World Cup - Brazil 2014

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Who's watching?

Brazil-Croatia 3-1 ... it was a pretty ordinary game to kick the tournament off ... Brazil with a very un-Brazilian performance and Croatia getting the rough end of the referee's whistle.

Australia open their campaign against Chile early tomorrow morning (Aus time), so think of me when you're watching ... we have a VERY tough tournament with Netherlands & Spain as the other teams in our group. I'm going in with low expectations, so I'll be ecstatic with anything better than three straight losses.

 

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We went down fighting to Chile, 3-1 loss but we were right in it until a late Chilean goal. Good signs from a young team.

Just watched Italy beat England 2-1. Brilliant game, two contrasting styles of football but plenty of nice moments for both sides.

Performance of the tournament so far was Netherlands 5-1 over Spain in a replay of the 2010 final, an absolute masterclass (especially from Arjen Robben), good quick passing and some great goals...

USA have a very tough group but should be confident in a win in the first game against Ghana, I think you guys are a very good chance to progress ... probably with Germany, at the expense of Portugal.

 

[botigol]

Missed your thread up until this morning. Yep, catching at least a game per day.

Yeah, if not for the ref, the opener would have finished 2-2. That would have been the proper result based on the play displayed.

That Netherlands performance was awesome. Any team going up against them for the rest of the tournament should be quite worried.

Missed the Australia game. Glad that they put up their normal good fight and forced Chile to play hard until the end. Wish that you had a better draw.

Costa Rica is a good team, but I never expected them to beat Uruguay, much less put up three goals. Another good game.

Of course, the results of yesterday's games...

Germany surprised me, but only a little bit. Or maybe Portugal underwhelmed more than should have been expected. In any case, Germany showed why they are one of the favorites.

U-S-A! U-S-A! Pulling out the win despite adversity is great, but going into the Portugal game shorthanded is going to be interesting. I really hope that they can duplicate the 2002 result so that the Germany game is a non-issue.

 

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Wow...Mexico has obviously found whatever it was that they lost during qualification. Ochoa came up BIG, but they played well considering that Brazil was all over them.

 

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Mexico are always underrated but it looks like they have the potential to go a long way, holding Brazil to a draw on their own soil is a big statement.

Maybe it was just that it was the first game but USA looked like a shadow of the side that was at the last WC, leaving Landon Donovan out might prove to be a big mistake. The US have the mental strength to grind out a win despite adversity though, getting a win over Ghana was a massive result in the circumstances.

Australia come up against the Netherlands tonight ... this could be a bloodbath ..

 

[botigol]

I would agree about Mexico, but theoretically, they will be facing the Netherlands in the next round and I don't see them getting past.

It is hard to compare the last cup to our first game. From what I recall, we had more space and time to work with during the games of the last cup and, specifically, Ghana seems faster and more physical now. Add to that having to sub out two, and almost three, starters before the start of the second half changes the game quite a bit. Sunday will be very telling. Also, if Belgium cannot play any better than they did yesterday, we have a shot of getting past them in the next round as well. I know that I am looking too far ahead, but a guy can be hopeful, right? Donovan is quite the controversial issue and no soccer conversation goes without mentioning him. A lot of conspiracy theory-type stuff going around. The only things that I can say with certainty are that he is definitely heavier than normal and he did nothing in the league game against my Rapids in May. I want to say that I could have counted his number of touches on one hand.

AUS-NED just kicked off...

 

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Back-to-back nice goals!

AUS rising to the occasion. Can't ask for more out of a cup game!

 

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I enjoyed watching that one!

 

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Woke up this morning with a strange combination of deep pride and bitter disappointment.. we were never supposed to achieve anything in this WC and have punched above our weight, but at the same time we had a genuine opportunity to win that game and blew it. Such is football, such is life!

Spain out in the first round too...

Didn't realise there was such controversy around Donovan, at his age he should still be at the peak of his talents but sounds like he's put himself out to pasture a little bit. Probably good that the coach has the balls to make calls based on form & fitness rather than name & history, but surely with Altidore out now you're looking a bit light up front.

 

[botigol]

Yeah, Spain was a big surprise for me. I think that England is going to join them on the plane home after today's game. Given current form (and maybe desire), you may have a bit more national pride to carry around after your boys slap Spain around for 90 mins :0)

I'm with you, it certainly seems like Donovan should still be at or near the top of his game. Other than the game that I attended there was a small bit in one news story that mentioned that in the past Donovan had dominated on one of the physical fitness tests that our national team uses, but that in the run-up to this cup he fell well short of those previous results. If true, this certainly lends credence to the coach making the right call. Most people seem to be on the extremes of the issue, they give full support either to Donovan's skill or to Klinsmann's coaching. Either way, as you said, we are a bit thin at forward at this point and maybe Donovan could have helped. The counterpoint is that Klinsmann designed his strategy around having a big, physical forward to hold the ball. Altidore is the only forward in our system that could fill that role. We have a couple other taller forwards that weren't included in the team, but they don't have the physical stature or necessarily the skills to play that style. So, even if Donovan or one of those other guys had been called in, I think that we would still be facing a problem at this point since we either have to slot someone into a role that they cannot effectively play or change the strategy to something that they haven't been practicing.

Just to put an additional layer of second guessing onto the pile...we have two or three guys in Brazil that may or may not have deserved a spot. I would like to reserve judgment until we see how far the team can go and if those guys have either a positive or negative effect, but from the outside it doesn't look good.

 

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USA-Belgium ... Belgium have just taken the lead in the first period of extra time, USA have about 25 mins to get the game back but look a little devoid of ideas at the moment..

 

[ibglowin]

USA looking like a bunch of amateurs. Where is the defense? Horrible passing….. We still look like we have a long way to go to become competitive. Howard deserves better than this.

 

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Belgium got another one, now Green has come off the bench for USA and scored a nice volley - 2-1 - game on!
Switch on your telly, this is going to be a great finish..

EDIT: You're right about Howard, he is world class but he can't keep the goals out on his own...

 

[ibglowin]

As soon as I posted we scored. LOL Where the heck has this team been the whole game!

 

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And yet another save by Howard……..

 

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ohhhh what a chance
yanks really in the ascendency

 

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Almost a super goal via a trick play on the free kick!

 

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yeah that would have been a great goal! Last touch just too close to the keeper.

3 mins left...

 

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We need more 19yr old kids obviously!

 

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Ahahahaha klinsmann
'One minute .. why the f*** is it one minute'