The Official 2014 World Cup Thread

[Stout]

Me, over the top? Never I don't get to talk to many folks about this in the real world, so I vent like crazy here.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Ties/draws suck.

Play until someone wins.

 

[Chaz]

As frustrated as I have been with Bradley overall I can't blame this tie completely on him. Still can't figure out how he missed that chip in though.

Win and lose (and tie) as a team.

I just wish he was a little more aggressive in the middle of the game. Why keep passing back to Beckerman immediately when he has space to work with? What is Beckerman going to do with the ball?

Also thanks to all the more experienced soccer fans on here for some good commentary. Until this last year following the EPL I really only watched the sport during the World Cup.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Ties/draws suck.

Play until someone wins.

Ties in Hockey, ties in Football. Tie happen in American sports too. It would be interesting to see them play an extra 30 minutes before a tie is awarded though.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

From Men in Blazers, spot on IMO:

Two minutes of clown defending obliterated all that. (For the last one of which, Michael Bradley has become a Twitter pinata. Please leave him alone. He is the best American player of his generation. Believe in his ability because you will need him.)

Yet I feel more pride than pain this morning. There was much talk about last week's 2-1 win against Ghana being "American" thanks to the Hollywood ending of John Brooks' 86th minute winner. Yet, to me, that was nostalgic "American soccer" -- a collective, never-give-up, huff 'n' puff endeavor. As devastating as the outcome of this 2-2 performance felt, I hope it redefines what it means to be "American" in relation to soccer: Klinsmann's team took on Portugal, ranked fourth in the world, and outplayed them not just with guts, pluck and tenacity but with bold, optimistic, inventive, relentless and confident football. And I love that.

http://www.espnfc.us/blog/men-in-blazers/95/post/1904962/us-very-much-alive-in-the-world-cup

 

[Chaz]

Google's Doodle.....

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[SO91]

Ties in Hockey, ties in Football. Tie happen in American sports too. It would be interesting to see them play an extra 30 minutes before a tie is awarded though.

It's group play. Well get to see the extra time in the next round, and penalty shootout if still tied.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

It's group play. Well get to see the extra time in the next round, and penalty shootout if still tied.

Of course I know that. It might make the group round more exciting to see extra time in it as well.

 

[SO91]

Of course I know that. It might make the group round more exciting to see extra time in it as well.

Yeah, I quoted you, but I figured you knew that. I was mentioning so grumpy BIM would know.

 

[Stout]

Of course I know that. It might make the group round more exciting to see extra time in it as well.

Exciting, yes, but it isn't possible in the current format. Say we played 120 minutes yesterday, then had to play that game against Germany? Or worse, if we had to also play into extra time into Ghana? It's just not workable for the group stages, IMO.

 

[Dback Jon]

I hate that heads up result is farther down in tiebreakers than goals scored. If anything the heads up result should be first. Maybe that is the American in me though. It should at the very least be ahead of goals scored. Ugh.

Agreed. In my softball league run differential used to be first tie breaker. I got that changed to head-to-head, then (since we play each team twice) head-to-head run differential. Only then do we go to overall run differential.


The US should advance ahead of Ghana if both have same points

 

[Milgod]

Ties/draws suck.

Play until someone wins.

One of the things Brits/Europeans find so strange about Americans and sport. Just cannot understand the attitude.

 

[SO91]

I absolutely love watching these clips

Sports bars in places like this—State College or Tuscaloosa, College Station or Baton Rouge—aren’t supposed to fill up for soccer games, nor for much of anything in the sleepy summer months, and yet here we were, packed into a noisy, ****-yeah-laden place with lots of beer and lots of red-white-and-blue-clad new friends. Nobody had to ask the bartenders to turn off a baseball game, because every one of the 30 TVs in the place was tuned to the game. I know at least three other spots in town were similarly packed—and while I don’t know how many of these people cared about soccer a week or six months or four years or ten minutes ago, I know it’s all they cared in those 90-plus minutes.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/news/the-new-soccer-america

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Google's Doodle.....

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That is awesome!

 

[Dback Jon]

Brazil wins Group A, faces Chile in Round of 16
Mexico finishes second, will take on the Dutch

 

[MadCardDisease]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...ortugal-game-scores-viewership-goal/11291313/

Should be the most watched soccer game in US History.

 

[Mulli]

Holy crap, Bradley is terrible. :late:

 

[Dback Jon]

Uruguay up on Italy 1-0

 

[HoodieBets]

I will not watch the rest of this world cup after the Suarez bite no call and the BS red card. If Suarez isn't suspended for the rest of the cup FIFA will have no respect from me.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[Dback Jon]

Uruguay wins. Italy out.

Who would have thought the group would have ended
1) Costa Rida
2) Uruguay
3) Italy
4) England

 

[Stout]

I will not watch the rest of this world cup after the Suarez bite no call and the BS red card. If Suarez isn't suspended for the rest of the cup FIFA will have no respect from me.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Well, the ref wasn't positioned to catch that call, was he? I can forgive him missing it. FIFA needs to slap this douchebag down retroactively, though.

The red card wasn't at all BS. Far over the ball so he clearly wasn't playing it, studs up, then right down the shin. Just a stupid, stupid red to give up. A no doubt red card, IMO.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Well, the ref wasn't positioned to catch that call, was he? I can forgive him missing it. FIFA needs to slap this douchebag down retroactively, though.

The red card wasn't at all BS. Far over the ball so he clearly wasn't playing it, studs up, then right down the shin. Just a stupid, stupid red to give up. A no doubt red card, IMO.

Exactly. The ref can't call what he doesn't see. The play was too far away from the 4th official as well. That was a red card as well against marchisio. His challenge was very high and over the ball.

Damn Suarez, I thought he finally learned his lesson. I suppose he just saved Real/Barca 100M euros.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Whoa,
Referee celebrates with Nigeria after they won.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/socce...h-referee-stirs-anger--protest-163505310.html

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[Shaggy]

So is the US out now?

 

[dreamcastrocks]

So is the US out now?

We won't know until Thursday.