Monday, June 26, 2006

Italy vs Australia

Well, Italy has already surpassed my World Cup expectations by winning their group and thus avoiding Brazil in the first round.

The Aussies will be a difficult team to play against, as they're quite aggressive and it seems the Italians have trouble playing non-European teams, ie. tying the US and the South Korea debacle four years ago. Those two teams have something in common: Australia's head coach Gus Hiddink coached the Koreans in 2002.

This troubles me slightly. However, Italy should prevail, meaning an Italy-Ukraine match is highly possible, provided the Ukies take care of the Swiss as well.

England beating Ecuador was no real surprise, however I was disappointed in the Dutch for not taking advantage of a shorthanded Portuguese squad. It was a dirty game and frankly both teams should be ashamed of their antics...it's given England a huge advantage, as Deco, Costinha and possibly Luis Figo will be unavailable for the match due to red cards/suspensions.

Germany/Argentina is going to be a classic, and Brazil/Spain or Brazil/France will also be a dandy. Ghana is a good team but I can't see them knocking off the Brazilians.

So far a very entertaining World Cup...Forza Italia, let's kick some Kangaroo ass!

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