haaf14 Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 Well the Netherlands have been in my opinion been disappointing since they beat Spain. They were lucky to beat, Australia, Mexico and Costa Rica. My prediction for the final would be that Germany will win however if you have player called Lionel Messi then anything can happen but the Argentine defence has been more solid than I first expected. One player who impressed me in the semi-final was Javier Mascherano. I thought he was outstanding.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Ranger 1 Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 Oh man, Brazil pretty much did it again.2-0 down within 20 minutes it looked like it would be another hammering, but the Dutch waited until injury time before adding the third.They really can't play against anyone who's any good.It was never a penalty for the first goal, it was the most blatant case of a foul taking place outside the area I've ever seen, and Martin O'Neill's comments on it that "It was a penalty because the referee couldn't tell" is quite possibly the most ridiculous remark ever made by a football commentator and makes me wonder if he understands the rules and the English language.But yeah, well beaten and I'm just astonished there's even a possibility of Scolari keeping his job after this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slade Posted July 13, 2014 Report Share Posted July 13, 2014 Didn't see the Netherlands game against Australia but I personally didn't think they were lucky to beat Mexico or Costa Rica at all. The Mexicans lost because rather than continue playing the way they did they sat back and tried to defend. And even though I wasn't happy about it, I still felt they deserved to go out. Although Costa Rica defended brilliantly they were very lucky to get to penalties. On another day Holland could have won two or three nil. Brazil were dreadful. I suppose Tiago Silva coming back did make a difference in the sense they only lost 3-0 as opposed to 7-1 but at this level again very poor. That's 10 goals conceded in 2 games. Regardless of whether it was a penalty Silva should have been red carded. Maybe the referee was lenient because it was a third place playoff but would he have done it during a group or knockout match against the home country? Scholari definitely should go but I think there's a wider problem in that this current set of Brazilian footballers just aren't good enough. Apart from Neymah most of them would struggle to get into any of the top countries. And it's probably likely to remain like this at least for the foreseeable future. Brazil's attitude generally has been you score three, we'll score four and that's fine when you are able to score goals but going forward they didn't have the firepower. At lot was made about Brazil's campaign in this world cup as some of redemption for the daemons that haunted them since their defeat to Uruguay in 1950. And I guess in some part this will help that but for all the wrong reasons. They won't be thinking about 1950 anymore but one of the heaviest defeats ever at the world cup and the embarrassment and sheer lack of quality of their players. After the mourning period of their world cup campaign they will have to get their act together and focus on the Coppa America next year. Brazil itself will also need to prepare for the Olympics in 2016. With regards to tonight's match, the two finalists were two of the 3 teams at the beginning I thought would win it. I've always been rooting for Argentina. I guess because I was a big fan of them during the Maradonna days but more recently I liked their style of football (e.g. 2006 and 2010) and I wanted to see arguably the world's best player, Messi lift the trophy. It also helped that I drew them at the sweepstake at work. Now though I'm wondering whether they should win tonight. In terms of being good for the tournament it's always best if the most entertaining and attacking teams win. Germany I feel have been far more entertaining than Argentina. Whilst not adopting the Italian Catenaccio style approach they at times play extremely cautiously and will not commit a lot of players forward for fear of being hit on the counter. Granted this was different against Serbia, Iran, Nigeria but I don't expect them to be any different tonight. I still expect Germany to win but the Argentines will attempt to stifle them and I suspect it will be difficult for them to score initially but all it takes is a bad bit of defending from a set piece. I guess a lot depends on whether they can stop Messi like the Dutch did. Also I think a key decider for this match will be who gets the first goal. If Argentina score then they will shut up shop and the game won't be very entertaining. If the Germans score then the game will be pretty open because their opponents will be forced to come out and play and look for an equaliser and I think then Germany could get two or three. If the Argentines are to be victorious they must win the game in normal or extra time as they won't have a hope in hell should it go to penalties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haaf14 Posted July 13, 2014 Report Share Posted July 13, 2014 Slade - Maybe lucky wasn't the right word but against Australia they weren't convincing, minutes away from being knocked against Mexico and couldn't beat Costa Rica in normal and extra time with the attacking talent of Robben, Van Persie and Sneijder then questions need to be asked. Against Argentina who play a similar then the game was inevitably going to go into extra time and Dutch don't have a good record on penalties at the World Cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haaf14 Posted July 13, 2014 Report Share Posted July 13, 2014 Overall in the whole tournament you would say Germany have deserved to win the World Cup and well played to them. In terms of this game Argentina had about 3 golden opportunities to score and they. For a game going into extra time that was 0-0 it wasn't that bad of game. The goal from Mario Gotze was a well taken goal and now he will be remembered for a long time, he will have hero status when he goes back to Germany. Really good performances by both defence but a special to Mascherano and Schweinsteiger who had tremendous game. Goal of the tournament has to be James Rodriguez goal agains Uruguay. I take you guys didn't have Germany in the sweepstake? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Ranger 1 Posted July 13, 2014 Report Share Posted July 13, 2014 Both teams were trying to win that and there was some good attacking football.I'm glad Gotze got the goal because having the tournament settled on penalties would have been very unsatisfying.So, Germany win it for the first/fourth time, the latter drawing them level with Italy if you count them as the same team as West Germany, and become the first European team to win it in America.It was probably deserved, most of the tournament's best wins were down to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jezz Posted July 14, 2014 Report Share Posted July 14, 2014 As I expected from the start of the tournament, Germany are the champions and deservingly so. I would have been more upset had Argentina won purely because they were hardly spectacular in their matches leading up to the Final. German football is in a very healthy state at the moment and will continue to grow as it has the perfect blend of youth and experience currently. Overall it's been an excellent World Cup that's surpassed expectations. I wasn't that excited about it in the build up to it but it's been a good tournament, much better than the 2010 World Cup with the non-stop vuvuzelas. I didn't agree with the decision of Leo Messi being the player of the tournament. I think someone like Neuer, Kroos, Muller or James Rodriguez were much more worthy of the award as opposed to Messi. That's not to say Messi wasn't bad in the tournament, but he hardly stood out compared to these players I've mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slade Posted July 15, 2014 Report Share Posted July 15, 2014 The person who drew the teams at my work got Germany haaf14 - Go figure. So Germany once again reaffirm their status as the kings of Europe and win their fourth world cup to add to their incredible record in this competition. So that's 8 finals winning 4 and losing 4. And surely they must have a shot a going for five to equal Brazil's record. I think overall it was the right result. As I mentioned in my last post they were the best team in the tournament and played the most attacking football. You could argue perhaps they weren't the best team in this particular game but the Argentines only have themselves to blame. Messi and Higuain had two golden opportunities in normal time and really should have put at least one of them away (Did anybody else laugh when Higuain thought he scored, started celebrating and realised his goal had been ruled out for offside?) so IMO they simply weren't good enough. The Argentines did a very good job at containing the Germans though and the only clear cut chance I can recall hit the post just before halftime when again it should have been buried. I realised during the second half if the Argentines were going to win, it would have to be during normal time as they were starting to tire. When it reached extra time as far as I was concerned there was only going to be one winner. Even if the Germans hadn't scored, I still think Argentina would have lost the penalty shootout. In a way I'm glad a goal ended it as penalties wouldn't have been the right way to end this competition. And what a fantastic goal it was. Much harder chance than the previous ones in that game. It was an example of how the Argentines ran out of steam. It was a great ball into the box but he was totally unmarked. That wouldn't have happened during normal time. I guess the Argentines will say that most of the key players weren't up to scratch - Di Maria was injured, Aguero was clearly not 100% fit but I think there could also be question marks on the tactics. Why did the whole game centre around Messi, why wasn't Tevez included etc? But I think the Germans were just too good in the end and they deserved to win based on their performance in the tournament overall. Argentina only scored 2 goals in the knockout stages as opposed the the Germans 10. So it probably wouldn't have been right if they had won. I thought the Argentines were lucky finish the game with eleven men. Mascherano dived into a tackle and caught Schweinsteiger and he was already on a yellow. If the referee saw that he would have been off. Also when Aguero jumped up with the ball he caught Schweinsteiger in the face and he was on the floor bleeding. I don't think it was deliberate but another official could have red carded him. The final reminded me of previous finals e.g. 1990 when a better German side beat a negative Argentinian side but at least the Argentines this time weren't as negative or cynical and the game didn't descend into that debacle. It also reminded me of the last world cup when Spain beat the Netherlands in extra time. Messi definitely shouldn't have won player of the tournament. Although he was better than last time overall he was a disappointment. It should have gone to James Rodrigez. I watched the coverage on the BBC but might just use ITV player to re-watch the final just the hear the comments of the pundits. Alan Hansen announced his retirement and in a way I'm going to be sorry to see him go. I've watched him for many years and always valued his contributions. With regards to the overall tournament it's been very good. A lot better than some of the previous ones. Would I say it's the best ever? Probably not. It's still well behind Mexico 86 and slightly behind USA 94 although the final was a lot better than that in America. Next....Euro 2016. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jezz Posted July 20, 2014 Report Share Posted July 20, 2014 FIFA World Rankings have been updated with some big changes as a result of the World Cup. The top 20 along with some major nations outside the top 20 consist of: 1. Germany 2. Argentina 3. Netherlands 4. Colombia 5. Belgium 6. Uruguay 7. Brazil 8. Spain 9. Switzerland 10. France 11. Portugal 12. Chile 13. Greece 14. Italy 15. USA 16. Costa Rica 17. Croatia 18. Mexico 19. Bosnia and Herzegovina 20. England 27. Scotland 35. Czech Republic 45. Japan 56. South Korea 76. Australia http://www.fifa.com/worldranking/rankingtable/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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