World Cup 2014

[AxeD]

Booh we play boring football.. boohoo

[rockonin]

The Netherlands have rode their luck so far. Man United fans think Luis Van Gaal is a genius

[ehbes]

The Netherlands have rode their luck so far. Man United fans think Luis Van Gaal is a genius

he is. bringing on Krul to disrupt the Costa Ricans was a fantastic move

[hubb]

no, it wasn't not in that sence anyway

it was cheeky though because he could then take credit for it in a match where everything else he did was abysmal and underwhelming

i bet we're all going to hate him so much at united

[ehbes]

i bet we're all going to hate him so much at united

im gonna loathe him like no tomorrow

[hubb]

im sure but i mean in a warranted way t

[AxeD]

This is not about Louis van Gaal and Arsenal fans:
Everyone is free to comment in this thread of course, but a lot of it is not exactly displaying an understanding of the actual game and the tournament so far. Sounds kind of dickish, but it's true and after 64 pages it can be said right? I already noticed a few pages ago that no one cares about actual discussion.. though, let's not give up.

For the ones who watched the games. Can you explain why the Netherlands advancing has had nothing to do with luck? I feel like me explaining it would just be disregarded as biased. Maybe also comment on why Spain and England did poorly.

[hubb]

Well for one Robben has just run like a madman at any chance he got and he can appear almost unplayable at times. Great passing on the counter, from for example Daley Blind and they are super focused all the time.

I wouldn't say England were poor. They were maybe slightly better than expected actually.

Del Bosque had no plan.

[magma]

Booh we play boring football.. boohoo

Yeah, 5-1 is such a boring result.

I think my order of preference currently is:

Germany
Holland
Brazil
Argentina

I don't know why, but I'm curious to see exactly what happens if Brazil eventually lose.

[Johoosh]

@hubb nah England were dogshite tbh

[hubb]

yeah exactly but


That is still an improvement on human shit like in Linekers pants or Jamie Carraghers head.

[hubb]

I'm serious though, the offence haven't looked that good since Owen were younger but this recent style of play is much more attractive and has way more potential.

I can see Rooney becoming a genuine playmaker in his older days and that is something in this context.

[m8son666]

Maybe it's because i don't know a huge amount about football anymore but how anyone can say rooney is a good player is beyond me

every time i have watched him recently he has been completely shit

[hubb]

he's a horrible team player because you can't expect anything general of him

but he has it all, vision, creativity and he runs and shoots like a horse at times.
and he has that match changing ability and might just shoot from 30m (meters you stnuc)

he ran more than the other england players for the first time this time (i think)

still, all the other nations that england compares itself to will have a few players on that level, so in a bigger scope he's just barely a worldclass player.

[hubb]

that england compares itself to

^ sounds stupid

[AxeD]

I'd definitely say Spain's bad performance is due to del Bosque not making new selections and I agree he probably left it in the hands of the players too much. Something van Gaal would never do up until the actual game.

The reason for England not making it is a bit shadier for me. Although I didn't expect them to.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think England ever beat Brazil or Spain in a world cup.
Italy?

[hubb]

Italy has no excuse in my book, whereas the others sort of have individually.

[DiegoSapiens]

I'd definitely say Spain's bad performance is due to del Bosque not making new selections and I agree he probably left it in the hands of the players too much.

^^^^
Plus they still playing lile barca when the team has changed a lot

[hubb]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think England ever beat Brazil or Spain in a world cup.

Why though?

Germany and Brazil are notably above the rest historically.

Btw Spain have only become that good in the last 10 years.
The national team was as much a 'joke' as england previously.

[magma]

I'd definitely say Spain's bad performance is due to del Bosque not making new selections and I agree he probably left it in the hands of the players too much. Something van Gaal would never do up until the actual game.

The reason for England not making it is a bit shadier for me. Although I didn't expect them to.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think England ever beat Brazil or Spain in a world cup.
Italy?

Lost in 1950 and drew 0-0 in '82 with Spain, I think... the last competitive match we had with them was the 1/4 Final of Euro '96 though and we beat them on penalties. (I think it was 0-0... I just remember Hierro hitting the bar)

I can't think of an England win against Brazil... they've definitely beaten us at least three times and there was a draw in the 50s (54 or 58, I can't remember)

Italy have beaten us at least three times at finals. We've only ever beaten them in qualifying, I think.

When you put it like that....