Unofficial World Cup Thread de 2014

[red]

i think brazil might have fucked themselves in the end by flopping all over the place out of the gates

the team who cried wolf

chilie damn near stole the game with a minute left, hell of a blast of the crossbar

welcome to the most nerve raking moments in sports. the penalty shootout, winner take all

[red]

Packers training crew down there? No shortage of guys pulling up with hamstrings. Neymar now.

Seriously though, long game, hot, they must be absolutely beat. And here we go, penalty kicks

they showed a shot of hulk about 15 minutes into the game and he was already drenched in sweat. its gotta be brutal down there, i'm amazed any of these guys can still stand

[Guiness]

Braziliean keeper going full on beast mode here, stopping two first Chilean penalty kicks!

[Guiness]

i think brazil might have fucked themselves in the end by flopping all over the place out of the gates

Did you see the two Chilean players I mentioned earlier go down? One took a knee to the back, looked bad from what I saw. What did you think?

[Guiness]

Holy...a post on the last penalty kick. Keeper wasn't cleanly beaten, but I think it was going in.

[red]

fuck

that was some of the worst penalty shooting i've ever seen, except for the one guy that hit the beauty into the top right corner

[Freak Out]

May have been some poor shooting but it was a hell of a finish. FIFA loves that shit.

[red]

May have been some poor shooting but it was a hell of a finish. FIFA loves that shit.

oh hell yeah, awesome game

[pbmax]

I think Chile's strategy of playing for the shootout was a poor decision. There was about 15 minutes that Brazil had the best of play on offense in the second half, but except for Hulk (whose one vulnerability appears to be a slap to his cheek), all their chances were on long passes to one forward covered by two Chilean defenders. Brazil is so talented they almost controlled them, but they weren't dominating.

[pbmax]

Mad, is there a module for Vine or Twitpic video on this board?

I can't find Chilean Joker in GIF format.

[pbmax]

I am up to 27% understanding. http://www.zonalmarking.net/2014/06/...-stage-day-15/

GERMANY 1-0 USA
Thomas Muller’s fine goal won the game, but both sides progress

USA narrow

The major tactical feature was the narrowness of the USA without possession, which is something we’ve become accustomed to. Before the tournament it seemed Jurgen Klinsmann was going to play a midfield diamond, and while they’ve switched to more of a 4-4-1-1 formation, they still focus upon defending the centre of the pitch and preventing the opposition playing through the middle, which made sense against a German side boasting multiple playmakers.

It also made sense considering the lack of proper full-backs on the German side. Jerome Boateng and Benedikt Howedes are both more accustomed to playing at centre-back, and therefore the USA were content for these players to have the ball.



Defending crosses

The problem, though, is that the USA haven’t defended crosses well throughout this tournament. Against Portugal, for example, a wild slash from Geoff Cameron when attempting to clear a cross resulted in Nani’s goal, while the late equaliser by Silvestre Varela also came from a cross, hit from the right by Cristiano Ronaldo.

In the opening game against Ghana, opposition right-back Daniel Opare was given space to cross the ball, and while his delivery was dreadful, on the few occasions he got it right, the USA looked nervous.

Boateng freedom

The problem here was about Jerome Boateng. On the opposite flank, Howedes is simply not a left-back. He’s not good at overlapping, he’s not comfortable taking the ball in his stride, he doesn’t have a trick with the ball, and he always wants to come back inside onto his right foot. For long periods of the first half, the USA were leaving him completely free, and Germany weren’t keen to pass to him.

On the opposite flank, however, Boateng was a real threat. And while Boateng might consider himself a centre-back, he’s comfortable playing on the right, charging forward to stretch the play. Mesut Ozil’s movement created space on the outside for him, and Boateng repeatedly had the chance to swing crosses in behind the USA defence. It was his ball that created the first chance of the game, for Thomas Muller, and later his low cross forced Omar Gonzalez into a wild slice.




Part of the problem was the USA’s inability to ease the pressure by holding onto the ball, although they did launch a couple of good counter-attacks, at one point breaking 5 v 5 in a move that ended with a decent Graham Zusi shot. In open play, the USA’s best attacking strategy involved Jermaine Jones darting forward through the centre, the classic ‘third man running’ – although his attacking efforts were often foiled by Manuel Neuer, who positioned himself on the edge of his box, and darted out quickly.

Klose on

Germany’s threat from wide remained the most likely source of goals, however, and this became even more of a factor once Miroslav Klose replaced Lukas Podolski. He played upfront with Thomas Muller going out to the left, but drifting inside to become a second striker. Now the USA were under real pressure when Boateng collected the ball on the right – he had two great crossing targets.

Boateng crossed within two minutes, with Ozil (!) in a goalscoring position and heading over. Germany also had opportunities to cross from the other flank, with both Muller and Bastian Schweinsteiger turning inside before curling balls towards the far post, before Mats Hummels did the same, forcing the corner that resulted in Muller’s excellent goal.

USA were in a strange situation here – clearly they wanted to get back into the game, but circumstances in the other match meant qualification could have gone down to goal difference, which meant it was important they didn’t concede any further goals.

This, and the relative lack of attacking talent on the bench, meant the USA didn’t produce much of a comeback until the final stages – in fact, their only two second half shots were in stoppage time.

[pbmax]

Belgium has injuries to their defense. Maybe the US will be able to score.

http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2014/06/28/belgium-vincent-kompany-injuries/

Vincent Kompany and Thomas Vermaelen, two potential starters in defense for Belgium, continue to be troubled by injuries that could sideline the pair for the Red Devils’ round of 16 match-up against the United States, according to reports out of Brazil. With two other Belgian defenders already ruled out, choices along the back are becoming depleted for head coach Marc Wilmots, who has had to consider employing two of his midfielders at fullback on Tuesday in Salvador.

[wootah]

What a goal from James Rodriguez. World class!

[wootah]

Impressive display by Colombia

[wootah]

Belgium has injuries to their defense. Maybe the US will be able to score.

http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2...pany-injuries/

Vermaelen was not a starter. Kompany will play unless his legs fall off; he's our captain.