Let the beautiful game begin
Last night I did something really childish that I used to as a kid: I played Sweden’s games in the World Cup in the virtual world (not on my Commodore 64 or Amiga, but on my Xbox). Here are the results:Sweden vs. Trinidad & Tobago 2-0 (1-0). Sweden started brilliantly, and Henrik Larsson almost scored after four minutes. Zlatan was very bleak throughout the match, but scored an easy goal in the 37th minute on a brilliant pass from Larsson. In the second half, Larsson scored a goal, but Sweden missed quite a few chances (especially Ljungberg).
Man of the Match: Tobias Linderoth, who stopped all T & T attacks pretty much on his own.
(Just a quick note: if you play FIFA 2006 from EA Sports, T & T is not among the teams you can select. So I played the game against Costa Rica instead, something that I acknowledge could undermine the relevance of this experiment).
Sweden vs. Paraguay 0-0 (0-0). A quite boring game, with two even teams who neutralized one another. (I played in a very defensive way, hoping to score on a counter-attack, just like when I play Liverpool against Chelsea). Sweden was somewhat better, and created a few decent chances. But Paraguay hit the bar with only a few minutes left.
Man of the match: Fredrik Ljungberg.
Sweden vs. England 1-1 (1-0). Sweden played very well in this game, especially Henrik Larsson, who also gave Sweden the lead in the middle of the first half. In the second half, Sweden should have scored a second goal. But after a stupid defensive mistake in the dying minutes of the game (I hit the wrong button), Michael Owen scored a very easy goal. But since England had already beaten Paraguay, Sweden came in second in the group. And Sweden still hasn't lost against England since 1968!
Man of the match: Henrik Larsson.
This was my warm up before the World Cup, we will see if this scenario holds... But my serious predications are: Sweden will make it to the second round, and if so, I most naturally will predict that game on my Xbox.
And Italy will win the World Cup. Let the beautiful game begin. In real life.
posted by Eric Sundström at 4:29 pm
5 Comments:
Hmmm. That would probably be a decent outcome of the group all round. T&T are quite weak - most of their players are from the lower English leagues - and their star striker plays for Port Vale.
I just have 2 wishes for the World Cup:
(1) English hooligans don't cause a mess and demolish nice cities in Germany
(2) England and Sweden manage to draw - otherwise things could get tricky... :-)
Well, as we found out the Swedes couldn't score against an undermanned Trinidad team. Pathetic, is a word that comes to mind. Now they have to beat Paraguay. If England beats Trinidad they're through to the next round. Go England!
Bringing me back to my youth. I used to do just the same thing on my SEGA megadrive with a FIFA game of that era.
Ireland was a much poorer team back then so the game made sure it was tough playing...
Reality:
Wasn't very much inpressed with the T&T-Sweden game today. Looking forward to the Sweden-England game. Go Sweden ;-)
T&T really bluffed me in this first match! But best game so far, in my humble opinion: Argentina - Ivory Coast.
Pity that the african team couldn't find its way into the net...
(as for the rest, go England!)
What can I say about the Trinidad & Tobago-game?
Well, we need to score when we´ve got chanses like that... Watching the game live in Dortmund was so frustrating I almost exploded!
Let´s hope for a better game against Paraguay!
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