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Brazil 2014--The FIFA World Cup Thread

 
 
 
I look forward to the final. Even though Germany has more overall talent, Argentina has a very good defense and some highly gifted attackers. If they can keep Germany off the scoreboard or hold them to a goal, they have a very good chance of emerging victorious.
 
laughing dog said:
I look forward to the final. Even though Germany has more overall talent, Argentina has a very good defense and some highly gifted attackers. If they can keep Germany off the scoreboard or hold them to a goal, they have a very good chance of emerging victorious.
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I agree--Germany has to be the favorite on Sunday, but they should not expect an easy victory, and Argentina could very well win it.
 
Yesterday's third-place game was not the best--once again Brazil showed very little offensive punch in Neymar's absence, and although their defense wasn't as dispirited as in the semifinal, they still had some major breakdowns. So you had one team playing a pretty good match and the other playing a mediocre one; Holland's win was no big surprise.

Less than three hours until the final kicks off.
 
Truly we live in an age of wonders. I just watched the World Cup Final from half a world away, in high definition colour, with not the slightest hint of 'snow' or picture quality issues. From bed. On my phone.

The first cup final I watched on TV in black and white, from a few hundred miles away; and the ball was rarely distinguishable from the interference on screen. The TV had to be switched on five minutes before the game to allow the tubes to warm up, and to allow time to adjust the aerial to give the least-worst picture and sound quality.

Germany still won though. Some things don't change. :D
 
I was rooting for Messi and Argentina but I can't really be too upset with the loss. They had their chances and didn't convert, Germany did.
 
INTERNET WARNING FOR WORLD CUP FANS

It is strongly advised to double-check your spelling before googling the scorer of the winning goal in today's World Cup Final. The correct spelling is Goetze. You have been warned.
 
That's as ambiguous as spelling Goetze.
(Americans, don't "reed allowed".)

In other news, we can now all sing "All you need is Löw". Because Löw is all you need to win the World Cup.
 
That's it. It's over and done. Brazil hosted one hell of a World Cup. Stadiums worked, airports worked, transportation worked, security worked, everything went well! Billions of dollars were injected in the economy.

I was so happy Germany won over Argentina!!!
 
Congratulations to Germany. I feel they deserved it, but Argentina did miss some great chances.

And to Argentina I say "where's your Messi-ah now?"
 
Another World Cup is in the books--a pretty good one, overall. Final thoughts:

-For once we had a pretty good final match. Not a great one, but far better than many I've seen. I've watched the last eight World Cup finals--of those, the clear best game was the 1986 final, the first I ever saw. The clear worst was the second I saw, in 1990 (both, interestingly, were Germany-Argentina matchups). Yesterday's final was probably the best I've seen since 1986. Both sides came to play, both defended very well, and both put a satisfactory amount of energy and enterprise into attacking. Sadly, what was lacking on both sides was good finishing, Goetze's very well-taken game-winner aside. Germany were the better side overall, and a worthy champion.

-Brazil turned out to be massively overrated; this may be the weakest Brazil side I have ever seen at a World Cup (although the 1990 Brazil team, to name one, was nothing special). Their attack depended hugely on Neymar and their defense was very brittle (14 goals conceded!). It would probably have been better for the quality of football in the later rounds if Chile or Colombia had been able to knock Brazil out before the semifinals.

I picked a personal "first eleven" for the cup:

Goalkeeper--Keylor Navas, Costa Rica

There was some terrific goalkeeping in the Cup this time around. Navas impressed me most of all. Germany's Manuel Neuer was the clear standout among goalkeepers among the four semifinalists. Also impressive were Guillermo Ochoa of Mexico, Vincent Enyeama of Nigeria, David Ospina of Colombia and, yes, Tim Howard of the USA.

Defenders: Mats Hummels, Germany; Martin Demichelis, Argentina; Ron Vlaar, Netherlands.

There wasn't a lot of top-notch outside back play at this Cup, so I went with a 3-man defensive line of central defenders. Vlaar was a rock for the Dutch, Demichelis really solidified the Argentine back-line in the knockout stages, and Hummels combined steady defending with the ability to get forward and score on set-pieces. Other good candidates would have been Vincent Kompany of Belgium, Giancarlo Gonzalez of Costa Rica, and Vlaar's partner in defense, Stefan de Vrij.

Central midfield: Bastian Schweinsteiger and Toni Kroos, Germany; Javier Mascherano, Argentina.

In front of the 3-man defense, I have a 3-man central midfield with a pair of defensive/holding types (Mascherano and Schweinsteiger--how'd you like to have to get past those two in tandem), and a deep-lying playmaker/attacker (Kroos). Mascherano was indispensable for Argentina. Kroos, although he didn't have a great final, was a key cog in Germany's attack. Schweini didn't start the Cup strongly, as he was working back to full fitness, but he got stronger in each stage and gave a warrior's effort in the final. Other good candidates would include Paul Pogba of France and Georginio Wijnaldum of the Netherlands.

Attackers: Lionel Messi, Argentina; Thomas Muller, Germany; Arjen Robben, Netherlands; James Rodriguez, Colombia.

Another absence from this Cup was anyone really impressing as a true center forward/"number nine" type. So I went with a quartet of forward/midfielder hybrid types, all of whom can, and did, slide around to different attacking positions throughout the Cup. These four are all pretty clear choices. Neymar is the only alternative who might be considered here, and I didn't find him as impressive or effective as any of the four I picked.
 
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