World Cup 2014

I'm anxious to see if Suarez can keep up his level of play. One would think that it might be tough because of having surgery so recently.
I don't dislike Italy as much as you but I completely understand it. One of my Italian American friends has a love/hate relationship with the team. He has spent quite a bit of time in Italy and Argentina (some ancestors from Italy moved to Argentina). He always has a ton to root for come cup time.
He agrees with me that Pirlo is a joy to watch and easy to root for. We also love the fact that Italy's best striker is not the typical Italian caucasian. The irony is fantastic ( Italy is notorious for having racist chants /slurs hurled at non - Caucasians/mostly those of Africa decent).
I normally wouldn't like a player as seemingly egotistical as Balotelli but in this case I root for him as well.

That all being said, I hope Uruguay wins.

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Originally Posted by Birnando

I am eagerly awaiting Uruguay vs Italy today.
And I also hope to see England deliver a better performance than they gave in the previous two matches.

With any luck Uruguay will outplay Italy and send them packing after the group stages.
The inventors of all that is bad in football*, Italy, is very much THE team to "hate" in my book.
Pirlo or not;)

*Match fixing, doping, life threatening 3-second injuries and the world record in gallons of hair-gel on a pitch simultaneously.

B, the hooligan from the worst football nation ever...

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Suarez's total lack of control completely marred this game and his country's win.
There should be a suspension of some significance because his actions were totally absurd (and it's the 3rd time he has bit or tried to bite an opponent).

It's hard to feel empathy when a large soccer/futbol power goes down to an underdog but I'm ticked off for Italy.

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Originally Posted by PFunkDaddy

Suarez's total lack of control completely marred this game and his country's win.
There should be a suspension of some significance because his actions were totally absurd (and it's the 3rd time he has bit or tried to bite an opponent).

It's hard to feel empathy when a large soccer/futbol power goes down to an underdog but I'm ticked off for Italy.

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Agreed!
A shameful act, he should be punished by FIFA.
The amount of free-kicks and stoppage continuously destroyed the match even further.
At times it was like a casting scene for a Burton movie out there..


Attachment 170709

And yes it is true Greece qualified to the 16 stage!!!!!

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Originally Posted by Birnando

Agreed!
A shameful act, he should be punished by FIFA.
The amount of free-kicks and stoppage continuously destroyed the match even further.
At times it was like a casting scene for a Burton movie out there..

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Love the pic!

:rofl2:

Suarez=banned from Cup play for life.

USA-GER:

USA had some terrible slips of concentration. I'm still disappointed we haven't seen Bradley's form from just before the cup. Commentator observed: "Eerily like '02 cup for the US". Yep.

Germany's natural Centerbacks are a weakness, IMO. They don't want to go out and challenge. If the US can attack them like Ghana did, the line would be exposed... I only counted one such attack by the USA.

Also, GER doesn't seem to have had a spectacular performance. Don't know if it was playing the US or they had an off day. They did get the result, though. That's what matters.

And, getting through for both teams. Congrats Germany. Go USA!! We do deserve to get out of Group G. Many people eatin' crow on their predictions about the US.

OH! The 92+ and on minutes! Almost tied it up...

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Originally Posted by Siguy

USA-GER:

USA had some terrible slips of concentration. I'm still disappointed we haven't seen Bradley's form from just before the cup. Commentator observed: "Eerily like '02 cup for the US". Yep.

Germany's natural Centerbacks are a weakness, IMO. They don't want to go out and challenge. If the US can attack them like Ghana did, the line would be exposed... I only counted one such attack by the USA.

Also, GER doesn't seem to have had a spectacular performance. Don't know if it was playing the US or they had an off day. They did get the result, though. That's what matters.

And, getting through for both teams. Congrats Germany. Go USA!! We do deserve to get out of Group G. Many people eatin' crow on their predictions about the US.

OH! The 92+ and on minutes! Almost tied it up...

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Not the most intense game, but I agree.
The Germans did what needed doing, the US team tried 'till the end.

Congrats to both teams on making the final 16.
No question of what teams were deserving of going thru.
Both Ghana and Portugal failed to reach a stable level that would get them to cup play.

Hup hup Holland!

Stoked lol!!

http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5c344420.jpg

Netherlands!

Gogo Holland :D

Another great game. Don't know what happened to Mexico on the 2nd half
but I knew i could rely on Oranje!

Now see what happens to Greece later tonight. Go Zeus!

I shat bricks the last 15 minutes of the nedmex game but dang I'm glad we made the quarter finals

Sailor - are you dying lol?? Penelty kicks!! Yikes.

I have to wake up to work about 3 hrs from now but had to watch the game. Imho Greece had the hegemony but they missed the last touch up and Navas played like a dream. What a game!

Penalty shots are about to start. Go Piratiko!

Edit: congrats Costa Rica. This is a cruel world :)

Brutal!! Dude... What a match.

Two things from today's matches:

1) confirmation that "Arjen Robben" is Dutch for "diving, cheating b*stard". He's a wonderfully gifted player but IMHO one of the worst offenders of all time when it comes to diving, and he has been during his whole career. Drives me nuts. Marquez barely touched him and he went down like he had been poleaxed. The whole mid-air flailing thing is a dead giveaway. Grr. I really really want to support the Dutch because historically they have played some beautiful footie, and they have terrific fans, but after that I just can't. They seemed oddly disjointed today too. They will need to play better against Costa Rica.

2) Hurrah Costa Rica! It wasn't the most exciting match ever, but that rarely happens when Greece are playing their system. I thought the Costa Ricans did very well to hang on after going down to ten men, and held their nerves beautifully in the penalties. That save was fantastic!

There aren't many of your posts I can't "like" cangooner - but that last post of yours, I just can't like :).


Netherlands

But you are right - Holland did look out of sorts early on.

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Originally Posted by earcutter

There aren't many of your posts I can't "like" cangooner - but that last post of yours, I just can't like :).


Netherlands

But you are right - Holland did look out of sorts early on.

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It would be a terribly boring world if we all agreed on things like sports, etc. :)

Ha! I knew it! Congrats les Bleus!

Now waiting for die Mannschaft to do the same!

I hope we can keep this pace and pressure the whole match and not die in the 2nd half.

I think Belgam has their hands full. Still hoping we can keep the pressure and pace up through the 2nd half

Oops...good try by US but too little too late. Congrats to both teams; soccer/futbol is becoming a mainstream sport in the US. I'm looking forward to the future with the game here!

I'm sad to see the US go out, but they did far better than anyone expected them to do. Two cups in a row making it out of the Group Stage. Given the lack of depth we had in several positions, which was exposed due to *many* injuries, I'd say we put in the heart and grind that teams are used to see from the US in our 2014 Cup appearances. Now, we need to keep developing. Technique is right around the corner and knocking. And, I predict MLS will no longer be a resting place where careers go to die!

So many good matches and thoughtful comments here on SRP! I don't think it can be overstated how terrific this Cup 2014 has been.

kind regards

Of the two matches yesterday, the USA-Belgium was the most entertaining one.
Argentina going thru in the end was expected, as it was with Belgium.
IMHO Argentina is not performing at the level I was anticipating going in to these championships, but have managed to stay in it mainly because they have players that can pull that extra something out of the bag when needed.

The US team put up a valiant effort, but their material isn't quite up there when compared to the usual suspects at this stage in the tournament.
Both teams covered some serious mileage in this bout.

Belgium is a joy to watch out there on the pitch.
Some very fine football players for sure.
Howard kept USA in it for a long time, brilliant play by him.

Almost stole that one in extra time. That would have been something.
Belgium clearly controlled play, is the better team and deserved to win. This is the spot the US is stuck at. Getting to the knockout round is nothing new. It would be nice to see us progress further. That will not happen until the level of skill increases. Our players seem to fight the ball while class ballers from other countries use it like a yo-yo...it's an extension of them.

Despite the very good showing (which it was), there is no clear path to making the next step. We are a country of 300 million so the excuse that our best athletes play other sports is just that - an excuse. Heck we have states with larger populations than many of these power soccer nations. In fact the 9 county metropolitan area that I live in has a larger population than Uruguay and Costa Rica among others (and is very soccer friendly) yet no international soccer stars.

I'm afraid that the excitement built up around this World Cup is no different than previous times. We are in the midst of it, the games can easily be watched live because Brazil is only 1 hour ahead of the eastern time zone. That adds to the excitement. It is not even the deepest run into the tournament. We made it to the quarter finals in 2002. Yet here we are 3 Cups later saying the same thing again. "This is the start." I hope so but have my doubts. Our most talked about players are a 35 year old keeper, a 30 something midfielder miscast as a striker and a washed up player (who was never that great compared to other countries top or mid level players) who was left off the team.

That being said I think the team represented very well. They lived up to their full potential. And I love that we have not made flopping a part of our national soccer personality. They really couldn't have done any better imho. They made their country proud.

Overall this has been 1 of the 2 most exciting World Cups of my lifetime. It would be hard to top #1. That was 1994 when the tournament was held here in the States. 4 or 5 of the group stage matches were held here locally at Stanford. A few teams setup home bases in a few towns around the area. Brazil set up home base in Los Gatos (where I live now and 15 minutes from where I grew up and lived at the time). That was amazing! The Brazilians took over the town. I had never seen the town like that before they came nor since - main drags were closed down because parties from the bars were all spilled on the streets, the police were totally overwhelmed but there was no violence or crime just fun, beautiful Brazilian women dancing on tables and the general warm and genuniely friendly nature of the Brazilian people permeated the whole area. This town had no idea what hit it. It was awesome.

Belgium - US was imo the best game of the tournament so far.
Belgium demolished the US defense, but Howard was the man of the match. His performance was out of this world. Truly the man of the match. It was a riveting game. If Belgium can keep this up, they will beat Argentina too. If the Dutch then win against costa rica, we'll have a Netherlands - Belgium semi finals.

In case you don't know our countries: if this game will come to pass, don't expect to get enything done that day or the next if it involves Belgian or Dutch people. Both our countries will go completely insane. :)

Been waiting to do this for a while ->:brunoisright

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Originally Posted by Bruno

Belgium - US was imo the best game of the tournament so far.
Belgium demolished the US defense, but Howard was the man of the match. His performance was out of this world. Truly the man of the match. It was a riveting game. If Belgium can keep this up, they will beat Argentina too. If the Dutch then win against costa rica, we'll have a Netherlands - Belgium semi finals.

In case you don't know our countries: if this game will come to pass, don't expect to get enything done that day or the next if it involves Belgian or Dutch people. Both our countries will go completely insane. :)

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Dude!! That would be spectacular!

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Originally Posted by Bruno

Both our countries will go completely insane. :)

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I already thought they were :)

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Originally Posted by Bruno

In case you don't know our countries: if this game will come to pass, don't expect to get enything done that day or the next if it involves Belgian or Dutch people. Both our countries will go completely insane. :)

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Must be so with neighboring countries with common history. Those games always have very high emotional extra.
It is just the same with Finland and Sweden. Together we were single country for more than 700 years (about 1100-1809). Our half of the kingdom was called Österland or Kvenland.

No matter if it's sports, singing contest, beer drinking contest or who is the one sitting longer in the ants nest or whatever. There's sort of a deep love-hate relationship. In the case of major sport contest both countries totally stop their normal lives during games.

But tomorrow it will be one of the exciting ones: France-Germany.

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Originally Posted by Sailor

But tomorrow it will be one of the exciting ones: France-Germany.

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Indeed.
That is a classic battle for sure.
Over the years those matches have contained just about all football at the highest level has to offer.
I'd love to see both teams playing offensive from the start tomorrow, giving it their very best.

Let's just hope it stays civil.
The tragedy of Sevilla back in '82 does not need repeating...

Edit.
On a personal note, two of my absolute favorite players are going up against each other in this one.
I'm looking forward to seeing who will be the winner of that match in the match so to speak.
The two guys in question are Bastian Schweinsteiger and Karim Benzema.

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Originally Posted by Birnando

Let's just hope it stays civil.
The tragedy of Sevilla back in '82 does not need repeating...

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I was about to say that the game has turned much more civilized since those days but unfortunately Suarez (and few others too, not to mention tragic push from Zidane; what a sad way to end a magnificent career).
Heck i remember Schumacher vs Battiston tackle even today. And the referee never noticed. Could have started a war.

Hope we are about to see a fair play tonight. Beers are already in the freezer (cider for wifey).

Yup, same here.
Beers are chilled and we are ready for one of the really big ones

With one minute left to play the words of the English legend Gary Lineker comes to mind yet again:
"Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win."

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Originally Posted by Birnando

With one minute left to play the words of the English legend Gary Lineker comes to mind yet again:
"Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win."

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Congrats to Germany! Something was missing but the better team won, imho. Both teams could have done better. All Germany had to do was to play at their normal level with no extra efforts. I expected more from Özil but Müller was a drama queen.
Surprisingly the best player in the field was Benzema. Looked like he was the only one trying to keep France from falling. Just as the rest of the team had given up earlier.

Brazil star Neymar was ruled out of the FIFA World Cup™ on Friday with a back injury, team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said. Neymar suffered a fracture in the third verterbra of his back and will need several weeks of total rest and immobilization. Together with Silva not being able to play his next match I would say that 'Die Mannschaft' better keep it together and perform at their best. A chance you only get once every 4 years to play in the WC finals.

Another great game to start within few minutes. I've really been for Netherlands for all this time so i am so confident that Clockwork Oranje will sort this out too.

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Originally Posted by Sailor

Another great game to start within few minutes. I've really been for Netherlands for all this time so i am so confident that Clockwork Oranje will sort this out too.

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The Dutch team has been playing great football.
Normally I'd say this will be an easy win.
Thanks to the Oscar-wannabe named Robben I'm finding myself rooting for Costa Rica though :)