OT: World Cup Open Thread (Quarterfinals - Day 1)
Two huge regional battles today in the quarterfinals. Winners face each other in the semifinals. Think all 4 teams playing today could legitimately win the title this year.
12:00 p.m. ET - France vs. Germany (ESPN2)
4:00 p.m. ET - Brazil vs. Colombia (ESPN)
Go Colombia and go asteroid!
Actually, I'm gonna pull for Germany being a quarter German.
My wife's German but as an England fan I just can't do it. Asteroid sounds good to me.
I have France and Colombia winning but not confident in either.
As a man who is half English there is no way I could ever root for Germany. Hate France too though so I'm hoping for the meteor.
France: Lloris (c), Debuchy, Evra, Varane, Sakho, Cabaye, Valbuena, Benzema, Griezmann, Matuidi, Pogba
Germany: Neuer, Howedes, Hummels, Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Ozil, Klose, Muller, Lahm (c), Kroos, Boateng
Klose getting a start and Lahm presumably at right back again. This is all good news for Germany IMO.
...is no Mertesacher. Thoughts coming in were that Boateng would move to left back replacing Höwedes but instead he's staying at center back. Concerned about his lack of speed and don't think they need his height today? Or maybe he's one of the seven that's ill?
My guess is he's sick. Howedes going out makes more sense.
According to Bierhoff (who's the "manager", in charge of PR so Löw can concentrate on coaching) it's because they want more pace at the back against France's forwards.
Whatever kept Hummels out against Algeria has spread. Except for Kramer they're keeping pretty tight-lipped about who's been affected, but 7 of the 23 are now ill.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jul/03/world-cup-2014-germany-…
The full estimate for the surviving teams:
TEAM |
GROUP
|
SEMI | FINAL | WIN |
Brazil
|
A |
72%
|
53%
|
40%
|
Argentina
|
F |
70%
|
43%
|
17%
|
Netherlands
|
B |
76%
|
39%
|
14%
|
Germany
|
G |
53%
|
17%
|
9%
|
Colombia
|
C |
28%
|
15%
|
8%
|
France
|
E |
47%
|
15%
|
8%
|
Belgium
|
H |
30%
|
12%
|
3%
|
Costa Rica
|
D |
24%
|
6%
|
<1%
|
For Colombia and Belgium
Argentina just seems really high on that list. They have not looked great for much of the tournament. And yeah, Colombia, Belgium and Germany seem pretty good bets
Costs rica is the worst team left, and Belgium maybe after that, so they could get the easiest path
Allez les Bleus !
France and Columbia have been the 2 most fun teams to watch this tourney so I am rooting for both.
Germany's injuries and inconsistent play have me concerned.
That was the soccer equivalent of getting posterized. Hummels just manhandled Varane.
Muller needs to stop bitching about every little thing.
Ozil has been Germany's Michael Bradley this tournament. Talk about falling off the map.
This game just isn't doing much for me in the first 70 minutes.
Very choppy play.
Not an exciting game probably due to Germany getting the early goal and then just grinding you into the ground. Some key misses by France. Have to give Germany credit though - they just find a friggin way to get to the semis.
It looked like this would be an exciting game early on. But Germany decided boring would be more fun
Winning is more fun than exciting is.
That was their chance. Won't get many better looks than that.
France is truly Germany's bitch. In war and football Germany owns France.
Here's hoping the next game lives up to the hype.
There is not much DNA in either Brazil or Columbia to play "shell" defense for 70 minutes so it would seem unlikely. Germany just mucked up that game which is effective but boring. It reminded me of a lot of other years of World Cup where 50-70% of the games were like that. Which is why this WC has been so enjoyable - so few games in this style. I get why they did it, and it worked - and that's all that matters in the end. Just not so fun as a neutral to watch.
Disappointing. France had a pretty spirited second half but didn't show enough creativity to create really good chances. Oh well. With more experience, they'll be tough to beat in the Euros on home soil in 2016.
Germany was terrific in the first half, looking more like the team that played Portugal. In the second they were a little more on their heels but didn't look nearly as vulnerable defensively as against Algeria. The Germany that played today can win it all.
Outside of that last shot from Benzema I never really felt like France had any solid chances. Expected it to be a lot more interesting. Germany's ability to take tactical yellow cards essentially without consequence really killed what probably would have been a couple of great chances for France.
...for not taking silly yellows during the group stage.
Sloppy start to this one. Hopefully Colombia score the next goal so it really opens up.
Tapped in the back of my head, better grab my face.
Someone should show the players that the cameras actually can see exactly what is happening. And they aren't afraid to use the slo mo. Like a lot
The flopping never ceases to amaze me. But, a good match so far. Excited for the remaining half
now this is a fun game
Colombia's a tactical mess, the referee's lost control (complete disrespect for his spray can by both sides, Fernandinho hacking James down repeatedly with not even an admonition let alone a yellow, same for the ridiculous studs-to-Hulk's-knee). It's kind of ugly and I have a bad feeling about the second half.
Refs are garbage in this game. I can't believe there are no comments about this from the announcers/analysts.
McManaman and Darke are two of the world's very worst match officials.
But, yeah. Switzerland-France is in the running and of course there's the Brazil penalty in the opener but this might be the worst officiating job of the entire tournament. I know he doesn't want anyone suspended for the semis but he's going to get someone hurt.
They mentioned it towards the end of the first half and just now again but yeah. Can't believe we haven't seen anything yet
Man the fouls are just killing the flow this game had. Give a yellow to a player on each side and see if that calms it down a bit.
agree
This game sucks.
Neymar must weigh 155 soaking wet
EDIT: Wikipedia says 142 lbs.
Well they basically did something so flagrant it forced a yellow
tells me the young US men may more development. We didn't hold the ball long in our games and both these teams appear to have the footwork to take the ball away and passing to keep possession if they played us.