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People go on about German efficiency but to be honest. In the last two world cups the German's have got by, playing some really exciting football (Nothing efficient about it IMO). The German's seem to have broken out of the boring defence orientated mentality where they would grind out a result like robots.Quote:
Originally Posted by 5th state
I'm predicting 2-2 (Messi with a double) Argentina win on penalties
i had argentina beating brazil in the final and germany beating the netherlands in the third place match since the world cup started
it only makes sense i have brazil beating the netherlands in the third place match since i had them taking second place in the beginning
i have argentina beating germany in the final and my world cup champions prediction will probably be right
Holland and Argentina were incredibly passive, I mean there was a moment in the 70th minute Robben had the ball on the left he cut inside Sneijder was in the middle. The left flank was wide open but no Dutch player was there, Robben looked back to Kuyt and Kuyt was just standing by the half way line. He didn't even make an attempt to do an overlapping run. Pretty much summed up the game. Both teams went out not to lose and settled for penalties after 10 minutes.
I think the Dutch will beat Brazil in the 3rd place playoff.
I picked Germany to win and I'm pretty much sticking with it, the confidence must be out of this world. Overall in the tournament they have been better than Argentina, a far more balanced team than Argentina as well.
Germany changed everything over a decade ago and literally rebuilt their game from the ground up at grass roots level, fixed the domestic league and when the first of the new generation came through they luckily had a visionary at the National team in Klinsmann. Now they reap the reward of a seriously quality talent pool. Marco Reus is injured and it was nothing more than a 'that's a shame' mentality. They bring in Mesut Özil (admittedly not in the form he should be) or Mario Götze with Andre Schürrle as the replacement and Julian Draxlar the future lol compare that to England and they don't have a single player as good as any of those players mentioned.
One thing about the German team is the core of that team all play for Bayern, all the important players except for Hummels, and those players in the last 12 months have found a way to win the big games. They had lost the 2010 Champions League final, went and go stage fright against Spain in the 2010 WC semi final - something Löw won't repeat IMO - all the while giving up domestic honours to Borussia Dortmund, second place in everything in 2012 and then totally capitulating against Italy in Euro 2012. But now they got through it last year and that gives them a huge edge against Argentina I think. Sure they got spank by Real Madrid this year but that was seriously down to the ineffectiveness of Pep Guardiola's stupid tactics than anything else.
Netherlands and Argentina played each other the same way Germany tried to play Spain in 2010 semi final only the Germans were unlucky to give up the goal. If you're playing not to lose against a Dutch team that is good but hardly a dominant force in the world what approach are you going to take against Germany? Argentina gave up a slight psychological edge but hey it's just 90 minutes of football I guess anything can happen.
arent you french anymore? lmaoo faggotQuote:
Originally Posted by infinite vagina
This means absolutely nothing coming from a guy who's team didn't make it out of the group stages and took a massive beating in the process.Quote:
Originally Posted by Drunken Monk
How's that ban coming along?
Gotta disagree. Dutch fought the entire game, just didn't have the strength anymore to break through their defense. No one except for Cillessen reached their former level but atleast they tried, which can't be said of Argentina.Quote:
Originally Posted by HANZO
i am and was rooting for france and spain but i am an unbiased sports analyst so of course i was going to predict the final four rightQuote:
Originally Posted by Drunken Monk
---- Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal has revealed two of his players refused to step up to take the first penalty in Wednesday's 4-2 World Cup semi-final shoot-out loss to Argentina.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/two-pla...1412--sow.html
^^That's an interesting bit of info. Thanks, check two. I guess those players felt crushed by the responsibility. Not very professional imo. Good that Van Gael didn't mention the names of the two players. Not even sure he should have stated two players refused to take that penalty shot, but as stated it's interesting for us soccer fans to know!
After having watched both semi-finals I'm going with Germany as WC winner. I don't really care about the third place play off. imo it's a game that should have never existed in the first place. Has ANY team ever been enthusiastic about playing the third place play off? FIFA should get rid of it.
I can't really blame players for not wanting to take penalties. Watching penalties is bad enough this is the semi-finals of a world cup players must be feeling incredibly shitty at that time.Quote:
Originally Posted by 5th state
3rd place playoff is just a consolation prize, i mean you get 3rd you get a medal. There must be some cash incentive somewhere as well. Usually in world cups you get one nation who makes it to the semis who shouldn't have been there, so they really go for that 3rd place, i mean Turkey got 3rd we still talk about it for fuck sake. Last time was Uruguay. This year you got 4 teams that only wanted to win it, so this 3rd place playoff doesn't have much meaning for them. However I think Brazil will use it to restore some of their shattered pride.
^^Hadn't thought about it that way. 3rd place play off makes more sense now.
we won 3 titles consecutively faggot lmao!Quote:
Originally Posted by rame
Netherlandz...... Mierda de mi culo ahhahahahhahahaha
Argentina's Mascherano tore his anus against Netherlands
http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/07/10/...st-netherlands
^^Too much info, Mascherano.
BTW the interwebz are buzzing over the fact whether Vlaar's penalty shot passed the goal line or not. I don't really see why as (unfortunately) to me it seems the goalie stopped the shot before the goal line.
There's some uncertainty amongst some because the ball flies up in the air afterwards, making some claim it past the goal line then. I really don't see it, but you be the Judge.
http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/FIFAWK/FI..._penalty_vlaar
Never mind the first vid there because it's crap, but check the vids below the first one.
FIFA has even responded to the rumors and officially confirmed Vlaar's shot didn't pass the goal line.