FIFA World Cup 2014

[FoxxyBrown1111]

The game in general is in decline at the moment. Most of the elite countries don't have the same depth of great players that they once had before.

True.
1982 GER played below its talent level (but still reaching the final with two great games). 2014 GER played at its talent level reaching the final with two great games.
11 vs 11;
Schumacher 10, Neuer 10
BFörster 9, Lahm 10
Stielike 9, Boateng 8
KFörster 10, Hummels 10
Kaltz 10, Höwedes 9
Briegel 10, Khedira 8 (misses emty nets now and then)
Dremmler 9, Schweinsteiger 10
Breitner 10, Müller 10
Rummenigge an injured 10 (that awesome he was), Kroos 10
Littbarski 10, Özil 6 (even with space he is a no show most of the time)
Fischer 10, Klose 10

1982 team had pretty much zero holes and still a bench full of world class strikers. Germany 2014 basically plays most games with max 10 1/2 players while the eleventh is on the field to just show even strength. OTOH, if Löw comes up with a replacement for Özil, all would be great as in the golden years.

But in the end, who cares. GER had more goals than both todays semi finalists had together including penalty kicks. As you said other big countries miss world class talent too.

 

[Merckx index]

Tough luck for the Dutch, but it's very rarely that teams win two consecutive games on penalties.

I'd guess the odds are about 1 in 4. The Silverados are 7-4 in penalty game wins, what is rare is playing two such games in a row.

But put Krul in the goal and a healthy RVP on the line, and I think it would have been tied after four shots.

Dutchies opened the WC by scoring five goals against the defending champion, and closed it by failing to score in four hours of play--only one goal in regulation in three KO games.

Germany should be favored, but I'll be surprised if they score more than two goals. They scored more vs. Brazil than they did in their previous four games combined.

 

[Arnout]

One shot on goal in 120 minutes, which was a shot straight on the goalkeeper from 25 meters out by Robben.

Both teams reluctant to risk anything, both played with 8 players behind the ball at all times. Probably the most boring game I saw in years and the reason I stopped watching football in the first place.

Argentina had more attacking intentions (4 shots on goal, but generally more forward-thinking in possession) so in the end I'm fine with the result.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Considering how exciting this WC started, the two semifinal matches were duds. Lets hope the final is better.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

What? You don´t like blowouts?
As you know I love them. No nail biting, but concentrating on the party.
Ok, in the Broncos game I was on the wrong end (as too often), but my jinx is broken now. Finally.

 

[hfer07]

To me the World cup ended last Friday, and yet I wanted to honor the tournament by watching today's game....................................

what a waste of time

Sincerely I hope Germany wins it, because is the only team with merits to do so- Argentina got in the final by accident, not be skills.

 

[Jagartrott]

How different can two semi-finals be?
Disappointed by both Argentina (throughout the tournament, horribly negative play) and Holland (the last two matches).

 

[ebandit]

rise.........

The game in general is in decline at the moment. Most of the elite countries don't have the same depth of great players that they once had before.

the game is on the rise ............other countries have caught up so much

personally I have really enjoyed the finals.......I can't believe such a dull dreary argentina have made it to the final

now unbelievably I'm hoping for a win by my least favouraite national side because they clearly deserve it

Mark L

 

[Dazed and Confused]

The game in general is in decline at the moment. Most of the elite countries don't have the same depth of great players that they once had before.

Agree. Hard to pinpoint exactly what has gone wrong.
My guess is the balance between power and pace vs technical skills and football vision has moved in the direction of bodybuilding.

 

[hrotha]

I don't think players are now less skilled. I'd wager that's largely nostalgia speaking.

 

[l.Harm]

How different can two semi-finals be?
Disappointed by both Argentina (throughout the tournament, horribly negative play) and Holland (the last two matches).

Last match wasn't bad (Costa Rica). Unlucky not to score.

 

[simo1733]

Agree. Hard to pinpoint exactly what has gone wrong.
My guess is the balance between power and pace vs technical skills and football vision has moved in the direction of bodybuilding.

Meuller and Ozil don't look much like body builders.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Meuller and Ozil don't look much like body builders.

Mueller is a successful goalscorer with a solid work rate, but hes far from a great footballer.

Ozil could be, but hes lazy. I expect much more from "great" footballers.

Also I said moving in the direction. We are not quite in Arnold land yet, but the overall tactics and the selection of players have already been affected imo.

 

[sniper]

Argentina had more attacking intentions (4 shots on goal, but generally more forward-thinking in possession) so in the end I'm fine with the result.

fair assessment.

difficult to see why van gaal didn't play the same trick as against costa rica, bringing on krul.
this was always heading towards penalties.
if you change van persie, then why not earlier, or why not leave him out in the first place. he's been the most annoying player in the last two matches, missing some great opportunities and killing many attacks by walking offside. yesterday he spoiled a great chance trying a bicycle kick whereas sneijder was behind him ready to slot home.

and if van persie needed to go, then memphis depay would have been my preferred choice over huntelaar.

 

[kingjr]

fair assessment.

difficult to see why van gaal didn't play the same trick as against costa rica, bringing on krul.
this was always heading towards penalties.
if you change van persie, then why not earlier, or why not leave him out in the first place. he's been the most annoying player in the last two matches, missing some great opportunities and killing many attacks by walking offside. yesterday he spoiled a great chance trying a bicycle kick whereas sneijder was behind him ready to slot home.

and if van persie needed to go, then memphis depay would have been my preferred choice over huntelaar.

I think Huntelaar was supposed to take the last penalty for Holland. Didn't come to that though.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Mueller is a successful goalscorer with a solid work rate, but hes far from a great footballer.

Ozil could be, but hes lazy. I expect much more from "great" footballers.

Also I said moving in the direction. We are not quite in Arnold land yet, but the overall tactics and the selection of players have already been affected imo.

It´s exactly the other way around. Özil doesn´t hit the net inside the 16m box with only him and the GK left... He had space vs POR like in a 1920s game, yet he was afraid to take his chance... You always can see his fear to score...
Müller OTOH is like the original Müller. Scoring with every body part on all different angles and positions possible (or not), no matter how tight the coverage. Pure instincts and anticipation. It doesn´t look great, but it has great efficiency. And that´s what counts...

 

[gooner]

I don't think players are now less skilled. I'd wager that's largely nostalgia speaking.

Nostalgia is right but less skilled in some areas does come into it too.

Brazil can't produce a top class striker and don't have a deep lying midfielder. Argentina lack a ball playing midfielder to play in the mould of Veron alongside Mascherano. They can't even name a top class left back.

Germany are the best all round team but if you take strikers they are still relying on a 36 year with not much coming through.

Where are the great defenders that Italy produced in the past? Paletta starting against England says it all.

Look at the depth of great strikers France had before(Henry, Anelka, Trezeguet, Wiltord) and you see Giroud now 2nd in their pecking order behind Benzema. Only Pogba as they years go on will compare with their great midfield of their successful years. The rest aren't a patch.

Holland are still relying on the 30 year old brigade RVP, Robben and Sneijder and from my knowledge I don't see players to their level coming through. Do they have defenders on the same level Frank de Boer and Jaap Stam?

I mention the elite nations but I think a lot of the lesser nations come into. Where's the next Nedved, Rosicky, Poborsky, and Koller in Czech Republic? Norway and Denmark are a shadow of they once were when looking at their sides in the 90s.

Enough has been said about England but the other home nations are in serious decline with their talent pool.

In Ireland here we have nothing coming through our U-21s and O'Neill and Keane have expressed their worry about it. I went to a few U-21s game years back and there was some Premiership and Championship talent that were getting games at club level that you could see could step up. Now there is zilch, maybe outside of the lad Grealish with Aston Villa.

Are we ever going to see a Alan Hansen, Graeme Souness or a Kenny Dalglish again turn out for Scotland? Hansen a few years back said when you go up to Scotland, the game isn't played in the street anymore. My own experiences growing up in Ireland in the 90s, their was rarely a day went by without playing the game on the street with friends. These days I look around and it is the complete opposite.

I genuinely worry for the game.

 

[sniper]

veron was a great player but he failed in england due to a gross lack of pace.

i agree with gooner's assessment of the netherlands, brazil and france. especially the latter two don't come close to previous eras in terms of the depth of their player pool.

belgium and germany are two countries with a spectacular (especially germany) talent pool.
i disagree wrt germany relying on klose.
might have more to do with the fact that that type of goalgetter is growing less and less popular ever since fc barca won three champions leagues without such a striker.

all in all the game is definitely growing more physical.
would make sense assuming that doping is growing more and more important.
a bit as in tennis. in tennis the last years i haven't seen any genuine shining brilliants come through of the likes of edberg/sampras/federer. I don't count nadal/murray/djoker as technically brilliant players (well, djoker probably comes closest). doping growing more and more important?

 

[MBotero]

I don't think players are now less skilled. I'd wager that's largely nostalgia speaking.

It's not nostalgia,majority of the star players these days are media darling,most of them are overhyped and overrated,they have less skill no doubt,current Brazil side is the best example for this.

 

[gooner]

veron was a great player but he failed in england due to a gross lack of pace.

i agree with gooner's assessment of the netherlands, brazil and france. especially the latter two don't come close to previous eras in terms of the depth of their player pool.

belgium and germany are two countries with a spectacular (especially germany) talent pool.
i disagree wrt germany relying on klose.
might have more to do with the fact that that type of goalgetter is growing less and less popular ever since fc barca won three champions leagues without such a striker.

all in all the game is definitely growing more physical.
would make sense assuming that doping is growing more and more important.
a bit as in tennis. in tennis the last years i haven't seen any genuine shining brilliants come through of the likes of edberg/sampras/federer. I don't count nadal/murray/djoker as technically brilliant players (well, djoker probably comes closest). doping growing more and more important?

Agree, Belgium are one bucking the trend. I rate Germany in midlfield and they're OK in defence but what if Klose retires after this World Cup? You're relying on Mueller(who can do well there) with no recognised striker up top. Germany as much as I like them lack depth in the striking areas. Maybe Gomez might come back, although I'm not a fan and I don't think Volland or Kruse are tip top quality who can make a difference at the highest level. I'm really talking about producing recognised ones in that area of the pitch.

Still saying that, they are clearly the best team in this tournament.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

...
I genuinely worry for the game.

Don´t worry for the game. It´s the decline of the western civilisation in general (it seems Europe more so than USA; but I might be wrong here).
Everybody is in its comfort zone of political correctness and gender mainstream, playing handy and computer games, blabbing the nonsense MSM tells them. Without using their own brain. Not interested in politics and understanding how things go around in general.
School sport in Germany is down to level zero (less than 3 hours per week), doing nothing than stupid "games" like girls watching boys playing around some "kind of soccer", literally! Kids grow fat out of chemical enhanced "food". Kids are teached things in class 9 we got to know in class 5. Budgets are cut down for everything (school books, sport equipment, and what else).
Germany might win this WC, then darkness looms. European countries fully dependend on their new found double passport holders. Africa is destroyed once and for all. There is zilch, zero hope.
We might see Asia (outside of the near/middle east) on the rise, and (still) USA by its sheer size of population and seemingly clever immigration policy. May Russia comes back to full strength... Europe OTOH is done in the long run, inch by inch by the EU dictators and its politic muppets.

Good night, and good luck...

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

What? You don´t like blowouts?
As you know I love them. No nail biting, but concentrating on the party.
Ok, in the Broncos game I was on the wrong end (as too often), but my jinx is broken now. Finally.

It was really the awful PK's that I hate.

I was actually thinking about that comparison though. How it's going to take some time for Brazil and their fans to get over this blowout. Similar to Denver. However, the Broncos have another shot this year. Brazil has to wait 4 years for a WC, and who knows how long until it's at home again.

For the final I like Germany 2-0. Maybe 3-1. I don't see them scoring more, or giving up more, against Argentina. As long as it doesn't end in PK's, I'll be okay.

 

[The Hitch]

It's not nostalgia,majority of the star players these days are media darling,most of them are overhyped and overrated,they have less skill no doubt,current Brazil side is the best example for this.

Kuyt beat a player with a Cruyff turn yesterday and no one even noticed. 40 years ago it was considered the greatest skill in the history of football.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

the Broncos have another shot this year. Brazil has to wait 4 years for a WC, and who knows how long until it's at home again.

The Broncos might have a shot year in, year out. But the brains will not forget the february drubbing. Every single player has to be retired or released until they have a chance again (like it happened to the 89-Broncos, where only Elway overcame the shock some 10 years later in Horner-kind-of-age). They are done for good. Same goes for BRA. See them back in 10 years. In between USA rises to the top in soccer, while they stay there in every other sport. I often have critics of your country, but at least your sports system works. In our country OTOH everything is on the decline.

 

[MBotero]

Kuyt beat a player with a Cruyff turn yesterday and no one even noticed. 40 years ago it was considered the greatest skill in the history of football.

Well that's just a drop in the ocean of mediocrity