Worlds 04 Preview
Leonardo2
--Tony
------
The Open Division
Nothing looks so exciting to watch as this year's competition for the
Open division. The word across the board this year is parity and the
unique format of an international Ultimate tournament such as Worlds
may make all the difference. It could very well depend on when a
favorite loses, not if a favorite loses.
And who is the favorite here? There is no odds-on bet. The United
States has traditionally dominated Worlds, both club and country, but
the continued strength of the Vancouver team now representing Canada
cannot be overlooked.
Canada won Worlds in 1998 and the World Games in 2001. Behind a tall
and versatile lineup with speed and conditioning, the angry monkey has
incentive to perform well after being underseeded at number three.
When was the last time Furious players lost a major tournament? 2002
Club Worlds in Hawaii is their only such defeat in recent memory.
They've won almost everything since. This is going to be a very strong
team indeed and in the right frame of mind.
Finland is going to have something to play for by representing their
country and their friends and neighbors in Turku. But they have a
scheduling problem: they open against Australia Saturday night and the
Dingos are in a zone. Having just cruised through the top teams in
America and beating all of them (remember, the U.S. teams are not in
season right now), the Aussies are going to be mighty comfortable on
the pitch. Expect them to be in a flow right away while Finland will
have to work out kinks. Australia might be able to pull ahead early by
a decent margin before Finland recovers in the second half. Then
things will get exciting indeed. Just know that this showcase game is
going to depend on unknown factors.
Is there a weak pool? Great Britain's pool certainly does not promise
the potential of the others. The U.K. will indeed be very strong but
Denmark comes in as a fifth seed without great success on the
international scene. They are excited and may be peaking at the right
time, by they are not as strong as Australia, Finland and Sweden in
the other pools, and Great Britain is not as powerful as USA and
Canada.
For this reason, expect the Japanese to mix up the Open B pool. The
Buzz Bullets were the best non-North American team at Club Worlds 2002
in Hawaii but that was practically a home tournament for them. Japan
finished in the middle of the pack in 2000. Could this be a
break-through year for them?
The big question is the USA. They haven't been able to beat Furious at
the UPA Championships in the last two years, but that doesn't mean
they can't win any given game with the Canadians. What may be a
problem for top-seeded team USA is that they are two years past their
prime when they won Worlds 2002. These guys have won every tournament
on the books -- from College Nationals to Club Nationals to Club
Worlds to Paganello, Kaimana and every American tournament that
exists. Why do they need to prove themselves? The key for this team
will be the young guns and the new blood. These new players need to
show that they can bring the spirit, heart and intensity to this team.
Can the Condors fight to represent the USA? Will they believe in the
spirit and unity of America? Or will they play as the Condors,
representing Santa Barbara? Will they play like smug and cocky George
Bush imperialists, or idealistic and intensely patriotic John Kerry
multi-lateralists? I'll let you the spectator figure that out.
Sweden and Finland are always in the mix. Sweden especially owes some
revenge victories. They want Worlds very badly. Sweden's 1992 Gold was
tarnished because USA did not send the defending New York, New York
champions due to travel costs. Instead the U.S. recruited a team of
Masters players, a few pickups, and a stuffed teddy bear to represent
America on the field. Sweden lost to USA 19-18 in the finals of Worlds
2000 in Heilbronn. They lost the bronze medal game 17-16 to the
Condors in St. Andrews in 1999. If Sweden can avoid Canada and get a
match against USA, you can expect another game down to the wire.
It has been four years since these countries have come together to
play against each other. The teams are different, the players not the
same, but all of the old feelings of Worlds will be back. Play for
heart, play for spirit and the love of the game, but remember this is
about winning gold not for yourself but for your countrymen. Welcome
to the best Ultimate competition in the World!
3Lions
2. Australia
3. Sweden
After years of bullshit calls at crucial points, karma catches up with the
USA and they finish out of the medals.
Canada seeded 3??? They've dominated every tourney for the last 2 years and
are even stronger after a couple of great pickups. Every one else is playing
for second.
"Leonardo2" <mrtonyl...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:c9efff12.04073...@posting.google.com...
: yo, games start soon. here is an open preview
jthib
Word.
seanc
representing Santa Barbara? Will they play like smug and cocky George
Bush imperialists"
as a non-condor resident of santa barbara, i'd just like to point out
my unease at being connected to george bush in any way, even if only
by proximity as in the above quote...
aside from that, very glad to have our man tony on the beat -- give us
regular updates, eh?
i'd like to think the 'dors can do it; i like their new young talent.
lots of athleticism and good spirit. both young and old(er) certainly
trained like they want it. as far as bad karma is concerned,
in spite of what 3 lions says, i thought great spirit was shown on both
sides of the disc in last year's upa championship game.
it was fun following the dingos' romp through the u.s. they certainly
showed they can keep up with the best. tony, you point out that
the u.s. teams were off season, but the aussies still managed to
come pretty close against furious, didn't they?
i'll predict with my heart:
1. condors
2. furious
3. dingos
let's hear it for multi-lateralism and improved foreign relations!
kelly green forever,
seanc
mrtonyl...@yahoo.com (Leonardo2) wrote in message news:<c9efff12.04073...@posting.google.com>...
> yo, games start soon. here is an open preview
>
> --Tony
>
> ------
>
> The Open Division
>
> Nothing looks so exciting to watch as this year's competition for the
> Open division. The word across the board this year is parity and the
> unique format of an international Ultimate tournament such as Worlds
> may make all the difference. It could very well depend on when a
> favorite loses, not if a favorite loses.
>
> And who is the favorite here? There is no odds-on bet. The United
> States has traditionally dominated Worlds, both club and country, but
> the continued strength of the Vancouver team now representing Canada
> cannot be overlooked.
>
> The big question is the USA. They haven't been able to beat Furious at
> the UPA Championships in the last two years, but that doesn't mean
> they can't win any given game with the Canadians. What may be a
> problem for top-seeded team USA is that they are two years past their
> prime when they won Worlds 2002. These guys have won every tournament
> on the books -- from College Nationals to Club Nationals to Club
> Worlds to Paganello, Kaimana and every American tournament that
> exists. Why do they need to prove themselves? The key for this team
> will be the young guns and the new blood. These new players need to
> show that they can bring the spirit, heart and intensity to this team.
> Can the Condors fight to represent the USA? Will they believe in the
> spirit and unity of America? Or will they play as the Condors,
> representing Santa Barbara? Will they play like smug and cocky George
> Bush imperialists, or idealistic and intensely patriotic John Kerry
> multi-lateralists? I'll let you the spectator figure that out.
>
Jens Achenbach
from there loss, no doubt...they played a Dingo squad which had a
great preparation, touring the States....but a day or two into the
tourney this advantage will become irrelevant for all the teams will
have shaken off the rust....
I do expect Furious to win it all. They have the confidence, the
experience and the players to go all the way...Condors aka USA a close
second....3rd spot will be a battle between GB, Australia, Finland and
Sweden...
Expect a lot of close games...a bad game on any given day might spoil
a teams way to the top!!!
Exciting!!!!
Jens (#71 German Open 2000)
Leonardo2
Scoober"
http://www.wugc2004.org/schedules/results_new/en_GB/women/
No big games yet...except maybe USA women over Sweden 15-12, and the
opening round Australia win over Finland in open.
Junior boys has some interesting reuslts... Canada absolutely crushed
FInland and Finland is usually pretty strong in Juniors. And Germany
defeated Sweden and Sweden has won junior Worlds quite often.
Fadi
be a lot closer. It could be considered an upset based on last year's UPA
championships.
"Leonardo2" <mrtonyl...@yahoo.com> a écrit dans le message de
news:c9efff12.04080...@posting.google.com...
Porter / ODB
I was in Cape Town a few years ago, I got to take part in one of the
development clinics that the South African team was running for these
kids. It was a great time, and the kids really seemed to love the
game. Its great that they all stuck with it and that people kept
working with these kids and were able to find funding to send these
them to Worlds. Most of these kids were from an extremely
impoverished area, and the fact that they are able to be at world is a
triumph in itself Best of luck to them, and congrats to Ryan, Justin,
Andrew (these names seem right, it's been a while) and all others
involved with this. It great to see Ultimate developing in this area
of the world.
Porter.ODB
HHH/DooM/FF7
mrtonyl...@yahoo.com (Leonardo2) wrote in message news:<c9efff12.04080...@posting.google.com>...
Leonardo2
the SA juniors team to come to Turku. They may be dong the same with
some of the Baltic teams (Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania).
basically, nearly EVERY team that is attending Worlds had to raise
cash. Canada Masters got sponsorship from Adidas, Labbatts, a local
sporting goods store. Prime had a fund-raising tournament. Condors
have been raising money for awhile. Australia, man, they've got pricey
airline tickets to find the moolah for!
mcpo...@syr.edu (Porter / ODB) wrote in message news:<e38c6b58.04080...@posting.google.com>...
Jonathan Gewirtz
> it was fun following the dingos' romp through the u.s. they certainly
> showed they can keep up with the best. tony, you point out that
> the u.s. teams were off season, but the aussies still managed to
> come pretty close against furious, didn't they?
>
Indeed it was fun following the Dingos through the States. Having put
up 10 of em in Seattle, I can tell you, I learned the Aussie meaning
of a "quiet beer". Kudos to the Aussies who played well and are still
playing well in Finland (despite the bump in the road against the
Condors). They played well and hard against Furious during the Pac NW
portion of the tour, but they will be the 1st to tell you that FG was
not near full strength. Kirk's wedding was the night before the
tourney and the effects were obvious. Andrew Lugsdin, Mark Roberts
were there but did not play due to injuries. Mike Grant played in his
first game since dislocating his elbow. He played lefty. Evan Wood,
Mike Enns, Kirk Savage, John Frame and a few others were missing.
That said, they can keep up with the best and if they can keep
unforced throwing errors to a minimum, they'll upset a top seed on
their way to the semis. Tom Rogacki simply does things on the field
that I've never seen. He makes up ground unlike anybody. Very good
field instincts and throws too....I hope he doesn't run out of gas
though because the Dingos ride him pretty hard. As they should...
JG
Tom Brennan
couple of key players to the US Tour, so it looks like they're going to
rest people to try and have certain players available for key games. It
will be interesting to see if that works.
cheers
Tom