The FIFA Worldcup Brazill

[Jutter]

Bye bye Urugay. Holland plays Mexico tomorrow.

I don't promote gambling. But looking at the odds might be interresting.
http://www.oddschecker.com/football/world-cup/netherlands-v-mexico/winner
The dutch are clearly the favorite.

[Jutter]

Netherlands-Mexico 2-1 Olé olé oléééé! MAN! what a nailbiter that was.
Mexico started strong with a great opener, but after Louis van Gaal changed who played where, confusing the mexican defense, orange gained the upper hand creating corner after dangerous corner. Still no equalizer though, and Mexico remained dangerous on the counter. But then Klaas Jan Huntelaar, Holland's hidden ace up the sleeve, glued to the bench for too long, got his chance to shine with a head-assist to Sneyder who rammed it in. Later on Robben did what any forward would do in his situation, and that's squeeze a penalty out of an opportune moment. Huntelaar kicked orange to the quarter finals. Respect for Mexico who fought like lions and went down in glorious flames. They were fun to see in action.

Observation: while other countries have grown more towards a style like the dutch used toplay, the dutch are now playing the kind of football they used to lose against.
Will it pay off in the end?

[Green Bottle]

I thought Brazil were a bit lucky there to survive , if that shot by chile had just been a cpla inches lower....but thats how it goes, once it goes to penalties its just a lottery , unlucky Chile tho who pld really well i thought. so Brazil scrape throo but the crowd right behind them all the way which was gd to see....
And also Columbia in the next round they're playin really well and Uruguay an Chile say bye bye.....
Good game earlier between Holland an Mexico, it looked like th mexicans mite  do it after bein 1 . 0 ahead up until a cpla mins before the end when th dutch equalised, then robben goes down in the box ah thot it was a bit of a dive cos th contact was minimal but th ref gave it an holland stole the game, really unlucky Mexico.... :pall: :pall: :pall: :pall: :pall: :pall: :pall: :pall: :pall:

[Green Bottle]

That was a gd game there. Costa rica goin down to 10 men but hangin on into injury time an then penalties and its anybody's game, then Greece missed their 4th an costa rica scored their 5th to go through, unlucky greece was a gd effort by both teams...... :pall:

[Rob4you]

Yes! go Costa Rica!
I'm not a great fan of football, but occasionally I watch some matches, and that was one good to boot, it's the first time that Costa Rica advances to the quarters.
I'm happy :D , I hope that they keep up the good work. :)

[Jutter]

Nigeria and Algeria out. France will be playing Germany in the quarters.

[Mr.Obvious]

USA - Belgium
That was a close match if I ever saw one. Well played on both sides and either one could have won. Nearly thought I'd have a heart-attack at multiple times.

P.S. Seriously though; how many misses can we pull in one match?!

[GrinningYMIR]

I was hoping the Americans could pull through, but they ended up doing the same thing that my Rangers did in the Stanley cup, if you turtle up you won't score and its only a matter of time until the opponent breaks through.

Oh well, now I'm rooting for the Germans

[Shiranu]

Edit; just realized this is getting really long... just skip this if you want :P.

Okay, so here is my dilemma...

I want to like Germany. I really do. I even have a German national shirt that I have had for a few years... but... I just don't like them. I was raised by a second generation German American dad, in a heavily German community, in a German (and Czech/Polish) region of Texas... but...

I just cant get behind them. They just don't click with me. I watch them and I feel nothing. Memut Ozil and Ilkay Gundogan are the only players I really care about, and they are both Turkish (and Gundogan is out).

Likewise Italy... they are my team, I have always been "proud" (for lack of a better word) of my Italian heritage... but... the current team just doesn't click with me either. Balotelli annoys me because I really, really want to like him but he pulls stupid shit and risks harming opponents in frustration, which is unacceptable. I want to like Marchisio but he never really impresses me when he plays. Insigne is one of my favourite players and is out of Napoli with Mertens from Belgium, but he was shit-tier in the World Cup when he was called up. Cheillini could be so good if he wasn't such a little bitch.

Pretty much the only Italians I like are Pirlo and Buffon, the remainders from when Italy won the world cup. Pirlo is the one who really made me appreciate just how beautiful soccer could be and Buffon gave me a love for the art of goal keeping. But as for the rest of the team they feel like a cheap knock-off of what a true Italian team should be.

I do like Belgium though, Felleini is the only one who really annoys me on the team. Courtois is an absolute beast in goal, Kompany is cool and I like Hazard and the striking crews (and of course Mertens since he plays for my main Italian team). Vertoghen pisses me off (even if he plays for my English club Tottenham), but I can deal with that. But there is no cultural reason for me to support Belgium.

Finally in Europe we have France. I am part French, so I have reason to support them. I love most of the players; Pogba is a cool raising talent, Hugo Lloris is one of my favourite keepers, Benzema I think is a striker has received alot more shit than he is necessarily do, Griezmann is cool, Giroud is okay from time to time... and I like how multi-ethnic they are. But with Italy being my "main" team generally, I feel like a traitor rooting for France. But at the same time I am French as well so I have every right to root for them from a cultural standpoint.

I don't know... I might root for France until they meet Brasil. But I still feel a bit of obligation to support Germany simply because of my background, even if they just don't click with me and feel again a bit like a traitor rooting for France over them.

Bah, being a mutt is hard work on deciding which country to support.

[Notthesun]

I actually don't think the USA vs BEL game was close. US played terribly. Howard seemed like the only one to show up. The defense was shit and the offense could not stand up to the BEL defense. A goal scored didn't make it a close game to me. BEL was the superior team, and they were going to win the whole time.

[Shiranu]

I actually don't think the USA vs BEL game was close. US played terribly. Howard seemed like the only one to show up. The defense was shit and the offense could not stand up to the BEL defense. A goal scored didn't make it a close game to me. BEL was the superior team, and they were going to win the whole time.

Agreed. Belgium had like... 33 or some shots to the U.S.'s 6.

That said, the USA had a brilliant chance to steal it in the last minute of the game that went over... that failure to capitalize on one of their few great chances ultimately is what cost them. The defense could have won them the game if the offense would have just been a hair sharper.

[Mr.Obvious]

I assure you, from our end it looked like close match. Sure, Amerika didn't strike back often but when they did it lead to some pretty close situations (quality over quantity). And sure we had more attempts but a lot of our shots were straight up misses and those that weren't were met by the greatest goalie-performance I've personally ever seen. And I was convinced the USA would tie in the last 12 minutes of overtime; they fought like lions after Greener gave them hope. I agree that for the most part of the match Belgium was 'in control'. But it still got them nowhere for a long, long time.

[Green Bottle]

Well i thought it was a great game an the US were unlucky not to take it to penalties, anything could've happened then.
Belgium were the better team but only just, an if it wasnt for Howard it would have been worse, he pulled aff some great saves but couldnt do much about the goals, a great effort fae both teams tho an well done Belgium in the end....

[Shiranu]

If the US can get 1-2 players that can control the midfield and actually get any sort of offense going rather than counter-attack every time, and 1 really good defender to keep our next goalkeeper from having to make 16 saves... I think they could realistically make it to the finals. The one thing America had more than any other team in the WC (imo) was a hunger to make a name for themselves. And they succeeded, they gained the respect of fans around the world who say, "Fuck, we wish our team would have shown as much heart and class as the Americans did"... as well as proved that the United States is, to an extent, a soccer (or becoming one) nation.

I don't see that drive to win and over-achieve going away any time soon. If there is one thing Americans are very good at is having the heart and attitude to really prove themselves at an international stage, because until we have a Pele, Ronaldo, Messi, something I don't see happening any time soon, we will always be the underdogs. And even if many American's only really start watching soccer when the USMNT is playing, is that really a big deal? Why do they need to be "true" soccer fans who watch every club game, every year and why do we feel the need to call them "bandwagonners" for supporting their home team? It's not like the U.S. was dominating, or even particularly winning that well compared to other teams... so I don't get this sarcasm and kinda trash talk towards people who just started watching the WC this year. Treating new fans like trash and acting all elitist is not the way to build a soccer fan base in the states.

All in all, even as someone who was not rooting for the USMNT, I am sad to see them go. The fact that I could go to class and everyday someone would say, "Did you see the game?" and people wearing patriotic shirts and asking me questions about why this or that happened or my thoughts on the team and their chances or style or play was great. This is a good form of patriotism unlike most that is pushed on us, and I am sad that I will probably be graduated before it comes around again.

Say what you want, but the World Cup (like the Olympics) is one of, if not, the most important events in human culture today in my opinion. It's a time where we put our differences aside and just enjoy rooting for our country, our culture or even someone else's with out that meaning "support the war" or "fuck immigrants" or what have you. And you can try to poo-poo that all you want for what ever reason you want to, but at the end of the day the World Cup is one of the very few times people just put aside their differences, forget about their conditions in life and just enjoy friendly competition with each other. To me there is little more important than that to me.

[Jutter]

http://online.wsj.com/articles/why-its-time-for-the-u-s-to-go-dutch-1404325468
Who to root for now? The dutch of course.

"For starters, our flags have the same colors,"
"Our historic bonds run deep. After all, the Mayflower departed for the new continent fromâ€"you guessed itâ€"the Netherlands."
"Just for your convenience, many Dutch soccer players come pre-packaged with easy-to-remember names like "Wesley," "Nigel," "Daley" and, of course, "Memphis."
"the word "Yankee" very likely derived from Dutch: Some say the word stems from "Janke," or little Jan, once a common name in the Netherlands and in New Amsterdam. Others say it derived from "Jan-Kees," a common first name. Either way, if you're a Yankee, you're practically Dutch already."