The Group of Death: It's Baaaaack!

2008-09-10T06:59:50-04:00

2008-06-13T08:47:18-04:00

2008-09-10T06:38:34-04:00

2008-06-14T05:23:16-04:00

DutchRonald

No City 440406

The Dutch orange Lions are going strong. The thing with the Dutch however is that when it really comes to it they often draw the short straw. I predict they come as far as the half finales, going down in a heroic soccer battle. The most important for the dutch fans however isn't the win but playing a good offensive game in the Dutch style only with that ingredient in our game we are being satisfied. 1979273

2008-06-13T19:04:00-04:00

DavidAlfredo

Pompano Beach 440058

Grant, I don't know exactly when and where the term "Group of Death" was used for the first time. But I remember very well, that in the 1970 WC (I know, I'm an old fart) the term was used to for group C with Brazil, England, Checkoslovakia and Romania. There are other many examples. I.E. in WC 1962 the group of Brazil, Checkoslovakia, Spain, and Mexico. (Now this one might've been retroactively) Also in the 82 WC, the second round group composed of Brazil, Argentina and Italy was named as a G of D. Probably we could find more. 1977646

2008-06-13T14:13:09-04:00

pfunk

90523

Ugh...credit to Romania that they din't go in the shell I was expecting. Still, Italy did lay the seige for much longer stretches of the game. And basically pitched a tent in the Romania 6-yard box. Hard to believe they couldn't get some better finishes. The lineup was right, the final touch wasn't there Hard to not feel shafted with the goal incorrectly called offsides. Bigtime save by Buffon. Cassano really does make a big difference. 1974830

2008-06-13T13:16:41-04:00

shut up kook

Minneapolis 274660

Grant, don't you think your lack of access might have to do with your being American? I.e. you're kind of like the token Japanese or Dutch guy assigned to a final four. Wouldn't it be different if, say, you worked for El Pais and were covering the Spanish team? 1974200

2008-06-13T12:48:18-04:00

pfunk

90523

Toni...shafted... 1973853

2008-06-13T12:36:11-04:00

Greywolf

Plymouth 440130

The first time I heard the term Group of Death coined was in the 86 world cup in Mexico for the first round group with West Germany, Denmark, Uruguay and Scotland. 1973787

2008-06-13T12:30:42-04:00

jdbolick

Greenville 6374

Re: blindingly attractive, skimpily dressed female No pics = LIES! :D 1973685

2008-06-13T12:30:08-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/365/74/thumb/sp11.jpg 1571 CA

Big Chaco

Los Angeles 36694

I have to admit, your daily blogs have been great reads. Interesting stuff on comparative descriptions of the media in football and here in the US. What has impressed me the most so far is Van Basten's coaching. I was extremely doubtful of Van Basten as a coach, but pitting Van Der Vaart and Sniejder as the attacking midfielders for the Dutch just causes havoc for opposing teams.. Looks like the orange machine is back! 1973652

2008-06-13T12:27:19-04:00

andypalmer

Windsor Mill 155664

I have to disagree with the "its better to watch the game on TV" comment. I was at the USA-Argentina game and then went home and watched it on my DVR. Being there in person, you can see so much more of the flow of the game, the team shapes, and the movement off the ball. So much of this occurs "outside the lense." Of course, best is probably to watch the game in person and then watch the recording on TV right before blogging :-) 1973644

2008-06-13T12:19:21-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/439/630/thumb/Ronaldo_in_flight.jpg 3 NY

The Enigma

Bronx 440070

Italy will be more offensive minded simply because they have to be. However, I see Mutu and the Romanians hitting them on the counterattack: Romania 2-1 over Italy. The Dutch played attractive football in their first game and will be hard-pressed to repeat a similar performance but I still see them winning this game, Holland 2-0 over France. 1973499

A few things to ponder as the Grupo <strike>del</strike> de la Muerte heats up again today with Italy-Romania (noon ET, ESPN2) and France-Netherlands (2:45 p.m. ET, ESPN2): Italy-Romania. I’m always amused by how much pre-game secrecy surrounds the starting lineups for middling national teams (like, say, the U.S.) when world champion Italy has no problem giving away its lineup moves more than a day before kickoff. We already know that Italy will have at least two changes today, including the insertion of Alessandro del Piero as a second forward alongside Luca Toni and defender Giorgio Chiellini for the dinged-up (and, of late, hapless) Marco Materazzi. Expect more tinkering in the midfield (Daniele De Rossi for Massimo Ambrosini?), especially since the Azzurri knows that it needs to bag three points against a defensive-minded Romanian team after getting nothing against Holland. I don’t think Italy was nearly as bad in that game as the Oranje was good, so look for an Italian rebound here. Italy 2, Romania 0. France-Netherlands. After one game Les Bleus was the Euro’s most disappointing team and Holland its most impressive, which means reality is probably somewhere in-between. Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira should be back from injury for France (au revoir, Nicolas Anelka and Jeremy Toulalan), which should make things easier for Franck Ribéry to start being dangerous again like he was in World Cup ’06. Meantime, Holland can’t be expected to match the counter-attacking clinic it put on against Italy, although this Dutch team only knows one way to play: attack, attack, attack. Look for more of the same through potent midfielders Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart, but I also sense that the porous Dutch defense is going to show up here as well. France 2, Netherlands 2. Two other things on my mind: • Do any of you language mavens know the origin (time, date, etc.) of the soccer term Group of Death? The first mention I could find in a database search was in a May 10, 1986 article in The Times of London a month before the start of World Cup ’86 in Mexico. Strangely, there were no mentions before the 1982 World Cup, although that may be due more to the limitations of the database than anything else. It’s kind of a ridiculous term when you think about it, a little bit like soccer commentators talking about “bombs” and “daisy-cutters.” Do you have any suggested alternatives for naming a soccer tournament’s most difficult group? How about Group of Grandpa Simpson (since all he does is walk around saying “Death!!!”)? • This blogging thing isn’t so bad after all. I’d rather be reporting from Europe, but I have to say that I’m really enjoying doing this daily blog for the first time. The dirty little secret is that you can see far more details in a game when you’re watching at home on HD (with a DVR) than when you’re sitting in the stadium (even though the press-box seats do have low-def televisions that help a bit). The downside, of course, is that you can’t interview any of the players or coaches before and after the games or soak up the atmospheric details that go along with doing real journalism on-site. Then again, the quality of media-interview access at a Euro isn’t usually that great. Consider: despite the hundreds of media members at the Final Four in April, I was able to get sit-down one-on-one interviews with Bill Self, Roy Williams and Tyler Hansbrough, and SI was a fly on the wall in the overnight scouting session of the Kansas coaching staff before the title game. When it comes to the Euro, unless you have crazy-good connections or get lucky (I somehow got Thierry Henry on the phone two nights before the Euro 2000 final) you’re stuck with quotes from cattle-call press conferences and anything you can get from the so-called post-game Mixed Zone—a winding gauntlet between the locker-rooms and team buses that the players walk through as the (unshowered masses) of journos jostle for their attention on the other side of a chest-high wall. Oftentimes the players just walk right through and don’t say a word, yet I’ve seen some creative methods used by media members to counteract that. At World Cup ’06, for example, an Italian TV network would put a blindingly attractive, skimpily dressed female on the mixed-zone wall and use her to attract the players’ attention, only to switch a male interviewer in her place once the players had stopped. Who do you like in the games today? Post your comments below, and check back later for Blog updates following each game ... 1336 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/194/315/thumb/wahl_grant.jpg 11 MD

Grant Wahl

Baltimore 194615