FIFA World Cup 2014

[GTA_stu]

Nah the Ivory Coast player did kick him. It was a fair penalty to give.

[GTAKid667]

Samaras had massive pressure on him there, as if he didn't score, Greece was going home.

 

But he kept calm and did score, and Greece has made it through the group stage for the first time ever (IIRC)

Edited June 24, 2014 by GTAKid667

[Kampioen]

Nah the Ivory Coast player did kick him. It was a fair penalty to give.

 

I'm gonna have to see it again but he clipped his foot that was lifted off the ground. It did cause him to trip though and he didn't play the ball so I guess it's a foul. But his foot was planted in the ground after it was clipped which is what really caused him to fall. It kinda looked like that's where the Ivory Coast player tackled him, which made it look a lot worse.

 

Would Ivory Coast have advanced with a draw?

Edited June 24, 2014 by CenMan

[Fireman]

I don't know stu, even commentators here are doubting it, I haven't seen it because I was watching Japan - Colombia.

 

I just watched it, he does hit the Nigerian player while kicking, but that's it. It doesn't seem to be the other way around (that the Nigerian player kicked him), he just seemed to be too late with shooting.

[cactus.]

Yes, they would have.

What an ending to that game. I feel awful for Ivory Coast. A close colleague of mine is Ivorian and I know they're crushed, because she kept talking about how much it meant to them. I may be feeling quite the same come Thursday.

he does hit the Nigerian player while kicking.

 

 

I think that's a legitimate foul. He basically plants his foot right between the ball and the on swinging leg, impeding the play rather cynically in my opinion.

Edited June 24, 2014 by TheCacti

[Eutyphro]

I saw it again. The defender did absolutely nothing and Samaras hit the defenders leg with his foot and then fell. I think it was nothing.

[Shoumaker]

Is this 2004 all over again? Great stuff again today from the games I felt would disappoint.

[Kampioen]

I saw it again. The defender did absolutely nothing and Samaras hit the defenders leg with his foot and then fell. I think it was nothing.

 

He did do something. He caused Samaras to fall by clipping his foot with his leg as it was raised. But it was very light and probably not intentional. I'm not sure what the rules are about whether it's intentional or not intentional but I don't think it was worth giving the victory to Greece for it.

[ddyoung]

f*cking Suarez and his biting. Can we remove his front teeth??

[Nlwt]

f*cking Suarez and his biting. Can we remove his front teeth??

Can't we just remove him altogether from football? Yeah let's do that.

[Kampioen]

f*cking Suarez and his biting. Can we remove his front teeth??

 

Next person he bites should knock them out.

[Eram]

f*cking Suarez and his biting. Can we remove his front teeth??

That could actually work. He would be able to perform nicer bl*wjobs, when he'll get locked up somewhere in the near future

He should had bitten Balotelli though, they surely deserve each other!

Edited June 24, 2014 by EramVerdes

[cactus.]

I'm sorry but this is funny:

 

Bets won by the Suarez bite

https://twitter.com/mats_1980/status/481502609690607616

https://twitter.com/FootyQuandary/status/481516400327290880/photo/1

[Doc Rikowski]

Read somewhere he could get a 2 years sanction. I hope so.

[Crokey]

£540 return on that bet...nice.

[GroundZero]

C'mon, we DESERVED to win the match, we had three shots at the post, for f*ck's sake... Also, Ivory Coast had one chance and they made it one goal... we DOMINATED them on the pitch. Even if it wasn't a penalty, it was totally fair that we won.

 

Although we will probably lose from Costa Rica...

[Eram]

LOL, Ghana's government just sent a chartered plane to Brazil with about 100.000 $ cash (declared) for each player, otherwise they would probably be a no show on Thursday's game...

The players highly doubt the $ would get to them after the last (?) game was played, again the ch4 doc about Ghana fixing games makes some sense...

 

It's official, I'm not joking (I wish!), though it seems like it.

 

Edit - http://www.myjoyonline.com/sports/2014/June-24th/confusion-over-unpaid-allowances-chartered-flight-flies-stars-cash-to-brazil.php

 

Now, this is truly a "doping shipment" from back home

Edited June 24, 2014 by EramVerdes

[Doc Rikowski]

No offense to anyone but having Greece or Costa Rica among the top 8 of a WC tells it all on the low quality of this WC.

Groups were obviously and terribly drawn.

[uJhatafart00]

 

 

Prandelli set to resign,

That's great news!

 

Balotelli, much overrated and wtf was he thinking there.

You know we're gonna get Allegri right? There is no one better than Prandelli out there, sad but true. Zaccheroni? Allegri? Lippi again? lol

I'm happy for Abete, though, that was a great news.

[BnB]

No offense to anyone but having Greece or Costa Rica among the top 8 of a WC tells it all on the low quality of this WC.

Groups were obviously and terribly drawn.

Underdogs making it out of the group stage is part of the competition. It would be boring, in my opinion, if this didn't happen and this is why it's such an entertaining world cup to watch in comparison to others. Also Costa Rica deserved to be qualified.

[Eutyphro]

I like Suarez as a player. He is one of the best players in the world, but they should suspend him for half a year or something. A suspension so long that he really won't ever do it again.

No offense to anyone but having Greece or Costa Rica among the top 8 of a WC tells it all on the low quality of this WC.

Groups were obviously and terribly drawn.

Everybody knew group C was completely sh*t, and Costa Rica becoming first was just a miracle.. I think somehow all 4 teams in that group were evenly matched, but Costa Rica had a great striker pair of Campbell and Ruiz. As it turns out, if you have 8 players that are fit and dilligent, and 2 up front that make the difference, you can have good results. The Netherlands is the same story. Dilligent players with Robben and RvP up front making the difference.

It was hard for Uruguayan, English and Italian players to compete with the fitness of the Costa Ricans after their long seasons.

Edited June 24, 2014 by gtaxpert

[Eram]

Reasons why Costa Rica is the best:

http://goliveincostarica.com/living-in-costa-rica/

http://www.thegliff.com/the-gliffs-ultimate-world-cup-guide-to-costa-rica/

 

They've got no army too and most of the country is a natural reserve.

I've been there while working, loved it!

Edited June 24, 2014 by EramVerdes

[Doc Rikowski]

 

No offense to anyone but having Greece or Costa Rica among the top 8 of a WC tells it all on the low quality of this WC.

Groups were obviously and terribly drawn.

Everybody knew group C was completely sh*t, and Costa Rica becoming first was just a miracle.. I think somehow all 4 teams in that group were evenly matched, but Costa Rica had a great striker pair of Campbell and Ruiz. As it turns out, if you have 8 players that are fit and dilligent, and 2 up front that make the difference, you can have good results. The Netherlands is the same story. Dilligent players with Robben and RvP up front making the difference.

 

It was hard for Uruguayan, English and Italian players to compete with the fitness of the Costa Ricans after their long seasons.

 

I agree and Costa Rica certainly deserved the spot and to reply also to BnB, yes, part of the competition but in the end nothing more than a fun fact.

Problem is all these little teams won't go past the quarter finals (sometimes not even past the round of 16) and then we'll all forget about them when the matches that really count will be played.

 

Also if top European players get to the WC completely unfit then we have a problem. Maybe the WC should be played mid season rather than at the end of the season.

Cause if you repeat those matches with Costa Rica, mid season with fit players, I'm sure Costa Rica would lose 9 out of 10 matches against Italy, England and Uruguay.

 

A WC that has no England, Italy, Spain and Portugal in the round of 16 is a bit less entertaining.

Of course none of the above deserved but still the difference in shape was very clear and to be honest resulted in weird eliminations of what supposedly are far better teams.

 

They should rethink the WC and reduce the number of participants.

Edited June 24, 2014 by Doc Rikowski

[Kampioen]

Reasons why Costa Rica is the best:

http://goliveincostarica.com/living-in-costa-rica/

http://www.thegliff.com/the-gliffs-ultimate-world-cup-guide-to-costa-rica/

 

They've got no army too and most of the country is a natural reserve.

I've been there while working, loved it!

 

But Uruguay's president is a humble man who lives on a small farm.

 

http://www.ibtimes.com/uruguays-farmer-president-shuns-wealth-883946

 

http://www.viralnova.com/poorest-president/

[Eutyphro]

A WC that has no England, Italy, Spain and Portugal in the round of 16 is a bit less entertaining.

Of course none of the above deserved but still the difference in shape was very clear and to be honest resulted in weird eliminations of what supposedly are far better teams.

 

They should rethink the WC and reduce the number of participants.

 

If you reduce the number of participants then a significant part of England, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France etc.. Won't even qualify anymore. It is a 'world' cup, so you need teams from all parts of the world. Cutting the amount of teams would have the most significant impact on the huge group of european teams that are allowed.

 

Qatar will probably be played mid season, because it is 55 degrees over there in summer.. It will be interesting to see how that will be if they do it, but the clubs will be angry about it. You'll see that at the end of the season clubs that happen to not have a lot of world cup players or that have a great bench will win the competition and the Champions Leaugue..

[bread]

What an ending to that game. I feel awful for Ivory Coast. A close colleague of mine is Ivorian and I know they're crushed, because she kept talking about how much it meant to them. I may be feeling quite the same come Thursday.

Hey now! We have a good chance of advancing, about an 86% chance. Despite the fact that Germany is the number 2 team in the world that doesn't mean we won't play terrible against them. We've been very flexible so far and we'll do just fine if we remain that way.

 

I'm still looking at a draw game, not specifically a fixed one, but a legitimate draw. Of course, others are gonna be skeptical about that. But we still advance.

[Danz.]

Maybe the WC should be played mid season rather than at the end of the season.

By mid season do you mean like December-January-February? Well, a WC couldn't happen in Brazil during such period, at least considering the heat in the last summer, which one was constantly hot (around 40°C/101°F), even in the more southern states, like mine which is getting colder and colder . The europeans were already complaining about the temperatures and humidity in matches that were played in the North and Northeast regions, despite it being early winter.

 

 

Also, if England, Italy and Spain got home earlier than it was predicted before the start of the WC, it's because they deserved it for playing like sh*t during important games. Right now I'm supporting either Argentina, Uruguay, Costa Rica or any team that plays against Brazil, 'cos f*ck my country and its cocky players.

 

I was supporting Japan as well, but.... they sucked. As for Italy, good riddance. The way they played was awful to watch, plain boring and their team, obviously, wasn't going to get to the finals. Balotelli, himself, wasn't able to display the quality that was expected from him. Same for Spain during the first 2 games, their lack of effort at the field was infuriating to watch.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Danz.

[Doc Rikowski]

Less participants = more quality.

That's how I see it.

Right now there are too many African teams, too many Asian ones and definitely too many European ones.

The 24 participants of past cups was the perfect number.

[Danz.]

Less participants = more quality.

That's how I see it.

Right now there are too many African teams, too many Asian ones and definitely too many European ones.

The 24 participants of past cups was the perfect number.

Are you actually blaming the number of teams for the fact that 3 or possibly 4 traditional teams were eliminated in earier stages of a Global Tournament? Like, really, is that the right excuse?

 

Teams like Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile and even Ghana are playing a fair football that's making the World Cup more intereisting to watch due to the surprises that their games can bring for predictions, bets and similar stuff. It's understandable if you're mad that your team wasn't able to get pass them and advance towards the next stage, but you gotta remember and probably rewatch these matches to see that Spain, Italy and England played effortlessly during extremely important matches, thinking that their "supposed" superiority would make up for that.

 

Seriously, just take a 2nd look at the Costa Rica 1 x 0 Italy game. You guys were literally walking in the field during the whole 2nd half of that match and seldom wanted to achieve a better result. The group as whole seemed too old and lacked the level of stamina that the South American and African teams had.

 

It's just the fact that all of these teams from Latin America were capable of bringing together both quality and effort during their games to advance to the next phase, and actually are aiming for the opponent's goal instead of being a boring and defensive team. That's why I'm supporting them in this World Cup at home.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Danz.

[Eram]

Ghana, you're joking right?

They've got 1 point so far.

 

They should have won against USA, but they just didn't.

 

I'm pretty sure they'll beat Portugal on Thursday though (each Ghana player should now be having a boost while counting their 100K$...), but both German coaches will take care of them...

Edited June 25, 2014 by EramVerdes