Thanks and cheers! There’ll be an annual local fest at my town (or rather, village) coincidencing with the final on Sunday, and they’ll be painting the town if we’re going to win this thing. I’m surely taking a day off on Monday. But now I’m really off to bed (I’m sure I’ll be late this morning, but I won’t be the only German).
Some of us have been waiting since 1966… :o
[quote=“amanset, post:2997, topic:687840”]
Yep, same here. I have had a strong dislike of them after their goalkeeper against France in 1986 introduced a twelve year old amanset to the concept of the professional foul.
[/QUOTE]And the referee didn’t even give a foul. :eek: If ever a referee deserved to be punched in the face it was then. No wonder players fall over at the slightest touch with incidents such as that.
Wow. Has this World Cup had more strange bounces than any other?
I mean, I’m not sure if the Brazilian defense knew this was a real game, not some kind of drill, but aside from what Brazil did in their own penalty area, this wasn’t too far from a fairly close game. Germany had, what, two decent chances that didn’t hit the net? While Brazil could easily have had four more goals with just a tiny bit better bounces.
I mean, nobody seriously thinks the US was 6 times better than Brazil…
Explain, please?
Scolari is really regretting inviting the 2014 AFC Champion Denver Broncos into the training facility to give his team a pep talk.
I also wanted to dredge this up back from July 4, before we even knew Neymar would be out:
And how!
Germany hasn’t pulled off an attack like that since… oh, hell, the jokes write themselves.
Seriously, though, it’s difficult for me to ascertain from that exactly what we’d expect Germany to accomplish against Argentina-or-Netherlands. I thought the Germans were the best team in the tournament, but today’s game did not resemble any high level soccer match I have ever seen; the Brazilians were so utterly, totally confused and terrible that I don’t really know what to think. I’ve no doubt they would have lost today to ANY other team in the tournament - not 7-1, but they would’ve lost, be it 4-1 or whatever. It was a performance of staggering, jaw-dropping ineptitude and there’s no chance Germany will face such amateurish play in the final.
Men in Blazers: “Brazil were like “The Office” after Steve Carell left”
“Brazilian players always act as if they’re being interviewed by Barbara Walters”
They have been easily the most enjoyable source for after-match “analysis” anywhere.
They raised one interesting point: the Uruguay defeat in 1950 was a national tragedy, still very much felt after 64 years. That score was 2-1…
You can’t really say this team was playing ‘traditional’ Brazilian football, though. Other than Neymar.
Maybe, but I think close hard fought matches tend to generate more emotion and stick around longer than utter whitewashes like this one.
Neymar is vastly overrated as a footballer thus far. He was having a decent WC but wasn’t at Mueller or Messi’s level. His involvement in this game wouldn’t have changed anything.
Germany utterly dominated the midfield.
Oscar Pistorius has a better defence than Brazil. They were show ponies who were deservedly found out. They got away with it for far too king (with help from the officials).
This is much, much worse. This was a humiliation. Germany could have scored ten. In the modern era this is unprecedented and with easy access to Video and the net it will be dragged out time and time again.
FWIW, this was exactly what I was thinking as I watched it just now (and avoided spoilers). What the unholy f*#k was that I just watched? I FF’d when it got to 3 -0, not expecting it’d hit 7-1. Seriously?! That was embarrassing. And I though Brazil looked the superior team 10 minutes in: they had a corner in the first minute, they were winning nearly all the 50-50s. WTF happened!
That said, and it may be the Hakusan whisky (a good Islay-style, if you like your smoke piney, not peaty), I’m calling my shot: Argentina will beat this German team in the final.
But the last Super Bowl was exactly what I was thinking of before I got fed up at 3-0 and FF’d to the end
EDIT: y’all are more informed football fans than I am: can any of you remember a similar beat down in even the quarters, never mind the semis? I can’t think of one in the Euro championships, the Champs league, I’m a loss.
Oh, and I realize my previous post implies Argentina makes it past Holland. I think they will, later today, 2-1. Gotta have some Alfajores Santafesinos, well… just because… And I’m really craving caramel.
I’m not sure where the certainty for Argentina comes from. They’ve been as uninspiring as Brazil.
Holland have certainly carried more attacking threat and Argentina’s defence have not faced anyone like Robben yet.
You can’t rule out a one-man masterclass from Messi as he is a footballing genius, but do they have enough in support?
I think not. I reckon Holland take it easily.
Yep. 1986 was not a golden World Cup for refereeing decisions. Was the one where Maradona showed what a cheating shit he is too.
With Di Maria out and Aguero probably not fully fit even if he plays, if the Netherlands can control Messi then Argentina don’t have many other outlets.
Reports of Van Persie having a stomach bug and may not play.The Netherlands have been hit and miss for me, mostly miss. They have shown themselves competent at most(apart from the first match). Im hoping for a Dutch win.
I think the Argentines will sneak it. Messi to score from range and they will grind out a 1-0 win.
And Brazil were never in that game. First few minutes that ran a lot but did nothing with the ball and has no shape. Germany just imposed themselves and that was that. Liuiz was terrible (50M!!!) as was Fred but it was a shambles from the get go.
Being a fan of a traditional South American powerhouse that has so far shown itself to be very shaky at the back, this result has me scared about the game later today. Argentina’s defense has been pretty poor so far, though it looked slightly better against Belgium.
Rojo has served his suspension and will probably return to the starting 11 with Gago. I’m not tactically smart enough to say why, but they always look worse with Rojo and Gago in there, not to mention Rojo’s penchant for hard fouling which likely arises from being caught out of position. Combined with Robben’s, er, precarious balance issues when he’s in the box, and I predict we’ll see a couple controversial refereeing decisions.
From what I’ve seen so far, I think Argentina are going to have their hands full just trying to survive today, let alone any thought of beating a very organized German team. I also wouldn’t want to meet a pissed off Brazil in the third-place game. That one might end up with 5 on 5 with all the stretchers used up.