OT: World Cup Open Thread (Round of 16 - Day 3)
so i'm rooting for france to advance to the semis. i'd imagine the atmosphere would be as exciting as something french can get.
There is a 15+ foot tall bronze statue of the headbutt in Centre Pompidou, it's pretty awesome. (and then i found 20 dollars)
during the uefa finals last month. said it was nutso
Plus...the Tour de France starts Sunday, so if the soccer team advances it will probably be a pretty crazy time to be watching sports in Paris.
Oh yes, if you are in France in the summer, try to catch a stage of the Tour de France - it's an awesome atmosphere.
I'll be in Belgium later this summer. Hopefully they're over the loss to the US by then.
Be sure to wear lots of patriotic gear and pin several american flags to your luggage because I heard the French love Americans and are always totally cool to them all the time
very tough odds but I would be so happy to see either of Nigeria or Algeria go through, or both!
though it would take a miracle I think for either to win today.
Edit: beaten to the geriatrics by aplatypus below... :-|
Not really, though. France v Germany will be a damn good matchup in the next round if both win.
Massey and Nate Silver are pretty close in their estimates on today's games - Germany has a predicted 83% win probability and France is almost as comfortable at 76%, so it seems like they are indeed the safe bets statistically. I am sure most of us thought that anyway, of course. What is interesting now is that we're looking at about an 80% chance that either Brazil (the favorite, of course), Argentina, The Netherlands or Germany win it all. Everyone else is sitting at an estimate under 10% - well under in most cases.
Algeria has been playing fairly well. Nigeria not so much. But Germany is highly unlikely to lose at this stage. It's been forever since they've gone out before the quarterfinals, and this team looks strong.
I'm calling Nigeria over France, 2-1. Nigeria has never made it to the QF but this is definitely their best chance. There really isn't a dominant team this year. Any of the QF teams could be considered the favorite the way it's been played so far.
The African nations have had at least one team in the QFs two out of the last three cups. I think the Germany - Algeria match will be really close, should be pretty physical, but if any team could be considered odds on favorite to win it all it's probably Germany. Could go either way as well though.
Germany is great but not unbeatable. This is also probably the best team Algeria has ever had. It should be a great match. I doubt that Algeria uses the counter very much as you noted because of possesion but Algeria will definitely be able to match Germany's physicality (had to throw in a Brady reference!). Feghouli is kinda a beast, I think Algeria will play lots of long ball and swinging it wide and just swing for the fences.
France:
Lloris (c), Debuchy, Evra, Varane, Cabaye, Valbuena, Giroud, Benzema, Matuidi, Pogba, Koscielny
Nigeria:
Enyeama, Yobo (c), Ambrose, Musa, Odemwingie, Emenike, Mikel, Moses, Oshaniwa, Onazi, Omeruo
actors at feigning the gruesome pain at having their pinky toe stepped on.
Or who trots off the field the slowest during a substitution.
I really don't understand why you can't stop the damn clock. If play stops, the clock stops. It's just ridiculous and completely unnecessary.
To add, stoppage time seems like it would work fine, but it feels like every time there is 4 minutes added time the actual time that play was stopped is at LEAST double that.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/6/16/algeria-soccer-nationality.html
The US has certainly benefited from having players who are Germans that for different reasons decided to become American citizens and get a chance to play in the World Cup. Many countries benefit from these transplants including our next opponent Belgium who enjoy players from the Congo. One of the countries "robbed" of many stars, including Zidane, is Algeria - so I am always rooting for them.
An interesting article on Algeria and the new FIFA transfer rules is linked above.
Only one player on Belgium's roster is an immigrant, Vanden Borre was born in Zaire. A few others are children of African immigrants, born in Belgium.
The only umbridge I take with your comment is that the US's German born players didn't choose to become US citizens. They're citizenship is literally a birthright. Johnson, Jones, Brooks, Green, Chandler were all US citizens from the day they were born because one of their parents is an American, thus making them Americans from birth as well. They are also Germans because of the other parent. They have different reasons for playing for the US national soccer team, but that they have none the less been citizens their entire life.
It's funny, when Julian Green's who brother had to opposite experience was born In Germany and went to school in the US, would tease Julian about his English, Julian would reply," I am an American citizen (born in US) and you are a German."
I personally don't care but think it is cool that many Algerians, and other country's national players, are playing for their country of birth, and now have to choice to do so.
Actually, I think most of the Algerian players aren't playing for their country of birth.
...Algeria has 15, yes 15 players that were born in France.
Yeah, this post is extremely misleading. For starters, Julian Green was born in Florida. The rest of them (including Green) have American fathers (or in Fabian Johnson's case, both American parents) and Jermaine Jones lived in the US once his father was transfered back to the states.
It's not like some guy named Seigfried Schweinsteiger who got cut from the German team "decided," as you said, to become an American and play for the US. These are all guys who had at least one fully-American parent and if they were born overseas, did so because of a parent in the military.
Bastian Schweinsteiger's brother?
Does "Schweinsteiger" mean he does nasty things to pigs?
One of the countries "robbed" of many stars, including Zidane, is Algeria - so I am always rooting for them.It's more the other way around - 16 of Algeria's 23 players were born in France. Zidane was also born in France, so they weren't really "robbed" of him.
Jermaine Jones who has arguably been our best player this tournament has played on the German under 21 national team and in German leagues almost his entire career. Got snubbed by Low. Thier loss (not really), our gain.
Allez les bleus
Soccer. The only sport where someone gets taken off on a stretcher and is magically able to go back in a minute later.
Half step offside cancels the Nigeria goal. Very close
but super close
that should have been a goal
Nigeria playing really well today. Nice open game.
Nigeria looks really dangerous...France is having a difficult time holding onto possession.
This commentator is kind of a prick