The World Cup 2014 Official Thread
- Thread starter AngraRULES
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DuchessOfDork
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- Feb 9, 2009
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I'm still depressed that my man Puyol is gone. 
But we've still got our Barca dream-team!
And just as a note, I'm not a bandwagon Barca fan. My mom is Catalonian so the Spanish national team is a great source of pride for us since they have so many Catalonian players. Busquets, Xavi, Fabregas, Pedro, Alba, Pique, they're all my dudes. <3
But we've still got our Barca dream-team! And just as a note, I'm not a bandwagon Barca fan. My mom is Catalonian so the Spanish national team is a great source of pride for us since they have so many Catalonian players. Busquets, Xavi, Fabregas, Pedro, Alba, Pique, they're all my dudes. <3
Can't wait, fire up!
AWESOME, AWESOME video, bro. Videos like these are something that if it hits you deep in your heart, you "get" the world cup. Brazil has a few of those too, as does the USA. Have you seen the USA ESPN one?
For a country that "supposedly" doesn't care about the greatest sport on Earth, this is pretty epic.
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Mardoch
Defender of the Universe
.....And the Milton suicide watch starts in 5 hours.See you Thursday.
The road to sixth.
Go USA!My Picks:
Group A: Brazil, Croatia
Group B: Spain, Chile
Group C: Colombia, Japan
Group D: Italy, Uruguay
Group E: Honduras, France
Group F: Argentina, Bosnia
Group G: Germany, USA
Group H: Belgium, South Korea
KNOCKOUTS
Sweet 16:
Brazil beats Chile
Uruguay beats Colombia
Bosnia beats Honduras
Germany beats South Korea
Spain beats Croatia
Italy beats Japan
Argentina beats France
USA beats Belgium (upset special)
Quarter-Finals
Brazil Beats Uruguay
Germany beats Bosnia
Spain beats Italy
Argentina beats USA
Semi-Finals
Germany beats Brazil
Spain beats Argentina
Third-Place
Brazil beats Argentina
Finals
Spain beats Germany. Spain repeats as World Cup Champions.
DuchessOfDork
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I really do hope the US goes far this year. They did better than expected last one. Watching them tie England was the #2 highlight of the last World Cup for me!
DuchessOfDork
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Jettisoning Donovan was a smart move on Klinsmann's part. He really did not have the fire in his belly anymore, and it showed. The USA will do just fine. Portugal is a one-man show. Ghana's defense has more holes than Finlandia Swiss. We'll be OK.
Interesting documents for the ones who want to go beyond the "sport" part.
http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thi...cs-2014-folder/world-cup-economics-report.pdf
Really fun read if you really are into it!
http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thi...cs-2014-folder/world-cup-economics-report.pdf
Really fun read if you really are into it!
TENTH DREAMER DECEIVER
Halcyon Way Sufferer
- Jan 7, 2002
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A lot of Brazilian babies will be named Nishimiura after today. Fred's dive put Greg Louganis to shame.
absolute robbery. Might as well give Brazil the Cup now, the match officials are going to ensure it.
Mardoch
Defender of the Universe
dgn4369
Member
My impressions of Brazil coming off today's game is they are very beatable. They started the game very lethargic, as if they deemed Croatia unworthy of effort. Croatia nearly made them pay for that, if not for a ridiculous penalty that cost them their lead and great save by the Brazilian keeper of a near goal. If Croatia had the balls to pressure Brazil more offensively this could have been ugly for Brazil.
Funny. But you seem to have forgotten that the same Nishimura was crucified in 2010 for NOT giving a CLEAR penalty on Kaka committed by a Dutchman in the quarter final we were eliminated in.
Now for my two cents on the game...
Brasil started nervous. Croatia clearly wanted to make the best out of it, but it's no question their team is inferior (no wonder they needed US to score a goal for them, right?)
I kid, I kid. Back to serious two cents now...As far as the second goal... I didn't see a penalty today, completely agree that it wasn't the best call. But hey, such is soccer right? Last time, the same Japanese ref fucked us over... shit happens. Croatia will still likely qualify, I don't doubt it. Maybe you guys didn't see what really happened:
Now, if you're really thinking Brazil "only won the match because of the penalty kick," get real. Look at some of the numbers of the game:
Brasil / Croatia
Posession: 60% / 40%
Total shots: 15 / 9
Shots on goal (on target): 6 / 3
Correct passing: 394 / 234
It's not like Croatia dominated the game and Brasil got lucky. Brasil was already playing better after we tied. Yeah, the penalty didn't exist, but we still scored two other goals that were totally fair. That still puts us ahead by 2x1. Questions?
Oh... and one second here... Will nobody say anything about Croatia's goalkeeper? What a lame excuse for a keeper that guy is. He "failed" in every single goal. Poorly positioned on the first, forgot the notion of sturdy hands on the second and just a simple "SERIOUSLY?" on the third. Hey, perhaps if you guys had a decent keeper you could've won the match...
Again... the penalty was a bad call. But Brasil still outplayed Croatia. Melbcro, I *know* very well how much it sucks to get a bad call against you in the World Cup. I've been there, and Brasil got eliminated because of it. This was just the first game. Croatia really depends only on themselves to advance. Brasil needs to improve a lot, but their midfield (especially Oscar) and Neymar are sure going to shine.
Haters gonna hate. Whiners gonna whine. It's just the way it is with soccer.
Oh and by the way.... let's applaud the CLASSY Croatian team who pretended to be rockstars and trashed the locker room at the stadium after the game. Pure class.
You implying that's the only way we win games? Talk to me when the yanks put a star on that shirt...
Funny. But you seem to have forgotten that the same Nishimura was crucified in 2010 for NOT giving a CLEAR penalty on Kaka committed by a Dutchman in the quarter final we were eliminated in.
Now for my two cents on the game...
Brasil started nervous. Croatia clearly wanted to make the best out of it, but it's no question their team is inferior (no wonder they needed US to score a goal for them, right?)
As far as the second goal... I didn't see a penalty today, completely agree that it wasn't the best call. But hey, such is soccer right? Last time, the same Japanese ref fucked us over... shit happens. Croatia will still likely qualify, I don't doubt it. Maybe you guys didn't see what really happened:
Now, if you're really thinking Brazil "only won the match because of the penalty kick," get real. Look at some of the numbers of the game:
Brasil / Croatia
Posession: 60% / 40%
Total shots: 15 / 9
Shots on goal (on target): 6 / 3
Correct passing: 394 / 234
It's not like Croatia dominated the game and Brasil got lucky. Brasil was already playing better after we tied. Yeah, the penalty didn't exist, but we still scored two other goals that were totally fair. That still puts us ahead by 2x1. Questions?
Oh... and one second here... Will nobody say anything about Croatia's goalkeeper? What a lame excuse for a keeper that guy is. He "failed" in every single goal. Poorly positioned on the first, forgot the notion of sturdy hands on the second and just a simple "SERIOUSLY?" on the third. Hey, perhaps if you guys had a decent keeper you could've won the match...
Again... the penalty was a bad call. But Brasil still overplayed Croatia. Melbcro, I *know* very well how much it sucks to get a bad call against you in the World Cup. I've been there, and Brasil got eliminated because of it. This was just the first game. Croatia really depends only on themselves to advance.
Haters gonna hate. Whiners gonna whine. It's just the way it is with soccer.
Oh and by the way.... let's applaud the CLASSY Croatian team who pretended to be rockstars and trashed the locker room at the stadium after the game. Pure class.
My issue isn't just the penalty, it was a whole string of decisions that went against Croatia. First you had the penalty, which was an absolute disgrace. Then you had our disallowed goal. Then you had Neymar with a blatant elbow to the head of Modric, could have easily been shown the red. And then the icing on the cake with the third goal, there was a blatant foul on Rakitic in the build up. Sure I get that some of those decisions can go either way, that happens in football. But to have that many major decisions all go against Croatia is a clear biased refereeing display. That is disgraceful.
Have not heard anything about Croatian team trashing the locker room, if true definitely not a good display. But when it comes to lacking class look no further that Fred's Oscar wining performance. Oh and Scolari was acting like a complete twat on the sidelines.
I agree with you that Pletikosa had a very poor game. But in the end if it wasn't for the referee's assists, Croatia should and would have come away with a point from that game
This all comes on top of our last major tournament where we got robbed at Euro 2012. Against Spain we had a couple of clear cut penalty decisions denied, that cost a spot in the knock-out stage. Its incredibly frustrating when you see referees favouring the 'big teams'. Football is a cruel game made even crueller by ridiculous officiating.
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