Brazil 2014--The FIFA World Cup Thread

[C_Mucius_Scaevola]

If, as it looked like, it was his hamstring that went, I don't think you'll be seeing him again at this World Cup. That's not something you can just run off.

 

[Underseer]

I hope Altidore is OK. Beating Germany or Portugal with Altidore will be hard enough, but without him? Yeesh. What a costly victory.

I'm not worried about that. What matters is the team. An individual player doesn't make a team. These are all pretty good individual players. They need to put themselves into a circumstance that can lead to victory and then take advantage. Our chances of getting out of the group stage didn't hang on Donavon and they don't hang on Altidore.

The Portugal game will be very interesting, being in a Rain Forest and all. Fitness will have a big hand in the game.

Altidore is our number one offensive player. Even when he doesn't touch the ball during a play, he draws defenders away from other American players.

I have to say, I'm impressed with Klinsmann as a coach. The US was clearly less bad in the midfield and less bad at set pieces.

- - - Updated - - -

If, as it looked like, it was his hamstring that went, I don't think you'll be seeing him again at this World Cup. That's not something you can just run off.

That depends on the severity of the injury. Minor hamstring tears can be healed in a matter of days.

 

[Derec]

First game of the second round of group play:
Brazil - Mexico 0:0
Ochoa surely MVP, he has some impressive saves.
Brazil doesn't impress so far. No danger they will not advance out of group, they will probably even win Group A, but to compete in the later stages of the tournament they will have to step up their game.

 

[Underseer]

First game of the second round of group play:
Brazil - Mexico 0:0
Ochoa surely MVP, he has some impressive saves.
Brazil doesn't impress so far. No danger they will not advance out of group, they will probably even win Group A, but to compete in the later stages of the tournament they will have to step up their game.

It might not be that Brazil was playing badly. Mexico is scrappy and you never know when they're going to punch above their weight class.

 

[MarkW]

The first round of group play saw 49 goals in 16 matches. In the five Cups with 32 teams, and eight groups, this is the highest-scoring first round of group play. The total of 49 is nearly double the 25 goals in the first round of group play in 2010. It's nice to see more open, offensive play.

 

[rousseau]

Does anyone know a place to go to watch quick video re-caps of the games?

 

[bilby]

Does anyone know a place to go to watch quick video re-caps of the games?

The SBS website has loads of videos, including full games and highlights, news, interviews, anything you could possibly want; (the SBS iPhone app live streams all the matches for free too). I don't know if you can access the vids from outside Australia without a VPN though.

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/videos

Too much football is barely enough!

 

[Derec]

It might not be that Brazil was playing badly. Mexico is scrappy and you never know when they're going to punch above their weight class.

Brazil didn't exactly play badly but imho not up to the standard needed to win this thing. And as far as Mexicans, they played great in the second half but not so much the first half and Brazil should have capitalized on it then.

 

[rousseau]

Does anyone know a place to go to watch quick video re-caps of the games?

The SBS website has loads of videos, including full games and highlights, news, interviews, anything you could possibly want; (the SBS iPhone app live streams all the matches for free too). I don't know if you can access the vids from outside Australia without a VPN though.

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/videos

Too much football is barely enough!

Only available in Australia . Maybe youtube will do the trick.

 

[Underseer]

Does anyone know a place to go to watch quick video re-caps of the games?

The SBS website has loads of videos, including full games and highlights, news, interviews, anything you could possibly want; (the SBS iPhone app live streams all the matches for free too). I don't know if you can access the vids from outside Australia without a VPN though.

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/videos

Too much football is barely enough!

Only available in Australia . Maybe youtube will do the trick.

Who's broadcasting the games in your country? Whoever it is probably has videos available on their website.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

It might not be that Brazil was playing badly. Mexico is scrappy and you never know when they're going to punch above their weight class.

Brazil didn't exactly play badly but imho not up to the standard needed to win this thing. And as far as Mexicans, they played great in the second half but not so much the first half and Brazil should have capitalized on it then.

Brazil played like '12-'13 Liverpool. Great at controlling possession, but not getting enough chances on net. While the Mexican keeper did very well and kept Mexico in it, Brazil just didn't pepper the net enough.

I hope Altidore is OK. Beating Germany or Portugal with Altidore will be hard enough, but without him? Yeesh. What a costly victory.

I'm not worried about that. What matters is the team. An individual player doesn't make a team. These are all pretty good individual players. They need to put themselves into a circumstance that can lead to victory and then take advantage. Our chances of getting out of the group stage didn't hang on Donavon and they don't hang on Altidore.

The Portugal game will be very interesting, being in a Rain Forest and all. Fitness will have a big hand in the game.

Altidore is our number one offensive player. Even when he doesn't touch the ball during a play, he draws defenders away from other American players.

I'm not worried. Altidore isn't the greatest striker. Losing him isn't like losing a Suarez.

 

[bilby]

Bugger - Cahill got a yellow card and misses the deciding Group match - after equalising one minute after the Dutch opener to keep us in the game in the first half.

We will miss him against Spain; he has scored both our goals so far.

We are looking pretty good against Netherlands in the first half. I hope we can keep this up for the second 45 mins.

 

[MarkW]

Spain are joining the list of defending champions to go home at the end of group play, losing to Chile 2-0. It wasn't a fluke, as Chile clearly outplayed them. This makes three times in the last four Cups that the holders have failed to advance out of group play.

I didn't see Australia-Netherlands. The Socceroos seem, from the accounts I've seen and from the scoreline, to have played pretty well (as they did against Chile), but not the near-perfect game they would have needed to knock off a reasonably in-form heavyweight. They

Too bad that this was almost certainly Cahill's last World Cup appearance; he scored a lot of big goals for the Socceroos and was always an entertaining player to watch.

 

[bilby]

Spain are joining the list of defending champions to go home at the end of group play, losing to Chile 2-0. It wasn't a fluke, as Chile clearly outplayed them. This makes three times in the last four Cups that the holders have failed to advance out of group play.

I didn't see Australia-Netherlands. The Socceroos seem, from the accounts I've seen and from the scoreline, to have played pretty well (as they did against Chile), but not the near-perfect game they would have needed to knock off a reasonably in-form heavyweight. They

Too bad that this was almost certainly Cahill's last World Cup appearance; he scored a lot of big goals for the Socceroos and was always an entertaining player to watch.

You missed a cracker of a match, the Socceroos outplayed the Dutch for a large part of the game, and at 2-1 up looked a real chance for an upset, but the Dutch are just too good at turning a few chances on the break into goals.

I think they underestimated us - if they had come out expecting a hard fought match, things would likely have been much worse for Australia - and they took a long time to readjust to the idea that they couldn't expect to win 5-0 without really trying.

Spain's loss means we cannot get through to the round of 16, with the only remaining question in our group being whether it is Chile or Netherlands in first place; if Chile can't beat the Dutch next week, then they will finish second, and probably meet Brazil in the round of 16.

Spain and Australia go home after their next match, which is a dead rubber; Tim Cahill is suspended for a second yellow card, and given his age, I doubt he will play any more World Cup football. He will be missed, but we have some strong young players who can step up for 2018.

 

[blastula]

I'm a noob at this sport but have been catching the fever this year. I think it's because HD TVs today make all the colors so purty. My thoughts so far.

Nice to see US win but it looked they were outplayed otherwise, doesn't bode well.

My favorite match so far was the Mex-Bra one. Lot of good action even if no scoring. Ochoa was the mvp, but come on, the deification that goes on is so over the top. Besides, Robben is the one true god anyway, and Muller is his prophet.

Chilean fans tried to turn the match into a Who concert. Spain's second loss does not flatter Ned.

Cahill's goal was awesome. Does that happen a lot on the fly like that? That weak hand call was not awesome. It made me laugh though after the call and all the Aussies were hugging and smiling and acting like they did something great. I guess if he meant to hit the hand, it was a good play. But there is an awful lot of hugging in this sport.

On that guy Cahill fouled, well I had heard that soccer players were notorious floppers, but getting yourself carted off is taking it too far imo.

All national anthems sound stupid, especially the a cappella "improvs."

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Only had time to watch one and I didn't want a spoiler, so I watched the Dutch and Socceroos play against each other. It was a solid all around match. The Dutch are showing they are contenders this year. I fast forwarded straight through the Chile v Spain match which I knew Spain had to of lost due to an unfortunate spoiler from NPR saying there was a big upset and I then knew Australia hadn't won.

Spain and Australia go home after their next match, which is a dead rubber; Tim Cahill is suspended for a second yellow card, and given his age, I doubt he will play any more World Cup football. He will be missed, but we have some strong young players who can step up for 2018.

And quite the bad call on the yellow card as well. The Aussies haven't earned a point yet (only two games though, to be fair), but they have earned a lot of respect.

England v Uruguay today. That'll be huge. A loss for either team is likely curtains in the Cup. Neither side can really afford a tie either. Japan or Greece need a win to have a shot in the final fixture of the Group stage.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I'm a noob at this sport but have been catching the fever this year. I think it's because HD TVs today make all the colors so purty. My thoughts so far.

Nice to see US win but it looked they were outplayed otherwise, doesn't bode well.

The US were generally outplayed in the second half. They had decent control in the first half.

Chilean fans tried to turn the match into a Who concert. Spain's second loss does not flatter Ned.

Yes it does. The Dutch didn't squeak out a win. They buried Spain.

Cahill's goal was awesome. Does that happen a lot on the fly like that?

Not very often, but when it does, you'll remember it for a bit.

That weak hand call was not awesome. It made me laugh though after the call and all the Aussies were hugging and smiling and acting like they did something great. I guess if he meant to hit the hand, it was a good play. But there is an awful lot of hugging in this sport.

That was a terrible call. The defender couldn't have moved his arm into the trajectory of the ball if he wanted to.

On that guy Cahill fouled, well I had heard that soccer players were notorious floppers, but getting yourself carted off is taking it too far imo.

There is flopping and then there is feigning life threatening injury.

 

[Dutch_labrat]

Spain are joining the list of defending champions to go home at the end of group play, losing to Chile 2-0. It wasn't a fluke, as Chile clearly outplayed them. This makes three times in the last four Cups that the holders have failed to advance out of group play.

I didn't see Australia-Netherlands. The Socceroos seem, from the accounts I've seen and from the scoreline, to have played pretty well (as they did against Chile), but not the near-perfect game they would have needed to knock off a reasonably in-form heavyweight. They

Too bad that this was almost certainly Cahill's last World Cup appearance; he scored a lot of big goals for the Socceroos and was always an entertaining player to watch.

You missed a cracker of a match, the Socceroos outplayed the Dutch for a large part of the game, and at 2-1 up looked a real chance for an upset, but the Dutch are just too good at turning a few chances on the break into goals.

I think they underestimated us - if they had come out expecting a hard fought match, things would likely have been much worse for Australia - and they took a long time to readjust to the idea that they couldn't expect to win 5-0 without really trying.
<snip>

You are you doing your side a disservice here. We were not badly prepared, Australia played well. The Aussies were up for a scrap and a fight. That is exactly the kind of opponent Orange often has problems with. Your lot were forcing us to fight for it, something Spain never managed to do.

 

[Underseer]

I keep seeing players and occasionally fans making a heart shape with their fingers. What is that all about?

Oh, and I just love watching the fans almost as much as the game. How many times have you seen "My team is losing. My team is OMGIMONTV!"? It makes me smile every time.

 

[Perspicuo]

Yeah