Steel Posted June 18, 2014 Report Share Posted June 18, 2014 Think about past world cups, many times teams have struggled through the group stages and then they just click, or a striker just gets red hot. Paulo Rossi comes to mind. A lot of the time the better sides in the groups don't progress. The biggest difference for me is that apart from Spain in recent years the club sides in Europe are far better than World Cup teams, but pre 1990s this wasn't the case so much. So there is much greater room for disappointment these days and boredom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMould Posted June 18, 2014 Report Share Posted June 18, 2014 Anybody watching this! It's awesome! Come on chile! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markyosullivan Posted June 18, 2014 Report Share Posted June 18, 2014 Bye bye Spain! Hope Chelsea don't sign Diego Costa, haven't been impressive with him at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 18, 2014 Report Share Posted June 18, 2014 That's an upset... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 18, 2014 Report Share Posted June 18, 2014 Chile still closing down the Spanish defenders right up until full time, most teams would have got tired/changed their tactics to sit back and get everyone behind the ball. Amazing fitness levels & work rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steeve Posted June 18, 2014 Report Share Posted June 18, 2014 Chile is a good team. I didn't expect them to beat Spain though. Bye bye Spain! Hope Chelsea don't sign Diego Costa, haven't been impressive with him at all In the world cup? You judge him off his performance in the world cup? That's just silly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwad12345 Posted June 18, 2014 Report Share Posted June 18, 2014 Agree with it all bar that, don't have talent? They have solid players in every area of the park. Do they have Ronaldo's, Messi's and Neymars, No but they do have players that can perform and work hard. Plus when they go forward I'd argue they have one of the superior forward lines at the tournament. They're not in the same league as the Germans but they are definitely above Italy and France. Dutch will be semi's at least unless they come up against Brazil (sorry home town advantage is a big thing in my eyes) or Germany They just dont have much depth. The counter worked great against Spain because a) they are the slowest team in the tournament and b they play waaay too high up on the field. It didnt have the same effect against Australia and it won't work against most other top teams in the tournament. I would predict that chile beats Holland in the last game, then Brazil beats holland in the first knockout round. As for having one of the best attacking lines, Van Persie and Robben are two of the best players in the tournament hands down I'll give you that but Sneijder is just not world-class anymore. Since the Turkish league is one of the ones I follow the most I could have told you that would be the case before the tournament. Spain being completely out now I will reiterate that I think Germany are the best team followed by Italy, after that it is a toss up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramirez Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 there is no doubt the Germans have looked best so far, but i'm impressed with the cojones of the Argentina coach, he took off a center back for a striker at half time even though they were one up, and they played much better in the second half! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMould Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 They just dont have much depth. The counter worked great against Spain because a) they are the slowest team in the tournament and b they play waaay too high up on the field. It didnt have the same effect against Australia and it won't work against most other top teams in the tournament. I would predict that chile beats Holland in the last game, then Brazil beats holland in the first knockout round. As for having one of the best attacking lines, Van Persie and Robben are two of the best players in the tournament hands down I'll give you that but Sneijder is just not world-class anymore. Since the Turkish league is one of the ones I follow the most I could have told you that would be the case before the tournament. Spain being completely out now I will reiterate that I think Germany are the best team followed by Italy, after that it is a toss up. Agree with above about Snejider but I really don't find Italy impressive at all, defensively against England they wern't that good. In the first half they looked very average, Quaters and maybe possibly semi's but really don't see Italy going far. I like them and thought the game was good, just didn't feel like England were beaten by world cup winners. 100% agree on the krouts being the #1 at the tourney, hate saying it but no point bullshitting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentor Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 Well that is the first upset of the tournament. Spain getting knocked out with 2 demoralizing defeats. I mean they do not even need to play game 3 because the damage is already done. I am not sure if this has ever happened. Has the world champs gotten KOed within just 2 games before? I remember cases where a favorite would fail to qualify, but never do i remember the champ not even needing a game 3 to seal their fate (and i have been watching the WC since 1986) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMould Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 They were saying last night on BBC that it's happened 5 times where the previous champs havn't beat the groups but I don't know about after only two games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwad12345 Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 They were saying last night on BBC that it's happened 5 times where the previous champs havn't beat the groups but I don't know about after only two games. I still like the France 2002 performance when the failed to score a single goal, they was pretty pitiful. I think they tied their second game though so they probably mathemetically had a chance going into the third. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jefframrod Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 I still like the France 2002 performance when the failed to score a single goal, they was pretty pitiful. I think they tied their second game though so they probably mathemetically had a chance going into the third. Yeah, after 2 games Senegal and Denmark both had 4 points while France and Uruguay both had 1 point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rac2 Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 sad to see Iniesta go home so early Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 sad to see Iniesta go home so early It's sad to see a team that really has the talent and the skill to become champions go home. This world cup is so far full of unexpected events. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 The biggest difference for me is that apart from Spain in recent years the club sides in Europe are far better than World Cup teams, but pre 1990s this wasn't the case so much. So there is much greater room for disappointment these days and boredom. This shouldn't be that big a surprise really; there are about 12 club sides in Europe who have a near monopoly on the games top players because they have huge sums of money to spend, while in a world cup they get spread over 32 countries; admittedly some of those teams have very few players who would get a look in at a top club but even low ranked teams like Australia have at least a few players at top clubs (though there might be a couple of teams with none). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMould Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 Well that was a clear second yellow for the red.... Ridiculous officiating trying to screw England again. Ref is bottling this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBK16 Posted June 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 Fuck it. I give up on England ever winning another competition. Qualifying is all good, but no point being there if you don't do shit in it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steel Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 well thats fucked it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steel Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 fortunately my great great great great grandmother fucked a Brazilian once, hence my natural tan, so I've always really been a Brazil supporter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 I once owned a Boca Juniors football shirt so I guess I'm actually Argentinian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 Well im a 200th generation Saxon so i guess im German and therefore support them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMould Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 Well my ancestry is from norther Europe and German once invaded the shit outta that so I guess I'm also German, I'm also blonde with blue eyes so my by... Ummm... "Some" I'd be considered the perfect German Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 Sorry guys I already did the claiming German-ness thing last world cup and the rest of you aren't welcome in this clubhouse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentor Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 I expected to fail in the tourney and unfortunately i was right. I did not expect us to get booted out with one game to go though. I feel we were better overall today, we just lacked the creativity and finishing to end the game. Uruguay get half a chance and they get 2 goals, i guess that is football for you. I am running out of teams to support in this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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