OT World Cup Day 7 Open Thread
Day 7 of the World Cup is upon us. Spain/Chile should be the premiere matchup today. We'll see if Spain can bounce back against a very talented and exciting Chilean side.
Here are the matchups for your viewing pleasure today:
Group B
Australia - Netherlands 12pm EDT (ESPN / Univision / Watch ESPN)
Spain - Chile 3pm EDT (ESPN / Univision / Watch ESPN)
Group C
Cameroon - Croatia 6pm EDT (ESPN / Univision / Watch ESPN)
RVP levels it up. LET'S GET NUTS
What a game! (And what an opening week in general - there have more good games so far than I think all of the 2010 WC.)
Unfortunately i feel this one goes 4-2. The Netherlands are just too strong up front and with RVP out the next match you know they are going for the W in this one.
What a game. What a game.
Mistake by Matthew Ryan there...tough, swerving shot but from 30 yards you've got to stop that.
3-2 Oranje
And that's how you blow a game in less than a minute. Could have easily been 3-2 Australia but they do a terrible job on the 2-1, then give up a terrible goal on the other side.
In less than two games, the Dutch have scored as many goals as Spain (the champion!) did in all of the 2010 WC.
Robben's right foot only serves him to get on the bus...
I wonder if the weather is contributing to all these goals (fatigue) but from all accounts today's weather is glorious for soccer and we have 5 goals. I just see more teams playing a very open aggressive style, even the mid level type teams are not going into a massive shell versus superior competition. You still have the Honduras types who are playing "Greek football" but in general it is so fun to watch this style - not often you see it in the WC since the teams are put together for a month and aside from 7-8 countries who just have such individual technical skill, most countries just try to get thru 0-0 or 1-1. Also can't recall ever seeing so many comebacks in a WC.
Plus the brazuca moves weird.... not as weird as the jabulani but that ball has movement and it sails easily too...
Per NASA (and the Washington Post), this ball was supposed to be better for goalkeepers. Article is here.
NASA Quote:
"The overall increased roughness of the Brazuca football will help to decrease the ball’s knuckling tendencies at kicking speeds typically encountered in the World Cup. …
Tests in the wind tunnel and a 17-inch water channel, which uses florescent dye dispensed into the fluid flow under black lights, shows that the speed of greatest knuckling for a traditional ball is around 30 miles per hour (mph). This is well below the typical kicking speed of a World Cup-caliber player, which is about 50 to 55 mph. Interestingly, the Jabulani, a much smoother ball, produced its greatest knuckling effect in that same speed range (about 50 mph), which is why the players in the 2010 World Cup noticed the effect more frequently.
The smoother a ball is, the higher the speed at which the knuckling effect occurs. However, with the increased roughness of the Brazuca, this critical speed for maximum knuckling is reduced to about 30 mph. So it is expected that the 2014 World Cup ball will have a more predictable flight path at typical striking speeds."
A more consistent flight pattern is a double-edged sword. Cahill's laser strike may well have knuckled harmlessly away with the Jabulani ball.
I suspect it has something to do with the weather. What you'd need to look at is goals in the second half (for all teams, winning/losing/draws). If you've got a high percentage of goals happening in the second half, you might chalk it up to fatigue and/or game opening up due to a deficit.
Spain:
Casillas (c), Martinez, Iniesta, Pedro, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Ramos, Busquets, Jordi Alba, Costa, Silva, Azpilicueta
Chile:
Bravo (c), Mena, Isla, Silva, Sanchez, Vidal, Vargas, Medel, Jara, Aranguiz, Dias
Wow, no Xavi. Has Spain ever started a competitive game in its dominant run without Xavi in the lineup?
Also, no Pique, but that's less of surprise as he just looks too slow to keep up.
I'm a bit surprised Busquets got the start rather than Fabregas. Still surprised that he's not starting. Sounds like he's going to play in Qatar next season for lots and lots of oil money.
I did not even notice Xavi versus Netherlands. He was invisible.
Is anybody else having trouble with WatchESPN? I keep getting an error saying "Internal Authorization Error." I cleared my browser's cookies and it's asking for my cable provider credentials...but I get stuck in a loop when I enter them.
Maybe try a different browser? Sometimes Chome would act up for me so I'd switch to Firefox. That loop could also be an error from your cable provider too.
Per Simon Kuper (Author of Soccernomics) that Chilean fans ran through the media center to gain access to the match without tickets. Tweet (sorry, don't know how to embed):
"I'm not sure why but 100+ Chilean fans just ran into media centre at Maracana. Stewards trying to remove them. Glass broken, walls damaged"
Graham Hunter as well:
"Old skool. Approx 40 Chile fans storm media centre to get thru to Stadium without tickets. Got a bit bouncey there"
About 100 Argentinian fans did the same thing before the Bosnia game at the Maracana.
just tweeted that a wall has fallen down.
That sounds not good.
SB Nation has a post on it here.
So yeah, FIFA Security good job
Does anyone else think it would have been a good idea to make more seats available at prices that would be affordable for more of the locals? There seem to be thousands of empty seats at most of the matches--the lower deck for Swizerland/Ecuador was at most 2/3 full. There's no excuse for that at an event like this.
ESPN finally reporting the Chilean fans storming into the media center.
Incredible. Made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Wow.
that I nearly broke into song myself, despite not knowing a word of it and very very little Spanish whatsoever!
There have been some great National Anthems before WC games I've watched the last several days, but this one was beyond great, even awesome.
In theory this should be another good game - Chile seems to play defense as 'optional' - attack attack attack
Good stop by Bravo on Xabi Alonso from about a yard away.
Disjointed match so far. Both teams look a bit sloppy.
Chile is up! Now Spain has to sell out attacking.
Chile with a series of beautiful passes and Vargas scores a lovely goal after drawing Casillas off his line. Defending champs on the ropes.
and Chili scores first. GOOOOAAALLL!!!!!!!
Xabi's turnover was awful. I've never seen Spain look like this.
Then Xabi boots the ball 10 yards over the goal on that volley chance.
Spain looks like a team aging by the hour before our eyes.
defenders just watching the ball as it lands right at the chilean's foot.
Not just that, the wall barely even moved even after the ball came off Casillas. Just standing there in a lne.
This is crazy. How has Spain been this bad?
Former colonialists are getting spanked in the new world.
Also France.
US is doing alright too.
Casillas punches the ball right into the middle of the field. Seemed like a good idea until Aranguiz toe poked it past him.
Unreal first half.
casillas is having one the worst 3 (competitive) game stretch of his career. he gave up a boof of a goal in the uefa finals.
They need to sport the 3-3-4 or something for the next half :O
Did someone say 3-3-5?
Send the keeper upfield, why not? 3-3-5 FTW!
Would be incredible that if after their run of dominance the last few years, they didn't make out of the group stage in Brazil. Would be one of the biggest flops in World Cup history no doubt