[Mentalist]

AAAAAAARGH, WHAT THE F, DRMIC, HOW DID YOU MISS THAT BREAKAWAY????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111 GRRRAAAAARRRGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!11111

[Mentalist]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

[Khellendros]

So I guess that's the first duff game of the round of 16 (not including the final three minutes). Argentina were very disappointing there. Switzerland weren't much better. I still see Argentina reaching the semis though.

[Mentalist]

 Khellendros, on 01 July 2014 - 06:48 PM, said:

So I guess that's the first duff game of the round of 16 (not including the final three minutes). Argentina were very disappointing there. Switzerland weren't much better. I still see Argentina reaching the semis though.

Although there's a caveat that I' don't have the previus games to compare to, I disagree. The game was tense. For Argentina, Rojo and Di Maria worked tirelessly to create chances, and the only reason Messi didn't really shine, was because Swiss did a great job doub;e/triple/quadruple teaming him. That and the Swiss goalie was ace.

For Switzerland, they obviously played for the counter and their main problem was their sole forward (Drmic) played like utter garbage. Shaquiri was getting the Messi treatment most of the game-(EDIT: and I think he earned the most free kicks and corners out of all the players on the field, creating most of Switzerland's meagre number of chances). There was also a LOT of questionable decisions from the captain Imler who gave away a ton of balls, but he did a great job covering on D, which is why I suppose he was kept on.

Rodrigues for the Swiss was a workhorse, along with Mehmedi as the winger in front of him, and they worked really well on the left. The main problem was, their ultimate goal was to feed the ball to their strikers (both left-footed), and the point of their attack (Drmic) was just terrible.

Swiss centre D was also very solid, with Schar there this was nothing like the swiss cheese that conceded 5 against France. There were a lot of displays of creativity and many great passes from D to middle, but the strikers were lacking.

In the end of the first period of extra time, Swiss had 5 minutes of textbook dominance. They had chances, but lacked th epressure because they refused to fully commit to the attack and throw Rodrigues far in.

The mistake that cost them the game was from a tired player. They got schooled, but they came back strong, and only luck kept the ball out of Argentine net after Dzemaili's header. It always sucks when you can see the team is playing for the draw to go to penalties, but in the case of the swiss, faced with an opponent that outclassed them in every way, it was a proper decision. Especially given the fact that the only in-game penalty of the tournament was saved by the Swiss keeper (stoping Benzema in their game against France).

Overall, I wouldn't judge the Swiss too harshly. I expect great things from this squad in the next Euro cup.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 01 July 2014 - 07:25 PM

[Khellendros]

You're right, Ment, you did not see the other games

[Mentalist]

 Briar King, on 01 July 2014 - 08:09 PM, said:

I'm trying to watch the USA vs Bel right now but Soccer just isn't my cup of tea.

Belgium is pressing well, but US is doing the good job of flooding the box. The sudden sub of Yedlin is really helping US, imho-he's done a lot to neutralize those few times Beligians went around the US centre down the left flank.

Belgians need a ton of work on their set pieces. Those corners are pretty terrible.

[Khellendros]

In about 10 minutes, Mertens will hopefully be subbed for Mirallas, and Hazard will wake up. Then this will be a match to watch in rapt attention (he says, hopefully).

[Khellendros]

Once again the subs do the damage for Belgium. That's every single game of theirs they've turned in their favour.

Astute management, or poor management in the first place for not starting them? Although bringing the monstrous Lukaku on at extra time against the exhausted US defence was hardly genius

[Khellendros]

 Briar King, on 01 July 2014 - 10:17 PM, said:

Hmmm

Hope you're still watching, now it's exciting!

[Khellendros]

 Briar King, on 01 July 2014 - 10:34 PM, said:

I did. I don't know how but I did. So we re out.

I'm afraid you are, and in agonising fashion too. US fashioned a performance which was far above the sum of their parts. If you have to go out, that was the style in which to do it. Quite unlucky not to get an equaliser.

[polishgenius]

That was a superb match, game of the tournament so far. Well played the US - quality told in the end, but brilliant effort and a lot of good work of their own.

[Mentalist]

Hardly surprising result as far as the match went, given the absolutely astounding amount of pressure Belgium applied. Prior to this I've only seen their match against Russia fully, and compared to that, it was a whole other team on the field.

The fact that they spent just about the entire game attacking really showed in the last half of ET though-many of them looked like they could hardly move. US, otoh, displayed a disappointing performance, compared to the previous games I saw (vs Ghana and vs Portugal). Green's goal was masterful, and US played very well in the last 15 min, but prior to that they didn't have the same offensive quality as seen in their previous games.

Overall, in both of today's matches, the underdogs' keepers really stole the show. Looking at the game from a defender's POV, I feel terrible for Howard, although there wasn't much he could do for either of those goals.

well, now there's a break till Friday, giving me a chance to catch up on the games I've missed by watching replays.

[D'iversify]

Goddammit, have these teams forgotten how to score in normal time?!

Happy enough with the results given Belgium are my homeboys and Argentina look shaky enough for a potential upset in the next round. If they didn't have Messi, they would not be competitive the way the rest of the team are playing at the mo.

[amphibian]

 Briar King, on 01 July 2014 - 11:14 PM, said:

So this is like the Olympics or an NFL playoffs till Super Bowl?

Yes.

Think of it as a super-condensed version of the NFL season with the top two from each four team division round robin games moving on into the one game elimination playoffs before the Super Bowl teams are determined. Except, each country is kind of represented by an all-star team specific to that country and they doesn't usually play together much. So the games can be uneven as super-talented teams may not have gelled in time or if the underdog teams really put in practice sessions, they've already gelled and are in better shape than everyone else.

They randomly draw the divisions beforehand, so the early going can be kind of a crapshoot that builds chances for upsets and we regularly see favorites crashing out due to running up against bad style match-ups, too many good teams in one division or just flat out crappy play.

[Gothos]

 Mentalist, on 01 July 2014 - 07:11 PM, said:

For Switzerland (...)(Drmic) (...) Shaquiri (...) Imler (...) Rodrigues (...) Mehmedi (...) Dzemaili's (...) the Swiss

Europe be like, IMMIGRANTS! FOOTBALLS!

[amphibian]

It's a good policy to root against the colonialist countries.

And if it take soccer to convince people that immigration is actually good for everybody, then so be it.

[Tiste Simeon]

Flipping heck that USA-Belgium game was immense! Well played to the US, and I don't mean that in a condescending way at all. There is a tendency in England to hate the US football team (due to "soccer" or whatever else, maybe the fact that they are generally better than us at "our" game yet the game itself is generally vilified in the States...) Whatever the reason, they were a joy to watch this tournament and our team could definitely learn a thing or two about playing with pride, passion and drive...

The QF's should be flipping ace though... I think sweepstake aside, go Costa Rica!

[polishgenius]

 Tisteon Simeonus, on 02 July 2014 - 09:19 AM, said:

There is a tendency in England to hate the US football team

Is there? Generally, in my experience, the vast majority of English people couldn't give two hoots about the US Mutant Ninja Turtles. They're mocked, but so is everyone, that's how we do.

And I think it's a massive, massive stretch to suggest that the US is better than England at football.

That said, I definitely agree that the England team could learn a lot from the US about commitment. On the other hand, many English players are probably more committed to club football, rather than international, if they think they have to prioritise. Which might seem sadly unpatriotic but tbh is the professional thing to do, given who pays their wages.

[Jakovasaurus]

[Baco Xtath]