[Zelandakh]

jjbrr, on 2013-December-07, 15:51, said:

lol the rest of the world is so SHOOK the US is good at soccer they had to rig the draw

"good" is such a general term. One can be good in comparison to Panama for example and still lose to Honduras...

el mister, on 2014-May-23, 03:27, said:

Luis Suarez - Uruguay forward of unique charm, is doubtful for the world cup - had knee surgery this week. How tragic.

As an Englishman I would like to say just how tragic I find this. Is the worst possible news I could possibly imagine aside from the entire Italian team going down with jungle flu or something.

[Fluffy]

Who cares about world cup when Atletico is going to win European Champion's Cup tomorrow?

[gwnn]

It would be funny to see Atleti win the Champions League without Diego Costa and Spain fail miserably with him, although I kinda think they will both fail Spain is a good candidate for a France 2002 reprise IMO. I'm fully prepared to eat my words.

[Aberlour10]

Fluffy, on 2014-May-23, 09:10, said:

Who cares about world cup when Atletico is going to win European Champion's Cup tomorrow?

Pity! 120 sec remained, but Ramos was unstoppable another time, showed exceptional performance in second semi match vs FC Bayern too. IMO most valuable player of this CL season.

[gwnn]

He also made me 120€ on an online bet (I put 10€ that Ramos specifically will score with his head, although also killed my insurance bet on Atletico).

I kind of got a feeling from the match that Atletico had less motivation in the final than what they showed in La Liga. I saw signs of what Bayern also showed, relaxation after winning the league. To me, Real showed much more determination, tbh. I don't like the concept of "luck" and "deserved" in sports, but I am particularly peeved now as people say Real were lucky or Atletico were unlucky because of an injury-time strike. As far as I'm concerned, the first half was more or less evenly matched and the second half was largely dominated by Real (yes, maybe if it was 1-0 for Real, then it coulda been different, but it was not 1-0 for Real so it wasn't). It's not even like Atletico put up a great defensive fight, Bale in particular got a couple of good chances. Also no counters to talk of. Sorry, if anything, you could say that Atletico were lucky to survive so long. I am a Real Madrid fan so I know I'm biased, but I just don't see how anyone can say that Atletico were heroic or the moral winners, other than factors outside the pitch such as the small AtM budget or Ronaldo's ridiculous body language after scoring, which I also would rather do without but accept them with the good parts

[gwnn]

In unrelated news, Uruguay has ridiculously high odds of 28.0 (27/1 or +2700). Too bad they don't play the world cup 100 times in parallel, I could make a lot of money even if Suarez stays injured. Cavani is also a formidable striker.

[Aberlour10]

jjbrr, on 2014-May-22, 15:54, said:

jurgennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Jürgen is not a Merlin ;-)

But seriously , already the first match for team USA is all-or-nothing-one. If they will not win vs Ghana...>>>its over..

[mike777]

1) who do you currently rate as the top 20 players in the world?

2) based on your ranking, which world cup teams have the most top 20 players?

[gwnn]

1) a bunch of players from Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich, and a few stars here and there
2) Spain, Germany, Argentina, and Brazil, in that order imo. Howevof, the stars in Barcelona are out of shape and they were the ones who had the biggest contribution to the successes in 2008-2012. Germany should be the favourites but they are playing in South America which is historically tough for European players (the impact is not so big on South American players who typically play in Europe anyway for a club but often play in South America for their NT). Argentina has Messi Higuain etc but Messi is again out of shape although he will be extra motivated so who knows? I would rate Brazil's squad the relatively weakest of the four but they are playing in home, won the Confederation's Cup, and they are Brazil, the most successful team in history.

I like Uruguay's chances as a surprise team, maybe repeating the heartbreak of 1950 (beating Brazil in the de facto final when a draw would have sufficed for the home side in front of 200000 crazy fans), although I think the squads have changed a bit since then

[Zelandakh]

What gwnn said basically except my surprise team is Belgium. I think this competition is coming too early for them but if they catch fire early and the confidence rises they have one of the most talented squads in Brazil. Aside from playing in South America, Germany is also suffering from injuries to key players. They have serious issues at centre forward, defensive midfield and left back. They could solve the problem in DM by playing Lahm there in a 4141 but then the issue moves to right back. That is arguably the best idea but I expect Löw to stick with his 4231. Germany are obviously still amongst the favourites but I would not say they have the best team any more and in Brazilian conditions are probably only fourth favourites.

As an Englishman I am interested in Uruguay's performance. On paper the quality of the squad is better than England's in South American conditions. However they have not played as a team for some time now so there is still hope. If they do manage to sort that out then they should reach the quarters and deeper is quite possible. But that is a big if and we just have to hope they remain 11 talented individual players.

[MrAce]

Quote

Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win.

Gary Lineker

[mike777]

I see a lot of yapping


But where is your money on who will win, place and show?

Will the Usa finish in the top ten?

[jjbrr]

mike777, on 2014-June-05, 21:31, said:

Will the Usa finish in the top ten?

[mike777]

jjbrr, on 2014-June-05, 22:25, said:

yapping seems to be most common.

AT this point perhaps that is all the world cup is....yapping.


60 minutes of boring and yapping or can you show me something else?

can you show me world cup excitement?
can you show me world cup passion? true when you as a poster you show passion?

In baseball in America I think of passion, true passion

When I think of soccer I think of passion, in 2014 what passion teams do you see?

[gwnn]

So answering your questions constitutes yapping now? WTF is wrong with you?

[Zelandakh]

Mike, if you want World Cup passion and excitement I suggest you go on holiday outside of the US for the next month or so. If you think of baseball in America as true passion then you really need to see how other countries are towards football.

[jjbrr]

mike, when you're this wrong about a topic, it's time to consider not posting.

[jjbrr]

JOZY will probably be competing with Dempsey for the golden boot given today's performance against nigeria. I predict they'll bury about 7 goals against germany alone between the two of them.

meanwhile our defense is just embarrassing.

I AM SO EXCITED. LETS GOOOOOOOOO

[mike777]

I do find the passion, great passion in this sport to be of the finest from its many fans.

yapping is ok and good I just challenge you experts for more informed comments.


I find this topic very interesting.


I notice that unfortunately cheating is becoming more common in this sport and at the very least suggestions of payoffs for the honor of holding world cups in the future, fixed games, etc.

As an outsider and I am, the most popular sport in the world seems to be archaic at the very top. For example I point to the leader of the sport for roughly 18 years and its (questionable) non tax status in Switzerland.

You who follow the sport more closely may agree or disagree.

At the very least in all aspects this sport seems to be resistant to change and innovation for many reasons.( instant replay of refs calls: modern attacks and defense based on quants) Again I say this as an outsider so look forward to your comments from those of you who follow the sport in more passion. From what little I understand it seems that Europe is more open, much more open to innovation and change than the rest of the soccer world. ( agree or disagree?)


I do find the passion, great passion in this sport to be of the finest from its many fans.

[mike777]

I find it interesting in reading those that feel Brazil will win based on home field adv and that Germany will win based on being the best team.

Can the best team, the team with the most talent overcome the great heat and passion of Brazil?