france/espanyol

[smilin]

the only number you need to know about this one is 4-5-1.
again.
france will be using the same boring formation that has lead them to one win in their last 12 wc games.
comical.

hard to understand why they wouldnt think about changing it up and giving henry help up top.

regardless, spain is a fast young team, that breezed by the weakest group with 4-0, 3-1, and 1-0 victories.

they have not faced a team with france's dee so far, and i dont think they'll have figured it out in the first 45 minutes;

first half plays.
draw -1.05
under 1 goal -1.55

france to advance +1.60

best of luck to everyone.

 

[smilin]

Xavi (Barcelona)
Jose Antonio Reyes (Arsenal),
Luis Garcia (Liverpool),
Xabi Alonso (Liverpool)
Raul (Real Madrid),
Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid),
David Villa (Valencia)

man, spain does have an incredible group of young young players.
i believe only raul and reyes are in their 30s.
torres is one of my favorite young players in the game today.
no way am keeps him on their squad beyond next year.
he's only 22 and unbelievable.

too bad i'm hoping i dont see him net one.

 

[DeadPrez]

torres is one of my favorite young players in the game today.
no way am keeps him on their squad beyond next year.
he's only 22 and unbelievable.

he is already being courted by Manchester United and Chelsea.

chelsea has been after him for three years and Man. U. wants him to replace Ruud van Nistelrooy who may be leaving the team after the World Cup.

 

[Eugenius7]

Weakest group??? one of the teams in that group (Ukraine) is already one of the best 8 teams in the world with other(Spain) joining them there in a few hours...plus, I think Tunisia can give a good run to any team...certainly it wasn't the weakest group...france's group was the weakest...

 

[smilin]

okay, just because fifa has tunasia ranked 21st (huh) ukraine (45) and saudi arabia (35) hard to convince me this wasnt the weakest group of the bunch.

none of these teams have ever made it into the group of 16 let alone the quarters or semis.

yes the swiss team wasn't super offensively, but defensively they've proven even prior to this tourney that they are stellar.

south korea made it to the semi finals in 2002 (all the conspiracy theories aside) are better than any of the teams in spain's group.

yes ukraine made it to the quarters. that swiss/yuke game has minimal chances by either side, but the swiss controlled the t.o.p as well as the number of chances.

it's hard to tell me that tunasia and saudi arabia are anything but pathetic if you watched any of their matches.