World Cup: Group G discussion

Zealous wrote:

urbaNRoots wrote:I'm not sure about Portugal qualifying honestly, some great individuals there but horrible team. USA and Ghana have have good chances to qualify.

Why would you say that? Portugal never struck me as a bad team collectively. From an individual stand point they probably don't have enough high quality players which is why they can't seem to get over the hump.

With individuals I mean, CR, Moutinho, Carvalho, Pepe, Coentrao, Varela, Beto. That is not 11 great players but still a good core.

Yet they struggle against the likes of Northern Ireland, Israel, Ecuador etc... just can't get it done. That said it depends on how USA, Germany and Ghana show up against them. I still see Portugal going through but I won't rule out either of USA and Ghana.

I believe that Germany and Ghana will qualify although Portugal haven't bottled it in a group stage since 2002.

Portugal were pretty strong imo in the last Euro.

Although they usually do lose against us, but there's an end to every streak.
I'm actually wondering when the last convincing performance of our national team was? Anyone?

The 3:2 (I think it was) in the friendly against Brazil a while ago? Or that 3:0 friendly against the Dutch?

rwo power wrote:The 3:2 (I think it was) in the friendly against Brazil a while ago? Or that 3:0 friendly against the Dutch?

Both of these games were in 2011, before the Euro.

That's why I was asking, I didn't see every game but I can't remember one in last 1-2 years that was entirely convincing, many were actually pretty bad I think.

Yeah, that's the problem, I guess. The German NT may have breezed through the World Cup qualification group, but the 2:1 against Austria was far less than convincing, and while the first half against Sweden in *that* match was great, let's not talk about the second half

(If you want to see convincing matches of a German NT, you probably need to watch the ladies XD)

What's interesting is that the first matches are Germany v Portugal and Ghana v USA. So, if there are no draws, we will have a situation where there will be a bit of pressure on the loser of GER v POR and on the other hand the winner of GHA v USA are going to feel quite optimistic about their chances. This could be a very exciting group.

Climate was being discussed in another thread and i went to check out where some of the WC favorites were playing.And well, all that I can say is that Germany are screwed lol. They will face the worst environments possible because they will only play in the the north facing 28C+ temperatures (at 1pm vs Portugal and USA) and they also have a lot of travelling to do.I wouldnt be surprised if they end up slipping and finishing second to Portugal

Portugal however have it arguably worse, no?

After our first game they have to go to Manaus, which is as tropical as it can get, and then fly down to Brasilia, that's more travel than us.

urbaNRoots wrote:

Zealous wrote:

urbaNRoots wrote:I'm not sure about Portugal qualifying honestly, some great individuals there but horrible team. USA and Ghana have have good chances to qualify.

Why would you say that? Portugal never struck me as a bad team collectively. From an individual stand point they probably don't have enough high quality players which is why they can't seem to get over the hump.

With individuals I mean, CR, Moutinho, Carvalho, Pepe, Coentrao, Varela, Beto. That is not 11 great players but still a good core.

Yet they struggle against the likes of Northern Ireland, Israel, Ecuador etc... just can't get it done. That said it depends on how USA, Germany and Ghana show up against them. I still see Portugal going through but I won't rule out either of USA and Ghana.

Portugal in the qualifiers suck that is beyond debate. However in the tournament proper they tend to show up.

Funny, 28C weather is actually nice weather to play in. When that temperature spikes to the high 30's (that is Degrees Celsius) with high humidity, that is when things get really exhausting.

Not all that familiar with the weather conditions in either Portugal or Germany but I would like to assume that Portugal may have some sort of slight acclimatization given they are closer to the Mediterranean.

They will also be travelling a lot, but they will play at night in Manaus and have their last game at Brasilia which isn't all that hot compared to Pernambuco and Ceara, where Germany will play their other 2 games.Germany will also have to face the worst possible kick off times, 1pm-4pm-1pm.

And I just have a feeling that Portuguese players will cope with the heat better than the Germans as it is pretty hot in Portugal

28 degrees C isn't really an issue. So long as the sun isn't on top of you then it's perfectly fine weather to play in.

I'm more interested if there is any humidity. That would actually be more concerning.

Doc wrote:Funny, 28C weather is actually nice weather to play in. When that temperature spikes to the high 30's (that is Degrees Celsius) with high humidity, that is when things get really exhausting.

Not all that familiar with the weather conditions in either Portugal or Germany but I would like to assume that Portugal may have some sort of slight acclimatization given they are closer to the Mediterranean.

well, i said 28+, in the conf. cups we had 32C in some games played in the North

I really question Michael Bradley's ability to lead the tip of the diamond formation in the 4-4-2. He never EVER shoots. He has to be aggressive. Klinsmann should just show him some tapes of Aaron Ramsey. That's how he has to play if he wants to slot in that position and be successful. This back passing, never EVER shooting crap has to stop.

If Bradley doesn't step it up I think we need to either change formation or bench him as crazy as that sounds because if this is the system Klinsmann wants to role with we need players that are going to fit into it.

-------Altidore-----Johannsson-------

--------------Dempsey----------------

Zusi----------------------------Bedoya

---------------Jones-------------------

Might be better that way. Dempsey is too readable when he plays up top. This might be better for the whole team.. Even if we are missing probably our best midfielder.. We are missing our best player ever too so I guess why stop there?.. ffs.

I really feel like Mix or Johannsson has to start because the chemistry in the starting line up was about as bad as it gets. I don't think Dempsey and Altidore is a good partnership.. neither of them compliment each other all that well. And there is a serious lack of speed and pace there. If we are going to be defending alot in these games we need to be able to move better on the counter.

Tbh I think this is what I might role with in the opener against ghana


-----------------Wondolowski----------------

Dempsey---------Diskerud--------------Zusi

-------------Bradley-------Jones-------------

Johnson------Besler----Cameron---Chandler

Will never happen. But I think this would work better than what seems to currently be in place.. Diskerud is creative and honestly, the only REAL number 10, AM we have on the roster. For someone who is a target man, Altidore gives us nothing on set pieces. He doesn't win headers and is terrible at finding openings and pockets of space when we take set pieces. Wondolowski isn't strong like Altidore and doesn't quite have hold up play.. But he wins headers and gets on the end of things with far more frequency, and honestly has had a way better season than Altidore, who's awful Sunderland form is carrying over to this team. His one job is to be a target and stay central on the pitch but he wasn't even doing that.. Drifting out wide all game for no reason. He is useless if he does that. So just play Wondo. If we have one chance in a game I trust the striker who was actually scoring goals this past year to convert on it. Not ideal but we really don't have many options...

we really need to find a way to get these players in better chemistry with one another or else we are going three and out probably with 0 points.

Ganso wrote:
And I just have a feeling that Portuguese players will cope with the heat better than the Germans as it is pretty hot in Portugal

That's true no doubt, though we'll see to what degree.
Guess most European teams will be pretty impacted somewhat by the weather.

Anyway I agree that it is by no means a foregone conclusion that we come out of the group on top of Portugal. I'm not even 100% sure we'll come out at all...

Hm.... About temperatures in Germany - remember the World Cup 2006? That was in Germany, too, and IIRC it wasn't too cold here either. ^^

LOL, when I was looking for the average temperatures for the 2006 world Cup out of curiousity, I stumbled over this:

Spoiler:

Sounds eerily familiar, doesn't it?  XD

Portugal always struggles in qualifying but plays to their standards in the main tournament. I expect them to be 2nd in this group and go to the quarter finals. Germany will be perfect, get 9 points and then end up getting the bronze medal

Brilliant find RWO.

Germany certainly doesn't have any talent issues now though in any category.

All our leaders are injured, though, or at least not at full fitness.

Meh, Germany would be fine. You elite footballing nations are usually fine relatively speaking...

Only Neuer is really injured, Lahm, Khedira, Schweinsteiger will all be ready for the World Cup... they need to gain some match fitness which they will get against Cameroon and Armenia but they will all be 100% fit in time should they not suffer setbacks so that is good news.

Neuer will take some more time but is expected to come back in time too, but should he not, we have two awesome GK's to replace him for a few games until he is back so that shouldn't be a problem either. It is my opinion that it might even be a blessing in disguise.

Germany really need to sort their defence if they are to top the group. It's really bad right now

Our defensive frailties are due to Löws shit system, we were fine in 2010 when we countered.