Football World Cup talk

verylonglegs

It's interesting how often one of the semi-finalists has been a team considered to be outside of of the usual football powerhouses. Sweden in '94, then Croatia '98, Turkey and South Korea in 2002 and then arguably Uruguay in 2010*. Will we have similar representation this time with a Costa Rica or Belgium in there or will the semis consist of a usual suspects line-up?

* I'm well aware some of you may suggest England in 1990 also fulfil this criteria

Stevo_666

pinarello001 wrote:

Back to the plot.

Brazil - Colombia going at a hell of a pace...

Yep, cracking game to watch.

Come on Colombia.

pinno

verylonglegs wrote:

It's interesting how often one of the semi-finalists has been a team considered to be outside of of the usual football powerhouses. Sweden in '94, then Croatia and Norway in '98, Turkey and South Korea in 2002 and then arguably Uruguay in 2010*. Will we have similar representation this time with a Costa Rica or Belgium in there or will the semis consist of a usual suspects line-up?

* I'm well aware some of you may suggest England in 1990 also fulfil this criteria

Just being a pedantic barsteward.

pinno

Back to the plot (again).

Imagine being that age and taking a penalty for your country in the world cup.

I think Brazil won't get past Germany and you heard it from me first, it will be a Holland - Germany final with Germany winning. Already looking forward to seeing a miserable Van Gaal face.

Cygnus

pinarello001 wrote:

I think Brazil won't get past Germany and you heard it from me first,

That depends on who has the most players left on the pitch at the end of the match, I can see this being a bad tempered game.

laurentian

No Neymar or Tiago Silva . . . I can only see Germany beating Brazil and Argentina squeezing past Holland.

Germany Argentina final . . . Germany to win.

DeVlaeminck

Germany for me too. Germany wont lose their heads if Brazil decide to play dirty, they'll just roll about and get a Brazilian sent off, they tend to be very well disciplined and know what it takes to win games rather than getting involved in a kicking match. If Germany score first I see them picking an increasingly Brazil side off and winning by several.

There is still the question mark over the way their keeper acts as a sweeper though - it only takes one misjudgement and they'll concede or possibly have him sent off.

verylonglegs

Didn't think I could be genuinely surprised by sport anymore but right now....wow. I had a fiver on Germany to win the game and to think I spent a while considering if it was the right move!

crispybug2

I genuinely can't believe what I am seeing here!

It probably won't but this could end up double figures if Germany don't take their foot off the pedal.

tlw1

verylonglegs wrote:

Didn't think I could be genuinely surprised by sport anymore but right now....wow. I had a fiver on Germany to win the game and to think I spent a while considering if it was the right move!

its not over yet :shock:

Stevo_666

:shock:

This pic of a Brazil fan from the BBC sport website:

finchy

I think Brazil have forgotten that there's no rule against marking. :roll:

DeVlaeminck

DeVlaeminck wrote:

Germany for me too. Germany wont lose their heads if Brazil decide to play dirty, they'll just roll about and get a Brazilian sent off, they tend to be very well disciplined and know what it takes to win games rather than getting involved in a kicking match. If Germany score first I see them picking an increasingly Brazil side off and winning by several.

Who needs Paul the Octopus ! 10-0 to Argentina - get on it.

Mikey23

@devlaeminck... You must be the only one on the planet to predict that... Chapeau!

crispybug2

David Luiz, the world's most expensive defender. ...

cost Brazil five goals last night!

Stevo_666

crispybug2 wrote:

David Luiz, the world's most expensive defender. ...

cost Brazil five goals last night!

Cheski flogging him to PSG now looks like an inspired piece of business by Mourinho now. I doubt he'd be able to give him away now...

tangled_metal

So, in the cold light of the next day, which of Brazil's players is the biggest villain of the match?

Which player did the least? Which cocked up the most? Which player is probably never going to wear a Brazil top again other than as an ordinary fan?

My money is on Luiz and Marcello must be contenders. BTW in past games I think the goal keeper for Brazil did some good saves and performances, is he a contender for the best Brazilian on the pitch (assuming I didn't miss a streaker when I left at half time like half the fans)?

verylonglegs

Luiz was a terrible choice for captain really, anyone who has seen his club matches would know that as he hasn't a sensible head on him. Brazil were overcome by emotion lastnight and lost their gameplan as a result, waving a Neymar shirt around and 'singing' passionately isn't any substitute for marking the oppostion in the box. To flip it round I couldn't imagine the German team holding a Muller shirt out like that if he was injured, they'd have just got on with it and used their brains. Scolari fed their mentality with all his talk of 7 steps to heaven to win it and it bred terrible indiscipline.

Hoping the Dutch qualify tonight and go on to get beat in the Final again. Still haven't forgotten that filth they produced in the final 4 years ago so suffering against their greatest rivals would be just imo.

Stevo_666

Mission Impossible 4 - "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make Brazil lose by 6 clear goals in the World Cup..."

tangled_metal

Forgotten already but wasn't Luiz the one who committed at least 2 elbows to the face of 2 different German players last night? The pundits brought it up after the game. Both deliberate, intentional and if they had been spotted would have been enough for a red card. If it was him they said he's known for that.

pinno

Well, I got half the result right.

nathancom

Kuntz

pblakeney

Lionel Messi gets the Golden Ball for being the best player in the tournament?

He wasn't even the best Argentinian player.

On a positive note, he at least looked embarrassed at collecting it.

Ben6899

PBlakeney wrote:

Lionel Messi gets the Golden Ball for being the best player in the tournament?

He wasn't even the best Argentinian player.

On a positive note, he at least looked embarrassed at collecting it.

+3 (1 for each paragraph)

verylonglegs

How does it get decided? The cynic in me can't help but think Adidas is the World Cup sponsor and Messi is their main man...

DeVlaeminck

Well after a promising start it's been a fairly average world cup. There's been some good matches but mainly early in the competition and a real lack of great players or great teams making their mark. Maybe it's just a case of having seen all the players before - most of the Brazilian squad play in Europe anyway and have done since they were young - not surprising we don't see anything different from them.

finchy

DeVlaeminck wrote:

Well after a promising start it's been a fairly average world cup. There's been some good matches but mainly early in the competition and a real lack of great players or great teams making their mark. Maybe it's just a case of having seen all the players before - most of the Brazilian squad play in Europe anyway and have done since they were young - not surprising we don't see anything different from them.

I'd agree that the last 3 rounds were a bit of a let-down. I don't know if there was a lack of really great teams, or whether we've seen a big improvement in standards by the lesser lights so the gap isn't as great. See teams like Ghana and Algeria, for example. They weren't just plucky underdogs who fought hard to keep the Germans out, they were very decent technically and had a positive attacking attitude. The fact that the big boys had to fight so hard earlier in the tournament might have affected their performance from the quarters onwards.

DeVlaeminck

Yes maybe, there are no mugs qualifying any more, Ghana were my pick for being good to watch, Chile were another but both went out relatively early. Yet the last 4 were still all part of the old order - all of them been in at least three finals and three of them have won it 3 times plus.

finchy

DeVlaeminck wrote:

Yet the last 4 were still all part of the old order.

Yes, that's why I was disappointed towards the end - no giant-killing acts after the first round.

pinno

Colombia played high tempo harem scarem never say die football, enjoyed those games.