FIFA World Cup 2014

[Danz.]

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...

I said maybe. They are possibly the best African team from the current era, barring Algeria, whose team's quality drops significantly during the 2nd half of their matches, just like Italy's one.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Danz.

[Eutyphro]

Ghana played under their level against the US. They were amazing against Germany. I would like to see them go through, but it is unlikely. I love it when matches go from one end of the pitch to the other in seconds and Ghana is playing. One second Ghana has 7 players in attack and a few seconds later they have 7 players in defence. Physically Ghana is a top team, but they failed against the US, and now the US will most likely go through.

 

Portugals team is a mess of mediocre players, injured players, players out of shape like Ronaldo, and idiots like Pepe. They deserve to go out because they've been both the lesser team against Ghana and the US. You can constantly see Ronaldo annoyed at how sh*t his team is, but he isn't playing well himself either. The best player this tournament thusfar is Robben.

Edited June 25, 2014 by gtaxpert

[I cucked Alex Jones]

If you improve the pots and seeding weak teams shouldn't be an issue. Costa Rica was drawn in one of the toughest groups and they finished with seven points. Removing the smaller teams removes half the fun from the WC.

[Ari Gold]

Nipperkins beat me to the punch, but I was thinking the same thing while reading the previous page. Drawing Spain and the Netherlands, and Italy, England and Uruguay in the same group, is completely bonkers and is a result of inefficient seeding more than anything else. You can still have the same number of teams in the tournament, but if they're spread out fairly and the seeds are divided solely on the basis of ranking, then if a team who's 50th in the world ends up upending the top two seeds in the group, then good on them.

 

Also, just as a side, the FIFA World Rankings are actually terrible; seeding should be based off of Elo rankings.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Ari Gold

[Mr Rabbit]

This is what they should do about Suarez:

A really long ban a REAL fine and kick his country out of the world cup in favour of Italy, that way the fans and team-mates who might be tempted to defend him will shut the f*ck up and will have a TRUE opinion on his disgraceful behaviour, we were saying Suarez might bite someone at the world cup as a f*cking joke yet it seems he has gone and done it, which can only mean that this man IS a joke. Great player but one of the worst attitudes in the history of the game and one of the worst people in it.

 

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.

Hello there Mr Blatter

If the players cannot stay fit for a few extra weeks in the buildup to the world cup then they do not deserve to be there.

 

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.

Sounds like you are suggesting less participants so we can have the same teams in the last 16 and the quarters every time to avoid shocks like what we are getting which is what cup football at its core is all about - F*CKING WHAT!? most ludicrous thing I have heard. The smaller teams that ARE there are there because they played the better football, like Costa Rica, so deserve their chance a few, like Greece got lucky. This is one of the best world cups ever mainly in part of these shocks. You might think on paper a knockout phase without those teams would be less entertaining but I am certain you will be proven wrong. The big teams that missed out missed out because they either did not perform (England, Spain and Portugal) only Italy were knocked out by a real shock.

 

 

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.

F*cking what? the groups are drawn randomly (or as far as we know with certain rules in place, now this is down to the FIFA rankings which I admit are total and complete bollocks so the drawing will be affected but it does not show the lack of quality at this World cup, not even slightly. This World cup has been amazing. Also both teams were seen as outsiders for their group, and yet got through, one of them in 1st place, so that is a major shock, can't blame the drawing system in this case of major shock. This shock is one of the great things about this World Cup, and about cup football as a whole, if you were to hang around for footy chat during the season (I have never seen you) then you would probably know that.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Flynny

[Der_Don]

Quality-wise, the World Cups can't keep up with the Euros. But that's okay for me. I enjoy seeing small countries causing upsets against the bigger nations. I'm absolutely delighted to see the likes of Costa Rica progress, what an achievement!

 

Congrats Greece! So glad I watched the whole game, that was great entertainment. Probably the best game from Greece in the last years.

 

Oh, and as for the Germany - USA game, I really hope it ends in a boring 0-0 draw with both teams risking absolutely nothing just to see this place (and probably the whole internet) explode. Joachim, Jürgen.... take over.

 

My predictions are so absolutely f*cking sh*t this tournament, it's embarassing.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Der_Don

[Kampioen]

Quality-wise, the World Cups can't keep up with the Euros. But that's okay for me. I enjoy seeing small countries causing upsets against the bigger nations. I'm absolutely delighted to see the likes of Costa Rica progress, what an achievement!

 

Congrats Greece! So glad I watched the whole game, that was great entertainment. Probably the best game from Greece in the last years.

 

Oh, and as for the Germany - USA game, I really hope it ends in a boring 0-0 draw with both teams risking absolutely nothing just to see this place (and probably the whole internet) explode. Joachim, Jürgen.... take over.

 

My predictions are so absolutely f*cking sh*t this tournament, it's embarassing.

 

I love seeing small countries stirring sh*t up. If i don't have any connection to one of the two countries in a match I'm always rooting for the underdog. This has worked out very well so far this tournament.

 

Oh and you're not the only one who's predictions have sucked this time. It's like this world cup is taking place in an alternate universe.

 

Why don't you want your country to win against the US?

[Kampioen]

Even though it's so hard to make predictions in the world cup, how about some top 3's for chances of winning the WC?

 

Brazil

Germany

Netherlands

[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.

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?

 

I think I said it quite clearly that Italy, Spain, England and Portugal didn't deserve to pass, played sh*t and that Costa Rica did earn a spot fairly. Just re-read my posts please.

 

What I'm saying, just talking in general, that given that I've been watching WC matches since WC 1982 I can clearly see that cups with 24 participants had more quality than cups with 32.

It doesn't matter to me who qualifies to the round of 16, I still believe that 32 participants are too many.

And as I said, there are even too many European teams (and in my post I didn't mention SAmerican ones cause their number is the right one imo).

 

About this WC, Greece vs Costa Rica in a knock out stage is not the most interesting WC match to watch for me. But that's personal opinion so it's highly subjective.

You will enjoy it, I'll just skip it.

 

@nipperkins: I didn't say to remove small teams, just reduce the spots so that the few quality small teams can get to quarter finals.

Cameroon in 1990 got to quarter finals exactly cause of that. Less participants = more quality = more chances even for the small teams.

Since 1990 the only exceptions were Senegal in 2002 (I don't count SK of course) and Ghana in 2010.

Not much. Not enough to justify 32 participants with too many European, Asian and African teams that won't go past group stage or will be smashed in round of 16.

 

Anyway I think at least we can all agree the seeding is done terribly when 3 former WC Champions are forced to play in the same group.

They played awfully? Yes indeed. Was the seeding awful? Yes indeed.

 

@ Flynny: well, if players can't stay fit till the WC there might be a problem related to the overall amount of matches played during regular season.

Is it a coincidence that players from 3 of the top 4 leagues in Europe appeared all tired and unfit?

 

In the end small teams passing to round of 16 (and being smashed in it) it can be fun from a fan point of view but it is indeed the sign of a poor quality WC.

Even the large amount of goals is a sign of the same poor quality. Yes, it's fun to watch goals happening, but it is also true that most goals are the result of low quality defending, which in terms of football is not a nice thing to watch.

 

---

 

On a lighter note, Americans are getting "the fever"!

 

[Vercetti42]

 

[Kampioen]

 

 

I think I said it quite clearly that Italy, Spain, England and Portugal didn't deserve to pass, played sh*t and that Costa Rica did earn a spot fairly. Just re-read my posts please.

 

What I'm saying, just talking in general, that given that I've been watching WC matches since WC 1982 I can clearly see that cups with 24 participants had more quality than cups with 32.

It doesn't matter to me who qualifies to the round of 16, I still believe that 32 participants are too many.

And as I said, there are even too many European teams (and in my post I didn't mention SAmerican ones cause their number is the right one imo).

 

About this WC, Greece vs Costa Rica in a knock out stage is not the most interesting WC match to watch for me. But that's personal opinion so it's highly subjective.

You will enjoy it, I'll just skip it.

 

@nipperkins: I didn't say to remove small teams, just reduce the spots so that the few quality small teams can get to quarter finals.

Cameroon in 1990 got to quarter finals exactly cause of that. Less participants = more quality = more chances even for the small teams.

Since 1990 the only exceptions were Senegal in 2002 (I don't count SK of course) and Ghana in 2010.

Not much. Not enough to justify 32 participants with too many European, Asian and African teams that won't go past group stage or will be smashed in round of 16.

 

Anyway I think at least we can all agree the seeding is done terribly when 3 former WC Champions are forced to play in the same group.

They played awfully? Yes indeed. Was the seeding awful? Yes indeed.

 

@ Flynny: well, if players can't stay fit till the WC there might be a problem related to the overall amount of matches played during regular season.

Is it a coincidence that players from 3 of the top 4 leagues in Europe appeared all tired and unfit?

 

In the end small teams passing to round of 16 (and being smashed in it) it can be fun from a fan point of view but it is indeed the sign of a poor quality WC.

Even the large amount of goals is a sign of the same poor quality. Yes, it's fun to watch goals happening, but it is also true that most goals are the result of low quality defending, which in terms of football is not a nice thing to watch.

 

---

 

On a lighter note, Americans are getting "the fever"!

 

 

 

What exactly do you mean by "more quality"? More fun to watch?

[Fireman]

I thought this was funny:

 

The odds were 175 to 1.

 

 

According to Darren Rovell of ESPN, 167 people made the bet that Suarez would bite someone during the World Cup, including the owner of the ticket stub seen above. That ticket belongs to Thomas Syversen, who bet 32 krone (about $5.25 USD) on Suarez biting someone. He cashed in for 5600 krone (a little over $916) on the bet. Not a bad bit of business.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Fireman

[cactus.]

 

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.

 

 

I think this German team is more than capable of beating us even if they're not playing at their full capacity. A draw would be a great result for us and I'll take it, but I'm not expecting that. I really feel that our chances are heavily depending on the Ghana/Portugal result.

 

 

Anyway I think at least we can all agree the seeding is done terribly when 3 former WC Champions are forced to play in the same group.

They played awfully? Yes indeed. Was the seeding awful? Yes indeed.

 

I understand what you mean, but the fact that they're "former" WC champions shouldn't matter at all. We're talking +50 years (apprx.) since two of those teams saw glory at the World Cup. I'd say it turned out to be a pretty well balanced group.

Edited June 25, 2014 by TheCacti

[Peregrin Brandytook]

[Doc Rikowski]

What exactly do you mean by "more quality"? More fun to watch?

I mean technical quality, skill, effective tactics and overall strategy.

That, usually, is no fun to watch if you think football is meant to be an entertaining show.

Basically I like a good 0-0 match if it's the result of two strong defenses as much as some people would enjoy a 3-2 one where goals are easily scored.

But you know, I'm Italian.

 

There have been some very good goals in this WC but the amount of goals/headers conceded on corners and free kicks is a bit ridiculous.

Yesterday Italy conceded a goal made with the back of a shoulder!

If that's the quality of what historically is supposed to be a strong defense then imagine the rest.

 

---

 

btw

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2014 by Doc Rikowski

[I cucked Alex Jones]

Suarez's favorite food are Italian subs.

[Vercetti42]

Suarez on his WC bite: "Things like these happen"

[Doc Rikowski]

Suarez on his WC bite: "Things like these happen"

Yes Suarez, everyone bites a defender from time to time.

[_FRANKENSTEIN_]

Great goal!

[Girish]

What's that... 4 goals in 3 matches for Messi now? Hmm... this might just turn out to be Messi's world cup, provided his teammates don't f*ck up. I'm still gonna bet on Germany or Brazil though.

[Danz.]

What's that... 4 goals in 3 matches for Messi now? Hmm... this might just turn out to be Messi's world cup, provided his teammates don't f*ck up.

I hope so. It will be very funny to see how the extremely biased and annoying brazilian commentators will react if Argentina wins the World Cup. F*ck this guy. I seriously want to see the tears in the eyes of this motherf*cker when Brazil gets eliminated from its own WC:

 

Galvão Bueno, the biggest cocksucker in the brazilian television:

 

 

You don't know how annoying it is to watch games narrated by him. Pick the most retarded European narrator you can find and take his annoyance up to eleven.

 

Edited June 25, 2014 by Danz.

[GN 92]

 

What's that... 4 goals in 3 matches for Messi now? Hmm... this might just turn out to be Messi's world cup, provided his teammates don't f*ck up.

I hope so. It will be very funny to see how the extremely biased and annoying brazilian commentators will react if Argentina wins the World Cup. F*ck this guy. I seriously want to see the tears in the eyes of this motherf*cker when Brazil gets eliminated from its own WC:

 

 

You don't know how annoying it is to watch games narrated by him. Pick the most retarded European narrator you can find and take his annoyance up to eleven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOL

 

Can't wait for ARG vs BRA.

 

sh*tmar must get his ass kicked by Messi.

[Doc Rikowski]

If things proceed with no surprises, according to the table, semifinals will be:

 

Brazil vs Germany/France

Argentina vs Holland

[Kampioen]

 

What exactly do you mean by "more quality"? More fun to watch?

I mean technical quality, skill, effective tactics and overall strategy.

That, usually, is no fun to watch if you think football is meant to be an entertaining show.

Basically I like a good 0-0 match if it's the result of two strong defenses as much as some people would enjoy a 3-2 one where goals are easily scored.

But you know, I'm Italian.

 

There have been some very good goals in this WC but the amount of goals/headers conceded on corners and free kicks is a bit ridiculous.

Yesterday Italy conceded a goal made with the back of a shoulder!

If that's the quality of what historically is supposed to be a strong defense then imagine the rest.

 

---

 

btw

 

 

 

 

 

Ah I see. Personally I do like seeing lots of goals so a strong defense isn't really something I care about much when watching a game (unless my country is playing of course. ) I like to see the two teams constantly one-upping each other. A 3-3 at the 80th minute is perfect for me.

[Danz.]

 

 

What exactly do you mean by "more quality"? More fun to watch?

I mean technical quality, skill, effective tactics and overall strategy.

That, usually, is no fun to watch if you think football is meant to be an entertaining show.

Basically I like a good 0-0 match if it's the result of two strong defenses as much as some people would enjoy a 3-2 one where goals are easily scored.

But you know, I'm Italian.

 

There have been some very good goals in this WC but the amount of goals/headers conceded on corners and free kicks is a bit ridiculous.

Yesterday Italy conceded a goal made with the back of a shoulder!

If that's the quality of what historically is supposed to be a strong defense then imagine the rest.

 

---

 

btw

 

 

 

 

 

Ah I see. Personally I do like seeing lots of goals so a strong defense isn't really something I care about much when watching a game (unless my country is playing of course. ) I like to see the two teams constantly one-upping each other. A 3-3 at the 80th minute is perfect for me.

 

This!

 

Watching extremely defensive teams playing against each other is like playing Free Mode in GTA IV Mp, nothing to see, nothing to expect from it, just boredom until a random goal happens and the game ends, this if such goal happens after your patience ends, because it's likely to end in a 0-0.

 

In football/soccer the more goals, the better, regardless of how the game is played. Teams who don't aim for it just don't deserve to win, Iran was a good example of a bad team that displayed extremely defensive tatics. They could well put all of their players in the goal alongsidethe goalkeeper just to make that specific formation of theirs sucessful.

 

Well, almost, as you can see they weren't able to qualify for the next stage of the WC, because Nigeria deserved it more for being a team that relies more in their attack than their defense.

 

The same could be said about Italy's elimination, however, the difference is that its players are of a much higher quality than these from Iran, therefore it was just about a retarded defensive formation that simply isn't working in this WC. That's the reason why it has been great so far.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Danz.

[Kampioen]

 

This!

 

Watching extremely defensive teams playing against each other is like playing Free Mode in GTA IV Mp, nothing to see, nothing to expect from it, just boredom until a random goal happens and the game ends, this if such goal happens after your patience ends, because it's likely to end in a 0-0.

 

In football/soccer the more goals, the better, regardless of how the game is played. Teams who don't aim for it just don't deserve to win, Iran was a good example of a bad team that displayed extremely defensive tatics. They could well put all of their players in the goal alongsidethe goalkeeper just to make that specific formation of theirs sucessful.

 

Well, almost, as you can see they weren't able to qualify for the next stage of the WC, because Nigeria deserved it more for being a team that relies more in their attack than their defense.

 

The same could be said about Italy's elimination, however, the difference is that its players are of a much higher quality than these from Iran, therefore it was just about a retarded defensive formation that simply isn't working in this WC. That's the reason why it has been great so far.

 

 

Putting a bunch of players in the goal is an imaginary tactic of mine which I wonder if it works. Just have about 5 players hanging from the top of the goal throughout the whole game with the keeper in front, and leave 4 players to try to score.

 

Another one is what I call the tank. Have one player walk/run with the ball, and put the rest of the team in formation around him. Can't tackle the players surrounding him because you wouldn't be playing the ball. Then just walk right into the opponent's goal haha.

[Doc Rikowski]

 

The same could be said about Italy's elimination, however, the difference is that its players are of a much higher quality than these from Iran, therefore it was just about a retarded defensive formation that simply isn't working in this WC. That's the reason why it has been great so far.

 

 

Actually Italy's problem this year was a sh*t defence and a sterile attack.

I like a good defence only when paired with a deadly and quick counterattack.

Like in 2006. 12 goals scored and only 2 suffered (an own goal and a penalty).

That's when a good defence works wonders; when the attack works too.

[Crokey]

Suarez's favorite food are Italian subs.

Food you say?, then you need to visit the Suarez Cafe

 

 

And while you're there go watch this on the big screen.

 

[GTA_stu]

What the f*ck has that Ecuadorian player got on his head!

 

 

[AndyGanteks]

Suarez on his WC bite: "Things like these happen"

 

Meanwhile Uruguay FA claims it was shopped.

http://www.caughtoffside.com/2014/06/25/uruguayan-fa-to-claim-luis-suarez-bite-marks-were-photoshopped-onto-giorgio-chiellinis-shoulder/

 

Lol, this will be funny, however it ends.