Unofficial World Cup Thread de 2014

[Freak Out]

did you hear about just how polluted and full of shit that bay is? and the IOC has every reason to be concern after the country didn't get anything finished for the WC

oh wow,great chance by croatia, and then a goal by neymar on a shot where it looked like he almost missed the ball

I've worked in Brasil a few times.....logistics are a motherfucker unless you have helicopters at your disposal. If you have to travel on the ground be smart....and patient. Oh...did I mention get ready to sweat?

[red]

I've worked in Brasil a few times.....logistics are a motherfucker unless you have helicopters at your disposal. If you have to travel on the ground be smart....and patient. Oh...did I mention get ready to sweat?

i heard yesterday that most of the workers in rio have a 3 hour commute each way for workthese days because of all the highways being fucked upwhile being upgraded for the WC, and then they didn't even get them finished

[Freak Out]

Not surprised at all. There is also alot of anger over the massive expenditures on sporting venues when half the country lives well below the poverty line. That could end up being a bigger story in the end.

[pbmax]

Live and constantly updated odds of making it through the tournament. US is 3rd in its group, 16 points below Portugal in its chances to make it to the knockout round (48 to 32%).

http://fivethirtyeight.com/interactives/world-cup/

[Guiness]

Not surprised at all. There is also alot of anger over the massive expenditures on sporting venues when half the country lives well below the poverty line. That could end up being a bigger story in the end.

What industry do you work in?

Money spent on the WC is ridiculous. Even Brazil, where the Pope takes a back seat to soccer, they are resenting it. One example they were talking about on the radio is the Arena das Dunas, where the US will play their first game. $180M, it will host 4 WC games. Then it's a white elephant, the host city's team draws about 5K fans/game...

And wait until the Olympics run through that country, neither of those organizations will even pull their pants back up after their done fucking them.

[red]

the new pitch in the stadium where england is about to play in 2 days is being spray painted to cover up all the brown dead grass. theres even talk about resodding it before the game in 2 days

the field is in horrid bumpy shape and they are hoping that the green paint will at least make it look decent on TV

and they haven't even played a game there yet

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldcup2014/article-2656479/Englands-World-Cup-pitch-Manaus-remains-threadbare-state-hours-tick-opening-Group-D-clash-Italy.html

[Guiness]

Saw a few replays of the penalty that Fred drew, and I'm torn. He definitely embellished the flop, but the Croatian defender did commit a foul, grabbing Fred by the shoulder and trying to spin him away from the ball. I'm not sure of the rules, but I think that any foul in the penalty area is a penalty shot.

[Joemailman]

Saw a few replays of the penalty that Fred drew, and I'm torn. He definitely embellished the flop, but the Croatian defender did commit a foul, grabbing Fred by the shoulder and trying to spin him away from the ball. I'm not sure of the rules, but I think that any foul in the penalty area is a penalty shot.

I don't know. The guy from Croatia gets his hand on his shoulder but then seems to pull away. To me it looks like a total flop, not an embellishment of significant contact.

[Guiness]

I don't know. The guy from Croatia gets his hand on his shoulder but then seems to pull away. To me it looks like a total flop, not an embellishment of significant contact.

He embellished the hell out of it, no doubt. IMO the hand on the shoulder is more than incidental contact, you can see he initially reaches around the front a bit. It was stupid of the defender to do that.

Here's the clip I saw, from a different angle, but not much different.

https://mtc.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/6CAF1191491088985806213120000_2c4c776833a.0.3.1402393474957947853.mp4?versionId=wxT.qEEbD9_D1Bp6XGz4gbDxFzCWZhTz

[HarveyWallbangers]

Terrible decision by the ref

[Guiness]

Terrible decision by the ref

Does he have any choice between ignore the foul and award a penalty kick? My understanding is that any foul inside the penalty area results in a kick.

Kind of reminds me of that Star Trek episode where they are on a planet and every crime is a capital crime...and Wesley Crusher breaks a widow!

[wootah]

It's not a foul; just touching a player with your hand is not a foul. Otherwise each corner kick would result in a penalty Football is a contact sport, so you're allowed to touch your opponent, but it would have been a foul if he tried to push/pull him with his hands to lose his balance, which IMO is not the case here. Fred just feels there is a hand on his shoulder and all of a sudden loses all power in his legs. Fraud.

I love this sport, but this is absolutely horrible. Right now players are celebrated for tricking the ref into awarding them a penalty. That's madness. The only way to get this out of the game is to use video images and to suspend the guys who flop (card + time penalty during the game + suspension for future games for repeated offenders). The same for those claiming to be injured but are back up & running after 5" or those who fake they are being punched in order for the opponent to get a red card.

The ref missed it clearly (also with the "foul" on the Brazilian GK), but I'm not sure it's fixed; it's impossible to see all the actions of the 22 players at the same time on such a big field. We have the benefit of slow mo & repeated viewing and even we are discussing whether it's a foul or not. He has to decide in a split second with players constantly trying to deceive him.

For today's games I'm really looking forward to Spain-Netherlands, a rematch of the last final. Spain's team is getting long in the tooth but they still have a very deep squad who can control posession like no other. Netherlands has a weak generation at the moment. There's still Van Persie & Robben in attack who can be a threat against every squad, but Sneijder can hardly run anymore and I'm not convinced by their youngsters yet. A lot of unknowns in that team so maybe they'll surprise me. They do have a crazy genius as a coach in Van Gaal, who said he would play 5-3-2 instead of the traditional Dutch 4-3-3. My money would be on Spain here.

It's a pity CHI-AUS is on that late. I'm curious to see Chili in action which has been an all-out full frontal attacking machine under their previous coach. They were extremely fun to watch.

[ThunderDan]

I've worked in Brasil a few times.....logistics are a motherfucker unless you have helicopters at your disposal. If you have to travel on the ground be smart....and patient. Oh...did I mention get ready to sweat?

I heard on the radio the other day that the Brazilian Olympic yacht/sailing team was practicing in the bay where the completion is going to take place and the boat capsized because they hit a refrigerator.

[woodbuck27]

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.

The NHL Stanley Cup Playoff this year and in the Final Series New York Rangers down 1-3 to the home team tonight Los Angeles Kings; has been nothing short of very exciting.

We've enjoyed the excitement of 25 Overtime games to date.

There have been more one goal games decided in regulation time.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are generally exciting; but this season...more so.

[woodbuck27]

Think women's soccer, or...

Ahh the little things:

That mole real or not is a distraction. I cannot recall the color of here bikini?

Looking again....cute.

Good Lord I'm grateful for good health.