FIFA World Cup 2014

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Fantastic game Cro - Mex.

Tequila!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't give me bad Ideas... I've still got to prepare a presentation...
Plus the one we have is with chilly and hot as hell.

 

[l.Harm]

Brazil-Chile... nice match. The Netherlands facing Mexico and a potentially relatively easy quarter final. Where will this end.

 

[ILovecycling]

Brazil-Chile... nice match. The Netherlands facing Mexico and a potentially relatively easy quarter final. Where will this end.

mexico to go for biggest upset and eliminate nederland
really

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Brazil-Chile... nice match. The Netherlands facing Mexico and a potentially relatively easy quarter final. Where will this end.

The end of Mexicos curse to go out in the first knock out match.

 

[Samson777]

Brazil-Chile... nice match. The Netherlands facing Mexico and a potentially relatively easy quarter final. Where will this end.

Holland could go all the way. They don't have the best squad, but they do have the best coach. Solid tactic, Robben and Van Persie in form, there is no reason why they could not go to the final.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

That;s effective catenaccio. Chile barely had a chance and Holland was dangerous on a lot of counters.
Unfortunately not enjoyable to the eye. No neutral fans will support them in the next rounds.

 

[The Hitch]

everything cant be judged perfectly etc
with this post you reminded me those whinners after stelvio stage

anyway i dont think it will be crucial as I believe both teams from group A will win their last 16

Whiners. eh on the contrary, I said at the beginning I am supporting Brazil as I do in every world cup.

But its not whining to point out Brazil have had a **** load of decisions go their way, not least of all the Croatia game which they could very well have lost.

On the contrary I would say its trolling to dismiss unfair screwjobs as whining

 

[Samson777]

That;s effective catenaccio. Chile barely had a chance and Holland was dangerous on a lot of counters.
Unfortunately not enjoyable to the eye. No neutral fans will support them in the next rounds.

Surely Cruyff is not happy. But really Van Gall just play according to his team, that's all. Nothing wrong with that. If they tried to play football like Michels wanted it to be played, they wouldn't stand a chance going for the title. Now they do.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

That;s effective catenaccio. Chile barely had a chance and Holland was dangerous on a lot of counters.
Unfortunately not enjoyable to the eye. No neutral fans will support them in the next rounds.

I haven't seen a lot of the Netherlands between the World Cups (except for the Euros of course), but my overall impression was that you play a rather negative approach since van Basten took over. I thought you even played rather like a German team of the 80s and 90s in 2010 and before that. Still I wanted you to win the final.

 

[Arnout]

I haven't seen a lot of the Netherlands between the World Cups (except for the Euros of course), but my overall impression was that you play a rather negative approach since van Basten took over. I thought you even played rather like a German team of the 80s and 90s in 2010 and before that. Still I wanted you to win the final.

Yeah this is true. I don't mind counterattacking, but the playstyle versus Chile wasn't that. Sure, statistically it looks fine but the tactic was to keep 9 men behind the ball and hope for a break from Robben. Robben is gold at the moment, as he will create very large chances out of absolutely nothing. Especially the first half there was nothing more to the game plan than shoot the ball forwards, stay near your defense and let Robben run. That nearly worked two times, which is why statistically the tactic looks ok.

This was the only match in which this gameplan was feasible, as a draw was the same as winning. The result was that Chile wasn't able to break the defense, which is what happens when a probably more talented team doesn't want to play football and hangs around in front of their own goal all the time. It's how Chelsea played when they won the Champions League. It worked, they won and no-one will give a toss about it cause it's boring as ****.

Let me clarify, I was cheering for the Netherlands when they beat Spain even though their first half was bad. There is a big difference between not being able to and being able to but unwilling. The latter was the case today and I hate that, as I am of the opinion that sport is entertainment. But I'm not allowed to say this as I'm Dutch which means I should cheer and jump and be happy according to theyoungest, Dutch apologist #1 in the world. You know what, I don't give 2 cents about nationality, I root for likeable teams and not for teams consisting of players that happen to be born somewhere reasonably close to my birth place.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I haven't seen a lot of the Netherlands between the World Cups (except for the Euros of course), but my overall impression was that you play a rather negative approach since van Basten took over. I thought you even played rather like a German team of the 80s and 90s in 2010 and before that. Still I wanted you to win the final.

Not entirely true. Van Basten still played attacking football.

Van Marwijk was the first change. Whilst still wanting to play possesion, he changed to 2 DMC's instead of 1. So it was already a lot more conservative and boring.

But now Van Gaal made another radical change by giving up attacking or having possession of the ball all together. Playing with 5 defenders and a DMC. And basically everyone defending bar the 2 up front and then trying to counter as fast as possible.
Already said enough he chose Lens instead of Huntelaar as replacement for Van Persie today. He rather has the speed of Lens then a real finisher like Huntelaar, because the latter is too slow for counters...

 

[movingtarget]

Chile and Mexico will be good tests for Brazil and Netherlands. If games were 15 minutes long Australia would be doing good. After providing good resistance in their first two games they were overwhelmed today. Villa ran riot and Australia hardly had a shot on goal. Any team that has Mata on the bench is a quality team. Aussies outclassed but as the lowest seeds at the Cup there were no expectations and if anything they probably overachieved. Young team without their best players today. The result was no surprise even though Spain did not seem too excited about scoring nor did the coach. Not a lot of motivation there which is understandable.

 

[theyoungest]

Let me clarify, I was cheering for the Netherlands when they beat Spain even though their first half was bad. There is a big difference between not being able to and being able to but unwilling. The latter was the case today and I hate that, as I am of the opinion that sport is entertainment. But I'm not allowed to say this as I'm Dutch which means I should cheer and jump and be happy according to theyoungest, Dutch apologist #1 in the world. You know what, I don't give 2 cents about nationality, I root for likeable teams and not for teams consisting of players that happen to be born somewhere reasonably close to my birth place.

Well Mr. Disinterested Observer, it would seem to me that Holland employed the exact same tactic against Spain, just with a better striker and with an opponent who collapsed in the 2nd half. Holland uses the counter attack, and has done so for about 8 years now... it ain't always pretty, but a good counter is a joy to watch, much more so than kicking the ball around without creating chances.

Also, it is interesting how someone who claims not to care about nationality uses a term like 'Dutch apologist'

 

[hrotha]

I'm not sure it's been 8 years since the Netherlands changed their style. I remember being shocked and deeply disappointed by the way they played 4 years ago - they consistently used to be one of my favourite teams, and I thought it was a shame they were rewarded (and hence encouraged) by getting their best result in a generation.

 

[Arnout]

Well Mr. Disinterested Observer, it would seem to me that Holland employed the exact same tactic against Spain, just with a better striker and with an opponent who collapsed in the 2nd half. Holland uses the counter attack, and has done so for about 8 years now... it ain't always pretty, but a good counter is a joy to watch, much more so than kicking the ball around without creating chances.

Also, it is interesting how someone who claims not to care about nationality uses a term like 'Dutch apologist'

I don't care about nationality because I hate judging performances with a national bias...

If you read my entire post you would've seen I mentioned the difference between playing like this versus Spain and versus Chile (when you're already through to the next round). At some point the Dutch got a corner, I counted the number of Dutch players in or around the penalty area: there were exactly 5 players and that was when the score was 0-0. I'm sorry, I don't like it when the better team plays like that.

Also, what makes you think I'm disinterested when I don't watch with a traffic cone on my head, I don't get that logic?

I'm not sure it's been 8 years since the Netherlands changed their style. I remember being shocked and deeply disappointed by the way they played 4 years ago - they consistently used to be one of my favourite teams, and I thought it was a shame they were rewarded (and hence encouraged) by getting their best result in a generation.

They have been playing more positively than 4 years ago in the run-up to the WC. That's why the match against Chile was so disappointing to me.

 

[theyoungest]

I don't care about nationality because I hate judging performances with a national bias...

If you read my entire post you would've seen I mentioned the difference between playing like this versus Spain and versus Chile (when you're already through to the next round). At some point the Dutch got a corner, I counted the number of Dutch players in or around the penalty area: there were exactly 5 players and that was when the score was 0-0. I'm sorry, I don't like it when the better team plays like that.

Also, what makes you think I'm disinterested when I don't watch with a traffic cone on my head, I don't get that logic?

They have been playing more positively than 4 years ago in the run-up to the WC. That's why the match against Chile was so disappointing to me.

FYI, 'disinterested' doesn't mean the same as 'uninterested'. It means 'unbiased'.

I'm not sure it's been 8 years since the Netherlands changed their style. I remember being shocked and deeply disappointed by the way they played 4 years ago - they consistently used to be one of my favourite teams, and I thought it was a shame they were rewarded (and hence encouraged) by getting their best result in a generation.

Strootman getting injured, and getting slaughtered against France this spring (with Strootman still on the team BTW) caused Van Gaal to reconsider his usual 4-3-3 approach. It's funny how he gets all the praise now (at least as a tactician) because actually it's Ronald Koeman who came up with this as a system for Feyenoord since January. Van Gaal basically brought they entire Feyenoord defense with him to Brazil.

And it can actually be quite an attacking approach, as you've seen in the 2nd half against Spain. The full backs become 2 attacking midfielders.

 

[Jagartrott]

The teams playing frantic football, with lots of pressure and lots of running won't be able to keep that up if there's a game every 4 days. Chile showed this yesterday.

 

[del1962]

At the moment the only team that has really impressed this world cup are France, their midfield is a level above any have seen with Cabaye, Valbuena and Pogba, they have molded exception talent with cohesive teamwork.

If you had to choose a team to support on style and panache then it should be Francais that you would support.

 

[ILovecycling]

Whiners. eh on the contrary, I said at the beginning I am supporting Brazil as I do in every world cup.

But its not whining to point out Brazil have had a **** load of decisions go their way, not least of all the Croatia game which they could very well have lost.

On the contrary I would say its trolling to dismiss unfair screwjobs as whining

Then sorry,it was a wrong understanding by me

 

[movingtarget]

Looking forward to Uruguay and Italy. With Balo and Sanchez anything could happen.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Italy vs Uruguay

0 - 2

Neutral.

Costa Rica might as well humiliate England.

1 - 0

 

[montani3semper]

England & Spain´s dismal performances

Could be blamed on a extended agenda; But the truth is they should be spending their cash in nurturing their own talent instead oh hiring so many foreign stars. Great leagues? Look east, to Germany.

 

[Amsterhammer]

At the moment the only team that has really impressed this world cup are France, their midfield is a level above any have seen with Cabaye, Valbuena and Pogba, they have molded exception talent with cohesive teamwork.

If you had to choose a team to support on style and panache then it should be Francais that you would support.

I agree. I made this very point last night during one of the millions of ongoing conversations among Dutch footy fans. The country is split between purists and realists - should we always play our holy, patented 4-3-3 at all costs, or should we recognize, as Van Gaal has done, that when you simply don't have the players for it, you devise a different system. I'm in the realist camp, though as an Ajax supporter it hurts my eyes to watch this team play. (To be fair, most of the recent seasons watching Ajax have also been a pain on the eyes and football heart.)

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Eng V Crc

Jorge Luis Pinto : "The mother of football cannot leave without points and that makes it very complex. It makes the match very hard"

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Back after 3 day Klose celebrations...

It would be so awesome if GER vs USA play for a tie. Now it´s time for showing true friendship. Not only in politics that favour a few, but in sports that favour 2 sports crazy nations...
I might be the only saying it out loud: I really would love a 2nd Gijon. Another game for the ages, and the rest of the world whining about unfair Germans.