FIFA World Cup 2014

[Xanatos]

That was ****ing hilarious

[Lily]

England are so embarrassing, im going to pretend I'm from....well, anywhere else v_v

Colleen will regret taking 15 cases of luggage with her now, daft cow

[Xanatos]

Even though they lost England actually played well in these two games. They still have a chance to go into second round, a slim one, but a chance nevertheless, however it all depends on Italy today.

If I had to pinpoint their worst player it would definitely be Gerrard. He's not quite himself for quite awhile now and yet Hodgson's throwing him onto pitch just because he plays for Liverpool, which by the way Hodgson was a coach of prior to this gig.

[charliepanayi]

Italy were awful today. Costa Rica have been great so far, would love them to top the group now. Italy v Uruguay should be a fun winner takes all game anyway.

[Xanatos]

I took a nap while Switzerland was apparently being demolished by France. I'll be sure to check a brief summary later on just to see all those goals.

Costa Rica was such a pleasant surprise, just shows that that against Uruguay wasn't a mere fluke, they even should have had a penalty.

[che]

Costa Rica is impressive!

And, France is not the shitty team that I thought they were. Holy crap, actually the opposite. Switzerland actually got two nice goals in the last 10 minutes, but obviously it didn't quite matter.

[Xanatos]

Yo linesman, the ****?! A completely regular goal by Džeko was ruled out tonight.

In all honesty though Nigeria was clearly better, aside from Begović, Šunjić, and perhaps another player or two it was overall a terrible performance by Bosnia and Herzegovina, just the opposite of what they showed against Argentina. Džeko and Spahić were by far the worst out of the bunch, Emenike mostly toyed with Spahić. It was appalling how badly prepared half of these players are for these conditions.

Among many Sušić gave another reason why most of us consider him to be incompetent and unprofessional, as if there wasn't already a big uproar when he called his nephew to play who by the way is not even regular in a mediocre club he plays in, today he threw him onto the pitch even though lad's clearly in piss poor condition. Out of all moments he choose this one to try and push his nephews career. Pathetic.

Speaking of pathetic, Argentina is not just not convincing but borderline bad. If they continue to play like this and rely solely on Messi and I don't see them going far.

[che]

What is even wrong with Argentina? I don't get it... it's like Di Maria was the only person who even gave a shit.

I didn't get to see Bosnia. That Germany/Ghana game though. Some of the best football I've seen yet. Ghana is such a tough team. I'm really hoping the USA team can kick Portugal's ass tomorrow, but it's not going to be easy an easy game at all. I think Portugal are pissed about losing 4-0 to Germany.

[loaf]

another thing i like about the world cup is the fifa world cup version of the video game

[Xanatos]

I decided to skip Germany - Ghana, I regret that decision now, it seems like it was a true beauty. I'm extremely glad for Klose though, one more goal and he'll be near untouchable. With each passing day there are less legends like him, we are talking here about a guy who admitted that his goal was all but regular a while ago, all while the score was not in his teams favor. Lazio lost that game by the way.

[loaf]

The Fifa 2014 World Cup video game is really on point, even the refs suck.

[Xanatos]

You have no idea what bad referees are, try playing PES. At least in FIFA referees know how to play advantage and if necessary issue a yellow/red card after said advantage is played or interrupted.

[LocoColt04]

Tonight's game will have significant impact on the group's advancements. I really think USA is gonna pull this out because they've been playing with a head full of steam all of a sudden.


~ sent from my Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

[loaf]

We all did Loco...till the very last second.

[LocoColt04]

Yeah... some bullshit there. Who adds FIVE MINUTES of extra time? Ugh.


~ sent from my Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

[loaf]

I was talking to Che, I said 4 Min and that was a lot.

[Xanatos]

Portugal has always been full of quality names but never a team. They have a terrible goal difference, even if they beat Ghana, which is highly questionable right now seeing as how they play, and USA loses against Germany USA still has a good chance to go to the second round.

Tonight is the night. We have to beat Mexico to go further. I'm certain we'll do just that, with players such as Modrić and Rakitić Croatia has quality to do so, although it will be all but easy.

[HeroZero]

Croatia, did not have a particularly good showing in their match vs Mexico. The back to back goals by Mexico were just murder. I will admit after they scored the third one I ceased paying attention, so I did not see Croatia's goal.

[Xanatos]

Well, that was embarrassing.

As long as we keep letting amateur "coaches" school themselves on our team this shit will continue to happen. It's as if we learned nothing out of qualifications where Croatia was lead by that other fool, Štimac. Let's face it, Croatia didn't have a decent coach since 98. We need to approach this matter same way USA and Switzerland did, although I highly doubt that will ever happen.

This is also a good opportunity to thank certain players for all they did and fare them goodbye, primarily Olić, Pletikosa, Pranjić, especially Pranjić, perhaps even Srna.

[charliepanayi]

I predicted Italy would go out in the first round, and I was right! Great achievement by Costa Rica to top the group. If as seems likely they play Ivory Coast in the next round that's a good chance for either side to make the quarter-finals.

As for Suarez, oh dear...

[Xanatos]

Suarez is undoubtedly a great player, one of the best right now, but he's clearly mad. He could easily be suspended for the rest of the World Cup for this or even worse, there's some talk about two years suspension seeing as how this is the third time he's pulling this off, although I highly doubt it will be anything that severe.

Greece has never been a favorite of mine due to god awful football they play, but it's working for them which is more than I can say for some other teams I do like. They are down to earth, they know their limitations, which are plenty by the way, so they concentrate on what they do best, and that's defending. Plus, luck seems to be always on their side.

[che]

Suarez is a great player, but there's no room for biting people in sports. I don't care, he should never be allowed to play again for doing that shit. Make an example out of him.

[nix]

Haha hes a mad bastard, tbh though, he probably hurt himself more than the player and imo kicking someone with studs purposely is far worse and more common and would only get you the red if caught. The only reason hes getting this ban is because biting is unheard of, i think its a harsh punishment.

[Xanatos]

The sentence Suarez got is more or less along the lines of what I expected, suspension of nine games for Uruguay, four months in all competitions, and 100 000 francs to pay, I'm sure a laughable sum for someone like him.

He should consider himself lucky it's not as severe as it easily might have been.

[charliepanayi]

He's not missing the game against Arsenal, so clearly the punishment isn't harsh enough!

[Xanatos]

Chile, Mexico and Greece were ever so near. As soon as Greece began I told my father this will end in penalties after which Greece will go to the next round, I was so close. I was hopping Greece could pull another miracle, luck can only get you so far, I guess.

I don't see how Brazil can go through Columbia, with each game they are less convincing, not that they were any good to begin with.

[charliepanayi]

Brazil can go through, because they have Neymar, they have Scolari, because they have home support, and as good as Colombia have been so far, they have beaten four not especially good sides and even a limited Brazil side will be a much harder test. Of course, Colombia can certainly win and I would not be surprised if they did, I'm just not sure they will.

[che]

Colombia is looking like one of the best teams in the cup. I think for every team, each additional match is tougher than the last in this cup. No team has really been easy in these games. (I think I'm gonna have to say that this is my favorite world cup to date)

Brazil can still beat Colombia. Brazil is creative, always has been, and often find ways to win in the end. That being said, they haven't really convinced me yet. But this Colombia squad, where any of 5 people can finish, it's hard to say who can beat their style right now. I can't even imagine if Falcao hadn't been injured what destruction Colombia would be causing.

I was thoroughly impressed with the France - Nigeria game. That was exciting to watch.

Jozy Altidore is ready for USA-Belgium. I hope he is actually ready, as at any point - no matter what you think - these injuries like hamstrings and groin strains can come back to haunt you.

Now it is time to see what Germany can do in the knockout stage. I think this should be an interesting game, but I don't count on Algeria threatening them too much. We shall see.

[Xanatos]

Algeria proved to be a tough nut to crack. I'm familiar with their coach, he's from around here, and let me tell you, he knows his business.

I have to give a slight advantage to Belgium today, looking just at names they most definitely have one of better teams on this World Cup. USA however proved it's more than capable to go against anyone. It should be an interesting match.

(I think I'm gonna have to say that this is my favorite world cup to date)

Mine's World Cup 98 in France. Man, was Croatia good back then. Plus, I'll never forget the sheer brilliance of Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo.

[che]

I can't even be mad about this loss to Belgium. They have such great depth in their squad. So many premier league players, and talent. Today was yet another tough match for the USA's team this cup. Beating Ghana (who I think surprised everyone), tieing Portugal (would have been 2-1 win for USA if the last 20 seconds didn't count!) and holding Germany to 1-0.

I don't think anyone in this cup has had an easy time, though. Maybe Colombia so far.

Graham Zusi (2 assists this cup) and Matt Besler both play in my hometown in Kansas City for Sporting Kansas City. I gotta say, Besler has had a fantastic cup (first player from Kansas to be in the World Cup ever). He only made a few mistakes today, one which ended up with Belgium scoring their first goal. It's unfortunate that one slip can cost that much.

Zusi has had more trouble adapting to the World Class level of this game, and I'm less impressed with him, especially because of how poorly he played defense today. Subbing him out for Wondalowski was a great choice because Clint Dempsey needs someone attacking with him up top. And when Wondo came in, Clint was more opened up in the top, but was already exhausted by Belgium's defense. I'd have to say Dempsey really had a bad cup, despite that first goal where he scored in the first 20 seconds. He then broke his nose, we lost Altidore due to injury, and Dempsey never looked the same up there.

Jones had a great WC. He's such a warrior stud beast. His goal vs Portugal was definitely top 5 of the tournament for me:

http://gfycat.com/ThreadbareEcstaticFinch

Yedlin really impressed me this game. I thought this guy was all speed, but he actually provided a lot of pressure on Belgium, created corner kicks and went at defenders. Something we seriously lacked without him.

I also thought that when Klinsmann put in Julian Greene (being 19 for about a month now), he was giving up. He was throwing in the towel, down 2-0 and saying "let's put in this young guy, and tie him to the US team". He wouldn't be allowed to play for another national team (you can switch one time with citizenship and permission of your current national team to another one) by having him set foot on the field. The sub surprised me to see him coming in of all people, but then his first touch was a wonderful goal that was perfectly executed and showed what we didn't do all day. Run through defenders and attack the ball, one-touch volleying it straight out of the air and into the back of the net. I really thought that maybe we had a chance if we can get into another set piece position after this, but Belgium is too much.

I'm not even going to list all the players for Belgium because every single one is great, and they were working so well together today. They were clearly the better team. At halftime I saw that we had 49% posession to Belgium's 51%, which surprised me because I thought Belgium had had the ball basically the entire game. Then I realized what they had been doing with the ball. We had 5 shots total, Belgium had 30. 20 of those were on goal. At halftime. It's hard to have possession numbers when you're converting possession into shots. And so many were so very close to going in. Tim Howard, having 16 saves in the end is the highest ever recorded in WC history. Which gave him man of the match for the third straight goalkeeper who has lost this tournament. And it was well deserved (as were the others).

I'm glad to see Belgium in this tournament, and I'm glad to see that whatever the **** happened like 20-30 years ago in Belgium to get all these parents to have these amazing children to grow up into this team, is amazing as **** to me. So much depth. So I'm not really upset, tbh. Both teams were fantastic and I think the better team goes onto the Quarterfinals.