World Cup 2014

[IamInuit]

Good goal tending

[IamInuit]

unreal in xtra time

[IamInuit]

1-1 wow

[Dia bando]

1-1 wow

Holy shit my son's just won £801, he put £185 on Holland to win when they were 1 nil
down.

[Master]

That is why the game is beautiful, that victory came from nowhere.

[ryanman]

That is why the game is beautiful, that victory came from nowhere.

And the fact Robben must have two burst eardrums as his balance is just awful. Poor man falling down so easily.

[Master]

Costa Rica v Greece is awful. It should have been us there playing.

[killersheep]

Costa Rica v Greece is awful. It should have been us there playing.

That game was absolutely horrible to watch. No one had the energy for the extra time, and they just kinda putted around for 30 minutes. Glad the shoot out ended as quickly as it did. I've been really enjoying the WC so far, but that game was an absolute dud.

[palmerq]

Costa Rica v Greece is awful. It should have been us there playing.

That game was absolutely horrible to watch. No one had the energy for the extra time, and they just kinda putted around for 30 minutes. Glad the shoot out ended as quickly as it did. I've been really enjoying the WC so far, but that game was an absolute dud.

It was pretty bad up untill costa rica scored.... the goalie really bungled that one, he must have thought it was going wide, it was right on target but it was moving so slowly any competent goalie would have stopped it.. The game was starting to get good untill the costa rican fellow got himself sent off, that just killed it.. shame, it really looked like it was about to spring to life

[Maravilla2012]

I will hate Netherlands all week 88 mins into the game and we lost it at least we did better then Spain

[palmerq]

I will hate Netherlands all week 88 mins into the game and we lost it at least we did better then Spain

Poor old mexico, I thought they did great this world cup, got a win v cameroon, totaly shut down brazil and isolated neymar and then go on to own croatia in the group stages.... Then do a great job for 88 minutes and just one lazy play but the mexican closest to sneijder and its 1-1... shame, mexico were very good this world cup they just came up against a top class team in the knockout rounds..

very good win for the dutchmen though, they are a real force for sure

[Maravilla2012]

I will hate Netherlands all week 88 mins into the game and we lost it at least we did better then Spain

Poor old mexico, I thought they did great this world cup, got a win v cameroon, totaly shut down brazil and isolated neymar and then go on to own croatia in the group stages.... Then do a great job for 88 minutes and just one lazy play but the mexican closest to sneijder and its 1-1... shame, mexico were very good this world cup they just came up against a top class team in the knockout rounds..

very good win for the dutchmen though, they are a real force for sure

I was proud of my country this world cup. We barely got into the tournament but once in it we looked good. It probably is the best world cup we have had in years

[Memphis]

England's problem isn't that they're scared of playing for the team or scared of the press reaction or whatever. Try dealing with the Brazilian or Spanish sports press if you think our press is bad. England's problem is that they can't make three passes without giving the ball away.

International football. You either need to tiki taka dominate possession or you need to be able to move the ball at great speed from player to player on the counterattack, the current tiki taka antidote.

England can't do either of these things because our players have fundamentally shit technique compared to foreigners.

Although he now looks like Uncle Fester Ray Wilkins was once a supremely gifted footballer. Captain of Chelsea at 19 and could play the ball better than Hoddle. One thing every Englishman knew was that Wilkins was amazingly gifted at passing the ball. Wilkins thought the same thing until he went to AC Milan and found that even the teenage trainees had better technique than him.

They used to have a training game where one guy went on the middle of the other players who were in a circle and passed the ball to each other. The guy in the middle would try and intercept it and the guy he intercepted it from then went in the middle. Wilkins spent almost all his time in the middle.

And we haven't got any better. Go abroad and you see pitches split in five crossways and five four versus four or five a side games going on instead of twenty two tiny kids playing on a full size pitch watching the ball soar over their heads all game. Foreign kids learn how to pass and controil the ball. English kids don't.

We breed payers who are big lads who can run all day and that's great for our end to end domestic league but shit for international football. And with the number of English players in the top league getting less every year the national team are going to get worse and worse.

That has been one problem in the past yeah. But at this tournament England had an 87% pass success rate vs Italy (the highest of any team in the first round of matches) and 82% vs Uruguay.
So on this occasion the reasons lay elsewhere.
This time I don't think there is a deeper reason to be uncovered other than we played two good teams in tight matches which could have gone either way but we ended up on wrong side 2 out of 2 (which isn't exactly a statistical improbability).
Of course though, if we were better, had better players, had a better style, then those matches wouldn't be 50/50 calls (or 60/40 or whatever) so the lack of English players at top clubs and the style of play in the EPL are issues.

Those possession numbers are the exceptions that prove the rule I think. Italy are no great shakes in this tournament, they managed to lose to Costa Rica (population 5 million) and we lost to Uruguay (pop 3 million). All three teams are finishing below Costa Rica.

Against higher level competition, last 16/last 8 level, England can't keep the ball for more than a few passes and don't have the solid technique throughout the team to be able to move the ball from front to back at high speed on the counter attack and create chances. In all these tournaments as soon as we come up against a decent team we always lose. Always. This time we didn't even get to the decent team stage.

Yeah I hear you, but I'm just thinking maybe our ball retention has improved but at the cost of other areas. Whether it has or hasn't, it wasn't the reason we went out here. This time it was defensive lapses and not being clinical.

I dont think our ball retention has improved at all, as numbers go yeah they're alright but I reckon 75% of those were across the back four. I wasnt disapointed with the effort we gave but in terms of technical ability we dont look like we've come on much. We still have players at the highest level who are getting by on natural physical gifts that worked well as a kid. Fast as fuck but the ball skills dont match up. We cant still be coaching kids badly? It's staggering really, not just in England but elsewhere when you hear commentators talk about the final pass, he needs to work on the final pass/ball or his decision making. Fuck me the cunts playing at the World cup/champions league/Premier League. Shouldnt kicking a football properly have been ironed out a bit before that?

The thing is even though this isn't a stellar squad of players, it is still a stronger squad on paper than several teams that have gone through. Costa Rica for one. So, clearly it isn't JUST about producing players.

I guess some poeple could say that they are good in the Premier League but that style doesn't suit international football. But then why have the English clubs teams being the most successful in Europe over the last ten years (in terms of Champ Leagues Semis, finals and wins). Although the last 2 - 3 haven't been so good.

We also failed in WC2010. Yet had a team made up of players playing for the top clubs that were playing a Premier League style and reguarly beating the top Spanish, Italian, German clubs playing their styles.

So it is about more than producing players, and it is about more than the style we play. It has to be if we follow logic.

Truth is it's a combination of factors. If over the last 10-12 years our players reproduced their club form for country we would have done a lot better. Not saying we'd have won anything but we would have done better. So why they don't do that is also an important part - maybe the most important. My theory on that is that it's largely down to the culture of fear around the England football team. Need to get the feeling of playing for fun and to express themselves and show thier talent. Instead I think they think 'better not be the one to fuck up royally and get raped by the media and fans for the next four years'.

A Professor at Sussex posted this the other day -
News : News and events : University of Sussex

The fear factor is still there no doubt. The unwillingness to play through the middle part of the pitch is a symptom of that. You take the ball there facing the oppositions goal and try and be creative and lose it you're inviting trouble. The likes of Gerrard and Lampard are still stuck in that don't fuck it up mindset. Wilshire wasn't fully fit and Henderson is average for me. The Euros will be telling, Gerrard gawd love him and all he does for Liverpool should be gone by then. I'd like to see Rooney come deeper and try to play that metronome role that Pirlo does. We've got goals in other players now, players with skill and pace, we don't need the likes of Sterling, Sturridge, Barkely, Lallana Oxlade Chamberlain dropping off and picking the ball up deep facing the wrong way. They need to be played in behind or at least facing the right direction to begin with if they're in front.

It's both enjoyable and frustrating to see teams full of average players slap on their national jersey and play with freedom and verve. It seems like a pretty simple equation. If you're desperate to not fuck it up you invariably will, might as well not give a fuck and release the shackles.

[Memphis]

Didn't catch the Brazil Chile game but fancied Chile to turn them over. The Greece Costa Rica game grew into something brilliant. Didn't catch it all so missed the sending off. Costa Rica clinging on by their fingertips and hanging out of their arseholes, then having the balls to knock in 5 immaculate penalties was amazing. Part of me wanted a guaranteed European team in the semi but I couldn't help but root for the team under the cosh.

[Master]

France v Nigeria is close 0-0.