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The 2013-2014 Football Thread

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South Korea - Russia was pretty dull until Akinfeev fumbled that specualtive shot into his own net. South Korea were phycially dominated by the Russians but neither team was able muster much quality in front of goal. Russia's equalizer was as sloppy as they come, but they all count...

Group H (Belgium, Algeria, South Korea, Russia) looks pretty weak overall; Germany almost get a free pass to the quarterfinals since they play the group H winner (probably Belgium?) if they top their group. On the other hand, if the USA manage to finish second in the group they will feel they are in with a chance.
 
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Germany gets a free pass? I hope not. As well as I do think/hope that Belgium steps up their game. But I'm quite confident about that. Such a talented and young but 'inexperienced' team, I wouldn't overrate their last game too much (Algeria wasn't bad either). Hope they can take their boost and take off (not against GER of course :D)
 
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mojolicious said:
I think that's harsh. He's never going to be a fist-pumping, kick-up-the-arsing leader of men. He, and his sad eyes, simply get on with his game.
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perhaps a little bit ... but his nerves & pressure sure play a role ... like in scenes where he is 1 on 1 against a keeper:
i remember him playing at Bremen where he scored countless of goals in such situations with clinical finishing. The last 2 season he missed a lot of those.

IMHO he plays best when nobody expects it from him and he isn't the focus of attention.

And yeah he didn't play a bad game, i just don't get his attitude sometimes. (they are 3:0 ahead and he is pissed because he gets substituted ?)
Khedira playing his first 90 minutes since months and was excellent, Kroos having a 96% passing statistics and 2 assists, Götze was on fire, Müller scored 3 goals, Boateng shut out Ronaldo for nearly the whole game
of course it's being difficult to be stand out player if so many others really had great performances.

Against a more defensive Ghana his skill sure will shine a lot more: They will now very likely put a lot of pressure on Kroos ,like Kamerun did in the friendly, and will try cover Müller at all times. This leaves a lot of space for him.

Before i thought that Klose will be a starter against the more defensive opponents but now i'm not so sure anymore.
 
Bye bye Spain. Costa should've stayed put in the Brazilian squad.

Del Bosque should excise Alonso and Casillas from the team. both have been culprits in both games.
 
Spain just look worn out. Many of their players have racked up a huge number of matches over the last few years. Spain have won everything, they've had their day in the sun. But it seems that the time has come to pass the baton,

Chile look excellent - except for all the time-wasting and injury-feigning. I hate that.

EDIT: Just looked at the '14-'15 Premier League schedule...Liverpool have to play Chelsea in May agian.
 
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Team needs fresh blood. Why weren't Fabregas, Koke and Villa (or Torres) started.

Costa isn't fit. Alonso is fatgued. Iniesta only works on the wing if Messi or Xavi are central.

Del Bosque was too lackadaisical. Not that i blame him, his selections had won him everything prior to this tournament.

Meh

Guess its Germany's tournament now.
 
So pity, Australia really won my heart. Well, I will like Chile going on (over Australia) more for the whole competitive thing and fun in the next rounds, but still...

Some gossip news:

Uruguay had brought 40kg of caramel sweets "dulce de leche", but didn't get it through the customs, because a hygiene paper was missing. Either there is something wrong with the sweets or there must be sweet addict there in the team. - or they want to hand out these sweets to diabetes players in the other teams :) or maybe sweets help build up calories in the heat, who knows. :D

Mönch'n Gladbach's Max Kruse is currently at a poker world cup in Las VEgas and he is under the last six. :D (I wonder, if that makes up for not being nominated).

I liked Del Bosque squeezing the big ball that is the end of his nose during the recent match. :)
 
Spain really have no reason to be ashamed - they've won everything and proved the brilliance of tiki-taka (when done right). They simply ran out of gas after yearts of domination. It's still a shock to see them go out so early though, I pegged them as possible winners before the tournament.

Australia fought hard and proved that the Dutch can be rattled.

Croatia - Cameroon just starting, we could see another elimination here unless the match is a draw.
 
Alex Song sent off for slapping/punching a blocking Croatia player on the back. Madness by Song and with Croatia already 1-0 up it looks like Cameroon are going home unless they prodcuce some real heroics.
 
:eek:

one of the best I've ever seen. saving grace, you can see how embarrassed he is when he finally realized. Is he gone already?
 
^Painful to watch!

Croatia are 3-0 and cruising. Cameroon created chances, even with 10 men, but they don't support each other enough in the final third, and they leave space at the back. Croatia are far too canny to fail to capitalize on that.

EDIT: Assou-Ekotto just landed a headbutt...on one of his teammates! Cameroon have disintegrated and are out of the World Cup. Croatia score four and made it look simple.
 
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Lord Blackadder said:
Spain really have no reason to be ashamed
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They really do! They might have won everything, but they still have so much talent, that not even making it out the group stage is a huge blow.

They did look tired, but there are plenty of other international teams whose players have racked up large numbers of games. Still, at least it doesn't make me feel so bad knowing Spain have gone home before England do the same later tonight :)
 
Fizzoid said:
They really do! They might have won everything, but they still have so much talent, that not even making it out the group stage is a huge blow.
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True, but they (unlike Argentina, Brazil, the Netherlands, Germany) have a highly rated squad who have already achieved great things. Deep disappointment? Sure, but not shame.

At the moment, the Dutch and Germans are playing well and have momentum. Brazil could go either way.

I'm sure I'll sound like a curmudgeon, but several of Ochoa's big saves against Brazil were struck straight at him, and Mexico didn't really look that dangerous going forward. They have improved over their qualifying form, but they still have big issues to resolve.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Alex Song sent off for slapping/punching a blocking Croatia player on the back. Madness by Song and with Croatia already 1-0 up it looks like Cameroon are going home unless they prodcuce some real heroics.
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#fivefingerworldcupdeathpunch

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twietee said:
Germany gets a free pass? I hope not. As well as I do think/hope that Belgium steps up their game. But I'm quite confident about that. Such a talented and young but 'inexperienced' team, I wouldn't overrate their last game too much (Algeria wasn't bad either). Hope they can take their boost and take off (not against GER of course :D)
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free pass = 2nd in their group ?
 
Lord Blackadder said:
True, but they (unlike Argentina, Brazil, the Netherlands, Germany) have a highly rated squad who have already achieved great things. Deep disappointment? Sure, but not shame.
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They've only played 2 games, are already out and have conceded 7, scored 1. Even as an England fan, that's shameful! :)
 
Kariya said:
Gerrard -> Suarez connection still as lively as ever.
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Heh.

So... Italy beat Costa Rica, and going into the final round it means...
a) England need to beat Costa Rica, possibly by two goals
b) Italy need to stay honest and Uruguay

It's certainly possible.

BELIEVE!
 
And the *******'s team wins with a hand that should have deserved a red again. Suarez looks like a beaver, with his mouth open, btw.

I can't understand that Scotish fan in the Uruguay block, either... :D

Lord Blackadder said:
(...)
EDIT: Assou-Ekotto just landed a headbutt...on one of his teammates! Cameroon have disintegrated and are out of the World Cup. (...)
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Typical for African teams from my opinion: always rough risking to harm contenders, no dicipline and low team spirit.
(A european cultured player afro-german like Choupo-Moting must only think of shaking his head over his fellow team, like "that's not how it works" or K.P. Boateng, the same. I can understand, that they rather play for an african team than not playing a world cup, but I can hardly imagine they identify with this way of playing.
Fizzoid said:
They really do! They might have won everything, but they still have so much talent, that not even making it out the group stage is a huge blow.

They did look tired, but there are plenty of other international teams whose players have racked up large numbers of games. Still, at least it doesn't make me feel so bad knowing Spain have gone home before England do the same later tonight :)
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They absolutely lacked power of will and when I think about it, it actually has always been like that, that they don't play enjoying or being engaged. All that ticki-tacka was supposed to do is going on the contenders nerves "man will you come to an end, finally?" and remember how they won other cup matches in the years before, group stage always something like a 1:0 in the second half.

Btw, with the tip game I did I was exact right with
Spain-Chile
columbia-ivory coast
Uruguay-England (allthough I wanted England to win, of course)
USA-Ghana
Belgium-Algeria

I was right by goal difference with:
Brazil-Mexico
Mexico-Cameroon

and tendency with:
Brazil-Croatia
Columbia-greece
England-Italy
Chile-australia
France-Honduras
Argentina-Bosnia
Germany-Portugal

The rest I was totally wrong.

Does look good, for a noob like me. :D (though it might just be luck, but I actually never have luck :D )
 
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Dear me, England. They didn't look terrible, but just didn't really step up when they needed to either. Time for the British media to go into full-on self-loathing mode. Or, more likely, blame Roy Hodgson for everything.

Suarez showed up all of England's stars tonight.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Time for the British media to go into full-on self-loathing mode. Or, more likely, blame Roy Hodgson for everything.
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ITV declared that 'England are on their way home'. I think FIFA would take a dim view of us conceding the final fixture.

It was a grim night, after the promise of the Italy match, but again on another day England would have got something (or everything) from the game.

I really wouldn't be that shocked to see England progress. Italy will beat Costa Rica to ensure their own progress, leaving them on 6pts, Uruguay and Costa Rica on 3pts, and England on 0pts going into the last round.

I trust Italy to try and beat Uruguay, and I'd fancy them to do so.

This basically means that if England beat Costa Rica by two goals then they'll finish the group in second place; a simple win will be enough if Costa Rica have been well beaten by Italy.

It's not *that* improbable a scenario; sadly the least likely of the three events is England beating Costa Rica. I'm sensing a Joel Campbell hattrick...
 
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