2014 FIFA World Cup

[sterlingice]

Germany just seemed like the best team so it's good to see the win

SI

[bhlloy]

I don't know about that SI. With better finishing it easily could have been 2-2 in regular time. I thought that was a great final.

[Abe Sargent]

I really enjoyed teh shit out of this WC. Maybe the best one I can remember watching. Thanks FOFC for watching ti with me!

[ColtCrazy]

Sensational goal. Way to go Germany. Terrific cup run.

[Dutch]

And let's not forget...in that Group of Death...

Germany 1, USA 0

Not bad looking back at that now.

[bhlloy]

Easily the best WC in living memory for me. Two truly historical games and very few snoozefests

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by Dutch

And let's not forget...in that Group of Death...

Germany 1, USA 0

Not bad looking back at that now.

Was thinking the same thing. US has to hang their hat on that.

[BYU 14]

An incredible world cup, lot's of drama, some spectacular moments and a great showing for the US as well, think this is something USA soccer can build on with the potential they have in the system.

So many near goals in this final as well, as intense a 1-0 match as you will see.

[BYU 14]

And I know it will never happen, but I would love the NFL to take note and cram their commercials in at halftime and between quarters and just let the teams play 15 minutes straight, especially in the Superbowl. The flow of games would be so much better.

This is one thing Soccer definitely does right.

[cartman]

Awesome, awesome month of futbol.

[SirFozzie]

So.. five weeks till the EPL starts *sighs*

(At least I have J-League on One world Sports and re-runs to tide me over)

[ColtCrazy]

Time for the WAGs to come out.

[ColtCrazy]

Messi wants to be about anywhere else but on the pitch right now. Can't blame him. Would have to be tough to have to stand out there so long after losing the final.

[cartman]

I halfway expected Schwensteiger to get knocked down climbing up the stairs. Would have matched what happened to him on the field

[Galaxy]

I like the strategically placed Emirates Airlines' flight attendants. Must of cost a pretty penny for that marketing tactic.

[Ryan S]

Much like the BBC pundits, I think that James Rodriguez should have won the Golden Ball. I think that a few players would rank ahead of Messi.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

And I know it will never happen, but I would love the NFL to take note and cram their commercials in at halftime and between quarters and just let the teams play 15 minutes straight, especially in the Superbowl. The flow of games would be so much better.

This is one thing Soccer definitely does right.

I wish. Commercialism is just too oversaturated in NFL football.

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

It *USED* to be that if any knockout game was tied after ninety minutes, they replayed it 3-7 days later. Sometimes it got ridiculous, for example, in 1971, Alvechurch and Oxford City had to play each other SIX times to get a winner ( 22 November 1971: The longest-ever FA Cup tie finally finishes | Sport | The Guardian )

There's never been a rule for "unlimited OT", it's always been Extra Time, then replay or PKs

Most famous player to graduate from Alvechurch to the big leagues? Also happens to be my childhood idol...

[Butter]

Teams just put 3-4 guys on Messi as we got into the knockout stages and refused to let him play through. But even when he did get time on the ball, he was underwhelming. Especially on that last minute free kick from 30 yards out. Agreed that going for goal was selfish there. But I think the real goat has to be Higuain. Offsides on 1 goal, completely narfed another.

Congrats, Germany. I'm kinda tired of you though. Go away for a while if you don't mind now.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Congrats, Germany. I'm kinda tired of you though. Go away for a while if you don't mind now.

FWIW, that's not really congratulating them.

[whomario]

Wow

seriously, this was a great game. Argentina with IMO their best half of the tournament. They took the game to germany for the first 55 minutes (and it was not like the german team was terrible), but then this german team took over the game and showed amazing mental toughness. Loosing a key player (kudos to Khedira for the sensibility to acknowledge he could not perform and miss the final that way instead of a futile attempt to play through it) minutes before the game, then having the replacement Kramer (who played a great game, too) knocked senseless and having to go out was allready a blow. Then Argentina delivered their best shot, they took it (with a bit of luck) and just continued to work their asses off.
They played for the win all game long, rather than trying to avoid the knockout. They were the team that wanted to have the ball and create chances, they moved the defense high up the pitch and tried the risky plays. A lot of gutsy individual performances and a few plain world class ones.

Just going to touch on a few of them here and now ...


Klose ! What can i say ? Great to see my favourite player get the cup today. Might have been his last NT game (but who knows ? ) and while he did not get past the argentine defense much, his own defensive efforts were once more outstanding for a striker. It´s got to be inspiring to see the oldest player work so hard and go those long distances back into the own half. Also, the way the grand stars on the podium embraced him, you can see how big his reputation is. Might not be the obvious star for fans, but for his peers and the legends, he is obviously one of them.

Neuer has got to be in the conversation for the best GK in history at some point. His ability to read plays and ability on the ball in addition to amazing core GK skills is unparalleled i think.

Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels were great at the back. Yeah, a few problems of course, but this was a WC final against guys like Messi, Higuain and Aguero.

Höwedes really, really played his heart out. Not really equipped to play the position, but got better as the torunament went on and his effort level was outstanding throughout.

Schweinsteiger was the leader of this bunch, played an outstanding final. Great defensively, always available for passes, lots of decisive runs.

Müller played his heart out again, even if he did not have the touch today. You can always use a guy like that, even on his worst day.

Götze with an absolutely magical goal. He lost a lot of credit in the last 2 years for me, but today he showed what once made a lot of people think he might be the next great mega star. He has amazing abilities, just needs to get his head into it a bit more in the future.

Also happy for a guy like Mertesacker who accepted his demotion with uncommon grace. Again, one of those guys you want in your corner.

[Abe Sargent]

I like Messi a lot,but that is an award to an overhyped player who in no way shape or form deserved it.

[rowech]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

I like Messi a lot,but that is an award to an overhyped player who in no way shape or form deserved it.

While I don't disagree -- is Argentina in the final without him? Rodriguez or Muller were more deserving though for sure.

[ISiddiqui]

So many close chances in the final! I was rooting for Argentina and there seemed to be so many times I was on my feet! Congrats to Germany though - spectacular last ET goal!

And maybe, hopefully, this game will put an end to the whole American (mostly) critique of 0-0 matches. This was a ridiculously entertaining match without any goals until in the 2nd ET.

[bbor]

1st of all so happy Germany won.....but even more happy that is was a strong game and was in doubt for so long.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

And maybe, hopefully, this game will put an end to the whole American (mostly) critique of 0-0 matches.

You do realize that ain't gonna happen, right?

After the U.S. - Belgium match I saw as many (or more) complaints on my FB about the fact that there weren't more goals scored prior to overtime than I did comments about Howard.

If that happened then today ain't gonna fix it.

[ISiddiqui]

On that score (no pun intended), I wonder if it was more carping about missing a great chance right before full time ended.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

On that score (no pun intended), I wonder if it was more carping about missing a great chance right before full time ended.

Trust me, that wasn't it.

Even I was flabbergasted that people could bitch in that situation but they did. Loudly, with great derision. Trust me, today isn't going to change that.

Then again there are people who complain that a scoreless duel between, say, Maddux & Clemens is boring instead of art. {shrug} It is what it is.

[ISiddiqui]

That much is true (to your later point).

Though I wonder how much also may be people who didn't see the game.

Or (and I'm going to get in trouble for this).. women .

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

That much is true (to your later point).
Though I wonder how much also may be people who didn't see the game.
Or (and I'm going to get in trouble for this).. women .

In all seriousness, it was -- to a man -- college football fans.
Hell, even a golf fan got in on the act.

[ISiddiqui]

Oh, college football fans are the WORST! The most virulently anti-soccer people of any other fan base.

Though they may have been trying to appreciate soccer (I am being judgy, true )

I find that baseball fans tend to have the most understanding of a exciting low scoring game.

[vex]

FOFC Bracket, congrats whomario!

ESPN - Bracket Predictor

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

I like Messi a lot,but that is an award to an overhyped player who in no way shape or form deserved it.

He definitely didn't deserve it. Rodriguez (gets dinged for not making it deep into the knockout rounds, fair or not), Mascherano or Lahm would have been much better picks.

That being said, I'm not buying that he's particularly overhyped either. He's one of the best players ever in a given system - and when he's asked to play outside of that system for 10-15 games a year max, he's not quite as good. But how many times did he make a great touch or an intelligent pass that his teammates either didn't read or completely fucked up, even today? Off the top of my head, the through ball to Aguero where he slipped and the brilliant little flick to set up the ball for Higuain's offside goal, and there were more I'm sure. When you get to the knockout rounds of the world cup, one player just can't carry a team no matter how good they are. Ronaldo played one good ball in three group stages and guys like Ibrahimovic couldn't even get their team there.

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

He definitely didn't deserve it. Rodriguez (gets dinged for not making it deep into the knockout rounds, fair or not), Mascherano or Lahm would have been much better picks.

That being said, I'm not buying that he's particularly overhyped either. He's one of the best players ever in a given system - and when he's asked to play outside of that system for 10-15 games a year max, he's not quite as good. But how many times did he make a great touch or an intelligent pass that his teammates either didn't read or completely fucked up, even today? Off the top of my head, the through ball to Aguero where he slipped and the brilliant little flick to set up the ball for Higuain's offside goal, and there were more I'm sure. When you get to the knockout rounds of the world cup, one player just can't carry a team no matter how good they are. Ronaldo played one good ball in three group stages and guys like Ibrahimovic couldn't even get their team there.

I meant overhyped in the context of the World Cup. Since, you know, that's what the conversation/thread is about Not overhyped in club play or Champions play or anything.

But I didn;t specify what I meant. I thought it was obvious, but obviously, it wasn;t. Sorry about my lack of good communication skills there

[Peregrine]

Really think this is all you need to see about Messi's mood after the game. Never seen a better picture of "alone in a crowd."

[Arles]

Originally Posted by vex

FOFC Bracket, congrats whomario!

ESPN - Bracket Predictor

Should have entered mine in (129 ):
ESPN - Bracket Predictor - Grey Dog Picks: Who will rise on soccer’...

Was a great World Cup - sad to have to wait another four years

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Trust me, that wasn't it.

Even I was flabbergasted that people could bitch in that situation but they did. Loudly, with great derision. Trust me, today isn't going to change that.

Then again there are people who complain that a scoreless duel between, say, Maddux & Clemens is boring instead of art. {shrug} It is what it is.

Maybe soccer just needs to get some better announcers

Wrestling Legend "J.R." Jim Ross Calling The Brazil-Germany Highlights

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Ryan S

Much like the BBC pundits, I think that James Rodriguez should have won the Golden Ball. I think that a few players would rank ahead of Messi.

According to FIFA's own WC2014 website, Messi was the 11th best player in the tournament, with the top ten being Toni Kroos, Arjen Robben, Stefan de Vrij, Mats Hummels, Thomas Müller, Karim Benzema, Oscar, Tiago Silva, Marcos Rojo and Ron Vlaar (in that particular order). Fwiw, James Rodriguez ranks 15th and Manuel Neuer 17th.

[Critch]

I'm surprised they didnt give it to Neymar.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

So.. five weeks till the EPL starts *sighs*

(At least I have J-League on One world Sports and re-runs to tide me over)

Well there is the 2nd round of the African Nations Cup qualifiers this weekend if you are still in the mood for international football

Originally Posted by whomario

Wow

seriously, this was a great game. Argentina with IMO their best half of the tournament. They took the game to germany for the first 55 minutes (and it was not like the german team was terrible), but then this german team took over the game and showed amazing mental toughness. Loosing a key player (kudos to Khedira for the sensibility to acknowledge he could not perform and miss the final that way instead of a futile attempt to play through it) minutes before the game, then having the replacement Kramer (who played a great game, too) knocked senseless and having to go out was allready a blow. Then Argentina delivered their best shot, they took it (with a bit of luck) and just continued to work their asses off.
They played for the win all game long, rather than trying to avoid the knockout. They were the team that wanted to have the ball and create chances, they moved the defense high up the pitch and tried the risky plays. A lot of gutsy individual performances and a few plain world class ones.

Just going to touch on a few of them here and now ...


Klose ! What can i say ? Great to see my favourite player get the cup today. Might have been his last NT game (but who knows ? ) and while he did not get past the argentine defense much, his own defensive efforts were once more outstanding for a striker. It´s got to be inspiring to see the oldest player work so hard and go those long distances back into the own half. Also, the way the grand stars on the podium embraced him, you can see how big his reputation is. Might not be the obvious star for fans, but for his peers and the legends, he is obviously one of them.

Neuer has got to be in the conversation for the best GK in history at some point. His ability to read plays and ability on the ball in addition to amazing core GK skills is unparalleled i think.

Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels were great at the back. Yeah, a few problems of course, but this was a WC final against guys like Messi, Higuain and Aguero.

Höwedes really, really played his heart out. Not really equipped to play the position, but got better as the torunament went on and his effort level was outstanding throughout.

Schweinsteiger was the leader of this bunch, played an outstanding final. Great defensively, always available for passes, lots of decisive runs.

Müller played his heart out again, even if he did not have the touch today. You can always use a guy like that, even on his worst day.

Götze with an absolutely magical goal. He lost a lot of credit in the last 2 years for me, but today he showed what once made a lot of people think he might be the next great mega star. He has amazing abilities, just needs to get his head into it a bit more in the future.

Also happy for a guy like Mertesacker who accepted his demotion with uncommon grace. Again, one of those guys you want in your corner.

What the hell were you doing posting at this time in the AM? You were supposed to be outside celebrating with the rest of the country

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

And I know it will never happen, but I would love the NFL to take note and cram their commercials in at halftime and between quarters and just let the teams play 15 minutes straight, especially in the Superbowl. The flow of games would be so much better.

It's also one way to improve the fan experience at the game - get rid of the TV timeouts.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

So.. five weeks till the EPL starts *sighs*

(At least I have J-League on One world Sports and re-runs to tide me over)

Railhawks hosted an NASL league game Saturday, and MLS is going. Plenty of soccer to support.

[rowech]

Kindle version of "Inverting the Pyramid" on sale for 3 bucks today.

Amazon.com: Inverting The Pyramid: The History of Soccer Tactics eBook: Jonathan Wilson: Kindle Store

[ISiddiqui]

Dammit. I just bought it for $10 a few weeks ago.

[flere-imsaho]

If you guys like the book, the writer, Jonathan Wilson, edits his own quarterly e-zine, called The Blizzard, which features excellent writing from a whole bunch of football journalists and is (basically) pay-what-you-want. Highly recommended.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

What the hell were you doing posting at this time in the AM? You were supposed to be outside celebrating with the rest of the country

went out afterwards, just waited on some more friends to meet up with

Must say that i am not one for these sort of things though (like watching with thousands of drunken strangers), so we went to our usual watering hole to take it in with at least a few faces we knew. Memorable experience nevertheless

Will post a more detailed post later on my top11 and statistical stuff, here just 1 more tidbit: Manuel Neuer had more successfull passes than Linonel Messi and he connected on over 82% of his passes. And if you saw even one game of him, you know that he is not doing all that many 5 yard passes to the centerbacks. For a GK playing the way he does, that number is beyond insane.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by whomario

Will post a more detailed post later on my top11 and statistical stuff, here just 1 more tidbit: Manuel Neuer had more successfull passes than Linonel Messi and he connected on over 82% of his passes. And if you saw even one game of him, you know that he is not doing all that many 5 yard passes to the centerbacks. For a GK playing the way he does, that number is beyond insane.

Without any disrespect to Neuer, comparing him to 2014 Messi will do Neuer a bit of a disservice. It's sad to see how invisible Messi was in games not played against Nigeria.

Aside from Neuer, I think there were quite some goalkeepers that shined, some even breaking through. Ochoa and Howard had their moments for Mexico and the USA, while all of the quarterfinalists had a goalkeeper with a couple of crucial clean sheets.

[Katon]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

Without any disrespect to Neuer, comparing him to 2014 Messi will do Neuer a bit of a disservice. It's sad to see how invisible Messi was in games not played against Nigeria.

. . . and apart from matchwinning moments against Iran, Bosnia, and Switzerland (though he wasn't great for most of those matches), and apart from being one of the best players on the pitch against Belgium.

Messi had a fine tournament up through the quarterfinals, and would've been a plausible Golden Ball candidate if the tournament stopped there, it's just that Germany and the Netherlands shut him down completely. Di Maria going down really hurt because none of the other Argentine attackers did anything to draw attention whatsoever.

[flere-imsaho]

Let's be clear, though, part of the reason Germany and Holland shut Messi down is because no one else on the team posed much of a threat, so they had the luxury to focus on him. Holland even man-marked him, for goodness sake.

[ISiddiqui]

In hindsight, Sabella's issues with Carlos Tevez may very much have cost Argentina a World Cup.