OT--World Cup Quarterfinal Open Thread
For those stuck at work, watching on the ESPN 3 feed, talk away on the World Cup.
I am working this morning, closing shop early and catching it on DVR. I'll be two hours behind most of the day. I drafted a bunch of e-firends to do roundtable discussion, quarterfinal version at the JCB.
Enjoy the games.......and Happy Fourth Of July Weekend. USA #1 Vote Stanzi/Lehman
That corner kick gaff by oranje was horrendous. WTF was he thinking?
I love how the Brazilians play the short passing game, they really do play a beautiful game.
to Robinho was absolutely stunningly gorgeously awesomely beautiful. I still don't know how the ball got to him.
I was like
I'm not sure I could stand watching the acting from the South American squads any longer. I know that everyone does it, but they have been putting forward Oscar-winning performances.
The simulation has been awful in the first half. Robben's "I didn't kick it" act and Van Persie clutching his head after a hand grazed his scalp just don't hold a candle to Maicon flinging himself through the air and doing about eight rolls once he hit the ground.
It's been a pretty physical first half but there are some serious embellishments going on that for sure.
the Dutch were significantly worst pretending fouls than the Brazilians, not even close, at least this match...
Youth players should watch that to learn the benefits of moving without the ball. Robinho got sprung free because the forward checked back toward the ball, creating space in the middle of the defense for Robinho to run into to receive the through ball. Brazil is still putting on a lot of pressure even with the lead.
Arjen Robben is damn predictable, if he tried anything but 'cut towards the middle and shoot with my left' the Dutch would probably have had a few more chances. Every time he does that the Brazilians swallow him up and either block his shot or just take it from him.
Here's an idea, you are a professional soccer player, use your right foot.
Second half should be very open. Let's see what happens...
Holy crap, a yellow for diving, I'm completely shocked.
Beautiful shot. 1-1.
Disagree, complete misplay by Brazil and pure luck.
Having watched replays I completely agree. They also ruled it an own goal on Felipe Melo.
Interesting that it's apparently okay for FIFA officials to watch the instant replay to determine whom to attribute a goal to, but not, you know, to determine if a goal has actually been scored.
My favorite with those is in England, the official scorer assigns the goal at first but if it's iffy it then goes to the awesomely named "Dubious Goals Committee"
That is tremendous. Lloyd Carr "tremendous."
Should have been a save.
Cesar and the defender went for it at the same time and cancelled each other out. Quite a break for the Dutch.
Wow, now this is interesting. Good header, bad defense.
Great goal. Brazil have looked the better side to me, but the Dutch have made the most of their chances. Should be a wild finish.
Brazil looked the better side in the first half but in the second far too much backing down in the midfield and clearly outplayed on the wings and in the centre.
Terrific flick on header and a nice finish by Snejder.
Ouch, Felipe Melo with an own goal and now a red card. Yikes!
That was just stupid with cleating the Dutch player. Unfortunate.
Both of these teams are sponsored by Nike, but it sure looks like Nike put more care into making Brazil's uniforms. The Dutch ones look thrown together at the last minute (especially those duct tape-looking numbers). Guess we can tell who Nike's "most favored nation" is.
Dumb play there, for sure a red, can't step on a player who is down with the ref staring right at you.
Brazil is imploding, the Dutch are all up in their heads.
Melo with a Beckham esk stomp for the red card. What an idiot!
Brazil is starting to crack. Pressure of the World Cup is intense.
the Netherlands. Those soccer playing traffic barrels came to play.
Brazil has fallen apart in the second half- really sloppy defense and poor movement in the offensive third.
I'm curious to know how accurate referees' stoppage-time estimates are. I'd bet that the real amount of time lost in a typical half is considerably more than 2-3 minutes. Think of all the lost time just for throw-ins and corners. I wonder if they'll ever develop a more scientific method of keeping track.
Wow. Didn't see that ending that way after the first 15 minutes.
The Netherlands are good and all but this was definitely an upset. That second half for Brazil was very uncharacteristic, as well as they played the first, the second was that bad.
Brazil really strayed from their controlled android-esque system as the game went on. It'll be interesting to see if Dunga remains Brazil's coach, as he got a lot of flack for instituting that system in the first place.
I think what you saw was a Brazilian team that lost it's composure. This is not a team that in any way was coached to deal with adversity and you saw that in the second half. I suspect the Brazilians either a) stupidly took the Dutch lightly or b) expected the Dutch to fold against their "withering attack". When the Dutch mostly took the game to them in the second half you saw the net outcome of a team prepared to win but not prepared to fight under adverse circumstances.
The constant bitching from Robinho, the lack of discipline from Melo...the Brazilians cracked when the Dutch took the game from them. Good on the Dutch.
Yeah, I am inclined to agree with you. What surprises me is that, at least from the articles I read pre-World Cup, this is exactly what Dunga was all about. Brazil was furious four years ago after being eliminated in the quarterfinals then, and made a huge fuss about the lack of preparation, trying to only play star players at the expense of a cohesive team strategy, etc. While I agree they didn't seem prepared to deal with the upstart Dutch at all, I'm very surprised that this was the case and they didn't actually learn their lesson from 2006.
As a player, Dunga was a hard man on the pitch but his style has only marginally translated to the Brazilian side. A cursory look at the style of play practiced by their *stars* in Europe generally shows significant limitations in discipline and a more free styled approach to the game (I am looking at you in Manchester City Robhino, for example). The style Dunga worked toward was mostly untenable for that mix of player.
For this same reason, I will predict Germany to crack Argentina tomorrow. By the second half they will have broken them and the Argentinians will be flopping about the pitch like fish out of water. Raback that.
Not that you could hear the tranny parade music this time becuase of those vuvuzelas. But any time the tranny parade music is sent home from the world cup I am very happy!
Wow, I laid a nice sprinkle on the Netherlands winning it all with 10-1 odds in my favor. Safe to say after this game, that was looking like a mighty fine bet. Still can't believe this game though, wow.
Who's left to root for? And why? Make your case.
Netherlands. Wesley Sneijder.
Dutch Vampire Hunter? Because you have to give me more to make them rootable...
Isn't rooting for Brazil in the first place like rooting for the Yankees/Lakers/Cowboys? I know they've historically played an entertaining style, but still.
Yup. No matter how many likable guys the Yankees have, Jeter, Torre, Pudge when he was there, they're still the Yanks. Brazil, same same.
Now that Brazil is out, anyone at all is fine by me. But I gotta say, of all the teams in the whole tournament I've been the most entertained by Spain, and they've never won the tournament either. So that's two in their favor.
It feels slightly different, due to their positive play they get a lot of good will, and there is a strong sentiment of hoping Brazil win's so you don't have to suffer through the Italians or Germans parading around with the trophy.
....because I hate them, but I'd say it's more like rooting for the Bulls with Jordan. They're everyone's favorite talented team. (See: Pele). Between Pele as a kid, Brazil's fun style and uniforms, and the women...Brazil has always been my default non-US team.
To me, if you're going to have a historic bad guy in the Tourney, you're right, it has to be the Germans. They're the Yankees.
Of what's left, the Dutch are kinda dull (not soccer-wise...just Dutch-wise), can't cheer for Germany, Argentina is Brazil without any of the charm, Spain has been getting too much credit for having never won anything in the Cup (or come close), and Paraguay probably doesn't have a chance. So that pretty much leaves Uruguay. Which I guess I can get behind in a Cubs been so long since they won streak.
I'm thrilled Brazil went out. The Spanish and the Dutch both deserve a World Cup for their history with the sport, either of Uruguay or Ghana would be excellent too. I've seen the Germans win to many tournaments to route for them. And Argentina winning would inflate Maradona's head so much it might burst. Hopefully they get past Germany, just because Spain-Argentina in a semifinal would be fantastic.
i was born and raised in michigan, and like many people in michigan, i come from dutch lineage on my father's side. they usually field a top tier b team, below the brazils, argentinas, germanys, etc. that usually make up the a-list. they have wonderful possession and are enjoyable to watch imo. they looked very solid in round 1, and first knockout game, but despite lala's prediction (i can't stand lala btw) i gave them a very slim chance of knocking out brazil today, esp after brazil's early goal. i have it on dvd at home (i tried not to sneak peeks to save the suspense) and cant wait to go home and watch it this evening.
here's hoping they can continue their form. they have good shot to make it to world cup finals as they play either uruguay/gana in semis...go oranje!
i like edit alot...dvr, ghana.
After all.