World Cup 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXowfyei3xM

xxl - Not that good, no. Yes, they were. That too but more of the other, IMHO

Lots of good passing in Croatia midfield, not so much in the way of protecting the defence.

thought Modric did some good defensive work last night tbh

he worked hard but it's not really his thing is it - they need to find a way to free him further upfield imo

ideally yeah but on reflection i feel like if they'd've offered more threat in front of the two passing mids they'd've got more joy out of the match

them losing didn't feel like it was mainly down to a failure to shield the centre backs

I don't fancy Mexico's chances of getting out of the group after seeing Croatia last night. I know the Cameroon team have been squabbling over money coming up to this WC though so maybe Mexico might get a win today

going for Cameroon 2-1

gonna miss the second half cos of stupid parental responsibilities grrr

both teams will know a win is their best chance of progressing, 3 points from this and a draw against one of the other 2 might just be enough

them losing didn't feel like it was mainly down to a failure to shield the centre backs

felt there were a few times I saw Neymar and Oscar running from middle to front at the centre backs unopposed so maybe that coloured my judgement of the game as a whole

there probly was some of that but a lot of Brazil's threat was wide? Hulk and Oscar mostly played as orthodox wingers i thought

sort of irrelevant i guess because they'll have to play teams that do try to play it thru them, guessing this is what Mexico will do

in case i don't get near a computer:

Spain - Netherlands 0-0
Chile - Australia 4-0

Spain - Netherlands 2-0
Chile - Australia 2-0

for mex vs cam it is def correct that they should each be going all out to win this game to give either a hope of getting thru but how often do they instead play not to lose instead.

mex - cam 1-1
esp - ned 1-2
chi - oz 1-0

Spain and Holland is likely to be a dour lifeless "we cool bro?" scoreless draw, I fear

Desperately trying to get some work done before games start, why the F am I on ILX

feeling that

2:0
2:2
3:0

2:2
0:0
4:0

Mex 2:0 Cam
Esp 1:2 Ned
Chi 2:0 Aus

Excited to watch Chile play, they absolutely dominated Germany in a friendly a couple of months ago while also managing to lose 1-0.

Haven't seen Mexico play since Olympics when they were really good but qualification was shitty. Is Carlos Vela back in the squad or not?

Be v surprised if Holland win but think their defence is more vulnerable to teams that play much more of a transition game than Spain do.

http://graphics.wsj.com/documents/WORLDCUPTOEE/#/?lang=en&metrics=Population

World Cup of Everything Else

England wins @ road safety

Mex 1 - Cam 1
Esp 2 - Ned 0
Chi 3 - Aus 0

xp that's a good feature. even with a cursory scroll thru i learned a lot i didn't know.

Vela not in squad. i think he's basically said he'll never play for Mexico again.

Vela turned down the call up for Mexico.

I watched their tune-up game vs Bosnia in Chicago, Bosnia basically owned the game outside of little pea hitting the post and won 1-0.

Belgium
Biggest Eaters: Animal Fat

enjoyed watching croatia's midfield they were very good at passing the ball? Or maybe it was because Brazil midfield weren't very good at pressing them?

this is my perennial achilles heel with football, i can't tell the difference between good offense and bad defense, or vice versa, no matter how many games i watch

Croatian passing was excellent IMO but hey yo is allowed to differ then I throw a brick at you its soccer

passing vs. possession

ESPN passing on AP announcement that the Natal fire authority has questions about 'structural integrity' of the stadium given the rain, says the Mexico/Cameroon match responsibility is all on FIFA. Fun!

Lt. Christiano Couceiro told the UOL news portal that a Thursday inspection of the Arena das Dunas found some problems, including some missing guardrails to keep fans from falling and temporary seating that wasn’t bolted to the structure.
He also said that an area with 11,000 temporary seats had not yet been inspected by his department.

Love Occhoa.

Teaming down out there, should be fun.

Have these clowns never filmed football in the rain before? Sort your cameras out!

I cannot get over these crossed arm poses in the team roster videos.

"Yeah."
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
Etc.

let's do this

i will be glad when the weekend comes so I can actually WATCH all these games instead of listening on the radio

Dos Santos is so money for Mexico.

What kind of barbarous place does not allow you streaming of these things, VG.

You should be let out of work early to watch Aus later VG.

Also I trust you're leaving early to catch the Merlot/Shiraz Copa de Vin match properly later today. *hic*

I am of course watching the Univision feed for this one, which is already making it sound like a party apocalypse at 15 seconds in.

I've dvr'd the Aus game so I can see the sadness playout in all its hd glory -- I get off at 3 today but have to run errands so will be forced to listen to most of the game :/

Criminal.

Anyway, Univision's feed has already crashed several times, thanks guys! It's called anticipating your audience. Back to the Worldwide Leader, joy.

Gonna go out on a limb and suggest that a highish back line combined with no pressure on the ball isn't going to go well for Cameroon.

Cameroon are all over the shop. Mexico just need to sort out their crossing