Soccer World Cup Group H

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Quarter Finals: Ukrain's chances

If you told me Ukraine will be one of the final eight a month ago, I would not have believed you. They made it by eliminating Switzerland in an unconvincing manner: Penalty Shoot out. They were lucky!

Funnier still, there is not one of the first round groups that has delivered more than one team to the final 8! There is exactly one team per group. With my eight blogs highlighting the group stages, each blog has one team that has come this far. Of the eight, six won their respective groups and two of the second places advanced to the final eight. These two are France and the Ukraine. They knocked out the winners of each other's group; Switzerland and Spain.

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Thursday, June 15, 2006

Tunisia 2 - 2 Saudi Arabia

A real surprise here folks. Consider what I wrote in the previous entry: Tunisia looks set to advance top the top 16 at the expence of the Ukraine. Now this unexpected draw.

Back at the casino there was no real interest in this game. We have a couple of Turkish girls working for us, but I think they were more concerned about their nails than in the game. Loyaly I watched anyway. This was the first game that I sat alone in front of the TV in my office.

The stadium was split into two: Crazy and sublime. The Tunisian supporters went wild with excitement while the opposite happed in the Saudi Camp. I think I wanna bump Saudi Arabia up into my list of the top ten countries I have NO desire to visit in my life.

The defence in this game was average, the offence average. No real hero's; just substandard goal keepers.

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Spain 4 - 0 Ukraine - June 14th

Pommeled. That's what the British employees of the casino said. Spain Pommeled the Ukrainians. I watched the game with one eye on the game and one on my computer screen. The casino group is still swamped after the introduction of our $10 No-deposit bonus on Golden Riviera Casino. Gone is the good intentions that came with starting these blogs. Our players love this offer and we have been swamped with requests which we have to manually check.

The game was spectacular. I wanna rethink my predictions on how far Spain will progress. The flair with which they handled themselves around the Ukrainian goal area was superb. The danced around them and attacked on every defensive error made by the Ukrainians.

Truth is, I do not think the Ukrainians have the team to beat Tunisia and as a result may end up in the bottom 16. At this stage it's Spain and Tunisia to advance.

# posted by Rockerfella02 @ 5:22 AM 0 comments

Thursday, May 25, 2006

FIFA World Cup's Trophy

I was busy looking at other peoples write-ups of the FIFA World Cup that is about to begin, when I came across this interesting piece of info:

With the Jules Rimet Cup being awarded permanently to Brazil after their third FIFA World Cup triumph in Mexico City in 1970, FIFA commissioned a new trophy for the tenth FIFA World Cup in 1974. Experts from seven countries submitted a total of 53 designs to FIFA, with the final choice being the work of Italian artist Silvio Gazzaniga. The FIFA World Cup Trophy is made of solid gold and malachite. It is made by the Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga. He described his creation in these words: "The lines spring out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to receive the world. From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the compact body of the sculpture rise the
figures of two athletes at the stirring moment of victory". The trophy is 36 cm high, made of solid 18-carat gold and weighs 4,970 grams. The base contains two layers of semi-precious malachite and has room for 17 small plaques bearing the name of the winners - space enough for the World Champions up to the year 2038.

The current FIFA World Cup Trophy cannot be won outright, as the regulations state that it shall remain FIFA's own possession. The World Cup winners retain it until the next tournament and are awarded a gold-plated replica. The winning teams, whose legendary players have carried the Trophy in triumph at FIFA World Cup finals are: Germany (1974), captained by Franz Beckenbauer; Argentina (1978), captained by Daniel Pasarella; Italy (1982), captained by Dino Zoff; Argentina (1986), captained by Diego Maradona; Germany (1990), captained by Lothar Matthaus; Brazil (1994), captained by Dunga; France (1998), captained by Didier Deschamps and Brazil (2002), captained by Cafu.

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Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Group H: Spain

Spain - Soccer World Cup Group H

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Group H: Tunisia

Tunisia - Soccer World Cup Group H

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Group H: Ukraine

Ukraine - Soccer World Cup Group H

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Group H: Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia - Soccer World Cup Group H

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Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Africa might take on Spain in Group H

Spain, Ukraine, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia are the players in this year's soccer world cup group h. Expect Spain to dominate, but give the Tunisians a chance. They showed a lot of potential in The Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year.

# posted by Rockerfella02 @ 5:48 AM 0 comments