Michael*
Admin
-
Joined
-
Last visited
Everything posted by Michael*
-
John Brooks' reaction to scoring the winning goal for the USA will be one of the lasting images of the finals for me. He looked totally gobsmacked, just sheer joy and disbelief at what he'd achieved. Team Ronaldo is in serious trouble. Pepe's latest episode was certainly a factor in their surrender but they'd already peaked at that point, with the Germans two goals to the good and cruising. Also, we've had our first real dud game of the tournament, which I suppose had to happen eventually. Iran-Nigeria was so bad, it was tragic and comic at the same time. If only the fourth official had the power to take minutes off at the end.
Given Portugal's recent aversion to crossing the halfway line in the openers of big tournaments, I've a bit of a sinking feeling that we may see our first goalless game this evening. The negativity they served up against the Germans at Euro 2012 was barely an improvement on their ridiculously inflexible approach in South Africa. It's all about Jozy vs. Gyan for me tonight, but as an aside I'll be most interested to see Julian Green in action for the USA. He seems to have created a bit of a buzz, despite not yet having debuted for Bayern.
Hats off to the Japanese fans, who apparently took part in a mass litter clean-up just minutes after watching their team lose to Ivory Coast the other night.
Hanna Patricia Nastya Dana
There's still a bit of room for improvement, but the goals are flying in and we haven't seen conservative tactics rewarded nearly as often as we did four years ago, which hopefully carries on long into the tournament. I was rooting for Bosnia last night, found it impossible not to given the history of their young nation. If they can just sort out their shooting boots, I think they'll most probably finish as runners-up in the group. Argentina's 5-3-2 formation didn't seem to play to their strengths at all, although waiting for Messi to do something amazing probably isn't the worst strategy in the world. Highlight of the game was undoubtedly Rojo's 'Rabona' in his own penalty box, exactly the sort of ludicrous behaviour I want and expect to see at a World Cup.
Absolutely magnificent.
We can only safely say it now because we know no-one was mortally wounded, but that was quite good fun. Honduras are probably the weakest team we've seen so far at the tournament, they looked like they'd been promised a leg-break bonus and were frankly lucky to end up with more than seven players on the park. France managed to play some very decent football amid the violence, Benzema seems to relish being their most important player.
Perilously close to our first draw. :persuazn: Switzerland certainly didn't look like a team ranked sixth in the world there. Those last few minutes were pulsating, but the game was for the most part an untidy and cagey affair. Already more than double the number of goals scored than at the same stage in South Africa four years ago, if I'm not mistaken. Long may it continue!
Pirlo's free-kick at the end really was something else. England came up slightly short last night, but it doesn’t feel that bad to lose when you see your team playing with purpose, energy and confidence. It actually looked like two European teams going to toe to toe out there, a far cry from the rearguard action of two years ago. Some of the forward play was really quite exciting, rather suspect at the back of course, but we knew that before the tournament started. Overall, I'm optimistic about the next two games.
Decent start to proceedings in Group C. After Colombia's superb qualifying campaign I put a frivolous couple of quid on them to win it all, though admittedly that was before Falcao was ruled out. Still, good seeing them bag the three points. Can't believe Faryd Mondragon is still knocking about, he must be the only active player left from USA '94. I'm going to count how many times the pundits manage to slip 'no-one is giving us a chance so you never know' into the conversation before England-Italy starts. My guess is triple figures. The Italians are in many ways the complete antithesis of us, in the sense that they tend to rise to occasions and love playing the big boys. It's dangerous to write them off of course, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if we were to perform against them (and Uruguay) and then shoot ourselves in the foot by dropping points to Costa Rica.
The exclusions of Navas and Negredo looked baffling at the time, even more so now that Spain have found themselves in such desperate need of attacking thrust. I'm in agreement that we'll almost certainly see Koke and De Gea against Chile. Del Bosque will probably be tempted to reinstate the 4-5½-½ formation too, but you wonder whether it's a good idea to start without a recognised striker in a game where they'll have to try and attack with purpose and go some way to getting their goal difference back on an even keel. And as loose a fit as Costa appeared to be for the Spanish system at times, his movement was key in stretching the Dutch defence in the first half.
Women's Health Magazine (UK) July/August 2014
Justice done for Mexico. Surprisingly competitive game between Chile and Australia too, enjoyable end-to-end stuff.
The diving headed lob is my new favourite type of goal. Catastrophic stuff from Spain though. In the second half, when Holland began to swarm over their midfield in waves, they looked unable to get out of cruise control and were punished for it by moments of individual brilliance. A lot of people will presumably point to the defeat against Switzerland at the same stage four years ago, but this was so different. On that night they were simply hit by a sucker punch, tonight's game was reminiscent of Bayern's dismantling of Barca in the 2013 Champions League semi-final. How on earth will Del Bosque pick them up after such a rout?
The shoddy officiating that plagued yesterday's game has continued today, Mexico being well and truly swindled at the moment.
I wish they'd reconsider the policy of having the host nation play in the opening game, where the weight of expectation is more than those involved can handle. It was just too much for Nishimura, who was out of his depth and too weak to stand up for what was right. Leaving aside the laughable penalty award, his decision not to dismiss Neymar for his elbow on Modric was clearly a bottle job. You could see his weakness too in the way he allowed a ruck of Croatian players to practically pin him against the advertising hoardings after giving the penalty. I'm no more a fan of Howard Webb than I am of Jack Colback at the moment, but I can't imagine something like that happening to him.
Just as you,I laughed out at it,so clowny view for the referee when he made it. I'm just waiting for the moment when one of the players, having watched far too many 'Police Academy' films, tries to swap the spray for superglue.
We've no need for a psychic octopus this year, I see. Brazil got lucky. A draw would have been a fairer result, but winning without fully doing yourself justice is a decent habit to get into in the group stages. You get the feeling from the way Scolari utilises Oscar and Neymar that he's fully aware of his side's limitations, they looked incapable of breaking Croatia down before being gifted the penalty.
The ref's free-kick swizzle spray is the best thing I've ever seen.
The opening was made all the more surreal by the terrible sound quality, although that may have been an act of mercy by the TV producers. I did like Pitbull's 'mom jeans' though.
Trailer #2.
At last, we're here! Or at least, we will be in a few hours' time. While few images from the actual tournament will be as vivid as the ones portraying the recent protests and strikes, I hope it's still a fantastic journey. There's plenty of reason for excitement and I'm ready to enjoy the ride. Tonight's opener will be a formidable challenge for Croatia, but I think they're more than capable of springing a surprise. I'm backing them to score a quick goal, then succumb to a late Brazilian onslaught. 1-1.
