Just came back from a wake.....tuning in now...iiiiiiiiiiiiinteresting, could the almighty Brazilians lose??
Melo just blew it on both the 1st goal and on the Red Card foul. But, the 2nd half was the worst display of football I've seen from a Brazil side in many, many years. Kaka and the forwards were awful.
Like that is any different....he isnt what he used to be....all this shows me, is I have a little more faith that Germany can beat Argentina...
I can't recall a time where Brazil did not control the football at all. They showed no offensive control at all! Horrific play. Credit Ned for getting it done - especially on the go ahead goal. But, unbelievably bad!
Agreed. But, I think Argentina's offense is playing better than Brazil. Messi hasn't been all bad and I think they will control the ball better. But, Germany's counter-punch speed down the pitch will be a factor. They have to score when they get the chance.
I have an ounce of weed in my stash left I'm smoking the entire thing today to hopefully knock myself out.... also deflating every soccer ball in my house and burning every soccer trophy I've ever owned.... also not speaking to my father anymore for raising me on Brazilian soccer and forcing me to play and get into soccer as a kid when all I wanted to do was play basketball and football. "U mad?" Yes mad. Brb didn't shower this morning so I'm going to shower in my own ****ing tears. This is depressing. Very depressing.
Not sure what I'm more amazed about. Brazil playing like Serbia or Holland playing like a bunch of kamikaze pilots as soon as they are 2:1 ahead. It was fun to watch but boy, oh boy, this was a tactical mess all over the pitch and on both sides.
Oh and for the record - although the diving was outrageously out of control and flat out disgusting.... hats off to the Dutch nonetheless. The better team today.... won today. I hope they go onto shock the world. They deserve it.
ORANJE! My pre-tournament pick just got past Brazil! Maybe I should have bet money on them... So now there are only 3 former winners left. Germany last won in 1990, Argentina in the 80s, and Uruguay in 1950. Netherlands, Ghana or Uruguay are guaranteed to be one of the teams in the final, so there's a good chance we can get a new winner, or at least one what hasn't won in a long time. Smoke up Amsterdam
NED should've won by at least two goals after Brasil was playing in 10. The flopping this game was disgraceful, from both sides. The mighty Brasil have fallen, but I am not too surprised. I knew coming in NED could take them (and bet on them at +335 BTW ) but like you said Vendigo, terrible from both sides. Robben held the ball much too long, but the NED did use their right flank very well.
Twitter is down.... and I've got a status on my Facebook with already 36 comments since this game ended.
Finally, somebody agrees with me about officiating When I was still officiating, the only time we would ever wave the AR down to the endline was when we had a free kick going in. That meant that we the referee had to watch for the offsides and fouls, which is really a hard thing to do. So, we never did that too often. Watching for fouls and offsides is more important then sending the AR down to be a goal judge.
Seriously, that was a complete mess. Lol @ Arjen Robben not doing anything when the Brasilians took away the inside cut.
Robben was the worst on the flopping. However he was often fouled foolishly by Brazil. The problem I had with him was acting like he was hurt on each foul. Futbol players have no shame sometimes. That said, Melo committed stupid fouls. In fact, Brazil came out committing overly aggressive fouls for no reason. Inexplicable.
Uruguay has to beat Ghana. Nothing against them personally, but they really aren't showing good enough, imo, to belong legitimately in the semis. I think Section made a great call of Ned/Spain in final. But, if Uruguay don't get upset by Ghana - then it will be a good match up. I think their forwards will pressure Ned better than Brazil's did (those guys just disappeared). David Villa, however, is looking great for Spain. He's a joy to watch.
Yes. Ned had multiple chances to close it out and just failed ... both teams played their worst game of the tourney.
Yeah, tell me about it, especially the foul just before the NED tied it at one, Robben was running down the side line, Melo came sliding in, didn't even touch Robben, and yet he jumped, fell, grabbed something, and stood on the ground for 2 minutes. The Brasilians were getting upset at all the Dutch players faking injuries all game. Robinho at the end was livid. But, the Brasilians themselves showed poor class with the late and off ball fouls, the constant yelling in the face of the Dutch players, not to mention the hacks and stuff. Brasil smiles like the world is full of butterflies and water falls when they're winning but transform into sore losers who take cheap shots physically and verbally when they are losing. This particular Brasil squad at least, especially Robinho.
I forgot Spain....however to say by a mile, no way....Argentina won all their games pretty easily....Spain lost, and in the knockout stage so far, I thought Germany game was better than Spains game....I would say its a toss up....Spain obviously has better talent
He really is, but at the end of games, and in between whistles, tv shots of the guy suggest to me that he is an arrogant prick! One game, forgot which one it was, the opposition tried to approach him during the game after a foul or something and Villa just pushed him away and turned his back, but I remember nothing serious to warrant his actions. IMO, he's a punk who thinks he's on top of the world. I don't like people like that. Just watch him closely, you'll get the same impression.
Spain isn't spectacular fun but they play with a calm dominance - almost surgically - that makes them darn tough to beat and wins tournaments. They were in full control of every match they played (even the one they lost), somewhat reminiscend of, for instance, the German team in 1990. Argentina has loads of weapons on offense and Germany plays faster than any other team in this WC but Spain is hands down the most complete team. They don't have a single weakness, except maybe Casillas who's been pretty lousy this season.
Now that Brazil is out, I'm rooting for URUGUAY!! They're actually playing real well this tournament. I simply cannot allow myself to root for Argentina, no matter how good they are, it's in my genes
True, but as soon as they face a tactically disciplined opponent with the speed to expose their non existent defense and their midfield all over the place, they'll get eaten. When up 2:1, they basically defended with their forwards. A team like Spain or Argentina, maybe Germany too will kill them.
I wouldn't blame a single Brazilian for taking a cheap shot on Robben at the end of that game. Actually I'd of liked to see it. He really earned it for himself. I do see where you're coming from though. If you want to be sore, at least show up for the damn game... this Brazilian squad honestly didn't even do that much. If you're going to dive/flop around and fake injuries.... don't get mad when someone really tries to take your weak *** out. Call it dirty and I'll accept it but that is how I play the game myself. Can't count on both hands how many players I've intentionally tried to take out of a game. Never felt bad about it afterward. When Dani Alvez ran over to Robben and told him to get off the floor and stop faking, that was the most rewarding moment of the game as a fan, which is sad... this team didn't show up at all today.
Oh yes. This guy is sooooo fun to watch. He's got such a pretty, yet efficient strike it's really beautiful.
Robben's kind of a flopper though. Today was nothing new with him. He gets fouled and you'd think he was stabbed 10 times
Until FIFA controls the diving, it will always be a part of the game, a sad part of the game. A while back, FIFA did give the referees permission to card a player for taking dives, but as a referee, that's a very hard call to sell to the players. A lot of times, a player will get fouled, but he will still flop to sell it to the referee, sad, but it's part of the game. What people don't understand is that the referee's are not doctors and therefore should not think twice about protecting players. Player safety is the referee's top priority.
All this does is just tick me off more about the "EGG" the US team laid vs Ghana....the path to the finals was perfect.....it will takes decades if ever to have it set up like this again.