World Cup Thread

[smootness]

Also, since it is the WC thread, a little update. Spain- Australia and Netherlands-Chile have kicked off. The Dutch and Chileans are through no matter what, so that game is just for seeding, and the Spain game is to try to get their balls back.

That seed is important, too. 2nd place faces Brazil.

[smootness]

Belgium is a dangerous team right now. They're hot as fire. The other options are Russia, Algeria (currently favorite for 2nd), and South Korea.

They're definitely dangerous, but I don't think they're hot. They haven't looked that great in this World Cup. Had to come from behind and barely beat Algeria, then had to barely beat Belgium at the end.

They're very talented and wouldn't be an easy game, but I'd much prefer to play them over a lot of the other group winners.

[DudyDawg]

They're definitely dangerous, but I don't think they're hot. They haven't looked that great in this World Cup. Had to come from behind and barely beat Algeria, then had to barely beat Belgium at the end.

They're very talented and wouldn't be an easy game, but I'd much prefer to play them over a lot of the other group winners.

beat Russia at the end*

and yes, they have looked about as poor as a team with six points can. I feared them a bit coming in, and they do have tremendous talent, but they are far from hot. They've been pedestrian and pulled six points from nothing. They are more talented than us, much like Portugal, and much like Portugal, I don't fear them. I fear Germany, Brazil, etc as teams that would kill us. I don't fear Belgium, I see them as a good team we can easily beat.

[TheRef]

1-0 Spain from a David Villa goal.

[TheRef]

HT: 1-0 Spain

HT: Netherlands 0-0 Chile

[smootness]

beat Russia at the end*

and yes, they have looked about as poor as a team with six points can. I feared them a bit coming in, and they do have tremendous talent, but they are far from hot. They've been pedestrian and pulled six points from nothing. They are more talented than us, much like Portugal, and much like Portugal, I don't fear them. I fear Germany, Brazil, etc as teams that would kill us. I don't fear Belgium, I see them as a good team we can easily beat.

Haha yes. Belgium did not beat themselves. If they had, I'd be much more impressed, that sounds difficult.

Hazard is Belgium's best player and he looked non-existent until about 10 minutes left in that Russia match.

The only teams I truly fear at this point are Brazil, Argentina, Germany (would fear them more if they needed to actually beat us to win the group), and probably France based on the way they've played. Also the Netherlands. Teams with great attacking talent - honestly Ghana somewhat fits that description as well.

The teams who can fly out on the counter and score within seconds are the ones that scare me. It's incredibly hard to defend, and it goes counter to the way we like to play.

Teams like Italy, Belgium, Portugal, England, etc. don't worry me much. They're technically better than us and more talented overall, but we can absolutely beat those teams in a competition like this. Our attitude and team spirit are generally better than our opponent.

[DudyDawg]

Yeah, completely agree. Teams that we can sit back against and posses with and basically spar with don't scare me, because we consistently find a way. The teams that scare me are the ones that can take a corner for us, head it out, and score on three passes. Thats how Madrid won the CL this year, how Brazil hammered Spain in the Confed Cup. Those teams cause us trouble because we aren't the most athletic team on earth.

Ghana to me is somewhat of an enigma. They are the wild card. With most teams, you know what you'll get, but with the better African teams, you really have no idea what you're going to get. And thats hard to beat, because you can't plan for it.

[TheRef]

2-0 Spain

[TheRef]

1-0 Netherlands

[TheRef]

3-0 Spain

[TheRef]

2-0 Netherlands

[TheRef]

FT: 3-0 Spain
FT: 2-0 Netherlands

Final Group B Standings:

Netherlands 9 pts +7
Chile 6 pts +2
Spain 3 pts -3
Australia 0 pts -6

Netherlands plays Group A #2
Chile plays Group A #1

[DawgHouseUnited]

Final on both-
3-0 Spain over Austrailia
2-0 Dutch over Chile

[CadaverDawg]

Netherlands is going to be a tough out

[DudyDawg]

Netherlands is going to be a tough out

Yup. Good talent, not the best, but clicking. Hottest team in WC

[TheRef]

HT: 2-1 Brazil
HT: Croatia 0-0 Mexico

[smootness]

Hope people are watching this Brazil match. Neymar is putting on a show.

Brazil badly needs to bench Fred and Hulk. They lack the creativity and technical skill of the rest of the team and often kill plays. They're not even great scorers, either. I'd put Bernard and Willian in and play a false 9 with Neymar free to run into space wherever. I think that would make their attack far more dangerous.

[DudyDawg]

I don't know about y'all, but I hate the announcers for the Mexico games. I've been watching for about 5 minutes, and they have said one player's name for Croatia, and only about how they should place the free kick towards him (GK). They are wayyyyyy to biased. They provide no info on the other team

[TheRef]

3-1 Brazil

[DudyDawg]

Croatia Mexico game will be a great ending. Interesting tid bit. Listen to the mexican fans the next time Croatia has a goal kick. In sync, they yell "PUTO" which can translate into a few things. One is man whore, the other is ******. FIFA was investigating it, but dropped it saying it "isn't meant to be offensive in the circumstance". Amazes me that they get away with it.


Also, as I was typing, Rafa Marquez scores for mexico, meaning Croatia needs two to advance. Really poor goal keeping. Croatia can blame their goalie when they go out, that one was his fault as well as the three against Brazil.