The World Cup 2014 Official Thread

You implying that's the only way we win games? Talk to me when the yanks put a star on that shirt... ;)
Come on, Milton. Brazil played like shit today. Against a Croatian side that was fortunate to get to Brazil, where they struggled against Iceland, Brazil should have annihilated them in their sleep. It took a BS penalty to make them wake up. Let's be real: Neymar or no Neymar, this is NOT a strong Brazilian side. Not one that we are accustomed to, that is.
 
But when it comes to lacking class look no further that Fred's Oscar wining performance. Oh and Scolari was acting like a complete twat on the sidelines.

Ok. Let me ask you a question, and take some time to answer it if that's what's needed for it to be true...

You're playing the World Cup. It's your team against the world. If the roles were reversed, are you going to tell me that the Croatian players and coach would have acted/done differently?

Would you have done differently?

I'm not condoning the dive - mostly talking about the reaction. You can't tell me that as the coach of Croatia you would tell the ref "Don't give us the penalty, it's not fair." :lol:


I agree with you that Pletikosa had a very poor game. But in the end if it wasn't for the referee's assists, Croatia should and would have come away with a point from that game

Possibly. But we still scored 3 goals. You scored 1. Perhaps we would've won 2-1. Perhaps it would have tied. Who knows. It's an eternal what if... and trust me, I've been there and felt that way.


This all comes on top of our last major tournament where we got robbed at Euro 2012. Against Spain we had a couple of clear cut penalty decisions denied, that cost a spot in the knock-out stage. Its incredibly frustrating when you see referees favouring the 'big teams'. Football is a cruel game made even crueller by ridiculous officiating.

Didn't know about the Euro. But hey, every world cup has its bad calls and it's not always for the sake of benefitting a team. Of course it looks bad because we're the host nation, but that referee is NOT a good one to begin with. Just look at 2010.
 
Come on, Milton. Brazil played like shit today. Against a Croatian side that was fortunate to get to Brazil, where they struggled against Iceland, Brazil should have annihilated them in their sleep. It took a BS penalty to make them wake up. Let's be real: Neymar or no Neymar, this is NOT a strong Brazilian side. Not one that we are accustomed to, that is.

Played like shit? And still outplayed Croatia and scored 3 goals (and an own goal, so really all of them, lol). Ok, let's not count the penalty. We still wont he match 2-1.

Croatia is not a bad team at all. I don't think we should've "annihilated" them. Also, the golden years of the "beautiful game" from Brazil are gone. In a world cup, a win is a win. If Brazil plays like shit every game, barely winning 1-0 all the way 'til the final, we'd still be champions.

It was the first match, anyways. There's plenty of room for improvement. But to say they played like complete shit and that the team is not strong, shows me that you perhaps should be watching the Yankees (and I mean the Baseball team). :lol: Those guys win often... or maybe not so much anymore. Hahaha J/k. :)

Neymar. Oscar. Thiago Silva. David Luiz. Paulinho. Hulk. Marcelo. Dani Alves. And you call it weak? They had a bad game bro, and *STILL* won. Imagine what we could do when we have good games and play excellent? :)
 
So here is what I don't get. Why not punish players for dives after the fact? I get that referees make mistakes in the moment, this is true for all sports. But when you have video evidence afterwards, why not give a player a suspension or at least a yellow card? Or if a team is caught for two such offenses in a tournament, a player is suspended from a match.

I don't think anyone seriously wants to remove diving from the sport, kind of pathetic. While it occurs in all sports, it seems like soccer/futbol seems almost embrace it rather than see it for how embarrassing it is for the sport.
 
So here is what I don't get. Why not punish players for dives after the fact? I get that referees make mistakes in the moment, this is true for all sports. But when you have video evidence afterwards, why not give a player a suspension or at least a yellow card? Or if a team is caught for two such offenses in a tournament, a player is suspended from a match.

I don't think anyone seriously wants to remove diving from the sport, kind of pathetic. While it occurs in all sports, it seems like soccer/futbol seems almost embrace it rather than see it for how embarrassing it is for the sport.

I am not opposed to punishing the player after the fact. In fact, if the referee sees a blatant dive, BY RULE he has to give an indirect free kick to the defending team and a yellow card to the player.

However, the thing with the sport is that the referee is supposed to be the ultimate entity as far as deciding the direction of the game. The same reason why they won't do instant replays/play reviews. It's to keep the "human factor" in it and the possibility for human error - which if you ask most people worldwide, adds to the "mystique" of the game... I don't think they'd ever do it, honestly, unless an American takes over FIFA someday.
 
However, the thing with the sport is that the referee is supposed to be the ultimate entity as far as deciding the direction of the game. The same reason why they won't do instant replays/play reviews. It's to keep the "human factor" in it and the possibility for human error - which if you ask most people worldwide, adds to the "mystique" of the game... I don't think they'd ever do it, honestly, unless an American takes over FIFA someday.


Yea, i guess most American sports got passed this illogical argument which basically is appeal to tradition. I know that you are not necessarily making this argument, but rather presenting it. But, this could be said for any mistake/injustice in any society/organization to maintain the status quo rather than improve it so more fair/accurate.

But I think most American spots have gotten over this argument and have seen the sport improve for it. Hell even the most stubborn traditionalists in baseball have even started to use it some. It just seems like futbol embraces all of these subjective problematic elements (the way time is kept, fouls awarded, diving) rather than try to fix them. I played the sport for years and loved it, but I still find it incredibly difficult to get into as a fan for a lot of these reasons.
 
Seriously, I need a hug.
<hug>

Casillas was in worse shape than Custer at the Little Bighorn. At least Custer's troops in front of him fought to the death. Spain's back four just up and quit.
That said, there goes my predictions for this year.

Some world champion la roja...

Pathetic. Absolutely embarrassing.

It could have been worse. It could have been a side like Senegal or Saudi Arabia that did the damage. That said, if Spain's defense does not wake up, they are not beating Chile.
 
Hey stingray, worldwide media is saying that the penalty kick for Spain was also a bad call. Are you going to talk about that now? ;)
 
It's not the same without Puyol. :( I miss him so much!!

Nina, he wouldn't help at all. The problem is that the Spain squad is old and their style of playing didn't evolve in the past four years. It seems like everybody else learn how to play against them - think of the confederations cup last year.

It doesn't seem like they have an alternative for their style of playing. The moment they realize their game isn't working, they shut down.
 
Hey stingray, worldwide media is saying that the penalty kick for Spain was also a bad call. Are you going to talk about that now? ;)
Well, Milton, that PK woke someone up. Unfortunately it was the Dutch. However, Mexico got screwed twice with crap officiating.

But, that said, van Persie's first is my nominee for Goal of the Tournament so far.
 
Amazing performance from the Dutch, that second half was stunning football. Spain's reign is well and truly over.

Australia very unlucky against Chile, deserved to get a draw from that game.
 
Amazing performance from the Dutch, that second half was stunning football. Spain's reign is well and truly over.

Australia very unlucky against Chile, deserved to get a draw from that game.
And, Holland actually got revved up with van Persie's oh-so-beautiful first goal. SO, for 47 minutes, Holland was the best team in the World. Rinus Michels must be smiling from Heaven.

Mexico and Cameroon completely crapped the box. Mexico got robbed by more idiotic officiating.

Chile-Australia was a great match. Never mind a draw, the 'Roos should have won that match. Chile was truly lucky that Australia could not hit a ball into the Atlantic from a Rio pier.

Day 3 will be fun.
 
There was a banner at the World Cup match between Greece and Colombia: "We will not say Greeks play like heroes. We say that heroes play like Greeks." Welllll, if losing to Colombia 3-0 is heroic......