2014 World Cup Quarter Finals

In the live interview LVG just said that Cillessen wasn't aware of the switcheroo during practice/game, as to not disturb his mental mojo. But Krul knew beforehand, that if the situation arises and they have a sub left, he'd come in. I think he also implied that Krul had additional penalty drilling.

interesting that none of top scorers for the remaining teams (Neymar, Muller, Messi, Robben/Van Persie) scored in the KO games yet.

Super Progress wrote:

Isco Benny wrote:

blutgraetsche wrote:See, that's how you shoot a pen. Robben's years in Germany helped.

Yeah, because Bayern were brilliant at those in that final against Chelsea

He also missed a huge one against Dortmund that cost them the title. In fact he got the rep of being a choker from taking penalties in Germany.   

It took a while to get that Dutchness out of him. Van Gaal did the rest...

Axe and Fey are sceptical because they hate Van Gaal and want him to be shown up.

But i agree they have a good chance. They're playing the worst Argentina side since the 70s in the semis.

Imagine if Roy brought on Fraser Forster in the 120th minute. The nation would have a stroke.

Isco Benny wrote:

blutgraetsche wrote:Don't be jealous that you're the only nation with a crappy penalties record now Bernd.

No, Im just still bitter that Schweinsteiger and co managed to fuck up the only penalty shoot out inwhich I was supporting the Germans.

I would actually love to see the mettle of this German team at penalties this World Cup. Really feel that the likes of özil, kroos and co. are vulnerable to the heebie jeebies unlike the Germans of old.

Even if, there is always Neuer.

debaser wrote:interesting that none of top scorers for the remaining teams (Neymar, Muller, Messi, Robben/Van Persie) scored in the KO games yet.

flat track bullies

debaser wrote:interesting that none of top scorers for the remaining teams (Neymar, Muller, Messi, Robben/Van Persie) scored in the KO games yet.

Neymar - nullified; now injured
Muller - bit shitty/divey
Messi - nullified/just not going in
Robben - nullifed
Van Persie - gash

blutgraetsche wrote:

Isco Benny wrote:

blutgraetsche wrote:Don't be jealous that you're the only nation with a crappy penalties record now Bernd.

No, Im just still bitter that Schweinsteiger and co managed to fuck up the only penalty shoot out inwhich I was supporting the Germans.

I would actually love to see the mettle of this German team at penalties this World Cup. Really feel that the likes of özil, kroos and co. are vulnerable to the heebie jeebies unlike the Germans of old.

Even if, there is always Neuer.

Neuer is better playing in the centre circle than stuck on his line

Isco Benny wrote:

blutgraetsche wrote:Don't be jealous that you're the only nation with a crappy penalties record now Bernd.

No, Im just still bitter that Schweinsteiger and co managed to fuck up the only penalty shoot out inwhich I was supporting the Germans.

I would actually love to see the mettle of this German team at penalties this World Cup. Really feel that the likes of özil, kroos and co. are vulnerable to the heebie jeebies unlike the Germans of old.

I would love for this Germany side to lose in a penalty

It would be the death sentence to Low and the modern German side   

blutgraetsche wrote:

Super Progress wrote:

Isco Benny wrote:

blutgraetsche wrote:See, that's how you shoot a pen. Robben's years in Germany helped.

Yeah, because Bayern were brilliant at those in that final against Chelsea

He also missed a huge one against Dortmund that cost them the title. In fact he got the rep of being a choker from taking penalties in Germany.   

It took a while to get that Dutchness out of him. Van Gaal did the rest...

I guess Van Gaal is a honorary German nowadays so it makes sense

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:Axe and Fey are sceptical because they hate Van Gaal and want him to be shown up.

But i agree they have a good chance. They're playing the worst Argentina side since the 70s in the semis.

So Brazil, Holland, Argentina have their worst sides in a long time. Germany has the least German side of all time.

Yet they are all in the semi's

Battle of the shit teams

Isco Benny wrote:

blutgraetsche wrote:Don't be jealous that you're the only nation with a crappy penalties record now Bernd.

No, Im just still bitter that Schweinsteiger and co managed to fuck up the only penalty shoot out inwhich I was supporting the Germans.

I would actually love to see the mettle of this German team at penalties this World Cup. Really feel that the likes of özil, kroos and co. are vulnerable to the heebie jeebies unlike the Germans of old.

I agree, they seem mentally weak. They are certainly no Stefan Kuntz.

Super Progress wrote:
So Brazil, Holland, Argentina have their worst sides in a long time. Germany has the least German side of all time.

Yet they are all in the semi's

What does this say about the other sides, if they can't beat the worst Brazil, Argentina and Netherlands?

I still think Spain and Germany have the best sides and depth. And Brazil also, because there has to be a better striker than Fred in Brazil.

You are all a bit behind the times apparently. Mentality and grit is actually pretty strong in this current German team. I wonder why Super hasn't jumpend on the bandwagon yet and claimed victory for Team Progress, probably waiting for them to reach the final first and overcome that semi final "mental block"...

DD wrote:

Super Progress wrote:
So Brazil, Holland, Argentina have their worst sides in a long time. Germany has the least German side of all time.

Yet they are all in the semi's

What does this say about the other sides, if they can't beat the worst Brazil, Argentina and Netherlands?

I still think Spain and Germany have the best sides and depth. And Brazil also, because there has to be a better striker than Fred in Brazil.

All the top teams seem weaker than they were 10-15 years ago. Only Germany have better players now.

DD wrote:

Super Progress wrote:
So Brazil, Holland, Argentina have their worst sides in a long time. Germany has the least German side of all time.

Yet they are all in the semi's

What does this say about the other sides, if they can't beat the worst Brazil, Argentina and Netherlands?

I still think Spain and Germany have the best sides and depth. And Brazil also, because there has to be a better striker than Fred in Brazil.

Sure but they are hardly coasting through though.

Germany should be a better side but they just aren't for some reason. Low still hasn't found the right mix of players plus Gundogan+Reus in the team and Germany would have been considerably better. It would have meant Lahm at right back and Gundogan setting the tempo and Reus is always fantastic plus he is more of a winger and has some energy and willpower that Ozil+Gotze are lacking.

blutgraetsche wrote:You are all a bit behind the times apparently. Mentality and grit is actually pretty strong in this current German team. I wonder why Super hasn't jumpend on the bandwagon yet and claimed victory for Team Progress, probably waiting for them to reach the final first and overcome that semi final "mental block"...

I don't think I will ever support the man who took German football forward/back(depending on how you see it). Also Germany is Arsenalesque for me. Trying to fill too many players who have similar qualities. Not enough counter attacking and won't forgive them for losing a 4 goal lead either.
Nothing progressive about Germany really but I will say they are getting things done in a way like a championship team.

Brazil and Holland represent Progress in the semifinal. Argentina is a confused team but they showed they coudl sit back

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:

Fey wrote:Oh look Clasie is on the pitch guys...

Sollen wir weltmeister werden oder was..

the game was pretty good to watch on TV, but i imagine it was even more exciting following it on teletext   

Well I tried it once, but 120 watching 0-0 without a single + to appear is killing.

Nontheless, on tv it was almost just as bad.

van Gaal gets hailed for the subs he does, how about not needing such subs in the first place?

Yes the Krul move was genius..but it was his shitty progressive team that couldnt score against an even more progressive Costa Rica for 120min. He just makes it up as matches go along. If I were Janmaat or Clasie, I would go home.

He still plays without a midfield, this team is even worse then 2010, just a better HSWHW this time around.  

Also is this the world cup or the fucking we all speak Spanish cup, Spain, Chile, Mehiko, Costa Rica, Argentina

As for the shootout..well, thought Holland would bottle that. They really turned in das Neue Deutschland..they even comeback in the shootout. I recently asked if it would be better to kick first or 2nd, stats show 70% of the shootouts are won by the team who kicks first.

I have always been a keen admirer of dutch football and I'm happy to see them in the semis. They fully deserved their spot. IMO Robben is the best player of the WC so far. I would love to see them beating Argentina in the next round. And I would like to remember that last week I replied the post that Puro wrote in spanish and said that Marquez brought Robben down and that the ref didn't give a clear penalty for Holland in the end of the first half, but...


Yesterday the ref didn't give a clear penalty when Campbell was pushed from behind in the box by Bruno Martins Indi. Later Martins Indi should have received a second yellow after bringing Ruiz to the ground off the ball. I didn't see no one on here complaining about it. I have some questions to you.


Where are all those that defended the poor colombians? If Costa Rica were playing against Brazil, would they have been silent?  Why didn't they show the same indignation yesterday? If they think that the brazilian match against Colombia was rigged because the ref didn't book brazilian players in the first half, do they think that the dutch match against Costa Rica was rigged because the referee didn't give a clear penalty and didn't show a red card to a dutch player? Just asking...

Axeslammer wrote:Ah, we have a "traditional" ref.

Brasil playing with 12 again  

Axeslammer wrote:Should be 1.5 yellow for that

Axeslammer wrote:How the hell does David Luiz get away with using his elbow to overtake his opponent, not once....but twice ?!

DD wrote:

Axeslammer wrote:How the hell does David Luiz get away with using his elbow to overtake his opponent, not once....but twice ?!

Jep, it looked very dodgy.

Ref is bad and lost control already.

DD wrote:

Axeslammer wrote:How the hell does David Luiz get away with using his elbow to overtake his opponent, not once....but twice ?!

Jep, it looked very dodgy.

Ref is bad and has lost control of the game already. That, and failing to call for fouls and book people.

Holy shit, why hasn't that freekick been taken again and not booked the Brazilians!

Axeslammer wrote:James is structurally being kicked out off the match, the ref just looks and smiles....

Rosicky wrote:Brazil are doing a Chile.

And that free kick was a joke. They were on the ball before hames.

Brian2468 wrote:How did they ref not  reset that Colombia free kick

Isco Benny wrote:Was it Sheva complaining about Chile targeting Neymar last game?

What Im seeing here is James systematically getting the shit kicked out of him and the ref standing around watching.

Isnt this the same ref who was totally okay with Sturridge getting karate chopped in the throat when England played Uruguay?

Axeslammer wrote:Ref continuing his first half shenanigans

110% wrote:The Colombians are just laughing at the ref now. I'd be livid, but they seem to have accepted they're going home.

Rosicky wrote:Silva

Might switch off, ref has it in the bag for Brazil.

DD wrote:Oh dear, this ref is shit it's a joke. Match ruined.  

Silva hacks a Colombian in front of the ref - not even a whistle.

110% wrote:

DD wrote:Oh dear, this ref is shit it's a joke. Match ruined.  

Silva hacks a Colombian in front of the ref - not even a whistle.

I was hoping that silva was properly hurt from that challenge. Possibly the only time in my life I wished harm on someone not really

Fey wrote:40 fouls already..0 yellows...how bout that Todo?

Axeslammer wrote:Ridiculous ! Hulk using his arms to set up the attack, now Neymar simply jumps straight into his opp to get a freekick.

Fair play, Schmair play.

Axeslammer wrote:Organizing the WC : 20 billion or so ?

Buying the QF : priceless

blutgraetsche wrote:Spain really has the worst refs in the world. Doesn't book Silva for some of the nastiest fouls , only to book him for THAT?

DD wrote:hahahahahahahahaa James booked

110% wrote:That wasn't offside, the guy who was originally offside did not interfere with play at all.

Axeslammer wrote:Farce of a game

christmasborocooper wrote:What was all that shit from todo about Fifa wanting Brazil out?

Fey wrote:That pass from James....

Should have been red btw.

blutgraetsche wrote:OK, this was such a stone wall pen that even the ref could not deny.

110% wrote:

christmasborocooper wrote:Not sure that was a red since Luiz was covering..

Only thing the ref got right all night.

S4P wrote:Webb is definitely an awful ref but it's funny to think of all the noise the Brazilians made about the rough treatment on Neymar, given the challenges that have been left on James tonight

Fey wrote:

110% wrote:

Isco Benny wrote:James Rodriguez. Head and shoulders the best player at this World Cup.

Yes, but mentally weak, hence the crying

Or he feels he got robbed and is dissapointed?

Formerly known as sheva7 wrote:

debaser wrote:Germany, Brazil, Netherlands, Argentina. I don't want it to be so, but this is what I expect.

  

This was an easy prediction to make.   

Formerly known as sheva7 wrote:

Formerly known as sheva7 wrote:

debaser wrote:Germany, Brazil, Netherlands, Argentina. I don't want it to be so, but this is what I expect.

  

This was an easy prediction to make.   

Yep was the obvious one. I was only one out, as I expected there to be one upset and I thought it would be the belgians against argentina.

Happy with these semis though. Isco said all football fans should want a Brazil-Argentina final, I wouldn't mind any combo at this point, but there would hardly be any football being played in that final. From a football perspective the best final would probably be germany-holland.

A lot of complaints here about the netherlands game last night but that was the one I enjoyed the most somehow. The plucky underdog not even a shot on target in 90 mins and their keeper having a blinder, holland hitting the bar, rvp fucking up easy chances etc. But in the end I am glad that costa rica is out I don't want to see that again in the semis and again in the final.

The belgium-argentina game was the worst game. I bet this guy feels like a right fool now:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jul/05/belgium-argentina-world-cup-2014

@Sheva

Respect for making the effort to quote all of us. BUT we are not against you. I apologise on behalf of the forum to all brazilians worldwide for the hurt we have caused you in the last couple of days.

The vast majority of your quoted comments criticise the ref, not brazil!!

A lot of us felt that the ref was favouring brazil over colombia, but not that a fix was in, just that the ref, as well as being incompetent, was a homer. We all accept that both teams were dirty, but brazil started it, the ref didn't stop it and colombia joined in. The colombians have the least amount of blame for how that game went.

Admittedly there are some comments about a "fix" but I am pretty sure they directed at FIFA rather than brazil, and I have to assume half-joking. The only person who truly thought everything is fixed was puro, but that's just a sign of him having life problems and needing to blame others for it.

DD wrote:

Super Progress wrote:
So Brazil, Holland, Argentina have their worst sides in a long time. Germany has the least German side of all time.

Yet they are all in the semi's

What does this say about the other sides, if they can't beat the worst Brazil, Argentina and Netherlands?

I still think Spain and Germany have the best sides and depth. And Brazil also, because there has to be a better striker than Fred in Brazil.

Having the best side doesn't mean you'll win, it just gives you a better chance. You still need that bit of luck.

The smaller sides know how to set themselves up much better than in the past. Mainly they are defensively better and more organised. Teams like costa rica, uruguay etc haven't shown anything great going forward. Conversely the big teams (except for maybe Brazil and France) are much weaker defensively. Strangely the most balanced big team is probably France, but they lacked creativity in midfield, could have done with some kind of playmaker.

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:Axe and Fey are sceptical because they hate Van Gaal and want him to be shown up.

Not true in my case.

Like most Dutchies, I think Van Gaal is an idiot and a very unlikable person....but that he's also an absolutely brilliant manager.

I still can't believe that we made the final four with this crap selection, with at least 2-3 passengers for Oranje on the pitch every match....and absolutely *nothing* on the bench.

But I'm enjoying the ride so far

Formerly known as sheva7 wrote:

Formerly known as sheva7 wrote:

debaser wrote:Germany, Brazil, Netherlands, Argentina. I don't want it to be so, but this is what I expect.

  

This was an easy prediction to make.   

--

I just realised the initials of the four teams spell BANG (or BAND). Is this significant?

debaser wrote:
I just realised the initials of the four teams spell BANG (or BAND). Is this significant?

It means this WC will go out with a BANG

Formerly known as sheva7 wrote:I have always been a keen admirer of dutch football and I'm happy to see them in the semis. They fully deserved their spot. IMO Robben is the best player of the WC so far. I would love to see them beating Argentina in the next round. And I would like to remember that last week I replied the post that Puro wrote in spanish and said that Marquez brought Robben down and that the ref didn't give a clear penalty for Holland in the end of the first half, but...


Yesterday the ref didn't give a clear penalty when Campbell was pushed from behind in the box by Bruno Martins Indi. Later Martins Indi should have received a second yellow after bringing Ruiz to the ground off the ball. I didn't see no one on here complaining about it. I have some questions to you.


Where are all those that defended the poor colombians? If Costa Rica were playing against Brazil, would they have been silent?  Why didn't they show the same indignation yesterday? If they think that the brazilian match against Colombia was rigged because the ref didn't book brazilian players in the first half, do they think that the dutch match against Costa Rica was rigged because the referee didn't give a clear penalty and didn't show a red card to a dutch player? Just asking...

Foul on Campbell was 50-50, and yes, you are right about Martins Indi commiting 2nd bookable foul, but Junior Diaz did the same in ET on Robben very close to penalty line and also wasn't sent off for 2nd booking. Referee was actually quite consistent yesterday IMO and did a decent job.

Axeslammer wrote:

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:Axe and Fey are sceptical because they hate Van Gaal and want him to be shown up.

Not true in my case.

Like most Dutchies, I think Van Gaal is an idiot and a very unlikable person....but that he's also an absolutely brilliant manager.

I still can't believe that we made the final four with this crap selection, with at least 2-3 passengers for Oranje on the pitch every match....and absolutely *nothing* on the bench.

But I'm enjoying the ride so far

  
Axe is Team Progress

This a huge convert for us and we have Van Gaal+patriotism to thank(even if it is temporary). For the remainder of this WC Fey should be sent elsewhere:




Stinger
The fact that he didn't give the second yellow to the Costa Rica player was utterly pathetic. It was so obvious that he didn't dare to do it. He was a real coward. I can only vaguely remember the penalty incident with Martins Indi but I don't think it was a big one, although it could have been given. Same with the second yellow for Indi.

Super, do you know the term "premature ejaculation"?

stinger wrote:

Formerly known as sheva7 wrote:
Yesterday the ref didn't give a clear penalty when Campbell was pushed from behind in the box by Bruno Martins Indi. Later Martins Indi should have received a second yellow after bringing Ruiz to the ground off the ball. I didn't see no one on here complaining about it. I have some questions to you.

Foul on Campbell was 50-50, and yes, you are right about Martins Indi commiting 2nd bookable foul, but Junior Diaz did the same in ET on Robben very close to penalty line and also wasn't sent off for 2nd booking. Referee was actually quite consistent yesterday IMO and did a decent job.

110% wrote:@Sheva

Respect for making the effort to quote all of us. BUT we are not against you. I apologise on behalf of the forum to all brazilians worldwide for the hurt we have caused you in the last couple of days.

The vast majority of your quoted comments criticise the ref, not brazil!!

A lot of us felt that the ref was favouring brazil over colombia, but not that a fix was in, just that the ref, as well as being incompetent, was a homer. We all accept that both teams were dirty, but brazil started it, the ref didn't stop it and colombia joined in. The colombians have the least amount of blame for how that game went.

Admittedly there are some comments about a "fix" but I am pretty sure they directed at FIFA rather than brazil, and I have to assume half-joking. The only person who truly thought everything is fixed was puro, but that's just a sign of him having life problems and needing to blame others for it.

I've read about the BMI challenge being a 50/50 but I missed it because I was making a sandwich in the kitchen after going to the toilet. Still haven't seen a replay. If it was that clearcut, I suppose it would've been shown more often. BMI has been a lacking/sloppy in every facet of his game so far (defense, positioning, passing, losing the ball), so it wouldn't surprise me. If I had seen it (and it was a pen) I would have made a comment about it.

Generally though there doesn't seem to be much if any outrage about that challenge (or the ref not calling). I'm not frequenting Costa Rican boards but I've read a couple of international one's and there isn't much noise made about that one.

Formerly known as sheva7 wrote:
Where are all those that defended the poor colombians? If Costa Rica were playing against Brazil, would they have been silent?  Why didn't they show the same indignation yesterday? If they think that the brazilian match against Colombia was rigged because the ref didn't book brazilian players in the first half, do they think that the dutch match against Costa Rica was rigged because the referee didn't give a clear penalty and didn't show a red card to a dutch player? Just asking...

As mentioned before, people are rightfully castigating the ref for one of the most inept jobs on the big stage in years/decades. The matchup had all the ingredients for a fantastic game, but the ref lost control of the match early on, and his horrible officiating dictated everything after that. He was out of his depth in every aspect of the game.
He was inconsistent, allowed fouls (on both teams) to get out of hand, refused to book people when textbook examples happened in front of him, didn't even caution players, then decides to book a player for a non-foul, lost authority, allowed blatant and consistent targetting of James to go unpunished, was swayed by the home crowd,  his team failed to flag when the entire Brazil team was offside, him and his team failing to give advantage/benefit of doubt when it's uncertain a team (notably Colombia) is offside, giving throw-ins wrong, not booking for dives/play acting, timewasting, and perhaps most laughable of all, not letting the free kick to be retaken. And all game he chose to disrupt the/any flow of the game by whistling non-fouls, particularly in the second half.

He pretty much botched and bottled all decisions as bad as he possibly could.
He robbed a great world cup of a great game. He robbed the teams of a fair display of their talents. It's his fault that the game descended into a Vale Tudo match, which will endangere players too. That's what people are angry  about.

While the ref was plain awful and failed to call fouls and book people on both sides, Brazil's fouls (and consistent cynical targetting of James, and not even calling/cautioning players) did set the tone of the match, allowing a so-called arms race in fouls. It's been proven that refs are psychologically influenced to some degree by the home crowd, but this guy was out of his depth. He was bad, the crowd good. It is undeniable however that the majority (lack of) decisions were in favour of Brazil, including some laughable ones.

Few people hate or are against Brazil, and only cretins believe in 'FIFA wants xxx to win', and even less do in 'FIFA wants xxx to win, thus instructs ref to rig the game (at the WC)'. If you look/read selectively it might appear that people are against Brazil, however once you look at it less emotionally, you'll see that most people are castigating the ref, not so much Brazil. Generally people don't behave deluded or irrational like the Mexicans have shown.

Also, I hate when refs refuse to book/send off players, as not to disturb the 'flow' of the game. Refs should be there to uphold the rules. Just like too many cards are bad for the game, so are too few.

Refs don't want to be known to influence/kill a game by sending off a player, but why are they there for if they're chickening out of the decisions!? Most infuriatingly, blatant breach of the rulebook with clear path of vision. And if they decide to do something, they chicken out of straight reds and book players - just to stay safe.

The refs aren't there to nanny players - their role is to see that the game follow according to the rules and that a degree of sportsmanship is in the game. If a player fouls he should be called, cautioned and/or booked. If players are just commiting fouls out there, they need to be reigned in. Not disturbing the 'flow' of the game is bollocks, if the flow of the game is a hack/dive fest.

To be fair many were upset about ref's upholding the law in big Cl games although that mostly had to do with the triple punishment like the Julio Cesar incident against Colombia. However the one with the Costa Rica player was so obvious that the ref must have known what he was doing there.