World Cup 2002

ThorinOakensfield · Post by **ThorinOakensfield** » Wed Jun 26, 2002 7:11 am

Final Score

Brazil vs. Turkey: Brazil wins 1-0 thanks to Ronaldo. It was a good game. Turkey got a lot of good attempts later on. I wish they had put the long-haired guy, forget the name, in for longer. He got tons of really good attempts. Brazil did well, but its amazing how well Turkey has played. I wouldn't think that they could lose by only 1 goal to possibly the best team in the world. Finals are Brazil and Germany, a classic matchup of 2 teams considered best all time.

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Wed Jun 26, 2002 7:14 am

Originally posted by Mr Sleep
I meant an unworthy winner of the world cup. Well i was cheering for Senegal, they were just so vibrant

Sorry, I misunderstood you

Senegal were great, and I now have a new favorite player in Ferdinand Coly

A shame they didn't play well against Turkey.

Brazil - Turkey
1-0 final score, Brazil and Germany will play the final on Sunday, South Korea-Turkey will play for the bronze on Saturday.

Trym · Post by **Trym** » Wed Jun 26, 2002 10:10 am

Actionally Germany vs. Brazil is not a "real" classic. Although since 1950 there never was a final without Germany OR Brazil (1978 being the sole exception), both teams have never played each other in WC history.

However, I'm not surprised that Germany reached the final as we have so many players of Leverkusen. They are German vice-champion, reached the national cup and Champions League finals...
Still it's not completly hopeless - Brazil's Lucio plays in Leverkusen as well.

Delacroix · Post by **Delacroix** » Wed Jun 26, 2002 10:27 am

Finally the tradition show its importance.
Brazil X German at final.

IMO, both teams are not awesome.
Hope in final things become diferent.

Kahn is awesome, even his name is interesting, KAHN!
He reminds me the sabretooth.

Brazil still in party. like ever.

Demis · Post by **Demis** » Wed Jun 26, 2002 12:38 pm

Brazil - Turkey , a good game with a lot of passion from both teams but Brazil played better and rightfully won(1-0).

Now an event that never happened again
A final against Germany and Brazil
What is gonna be? the 4th cup for Germany or the 5th for Brazil?

Another recor created from Kafu, he will be present in for the 3 final in a row.

der Moench · Post by **der Moench** » Wed Jun 26, 2002 2:31 pm

If I can't cheer for the US anymore ...

Go Germany!

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Wed Jun 26, 2002 3:40 pm

Bearing in mind that Ronaldinho will be back against Germany and Ballack will be missing I think that Brazil may will slaughter Germany, plain and simple. Germany didn't play pretty football so far and they certainly don't have a chance against Brazil if they should try it for the first time in the final. Germany's only chance is to play physically tough and with the knowledge that Ronaldo and Rivaldo won't risk their already instable health for a single game, not even for a wc final. I'd like to see good football from the german team, but I think they simply don't have the means for it. If you nominate players like Bierhoff and Jancker for the wc team you face the darkest day of a severe crisis.

No one here in Germany has imagined the possibility that this team would make it into the final, so the situation here is somewhat strange. We just can't deal with the fact that this team made it into the final, even the media have severe problems to comment this event, it's pretty calm here. I really wonder how the german team will act against Brazil, who certainly have the better players ...

Demis · Post by **Demis** » Wed Jun 26, 2002 4:10 pm

I didn't know that German people had this point of view, ok Germany was not expected to reach the final but neither Brazil. Maybe because some of the great teams left the competition early?

As for the final i really have to see this game. The two teams are like the two ends in the "limits" of football, and to tell the truth i don't know what to expect in the final even if Brazil may have a little advantage.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Thu Jun 27, 2002 1:11 am

Originally posted by Phantom Lord
<snip>
No one here in Germany has imagined the possibility that this team would make it into the final, so the situation here is somewhat strange. We just can't deal with the fact that this team made it into the final, even the media have severe problems to comment this event, it's pretty calm here. I really wonder how the german team will act against Brazil, who certainly have the better players ...

Well Germany has always been a strong tournament team, and played themself better through it.

It will be interesting to see if the German organisation can halt the Brazil offense

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Thu Jun 27, 2002 11:56 am

Originally posted by Xandax
Well Germany has always been a strong tournament team, and played themself better through it.

During the last major competitions, they even lost their strenght in tournaments. On the other hand, the club teams, especially Leverkusen and Dortmund performed pretty well in the last season.

Originally posted by Xandax
It will be interesting to see if the German organisation can halt the Brazil offense.

I really have no idea how Germany wants to deal with Brazil's fast players, especially Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. They probably will let Jeremies play in the central defensive midfield position as the replacement for Ballack, which fits into my theory of physical threat. In American football they say "defense wins the finals", but this is the first time in this tournament that the german defense is about to meet a world class offense.

Originally posted by Demis
I didn't know that German people had this point of view, ok Germany was not expected to reach the final but neither Brazil.

Here in Germany many people didn't expect the team to survive the group stage. In the following games, there was a lot of disappointment about the playing style and everyone expected them to lose the next game. Now they're in the finals, but due to the low expectations there was only few media attendance before the tournament and this silence carried on until today.

There are some articles in the newspapers or on the internet every day, but they're in no way enthusiastic or otherwise emotional. Some "experts" discuss matters on TV but it all feels like the qualification stage and not like "wow, we're in the finals". There is no "expert" or otherwise known figure who claims that he "always knew" that this team was strong. No one is discussing "100 hundred ways to beat Brazil" articles and not even the slightest scandal has been written about so far.

I guess if Germany wins against all odds, this would be really funny to watch - some people would celebrate but we probably still wouldn't feel like world champions. The champions league final was ten times more emotional for Germany than this wc final is.

Demis · Post by **Demis** » Thu Jun 27, 2002 2:11 pm

@Phantom Lord, it is still a unique even a final between Germany and Brasil.

. Maybe Germany is best as a whole, but i like Brasil's style too. I'll cheer for both and may the better team win.

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Thu Jun 27, 2002 2:25 pm

I might have missed this in a previous post but why weren't Brazil expected to get this far? They've got some of the best players in the world who were all fit, and they were the only team to win all of their first round matches, weren't they? I always thought they would win if they got past England

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Thu Jun 27, 2002 2:33 pm

@Kam: Brazil were not pre-tournament favorites, because of their lousy qualifications. They were actually close to not qualifying, and the team received a lot of critisism. During the qualifications, they also used many players, about 60 IIRC, and they go beaten by teams that normally wouldn't stand a chance.

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Thu Jun 27, 2002 2:44 pm

Oh yes, I'd forgotten about that slight hiccup that was the South American qualifying

They only got about 30 points didn't they?

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Thu Jun 27, 2002 3:58 pm

30 or 31 I think, Argentina had 51. Back in the qualification stage Ronaldo was still injured - and altough I personally don't think that a single player makes the difference between two teams - Ronaldo's comeback is simply great.

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Thu Jun 27, 2002 4:05 pm

Originally posted by Phantom Lord
30 or 31 I think, Argentina had 51. Back in the qualification stage Ronaldo was still injured - and altough I personally don't think that a single player makes the difference between two teams - Ronaldo's comeback is simply great.

I agree totally - he has always been a brilliant player, just sometimes his talents have been somewhat...hidden

It's great to see him scoring goals again

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Thu Jun 27, 2002 4:17 pm

nice article

The ever excellent Brian Glanville gives us his opinion on the world cup before....enjoy

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Thu Jun 27, 2002 4:31 pm

Very bizarrely for a sports article, I think I agree with everything he has said there. I'll definitely be reading more of his columns, thanks for alerting me to the fact that he exists

. I'd never heard of him before...

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Thu Jun 27, 2002 4:49 pm

Originally posted by Kameleon
Very bizarrely for a sports article, I think I agree with everything he has said there. I'll definitely be reading more of his columns, thanks for alerting me to the fact that he exists . I'd never heard of him before...

You could buy the magazine as well, his opinion is usually on point

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Thu Jun 27, 2002 4:54 pm

Originally posted by Mr Sleep
You could buy the magazine as well, his opinion is usually on point

I could, were I not broke...

and if I didn't have far more important things to spend money on when/if I get it