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Brazil 2014--The FIFA World Cup Thread

Even if there is no collusion between Germany and US, both teams will be playing to not lose, so the game will probably not be very exciting.
 
Holy fuck, but that game was a heartbreaker! We started out behind, then had that win up to the last possible second. Dammit.

PS -- I think Damarcus Beasley is superhuman. This is his fourth World Cup and he was racing up and down that left sideline like a madman for pretty much the whole game. I swear he was doing as much on offense as he was on defense.
 
nightwyrm said:
blastula said:
So, if the US and Germany both make it if they tie, can they collude to tie?
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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.
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Ghana is in a lot better position to win a tiebreaker with the US because they are much closer on goal differential--they are at -1 while the US is at +1. So if Ghana beat Portugal 2-1 (hardly impossible) while the US lost to Germany 2-0 (hardly impossible), Ghana would advance. Portugal has a goal differential of -4 so even if they win against Ghana and the US loses, they would need a much bigger margin of victory and/or US margin of defeat to advance.
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
Incredible how the ref pretty much declared Brazil the winners.

What is more odd is that the Croatia goalie really got beaten on two less than great shots, though well placed, and got both hands on the PK, but still didn't stop it.

I think Maradona got more hand on the ball than the Croatia defender had contact on the Brazil striker that drew the PK.


The US is also, not in the group of death. There are two groups that are worse. The US can get 4 points in this group, maybe even 6. If they can't get 4 points, they should bother to send teams anymore.
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Yup. Looks like I was spot on.
 
Not a bad result for the US today, although in the immediate aftermath of Portugal's last-gasp goal to tie it was a bit of an emotional downer.

Looking ahead to the final round of group play:

Group A--Brazil haven't looked like world-beaters so far, but it's hard to see how they'll fail to beat Cameroon. Meanwhile, Mexico is assured of moving on with a tie against Croatia while Croatia almost certainly needs a win (except in the unlikely event of Cameroon beating Brazil).

Group B--Holland and Chile are both moving on, they are playing for first place; Chile needs a win as the tiebreakers favor Holland. Spain and Australia are playing only for pride.

Group C--Colombia are through. Ivory Coast has the inside track to join them; a draw with Greece, one of the only two sides yet to put a goal on the scoreboard, should get them through, unless Japan should beat Colombia and score at least 3 goals.

Group D--Italy and Uruguay play for the right to join Costa Rica in the next round; Italy would advance based on goal differential if they play to a draw.

Group E--Mathematically everyone in this group is still alive, but France is through unless they lose to Ecuador by a huge margin because of their +6 goal differential. Honduras would have to beat Switzerland by a large margin to have even a chance of advancing. Realistically, it's going to be France and either Ecuador or Switzerland. Ecuador has a goal differential edge over the Swiss, but I'd say that the latter have a pretty good chance of getting a win over Honduras, while Ecuador is much less likely to get 3 points from France.

Group F--Argentina are through. Nigeria is likely to join them unless Iran, the other team yet to score a goal, can beat Bosnia-Herzegovina (and if anything, I'd rate Bosnia a slight favorite in this one) and eliminate Nigeria's goal differential advantage.

Group G--Everyone is still mathematically alive here too, but Germany is in an excellent position, and Portugal a very tough one, because of the 4-0 scoreline when the two met. Ghana has a better chance of making up their goal differential deficit, but they don't control their own destiny. A US-Germany draw would mean that both sides would advance, and even if no one talks about it between now and Thursday, it's 100% certain that every single player on both teams knows this perfectly well.

Group H--Belgium have clinched their place in the next round; everyone else is still in the hunt for the other slot. I've seen less of this group than any of the others and don't have a good feel for the relative strengths of each side. South Korea's chances, though, seem pretty slim, needing to win against group leader Belgium to even have a chance to move on.
 
It's entirely possible that we will have 3 CONCACAF teams in the second round, which would be epic.
 
MarkW said:
Group G--Everyone is still mathematically alive here too, but Germany is in an excellent position, and Portugal a very tough one, because of the 4-0 scoreline when the two met. Ghana has a better chance of making up their goal differential deficit, but they don't control their own destiny. A US-Germany draw would mean that both sides would advance, and even if no one talks about it between now and Thursday, it's 100% certain that every single player on both teams knows this perfectly well.
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At times like this, I always ask myself, what would Jose Mourinho do. Park the buses! Park the buses!

Don't be surprised to see the US start both Howards and Guzan in net. ;)

With the Swiss buckling, looks like the dark horse remaining is Belgium, but they haven't looked dominant. Very competitive World Cup this year. No run away teams. Brazil are still the home team, so that counts for a lot. Holland is the impressive side right now, but with how the World Cup is set up, things can change very quickly in 90 minutes. France may be the "dark horse" in the competition. With such crap performances in recent World Cups, they were pretty easy to ignore. With the US's form, quarterfinal appearance isn't out of the question.

Underseer said:
It's entirely possible that we will have 3 CONCACAF teams in the second round, which would be epic.
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Pretty impressive. Costa Rica have a very good system going, and a keeper in very good form.
 
Today's World Cup themed Google doodle is LOL.

http://www.google.com/doodles/world-cup-2014-27

HEO11drjjLmjFkwc9vcmkF0aSXs7gzDGHm7DDROi1MRZgvnFD7LC0xiYbgxripbReu1XvgSMDIjPRqQCsODUMKvCfy7uFze7ip-GTYIp=s660


I'm just staring and staring at it like a 3 y.o. kid. ha ha
 
Australia can take a lot of pride from their performances at the WC, despite losing all their games. I was watching Netherlands-Chile so I didn't see the Aussies against Spain, but they were impressive in their first two games. Give it a few years, and they could become like the US, expecting to qualify and having realistic hopes of progressing in every tournament.
 
Group D up next. Costa Rica is already through and is the probable group winner, England is eliminated. Italy plays Uruguay and they both have 3 points and will advance with a win and even have the possibility of winning the group with Costa Rica loss depending on the goal difference (CRC has a cushion of +3, Uruguay is -1 and Italy is at 0). Because of goal difference advantage Italy advances in the case of a tie.
 
C_Mucius_Scaevola said:
Australia can take a lot of pride from their performances at the WC, despite losing all their games. I was watching Netherlands-Chile so I didn't see the Aussies against Spain, but they were impressive in their first two games. Give it a few years, and they could become like the US, expecting to qualify and having realistic hopes of progressing in every tournament.
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The other good news for the Socceroos is that although players like Cahill and Bresciano have almost certainly played their last World Cups, they have a nice core of players aged 25 or under who got significant playing time in Brazil and will serve as the foundation for their side for 2018 and 2022.
 
God damn it Suarez. He'll be booted for the rest of the tournament. I don't know how this will affect the EPL. He is such a great player, but he has bitten three times now. The FA will need to determine whether biting will be worth a year or life ban. He hasn't significantly hurt anyone, so there is a balance here, but a notable ban may be in the cards. He has betrayed Liverpool and Uruguay.

And enough of ESPN acting as if the biting is the worst thing to ever happen in the World Cup (I'm looking at you Maradona).

Congrats to Costa Rica taking one of the Groups of death. Great job!
 
Who the fuck bites someone during the biggest international sporting stage in the world?

Oh yea.. athletes.
 
Yeah, no question that was a bite and that he should be out for the rest of the tournament and banned for at least a year. Its just a shame that the ref didn't see it and red card him at the time, because Italy would likely have won. The funny thing is that I had no idea of his history, but earlier in the game, I said to my wife "Man, they guy has some big buck teeth."
 
The worst part about it is that Suarez is an accomplished player, but now when the world hears his name he's going to be known as that one guy who bit someone at a World Cup. It's similar to Zidane head-butting someone at the World Cup, in the finals no less. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
 
A lot happened today besides Luis Suarez trying to make a snack out of an opponent. The latest news on that, by the way, is that FIFA's Disciplinary Committee is investigating Suarez's actions to determine if a suspension is warranted.

Meanwhile, in more conventional football action:

-The big story has to be Greece reaching the second round for the first time ever, and doing so in dramatic fashion by winning a penalty against the Ivory Coast during second half stoppage time.

-Greece now goes on to meet another unlikely qualifier, Costa Rica, who drew with England to finish atop Group D. This means there will be at least one first-time quarterfinalist in this Cup.

-In the other Group C matchup, Colombia rode a dominant second-half performance from their newest star, James Rodriguez, to a third straight win. Along with France and the Netherlands, they are one of the three sides to really impress in group play. They will now face Uruguay in the second round to try to reach their first quarterfinal berth. There was a sentimental moment in the late stages of the Colombia-Japan match when Colombia subbed in 43-year old backup goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon, who was in the nets the last time Colombia reached the World Cup in 1998. Mondragon became the oldest player ever to appear in the World Cup.

-Finally, the Suarez hubbub should not conceal the fact that Uruguay has a world-class player who is not a head case in Diego Godin, certainly the man of the match for them today against Italy. He captained the side, anchored the defense that kept Italy from scoring, and scored his first international goal in nearly eight years to give Uruguay the win.
 
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