The 12 goals from the Dutch by 7 different players;). But in all honesty, I thought Nigeria were the better team for the majority of the game (with chances as well and a dubious offside decision for the disallowed goal).
Up till now none of the teams have looked invincible, especially the “big teams” have been showing signs of weakness (though some of them keep winning). The only team that has really been consistently the better side, is Colombia… looking forward to the quarter against Brazil.
Now that we are in knock out mode, we’ll start to see fatigue becoming an issue. Any team that needs to go through extra time (and maybe penalties) will be seriously disadvantaged for their next game. I think Brazil and Costa Rica are lucky because of the 5 rest days, but this is the only time a team is getting that much time between matches.
Both French and Dutch teams played pretty pedestrian football for the first hour of their matches. Are they both really that boring, or is it part of a cunning plan to wear their opponents out?
Here’s why I think Netherlands are not better than France.
They don’t play beautiful football. In fact, they play some of the ugliest, diving football out there. As a neutral, for me they’re one of the immediately most dislikable sides among the usual favorites.
They do score a lot of goals, and from a variety of players. I’ll grant you that. But they let in goals as well.
The Netherlands defense have had several shaky moments, going down 2-1 to Australia and 1-0 to Mexico. France have never been behind this World Cup. Credit to Netherlands for being able to come from behind, I guess.
Netherlands have conceded 4 goals to France’s 2, and France’s 2 were only conceded after they were up 5-0 to Switzerland and took their collective foot off the gas. Sloppy, but understandable. And not under pressure. All of Netherland’s allowed goals were under pressure.
Rubbish. Replay showed it was clearly (albeit just slightly) offside. Nigeria did have their chances, yes, as I’ve allowed: it was their best performance this tournament. But were it not for some heroic goal keeping, France would have won 4-0 easily.
What weakness has France shown, who have never been behind this tournament, have given up no red cards and few yellows, and have kept three clean sheets?
I as well. Colombia look very good.
What are you basing this on? The France who were up 4-0 against Switzerland (who made it to the group of 16) and up 2-0 against Honduras in the “first hour” of their matches?
Well they should have had a red card this very game (at 0-0) and I disagree that it was “clearly offside”.
I don’t disagree about the Dutch not playing great (but a whole lot better than I expected). The goals they have conceded were 2 dubious penalties - they can be given, but not stone wall penalties - and 2 great strikes from distance (although I thought the keeper could have done better with Dos Santos’ shot yesterday). What gets me excited about the Netherlands, is that in every game thusfar they seem to have a bit left in the tank for the last 20/15 minutes… even in Fortaleza.
In any case, I never said the Dutch looked better than France. Just that France haven’t looked that good the last couple of games… and especially today could have gone differently. Your personal dislike for the Netherlands doesn’t seem to be very relevant for this discussion either.
I’d give the Netherlands plenty of kudos if I ever see them play beautiful football.
Watch that replay again. Offside.
I do agree that some referees might have a given Matuidi a red card. Maybe should have been, but it didn’t seem malicious to me. No question Nigeria made France work for it. I have no special live for France, just want to give credit where it’s due.
If they were to win, imagine the rivalry when they meet the colonial power France in the next round! Hell, 16 of the 23 Algerian players were actually born in France.
Neuer is coming out a ridiculous amount! That’s twice he’s decided to run out past the 18-yard box and take on a defender by himself. The ESPN commentator says it’s because Mertesacker is worthless, basically. If he’s so bad, why’s he playing?
No. The Germans have just passing the ball among the back three till the edge of their half, then losing possession when they try to push into the Algerian half, and the Algerians have been counterattacking well.
Germany stepped it up in the last 10 minutes. But they only had one shot at goal in the first 35. They were playing really badly. Kicking the ball around uncontested in their own half, and losing possession almost instantly in the Algerian half. Their defence was often caught napping and the Algerians were looking by far the superior team. The last 5-8 minutes were more how I expected most of the match to go, with Germany mounting a few credible attacks and generally looking threatening.