 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Calgary & Edmonton & Vancouver
| Topic: Re: World Cup Draw |
| ||
|
Looks like Team Canada is in Group B with Belgium Luxembourg and Portugal. Should be a really good matchup, especially considering Rico retired this year. |
Posted: Dec 14 2012 2:00PM
| ||
|
Yea we smashed belgium when rico wasn't there before. |
| ||
|
Here's Belgiums list: Carletta is on there, but the guys out east should know his game well. List of players Tom VAN DE CAUTER Sven SIONGERS Arthuro CARLETTA Giuliano BENTIVOGLIO Johnny MEURMANS Erwin METTEN Tim NEEFS Randy ELIAERTS Koen LE PERCQ |
| ||
|
Luxembourg - has yannic who one singles when I was there. I missed koen that funny *bleep* on belgium, he's okay too. List of players Carlos DA SILVA Yannick CORREIA André DA SILVA Steve DIAS Bruno GONCALVES Christophe DIAS Leonardo STAMERRA Joao CAMPOS Fabio - FERREIRA |
| ||
|
It was a really nice draw for us. We avoided the US team which is nice and also we don't play any powerhouse Bonzini teams like France or Denmark. Portugal is a Bonzini team... They have Paul Nunes who is really good and has beaten Tony Spredeman twice recently. Portugal doesn't have much depth, but being a Bonzini country it is very difficult to count on winning more than just our Fireball games against them. Hopefully having Laurent and Biggie from Quebec means we can steal two games on Bonzini in that match up. The two teams that Jeff listed above are both deeper teams. Luxembourg will be tough, but at least they play on a table that we all feel pretty comfortable on for adjusting. The 2009 Belgium squad was significantly weaker than this year or last year. It is helpful that Frederico isn't going, but they are one of the best teams in the world whether he is attending or not. Tom Van De Cauter is one of the top Leonhart players in the world. He won doubles with Rico last year, and also won Leonhart Worlds Open Doubles with Andreas Esterbauer. Koen is hilarious... He is like the european version of Justin Shaw for his skill set on the tables. He likes to have fun and try new things, but he can do some ridiculous stuff. Carletta is of course excellent, but he is a Bonzini player and is stuck on Leonhart because thats what the team chose. That is helpful for us. Overall though the biggest difference between this year and 09 is that we were on Tornado back in 09, and almost all Euro players suck at Tornado. Fireball is a much easier adjustment for a Garlando, Roberto Sport, or Leonhart player. The way the ball rolls and the way that you can pin the ball on Fireball makes it much easier for them, as well as making us a less effective team because we aren't on Tornado. We have a good shot at getting out of our group and maybe even winning the group. |
| ||
|
USA has probably the toughest draw. Austria is really strong. Denmark is on Bonzini, well I'd be surprised if anyone but Ryan Moore can steal them the Bonzini games in that one - he's really strong on Bonzini, but still will be outmatched by several danish players on that table. Sven Wonsyld is one of the top european players on any table, he's even hired by one of the German clubs just to play in there league format. Trols Trier is a young kid coming up in the foosball world over the past few years, and he is phenominal. He plays a really powerful game on Bonzini which is almost unheard of. He shoots a roller and has a powerful fast hard rock when he is setting up, then explodes deep to either side. His 5 bar is incredible too, he does things that I didn't even know were possible on that table. He took 2nd in Open Singles at Bonzini worlds and 4th in Open Doubles - no US player has a chance against him on that table. Austria has several of the best Garlando players in the world. The US is strong on Garlando too, but there are a few players on Austria that could really mess with there plans to advance. The last team in that group is Iran.. They are on Fireball, so the US will beat them. The crazy thing is that Iran is so organized for Table Soccer that they will become one of the best teams in no time. For picking the national team, they invite 30 players to a 4 day training camp and have all sorts of drills and match scenario's they make people play out. Then they narrow it down to 12 players and invite them back for another camp where they make the final cuts. They have coaches and assistant coaches... its really intense. Abdollah Zolfaghari beat Tom Yore 3 strait on Fireball and then beat Sebastian Meckes (one of Frances best bonzini players) in 4 games last year, finishing tied for 9th after Rico beat him in the next round. Iran is really coming up strong in Foosball now. Of course in the end I'd be really suprised to see the US not qualify, but it sure looks like the ITSF made it as difficult as possible for them! |
The last post to this thread is more than 30 days old.