[Andorion]

This is turning into a good cup for me as the two finalists are both teams I support. Backing Germany to win though. They deserve it. Unlikely they will be able to pull of a repeat of the lst Cup encounter against Argentina but I thnik they have the advantage. Argentina's main problem this Cup has been, if it's not Messi who's shooting, or doing the spoon-feeding, they haven't realy been able to score. Germany is far from a one-man show.

[Tiste Simeon]

If Klose scores one more, he will have equalled the number of goals scored by the whole England team in the last 4 competitions. I kind of want him to do it too...

[Andorion]

Tisteon Simeonus, on 10 July 2014 - 03:22 PM, said:

If Klose scores one more, he will have equalled the number of goals scored by the whole England team in the last 4 competitions. I kind of want him to do it too...

I really want Germany to win, one of the main reasons being i want Klose to hold the trophy before he retires.....

[Tsundoku]

http://www.news.com....2-1226986251953

Interesting. Amusing. Rueful.

[Tsundoku]

Netherlands 3-0.

I think Brasil just went into a state of mourning. It's going to be interesting watching the blame game.

[Tiste Simeon]

Some dude (Neymars agent) Has launched a scathing tirade against Scolari. I think he will be blamed by most.
Link

[Binder of Demons]

Scolari has to get the lion's share of the blame, but David Luiz tried his hardest last night to join him. He was beyond awful (the Irish TV commentary team at one point even said, if you were to give marks out of 10, would you even give him a zero?). Your first thought on seeing a person playing in the back line shouldn't be, if only he could defend properly.

And then you have an absolute model professional on the opposite team, Dirk Kuyt. While not a spectacular player, I have a huge amount of respect for him each time I see him play. Puts in a massive amount of effort, and is seemingly more than willing to take one for the team. I mean last night he played left back, and right back due to an injury, and looked so solid defending (despite being a forward who has shifted to being a wing back). Brazil only managed to attack down the left wing once he switched sides and the substitute Janmaat came in at right back. And that again highlighted the discipline of Kuyt in keeping the shape of the defence and not dawdling upfield when possession was losr.

And Ron Vlaar was immense again. Thought Van Persie was poor. And Robben was Robben. Some great skill, theatrical falling, and in fairness some poor decisions by the ref towards him, but I guess you reap what you sow.

Looking forward to tonight's game though. Tough one to call.

[D'iversify]

Binder of Demons, on 13 July 2014 - 12:04 PM, said:

And then you have an absolute model professional on the opposite team, Dirk Kuyt. While not a spectacular player, I have a huge amount of respect for him each time I see him play. Puts in a massive amount of effort, and is seemingly more than willing to take one for the team. I mean last night he played left back, and right back due to an injury, and looked so solid defending (despite being a forward who has shifted to being a wing back).

I don't know, I find Kuyt a bit frustrating because it seems that nine times out of ten when the Netherlands have a break on, if he gets the ball he'll pass back to defence and the move will lose momentum. I know, often you have to go back to go forward, but I think Kuyt does not compare favourably to Robben who is considerably more daring in trying to keep the ball going forward on the break.

[polishgenius]

D, on 13 July 2014 - 02:20 PM, said:

I don't know, I find Kuyt a bit frustrating because it seems that nine times out of ten when the Netherlands have a break on, if he gets the ball he'll pass back to defence and the move will lose momentum. I know, often you have to go back to go forward, but I think Kuyt does not compare favourably to Robben who is considerably more daring in trying to keep the ball going forward on the break.

The point isn't whether Kuyt is a great player (he's not). The point is that Kuyt does everything he can to be the best player he can possibly be, even when asked to play in positions that are completely different to the one he started out in.
Every team can use at least one player like him.

[Khellendros]

Not that Brazil deserved to get anything out of that game, but there was an absolutely appalling refereeing decision when Oscar was booked for diving, rather than getting a penalty. How do we know? Because Blind had to be stretchered off after, that's how much physical contact there was!


Worst part was seeing Oscar saying exactly that to the ref, and the ref just shaking his head in denial. Very poor, very weak.

[polishgenius]

While it was a really poor call in this instance, to be fair to the ref it's not unheard of for players to injure themselves, sometimes seriously, stretching for tackles with no contact.

[D'iversify]

Khellendros, on 13 July 2014 - 04:10 PM, said:

Not that Brazil deserved to get anything out of that game, but there was an absolutely appalling refereeing decision when Oscar was booked for diving, rather than getting a penalty. How do we know? Because Blind had to be stretchered off after, that's how much physical contact there was!

Kind of balanced out by Silva not getting a straight red three minutes in for a blatant last man tackle (whether that was a penalty is up for debate given where the contact started, but I think it would have been worse for Brazil to be down to ten that early on than a goal down).

[Tsundoku]

Congratulations Germany.

[Dolmen 2.0]

Congratz Germany. Damn but Argentina put in a damn good fight.

So sad they couldn't pull it back last minute. An excellent game.

[Tiste Simeon]

Freaking heck man that final was immense! So tight but Germany the worthy winners. That goal by Götze was stunning!

[Brujah]

All Hail the Aryan race!

[Brujah]

Those camera shots from above the stadium and behind the statue are stunning.

[Brujah]

Man, to be a world class soccer player. They have some very nice looking young lady friends.

-whistle-

[Coco with marshmallows]

Watching the world cup has really put me in the mood.

Can't wait till Scotland starts their qualifying campaign for Euro 2016.

What's our first match again?

Oh yes.

Away.


To Germany......





F***.

[Tiste Simeon]

Cocoreturns, on 13 July 2014 - 10:07 PM, said:

Watching the world cup has really put me in the mood.

Can't wait till Scotland starts their qualifying campaign for Euro 2016.

What's our first match again?

Oh yes.

Away.


To Germany......





F***.

To who? You guys have got this #Scotland2016