2014 FIFA World Cup

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

Despite being up two nil it still feels like the dutch are playing for a nil nil draw.

Compared to the first halves against Spain, Australia, Chile and Mexico, this has been an attacking Oranje. Main difference though is that Brazil can't defend, compared to the previous six opponents.

[Abe Sargent]

Dive Card? LOL!

[MIJB#19]

Heh, first legit penalty of the tournament (against Oranje) and instead the tackled player gets a yellow card.

[PilotMan]

The officiating in this game has been one of the worst of this entire WC.

[bhlloy]

Even FIFA doesn't give a shit about this game, that can be the only explanation for this ref

[bhlloy]

Rooting for the Dutch but it would be hilarious to see Robben get a second yellow for diving here

[PilotMan]

That last one would have been called (a penalty) over 50% of the time I'm guessing.

[Abe Sargent]

And then there was 3-0.

[PilotMan]

Great way to finish off the Brazilians.

[MIJB#19]

Awesome gesture of Van Gaal to also give Vorm a couple of minutes, all 23 players have been on the field this tournament.

[bhlloy]

Wonder if that means Cillesen is the first goalie to ever get substituted twice at a WC?

[MIJB#19]

Sweet, the worst referee gets a medal for his performance.

[SackAttack]

Congrats on the third place finish, Matthijs!

[Dutch]

Congrats on a great tourney, Matthijs. Good lookin squad, played very well.

Now time to root for Germany one more time.

[Abe Sargent]

One game left.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Rooting for the Dutch but it would be hilarious to see Robben get a second yellow for diving here

Robben just might have been the best performing and most consistent player I saw in the whole tournament. Apparently I'm not familiar enough with the international game to understand that he is an asshat. I gotta say I've become a fan.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

Robben just might have been the best performing and most consistent player I saw in the whole tournament. Apparently I'm not familiar enough with the international game to understand that he is an asshat. I gotta say I've become a fan.

I think it dates back from his years at Chelsea, not necessarily related to the club itself. He developed a tendency to drop to the grass without any clear reason (no foul) and follow up by dramatically rolling around. In recent years he toned down the cheating element of it, but is still frowned upon when he throws his arms up in the air to make things look a bit more dramatic.

[PilotMan]

He was certainly one of the most dangerous guys on the ball in the whole tournament. He played every bit as good as he did 4 years ago. When he got a touch or a good run it was time to get nervous if you weren't cheering for the Dutch.

[AlexB]

Was watching a recap of the 2010 WC and had forgotten that in the final Robben had the chance to legitimately go down after Puyol pulled him back. Wile outside the box, would have been a red card, but he kept on his feet and nothing was given at all. Would have changed the game...

He does do the sniper act a lot, but in all fairness rarely ever dives without some contact, and the criticism is more targeted towards the exaggeration than just for going down

[Peregrine]

I have to say I love the Google doodle for the WC final - shows all the teams flags and you can click on them and it will show in the jumbo screen even with a little crawl for links to different things for each team.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

You would have to say that in terms of technical ability, the Brazilians are probably in the bottom half of teams at this tournament. Outside of Neymar and maybe Oscar, just not much quality. So many terrible touches around midfield and balls given away in terrible areas have killed them the last two games.

Tim Vickery has been saying this for years and his credibility has shot up tenfold for me. They have spent too much time becoming bigger, stronger, faster and not enough time playing on the ball.

[whomario]

IMO there is no denying that the psycholical component was huge here. They absolutely self destructed against Germany (who, of course took advantage of this) and yesterdays game was basically useless for an analysis as it was crystal clear that they were in no state to play a good game mentally after that 1:7 and the early blunder yesterday.

Other than Oscar, no one knew what he was doing. They botched so many elementary things, you could make an instructional "how not to play the game" video out of it: They missed easy passes, went the wrong way in situations they´ve executed a thousand times over, stuff like that.

And then there was a guy like David Luiz who was basically doing his best crazy guy impersonation. Absolutely unfit to play mentally. He surely meant well and played his heart out, but over-motivated is putting it midly. He popped up in positions he had no business being in (even more so than usual, i mean ), tried crazy homerun-passes by the dozen, misjudged tacklings, went for the decicive interception all the time.

All that is not to say that the roster was all that good (it wasn´t) or that the tactics were up-to-date (they weren´t), only that it might have even worked without the loss of Silva/Neymar and/or had they managed to get the lead against Germany.

[whomario]

I am looking forward to tonight, a lot

The biggest sports event with a rooting interest i will witness as an adult. (i was 6 in 1990 and 12 in 1996, the latter i definitely remember very fondly)
And i am not even particularly "patriotic". It´s just that as a german soccer fan you followed the core of that team on their journey and they have earned my support with their play a dozen times over.
And there´s no denying there are positives behind some of the over-the-top nationalism and the annoying "yeah, yeah, yeah" type part-time fans: It is a joy to see the large majority of people who have immigrated here (or there parents or their parents) actively root for this team which quite simply is a mirror of what is the "new german" with guys from all sorts of backgrounds (Klose having a silesian/polish background, Özil turkish, Boateng and Khedira having african roots, you have guys from all parts of the country).

This just feels right. And i might even wander around with my viewing party afterwards and hug a few strangers, if we win this thing. I am not generally a "we" guy, but this time i might just be one

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by whomario

I am looking forward to tonight, a lot

The biggest sports event with a rooting interest i will witness as an adult. (i was 6 in 1990 and 12 in 1996, the latter i definitely remember very fondly)
And i am not even particularly "patriotic". It´s just that as a german soccer fan you followed the core of that team on their journey and they have earned my support with their play a dozen times over.
And there´s no denying there are positives behind some of the over-the-top nationalism and the annoying "yeah, yeah, yeah" type part-time fans: It is a joy to see the large majority of people who have immigrated here (or there parents or their parents) actively root for this team which quite simply is a mirror of what is the "new german" with guys from all sorts of backgrounds (Klose having a silesian/polish background, Özil turkish, Boateng and Khedira having african roots, you have guys from all parts of the country).

This just feels right. And i might even wander around with my viewing party afterwards and hug a few strangers, if we win this thing. I am not generally a "we" guy, but this time i might just be one

I am heading down to the Fritz- Walter Stadium for the public viewing. Should really be a lot of fun. Well unless the Germans lose of course.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Should've been a red. Unreal.

Should've been a Red, but it was outside the box. It's rare a referee manages to blow the same call twice, let alone in the first two minutes! Let's hope today's game is better reffed, although knowing FIFA they'll probably bring a head ref in from Qatar in the name of diversity. (As an aside, same thing is happening at the Lacrosse World Championships - every good team and thus all the good refs are from North America, but "to avoid the appearance of impropriety" the governing body won't let any refs from the US or Canada ref their games or the ones vs. the Iroqouis, so you end up with refs who can't handle the speed reffing the most important games.)

Originally Posted by bhlloy

You would have to say that in terms of technical ability, the Brazilians are probably in the bottom half of teams at this tournament. Outside of Neymar and maybe Oscar, just not much quality. So many terrible touches around midfield and balls given away in terrible areas have killed them the last two games.

That kind of supports my point about US youth development. People can argue all they want about what's wrong with US soccer, but there isn't some formula to develop Neymar's (or Messi's, or Ronaldo's, or James's), or else these countries would have a dozen of them. You throw the net wide enough, and you develop your hardworking players who will comprise the bulk of your roster, and then just hope a transcendent player falls into your lap.

Honestly, take away Neymar and Oscar, and would you trade the USA's forwards/midfielders for Brasil's? (Weirdly, I do still rate Brasil's defenders higher than the US's individually, I just think it was coaching and mental as a group. You give them a Tim Howard or Brad Guzan in goal who is holding them accountable and they wouldn't have fallen apart like that.)

[Abe Sargent]

Let's go Argentina!

[Abe Sargent]

THAT was a close miss.

[cartman]

What a choke by Higuain!

[kingfc22]

Pathetic. At least force a save.

[kingfc22]

Very soft yellow.

[sterlingice]

Seems like a really weak yellow. Maybe it's just me but I can't seem to discern between regular foul and carding foul at all. I know how I would see it but the refs in the World Series seem to feel differently

SI

[Abe Sargent]

GOAL!!!


NOPE.....

[kingfc22]

Another example of FIFA's lack of concussion protocol. No way Kramer should have gone back in after that shot he took earlier.

[bhlloy]

No reason for higuain to be offside there. Just shocking lack of awareness he's even looking right now the line

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Seems like a really weak yellow. Maybe it's just me but I can't seem to discern between regular foul and carding foul at all. I know how I would see it but the refs in the World Series seem to feel differently

SI

That's a card right there.

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

That's a card right there.

That foul. Certainly. Could make a good case for a red as well.

[cartman]

After seeing the replay, lucky he didn't get a red. That foot hit really high on his leg.

[cartman]

Great save by the Argentine keeper there

[Abe Sargent]

Well things are looking up for both clubs here late

[cartman]

Almost a magical goal there by Messi

[sterlingice]

That, on the other hand, would be a yellow for me since it seems like the German did a retaliatory shove

SI

[Abe Sargent]

Another close one there by Germany

[Abe Sargent]

GERMANY.....nope....offsides. DANG

[bhlloy]

Would have counted. What a miss

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

Another example of FIFA's lack of concussion protocol. No way Kramer should have gone back in after that shot he took earlier.

Again, how do you force players to have potentially lengthy treatment without leaving the injured player's team down a man?

Most managers will throw the player back on and watch them for a few minutes to make sure they are OK. You can't afford to be down to 10 men in a big game.

[Abe Sargent]

Fast start for Argentina. even withteh miss

[cartman]

So close there by Messi

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by cartman

So close there by Messi

You mean....Miss-i? Get it?

[cartman]

How on earth was that a foul by Higuain? The goalie cleaned his clock.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

You mean....Miss-i? Get it?

Stop Messing around