2014 World Cup discussion & Analysis

[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.