Football 2014 FIFA World Cup

[Nuno]

Spain has 16 players in their squad that were in WC2010 and won obviously. Maybe they are getting old?

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I wonder if ANY ONE has bet 5-1 in this match at odds? LOL. Those few people must get super rich today.

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Netherlands deserve to win after RVP's first amazing header goal. That goal made them deserve the win! ARTISTIC heading!

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[scav]

best tweet of the year

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pls 6-1, the dream

 

[Kat]

Meh I thought Spain was a superb ... I BLAME FRIDAY THE 13TH !!!

 

[zelllogan]

My dutch father will annoy everyone he knows for the whole week

 

[Leoat12]

BEST MATCH EVER!
Netherlands played like a demon the entire match and put Spain in their place. I never had so much fun since Brazil 3x0 Spain.

5x1
Spain is a team that maintain your code!

 

[Nuno]

Well that match was even more fun to watch than I anticipated. What a stomp!

 

[zelllogan]

If only spain had a second match agaisnt Australia, but no, it will be against Chili.
And then, it really might end in "Scott Tenorman must die". Do you like my chili ?

Anyway, 5-1, George RR Martin approve this game

 

[Leoat12]

Now that Spain has been destroyed, Chile has more chance.
Chile is not weak and after this shameful performance Spain will be with low morale.

 

[Nuno]

Spain is at a generational edge. Casillas is past his prime, he's reduced to "2nd keeper" in Madrid. Although CL is arguably more important, but he messed up BIG TIME in the final. He almost cost Madrid the title, if not for the rest of the players, most notably Ramos. Casillas is really not performing well the past two years. Too many mistakes, that luckily for him often don't result in bad results, but in the CL final it could've been a disaster. Mourinho saw it. He's the only manager in the world with the balls to bench such a legend. Props to him honestly. Ancelotti is only benching him 50% because Mourinho had the balls to be the unpopular guy and take the first step. I love Casillas. He's one of my all time favorite players as a Madrid fan since early years, but one has to realize his fall from grace objectively. In this game he was completely off. Massive blunders, crowned by the achievement of not managing to receive an easy backward pass. That's why I always cringe at goal keepers receiving passes, lol.

Another huge factor is Pique. The guy hasn't been performing for the past two years either. In Euro2012 he was dreadful. His play then was a big topic, as was his position in the starting 11 in Barcelona these past two seasons. His play has become notably worse.

Thirdly Xavi is starting to lose some edge as well. He's getting "old" after all. He's still a brilliant player, but you can clearly see his level has dropped slightly the past years.

Add to that, they have no strong strikers. Well Costa can be good, but isn't in form. Torres is dreadful, and has been abysmal for years now. In Euro2012 Spain basically played a formation without strikers. They relied on goals from Fabregas, Jordi Alba, Iniesta etc. It was a big topic then, but they got away with it because they were still dominant. Obviously their striker situation wasn't exactly the problem this game. It was their defensive work, most notably Pique and Casillas being both completely outclassed by Netherlands' offensive play.

 

[Hardy]

Ramos hasn't been good.

 

[Nuno]

Ramos hasn't been good.

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

In this match or what the fuck are you speaking about? He's been BRILLIANT in Madrid. Press is even talking about top 3 Ballon d'Or nomination!

 

[MiyamotoMusashi]

Press always exaggerates

 

[Hardy]

What Press? I read Marca every day, a Madrid's newspaper, he isn't even considered Madrid's best defender (let alone their best player... and let alone one of the best players in the world). The fcker got a lot of hype thanks to his goal in the CL's final, but his performance this year (do you watch La Liga?) hasn't been good at all.

 

[Nuno]

What Press? I read Marca every day, a Madrid's newspaper, he isn't even considered Madrid's best defender (let alone their best player... and let alone one of the best players in the world). The fcker got a lot of hype thanks to his goal in the CL's final, but his performance this year (do you watch La Liga?) hasn't been good at all.

What the hell, I disagree. He's had some bad games but Ramos has been amazing in the latter half of the season especially.

And yeah I know Marca. I read it often too.

I don't personally think Ramos is worthy of top 3 Ballon d'Or, but he's been outstanding to me regardless. most of that hype probably came through because of his goals vs Bayern and then critical goal vs Atletico, but still, that "hype praise" or not, he's been outstanding this season IMO. To say he hasn't been good is nonsense to me.

 

[Hardy]

He hasn't, and I've been saying this for months now. Pepe has been Madrid's most regular defender, and Varane is always a starter whenever he isn't injured. He had some important goals, yes, but he was far from outstanding (as you called him) doing his job (...defending). Madrid suffered from air balls the entire season because of this.

 

[Leoat12]

Chile and Australia shall be a easy match for Chile, but after Netherlands did with Spain we never know.
Normally, Chile 2+ x 0 Australia to get morale and go to the match against Spain to win.

 

[goldb]

Good win for Netherlands, though there were some serious defensive mistakes. Deserved victory for them. This will make for an interesting encounter between Spain and Chile; as that match could be the decider of who advances.

Hopefully Spain don't lose too much morale and pick themselves up from this. Casillas should probably get replaced at this point. His head just doesn't seem to be in it, made some really poor judgements tonight. I know he was fouled by RVP for that 3rd goal, but some of the swimming tonight( as Nuno called it) was embarrassing to see.

Next big night, or shall I say biggest night of the week will be tomorrow for us here; England vs Italy.

 

[Txapeldun]

Wow, that sure was an interesting match. I wouldn't have bet for Spain to lose 1-5.
Well, life can be hard. They got what they deserved. Casillas is just not that great. I've been saying for months that Diego Lopez is way better, and that Casillas is unable to stop a ball midair, but there you go. There's proof now.
It has just started, but I'm sure Spain won't do much more this time.

 

[goldb]

Has there ever been a champion that didn't make it through the group stages of a WC? out of curiosity...

 

[Hardy]

Has there ever been a champion that didn't make it through the group stages of a WC? out of curiosity...

France in 2002, the first one that comes into my mind.

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Us in 1982... I would look for more but group phases were really different back then.

Edit: Brazil in 1966 and Italy in 1950.