FIFA WORLD CUP 2014 THREAD

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:

Originally posted by vrabbit:

Originally posted by judodono:

Originally posted by StOnEy333:
Dempsey wasn't the same after he broke his nose. I'm not saying he shouldn't have been out there, but he certainly didn't do anything to help the team after that.

If he didn't score his goal against Portugal, there'd be no Belgium game.

Plus Klinsmann needs to get a lot of the blame there for playing him out of position. By putting him at center forward he kept him away from the ball A LOT when he needed to be someone constantly in contact with it. Case in point yesterday, USA was getting their s**t pushed in till Wondo comes in, Dempsey is pulled back and BAM, USA started playing so much better.

Unfortunately I called the loss once I saw the lineup.

I don't think that position change was all of it, Belgium is a legit contender

I'm not taking away from Belgium, who absolutely were the better team before, during, and after the game, but they definitely have weaknesses and issues that Klinsmann didn't attack. They have struggled to finish and their defense has had breakdowns, so what does JK do? He packs up the back end and plays a formation with a single forward who isn't a forward. He approached a win-or-go-home game conservatively against a team he could have punched right in the mouth. One of the reasons Belgium was so dominant is that USA allowed them to be dominant, they gave them the ball, they couldn't hold on to it for dear life, it was disgusting how quickly they would lose the ball. Then you pull Dempsey back to where he's more effective and all of the sudden USA looks like a different team, moving the ball well, putting some pressure on Belgium, actually hanging on to the ball. Yes you were still getting attacked on the other end but how was that different than the rest of the game?

USA should had gone out to play punch for punch against Belgium, maybe even get a lead then protect it towards the end of the game. By the time they actually started punching back they had been beaten up so much that Belgium eventually broke through.

Originally posted by StOnEy333:

Originally posted by judodono:

Originally posted by StOnEy333:
Dempsey wasn't the same after he broke his nose. I'm not saying he shouldn't have been out there, but he certainly didn't do anything to help the team after that.

If he didn't score his goal against Portugal, there'd be no Belgium game.

I'm not sure what that has to do with what I posted.

"Certainly didn't do anything to help the team after that."

After breaking his nose, he scored a goal against Portugal, which in fact does help the team

I still agree with you though Stoney.

Originally posted by JiksJuicy:
I wish we wouldn't have played so scared against teams like Belgium and Germany. It seemed the whole time we were too afraid of our opponents and we played their games. Take the last 15 for example. Why did we not do that against the bigger teams sooner? Why did we never really go on the offensive? Instead of us taking it to the other team, we constantly let them take it to us, and hoped to catch them out of position.

A lot of people want to say that this was a great cup for us, but did we really progress? We only won 1 out of 4, and lost 2. That's pretty meh imo. Point being, if we want to hang with these bigger countries, we can't be afraid of them. I understand situational football and all, but you can't do it every game and expect to win it all imo. Playing not to lose can only get you so far.

Against Germany it made sense because you were playing the odds and trying to get through. I was ok with that. It made no sense to play that way against Belgium. who had to sweat to beat Algeria and Russia.

Come to terms, guys. It's not our sport.

Originally posted by phatbutskinny:

Originally posted by StOnEy333:

Originally posted by judodono:

Originally posted by StOnEy333:

Dempsey wasn't the same after he broke his nose. I'm not saying he shouldn't have been out there, but he certainly didn't do anything to help the team after that.

If he didn't score his goal against Portugal, there'd be no Belgium game.

I'm not sure what that has to do with what I posted.

"Certainly didn't do anything to help the team after that."

After breaking his nose, he scored a goal against Portugal, which in fact does help the team

I still agree with you though Stoney.

Oh that's right. I got the games mixed up with ghana and portugal. Still, I did expect more. Most likely did have something to do with the formation they were playing. Clint needed more help on top.

Originally posted by NinerGod:

Come to terms, guys. It's not our sport.

I've been playing the game for over 30 years. It certainly is my sport. Couldn't care less if it's yours or anybody elses.

Originally posted by vrabbit:

Originally posted by JiksJuicy:
I wish we wouldn't have played so scared against teams like Belgium and Germany. It seemed the whole time we were too afraid of our opponents and we played their games. Take the last 15 for example. Why did we not do that against the bigger teams sooner? Why did we never really go on the offensive? Instead of us taking it to the other team, we constantly let them take it to us, and hoped to catch them out of position.

A lot of people want to say that this was a great cup for us, but did we really progress? We only won 1 out of 4, and lost 2. That's pretty meh imo. Point being, if we want to hang with these bigger countries, we can't be afraid of them. I understand situational football and all, but you can't do it every game and expect to win it all imo. Playing not to lose can only get you so far.

Against Germany it made sense because you were playing the odds and trying to get through. I was ok with that. It made no sense to play that way against Belgium. who had to sweat to beat Algeria and Russia.

True true.

Originally posted by JiksJuicy:

Originally posted by vrabbit:

Originally posted by JiksJuicy:
I wish we wouldn't have played so scared against teams like Belgium and Germany. It seemed the whole time we were too afraid of our opponents and we played their games. Take the last 15 for example. Why did we not do that against the bigger teams sooner? Why did we never really go on the offensive? Instead of us taking it to the other team, we constantly let them take it to us, and hoped to catch them out of position.

A lot of people want to say that this was a great cup for us, but did we really progress? We only won 1 out of 4, and lost 2. That's pretty meh imo. Point being, if we want to hang with these bigger countries, we can't be afraid of them. I understand situational football and all, but you can't do it every game and expect to win it all imo. Playing not to lose can only get you so far.

Against Germany it made sense because you were playing the odds and trying to get through. I was ok with that. It made no sense to play that way against Belgium. who had to sweat to beat Algeria and Russia.

True true.

What's funny is that had you been able to close out the game vs. Portugal then you would have faced Germany having already booked your ticket to the round of 16 and you could have played Germany straight up with nothing to lose. If you had at least managed a tie then you had 1st place and a game vs Algeria ...

what could had been.

Originally posted by vrabbit:

Originally posted by JiksJuicy:

Originally posted by vrabbit:

Originally posted by JiksJuicy:
I wish we wouldn't have played so scared against teams like Belgium and Germany. It seemed the whole time we were too afraid of our opponents and we played their games. Take the last 15 for example. Why did we not do that against the bigger teams sooner? Why did we never really go on the offensive? Instead of us taking it to the other team, we constantly let them take it to us, and hoped to catch them out of position.

A lot of people want to say that this was a great cup for us, but did we really progress? We only won 1 out of 4, and lost 2. That's pretty meh imo. Point being, if we want to hang with these bigger countries, we can't be afraid of them. I understand situational football and all, but you can't do it every game and expect to win it all imo. Playing not to lose can only get you so far.

Against Germany it made sense because you were playing the odds and trying to get through. I was ok with that. It made no sense to play that way against Belgium. who had to sweat to beat Algeria and Russia.

True true.

What's funny is that had you been able to close out the game vs. Portugal then you would have faced Germany having already booked your ticket to the round of 16 and you could have played Germany straight up with nothing to lose. If you had at least managed a tie then you had 1st place and a game vs Algeria ...

what could had been.

They played scared after the Portugal game and I hate that kind of s**t. I'd rather go all out for the win then trying to settle for PK's.

moving on to quarters, who else is stoked?

Brasil-Colombia is gonna be amazing: the host country with the most world cup trophies against one of the hottest teams in the tourney with arguably the hottest player and current golden boot leader.

France-Germany is a battle of traditional power houses who are playing at a high level. I would even say France is currently playing slightly better than Germany, but this will be amazing from beginning to end and I think it may go all the way to PK's.

Netherlands-Costa Rica is your classic David vs Goliath. The Ticos are done playing against overrated and disappointing powerhouses (or weaker European competition if we're talking about Greece), they'll need to take their game up another notch to beat the Dutch who on their own end will need to ditch the counter attack strategy and go out to get this game. How awesome would it be if Costa Rica keep their Cinderella story going on?

Argentina-Belgium is the game I may be looking forward to the most. Admittedly I'm biased here. I'm just so sick and tired of teams playing scared against Argentina and playing everyone on their side of the field (Iran and the Swiss did this, and to a lesser extent Bosnia too). The one game where a team played Argentina with an intent to score we not only got a better glimpse of what Argentina can look like but we also saw some of the best soccer from Nigeria. Belgium has come out of their shell and I have no doubts they will come out attacking Argentina, who at the same time will not retreat and go out to get this game as well. This could be another 3-2 game or so and I would actually put the +/- for goals in this game at 4.5.

Fun fun fun. It's gonna be an awesome Friday-Saturday

Originally posted by vrabbit:
moving on to quarters, who else is stoked?

Brasil-Colombia is gonna be amazing: the host country with the most world cup trophies against one of the hottest teams in the tourney with arguably the hottest player and current golden boot leader.

France-Germany is a battle of traditional power houses who are playing at a high level. I would even say France is currently playing slightly better than Germany, but this will be amazing from beginning to end and I think it may go all the way to PK's.

Netherlands-Costa Rica is your classic David vs Goliath. The Ticos are done playing against overrated and disappointing powerhouses (or weaker European competition if we're talking about Greece), they'll need to take their game up another notch to beat the Dutch who on their own end will need to ditch the counter attack strategy and go out to get this game. How awesome would it be if Costa Rica keep their Cinderella story going on?

Argentina-Belgium is the game I may be looking forward to the most. Admittedly I'm biased here. I'm just so sick and tired of teams playing scared against Argentina and playing everyone on their side of the field (Iran and the Swiss did this, and to a lesser extent Bosnia too). The one game where a team played Argentina with an intent to score we not only got a better glimpse of what Argentina can look like but we also saw some of the best soccer from Nigeria. Belgium has come out of their shell and I have no doubts they will come out attacking Argentina, who at the same time will not retreat and go out to get this game as well. This could be another 3-2 game or so and I would actually put the +/- for goals in this game at 4.5.

Fun fun fun. It's gonna be an awesome Friday-Saturday

Just watching the crowd in the Brazil Colombia game will be a site to see

Originally posted by ritchie:

Originally posted by vrabbit:
moving on to quarters, who else is stoked?

Brasil-Colombia is gonna be amazing: the host country with the most world cup trophies against one of the hottest teams in the tourney with arguably the hottest player and current golden boot leader.

France-Germany is a battle of traditional power houses who are playing at a high level. I would even say France is currently playing slightly better than Germany, but this will be amazing from beginning to end and I think it may go all the way to PK's.

Netherlands-Costa Rica is your classic David vs Goliath. The Ticos are done playing against overrated and disappointing powerhouses (or weaker European competition if we're talking about Greece), they'll need to take their game up another notch to beat the Dutch who on their own end will need to ditch the counter attack strategy and go out to get this game. How awesome would it be if Costa Rica keep their Cinderella story going on?

Argentina-Belgium is the game I may be looking forward to the most. Admittedly I'm biased here. I'm just so sick and tired of teams playing scared against Argentina and playing everyone on their side of the field (Iran and the Swiss did this, and to a lesser extent Bosnia too). The one game where a team played Argentina with an intent to score we not only got a better glimpse of what Argentina can look like but we also saw some of the best soccer from Nigeria. Belgium has come out of their shell and I have no doubts they will come out attacking Argentina, who at the same time will not retreat and go out to get this game as well. This could be another 3-2 game or so and I would actually put the /- for goals in this game at 4.5.

Fun fun fun. It's gonna be an awesome Friday-Saturday

Just watching the crowd in the Brazil Colombia game will be a site to see

Girls from Colombia

Originally posted by vrabbit:
I'm not taking away from Belgium, who absolutely were the better team before, during, and after the game, but they definitely have weaknesses and issues that Klinsmann didn't attack. They have struggled to finish and their defense has had breakdowns, so what does JK do? He packs up the back end and plays a formation with a single forward who isn't a forward. He approached a win-or-go-home game conservatively against a team he could have punched right in the mouth. One of the reasons Belgium was so dominant is that USA allowed them to be dominant, they gave them the ball, they couldn't hold on to it for dear life, it was disgusting how quickly they would lose the ball. Then you pull Dempsey back to where he's more effective and all of the sudden USA looks like a different team, moving the ball well, putting some pressure on Belgium, actually hanging on to the ball. Yes you were still getting attacked on the other end but how was that different than the rest of the game?

USA should had gone out to play punch for punch against Belgium, maybe even get a lead then protect it towards the end of the game. By the time they actually started punching back they had been beaten up so much that Belgium eventually broke through.

THIS!!!