The FIFA World Cup 2014 Thread

[JoJo]

Gah, and the first half of the England vs Italy match was going so well, so many close chances and ends at 2-1 -.-

At-least with Uraguay's poor performance against Costa Rica, maybe we can beat both of them and make it out of this group alive >.>

 

[rosac]

Oh England.

I barely follow football, but I reckon Barkley deserves a bit more play time if he's consistently that good! I was so annoyed at Rooney for taking the ball from him and then launching it into the Amazon rainforest.

Also, watching the Netherlands-Spain game was incredible, especially as I have Spanish friends. Unlucky guys.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

Disappointing opening game for us but not entirely unexpected (we should be accustomed to disappointment by now XD). Predicted a 1-1 draw beforehand thinking they had an ageing midfield, injured first choice keeper and lone attacking threat in Balotelli but it seems once we hit the hour mark we replicated the Italians play in the first half hour by keeping possession and not doing anything substantial with it, never being able to penetrate their back line and wasting all our set pieces. Sterling playing in the hole was a nice experiment against a side mostly playing through the middle and his pass through to Rooney was exquisite but I think we'd be better off playing Wazza in his optimal no. 10 for the next two games. Ross Barkley and hopefully Oxlade-Chamberlain if he's fit would also be great to have as impact players coming off the bench, so here's hoping we can salvage things come Thursday. I wouldn't think going in we'd get any further than the quarters but dropping out of the group stage would be pretty fucking humiliating. >.> Also Horrendeson was fucking shocking, would definitely prefer an injured Wilshere over him. Uruguay was kind of surprising but on the other hand when you take away Cavani and Suarez (who's injury may still hopefully rule him out of Thursday) they really don't have anything all that special. Holland have kind of been my go-to second team to support since about 2004 so seeing them give Spain a 5-1 dicking was pretty brilliant especially as a Man U fan knowing what Van Gaal can bring to us in the new season. Seen all the games of the tournament (with varying degrees of interest/engagement) with Japan vs Ivory Coast in the background as I type this and it's shaping up to be an interesting competition though I just hope the three lion's fortunes can improve.

 

[Rylot]

The 'Murica vs Ghana match is up in two days...

Holy shit! We have a team in this? Hope they do well, but I don't care enough to actually watch...

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Holy shit that Holland vs Spain match was simply amazing.

Talk about getting steamrolled.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The 'Murica vs Ghana match is up in two days...

Holy shit! We have a team in this? Hope they do well, but I don't care enough to actually watch...

The US has never made it past quarter finals (except once in 1930) so they're not exactly a betting horse. Brazil, Germany and Italy have won the most World Cups and they're always speculated to win every time, with Spain and sometimes England thrown into consideration. The Netherlands is a recurring favorite with the record for most second wins without ever actually winning the finals. But to give you an idea, there have been 19 World Cups so far and they've all been won by the same 8 countries every time (with France and Spain jumping in more or less recently). Broadly speaking if your country isn't European or South American there's little chance it'll win.

 

[Rylot]

snip

That makes it sound even less interesting. Do they have a women's division for the World Cup or is it a mens teams only?

 

[Aris Khandr]

snip

That makes it sound even less interesting. Do they have a women's division for the World Cup or is it a mens teams only?

This one is for men only. The Women's World Cup will be held in Canada next year.

 

[Godhead]

I have little hope for the good ol' USA. So I'll root for for where my ancestors came from.

Spoiler: FÜR DEUTSCHLAND!

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

snip

That makes it sound even less interesting. Do they have a women's division for the World Cup or is it a mens teams only?

It is pretty uninteresting if you think about it for a sec But that's the magic of football, if you don't think about it sometimes it feels like anybody could win.

There's a Women's World Cup but it's not broadcasted in Argentina and as such receives little to no following or interest in my country.

 

[Bravo Company]

Also, in terms of past matches, Spain vs. Netherlands was, frankly, tragic.

How so? Now, much as I respect the WC'10 winning team, most of that lot were already either late twenties or early thirties and they started the match against the Netherlands yesterday. That rather troubled me, to be honest...

How was the Netherlands vs. Spain game not tragic? The previous WC winners lost 1-5 in the first match. Did you see the game? I missed it but the highlights reel showed it had to be pretty disappointing.


I'm rooting for USA, our international team has been decent. I don't expect us to get very far. Kinda hoping that Germany wins this WC since they should have won in 2010. Its also entertaining to watch Germans play soccer.


I watched the England vs. Italy game and England definitely put up a fight.

 

[shootthebandit]

Although, I am of Scottish heritage, but they didn't qualify either, so...

I am scottish its pretty much a given we dont qualify

Ill probably be supporting england but im a bit of a mercenary when it comes to football. I root for the team that is going to make me money. Ive got a coupon on the 1st and 2nd from each group at 12000/1. Its unlikely ill win but if I do ill be laughing. The only problem is im in Saudi at the minute and cant access gambling sites so I cant remember which teams I picked

Well, from an English perspective this is going better than expected...

I have to agree. Im rooting for England, obviously been scottish ill support another british team plus ive got uraguay 1st and England 2nd in that group. I was thinking Italy but England usually get out of group stages by the skin of their teeth

England played well. I didnt stay up till 1am local time to watch it but I watched the highlights at breakfast today. Its good to see a younger team (with a bit of experience from gerrard) rather than the old dogs. To only lose by one goal isnt bad going against italy especially with a relatively new team

 

[Nickolai77]

Against a team like Italy I don't think you can be too disappointed with a 2-1 defeat. Just be glad it wasn't 3-1 as it almost was with that terrifying free-kick Italy got towards the end of the match. The Italians had an unbreakable defence in the second half, but you'd have thought that with all the corners and free kicks we got we could maybe have equalised.

 

[leberkaese]

I'm German, so it's not easy to do the following: I bow my head to Netherlands' great game against Spain!
Spain didn't play THAT bad to deserve a 5:1, but at least a 3:1 would be a fitting result. Spain just lost every confidence after the 3:1 and couldn't play anymore.

Also, what a game by Costa Rica.

Looking forward to Ger-Por on Monday, my personal highlight during group phase.

 

[Aedes]

Brazilian here.
You can pretty much believe the stereotype I'm living at the moment as I'm "breathing" football since the World Cup started. Watched very single game so far and I would continue to do so if I didn't had to work Monday <.<
Cheering for Brazil because Duh! I don't really have a second team at the moment but I do know which teams I don't want to win *cought*spainitaly*cought*, sore throat, sorry.

I'm slightly concerned if Brazil drops out too soon cause the protests might return in full force. Although justified, I feel it would do more harm than good at this moment.

But back to football, the referees on the first matches were freaking terrible. Brazil penalty was nonexistant, the Mexico match was the most outrageous as it should be 3x0 instead of the 1x0 at the end and that Spain penalty as well was fairly dubious. It has improved slightly but gosh, I hope we don't have to see any more of referee bullshit from now on.
That aside, the number of goals is better by far compared to the last World Cup. In 3 days we had the same number of goals that South Africa had in 8. I'm so pumped to see the rest of it.

 

[Eamar]

But back to football, the referees on the first matches were freaking terrible. Brazil penalty was nonexistant, the Mexico match was the most outrageous as it should be 3x0 instead of the 1x0 at the end and that Spain penalty as well was fairly dubious. It has improved slightly but gosh, I hope we don't have to see any more of referee bullshit from now on.

Yeah, I have to agree with all of this. It was massively disappointing that it was the refereeing that (rightly) dominated the discussion of the first few matches, and I have to admit I was genuinely alarmed at how blatantly wrong some of those calls were...

As you say though, it seems to be improving, so fingers crossed!

 

[Rylot]

snip

That makes it sound even less interesting. Do they have a women's division for the World Cup or is it a mens teams only?

It is pretty uninteresting if you think about it for a sec But that's the magic of football, if you don't think about it sometimes it feels like anybody could win.

There's a Women's World Cup but it's not broadcasted in Argentina and as such receives little to no following or interest in my country.

I guess it's pretty similar to the sports I do watch (ice hockey, gridiron football); if by some miracle they get a decent roster they'll have injuries galore.

Does Argentina not have a women's team? If not I'm pretty surprised, figured they did.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Brazilian here.

Any comments on that penalty against Croatia?

snip

That makes it sound even less interesting. Do they have a women's division for the World Cup or is it a mens teams only?

It is pretty uninteresting if you think about it for a sec But that's the magic of football, if you don't think about it sometimes it feels like anybody could win.

There's a Women's World Cup but it's not broadcasted in Argentina and as such receives little to no following or interest in my country.

I guess it's pretty similar to the sports I do watch (ice hockey, gridiron football); if by some miracle they get a decent roster they'll have injuries galore.

Does Argentina not have a women's team? If not I'm pretty surprised, figured they did.

We do have a women's national football team, it's just that nobody gives a fuck about it. For starters, there's no professional women's league in Argentina, meaning that all members are amateur and not particularly good. As such matches aren't broadcast or given much light at all. It's probably a sexist cultural thing.

The only good women's national team are the field hockey gals, Las Leonas. They just won 3rd place at the Hockey World Cup I believe and usually are very good at what they do.

 

[Total LOLige]

Seriously, how good are these Ecuadorians at dribbling? Immense players.

So disappointed by England's loss last night, we deserved to win it. I thought that Sterling shot went in and so did the BBC, they changed the scoreboard and everything. It wasn't all bad though last night because I won £65 courtesy of Ivory Coast. I just couldn't resist Ray Winstone's live odds. He appeared on screen "Ivory Coast to win at 13/2, have a bang on that". It was like something out of the Bible.