Unofficial World Cup Thread de 2014

[pbmax]

[Joemailman]

Cameroon's football federation investigating allegations of match fixing by their team:

http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2014...p-match-fixing

Fecafoot said in a statement late Monday it had instructed its own ethics committee to open an investigation, although it added it had not yet been contacted by FIFA, the sport's global governing body.

Cameroon was eliminated after losing all three of its group-stage matches at the World Cup: 1-0 to Mexico, 4-0 to Croatia and 4-1 to host Brazil.

''Recent allegations of fraud around Cameroon's three 2014 FIFA World Cup preliminary games, especially Cameroon vs. Croatia, as well as the `existence of seven bad apples (in our national team)' do not reflect the values and principles promotes by our administration in line with the FIFA Code of Conduct and the ethics of our nation,'' Fecafoot said in the statement.

The Croatia match was also marred by an argument between Cameroon teammates Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Benjamin Moukandjo that ended with Assou-Ekotto head-butting his teammate.

[Joemailman]

Andrew Katz ✔ @katz

What an immense #BELvsUSA game. Congrats to Belgium. Expect drones.
5:33 PM - 1 Jul 2014

[Guiness]

Andrew Katz ✔ @katz

What an immense #BELvsUSA game. Congrats to Belgium. Expect drones.
5:33 PM - 1 Jul 2014

lol. Delivering congratulatory pizza, right?

[Guiness]

16 saves by Howard, the most in WC history since 1966. Don't get me wrong, guys: no disrespect to him or any of you, but we might have the best GK in the world on our team and behind him is Mignolet who was playing for the EPL title with Liverpool until the last day. Great game by Howard, but I value the other 2 a bit higher.

15 years ago, our soccer federation changed their your development program and now a very talented generation is stepping up. Adnan Januzaj, considered the biggest young talent in the world, didn't even come of the bench yesterday. Sure if soccer was your nr1 sport, and all public focus (money) and quality coaches (money) would be pointed towards it, you guys would dominate. But just seeing at the volume of players you currently have, you should have been able to develop some better players. It's not a coincidence that your best players have spend their youth/whole life in Europe. That's not because they are more talented than the Lebrons or Jadeveons, it's because they have better coaching there and can thus play on a higher level there.

2,5million male players is an ENORMOUS base to tap from. Uruguay has a little over 3 million total inhabitants and see what kind of team they can provide from such a little pool of available players.

I have to laugh a bit with the WW refences guys We also eliminated Russia in the first round, so it seems we're betraying all the allies I'm not a Walloon btw; I prefer to stay away from the Flemish/Walloon thing and I consider myself a true Belgian. So... Vive la Belgique / Leve België

Thanks for a very good post. The base of players to draw from obviously matters, but culture impacts it so much. China and India aren't making waves. Canada struggles despite youth soccer numbers steadily climbing, now higher than hockey, but, well, I just can't say it's taken seriously after a certain point.

I find the choice of athletes you bring up, Lebron and Jadeveon interesting though. Physique-wise, is it even possible for them to translate their talents to a soccer pitch at the highest level? There are some second and third tier players at 6'8" (James' height), I don't know that he would be able to last 90 minutes carrying that frame around. Clowney, maybe if he dropped 30 or so pounds.

Looking at the Packers, guys I look at and see playing soccer would be Driver, Nelson and Cobb, from the other side of the ball, maybe Hawk and Ha Ha? Shields has an interesting skill set as well.

[hoosier]

I thought now that the Collectivist States of Amerika lost in the Commie Cup, you ballarinas would go back to reading Marx and dying your hair pink...

Take heart girls, Amerika is becoming more like the rest of the world everyday - won't be long before anyone can afford to play any sport but soccer - like most of world.

[Joemailman]

Patrick Osgood @PatrickOsgood
Follow
Difference between Tim Howard and Jesus - Jesus had 11 guys he could trust
5:05 PM - 1 Jul 2014

[pbmax]

The Confederate States of America called and want their acronym back.

[Freak Out]

Some greats posts in here guys. Just bustin your balls woot. I just find Flemish/Walloon nationalist type situations fascinating. The Belgian team is loaded for bear, that's for sure. I saw a story the other day about how France basically fielded three teams in the WC.

[pbmax]

Flemish/Walloon complexities aren't the only European questions raised by the World Cup:

[Joemailman]

http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2014...ward-save-meme

11 things Tim Howard could save.

[KYPack]

To be in the top echelons of Soccer, you have to do a lot of boring stuff. Infrastructure things. Youth organizations with appropriate coching, select sides, more collge pgms, all that shit.

& I think it's starting to happen.

I really liked the current coach.

A thing that is happening is the development of MLS. That league is profitable and has a lucrative TV deal. that builds interest and leads young kids to the sport. When soccer gets it's full allotment from the pool of super US athletes, the sport will do better on the ol' international pitch.

[pbmax]

Not going to lie. Wouldn't have minded soccer madness lasting about another 23 days...

[wootah]

I find the choice of athletes you bring up, Lebron and Jadeveon interesting though. Physique-wise, is it even possible for them to translate their talents to a soccer pitch at the highest level? There are some second and third tier players at 6'8" (James' height), I don't know that he would be able to last 90 minutes carrying that frame around. Clowney, maybe if he dropped 30 or so pounds.

Players of that size are rare in soccer; to dribble or to defend against dribblers agility is very important and with the ball on the ground instead of in the hands, these guys have a disadvantage. The really tall guys are mostly goalies (Courtois is 6'6). Peter Crouch is 6'7 but with a Manute Bol like body but I do remember Jan Koller, a very good Czech striker & dominant force in the air, making a nice international career at 6'8, but he definately didn't have the other physical traits of the top basketball players.



Naturally, the conditional aspect is very different in soccer with comparison to the NFL. In the game against the US Fellaini (6'4) ran over 10 miles in total (at different speeds, of course); you cannot carry too much weight/muscles for that.

[hoosier]

Naturally, the conditional aspect is very different in soccer with comparison to the NFL. In the game against the US Fellaini (6'4) ran over 10 miles in total (at different speeds, of course); you cannot carry too much weight/muscles for that.

Meh, I'm not sure I am buying the argument about different conditioning. Running 8-10 miles is no major accomplishment, even for amateur runners who aren't elite athletes. Granted, an NFL lineman isn't going to be able to dart and weave the way Lionel Messi can, but anyone can run 15k if they work up to it.