World Cup - Group E

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The group consists of the following teams:

  • Italy
  • Czech Republic
  • Ghana
  • United States
    Italy

Current Ranking:13
Winners in 1934, 1938 and 1982

Squad:

1 Gianluigi Buffon2 Cristian Zaccardo3 Fabio Grosso4 Daniele De Rossi5 Fabio Cannavaro6 Andrea Barzagli7 Alessandro Del Piero8 Gennaro Gattuso9 Luca Toni10 Francesco Totti11 Alberto Gilardino12 Angelo Peruzzi13 Alessandro Nesta14 Marco Amelia15 Vincenzo Iaquinta16 Mauro German Camoranesi17 Simone Barone18 Filippo Inzaghi19 Gianluca Zambrotta20 Simone Perrotta21 Andrea Pirlo22 Massimo Oddo23 Marco Materazzi24 Morgan De Sanctis25 Daniele Bonera27 Marco Marchionni

Czech Republic

World ranking: 2
Runners up in 1934 and 1962 as Czechoslovakia.

Squad:

1 Petr Cech2 Zdenek Grygera3 Pavel Mares4 Tomas Galasek5 Radoslav Kovac6 Marek Jankulovski7 Vladimir Smicer8 Karel Poborsky9 Jan Koller10 Tomas Rosicky11 Pavel Nedved12 Vratislav Lokvenc13 Martin Jiranek14 David Jarolim15 Milan Baros16 Jaromir Blazek17 Jiri Stajner18 Marek Heinz19 Jan Polak20 Jaroslav Plasil21 Tomas Ujfalusi22 David Rozehnal23 Antonin Kinsky

Ghana

World Ranking: 48

First time in Finals

Squad:

1 Sammy Adjei2 Hans Sarpei3 Asamoah Gyan4 Samuel Kuffour5 John Mensah6 Emmanuel Pappoe7 Illiasu Shilla8 Michael Essien9 Derek Boateng10 Stephen Appiah11 Sulley Muntari12 Alex Tachie-Mensah13 Habib Mohamed14 Matthew Amoah15 John Pantsil16 George Owu17 Dan Quaye18 Eric Addo19 Razak Pimpong20 Otto Addo21 Issah Ahmed22 Richard Kingston23 Haminu Dramani

USA

World Ranking Joint 5

Smi finals in 1930

squad:

1 Tim Howard2 Chris Albright3 Carlos Bocanegra4 Pablo Mastroeni5 John O’Brien6 Steve Cherundolo7 Eddie Lewis8 Clinton Dempsey9 Eddie Johnson10 Claudio Reyna11 Brian Ching12 Gregg Berhalter13 Jim Conrad14 Ben Olsen15 Bobby Convey16 Josh Wolff17 DaMarcus Beasley18 Kasey Keller19 Marcus Hahnemann20 Brian McBride21 Landon Donovan22 Oguchi Onyewu23 Eddie Pope

Fixtures:

Fixtures

9 12-Jun-06 Hanover ITALY:GHANA
10 12-Jun-06 Gelsenkirchen USA:CZE
25 17-Jun-06 Kaiserslautern ITALY:USA
26 17-Jun-06 Cologne CZE:GHANA
41 22-Jun-06 Hamburg CZE:ITALY
42 22-Jun-06 Nuremberg GHANA:USA

The Italians are beset by controversies and problems but this might just bring them together as in 1982. They enter the tournament with a strong team and will also have the incentive to top the group as the runner up will probably face Brazil in the last 16.

The Czech have a strong team and together with the Italians must be favourites to go through to the next round. Petr cech the Chelsea goal keeper might prove to be one of the best goalkeeper of the tournament. The other ones to keep an eye on are Nedved and Tomas Rosicky.

Ghana and USA will provide stiff competition but in the final analysis their world cup will end with the first round.

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Re: World Cup - Group E

Saw Italy - Ukraine yesterday, and both teams looked anything but ready. One can understand andriy's absence from ukraine led to their poor performance, but lippy had the whole team and more to his disposal.
I wouldnt be suprised if Italy are knocked out early.

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Re: World Cup - Group E

Apart from impressing us with their good looks and hairstyles Italy are otherwise a very unpredictable team right now. The Luca Toni and Gilardino partnership is pretty impressive though I think they'll need Fancesco Totti up there if they are to progress far in the knock out phase. They only tend to play good when up against good teams and I fancy them to go through as runners up with the Czech Republic as winners. The Czech's are looking good and Peter Cech will definately be tough to beat and probably the key man for them.

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Re: World Cup - Group E

This is really hard for me write. US got screwed bad with this group. This is the toughest group in the competition.

Italy is simply one of the finest teams in Europe, with France, Germany, England, Spain, and the Netherlands contesting for that spot. Their team is LOADED with legendary world-class professionals such as Del Piero, Vieri, Totti, and Buffon. This team has the weapons to beat any team, even Brazil. If anyone says that this team is not that great, they probably need to get some of their facts straight, because they have left a significant part in the history of football all over the world: club-wise and international-wise. They have had a championship drought for a pretty long time, and with an agonizing history of losing in the knockout stages within the last few World Cups, this team is very determined to win every game they play no matter what. They cannot afford to lose to anyone.

The Czech, from what I've seen of them, will give the USA some serious problems in midfield and attack. They have the ability and quality to dominate midfield and possession - not just against the USA but a lot of teams at this world cup - and Nedved playing well is a serious concern.

But I don't think their backs cope with pace as well as they should. I do think they have enough quality to get over the USA but the USA will definitely create chances, and anything is possible. I don't think the USA should try and battle the Czech's for possession in midfield, they may get ran ragged. Use pace out wide and hit very fast on the counter and I can envisage the USA getting a result against the Czech's.

The problem for the USA here IMO is that Italy and the Czechs are 2 very classy sides with lots of quality in key positions, they both revel in midfield battles, and perhaps more importantly are very well versed in playing quality opposition, often. Outside of friendlies - and correct me if I'm wrong - I don't get the impression the USA have as much experience at playing an array of top quality sides, and may have trouble putting the ball on the ground and playing it against these two sides. A lot of non-Euro teams at this world cup would find that group very difficult.

Regardless, a win against Ghana and a point out of the other 2 games may be enough for the USA, and there's no reason why they shouldn't back themselves to find a way to open a can of whoopass.

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Re: World Cup - Group E

hey if they deserve the #5 ranking in the world then this group should not be a problem for USA team. Unless we are saying that the #5 ranking that they have and the #13 ranking that Italy has dont mean much.

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Re: World Cup - Group E

^I think it says enough if I tell you I don't know even one player from the USA squad :D

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Re: World Cup - Group E

Talha, if you are asked to pick one player from usa team who could make a difference between a first tound exit and a second round birth, who would you name? I am not much familiar with american team apart from Mcbride, Donovan and Reyna.

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Re: World Cup - Group E

I never really believe in world rankings to be honest as I don’t know how that system works.

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Re: World Cup - Group E

Donovan can make the difference for the USA but honestly - all homerism aside - I don’t think US is good enough for second round either. As early as we advance to the next round, the US will be on the plane for home.

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nobody is talking about Ghana? I wish they beat the heck out of all other teams :hoonh:

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Theres hugeeeeeeeeeeeeeee anticipation here in US for the US match. AND ppl expect them to actually be placed second in the group. IF that happens and Italy/Czech get knocked out, it will be a HUGE upset and boost for american soccer.

I don't see it happening though.

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Re: World Cup - Group E

Match about to start. US v CZE

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Re: World Cup - Group E

1-0 Czech. Bad defending by US.

Lots of early goals in this world cup!

:fifa:

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Re: World Cup - Group E

CZE scored their first goal in 6th minute of the play :k: CZE 1:0 USA

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cze :hula: :fifa:

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The 5th seed bubble bursts for the USA. 2-0 Czech..and i’m off to work

:fifa:

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Another one what a beauty. CZE 2

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Brilliant goal, cze lead

2/0 :hula:

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sare american hype ka hawa nikal gaya....

Good Touch, Bad Touch, Secret Touch
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Take that goal number 3 :k: CZE lead by 3 to nill.