World Cup Predictions - Groups A-D

Oops. I realised a couple of days ago that I hadn’t finished off my great World Cup predictions. I know that most of the groups are sorted now, so you’ll have to take my word for it when I say that this is really what I think/thought would happen…

Group A

GermanyPoland
Ecuador
Costa Rica

There’s no way the Germans won’t go through here so it’s any one from the other three. My money is on Poland.

Group B

England
Sweden
Paraguay
Trinidad & Tobago

England and Sweden, no doubt about it.

Group C

Argentina
Holland
Ivory Coast
Serbia & Montenegro

Aaah yes the much maligned “group of death”. I think this is the only group were any team could realistically go through. I’ve been very impressed with the Ivory Coast, but I’ve got to go with the big guns so it’s Holland and Argentina for me.

Group D

Portugal
Mexico
Iran
Angola

I picked Iran in the sweepstake at work, which I obviously delighted with (that’s a fiver I’ll never see again). This should be pretty much cut and dried with Portugal and Mexico going through.

World Cup Predictions - Group E

Group E

Italy
Ghana
United States
Czech Republic

This is another group where I think three teams will be fighting it out for second place after waving Italy off into the sunset.

Ghana have had some good results in the build-up to the finals, beating South Korea 3-1, Jamaica 4-1 and holding Turkey to a 1-1 draw. "Soccer" (god help us) has come on in leaps and bounds in the States over the last few years, but a 1-0 defeat to Morocco isn't going to get anyone too excited. The Czechs always do well in big tournaments (Euro 96 anyone?), so I'm going to go with them.

World Cup Predictions - Group F

Group F

Brazil
Croatia
Australia
Japan

Does anybody think Brazil won't win this group? Thought not. The other place is up for the grabs though, as all three teams are in with a good shout of progressing.

Croatia have a good tournament pedigree, but in their last two friendlies they lost 1-0 to Poland and drew 2-2 with Iran. Australia had a fantastic draw with Holland recently which will help with their confidence, and Japan have been ok if not setting the world alight during their preparations. I think I'm going to have to go for Croatia.

World Cup Predictions - Group G

Group G

France
Switzerland
South Korea
Togo

France are a dead cert from Group G, so it's realistically Switzerland or South Korea for second place. Korea had a fantastic World Cup in 2002 but their recent performances haven't been too inspiring, but having said that, Switzerland? Switzerland? Behave. France and South Korea for me.

World Cup Predictions - Group H

Here goes. I'm going to start at the bottom and work my way up the groups as it'll read better...

Group H

Spain
Ukraine
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia

I don’t think there are too many groups you could say were cut and dried, but Group H is the closest we’re going to get. I’d be amazed if Spain and Ukraine didn’t progress.

Spain are one of the perennial under-achievers at major events and have been for years, but this year I think they could go a long way. I don’t know an awful lot about Ukraine, but with Shevchenko up front they’ll certainly be too much for Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.

Pointless Post #2

Ok so I’ve decided not to bother writing anything about Greeno, it’s been done to death everywhere else…

Instead I am going to do something revolutionary, something not seen before anytime anyplace (ahem). I’m going to predict who I think will progress from each group in the World Cup. Hurrah!

But not today. I’m too tired. It’ll keep until tomorrow.

Pointless Post #1

Not wanting to lose my very impressive record of one post approximately every six weeks, I thought it was about time to add another one.

Since we last met, the Canaries have stumbled to a finish just outside the play-offs in the Championship, Middlesbrough got stuffed in the UEFA Cup Final, Arsenal lost to Barcelona in the Champions League Final and Greeno has seen his World Cup dream shattered.

That’s about it really. I’m not going to waste time going through Norwich’s season as I know it’ll just wind me up. I’m not particularly bothered about Boro getting a spanking either, and while I was disappointed for Arsenal the fact that Thierry Henry decided to stay for a measly £130k odd a week more than made up for it.

So that just leaves Greeno’s freakish injury. I think I’ll right some about that, but not now.

Happy Easter

Easter. My favourite religous festival of the year, celebrating the famous story of Jesus being re-born from a chocolate egg...

What's this got to do with football? Nothing, but have a good one anyway.

OTBC.

Grounds

The other day I was thinking about how football grounds have improved over the last 10/15 years, which made me wonder how many stadiums I’ve actually visited over the years.

So, behold my list of visited grounds. I’ve included stadiums that no longer exist (such as the beautiful Plough Lane), and only clubs that are currently in the Premiership or Football League…

Premiership

Arsenal – Highbury
Birmingham City – St Andrews
Charlton Athletic – The Valley
Chelsea – Stamford Bridge
Liverpool – Anfield
Middlesbrough – Ayresome Park
Newcastle United – St James Park
Portsmouth – Fratton Park
Tottenham Hotspur – White Hart Lane
West Bromwich Albion – The Hawthorns
West Ham United – Upton Park

Football League Championship

Brighton & Hove Albion – The Goldstone Ground
Coventry City – Highfield Road
Crystal Palace – Selhurst Park
Derby County – Baseball Ground, Pride Park
Ipswich Town – Portman Road
Leicester City – Filbert Street, Walkers Stadium
Luton Town – Kenilworth Road
Millwall – The Den
QPR – Loftus Road
Reading – Madejski Stadium
Sheffield United – Bramall Lane
Sheffield Wednesday – Hillsborough
Southampton – The Dell
Stoke City – Old Ground (can’t remember it’s name)
Watford – Vicarage Road
Wolves – Molineux

Football League One

Barnsley – Oakwell
Bournemouth – Dean Court
Bristol City – Ashton Gate
MK Dons – Plough Lane, Hockey Stadium
Nottingham Forest – City Ground
Oldham Athletic – Boundary Park
Southend United – Roots Hall
Tranmere Rovers – Prenton Park

Football League Two

Grimsby Town – Blundell Park
Northampton Town – Sixfields
Notts County – Meadow Lane
Oxford United – Manor Ground
Peterborough United – London Road

Grand Total – 43 grounds so a long way to go until I’ve visited every club in the Premiership and Football League, but I’ll get there!

PS the mighty Park beat Potton 3-1 yesterday. More on that tomorrow!

On The Road To Damascus

I’ve not posted anything for a while, mainly because I wasn’t sure what to write. When I started out I wasn’t sure what exactly to write about, so I figured I’d just write about whatever came into my head. The problem with that though is that there’s so much random stuff swimming around there that there just isn’t enough direction.

So with that in mind I’ve come to a decision. If there’s one thing I know about it’s football. I play for and am Club Secretary/Treasurer/Webmaster of Russell Park United in the Bedford & District Football League, and support the mighty Norwich City. I’ve got more than enough to write about regularly on those two topics, plus the rest of the football world, so that’s that.

Brace yourselves world…