- 10:13 PM
- 11/21/24
chicobangs, thanks, but I'm definitely not taking credit. Dime Magazine is a really good hoops magazine out here in the east coast.. You can get it almost anywhere now though. their daily "Smack" at their website dimemag.com is always entertaining. I agree with most of the analysis though. I just think people overhype the distractions around Larry Brown, so they can't use that as an excuse for the players not playing well.
posted by djKianoosh at 04:02 PM on June 08, 2005
I hope we have 7 games of this matchup. It's such a toss up. Both teams are evenly matched and neither has a major advantage over the other. Here are some other previews: Dime Magazine Side by side arguments for each team An expert's take on the matchups - this last one is really good...
posted by djKianoosh at 01:58 PM on June 08, 2005
Looks like Iran also qualified along with Japan. The top two in each of the two groups in Asia automatically qualify. Then I think the third team in each group play each other home and away for the 5th spot. Or that 5th team might have to play Australia home and away and then that winner gets in. But anyway, Japan and Iran are the better teams in that group. Korea had a nice run last world cup but they aren't that good. They were exciting though, so hopefully they can get in, but it's a long shot for them now.
posted by djKianoosh at 01:54 PM on June 08, 2005
USA better than England.
the fifa rankings are terrible. it's in their formula that that more games you play the higher your ranking goes. in other words you can accumulate more points in a given month by playing more games. Also, the rankings, if I remember correctly, used to have a residual effect in that games from the last few years would also be taken into account in a decaying fashion. it's truly a mess, but it's probably better than a biased poll of writers or coaches. honestly, being a fan of Argentina, I will admit the rankings are truly arbitrary. Argentina, by international consensus, had the best team going into the last world cup, and Brasil comes out with it. Brasil is the best team. The World Cup is where it is proven. The US had a decent showing against Germany in the last world cup, and no doubt they have improved, but it's ludicrous to put them in the top 8 right now. They can beat honduras and guatemala every week until Germany 2006, but that doesn't mean they'll be likely to beat any of the top teams next summer. I'll have to look at how they put together those elorankings...