
 I talked to my buddy at US Soccer, and he said that if you get your request in within the first week, you should get tickets. [/b]

That's good news!  Unfortunately, I can't get to Germany in time to see either the Italians or the Czechs, so it's Ghana for me.

[pip]

Originally posted by vansmack:
  Ghana plan Adu swoop
 

I think the chances of Freddy playing for Ghana are tiny. It would cost him way too much in endorsement money, and Nike would never allow it. Still, you can't blame Ghana for trying.

[pip]

Matthaus denies World Cup draw conspiracy theory
 December 12, 2005
 
 BERLIN (AFP) - West Germany's 1990 World Cup winning captain Lothar Matthaus has hit back at a report in Italy that he manipulated Friday's 2006 World Cup draw.
 
 Matthaus had the task of drawing teams from Pot Four and Italian television channel Sky Italia reportedly accused him of picking up a ball for Italy's group before putting it back into the bowl to pull out another instead.
 
 The television channel claimed prepared hot and cold balls allowed Matthaus to know who he was picking, as he pulled out the United States, seventh in the FIFA rankings, for Italy's group.
 
 "The Italians are mad if they think that," former Inter Milan star Matthaus informed Bild daily.
 
 "I had no idea which ball corresponded to which team. That is utter nonsense."
 
 Italy were handed a tough draw for the 2006 World Cup finals, running from June 9 until July 9, with the Czech Republic, Ghana and the United States their three opponents in Group E.