Red Mosquito

numbers wrote:Their back line is suspect, why they arent playing Lahm in the back is a mystery to me.

Totally this. He can get away with it more at Bayern but his positional play as CDM isn't all the best. Combine this with fact that Germany are playing 4 centre backs across the back four and have a wealth of fantastic midfielders in the squad, it's hard to see why the experiment is continuing. The injury to their RB against Algeria may lead to Lahm starting there against the French. Really cannot wait for that game.

And hats off to the US for that great performance yesterday. It surpassed their earlier game with Portugal as my favourite match of the tournament and was everything good about football. Fighting to the end, managers showing mutual respect, some heroic individual performances and the diving reduced to a minimum. I was desperate for them to get a second to take it to penalties. Even the ref was very good and let the game flow well.

Praising a team for not diving really shouldn't be necessary, but alas in modern football.

Team Costa Rica.

bada wrote:If you're rooting for any team but Brazil aren't you kinda rooting for someone to die? I mean those folks seem to take this pretty serious. They lose someone is getting cut.

Sepp Blatter?

Jo has been getting important minutes for Brazil....... rioters gon riot......

numbers wrote:Normally, the host nation is one with an elite team. They've gotten away from that in the last 20 years, but pre-94 the cup was always hosted by a nation that had a good shot of winning it. 6 out of 20 isn't good when you consider it's usually hosted by one of the worlds best teams.

But when you say "one of the best teams" how many "best teams" are there.

Does "best" mean top 5 in the world? Top ten?

If you say 6/20 (in other words 30%) isn't good... But if you're one of the top 5 teams (20% chance to win) I would say 6/20 is actually a pretty good clip.

Put it this way - if you were told you had a 30% chance to win the World Cup going in, would you take it? I would.

Lahm is an egomaniac. He will continue to play dress up at CDM as long as Low lets him...

numbers wrote:Brazil has definitely already gotten their share.

Apart from the Croatia penalty, have they gotten much? Compared the the diving Holland came away with and the not given red cards to at least 3 France players (Pogba, Sakho, Matuidi), there's been pretty neutral refereeing in the Brazil games. Or am I forgetting things?

The clearly offside goal they were given in the Cameroon game.

The douchiness with which Landon Donovan has conducted himself since being left off the roster pretty muh confirms to me that JK made the right call.

You talking about this?

http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2014 ... &utm_tags=

numbers wrote:The douchiness with which Landon Donovan has conducted himself since being left off the roster pretty muh confirms to me that JK made the right call.

That, and they need to pull him from interviews. He's offered NOTHING, it's Emmitt Smith bad.

verb_to_trust wrote:You talking about this?

http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2014 ... &utm_tags=

Yup, and all of his appearances on espn where he did nothing but criticize Klinsmann, and his comments about rooting against the us that he backtracked from.

numbers wrote:

verb_to_trust wrote:You talking about this?

http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2014 ... &utm_tags=

Yup, and all of his appearances on espn where he did nothing but criticize Klinsmann, and his comments about rooting against the us that he backtracked from.

I can understand being upset he was left off the team. That is human nature but agreed the rooting against the US was pretty annoying.

I've been meaning to post throughout the last month but time is not on my side.

I've enjoyed watching the USofA but man you've lost most of the midfield battles. Against Belgium they were playing so high up leaving your defence exposed time and time again. Maybe they're used to playing behind Dempsey but without an out an out striker he has to play the line thus pushing to far up. Entertaining to watch though and hats of to Howard. Beckerman gave the midfield better shape.

Now to the important shit.

Brazil vs Colombia
Brazil are not playing well at all. It seems the moment is getting to them. Apparently Neymar plays better with a striker who plays back to goal, which is why Fred is in the team. Too much distance between Neymar, Oscar and Fred. They need to tighten up a bit and lure the defenders out. For the tournament sake they need to win. But I'm tipping Colombia. Team has much better shape and pace. Luiz looks dodgy for Brazil and Colombia's passing and movement will be too much.
Colombia 2-1

France vs Germany
Most difficult 1/4 to pick. Germany play better against Euro opposition. The pace of the game will benefit Germany who haven't been on top of their game but will hit their stride tomorrow. France have impressed me and could exploit a slow German defence. Mertesaker and Benzema will have an interesting time.
Germany 1-0

Argentina vs Belgium
This will be fascinating as Belgium will play football against Argentina thus creating space for Argentina to play. All 4 of Argentina's games they have had to break down a solid defence. This has led to frustrating displays with Messi and Di Maria not having the space to express themselves. Nigeria gave them moments and it was thrilling. Aguero returning will help Messi. Belgium were so wasteful against USA that they can't have another wasteful match. They will test Argentina's defence but I don't expect them to score more than 1.
Argentina 3-1

Netherlands vs Costa Rica

I feel the Netherlands will hit their stride in this match unless CR hit them hard like Mexico and Australia did. CR will have to play the game of their lives to even be in this match. Netherlands defence will be too strong however De Jong missing will be massive. Whoever scores first in this will determine how the game goes. If CR get an early goal this could go all the way to penalties. If Netherlands score first it could be 4-0.
Netherlands 3-0


edit:
Here's a great article on penalties. http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zgg334j
Interestingly the stats on who goes first and the pressure on the final penalty taker have been true for this tournament.

LetMeSleep wrote:

Think Germany is doing pointless stuff like this in training? Although France might have a chance since 7 guys on the German team apparently have the flu.

I'm also going on record as saying Columbia, Dutch, Belgium

LetMeSleep wrote: Argentina vs Belgium
This will be fascinating as Belgium will play football against Argentina thus creating space for Argentina to play. All 4 of Argentina's games they have had to break down a solid defence. This has led to frustrating displays with Messi and Di Maria not having the space to express themselves. Nigeria gave them moments and it was thrilling. Aguero returning will help Messi. Belgium were so wasteful against USA that they can't have another wasteful match. They will test Argentina's defence but I don't expect them to score more than 1.
Argentina 3-1

Interesting take.

Also, in the last 8 games or so between Atletico & Barça, Messi has not scored against Courtois. I know, it's just statistics, but anything to give us hope is good.

Suck it, France!

Yeah, this isn't surprising. They needed to push much harder, like Algeria did, but they're not that kind of team. The Germans was definitely beatable today but it would have taken a lot more creativity and craziness than what the French showed. Now if Colombia wins tonight it will be perfect.

What a gift. C'mon Colombia