World Cup 2016

DJTorrente

DJTorrente

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DJTorrente
Anyone planning to follow/watch?

Talk abuot the cluster---- that Brazil seems to be?

Brandon Donnovan left home?

The US' Group of Death? Personaly I'm thinking 1 pt. (0-1-2) is about all the US can hope for.

Other teams you're rooting for (Avanti Azzuri!)?
 
Ill be watching.

The team Brazil didn't field could win a world cup (the one they are fielding has a decent chance). England is gonna be a shadow of its usual self. Hoping for some good things from Germany. Italy will be fun to watch, as always, I love GiGi Buffon, Pirlo, et al. Hoping Spain doesn't win.

The US team makes me sad. I will support them to hell and back but damn we are terrible.
 
2016? They know who is gonna be in it already?
 
comanchepilot said:
2016? They know who is gonna be in it already?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I goofed. But if you believe that FIFA is as corrupt as some accounts would have it, then I suppose it wouldn't be hard to image they've had it all set up two years in advance. :D

I got turned on to international soccer by a client-colleague back in 2002. I only had broadcast TV at the time, but Spanish-language Univision UHF channel broadcast the games... live from Japan & Korea. The time difference was taxing. So was knowing little to no Spanish.

The US made a good run that year, getting into the quarter-finals. ABC got interested and decided to broadcast the 1/4-final match. I didn't know much about soccer, but apparently neither did ABC's sportscasters. After 10 minutes watching on ABC, they were so boring that I flipped the channel back to Univision and watch the rest of the game. Even watching the game in a language I hardly understood was better.
 
Good start. Own goal by Brazil.

rofl.....
 
Good thing its not the Columbian team.
 
Dive! Dive! Dive!

Please see the "what soccer needs..." thread.

If I were Croatia, I'd walk off right now.
 
Brazil did not really cover themselves in glory, did they?
 
USA! USA!

Tough break losing Altidore to injury. I'm betting Klinsman might be wishing he had Donovan right about now (speaking of which -- can't ESPN at least spring for a decent wardrobe on the guy? I get he looks uncomfortable his first run at the sports commentary gig, but the tie they put on him didn't help, not one bit).

HUGE win over Ghana, absolute must-win scenario. Germany did us a big favor pummelling Portugal. If the US can tie POR, even a loss to Germany probably gets us through to the knockout rounds on goal diff.
 
Mexico's goalkeeper was playing out of his skull vs. Brazil today.
 
Sam D said:
Mexico's goalkeeper was playing out of his skull vs. Brazil today.
Click to expand...

I saw a little of that and while not a soccer fan generally, that guy was impressive today. He can say he did his part, that's for sure.
 
Watched my first soccer game in forever yesterday...well, I didn't really watch too closely but it was on. I played golf with family in my home town and the Honduras/Ecuador match was on as we relaxed, had a beer and enjoyed conversation after our round.

Jaysus...What a disgusting display of bad sportsmanship and dishonesty. Guys "taking a fall" every 30 seconds. Many of them successfully getting penalties called when there was none. Is that "normal soccer" these days?

I haven't seen that much bad acting since the days of Harley Race, Dick The Bruiser and Rick Flair on "Wrestling at the Chase" in the 60s and 70s.

That was the first soccer game I've watched in probably 15 years. It'll be the last for anther 100 or so. :no:

It was a sad display put on by a bunch of 3 year old cry babies. I don't see how anyone watches that crap.
 
2016? There isn't a World Cup in 2016. There is one currently going on in Brazil, and they are held every four years, so the next one will be in 2018.
 
Heartbreaker for the US last night. We still have a pretty clear path through to the knockout round, however: Draw with GER, and both GER and USA get through, GER on top of the group. If we lose, keep it close and hope the winner of GHA-POR isn't a blowout to win the goal diff. tiebreaker -- we're +5 over POR, but only +2 over Ghana. If it ends tied in goal diff, we win the head-to-head tiebreakers over Ghana, so basically we have to lose to GER by no more than Ghana beats POR, and we're in.

I suppose we could always beat GER to win the group... :dunno:

Group G look beatable to get to the quarterfinals, too.

Anyone hear Klinsmann complaining after the match yesterday? Said FIFA set it up so the premier teams have an easier path through: GER has an extra day to recover; GER had an easier climate for their second match. If that was a US sport, I think he'd be getting a call from the commissioner's office; maybe a fine.
 
DJTorrente said:
Anyone hear Klinsmann complaining after the match yesterday? Said FIFA set it up so the premier teams have an easier path through: GER has an extra day to recover; GER had an easier climate for their second match. If that was a US sport, I think he'd be getting a call from the commissioner's office; maybe a fine.
Click to expand...



Heh - on the morning drive-time sports radio this morning: one of the radio guys that also does play-by-play for the MLS Sporting KC team (where Besler and Zusi are teammates) said about that comment, "Klinsmann just earned his US passport."
 
looks like the USA match is at the same time as the Ghana game? that would eliminate any pre game strategies based on score. I'm sure the coaches will be advised of the other game scores in progress.
 
I still can't believe they scored in the last 20 seconds.
 
Badger said:
looks like the USA match is at the same time as the Ghana game? that would eliminate any pre game strategies based on score. I'm sure the coaches will be advised of the other game scores in progress.
Click to expand...

It can often be the case that the last game affects the group standings, even from a team that can not get through, but can be a spoiler. The last games of each group kick off simultaneously precisely to hinder any sort of collusion in those cases. Everyone can, of course, watch the scoreboard.

The other factor is that right now in the US' "Group of Death", Germany has nothing to gain by winning, and nothing to lose but pride in a draw or a loss. If they play the US to a draw, they still win the group and US gets through regardless of what GHA and POR do. One can't help but wonder what Klinsmann might communicate to his former teammate, the current German coach Loew. (https://sports.yahoo.com/news/jurge...vital-usa-germany-clash-013314605-soccer.html)

That article has a good syposis of the various scenarios for the final two group matches.
 
^^^ Maybe GER will play some reserves and rest key players?
 
DJTorrente said:
It can often be the case that the last game affects the group standings, even from a team that can not get through, but can be a spoiler. The last games of each group kick off simultaneously precisely to hinder any sort of collusion in those cases. Everyone can, of course, watch the scoreboard.

The other factor is that right now in the US' "Group of Death", Germany has nothing to gain by winning, and nothing to lose but pride in a draw or a loss. If they play the US to a draw, they still win the group and US gets through regardless of what GHA and POR do. One can't help but wonder what Klinsmann might communicate to his former teammate, the current German coach Loew. (https://sports.yahoo.com/news/jurge...vital-usa-germany-clash-013314605-soccer.html)

That article has a good syposis of the various scenarios for the final two group matches.
Click to expand...

I am reminded of the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan.

The US was in group play with Portugal, Germany and Korea. As a host Korea was going to automatically advance.

It was the night of the last matches in group play. PORvKOR and GERvUSA.

The US was going to be trounced, no doubt about that. If Portugal at least tied Korea they advanced and only the US would be left behind. If POR lost the US advanced. OF course if the US won (did I say no chance in hell) they would advance.

I was in Macau, a former Portuguese colony, watching the match in a bar with a lot of Portuguese. We had both matches on. As predicted the USA was getting trounced. The Koreans were also beating the Portuguese. You could see their players pleading with the Koreans to just tie! But national pride is at stake in these matches and no way were the Koreans going to roll over. They defeated Portugal and the US advanced.

As one of two US supporters in the bar, it was a little tense. We even tried to buy the bar a round of drinks to no avail. We were not welcomed!

Now here we are again.

Germany will probably beat us.

It comes down to if Ghana can beat Portugal!

I'm in Canada for this one. I'll have to see if I can find a Portuguese bar to watch the match!
 
Germany isn't guaranteed to advance. A US win of 3-0, and a Ghana win of 3-0 and it's the US and Ghana advancing. Not going to happen, however. The US needs a Portugal win or draw to happen, as I expect them to lose to Germany by two goals.
 
EdFred said:
Germany isn't guaranteed to advance. A US win of 3-0, and a Ghana win of 3-0 and it's the US and Ghana advancing. Not going to happen, however. The US needs a Portugal win or draw to happen, as I expect them to lose to Germany by two goals.
Click to expand...

I don't see a specific bet on US and Ghana to advance, but Ladbrokes bookmaker has Ghana by 3 goals at 22/1; US by 3 at 66/1. That would be one hell of a parlay. :D
 
timwinters said:
Watched my first soccer game in forever yesterday...well, I didn't really watch too closely but it was on. I played golf with family in my home town and the Honduras/Ecuador match was on as we relaxed, had a beer and enjoyed conversation after our round.

Jaysus...What a disgusting display of bad sportsmanship and dishonesty. Guys "taking a fall" every 30 seconds. Many of them successfully getting penalties called when there was none. Is that "normal soccer" these days?

I haven't seen that much bad acting since the days of Harley Race, Dick The Bruiser and Rick Flair on "Wrestling at the Chase" in the 60s and 70s.

That was the first soccer game I've watched in probably 15 years. It'll be the last for anther 100 or so. :no:

It was a sad display put on by a bunch of 3 year old cry babies. I don't see how anyone watches that crap.
Click to expand...

I didn't watch that particular game, but yes, there is some faking of faults.
However, there's a lot of faults that don't get called on, even if they happen.
Call it part of the game. Then again, you get a yellow card if they catch you doing it. It happens. Some teams do this more than others.

As for the cry babies, have you played?. Have you seen how much padding/protection they wear?.
Compare to the amount of protection in American Football for example.
Basketball doesn't have protection but they rarely hit each other the way they do in soccer. A typical soccer fault would be a red card in Basketball (or the equivalent :D).
 
nusaruqe.jpg


Heh. Made me chuckle.
 
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