**Argentina **
**Côte d’Ivoire **
**Serbia and Montenegro **
**Netherlands **
The matches for Group C will begin on June 10th, the kickoff being in Hamburg between Argentina and the Ivory Coast. To think …. I have family in Frankfurt. I could have gone.
June 10 - Hamburg - Argentina v. Ivory Coast - 7:00 p.m.
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June 11** - Liepzig - Serbia v. Netherlands - 3:00 p.m.
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June 16 - Gelsenkirchen - Argentina v. Serbia - 3:00 p.m.
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June 16 - Stuttgart - Netherlands v. Ivory Coast - 6:00 p.m.
June 21 - Frankfurt - Netherlands v. Argentina - 7:00 p.m.
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June 21** - Municha - Ivory Coast v. Serbia - 7:00 p.m.
I have a feeling that the Ivory Coast will play hard and dirty, make Argentina and the other teams run. Let’s see who are the real underdogs. Serbia or the Ivory Coast? I predict that the Netherlands and Argentina will go through.
Serbia against the Netherlands will be a good match to watch only cause I think teams from the Balkans are so sly … if anything, the game will definitely be entertaining! I hope I am not let down.
Unfortunately, I will be at work during a lot of these games. I will be relying on you guys for constant updates for each match.
This is rightly names group of death and all the matches should be extremely engaging and exciting. All four teams would think that they can make it to the next round.
I considered that possibility too, that Argentina will be knocked out by the Ivory Coast or Serbia. The Argentinians are good … but they aren’t that good. Let’s see what happens.
you think the recent political events wit montenegro deciding to become independent will have an impact on the serbia/montenegro team? My bet is that unless all players chosen are serbian there will be internal politics and motivation issues which will def hurt the team.
^I agree, so therefore I said ' / Ivory Coast', it will be between these two.
Look at Argentina: their so-called star player is Riquelme, who is known to be choker when it really matters (see CL against Arsenal, see Confederations Cup final last year). Then they have Messi, whom the coach uses as a sub.
On top of that, they've left some key players at home:
Zanetti
Samuel
Aimar
DeMichelis
And apart from Messi there isn't anyone world class in their team.
If you look at IvoryCoast, they're a growing nation: just look at the number of players who've come through in major european clubs in recent years:
Drogba
Toure
Eboue
Kalou
Serbia, for me, is a good tournament team: they play for the result and become better and better (just leave alone the 6-1 drubbing they received at Euro 2000 - from Holland btw)
I picked them mostly because of the shortcomings of the other two countries. Cote d'Ivoire is a mystery. They could be like Senegal in 02 or they could be like Cameroon. Yeah, they have Drogba and a lot of other Europeans on their team but can they come together as a team and play with countries like Netherlands and Argentina?
Serbia has a tough defense but their matchup against Netherlands favors the Dutch.
Whoever wins the Netherlands-Argentina game will probably win the group but if it's a tie it could come down to goal differential.
Remember, both Netherlands and Argentina have a lot to prove for what happened in 2002.
Ivory Coast is without doubt the most dangerous of the minnows and the one most likely to cause an upset. Every EC has one. Theres every chance they can beat Argentina who have great individuals (Crespo, Riquelme, Messi) but lack cohesion.
As for Holland, Marco Van Basten has gone for youth and has put together a pretty menacing squad. Any team with the likes of Robben, Van der Vaat, Van Bommell, Dirk Kuyt, Van Nistelrooy are potential winners but I think their lack of quality and experience in defense will prove too much in the latter stages. I’m going for Holland to top this group and Ivory Coast/Argentina to slug it out for the runners up spot.
netherland is probably the best out of europe better than england,france and italy, but as we ve seen before anything can happen in a few matches here n there,a weak side that will lose 8 out of ten times against a strong side causes upset in one or 2 matches and the good sides are out...so we'll see.
I expect Argentina to go through. If messi is fit they will have a fresh unbelievably talented attacking player and I hope he gets fit.
Nes, I dont think Riquelme is a choker. Yes he missed a penalty against Arsenal and was man-marked brilliantly in confedrations cup final. But he was sublime against Inter and even against Arsenal before missing that penalty.
I dont rate Ivory coast that highly. Yes they have produced results in african cup and worldcup qualifiers but they play a highly defensive game without any flair and I will not be surprised if their defence is breached by Dutch and Argentines alike.
oh i dont think so, did you see the draw against australia? this close to worldcup if they cant beat aussies, I dot think they are the ‘best out of europe’
