Football Fanats 2012

[CTG]

The next game vs Romania will be key. If you can win that game, you are a serious contender for play-offs.

Since these two countries are mortal enemies, Hungary vs Romania is always an important game (independently of the actual rankings).

[CTG]

The other shocking result: Germany - Sweden 4-4 (4-0 in the 61th minute). Probably Nationalelf has never lost a point from 4 goals advantage...

Argammon: as a half German - half Swedish pipsqueak, were you satisfied with the game?

[Akoss Poo a.k.a. Zorromeister]

The next game vs Romania will be key. If you can win that game, you are a serious contender for play-offs.

Taking 6 points for granted on home matches against Andorra and Estonia, and taking into consideration that Turkey already has 3 defeats, yes, the Romania matches can be decisive. 4 points needed against them, then a 6-1-3 record can be enough to be there in the playoff stage (any points in Turkey and in the Netherlands would be a gift).

[Chulk]

Who's looking strongest in South America this year, aside from Brazil and Argentina?

It is hard to measure how strong Brazil is, as they are not playing official matches (only minor friendlies). Anyway, Brazil in WC is always a favourite because they rarely play seriously on qualifiers but are usually at their best in WC.
Argentina has some serious defensive issues, but our attacking foursome (Di Maria - Messi - Higuain - Agüero) scores on a high percentage on counter-attacks and that pretty much decides every match. (You can see that on yesterday's match highlights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXBZSARhaTY). We'll finish 1º easily, even with that crappy defense.
Colombia and Ecuador looks strong too, but they play their matches at home at over 4000m. They will qualify (2º and 3º respectively) but that is a plus they won't have at a WC.
Uruguay, Chile and Venezuela will fight for 4º and 5º place:
Uruguay is struggling but, as usual, we will let them win on last round so they can qualify. (We are nice to our weaker cousins)
Chile has some remains of Bielsa's attacking style but they lack the strong mentality to keep playing when they can't score and get frustrated easily
Venezuela is the former weakest team growing year after year, but I think they will fall barely short and won't qualify for next WC.
Paraguay, Bolivia & Peru have no real chances to qualify unless they take a 180º turn on their performances.

Here are the standings

[alanrotoi]

Why chileans whistles our hymn? Nice friendship we have huh.

[Chulk]

Why chileans whistles our hymn? Nice friendship we have huh.

Friendship? They are very likely the country I hate the most. Not in football though, they are not even good enough to be hated by me. It would be like hating the rest of America in Rugby...

Btw: the word you're looking for is Anthem, not Hymn

[alanrotoi]

That's why they are out of Mercosur and such of things.

Did you realize chilean flag is EQUAL to Texas state from USA? Colony...

[CTG]

Btw: the word you're looking for is Anthem, not Hymn

Actually, anthem is "himnusz" in Hungarian.

[Chulk]

Actually, anthem is "himnusz" in Hungarian.

It's "Himno" in Spanish, I guess that's what caused Alan's confusion

[BonzaiJoe]

A hymn is a song of celebration, opposed to an elegy, which is a song of mourning.
Shame about Paraguay - I thought they would do better, after being in the QF last World Cup. I like them because of their funny country name and kitsch outfits. Many countries in SA have annoying governments (Chile, Argentina, Venezuela...), so I can't decide who I like politically. If I did, I would cheer for Brazil.
About playing conditions: who will have an advantage of playing in the middle of the rain forest (Manaus)?

[CTG]

About playing conditions: who will have an advantage of playing in the middle of the rain forest (Manaus)?

Naggers.

[Chulk]

About playing conditions: who will have an advantage of playing in the middle of the rain forest (Manaus)?

Probably harsh-defensive-not so technically gifted teams (Switzerland, Ukraine, Greece and such) and of course African teams would have an edge because they are usually physically stronger than the rest.

[CTG]

Oh my God, what happened in Riazor... Incredible game!

[Chulk]

Oh my God, what happened in Riazor... Incredible game!

Something amazing happened to me while watching that game today (I hope it doesn't become a common thing): I was not amazed by Messi's performance. Maybe he's getting us used to seeing him scoring 3 goals and playing great...

[CTG]

Btw Jordi Alba scored one of the best own goals I have ever seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U3yk9OvJAk