FIFA 2014 World Cup - Official Discussion Thread

[Franzl]

Well, this will just make Uruguay's eventual exit all the sweeter.

Yeah I'm not an Italy supporter, but this really was disgusting. Hope Colombia destroys them.

[Franzl]

In Suarez's defence, with teeth as large as his are, it would be a waste if they weren't used.

Buffon has a strong fist. Should have gone to use and knocked said teeth out.

[Franzl]

It would be a shame if Greece qualified over Cote d'Ivoire.

Yeah but we need some Europeans in the knockout rounds so I'd be fine with this

Indeed!

[Franzl]

I've got the feeling we're either going to destroy the US tomorrow...or lose.

[Franzl]

Everyone read Ann Coulter's take on Soccer in America? Of course, she goes on about how it's a LIBURUL sport and "proof of moral decay." Hahaha.

You think she'd wait until the US are eliminated to go on that rant.

[Franzl]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/was-the-u-s-robbed-against-portugal-it-depends-on-what-time-means/

538 with a fascinating analysis of stoppage time.

I wondered when that was going to be brought up.

[Franzl]

We seemed pretty lazy today...but a win's a win, I guess, and the US getting through is nice to see as well.

[Franzl]

I think the US are favorites against Belgium.

[Franzl]

One should never count out their opponents, but we couldn't have gotten a more pleasent Round of 16 match!

[Franzl]

Brail's chance of beating Chile is only 2% lower than Germany's of beating Algeria? lol

[Franzl]

English soccer fans taunting Germany about the World Wars was/is(?) a very common cheer when the countries played each other.

Yeah well, we're to England what Italy is to us in football, unbeatable.

[Franzl]

Yeah, the jokes about "we lost but advanced?" are stupid.

Is that seriously a common statement in the States? What's more amusing is they'd be bitching even more if they had been eliminated on goal difference .

[Franzl]

Most US sports have sets of rules that are ridiculously complicated that make the rest of the world wonder if you have to be a lawyer to understand how it works.

Also a slight exaggeration, of course...

[Franzl]

Of course.

...there was another part of it that bothered me too.  He insinuated he watched the match and then was shocked to learn we advanced even with the loss......which would have been impossible since the announcing team mentioned it about a 12,000 times.

Yeah his claim is certainly BS. But luckily, he won't have to cope with such complicated rules from now on.

[Franzl]

Wouldn't your god WANT you to be at your best for such an occasion?  For PR if nothing else?

Can't imagine they won't find an exception... Or is that really impossible?

[Franzl]

A Spiegel Online article speculates that the Ramadan - which starts today - could give Germany an advantage in the upcoming match against Algeria.

On the day of the game, Algerian players will only be allowed to eat and drink about half a hour after the match has already started. That is if the Algerians follow the rules of the Ramadan to the letter. German Muslim players Mesut Özil and Sami Khedira don't give a f**k and do not intend to fast during the world cup.

Wow. So Germany might win 7-0 as opposed to 4-0?

I dunno...we seem to be playing pretty lazily at the moment... The US is much better than Algeria, of course, but we still settled for the boring 1-0.

[Franzl]

This "man" is THE WORST - http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jun/28/luis-suarez-bite-balance-hit-face-chiellini

Hope Uruguay gets destroyed tonight...

[Franzl]

Adios Uruguay!

And I'm really liking Colombia too.

[Franzl]

Can someone explain me what happened with Italia?
I read that the match against Uruguay was contested.

One of their players was shown the red card for a foul that many (including me) feel was, at most, worth a yellow card.

Playing shorthanded for a good portion of the game and then the whole biting incident not even being punished during the game may have had a significant influence on Italy being eliminated.

Personally not sure if Italy really would have avoided losing without these things happening, but they're certainly quite controversial.

[Franzl]

What a dramatic match...

[Franzl]

The Dutch played pretty awfully for most of the match, but I don't think anything unfair happened.

[Franzl]

Ugh, such a shame... Netherlands did a pretty good job in the end, but Mexico deserved to win this.

It's gotta suck to survive the group stage six times in a row and lose immediately in the Round of 16 every single time.

[Franzl]

So any chance that Algeria win a victory, fueled by their desire to avenge 1982?

Oh God I hope not. Guess that's the danger of getting joke opponents in a k-o game, though, the slight risk of losing in an extremely embarrassing way.

[Franzl]

If we play like that against France, they're going to tear us to shreds.

[Franzl]

If we play like that against France, they're going to tear us to shreds.

It's not like France played all that well against Nigeria...

No, they didn't, but any halfway decent team would have murdered us tonight.

Who knows how the quarterfinal will turn out...but ww need fast and serious improvement.