Brazil 2014--The FIFA World Cup Thread

[Underseer]

Apparently European teams blaming poor performance on the South American climate is a thing.

A 'thing' that neatly ignores the fact that it is the middle of winter in most of Brazil.

Seriously, these guys are supposed to be professionals. I am sure the climate was known in advance; they should have been training for these conditions for months - or even years.

I guess the Netherlands are just lucky that their country is in the tropics, eh?

Given how poorly Europe does when the World Cup is held in the Western hemisphere, I'm sure it has more to do with jet lag than climate.

 

[dystopian]

Apparently European teams blaming poor performance on the South American climate is a thing.

A 'thing' that neatly ignores the fact that it is the middle of winter in most of Brazil.

Seriously, these guys are supposed to be professionals. I am sure the climate was known in advance; they should have been training for these conditions for months - or even years.

I guess the Netherlands are just lucky that their country is in the tropics, eh?

Well, actually...

The Netherlands IS located in the tropics; in the same way that the United States is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Of course, our teams don't usually play on the Carribean parts of our soil.

 

[beero1000]

Do you think the shadow organization that fixes all sports competitions had an administrative error and mixed up the results for the Switzerland/France match with the Argentina/Iran one?

 

[MarkW]

Do you think the shadow organization that fixes all sports competitions had an administrative error and mixed up the results for the Switzerland/France match with the Argentina/Iran one?

They just assumed that the Iranians knew the script and didn't need to be told.

 

[Derec]

A 'thing' that neatly ignores the fact that it is the middle of winter in most of Brazil.

Since vast majority of Brazilian territory lies north of the Tropic of Capricorn they do not really have a winter in any meaningful sense. Manaus (average June and July high is 88°F) in particular is both close to the equator and in the middle of the Amazon which means off the charts humidity as well.

Seriously, these guys are supposed to be professionals. I am sure the climate was known in advance; they should have been training for these conditions for months - or even years.

Yes they are professionals. That means they spend the most time doing their day jobs which is playing for their clubs. Mostly in temperate Europe.

I guess the Netherlands are just lucky that their country is in the tropics, eh?

France too (French Guiana).

 

[Perspicuo]

Ah, geography and weather savvy friends.

If I only had them in non-online life... It gets kinda lonely around here.

 

[Perspicuo]

When I saw this photo on Deutsche Welle (español) I immediately thought: "Look! Charlie Brown made it to the World Cup!"

 

[Sabine Grant]

Ah, geography and weather savvy friends.

If I only had them in non-online life... It gets kinda lonely around here.

Here is more epiphany for you... (and to cheer you up in view of FIFA trying to mess with 7 members of your nation's team following their victory over Italy), since derec mentioned France with a touch of exotism. From les Bleus :

- Moussa Sissoko , born from Malian parents.

- Karim Benzema , born of parents of Algerian origin.

-Paul Pogba , born of Congolese and Guinean parents.

-Bacary Sagna, Senegalese parents.

-Blaise Matuidi, Congolese and Angolan parents

-Rio Antonio Mavuba, Angolan and Congolese parents.

- Mamadou Sakho, Senegalese parents.

- Patrice Evra, Senegalese and Cape Verdean parents and born in Dakar.

To name a few of our exotic Bleus. I am of course cheering for them while I have deployed my French flag in the back of my Civic.

 

[Derec]

To name a few of our exotic Bleus. I am of course cheering for them while I have deployed my French flag in the back of my Civic.

That's mixed messages. The name of a Japanese player is even Honda. You should have gotten a Peugeot or something.

 

[MarkW]

Quite a doozy today between Germany and Ghana. A tie seems a fitting result for that one given how both sides played about equally well. Meanwhile Messi bailed out Argentina after a somewhat lackluster effort against Iran, and Bosnia are assured of going home at the end of group play.

 

[blastula]

I decided Argentina has a good anthem, but that's probably because it has no words. They also have the best flag.

Seems like there is a lot of parity going around, gives hope for the US and everyone else.

 

[Angra Mainyu]

I decided Argentina has a good anthem, but that's probably because it has no words. They also have the best flag.

Seems like there is a lot of parity going around, gives hope for the US and everyone else.

Argentina's anthem has words.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

But they're in some kind of weird moon-man language and nobody understands them, so it amounts to the same thing.

 

[Derec]

Quite a doozy today between Germany and Ghana. A tie seems a fitting result for that one given how both sides played about equally well.

The commentators said something about Germany's 2nd game slump and there is something to it. In 2010 Germany lost the middle game against Serbia but won the other two games. In 2002 Germany tied Ireland, a game they should certainly have won but won the other two games. In 1998 Germany tied Yugoslavia and won the other two games. In 1994 they tied Spain and won the other two games. The only exception in the last 20 years is 2006 where they hosted but even there the 1-0 win against Poland was minimal.

Meanwhile Messi bailed out Argentina after a somewhat lackluster effort against Iran, and Bosnia are assured of going home at the end of group play.

Thanks to a horrible offside call.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The commentators said something about Germany's 2nd game slump and there is something to it. In 2010 Germany lost the middle game against Serbia but won the other two games. In 2002 Germany tied Ireland, a game they should certainly have won but won the other two games. In 1998 Germany tied Yugoslavia and won the other two games. In 1994 they tied Spain and won the other two games. The only exception in the last 20 years is 2006 where they hosted but even there the 1-0 win against Poland was minimal.

Meanwhile Messi bailed out Argentina after a somewhat lackluster effort against Iran, and Bosnia are assured of going home at the end of group play.

Thanks to a horrible offside call.

Bad offside call. The Sterling offside call against Liverpool in their fixture against Man City, where Sterling was at least a couple yards clearly onside was a horrible offside call.

 

[rousseau]

Well, now that Portugal has a good chance of tying the US for second in their group, let's look at tie-breaking rules:

http://www.conmebol.com/en/content/tie-breaker-rules-group-stage-2014-world-cup-brazil

The ranking of each team in each group shall be determined as follows:

a) greatest number of points obtained in all group matches;

b) goal difference in all group matches;

c) greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.



If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings shall be determined as follows:

d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the

teams concerned;

e) goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams

concerned;

f) greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams

concerned;

g) drawing of lots by the FIFA Organizing Committee.
- See more at: http://www.conmebol.com/en/content/...ge-2014-world-cup-brazil#sthash.o1t5I90C.dpuf

Most likely result is the US and Portugal tie for points and US advances on goal differential, but it could be close depending on who performs in the last game. I wouldn't put Ghana drawing Portugal out of the question, either, but I doubt the US draws Germany.

 

[blastula]

So, if the US and Germany both make it if they tie, can they collude to tie?

 

[bilby]

So, if the US and Germany both make it if they tie, can they collude to tie?

This is a FIFA event. Corruption, collusion, bribery, match-fixing and general underhandedness are mandatory.

 

[nightwyrm]

So, if the US and Germany both make it if they tie, can they collude to tie?

If the two teams just kick the ball around for 90 minutes how are you gonna prove the two teams agreed to tie.

Even if either Germany or US wins, something very lopsided must happen in the Ghana/Portuagal game to allow either Ghana or Portugal to beat the losing team on goal differentials.

So essentially Germany and US is gonna advance.

 

[bilby]

That's pretty much what happened in the last 80 minutes of the infamous 1982 match between West Germany and Austria; they knew that a 1-0 or 2-0 win for West Germany would allow both teams to qualify, so after the Germans scored, both sides simply stopped trying. Since that time, FIFA have made the last two matches in each group simultaneous, to reduce the opportunity to collude; Of course, 'reduce' is not the same as 'eliminate'.