Football 2014 FIFA World Cup

[Nuno]

Ghana v Germany was a superb match. Ghana was way better than I expected. We Portuguese people screwed?

 

[ibra87]

Ghana v Germany was a superb match. Ghana was way better than I expected. We Portuguese people screwed?

Unless Ronaldo pulls a Messi and gets an undeserved win?

 

[xi0]

While I agree with what you're saying from one standpoint, wouldn't it have been better to have him on the bench instead of, wait for it, Julian Green? Klinsmann is clearly building for the future, and I can respect that, but leaving him off to make a point and show that you're the man in charge, which is what it's really about, is the wrong decision.

Donovan wasn't the captain anymore anyway, Dempsey was, so that wasn't going to come into play.

Julian Green? Don't you mean Chris Wondolowski or Aron Jóhannsson? I see your point though, I suppose.

I don't honestly think Klinsmann did it as some sort of show of force. He's been in charge for 3 years now. If he didn't have the respect of the players we wouldn't have gotten the results we've had under his tenure. The better way to describe it is something out of principle, which is fine. But this isn't over ego or anything IMO.

Klinsmann gave it to Dempsey because Donovan had his sabbatical and missed qualification games. It's totally related to him being left off of the team. If the sabbatical never happened, there's no way Klinsmann would have taken it from Donovan. There was no reason to.

 

[Nuno]

Unless Ronaldo pulls a Messi and gets an undeserved win?

argentina didnt deserve to win today? didnt watch it, only the goal.

 

[Sky]

argentina didnt deserve to win today? didnt watch it, only the goal.

Yeah, Iran was the better team and should've won actually. :/

 

[Hardy]

Spoiler: TL;DR of today's matches

Messi does a Messi in the 90th minute

Klose... does a Klose and becomes the top scorer in WCs

The best fake a keeper has ever done

No one cares about Nigeria-Bosnia

 

[FrostyMouse]

Julian Green? Don't you mean Chris Wondolowski or Aron Jóhannsson? I see your point though, I suppose.

I don't honestly think Klinsmann did it as some sort of show of force. He's been in charge for 3 years now. If he didn't have the respect of the players we wouldn't have gotten the results we've had under his tenure. The better way to describe it is something out of principle, which is fine. But this isn't over ego or anything IMO.

Klinsmann gave it to Dempsey because Donovan had his sabbatical and missed qualification games. It's totally related to him being left off of the team. If the sabbatical never happened, there's no way Klinsmann would have taken it from Donovan. There was no reason to.

At least Wondolowski or Jóhannsson are ostensibly strikers. Julian Green's just a kid who has a few minutes on the pitch for Bayern (he was a youth/reserve and they gave him a few minutes at the end, once) and that's about it for his career. The point was that it looked like Klinsmann was building for the future and taking promising young potential Germans along so that the US could lay claim to them.

There was no real reason to leave him off, except for the fact that Klinsmann appears not to have liked the sabbatical.

I know, but I was saying that Donovan was no longer the captain and it wasn't an issue at this point. Donovan wasn't standing up and saying, "I need to be the captain." Anyway, from a stats perspective, no one on the US created anywhere close to as many chances for the US as Donovan did, so...

 

[xi0]

At least Wondolowski or Jóhannsson are ostensibly strikers. Julian Green's just a kid who has a few minutes on the pitch for Bayern (he was a youth/reserve and they gave him a few minutes at the end, once) and that's about it for his career. The point was that it looked like Klinsmann was building for the future and taking promising young potential Germans along so that the US could lay claim to them.

There was no real reason to leave him off, except for the fact that Klinsmann appears not to have liked the sabbatical.

I know, but I was saying that Donovan was no longer the captain and it wasn't an issue at this point. Donovan wasn't standing up and saying, "I need to be the captain." Anyway, from a stats perspective, no one on the US created anywhere close to as many chances for the US as Donovan did, so...

He's on the roster as midfielder. That's why I brought up Wondo and Johannsson. Not sure there's something to "lay claim" to. He has duel citizenship, so if Germany doesn't want him, then yay us. That speaks to a bigger problem I have with FIFA rules, not something I would lay at the feet of Klinsmann.

That's a good enough reason for him and so far it's a good enough reason for me. You're acting like Donovan walking away from competition is no big deal. He was basically pulling a Brett Favre, and regardless of who he is to US Soccer, you can't get away with that IMO. He didn't put the same amount of work in, so it has to be taken into account.

I wasn't talking about it because it was/would be an issue. Donovan has no say in something like that. But it definitely speaks to Klinsmann and his opinion of Donovan and his dedication to the team to take it away and not give it back when he returned.

We can all use hindsight after this is over and label it as a stupid or smart, but it's up the Klinsmann to lead and stand behind his decisions. It's perfectly acceptable to me that he left Donovan off. Donovan gave him that excuse when he took games off...

 

[FrostyMouse]

He's on the roster as midfielder. That's why I brought up Wondo and Johannsson. Not sure there's something to "lay claim" to. He has duel citizenship, so if Germany doesn't want him, then yay us. That speaks to a bigger problem I have with FIFA rules, not something I would lay at the feet of Klinsmann.

That's a good enough reason for him and so far it's a good enough reason for me. You're acting like Donovan walking away from competition is no big deal. He was basically pulling a Brett Favre, and regardless of who he is to US Soccer, you can't get away with that IMO. He didn't put the same amount of work in, so it has to be taken into account.

I wasn't talking about it because it was/would be an issue. Donovan has no say in something like that. But it definitely speaks to Klinsmann and his opinion of Donovan and his dedication to the team to take it away and not give it back when he returned.

We can all use hindsight after this is over and label it as a stupid or smart, but it's up the Klinsmann to lead and stand behind his decisions. It's perfectly acceptable to me that he left Donovan off. Donovan gave him that excuse when he took games off...

Yeah, I know, Donovan's "technically" labeled a forward. I wasn't laying the dual citizenship issue at the feet of Klinsmann or anything, just that the way he's exploiting it is a bit cheap. On the other hand, you could say that Klinsmann doesn't want to lose any more potentially American talent. Look at Subotic. He was mistreated by the U-[insert basically every age group here] American coaches, so when it came time for him to choose a country to play for (he was eligible for two or three), he didn't pick the US.

I'm not getting into Brett Favre on this issue... You're really going to buy into Klinsmann's speech about "work in camp?"

Almost no one would get the badge back if they left the national team for a period of time. Still, perhaps there's something behind the scenes that we don't know about.

It wasn't acceptable at all to me because the American team is fairly young and fairly inexperienced. Moreover, most of them don't play at the highest level, nor have they ever. The amount of experience and tactical nous Donovan would bring to the squad is worth having him there. You don't even have to start him, use him as an impact sub or something, but you're better off having him than not having him in the off chance that a situation arises where he'd be useful. It's not as if we had a massive wealth of talent to draw upon everywhere else.

If Chris Wondolowski comes in against Portugal and does a good job, and maybe even scores, then fine, the US will have made it without Donovan. At some point, the US was going to have to move past Donovan because he'd be too old anyway, for obvious reasons, but I don't think that now was the time. There is the possibility that Klinsmann wanted to tell the players that there was a clean slate and that none of them should have to worry about the specter of a past US great lurking over their shoulder and that they should all just play without worries. I don't know. I don't agree with leaving Donovan off the roster.

 

[xi0]

Yeah, I know, Donovan's "technically" labeled a forward. I wasn't laying the dual citizenship issue at the feet of Klinsmann or anything, just that the way he's exploiting it is a bit cheap. On the other hand, you could say that Klinsmann doesn't want to lose any more potentially American talent. Look at Subotic. He was mistreated by the U-[insert basically every age group here] American coaches, so when it came time for him to choose a country to play for (he was eligible for two or three), he didn't pick the US.

I'm not getting into Brett Favre on this issue... You're really going to buy into Klinsmann's speech about "work in camp?"

Almost no one would get the badge back if they left the national team for a period of time. Still, perhaps there's something behind the scenes that we don't know about.

It wasn't acceptable at all to me because the American team is fairly young and fairly inexperienced. Moreover, most of them don't play at the highest level, nor have they ever. The amount of experience and tactical nous Donovan would bring to the squad is worth having him there. You don't even have to start him, use him as an impact sub or something, but you're better off having him than not having him in the off chance that a situation arises where he'd be useful. It's not as if we had a massive wealth of talent to draw upon everywhere else.

If Chris Wondolowski comes in against Portugal and does a good job, and maybe even scores, then fine, the US will have made it without Donovan. At some point, the US was going to have to move past Donovan because he'd be too old anyway, for obvious reasons, but I don't think that now was the time. There is the possibility that Klinsmann wanted to tell the players that there was a clean slate and that none of them should have to worry about the specter of a past US great lurking over their shoulder and that they should all just play without worries. I don't know. I don't agree with leaving Donovan off the roster.

Obviously Klinsmann has way more savvy and connections than anyone else who used to run the team...no surprise there.

Coach-speak is coach-speak, but it doesn't erase the fact that Donovan abandoned the team...what don't you get about that? Maybe someone like Bob Bradley or Bruce Arena wouldn't have cared, but that doesn't mean Klinsmann shouldn't. Klinsmann clearly gives no fucks what Donovan has done for MLS or the USMNT, he only cares about what he's going to do in the future. And when you can't even commit when everyone else does in qualifying, it sends the completely wrong message to everyone involved. That's on Donovan IMO, not Klinsmann. Maybe that has absolutely nothing to do with why he was left off, maybe I'm completely off-base, but that's how I view the situation. I have no reason to believe this all happened out of spite or something.

I think from a talent standpoint, there was no reason to leave Donovan off. I would have preferred if he was on the team as well, it would have been nice to see he and DeMarcus Beasley play together.

 

[Josef]

If I have to pick a favorite right now, that would be France, because it is a team playing, not individuals
It seems Ribéry and Nasri not joining is the best thing that happened to the team

They want to win, and they're playing like a team, danger can come from anywhere even if you stop Benzema, Giroud can score, Griezmann, Valbuena, Pogba, Cabaye, Matuidi and that's really impressive

And they're disciplined (with the exception of Pogba from time to time)

Yeah I like the way they play, if they keep to their attacking football, I am sure they will do just fine in his WC, perhaps what's needed in tournaments is consistency in the tournament itself. Again, the worst thing for France is so far it has regularly weaker opponents, which if they were in a crisis would do bad against according to those that they that France really suck, tho ofc they got this group and thats that, maybe they can experiment with form and stuff in these matches that would make it easier in the knockout round?

Now Netherlands struggled against Australia, but they put up a brilliant comeback, so that was due to Australia being good not Netherlands sucking, it was a nice match, both parties showed good football at times.

And today we are up fr interesting matches. USA vs Portugal is really anticipated for me.

 

[Kat]

Question! 2 countries are passing from the groups ?

 

[goldb]

Question! 2 countries are passing from the groups ?

Kat, please.

But yes, the 2 teams finishing with the most points, advance to the knockout stages, then quarters, semis and final.

 

[Leoat12]

I should've relied on my own bracket regarding Nigeria x Bosnia since I put Nigeria as 2nd place on it... I missed the result... It's you guys fault, you said that Bosnia is good, noobs! (Well, you said Spain was good as well. XD)
Well, now only left is Croatia.
My bets:

Belgium x Russia (If they play what I expect from them)
South Korea x Algeria
USA x Portugal

 

[goldb]

New thread poll.

I'm going for Portugal here.

 

[FrostyMouse]

I should've relied on my own bracket regarding Nigeria x Bosnia since I put Nigeria as 2nd place on it... I missed the result... It's you guys fault, you said that Bosnia is good, noobs! (Well, you said Spain was good as well. XD)
Well, now only left is Croatia.
My bets:

Belgium x Russia (If they play what I expect from them)
South Korea x Algeria
USA x Portugal

I was going to take Nigeria (Mikel and all), but then I took Bosnia.

Belgium, South Korea, and a draw are what I'm taking for today.

 

[Akainu]

Bosnia was extremly unlucky though with that goal cancelled for no reason at all. And then none of their tries succeeded. Oh well, that's football. Could be worse, like being messied in ot.

 

[FrostyMouse]

I'm taking a draw, but I actually expect a Portuguese win.

 

[goldb]

Oh I'll finally get to see Belgium play live; tough match though against the Russians. They can't afford to be switched off or slip like against Algeria.

Korea should beat Algeria.

 

[Leoat12]

Bosnia was extremly unlucky though with that goal cancelled for no reason at all. And then none of their tries succeeded. Oh well, that's football. Could be worse, like being messied in ot.

I remember that it was foul or offside, I don't remember exactly which one. It was clear though.