World Cup 2014

Dutch were the better team overall tbf

Not terribly important, but...

iirc the leicester v palace 96 play-off final martin o'neill brought on zeljko kalac for pens

steve claridge then scored seconds before ft and palace said the substitution put them off

...I vaguely remember nipping into a Camden pub on a sunny afternoon to catch the end of a Palace play-off match in the mid-to-late 90s and one of their players scored a wonder goal in the last minute to get them promoted. Was that the next season?

Can't see how that was going to backfire on van Gaal tbh, unless Krul dives over five tricklers.

When was the last time they actually won a shootout? Must have been a while

NBS - that was the David Hopkin game, which I think might actually have been... against Leicester? Leicester did lose a lot of playoffs back in the day.

Enjoyed this match up until the very end when they tacked on the "it was only a kooky dream" ending.

According to BBC they won their last one (against Sweden in 2004), but lost the other four (xxp)

Main thing w/Holland is they scored all of them against a good keeper.

https://vine.co/v/MUETeiMOzgB

My priority for this WC was van Gaal being tied up as long as possible so, uh, tournament delivers I guess.

IK - you mean FIFA tournament delivers

Love Van Gaal and getting all my love out of the way i preparation for a season of loathing

Nope, turns out the Hopkin goal was against Sheffield United in 1997.

I do, yes. Thank you Sepp.

Ooh, "Keine Melodie" on the highlights! Nifty.

lol, Argentina suddenly clear favourites for the WC

Germany.

Van Gaal you magnificent bastard.

Nope, turns out the Hopkin goal was against Sheffield United in 1997.

The name Hopkin means nothing to me, but 97 sounds right because I'm pretty sure the whole Lombardo (and fat Brolin thing?) was in 98.

Congratulations LBI, hope you win it now

Suarez emerging unscathed was my other priority fwiw

Thanks NBS!!

Was v sceptical abt Van Gaal on forehand, but he's got great tricks up his sleeve. Plus, he's made it so that - for the first time ever? - there is not one player having problems with being benched, there's no mutiny. Rare for us.

Krul was in the right corner with all five penalties btw. And for the Dutch to score all of them is bizarre.

The story is almost too good to be true. First killing off the national penalty trauma. Now Argentina, our 78 trauma. And then Germany? Bring it on!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjgYc71QMtY

This one?

OK, before watching that clip, I can say the goal I remember was from right to left as the cameras filmed it, maybe from outside the box, that's all I can be sure about - I think the guy was near side rather than far side...

And here's Cladge:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6764iSnVJPQ

And finally, just because I know that, as if by magic, he will appear:

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

...yeah that's it (xps). But his name means absolutely nothing to me. Was he still there the following season?

Van Gaal: "We deliberately DID tell Krul today he would be brought on in the case of penalties, but also deliberately DIDN'T tell Cillessen, to not cramp his style."

Class.

i would be very surprised if Holland won't in this tournament

ARG, I'm counting on you

Feel like that's the kind of trick you can only use once, if NEDARF gets close to pens his heads gonna be messed for sure xp

I agree, this won't be copied a second time.

So, Argentina: weren't too impressive today. Holland wasn't either, but the CR played to make it to the penalties tbh. ARG will leave more space. I'm slightly confident we can overcome ARG, despite the players being drained right now.

VegGirl, y u hate us so much ;_;

I bet the Netherlands don't have a FOOTBALL CHICKEN
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/sharonjoy666/D299423F-38CC-45FC-9655-226335635B43_zpsdqfpls1x.jpg

i hate you because you always win in ways that are sociopathically designed to be the most heartbreaking to the other team

even just subbing on the keeper: brilliant but FUCK OFF SO MUCH

:)

rooting for argentina vs holland but will be rooting pretty hard for whoever wins that to win the whole thing

VegemiteGrrl's Football Chicken and Waffle House

Gotcha Veg. It's why we do. Either that or fail miserably :)

i secretly admire the commitment to winning

fyi I am reading brilliant orange to aid my eventual coming to jesus re u bastards ;)

How is that book, VG?

Friend form Argentina not looking forward to next match.

is holland the biggest soccer power never to win it? if they do win it who's the next biggest never to win it?

Hungary?

Although their claim to fame was 60 years ago

After Spain won it, I'd say Holland is pretty much the last one standing of the big ones without a win. Countries like Portugal or Columbia might have a good generation now and then, but nothing like Holland. Three finals + Euro champs 88.

http://i.imgur.com/IBu56m6.jpg

Thought this was some right wank. But I've watched the penalty series twice in replay again now. Krul is in the right corner every time. And every single time before a CR player takes a penalty in one corner, the lead up from Krul has been strolling into the opposite corner. Don't know if it was intentional (know keepers trainer Frans Hoek has a large role in bringing Krul on), but it's quite amazing.

I watched this in the pub. All I have to say

http://abload.de/img/lvgfyjt4.gif

Haha

To me, it looked like Krul wasn't guessing, he was waiting to see the kick before jumping. I went through the PKs in slow motion and compared -- Navas jumps right before the ball is struck, Krul stays centred (but leaning one way) until the ball is on the way.

You can see it with a couple of the successful CR penalties -- they're not placed all the way to the edge/corner, but Krul still isn't able to reach them (the 4th one, you can see he nearly gets it, and slaps his hand to his head afterward). That's because he's moving late. Contrast that to Kuyt's penalty, Navas misses it by inches even though it hits the inside of the post, because he's jumping that way before he ball is hit.

Krul is so tall/long that he can still cover a large part of the net without moving much. With this strategy he'll never be heading the wrong way, and he can hope to save anything that isn't struck firmly and placed to the edge of the net.

I don't watch that much soccer, is this an unusual technique?

Love your close reading into this Plasmon!

But I don't think it's just waiting till the striker moves/shoots. Krul is tall alright, but - having watched the whole penalty shoutout five times now - that doesn't seem to be what he is depending on. Ever since 1988, when PSV won the CL with Van Breukelen the successful keeper in shoot outs because his keeper trainer kept a diary on who aims where - this has been a thing. Keeping tabs. But obviously this is useless for a keeper when your takers don't score, as has been the case for Holland so many times.

But I saw more in Krul's performance tonight. He knew, and also contributed to where the CR takers were going to shoot. The 4th one you mention, Krul grabbing his head, yet also signing to the bench: "I knew! I had him in the right corner" is key. From that penalty on he seems positive that walking to right, distracting the striker, helps make the striker aim to the left.

Not sure if luck or thought out. I am inclined to think this was studied on - and ManU fans (here's looking at you, NN) will be even more glad now that Van Gaal is taking Frans Hoek to Manchester with him - thought through and executed wonderfully.