2014 World Cup discussion & Analysis

[edyzmedieval]

Very boring match.

And the penalty shootout, never understood what was going on. Vlaar is a defender, albeit a very good one, but you have Huntelaar and Robben who can take penalties, and the first one didn't even take a penalty.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

So, how many of you had Brasil and 3 goals versus Germany and still lost all of your money?

[naut]

theyre all good, but none of them is in top form atm. except neuer, maybe. he's probably the only one which you would say is currently competing for title of best [insert position]. Lahm and Schwein are passing if not past glory, perhaps the same for ozil. Kroos and Gotze are still rising stars. I dont know Hummels that well, so perhaps im wrong about him, and hes one of the best defenders. But take klose and muller, theyre not people you would think of i you would think of the best and most gamedefining strikers of this time and past decade, but yet, theyre absolute goal scoring monsters for the national team. same for podolski. Somehow playing for germany makes ppl go beserk...

I'll give you Klose. But seriously! Give them the credit they deserve.

Neuer may be unorthadox, but 4 out of 5 times where you think it is a goal with him it is no goal. Lahm is probably one of the very best fullbacks in the world. Currently at his peak and so good in fact they play him in midfield. Özil is not even 26 yet, and came off a challenging and injury-hit season, hardly past it lol. Hummels is fantastic for BVB week in week out. Mertersacker is playing off the back of probably his best professional season ever. Kroos is the real deal, and will be a complete midfielder in the next few seasons. Müller is an enigma, but insanely talented with the ball at his feet. And that doesn't even cover the strength on the bench, Götze, Draxler, Khedira, Weidenfeller, Shürrle etc.

They have a great mix of physical play, technical ability and organisation. A joy to watch.

[The Stranger]

Very boring match.

And the penalty shootout, never understood what was going on. Vlaar is a defender, albeit a very good one, but you have Huntelaar and Robben who can take penalties, and the first one didn't even take a penalty.

ye that was a poor choice, and when sneijder stepped up, i just knew he was going to miss. although i understand the choice to let him take a penalty, its really weird that Vlaar had to take one. although i suppose, out of the 11 on the pitch, there werent many sure hits. None of the other defenders are good at penalties, and wijnaldum isnt too good at it either, although perhaps he or clasie wouldve been a better choice. but its easy to talk afterwards, alot of penalties were pretty poor tbh, including messi's. it easily couldve been 4-2 for holland.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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It was not at all boring IMHO, both teams played their best and I was thoroughly entertained, so did the group of friends we watched it together.

This has been the tournament of spectacular goal-keepers and Romero will certainly be remembered for long.

Now it's one step closer to the fulfillment of my wish, though it seems highly unlikely.
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[HoreTore]

Robben is a

[Rhyfelwyr]

Prediction:

Holland 16 - 0 Brazil

[Andres]

Prediction:Holland 16 - 0 Brazil

[Fragony]

Robben is a

Yeah but he's good though.

Anyway yaya hasta la vsta Brazil. Still think it should have been us that ought to be in the finals against our apreciated neighbours. Losing from Argentina geez, these fuckmepumps pampabastards could as well have a barbecue in the goal since they are there anyway all the time. Germany vs Argentina must be the most obvious outcome ever, Netherlands vs Germany would have been a much more open question.

We will always have Spain.

#teeth grinding paela-eating greasy bastards

[Husar]

Well, your team passed the ball back to their own goalkeeper the entire time in the game against Argentina. That's not exactly how you score a goal. It simply proved the rule that the dutch team will always screw up towards the end in a spectacular way and it was entirely their own fault or the fault of their coach.

[Fragony]

Of course they do that's how you build up an attack, can't accuse the Netherlands of not playing an aggresive game. We aren't as good as Germany, but could argue that Germany hasn't faced any good opponents so far. Germany is going to destroy Argentina, it's just no contest you guys are too good for any team in the universe and surroundings. We are probably second-best so I would have love to see us in the finale. We would probably have lost but not in the way Brazil was owned, it would at least have been an awesome match. Now things are all settled, Germany is going to be world champion, Argentina has no hope of beating the Manschaft

[The Stranger]

meh i still disagree. this world cup was spectacular and entertaining, but good football it had very little of. even germany who everyone is heaping praise on now, had a very meagre tournament. Yes they 4-0'd portugal, but the game was over after 30 minutes, 30 minutes in which they played great yes, but after that they just walked through the park. Then followed 3 rather poor games in terms of football produced (the game vs ghana was awesome, and vs algeria too, and even vs the usa it was pretty fun to watch, but the germans didnt play well). Then they stepped up a bit vs france, but imo, apart from an early goal, they didnt do much else than defend, and the game was the least fun to watch out of all games germany played this tournament. Then vs brazil they repeated the same thing they did vs portugal, 30 mins of outstanding football, but also an opponent that completely fell apart, no team should and would have conceided 4 goals in 10 minutes, not even vs germany or barcelona playing at their best. And then yes they scored some more, but its easy to look awesome when your opponent is down and crawling at your feet.

the germans have just been super clinical, even when playing bad, which is their trademark pretty much. They score and win even when producing lacklustre/atrocious/poor/insert something football. Their redeeming side is that when they do play good, they produce and have produced some of the best football in the last decade. So i wont argue that currently they are the best team. To then call dutch the second best is irrelevant, theyre not in the same league, not even on the same planet. Although im really happy to have seen van Gaal in action, i love to see smart coaches and their tricks.

[The Stranger]

meh, this game proves me right more than anything imo. just a terrible finals :/ beautiful goal, but after 100 mins of poor football it just feels like a consolation. as always the germans need to excell only that small moment, and then they strike mercilessly.

congratz i suppose.

[Beskar]

Germany deserved to win.

[rvg]

Beautiful game, beautiful goal. Congrats to the German team, your victory is well earned.

[HoreTore]

The best performance from Germany since '39.

[The Stranger]

Germany deserved to win.

yes, but that doesnt mean much.

this article pretty much sums up my thoughts exactly. http://thinkfootball.co.uk/archives/16453

with the minor note that the thing the dutch team did good this world cup was defending. they conceided very few goals. 2 out of 3 in the groupstage coming from penalties, and 1 of the other 2 was an unstoppable world class goal by cahill, they conceided only 1 goal in the knockout stage. their midfield (in 5-3-2 or 5-2-3 formation) in particular wasnt capable of doing much else than defend or shoot the ball forward and the attack relied heavily on robbens and to lesser extent van persies brilliance.

[Hooahguy]

Got to see the game in some random redneck town in the middle of Alabama. Now lemme tell you something about that state that I hate: no sale of alcohol on Sundays. So we tried to find a sports bar in the southern part of the state that had the final on, but most sport bars are closed because it is probably one of the dumbest states in the Union. Anyways we somehow found this steakhouse somewhere which had it on. But even with no beer it wasn't too bad since for $7 we got endless drinks (non-alcoholic of course) in these Pilsner glasses that we got to keep afterwards. So that was cool.



But me and my two friends were the only ones in the place who were actually watching the game, so when Germany scored I was the only one who cheered (my friends were going for Argentina) so that was a disappointment. But it was an excellent game and quite the experience to watch the game in a place that seemed rather ambivalent to Futbol.

Also they had great bacon.

[Fragony]

Congrats!

[Fragony]

Cool pics http://www.powned.tv/nieuws/wk/2014/...ert_feest.html

Enjoy your party mia mucas you deserve it

[Husar]

yes, but that doesnt mean much.

But it does. It means that while everybody failed hard we actually managed to keep up some kind of standard.

The article you linked sums up a lot of thoughts I already had during the cup, e.g. that Brazil was not as good as people said or that Chile were fun to watch. Of course I am also not a real football fan but even I noticed that individual player skill seemed lower in many cases. Especially the little tricks some people used to know to win a duel seem to be mostly gone and if they are there, they usually get fouled and that's it.

[Sarmatian]

I'm a bit sad for Argentina and Messi, but best team won, no doubt about that.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Sadly, the only thing that will be broadcast of this year's world cup 10 years down the road will be the "Suarez Sandwich" stuff.

[HoreTore]

Sadly, the only thing that will be broadcast of this year's world cup 10 years down the road will be the "Suarez Sandwich" stuff.

Pfft, James' goal will be remembered like van Basten's.

[The Stranger]

Sadly, the only thing that will be broadcast of this year's world cup 10 years down the road will be the "Suarez Sandwich" stuff.

nah alot more will be remembered, but mostly it will be dramatic moments, with some gems of goals, such as rodriguez goal, van persies, the deciding 1-0 in the final, which was beautiful as well. and ofc neymars back break, some more bone breaks, mascherano's torn anus, 5-1 for spain, 7-1 for brazil ushering new eras for these football nations... or signalling their decine :O

who knows.