Soccer World Cup 2014 in Brazil
 

Anyone watching Soccer World Cup?

The U.S.A. is in competition there (with German coach Jürgen Klinsmann ;) ) : U.S.A. has defeated Ghana 2:1 !

Wonder: Are there a few who follow it?

Greetings from Soccer-crazy Nation - Germany !

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I'm a big football fan, but more on a club level than a national team level.

Not really a fan of the Portuguese national team, the primma donnas who play for it and all the politics and the BS surrounding it these days, so it's been a while since I've rooted for them. It's a shame when you can't bring yourself to support your own country :ohwell:. But like I've said, I've always been a bigger club football fan.

It's been a pretty solid tournament so far. Much better than the entire 2010 World Cup.

Winner? Well, Brazil have the home advantage but their team isn't really that great. They're gonna need help from the refs to win this. Italy and Germany look like the best European teams so far. The Netherlands are pretty good as well, but they never end up winning these kind of tournaments no matter how well they play. France aren't a bad team either. But it's still early, anyway.

Hey wow, one person following the tournament...

Just the opposite with me, no club level interest, the more international interest.

Well, Portugal will face the U.S.A. on Sunday. Italy lost against Costa Rica today - uhahahah :lol:

England are now going home thanks to Italy losing against Costa Rica :(
First time in years we've been knocked out of the group stages which really sucks.
Ah well, theres always 2018 :P

Too bad for England. I've always had sympathy for the country and its culture, the great rock bands of the 70s, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, so I also like to see that England is successful in tournaments like this. Surely they return successful at the Soccer European Championship 2016, and at the 2018 World Cup !!

I just cannot stand to see Rooney described as 'World Class'.

England's world class players on the world stage in the last 30 years:

Gary Lineker (1986, 1990)
Paul Gascoigne (1990, 1996)
Alan Shearer (1996)
Michael Owen (1998, 2002)

There are teams out there with more than that in their current squad. So quite why England are hyped so crazily is beyond me.

There are also plenty of conflicting opinions. An article before the World Cup:

http://metro.co.uk/2014/04/18/why-wa...r-yet-4702716/

Has unfortunately somehow confirmed.

I can't wait for it to be over.

I hoped Japan could make it into eighth final. :cry:
I like them, for not aiming higher than they are able to play.

I hope the netherlands will win, cause they deserve it. :D

Shame neither Japan or South Korea made it.

I'm rooting for Germany, Netherlands and Belgium. Wouldn't mind France winning ti either. If it ends up being a South American country winning the trophy then let it be Argentina.

Rooting for Germany (I was born there, army brat) and the Netherlands (best team to never win the cup). Been a fan of the Clockwork Orange since I attended a quarterfinal match in 94 between them and Brasil, even though they lost 3-2. Can't wait for Sunday.

I always enjoy US games, but I have no dillusions of them having a real chance at winning the cup.

I wish I had the time to follow teams at the club level, but between watching MMA, jiu jitsu, kickboxing, boxing, and national soccer/futbol teams I can't do it.

I guess the problem is there being several competitions with each country having more than one as well. Then there's the international competitions like the UEFA champions leagues, etc.

The best thing about football is that there's always something to watch/follow somewhere. It can be quite time consuming, though. Although, I don't watch that many games that don't involve my team.

The first penalty drama is over with good ending for Brazil ... I am very confident that the Netherlands will defeat Mexico tomorrow. Looking forward to !!

Rooting for Mexico to come out with the Upset. The crowd is gonna help put em over.

They almost made ​​it! Foul was too stupid in injury time! :ohwell:

Tim ****ing Howard! :teek: That is all.

No kidding. Seemed liked he was alone out there at times.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know the intricacies of soccer. However, when Belgium came out of the gate like that I knew we were screwed. You can't be on your heels for that long and not crack at some point. Most of those Belgians were f'ing beasts too, simply outclassed in every way. They gave it a hell of a run at the end, though.

The team of the United States exercised enormous pressure on Team Belgium in the additional time! Impressive!! I hoped very much on the 2-2 ... I'm sure they will return in 2018 !

Mzx10484 you must be happy right now. Germany 5-0 at halftime. I though they would win, but this is ridiculous.

My favorite game so far.

Yes, 7:1, but it's done and dusted, just look forward --> Sunday.

I'll be happy with any of the 3 teams left winning this tournament.

Wow, watched the Germany/Brazil match today. Awesome stuff. Herzlichen Glückwunsch, Germany

Germany with Argentina as his opponent on Sunday hits upon a much more confident team than Brazil, which is clear. Looking forward to !!

I hope for Brazil that they won't go through a second embarrassment in the match for the third place on Saturday. The Netherlands has played just as well as Argentina today - 120 minutes! What came after - that's another thing.

Pretty boring game.

I'll be happy with either side winning the final. Germany is one of my favorite European teams and Argentina is my favorite team from the Americas, by far. Hell, back in older NES/SNES games such as Nintendo World Cup and ISS I used to mainly pick either.

Hope the Dutch get the 3rd place.

Neither the Netherlands, nor Brazil are motivated for the match for 3rd place :D
After the defeat in the semifinals, now once again the chance to reap another defeat --> double slap in the face, despite the relative success of both teams in this tournament !

I thought there might be more interest in this due to America's success in the tournament, but still only two pages :(

I and some others said about a year ago that this Brazil team really isn't that good, and would be nowhere near favourites if not for the hosting situation. Without Neymar and Thiago Silva they were clearly going to struggle, but I don't think anyone could have predicted that. I and most others thought Germany would win by two, maybe three goals, but that was a complete capitulation. I think Brazil made Germany look better than they are, and it would be foolish to draw any conclusions from that game. Argentina and Holland would probably have put plenty past Brazil as well. I tipped Colombia and Chile to do well pre-tournament and I wish one of them would have eliminated Brazil. One of them probably should have and it would have been best for the spectacle as either would have given Germany a proper game in the semis.

To be honest, Germany are a very good team, but I don't think they're an outstanding team like the recent Spanish generation was, or Brazil 1970 etc. I said that about Germany even before the tournament. This tournament has lacked a truly generational team, regardless of who wins. I will be hoping Argentina win though as I've had a soft spot for them over the years due to the likes of Maradona, Batistuta, Zanetti and Riquelme. It will also be pretty funny to see Ronaldo fanboys in tears if Messi wins the World Cup. I don't like Messi much, but I find Ronaldo fanboys pretty obnoxious, to be honest. Then there's seeing Argentina win a WC in Brazil...

I'm delighted the Netherlands are out. Other than the anomalous result versus Spain, they've played defensive football all through the tournament, relying on moments of genius from Robben. They've been pretty thuggish, much like in 2010. Rinus Michels would probably be turning in his grave. It's pretty annoying because when I was growing up (80s and 90s) and even before that, Brazil and Holland were probably the two most entertaining national teams. Now they're both pretty average and resort to kicking teams off the park. The main reason I'm glad Holland are gone though is because of Krul's behaviour on the shootout against Costa Rica. He displayed a total lack of sportsmanship and karma has bitten he and Holland hard. That sub gave them the psychological edge vs CR but the failure to repeat it in the semi handed the psychological advantage to Argentina - as they knew that Holland didn't want Cillessen in goal for the shootout.

Going back to Brazil, after the other night and 'Maracanazo' you'd think that they will never want to host the tournament again.

Germany probably deserve to win the tournament overall (although they had a few unconvincing games before they moved Lahm back to RB) but I sorta fancy Argentina, tbh.

We all get things right and wrong, so here are some of mine, good and bad:

Right -

Brazil would be found out eventually due to Scolari's stubborness and insistence on picking his favourites rather than their best players.
Belgium would look unimpressive in every game but stumble their way to the last 16 or QF due to a gentle draw, eventually succumbing to either Portugal or Argentina. This so-called 'golden generation' generally consists of pretty good players who aren't actually amongst the best in the world in their position e.g. Witsel, Dembele, Vertonghen, Mertens etc.
Algeria would emerge from gp H.
Argentina to go far and possibly win it
Chile and Colombia would have good tournaments.
Pertaining to the two points above, the claim that most South American teams would do well generally due to the climate and home continent advantage.
England would flop - although a lot of that could be due to my Scottish bias :)



Wrong -

Holland would be the team not to escape group B with Chile, rather than Spain.
Australia would be beaten soundly in all three games.
USA would struggle and either Portugal or Ghana would qualify behind Germany.
Japan would do well.
Mexico would struggle due to the internal divisions in their squad and their hopeless qualifying campaign. And by extension, Croatia would make the last sixteen.
Bosnia would finish second to Argentina. Although in fairness, they probably should have as everything seemed to go against them in the tournament.

Of course. You can only draw conclusions regarding team Brazil and their unfortunate situation.

My perception of Germany in this tournament is that many facets were to be seen. Surprising, boring (or just defensive), superior ... generally successful.

The U.S. convinced me and were my "kind of girl"! I hoped very much for the team. And the fact that Germany was relatively unconvincing inthe game against the U.S. ... makes one more good impression for the U.S. team !!

I think Germany will win, but with just one goal difference and after the 90mins.

Pretty good WC by the Dutch. Van Gaal still got it. And ofc, Robben and Persie. ;)

I wish all followers of the tournament an exciting and challenging final match!

May the best team win!

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Come on, just start already! Lol

The coaches are more stressed than the players. :lol:

Is Germany holding back?

Seemed so from time to time. On the whole, confident !

I hope a goal is scored soon!

At least it's more exciting than the Argentina Holland semi final...

Yes it is. Still 15 minutes left ...

Goal for Germany!

Congratulations to Germany!