GeneRally International Forum

You really think so? The best football was shown by France and Netherlands. Germany is very good. Croatia must show its potential against Mexico which plays very good attacking football on this WC. Greece played as Greece. Their old men can't carry that defensive style anymore. Italy will struggle against Uruguay but they have better chance for advancing through IMO (their midfield is better with Pirlo destroying everyone). I knew that England won't pass this group. It is very usual to see England playing bad on big stages. BiH played very good and they must show it again in... 4 minutes. They can go very far. Switzerland is good but not that good, too young. Belgium also fell under the pressure and they played badly against Algeria but I'm sure that they'll have to say something later. Russia played very good against Japan with a player less on the field.

Africans disappointed me most. Why? Only one victory so far and very bad performances. I expected more from Ghana and Nigeria. Ghana is rising and if they beat Portugal they will pass. Cote'd Ivore is only good African country here.

South American countries under performed! Argentina barley won against BiH and Iran. IRAN!! They look very bad on the field. They aren't connected. They have very good attack and Di Maria, Agguero, Messi and Higuain all want their glory I think. Brazil is also very bad. They weren't able to score against Mexico (Ochoa played his part) and were strugling with organizating attacks. Against Croatia the referee helped them big time with that penalty (Oscar desrving performance by Fred) and 3rd goal (foul on Rakitić). They had big problems against Croatia and Mexico which should've been torn apart. Uruguay lost to Costa Rica. That says it for itself.

Countries that surprised me with their good performances are: Costa Rica, Chile, Netherlands, Mexico and France.
Why there isn't Colombia? Because I expected this from them. It is a shame that Falcao is injured. I would even put them in main favourites.
Countries that disappointed me are: Spain, Argentina, Brazil and Portugal.

Favourites by presented are: Chile, Germany, Netherlands and France. Hot potatoes could be Croatia (Mexico), BiH, Ghana and Colombia. We'll see...

cocney wrote:Countries that surprised me with their good performances are: Costa Rica, Chile, Netherlands, Mexico and France.
Why there isn't Colombia? Because I expected this from them. It is a shame that Falcao is injured. I would even put them in main favourites.
Countries that disappointed me are: Spain, Argentina, Brazil and Portugal.

Favourites by presented are: Chile, Germany, Netherlands and France. Hot potatoes could be Croatia (Mexico), BiH, Ghana and Colombia. We'll see...

Yeah, very good surprises in this World cup .

IDK if this is World Cup or Referee Cup - last night Iran, Bosnia and maybe Ghana were screwed. Croatia, Mexico and others are also the victims of the officiating lately. :@

Honestly France or Chile will be one of the finalists. Italy and England are very weak, as well as Spain. But I think the teams learned Spain's way of play and found a way to counter it. Can't see Portugal recover after being trashed by Germany. Belgium are also big dissapointment - they can't score against Algeria for 75 minutes. Same goes for Russia. Colombia could be the hidden favorite.

But the main thing about referees, when did they start using that spray paint??

It's a common lat. american refereeing feature for many years.

Yesterday the referee screwed Bosnia. Balcanians don't have luck. And it is nice to see FIFA delegating Irmatov for our match agaisnst Mexico !!

Merged double reply from Sun Jun 22, 2014 5:49 pm:

Yesterday the referee screwed Bosnia. Balcanians don't have luck. And it is nice to see FIFA delegating Irmatov for our match agaisnst Mexico !!

...well that was infuriating

Total chokejob on the US's part. Both Portugal goals were from terrible giveaways that can't happen any more if we want to go any further in this tournament.

Suarez bites again. I repeat - Suarez bites again

@Np2003: Please, don't cry (now) . But that was Brasil. Next time it will be better.

Noooooo! Chile lost,.. too bad that they hit the post in 119'

RobertRacer99 wrote:@Np2003: Please, don't cry (now) . But that was Brasil. Next time it will be better.

Don't worry Robert, Chile play best than Brazil, Brazil have good luck in penalty kicks.

I was watching it too, Chile played fantastic match and should win, but I knew in penalties everything may change. It was..

Merged double reply from Sat Jun 28, 2014 8:31 pm:

I was watching it too, Chile played fantastic match and should win, but I knew in penalties everything may change. It was..

Brazil was playing better than Chile and they kind of deserved it (I can't believe I'm saying this).
But God I was sad and stunned when Pinilla hit the bar. And that penalty...

I could watch this for hours. So beautiful...wonderful...incredible...majestic...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMBslZMTUC8

Colombia played great football again and I hope that they can beat Brazil.

YoNnie in GRIF 2014 World Cup Prediction Game thread wrote:But everything is possible in football, so - who knows?

Yeah! And that's why i think, that all countries will be disqualificated and Pakistan will win world cup

@FRUKIScze: in next WC - you never know what will be. Maybe Poland will qualify to WC finals?
....
.... No, impossible.

GOAL for Germany in the 13th minute from Hummels! (PS: That's the answer to the bonus question )

PPS: France could defence longer then 74 years ago

RobertRacer99 wrote: GOAL for Germany in the 13th minute from Hummels! (PS: That's the answer to the bonus question )

So "Klose"... I said 15 minutes

Get it, Klose... close... get it? I should stop making unfunny jokes

Aaaargh! I wrote 12.. 12!

ivaneurope wrote:Why do you all think Belgium will beat Argentina? Argentina with Messi and Di Maria are far more superior team than the wankers from Belgium, who can't beat a team with more than 1 goal differnce.

Are you kidding me? Did you watch those matches? Both teams aren't convincing but Belgium created much more chances against USA (Howard had more than 20 saves, 30 shots). Argentina's style is: pass the ball to Messi and expect a magician's extraordinary move. Di Maria is not a shadow of Di Maria in Real Madrid, Aguero plays like he is playing in 2nd Argentinian league and Higuain can't score. 4 great attackers can't play together!!! everyone expects magic from all of them and only Messi delivers.

Belgium has its head and body. They play smart and very offensive. De Bruyne is very good, Mertens and Hazard have their moments, Miralas is good but can't score, Lukaku is one of the best young attackers, Kompany top defender, Vethongen and Alderweireld play very good in defense and offense and there is Thibaut Courtois on the gate. Majestic young team waiting to explode. Game against Argentina should be that game. If they increase their efficeny they will win this easily.

There are 2 major differences:
1. Argentina does not have a playmaker in midfield (Mascerano is not one) which Belgium has in De Bruyne
2. Sergio Romero is by far worse than Tim Howard and Courtois. In Monaco he is warming the bench for Subašić (soon to be Croatia's 1st goalkeeper)

If this didn't convince you, I don't know what will.

You wrote all about Belgium's head and body, but what about their legs? If Belgium's attack was that great then why they couldn't beat USA in 90 minutes? Moreover they haven't scored a goal before the 70th minute.

Most teams spare their strength for big match situations. The fact is that both teams had played 120 minutes and we shall see who's going victorious.

But you're forgetting one major factor - the World Cup is held in South America. Here the conditions are not like Europe - a plus for the Argentina players.

Such bad refereeing in this Brazil v Colombia match. I think he had no idea what he was doing.

Some of the Brazilian announcers are very biased, however, especially one of them. If Colombia was still in this World Cup, I think Zuniga would be "buried" (famous term in professional wrestling when someone has its status relegated by losing match after match after match) by this announcer for the rest of his career.

I mean, Zuniga was reckless, but the referee should receive sanctions. But yeah, this WC had so many controversies, that nothing will happen.

Brazil v Colombia was very weird refereed. I can not believe it, when Brazil wall has moved and nothing happened. Few weird fouls, some should be for yellow, some should not be whistled. Weird match, but with our best Czech commentator it was watchable

ivaneurope wrote:You wrote all about Belgium's head and body, but what about their legs? If Belgium's attack was that great then why they couldn't beat USA in 90 minutes? Moreover they haven't scored a goal before the 70th minute.

Most teams spare their strength for big match situations. The fact is that both teams had played 120 minutes and we shall see who's going victorious.

But you're forgetting one major factor - the World Cup is held in South America. Here the conditions are not like Europe - a plus for the Argentina players.

Quoting myself:
"If they increase their efficiency they will win this easily."
"2. Sergio Romero is by far worse than Tim Howard and Courtois"

Howard nominated himself for the best keeper of the tournament with that performance. Belgium had 38 shots (USA 14), 27 of those shots hit the target and Howard stopped 18...Impressive and unbelievable!

Messi and Di Maria won't be able to handle them alone. They struggled against Bosnia (they scored first goal in 65', own goal doesn't count) and Bosnia had better stats. Against Iran they scored in 90+1' and they beat Nigeria with only 1 goal more. They couldn't swipe the Swiss in 90', which they should be able because they are the favourites and they are from South America, which is an acceptable argument acording to you. They scored after Messi's move, nothing special. Di Maria scored that goal but he wasn't playing good.

Don't tell me that Belgium struggled and that they can't beat anyone with 2 goal difference when Argentina has even bigger problem because they don't have their style and flow in the game that Belgium has.

Well Argentina has defeated Belgium on their way to the semis.

BTW Costa Rica is still holding - I wouldn't be surprised if they beat Netherlands in PSO