Okay fellas (and ladies), there's less than 3 weeks until the first World Cup match, so I thought I'd kick off ANALYSIS time for the first round before we open up the Ecuador-Italy thread. :fero:
We enter a May 18 friendly vs. the Czechs in fairly good shape, tho I'm not sure of Vieri's and Totti's legs. We then travel to Asia for the World Cup.
Who will be our toughest opponent in the first round - Ecuador, Croatia or Mexico? All three matches will be pretty tough if you ask me. There aren't any roll overs these days and I'm expecting a very competitive first round.
Ecuador, our initial match, is very tricky because we are not familiar with them and they are World Cup virgins that are probably gonna come out roaring to impress. I hope we have been scouting them. I view this as a moderately tricky match, similar to Chile of 1998 (we barely scrapped a 2-2 tie w/ a Baggio PK). Still, inexperience, as the match will wear on, could cost Ecuador. Italy has a tendency to keep their heads very well and just kinda hang around until a counter attack strike. Difficulty level on a scale of 1-10: 7.
Croatia has been dealt a heavy blow by the loss of Tudor, a brilliant def/middie that does it all and was on his way to being among the world's greatest before getting hurt. It's a shame the Croatian fans view his injury as a conspiracy.
Anyway, the squad has plenty of other talent, knows our style well and should offer a good deal of resistence. But I don't think they are as good as they were in 98, not by far. Diff level: 8.
Mexico, our last match, is tough, real tough. The Mexicans play tremendous in World Cups, they totally raise their game. Remember the Germans barely managing to get passed them in 98? They are really quick and proud. Their league sucks and their national team has gotten worse, but I am hoping we only need a draw by this point in the first round because the Mexicans are so tenacious. Diff level: 8.
Please tell me how you all feel.
AZZURI LOVER
We enter a May 18 friendly vs. the Czechs in fairly good shape, tho I'm not sure of Vieri's and Totti's legs. We then travel to Asia for the World Cup.
Who will be our toughest opponent in the first round - Ecuador, Croatia or Mexico? All three matches will be pretty tough if you ask me. There aren't any roll overs these days and I'm expecting a very competitive first round.
Ecuador, our initial match, is very tricky because we are not familiar with them and they are World Cup virgins that are probably gonna come out roaring to impress. I hope we have been scouting them. I view this as a moderately tricky match, similar to Chile of 1998 (we barely scrapped a 2-2 tie w/ a Baggio PK). Still, inexperience, as the match will wear on, could cost Ecuador. Italy has a tendency to keep their heads very well and just kinda hang around until a counter attack strike. Difficulty level on a scale of 1-10: 7.
Croatia has been dealt a heavy blow by the loss of Tudor, a brilliant def/middie that does it all and was on his way to being among the world's greatest before getting hurt. It's a shame the Croatian fans view his injury as a conspiracy.
Mexico, our last match, is tough, real tough. The Mexicans play tremendous in World Cups, they totally raise their game. Remember the Germans barely managing to get passed them in 98? They are really quick and proud. Their league sucks and their national team has gotten worse, but I am hoping we only need a draw by this point in the first round because the Mexicans are so tenacious. Diff level: 8.
Please tell me how you all feel.
AZZURI LOVER