Football World Cup 2014

[miri]

Are you actually one of those people who believes every team in La Liga outside of Barca/RM are 'championship/1st division quality'? Do you even watch football outside of the PL?

 

[DaGaffer]

To me it was still a massive waste of money that could of been better spent on other things in Brazil, plus I tend to think it was the football teams that delivered rather than the country although least we didn't have very annoying vuvuzela sound all the time.

The thing that offends me most is that ordinary Brazilians were completely priced out of attending the games. Look at how white-looking all those Brazilians in the stands were. Doesn't reflect the reality of the country at all. It probably didn't help the Brazilian team either (not that anything was going to save them in the semi-final).

It should be called the "Which golden boy made it to the final trophy" It has nothing to do with the best player in the tournament as Neuer was epic in every game Messi probably had about 30 minutes across the whole tournament where he looked like Barce Messi.

It leaves the question is he as good as Pele even though he has not won a world cup for his country or is that a unrealistic goal in todays football. At a World Cup final could any player carry his team to victory now? I very much doubt it and I think Pele today would have the same problem. While defenders back then tackled like they wanted to kill you they make Big Per look like a whippet. Messi until he got caught would have a field day vs some of the old defenders you see in highlights.

I don't think a single player can "do a Maradona" and drag their team to the final anymore. In fact its only really Maradona that's ever done it (Pele was a great player in several great teams). As for whether Messi is at that the Pele/Maradona level? Impossible to compare, but if anything, Messi (and Ronaldo) are probably technically better. They're fitter and more complete players, who play more games at a continuously higher standard than their predecessors, and falling short at the World Cup doesn't necessarily mean they're crap; Ronaldo is never going to win the WC in a million years playing for Portugal for instance, and there's always the George Best example to show you that World Cups don't mean everything.

 

[AngelHeal]

So.... after hearing the BBC commentator mentioning 'Some lessons can't be learned' after Blind scores 2-0 vs Bra71l.. When exactly are the English booting international players from the PL so your own get some more playing time and become better players?

 

[Turamber]

So.... after hearing the BBC commentator mentioning 'Some lessons can't be learned' after Blind scores 2-0 vs Bra71l.. When exactly are the English booting international players from the PL so your own get some more playing time and become better players?

Completely agree. The money in the Premier League is actually counterproductive to a strong England team. English players have bit parts to play at the top level, hence the "B" team idea dreamed up by the FA. Quite what English players from big clubs will learn by playing against Leyton Orient and Cheltenham beats me though. Instead all it will do is destroy our league structure.

Could very easily end up with a terrible international team and a joke of a league structure that becomes stratified with no hope of any team breaking into a higher level or, and this will please the money men, dropping down to a lower level. Doesn't sound very fun to me, but then I'm not a player earning squazillions a week or one of their advisors creaming off the top.

 

[miri]

So as we've criticised everyone's choices, what's everyone's 'best of's?

Goal: James Rodriguez volley vs Uruguay
Game: Difficult choice here, I think for pure entertainment I'd go with Netherlands 5 - 1 Spain as it set the bar for the tournament and was so unexpected, but I also massively enjoyed Germany 2 - 2 Ghana and pretty much every Columbia game.
Player: Philip Lahm - lead his team to winning the trophy, was immaculate in every game in two quite different positions. Close runner up: James Rodriguez
Keeper: Neuer
Team: Columbia, with an honourable mention to the U.S.A

 

[ileks]

Goal: Cahill vs NL
Game: No idea, too many good ones. Spain vs Chile probably.
Player: In terms of influence on a game, probably Mascherano (particularly in the last two games).
Keeper: Neuer
Team: Germany

 

[AngelHeal]

Goal: Cahill vs NL, (james rodriguez his volley should have been stopped by every goalkeeper)
Game: Even though I enjoyed NL Spain, my vote goes for the Germans vs Bra71l. In the face.
Player: Robben
Keeper: Ochoa
Team: Germany

 

[DaGaffer]

Completely agree. The money in the Premier League is actually counterproductive to a strong England team. English players have bit parts to play at the top level, hence the "B" team idea dreamed up by the FA. Quite what English players from big clubs will learn by playing against Leyton Orient and Cheltenham beats me though. Instead all it will do is destroy our league structure.

Could very easily end up with a terrible international team and a joke of a league structure that becomes stratified with no hope of any team breaking into a higher level or, and this will please the money men, dropping down to a lower level. Doesn't sound very fun to me, but then I'm not a player earning squazillions a week or one of their advisors creaming off the top.

Its not the money in the league that's the problem its the broken relationship between the Prem and the FA. Which is probably unfixable unless the Prem decide its in their interests to do something about it.

 

[DaGaffer]

Goal: RVP header against Spain. Loved that.
Game: Belgium v. USA
Player: Robben
Keeper: Neuer
Team: Germany
Coach: Van Gaal

 

[miri]

Oooh coach is a good one, I'd probably go with Pinto (Costa Rica) DAT OFFSIDE TRAP or Low for obvious reasons.

 

[AngelHeal]

van Gaal, unlike his south american colleagues who are physically there but only thing they do is select 11 players and hope for the best, he actually does his job.

sidenote: Wilmots also pretty good

 

[Moriath]

Why do itv even bother

'The BBC's coverage drew a bigger audience, averaging 12.1 million viewers and peaking with 16.7 million during the match's final five minutes.

ITV averaged 2.9 million viewers, peaking at 3.9 million in the last 10 minutes before the 90-minute whistle.'

 

[Raven]

Surprised they got that many tbh.

Must have been on ITV+1 with people who didn't know the kick off time.

 

[megadave]

van Gaal, unlike his south american colleagues who are physically there but only thing they do is select 11 players and hope for the best, he actually does his job.

sidenote: Wilmots also pretty good

What did Wilmots do that was good? Belgium looked like a bunch of clueless individuals to be honest.

Van Gaal's 9 men behind the ball and gave it to Robben tactic wasn't that amazing imo.

 

[miri]

van Gaal, unlike his south american colleagues who are physically there but only thing they do is select 11 players and hope for the best, he actually does his job.

Errr... Pekerman anyone? Sampaoli? Tabarez in the past, not really in this tournament.

sidenote: Wilmots also pretty good

Arguably the worst coach at the tournament considering the talent at his disposal. Managed to make Hazard look average, and you could blame that on the player himself entirely if it weren't for the fact that the rest of the team massively underperformed also. Tactics were non-exsistant, he was completely devoid of any understanding of how and when to change things.

Makes me wonder if you actually watched any of this world cup?

 

[Bigmac]

Why do itv even bother

'The BBC's coverage drew a bigger audience, averaging 12.1 million viewers and peaking with 16.7 million during the match's final five minutes.

ITV averaged 2.9 million viewers, peaking at 3.9 million in the last 10 minutes before the 90-minute whistle.'

Probably because Andy Townsend is a complete knobjockey.

 

[Jupitus]

Probably because Andy Townsend is a complete knobjockey.

..... along with Tubby Chiles.

 

[Ch3tan]

Woah .... I wasn't making any social our political point, I just enjoyed the world cup!

As for the country's problems, I agree fully they wasted a shit load of money that could have been better spent on the people.

 

[AngelHeal]

Errr... Pekerman anyone? Sampaoli? Tabarez in the past, not really in this tournament.

Arguably the worst coach at the tournament considering the talent at his disposal. Managed to make Hazard look average, and you could blame that on the player himself entirely if it weren't for the fact that the rest of the team massively underperformed also. Tactics were non-exsistant, he was completely devoid of any understanding of how and when to change things.

Makes me wonder if you actually watched any of this world cup?

The current coaches in south american football are just like the players... Obviously they come from a different culture then I do, they come from places where image is everything perhaps even survival for some. But that image is still there when these players become famous. Talking about acting.. everything they say everything they do is to sustain their image. Luiz cheering for james, sure hes a good footballer but the only reason he did it is to get some extra credits for himself. The only reason they pass a bloody ball is because they know their image gets shatterd if they fuck up but they really want to go solo 24/7..

The speeches from the Brazilian players after they lost to Germany.. was it about tactics, was it about pure emotion? No it was about what they couldnt bring to the brazilan people, because oh my they do care about the slums there in Brazil... *cough* its about them making the most of the crap situation they're in, taking on the 'humble hero to be' roll or the 'lets get them to think it wasnt me' role.

Have you seen the images of scolari coaching? Nobody was watching him... allmost never! That dude from Mexico, would you llisten to a coach that shouts 24/7? perhaps the first week and then it loses it's impact. Yes Tabarez in the past, you got me there he was actually a coach that got respect...

And Wilmost has something else to deal with, theres a nice documentary going round about belgium football with all the nationalities they have.. Players from french part and flemish part but also the ones with backgrounds like marroco or other african nations.. There has been no-one in the past decade who could actually manage to get that country to believe in something that stood for Belgium as a whole except him. Sure they didn't get the best final result at the end, but thats not the only thing that matters.

Makes me wonder if you actually see what you watching.


Ofcourse, I just could be wrong altogether and all players are saints who care about all people.

 

[Ch3tan]

Lol, what bull. Wilmots was terrible, tactics were all wrong and he made great players look shit.

 

[DaGaffer]

What did Wilmots do that was good? Belgium looked like a bunch of clueless individuals to be honest.

Van Gaal's 9 men behind the ball and gave it to Robben tactic wasn't that amazing imo.

Van Gaal showed adaptability, which is what you want from a manager.

 

[Ch3tan]

Yep, did not expect that Dutch squad to do much. Yet they blitzed Spain and progressed further than anyone predicted.

 

[AngelHeal]

Van Gaal showed adaptability, which is what you want from a manager.

I think as a team the dutch are further then the belgiums are.. you cannot make adjusments like van Gaal did with teams who arent on that level yet. Individual skill means nothing in some situations.

Coaches do not make players look like shit, when players fail to adept or show a good learning curve their shortcommings come to light earlier. This does not mean only the coach has failed, failure comes with 23 not 1.

 

[Gwadien]

It annoys me that there was a huge build up of care bears about the unequality in Brazil before and during the World Cup, I reckon there will be more until the Olympics but after that it'll go silent again and no one will give a fuck apart from a footballer sending some shirts to some kids because Mr PR told him to.

FIFA and the Olympics committee or whatever it is called shouldve forced them to do more about it, and keep it in the long run, sure pacification of the favelas would work in the long run, but not if you're going to pull out once the tourists have fucked off.

Ofc nothing will happen cos money>people.

I enjoyed the world cup, but every time I saw the fit blonde Brazil fans I was thinking for fucks sake, when the majority of spectators would've been thinking what a great place!

 

[ileks]

According to whoscored.com, although Messi had a relatively quiet tournament, he was still statistically the best player by a decent margin.

 

[Lethul]

According to whoscored.com, although Messi had a relatively quiet tournament, he was still statistically the best player by a decent margin.

According to fifa's ratings he was 11.
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/statistics/castrol-index/index.html

Which makes it even weirder he won
Adidas link I suppose.

 

[Raven]

Its was probably down to those pretty little runs he does that result in nothing.

 

[DaGaffer]

According to whoscored.com, although Messi had a relatively quiet tournament, he was still statistically the best player by a decent margin.

Eh? I just looked at that site and he comes 4th...

 

[ileks]

Eh? I just looked at that site and he comes 4th...

No, Messi's rating was 8.52 for the tournament. The next highest was 8.40 for Rodriguez.

edit- and Rodriguez only played four games to score that average (slight fluke maybe?), Messi played seven.

 

[Corran]

yeah and 2 of them 3 extra games he did basically fuck all, the 2 most important games.
Basically, once out of the group stage he done very little that impacted the games significantly so those extra matches means fuck all