Unofficial World Cup Thread de 2014

[pbmax]

No idea where this actually belongs ("It's football!", "No, it's fútbol") but let me post here before I forget. Then we can let a mod handle where this ends up.

I follow soccer every four years for the World Cup and have done so regularly for the last 4 years. I expect the US to win and win now and if it doesn't happen, I will blame the players who dive, totaalvoetbal, Brazilian facilities and Klinsmann leaving Donovan off the team for a teenager in that order, regardless of actual circumstance.

You may be unsurprised to know that I find most of the commentary is Bleacher Report quality and tends to dissect players psychology even more than baseball announcers, which I did not think was possible. So I am looking for good info about the games and what is actually happening on the field/pitch.

I can contribute this site (if it is still running after 2010): http://zonalmarkings.net

I understand less than half of it, but whatever I know about soccer tactics and the alignments I got from this site. Does wist hate the 4-2-4 in soccer as much the 2-4 front in pass defense?

Grant Wahl at SI.com wasn't terrible (though there was another guy there who was fútbol's answer to Joe Morgan).

I look forward to any coverage that avoids telling me about momentum, positive mind frame, negative mind frame, energy, desire or a traumatic bike tire failure when the player was young.

[Brandon494]

Only time I actually pay attention to soccer. USA! USA! USA!

[Rastak]

I absolutely love the world cup.

I remember June 21st 2002, my daughter came over at something like 4am to watch USA vs Germany with me in the knockout stage. It was raining like a son of a bitch and my direct tv went offline. I called my mother at 4:30am (she lived a mile away) and asked if we could use her tv. We come strolling in a 4:35am watching an extremely tight match, yelling and screaming. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed a couple of loud futball fans waking me up and then going crazy at that hour.

[Joemailman]

I think Red is our resident expert. What I do know is that the U.S. has only 5 players who have played in a World Cup, and none on the back line. They looked kind of shaky in the match I saw last week, although they beat Nigeria 2-1 today.

Jozy Altidore with 2 goals today. http://soccer.si.com/soccer/planet-f...ndly?eref=sihp

He looks like he could play football as well as futbol.

[MadScientist]

No idea where this actually belongs

I think last time it was in the romper room.

Since it's in Brazil, post of Brazilian babes with 'Brazilians' would be a most welcome addition to the GC.

Thanks for posting this, I have been having trouble with insomnia lately, and world cup soccer should really do the trick.

[pbmax]

I think last time it was in the romper room.

Since it's in Brazil, post of Brazilian babes with 'Brazilians' would be a most welcome addition to the GC.

Thanks for posting this, I have been having trouble with insomnia lately, and world cup soccer should really do the trick.

It has the same effect on me that hockey does. If I do not have a rooting interest, I have trouble focusing unless the play is really intense, with a lot of opportunities or frenetic back and forth play.

If I have a rooting interest, then its almost painful waiting for something to finally happen, knowing all the time that if you get up, you might miss it in the next five seconds.

[Rastak]

It has the same effect on me that hockey does. If I do not have a rooting interest, I have trouble focusing unless the play is really intense, with a lot of opportunities or frenetic back and forth play.

If I have a rooting interest, then its almost painful waiting for something to finally happen, knowing all the time that if you get up, you might miss it in the next five seconds.

Yea, it isn't obvious to the unwashed masses how skillful some of these dudes are and it is hard to setup a scoring opportunity. I know lots of Americans who would rather watch grass grow than American football but to each his own. I'm obviously not typical of the Amercian fan because I watched the entire World Cup of Cricket final in 2011. Because of the time difference not even all of my Indian friends watched both sides bat.

Was a great time......

[red]

the us team is always a cock tease,they win a game here and there, but they can never seem to put a run together

the fact is, the talent just isn't there. too much of the talent is from the MLS, which is like AA ball in baseball. our best player (clint dempsy) was just an average starter on mediocre top flight teams in europe. our goaltender (tim howard) actually is a damn good goalie, and he plays in the premier league against top flight talent every week. if we are in any kind of contention, it will be because of tim howard IMO

now, with all that said, we just so happen to be in this years group of death. germany is awesome, although they are losing a lot of their players to the injury bug. but the fact is, their second stringers are better then our starters. then theres portugal, and the best, or at worst, second best player in the world (ronaldo). ronaldo by himself might be able to beat team USA by himself, he's that good. then there's the black stars of ghana. they are no slouches, in fact, they are pretty evenly matched with the US IMO

it would not shock me if the US doesn't win a game this year

the best thing about this years WC, is that it will once again be about the fans. you'll hear the things that make soccer great. the crowds singing and chanting away, not one long drawn out vuvuzala sound that just drowns out everything else. fuck the south africans for trying to ruin the game

and pb, i hope wist would hate the 4-2-4, it would get absolutely slaughtered in this day and age. unless what you're really talking about is a 4-2-2-2

i'm interested to see is neymar can live up to the massive amount of hype being built around him and step up on the worlds stage in front of his home crowd. lots of pressure on that kid

[red]

Yea, it isn't obvious to the unwashed masses how skillful some of these dudes are and it is hard to setup a scoring opportunity. I know lots of Americans who would rather watch grass grow than American football but to each his own. I'm obviously not typical of the Amercian fan because I watched the entire World Cup of Cricket final in 2011. Because of the time difference not even all of my Indian friends watched both sides bat.

Was a great time......

last WC my aunt and uncle and their friends came to visit for a week. my uncle and his friend are die hard american nascar fans that had never watched asoccer game in their lives. i watched every game that was on while they were here. at first their were some snickers. but by the end of the week those two were sitting right next to me on the edge of their seats while two teams from countries they might not have ever heard of played to a 1-1 draw

it really is an amazing game

[Just Jeff]

This thread = instant derection

[Rastak]

last WC my aunt and uncle and their friends came to visit for a week. my uncle and his friend are die hard american nascar fans that had never watched asoccer game in their lives. i watched every game that was on while they were here. at first their were some snickers. but by the end of the week those two were sitting right next to me on the edge of their seats while two teams from countries they might not have ever heard of played to a 1-1 draw

it really is an amazing game

I can't get enough. Let the games begin.

[Cheesehead Craig]

I'll be in Germany from the 11th - 27th. I'll be watching the US/Germany game in either the local soccer stadium on the big screens or in a local bar in the Aachen area. My brother in law is from Germany and he's going to be our tour guide while we're there. I'm looking forward to the rock concert atmosphere. Given the game is starting at about 6-7pm on the 26th and our flight home leaves about 10am the next day, I should have enough time to sober up for the flight home.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Howard may be a top 10 goalie in the world. At least, he played like it for the last year. Dempsey isn't our best player any longer. Michael Bradley is. Dempsey was actually one of the best players on a middle tier team in the EPL. Then, he moved up to a slightly better team and it didn't click for him. That's the way it seems to go in soccer. You really need to be at the right level and in the right system, and there is a lot of politics--especially against American players. There are a bunch of solid players on the team. More talent probably than we've ever had. We lack superstars though. Always have. More specifically, we lack superstar forwards, and those guys are like QBs in the NFL. Gold. I think the kid from Iceland has potential to be really good. He might be better than Altidore already. The MLS has gradually improved from a league that wasn't one of the 20 best in the world to somewhere around the 12th best league in the world. Some have even rated it higher. It ranks 8th amongst soccer leagues in attendance.

Since about 2002, we have been a solid top 20 team in the world. We are about average when it comes to the teams in the World Cup. So much of our success depends on the group we end up with. When we get the Group of Death (like this year and 2006), we are out in the first round. When we get an easy group, we advance to the Round of 16 (like 2010 and 2002). I don't mind alternating between easy and hard group, but the thing that bugs me is Mexico generally gets a better draw. We beat them in the 2002 round of 16 and have finished atop our region in every cycle since (ahead of Mexico), so it bugs me how often they get a better draw than us.

[Bretsky]

The WC....aka.........Who Cares Cup begins again
as I noted whenever the last time this thing came around.......my simple thoughts are

LET EUROPE WIN; Soccer means something to some of them and everything to some of them. Let them have their glory.

We rule the world of football and several other sports that carry far more weight than Soccer.

Let Europe win.

I don't even know who soccer means a lot to. I have heard Brazil. I met a couple from Holland who told me soccer is king where they live. I let them know most in the USA can't name a single player on our team...that would include me....well......I know Landon Donavan...because I heard we cut him.............. Let one of those countries win.

[Brandon494]

The WC....aka.........Who Cares Cup begins again
as I noted whenever the last time this thing came around.......my simple thoughts are

LET EUROPE WIN; Soccer means something to some of them and everything to some of them. Let them have their glory.

We rule the world of football and several other sports that carry far more weight than Soccer.

Let Europe win.

I don't even know who soccer means a lot to. I have heard Brazil. I met a couple from Holland who told me soccer is king where they live. I let them know most in the USA can't name a single player on our team...that would include me....well......I know Landon Donavan...because I heard we cut him.............. Let one of those countries win.

Futball is the biggest sport in the world and the way they celebrate futball make us Packer fans look like arena football fans.