Football 2014 FIFA World Cup - Part 1

[zelllogan]

Holland vs argentina. Best player of the tournament vs best player of the world

 

[Hardy]

Holland vs argentina. Best player of the tournament vs best player of the world

...but there's only 1 Messi and it's ours

 

[Smerten]

Apparently, from my understanding, they've been training for penalties and Krul has proven himself the best penalty keeper over the past weeks. That's why the trainer, keeper trainer and van Gaal decided to switch him in. And it paid off. It was kinda poetic seeing as Costa Rica was obviously stalling for penalties. Their offense was weak as hell and they kept their formation pretty much the entire time. Their only aim: blocking and stalling and attacking our bad penalty history. So winning in penalties was poetic. Netherlands had way more ball possession and (IMO) played better, though admittedly sloppy now and then, especially in the first half. Mexico and CR where frustrating for the Dutch playstyle.
And lastly I would like to remind some naysayers of something. Not to say we'll win the entire thing, that definitely remains to be seen. But last WC people were continuously underestimating the Netherlands, saying they'd be destroyed. In the end that team toppled favourites like Brazil and ended up in the finals. Now we toppled defending champion Spain and we're currently in the semi-finals. Don't underestimate the Dutch spirit, and their ability to come back. Anyone claiming the Netherlands (or any other semi-finalists, for that matter) is not a serious contender, excretes bull feces from the oral orifice.

 

[Leoat12]

Now that Argentina reached Semifinals, Hardy will show his true face like any other Argie. That's why we find them annoying and find the necessity of beating them to put them in their place.

 

[Hardy]

Apparently, from my understanding, they've been training for penalties and Krul has proven himself the best penalty keeper over the past weeks. That's why the trainer, keeper trainer and van Gaal decided to switch him in. And it paid off. It was kinda poetic seeing as Costa Rica was obviously stalling for penalties. Their offense was weak as hell and they kept their formation pretty much the entire time. Their only aim: blocking and stalling and attacking our bad penalty history. So winning in penalties was poetic. Netherlands had way more ball possession and (IMO) played better, though admittedly sloppy now and then, especially in the first half. Mexico and CR where frustrating for the Dutch playstyle.
And lastly I would like to remind some naysayers of something. Not to say we'll win the entire thing, that definitely remains to be seen. But last WC people were continuously underestimating the Netherlands, saying they'd be destroyed. In the end that team toppled favourites like Brazil and ended up in the finals. Now we toppled defending champion Spain and we're currently in the semi-finals. Don't underestimate the Dutch spirit, and their ability to come back. Anyone claiming the Netherlands (or any other semi-finalists, for that matter) is not a serious contender, excretes bull feces from the oral orifice.

I agree with everything except for Costa Rica going for PK because of your bad history. They just stalled and counter attacked, didn't really aim for the PK (but with Keylor they were prolly convinced that they could best you).

Also, yeah, the amount of crap I've read in the last years about the Netherlands was too much. Glad you made it to the top 4.

Now... get destroyed

Now that Argentina reached Semifinals, Hardy will show his true face like any other Argie. That's why we find them annoying and find the necessity of beating them to put them in their places.

Ust did this today tho, I can't travel back in time and give my old self this avy.

---------- Post added July 06, 2014 at 12:27 AM ---------- Previous post was July 05, 2014 at 09:53 PM ----------

Spoiler

And the list goes on

 

[MiyamotoMusashi]

...but there's only 1 Messi and it's ours

Can i call you Leo 2.0?

Now that Argentina reached Semifinals, Hardy will show his true face like any other Argie. That's why we find them annoying and find the necessity of beating them to put them in their place.

Yep, Brazilians are so admirable sending death threats to Zuniga and even worse, his daughter.

 

[Hardy]

Can i call you Leo 2.0?

I think you can, yeah, not sure why you would though ^^

 

[Leoat12]

Some people don't understand jokes on this thread, it's boring.
We respect Argentina, that's why we acknowledge them as rivals, we wouldn't if it were the contrary.

As for shameful Brazilians, it's not exclusive of Brazil, there are ignorant people anywhere. Most of Brazilians don't agree with this behavior.

 

[jorped]

Apparently, from my understanding, they've been training for penalties and Krul has proven himself the best penalty keeper over the past weeks. That's why the trainer, keeper trainer and van Gaal decided to switch him in. And it paid off..

Was it really necessary from someone to even mention this?
I see many people here doubting a coach like Van Gaal, one of the most experience coaches in the all world. Obviously if he did the swap was because Krul is better in general at the penalties than Cillessen. Couch's coaches at their best.

Holland vs argentina. Best player of the tournament vs best player of the world

Definitely not based on this year i hope? Messi has been a shell of what he once was. Robben is much better than him right now!
But i still think James has been the best so far. Followed by Robben and Neymar.

 

[Josef]

Btw ... lot at Krul agitating the Costa Rica players before every penalty, that was also Van Gaals plan.

 

[zelllogan]

To come back on the two games of yesterday:
Belgium - Argentina: Lucky early goal from Argentina. Then Argentina is slightly parking the bus but in an intelligent way. They turned the game in a midfield game and none of the two teams were really dangerous the whole game with still the best occasions for Argentina. Basically, we were crushed tactically by Argentina. I was really annoyed by the lack of pressing by our team. I was especially annoyed after the match when the coach and several players said they felt they were on par or superior to Argentina. The only lucid one was Mirallas who said "we played bad".

Overall, there are two ways to analyse the world cup from Belgium:
1) Quarter final for the first time since 1986, young team that did the result expected from them. 4 years ago, there was a game with a single supporter. We are coming from far and if 5 years ago, someone said that we would reach the quarter final ...
2) You look at the talent available and watch the games. Wilmots never found his starting 11. In attack, it was poor with slow ball organisation and lack of a killer in front of a goal. Hazard was underwellming and even though he progressed in the last 2-3 years, he still has a long way to go. For the moment, we don't have a super star that can kill a game by himself (no robben, no messi, no neymar, ...). We just did the minimum really, nothing more. With the talent available and the lucky draw, quarter final was the minimum. But we reached it without sparkling. The game against USA was good but it was still only USA, a subpar team that we always beat.

So, in the end, my note for Belgium: 5/10. Goal is reached, passing grades, but nothing more ... The way our media and half the population is blinding themselves in Belgium is annoying though.

About the winner argentina, same can be told for them. With the talent available and the lucky draw, semi final is the minimum. They got a monster with Messi and an offensive quality that nobody have. But still, they never were confronted to a team pressing them, I would like to see that Romero and that defense against a team pressing them. So far, they also just did the job withouth sparkling. Lets see how they will handle the best player of the tournament who is by far Robben. Robben has been an absolute monster and is in a class of his own, above Messi and Neymar.

To comeback to Costa Rica - Netherlands, "giving everything and more" could only carry Costa Rica this far. The number of occasions for the netherlands were ridiculous. Snijder hit the bar/poles twice, miraculous save on the line by defender, ... It was even funnier than our game against USA. Costa Rica did a world cup they will never do again. Everything was going their way. Costa Rica was the real dark horse of the tournament. On the other end, the netherlands are again present and it's really incredible that such a small country continues to perform this well years after years after years ... Before the tournament, even Van Gaal didn't believe much in his team. He changed the usual 4-3-3 to a 5-3-2 due to the supposed lack of talent in the midfield, he didn't want to take Snijder in the team, everything was based on Strootman who was injured, defense is young and we can continue like that. So, it's quite a feat to be there again for the Netherlands.

Among the 4 teams left, germany is my favorite and I really hope they win. They didn't win since 1990 and they were the most impressive team among all.
Argentina is by far the ugliest team left. It's tactically good but all their games were uber boring. But I would like to see the face Pele would make if Messi put 3 goals in the finale and is acknoledged as the all time greatest. But then Hardy would be too happy ...
Brasil is without T Silva and Neymar, either they sink or we assist to a "Pat Ewing" effect (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_Ewing_Theory).
The netherlands team is far weaker than 4 years ago and it would be weird that this team is winning it when the Cruyff team couldn't.

Anyway, I'm with Jorped on one thing: no teams in this world cup is a great team and whoever won this will be one of the weakest team to win it in history. The average level of all teams was maybe never that high because smaller teams did more than expected but there is a real lack of great teams.

In the end and to resume: GO GERMANY and go Klose.

Yep, Brazilians are so admirable sending death threats to Zuniga and even worse, his daughter.

A part of football supporters are the dumbest supporters available in sport. We are not that far from the stereoptype: Drunks with a certain taste for cheap hookers. I've been to the stadium for many different sports (athletism, rugby, foot, basket) and some football supporters are just the worst.

 

[Josef]

Alle zusammen! Deutschland! Deutschland! Weltmeister!

 

[Sky]

Is that from our last match against Brazil? Hah that was fun... Too bad we aren't that good anymore.

 

[Josef]

Is that from our last match against Brazil? Hah that was fun... Too bad we aren't that good anymore.

Yes, it has a poetic feeling to it with the flag over the German player faces. Of course I want to rewatch the final in 2002 now to get ready for "revenge".

 

[Hardy]

Definitely not based on this year i hope? Messi has been a shell of what he once was. Robben is much better than him right now!
But i still think James has been the best so far. Followed by Robben and Neymar.

Wtf are you even talking about, I'm pretty sure Messi is 2014's top scorer. And just because Messi was God a couple of years ago doesn't mean he's bad now, he just isn't as good.

Lets see how they will handle the best player of the tournament who is by far Robben. Robben has been an absolute monster and is in a class of his own, above Messi and Neymar.

young team that did the result expected from them.

About the winner argentina, same can be told for them. With the talent available and the lucky draw, semi final is the minimum.

This is a huge double standard. Coming to the WC, everyone loved Belgium (their talent and their nice football) and gave shit to us, a team with a horrible defense and an irregular attack that depended on 1 player, and the oldest team in the entire WC on top of that. Why we had to reach semis no matter what because of the easy draw, but not you?

Anyway, I'm with Jorped on one thing: no teams in this world cup is a great team and whoever won this will be one of the weakest team to win it in history. The average level of all teams was maybe never that high because smaller teams did more than expected but there is a real lack of great teams.

Except jorped never said that? He said he was convinced by every team except us

And I disagree. Was Spain in 2010 good, was it Italy in 2006? No, they were pretty bad. Wasn't Brazil accused of robbing like 3 matches in 2002? Wasn't France just a huge defense in 1998? Brazil in 1994 and the list goes on...

You're also forgetting that football is more ¨equal¨ than ever. Any team with decent talent and a decent tactic should do fine in a match no matter if you are Real Madrid, Bayern or Elche; Germany, Brazil or Costa Rica (of course, in the long term, it isn't a really reliable method). The team that invented parking the bus won 4 WCs thanks to that ffs. And, obviously, any good team in 2014 would beat the shit out of any team from 4 decades ago, just in case...

And to everyone thinking that the WC now is kinda boring compared to the group stage, well, that's how the ¨playoffs¨ work unless one team completely derps.

 

[Kaiten]

Wtf are you even talking about, I'm pretty sure Messi is 2014's top scorer. And just because Messi was God a couple of years ago doesn't mean he's bad now, he just isn't as good.

Sorry fanboy, Ronaldo and Suarez were 2014's top scorers. Messi was third.

 

[Hardy]

Sorry fanboy, Ronaldo and Suzarez were 2014's top scorers. Messi was third.

I'm talking about 2014, not the 2013-2014 season, I know he's behind Ronaldo and Suárez there. Sorry wtv you are.

 

[Kaiten]

Find me a soccer stat site that keeps only 2014 stats.

---------- Post added at 01:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:13 PM ----------

Link to anything that shows Messi at the top of the leader board.

 

[Hardy]

Find me a soccer stat site that keeps only 2014 stats.

---------- Post added at 01:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:13 PM ----------

Link to anything that shows Messi at the top of the leader board.

http://www.goal.com/es/news/1880/fú...ssi-el-máximo-anotador-de-este-2014-en-europa

Is this post ok, master Kaiten?

 

[FrostyMouse]

Stay classy, Brazil. http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/28185948

When Germany's captain missed out on the WC Final, you were all like, "It's totally fair." Now that your captain's missing out against Germany, you're all like, "What is this bs?"