World Cup 2014

@_PaulHayward: Alarming touchline footage of Scolari on Brazilian TV. Fred and Dante seemed to challenge him. 10 goals in 2 games a travesty. What a mess.

trying to think of the last similar case of a home team being carried so much further than their level by sheer will of the fans

nah that Korean side was dece

maybe a little past their level

England 1966?

mental ref mental game mental that Brazil got out of the group

The tournament is only 1 goal away from equalling the most scoringest goal amount number record.

nil nil in the final then

http://www.wkdaily.nl/archives/images/scheidskrijgtmedaillejondschudthoofd.gif

lol

did anyone mention the Cillessen sitting on things/just think baout things meme. too bored to look it up really.

(wished the dutch had played in those training shirts though, those are rad)

North Korea close to winning the WC

Is Masch nominated for the Golden Ball? If Argentina win I'd quite like it to go to him.

Robben deserves it but it will probably have to go to an Argentinian or a German. That North Korean thing must be a parody.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BsX57qNCYAAYPpl.jpg

Best 11 according to stats from WhoScored

whoscored always rates attacking contribution above anything else, never find their scores persuasive. Vlaar has had a good tournament admittedly.

Ron Vlaar has been unable to stay fit for more than 2 consistent games in all his time at Villa.

Those rating systems are biased towards who scores the goals. Stats haven't figured out how to quite negate that one yet.

pjanic? interesting. was quite impressed with him in the 2 games i saw, but they lost both those games so..

trying to think of the last similar case of a home team being carried so much further than their level by sheer will of the fans

South Korea 2002

Sheer will of FIFA and the referees I think you mean

holds for both examples

XP the rules of the game also privilege those scoring the goals its a huge prob

Net your priv

ref

an ilxor had an ff team named Džeko Privilege last year, always meant to doff my cap to that one

South Korea were an excellent team in 2002, and deserved to beat Germany in the Semi. People still refusing to believe S Korea could possibly have been a good team, led by a great Hiddink. Those ref decisions in the Italy game, people refuse to acknowledge, were actually correct. Totti dived, and the offside were offside. In a game before that there was a bad call, but the reffing was so overblown, like a ref never had made a mad call before. S Korea had crazy collective team work, were fitter than every one else, and Hiddink's tactics were better.

the Spain game was the absurd one as I recall it; the Italy one merely ridiculous

SK were pretty good I agree, but you can only take so much jiggery-pokery

Yeah that was a very good South Korean team, in the collective memory they've fallen victim to the condescension that usually gets levelled at Asian footballers. They were also enjoyable to watch, unlike the Greece team that won Euro 2004.

Pjanic in that team over Di Maria or Kroos is bullshit btw.

pjanic was badly let down by the attack around him

hang on, di Maria has been absolutely shite

i wd have gone with "disappointing" but you're not wholly wrong

maybe he meant Mascherano

"absolutely shite" has been this World Cup's "not as flamboyant as expected" tbf

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/football-banter/pizza.jpg

Yeah, he hasn't been all that (shite is overstating it though) (xxp)

worst pass completion of the tournament against Switzerland. Gave away the ball 51 times

everyone has been down on di maria, & it's true he's been profligate w/ possession, but he has also been the most dynamic element in a quite cautious & slow argentina side (ignoring the awesome nigeria match), so he could afford to be. also he scored a crucial goal. lots of dominant teams/players have been judged v harshly this WC, oh well.

an ilxor had an ff team named Džeko Privilege last year, always meant to doff my cap to that one

― Ismael Klata, Sunday, 13 July 2014 14:52 (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hello and thanks.

Yeah Argentina have looked markedly more pedestrian since Di Maria's injury. Kroos should be in there over him and Pjanic though.

Those ref decisions in the Italy game, people refuse to acknowledge, were actually correct. Totti dived, and the offside were offside. In a game before that there was a bad call, but the reffing was so overblown, like a ref never had made a mad call before.

Um, no: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ZPd8YmFcvtQ#t=106

Man, those games sound epic with that music. I suppose you can see how the Tommasi and Morientes offsides could be given - but the Totti and Joaquin decisions, ffs.

Nice to be reminded of Helguera's existence, haven't thought about him in years.

Anyway I kind of want Argentina to take this, though I really can't justify this beyond <3 for Masch, plus their supporters putting on a good show.

The Argies fans deserve praise for their Creedence Clearwater Revival revival. Bad Moon Rising is back in their top 10 this week bcz the song against Brazil they came up with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IOGFENyGJM

It actually made my Classic Rock most-hated top 10, but I do love their version.

http://www.npr.org/2014/07/13/331036980/soccers-racism-problem-in-need-of-follow-through

Trigger warning for dmac

The Argies fans deserve praise for their Creedence Clearwater Revival revival. Bad Moon Rising is back in their top 10 this week bcz the song against Brazil they came up with.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bsb6PTbIEAAzg5Q.jpg

Ashton Kutcher lol

Ashton Fucking Kutcher?