[amphibian]

I think elite soccer should move to a 2 referee model - one for each half (with freedom to move a bit). Asking these older guys to run around and make accurate calls at anywhere near the speed of the elite players is asking for the moon each time out.

The NBA has three referees per game and they all take turns rotating - and making calls at a much, much faster pace than soccer. The sharing of the load allows them to get in the 95% or higher accuracy rates for calls/no calls as independent and NBA call evaluators see it.

[Tiste Simeon]

Haha this Costa Rica game is flipping entertaining! If for nothing else than it would take the racist cheating thug Suarez down a peg or two I hope Uruguay come bottom of this group! England and Costa Rica to go through.

[polishgenius]

Costa Rica were excellent in the second half. Joel Campbell looks to have developed into a proper player in all his loan spells, be interesting to see if he gets games for Arsenal the coming season.

[Tiste Simeon]

So nervous. Flipping come on England just don't embarrass yourself that's all I ask!

[HoosierDaddy]

England and Italy so far has been like a war. Long periods of boredom followed by 10 seconds of sheer electricity.

[HoosierDaddy]

What a couple of fantastic goals..

[Illuyankas]

Listen England physio guy when they said 'break a leg' before the game that was a joke

[HoosierDaddy]

Johnson has had a terrible game for Inglaterra. Every time he is mentioned he's giving away possession.

Edit: Who does Sterling play for? That kid is talented.

This post has been edited by HoosierDaddy: 14 June 2014 - 11:47 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

Oh dear... such a shame considering they actually gave it a really good go! They didn't look too pathetic unlike the team that played some shocking games 4 years ago. So gutted but some positive stuff from the game.

[Tsundoku]

Unlucky Pomgolia. Looked good most of the match up until the shots at goal.

Was Sturridge the only guy who was able to practice with the World Cup ball before the match? He and Sterling had absolute blinders, and once again Wayne Rooney showed how overrated he is.

This post has been edited by Sombra: 15 June 2014 - 12:04 AM

[Tiste Simeon]

Yeah Rooney is lazy. Needs to be set aside for the younger talent. Heck even Welbeck was more inspiring than Rooney tonight.

[Jakovasaurus]

Rooney is a fat fuck, and a bald fuck. Fuck that fuck.

[Illuyankas]

I think the stat was 689 World Cup minutes without a goal, which would pretty impressive except I could beat that. Come on Roy, give me a chance.

[Tsundoku]

Japan v Cote D'Ivoire was a cracker! All 3 goals were brilliant, and CDI's 2 in 98 seconds apparently set a new WC finals record for consecutive goals.

[amphibian]

 HoosierDaddy, on 14 June 2014 - 11:45 PM, said:

Edit: Who does Sterling play for? That kid is talented.

Sterling plays for Liverpool. He's usually switching sides with Luis Suarez (who plays for Uruguay in this World Cup) with Sterling/Coutinho underneath as a distributor.

[Mentalist]

Wow, what a last minute goal from Switzerland. God, this World Cup is AWESOME

France-Honduras so far the most predictable game of the tournament. Hoping for some fireworks with Argentina-Bosnia!

[Tiste Simeon]

Didn't watch any football yesterday. Must be why I felt so hollow when I woke up...

[Macros]

Costa rica stuffed my accumulator for Saturday. But my opening triple came off. Belgium winning today would sort my second win, 2/3 wouldn't be a bad start. Have the argues to win overall and put Suarez down for golden boot, before his injury obviously. Oh well
didn't see much footy over the weekend, quite drunk.

[Tapper]

 polishgenius, on 14 June 2014 - 11:30 AM, said:

 amphibian, on 14 June 2014 - 12:42 AM, said:

The Spanish gave up the sidelines by putting David Silva on the right wing (he always goes in the middle and makes right to left runs all the way to the other side of the field) and Holland used that to give Blind looots of time to give absolute beauties of crosses to Robben and Van Persie or have Sneidjer work the ball around a bit.

The problem wasn't simply that Silva comes inside- after all, Iniesta does that all the time too from the other side- but that Azpilequeta wasn't getting forward enough to get to Blind. It was an inspired tactical decision by Van Gaal though to use wing-backs- it put them in just the right position, too far back for the Spanish fbs to comfortably close them down (Alba managed better because he's much faster, but it was still there) but close enough for the Dutch midfield to be able to easily find them, making them the perfect safe release pass and nullifying much of the usefulness of Spain's high-pressing game. And with Blind's long-passing and crossing, as you say, that made for an incredibly effective attacking outlet as well.

Quote

Blind may be underscouted

It's weird because this seems to be true- I certainly hadn't heard or read much about him before this, or noticed him much myself (though I don't watch Ajax much), but he's Dutch player of the year and reportedly one of Van Gaal's transfer targets once he starts his new job, so he really shouldn't have been such a surprise.

Blind has long had the "only there because of the surname" monniker attached due to his father being the 'legendary' Danny Blind (libero in the 1995 team, Ajax manager and now assistant to Van Gaal). Blind has also been defensively rather suspect in the standard 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 variants due to a low top speed and a lack of physicality.
However, he was played in a defensive midfielder role since january at Ajax (instead of playing left back) and has been extremely good there. I wouldn't say he's ready to be the left back for ManUnited, though, and I'd be surprised if Van Gaal is going to cough up 10 mln plus for Blind, even if that's a pittance compared to what Moyes was going to offer for Shaw.

In the 5-3-2/3-5-2 Van Gaal used against Spain, Blinds defensive deficiencies were being shored up by having a centre back much closer than he'd have in the 4-3-3. If played as a full-back, he'll be badly exposed by the likes of Sterling, Walcott and even Lennon in a 1-on-1.

I guess the main tactical move was not so much the formation, but going for man-to-man coverage on Xavi (and partly on Iniesta as well) while playing a high line. It condensed the playing field and the centre of the park was filled with midfielders cancelling each other out. Sneijder was left to chasing people like he was in a warming up rondo, but Van Gaal was very happy to make that trade-off, creating a 5 against 4 situation (with Robben and RVP closing down on Alonso and Busquets) where Xavi was never allowed to turn and play a through-ball. The few times he and Iniesta managed exactly that, it was immediately dangerous.

I guess the answer against the Dutch 5-3-2 flanking game is to play a deeper defensive line, or fullbacks and wingers. I doubt the 5-3-2 is going to work quite the same against a side who doesn't give us room behind the defense and manages to lock down Sneijder. That leaves De Jong (please no!) and De Guzman (well, maybe) as playmakers.... scary prospect. In Spain's case, playing a 3-5-2 themselves could also work. Against Australia, I expect more of a 'classic' Dutch 4-3-3.

[Morgoth]

It's nice to see that France has managed to produce a team that is actually willing to do work and cooperate. It was half a miracle that Honduras didn't seriously injure anyone, but at least their frustration made the game a lot more exciting.

Germany v Portugal today will be a blast.