2014 FIFA World Cup

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by bulletsponge

thats the kind of insightful analysis i expect from ESPN caliber commentators

You make me sad.

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

Awesome start to the tournament, but six more games go.
That sums up the overall sentiment in the Netherlands.

For the tournament it wasn't all that great that both sides scored a goal that never should have been. I'm willing to believe the best referees of the world are all here, which emphasizes how much in need they are of good technological assistance.

You write very coherently for someone who, by all rights, should be very drunk at this point.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

You write very coherently for someone who, by all rights, should be very drunk at this point.

Well, it was supposed to be in Dutch for an Oranje board.

HE'S WASTED

[Karlifornia]

I'm all in for England tomorrow. First game in the jungle. Also, an interesting contrast of styles between Colombia and Greece

[Abe Sargent]

whatever happened to Sebastián Zúñiga? He was as highly touted as Alexis Sanchez, and then....not. Now he's playing football in the 2nd division of Chile.

[DaddyTorgo]

So umm...Buffon > Casillas??

He looked BADDDD today. Straight bad. He may still be the best Spanish GK but given that he wasn't really playing all year I think you can legitimately question why he's starting.

Probably the worst game of his entire career, so really it's not fair to dump him out of the Pantheon of "Top GKs" on just this game alone, but yeah...I wouldn't feel too confident with him back there right now.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

I'm all in for England tomorrow. First game in the jungle. Also, an interesting contrast of styles between Colombia and Greece

Pitch is gonna be shit. Hopefully it doesn't ruin the game.

[DaddyTorgo]

Said to my brother, but will repeat here.

I dunno if the Dutch can last deep into the tournament given the respective ages of their skill players (Robb, Sneij, RVP), but if those guys are on (or 2/3 of them are on) that team can beat anybody on their day.

I was skeptical of the Dutch defense being so untested coming into the tournament, and given they weren't really tested much today so it's tough to tell if that'll be an issue or not against other squads.

I thought the Dutch did a great job controlling the game, never let Spain get into their rhythm and dictate play and start moving the ball around quickly. Much like Brazil yesterday, Spain just didn't seem "up for the match."

[DaddyTorgo]

What's the logic behind ESPN using Mexican commentators for the Mexico game's US broadcast?

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

What's the logic behind ESPN using Mexican commentators for the Mexico game's US broadcast?

A lot of Mexican-Americans that grew up with both cultures...speak mostly English but grew up rooting for El Tri. Maybe they hope some of those fans switch from Univision. I would assume that anyway.

Also, neither are Mexican. One is Salvadoran, and the other is Venezuelan.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

A lot of Mexican-Americans that grew up with both cultures...speak mostly English but grew up rooting for El Tri. Maybe they hope some of those fans switch from Univision. I would assume that anyway.

Also, neither are Mexican. One is Salvadoran, and the other is Venezuelan.

Fair enough. They certainly seemed...partisan enough to be Mexican though.

[ISiddiqui]

I'm pretty sure we're going to have pro-American soccer comments made by the commentators for the US game. I think it's relatively fair that Mexico, which accounts for the homeland for a ton of soccer fans in this county (far more than any other country other than the US - and judging by ratings for Univision to ESPN, maybe more?) should be afforded the same.

[Icy]

Terrible game from Spain, Netherlands played as expected, 5 defences and aggressive in the midfield to hit Spain in the counter and it played perfectly.

The problem with Spain is that the coach is too stubborn and passive, he inherited a great team that won the Euro cup based on Barcelona players and style, made little changes and was more of a sports psychologist than real coach for the last 6 years to keep the old team glued. Then as Barcelona falls down, the national team does too.

The problem is when those players got older, Xavi for example that can't play a full game, Xavi Alonso played better, but is also getting old.

Then the forwards, Costa is strong, good with the head and really combative to become a good different option but not a top forward imho and not very different of the player he left at home on Llorente that had a nice season in Italy. Then he insisted in bringing in Torres who has not done anything for a while.

Casillas is another sample, has not played the whole year in the league, he did in the champions, but he has been the backup of Real Madrid (underserved imho) and needs match fitness and specially self confidence that he lacks right now being a backup.

Del Bosque promised when he become the national coach that he won't ever bring in a backup to the team, but then he did the exception for Casillas because he was the captain... and look how it went.

For the coach and based on his hints, this world cup was more of a "price" for the old players that won the 3 titles before, but hey, we can clap them for what they did, but if they are not hungry anymore, are too old, tired and out of shape, then bring in younger players that are both present and future.

Now being positive in this hard moment, we also started losing vs Suiza past WC and ended winning it, but we didn't lose on an embarrassing way that time as we did now that has probably devastated their moral. Either the players will rebound to recover their pride or will just go home fast as we used to do in the past. Let's hope the sport psychologist Del Bosque can give them the magical team talk (like in FM) because i don't think he is going to do much more in terms of lineups changes.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Icy

For the coach and based on his hints, this world cup was more of a "price" for the old players that won the 3 titles before, but hey, we can clap them for what they did, but if they are not hungry anymore, are too old, tired and out of shape, then bring in younger players that are both present and future.

Going into this tournament, with Barcelona's start of the downfall, it crossed my mind that Spain could have a similar campaign as France did in 2002 and Italy in 2010. Although I didn't expect it. Over here everybody was just hoping for a 0-0 draw against arguably the most successful bunch of players in (national teams) soccer history.

And as you pointed out, it's just one game. With two wins, Spain is still likely to get into the second round. The only scenario where that would fail is if Netherlands beats Australia and Chile beats the Netherlands.

[MIJB#19]

From FIFA.com's match report:

Originally Posted by FIFA.com

After more Seleção pressure in the second-half, the hosts went ahead. The ball was played into the box towards Fred, who tried to swivel to hit it towards goal. He was impeded by Lovren and the referee pointed to the spot. Neymar stepped up, delayed his run-up, and hit hard to Pletikosa’s right-hand side. Croatia’s No1 got a hand to it, but could not stop it putting Brazil ahead.

From FIFA.com's match report:

Originally Posted by FIFA.com

Spain did go ahead on 27 minutes though. Following a neat passing move, Costa cut inside Stefan de Vrij and was tripped. The referee pointed to the spot and Xabi Alonso’s low, firm penalty found the bottom corner.

It's bad enough the referees made those mistakes (and I think you can't really blame them personally), but FIFA deliberately omits what really happened and writes their own version of history.

[AlexB]

I dunno, personally I think the Spanish one was a pen. Think most would be miffed if your team didn't get that decision. Agree on the Brazil one though, soft at best.

You won 5-1, let the penalty decision go!

[tucker rocky]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

I adore how great these Google doodles are for each match

http://www.google.com/doodles#archive

[Izulde]

Those are great. Thanks for posting them.

[Edward64]

Off-topic but somewhat related.

Why Qatar will likely be stripped of the 2022 World Cup—Commentary

Four years later, FIFA is on the verge of stripping Qatar of the 2022 World Cup. FIFA has commissioned a broad investigation into allegations of corruption in the 2010 vote. Even before the results of FIFA's investigation were announced, Qatari billionaire Mohamed bin Hammam was accused by the Sunday Times Of London of paying millions of dollars in bribes.
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Just yesterday, Jorge Ramos, dean of ESPN's Spanish-language news team covering soccer, tweeted that FIFA had approached U.S. Soccer and advised them to have their organizing committee ready in case FIFA withdrew the 2022 World Cup from Qatar. Ramos has since deleted the tweet and U.S. Soccer has denied that any approach has been made, but the soccer world is abuzz with anticipation. It appears that all of the stars are lining up to move the tournament.
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Qatar's other problems

It's too hot. Qatar bakes under 110-degree desert heat during the summer, when the World Cup is traditionally played. Those temperatures would be dangerous for spectators, and could be deadly for players.

Air conditioning is not feasible. Qatar's bid was predicated upon building ten air conditioned open-air stadiums that would reduce temperatures to a cool 78 degrees. It turns out that air-conditioning technology is inadequate for the job. Qatar now expects to build non-air-conditioned venues that use traditional fans to alleviate the heat. But the new plan would call for the playing surface to be a sweltering 87 degrees.

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by tucker rocky

http://www.google.com/doodles#archive

2 Things:

1 - How do you figure out what information to post so that the doodle can be posted?

2 - What about the intro doodle, it's pretty keen too!

[Abe Sargent]

Let's go Columbia!

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

Let's go Columbia!

National anthem was great.

[Abe Sargent]

GOAL!

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

So umm...Buffon > Casillas??

Italy captain Gianluigi Buffon out of England clash - ESPN FC

Buffon is out for the first game.

[Karlifornia]

Colombian crowd is amazing. Need to get Greece out of the tourney. Definitely wishing I had bought Colombia in the auction

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Edward64

It turns out that air-conditioning technology is inadequate for the job. Qatar now expects to build non-air-conditioned venues that use traditional fans to alleviate the heat. But the new plan would call for the playing surface to be a sweltering 87 degrees.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiight, because we have advance technology that by just using fans we can bring the temps down for 110 to 87.

[Abe Sargent]

Wow Greece

[Izulde]

Greece is playing better than I expected.

[ISiddiqui]

I am very grateful for Columbia scoring in the 6th minute. It made a game with Greece being a very enjoyable affair with plenty of offense and flowing play (something which is rare with Greece).

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Riiiiiiiiiiiiight, because we have advance technology that by just using fans we can bring the temps down for 110 to 87.

Well the thing that stuck out me was that they were concerned that even 87 would be "sweltering" - what do they think it is in Brazil right now?

[whomario]

Columbia has some serious depth at the striker position even with Falcao out.

[Abe Sargent]

Yeah babY!

[Izulde]

Nice exclamation point at the end there!

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Well the thing that stuck out me was that they were concerned that even 87 would be "sweltering" - what do they think it is in Brazil right now?

Don't forget that Brazil is just now entering winter.

Qatar has other problems beyond their climate. Like extremely limited alcohol. All those fans are going to be pretty pissed if they spend thousands of dollars to go to Doha and find out they can't party very hard there.

[DaddyTorgo]

GG Columbia. Even without Falcao.

But this whole "don't call me James, call me Hames" Rodriguez thing...fuck him. That's just ridiculous.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Italy captain Gianluigi Buffon out of England clash - ESPN FC

Buffon is out for the first game.

Yeah - I just heard that this morning. Apparently a "very very minor" twisted ankle.

Sirigu also has some busted up ribs though, which leaves me worried, because Perin is the 3rd GK, and as fun as he is to watch, his decision-making is not world-class yet. I think someday it will be, but it's not right now.

[Abe Sargent]

Let's have a fun match!

[DaddyTorgo]

Good call on PK...Lugano was clearly tugged down and might have had a go at it.

Nice PK by Cavani.

Uruguay are fun, I'd love to see them make a little run.

[MIJB#19]

A legit penalty, it's a miracle!

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

A legit penalty, it's a miracle!

I think we can say with some certainty that "fouls in the box" was one thing the refs were told to call tight this WC in the pre-WC officials meeting.

[whomario]

what a save by Navas, wow !

[MIJB#19]

Great save by Navas there.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by whomario

what a save by Navas, wow !

Yeah, seriously! Whoa!!

[DaddyTorgo]

Might just be my inner Juve fan, but Caceres is looking good out there. I like his game.

[Abe Sargent]

COSTA RICAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[whomario]

great run and cross, then a very confident finish by Campbell. Has looked very good all game, too.

Uruguay just looking to get by with minimal effort, lets see if they can flip the switch here.

Ruiz might be the slowest player in the tournament, jeez ... Would have been a typical No 10 back in the 70s, but nowadays ...

[kingfc22]

Was just commenting that this game was lacking any energy and bam, a nice goal by the Ticos.

Hopefully the game picks up a bit more now.

[Abe Sargent]

WWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAA - GOAL TWO BABY!!!!

[DaddyTorgo]

Um whoa - the Ticos came to play.

[whomario]

And another breakdown on a set piece, wow ...

[kingfc22]

Nice finish on that one!