Gerard

Reise and Moe, congratulations! You guys had the best team, really deserved the victory. At some point during the game I was worried about an Argentina-win, which would mean this great World Cup would have ended with not so great champion, but thank God for Goetze. Still, I'm a bit frustrated about the ref. It's the biggest game in the world, the largest event in the world, and the ref's poor judgment has probably played a crucial part in the game. Goalline technology is great and all, but this bullshit where the entire world can see what's up within seconds while the one making the decisions has to make a split second decision based on a very limited point of view has to end. Other sports have proven the instant replay can be used with great results, but football hasn't gotten there yet it seems. But that shouldn't be the story, this was a great world cup with the best team winning in the end. Let's hope this German victory will once again show managers you can play exciting games and still win.

That was an insanely bad call by the ref. I can only imagine it's cowardice that led him to this, because there's no way to see that in a way that makes Neuer the victim. The level of officiating has dropped again these last few games.

Yeah, you're mostly right. Even though the spot was way too far to the right for Pierre's rightfoot, back then Pierre was the man and you didn't do that. To RvP's credit, he proved he was somewhat right by almost scoring it. But to Pierre it was more about the slap to the face, having this kid claim the ball and not giving it up when he was told to do so. His anger was very much justified back then. The sad part is Pierre, who's in his mid 40's now, is still upset about something an arrogant teenager did more than ten years ago. It's almost obsessive the way he keeps stabbing away at Robin. I just found out another analyst also told Pierre he should stop being so childish about RvP in last night's pre-game show.

Robin van Persie just completely slammed Pierre van Hooijdonk on Dutch TV. I'm not sure if you remember Van Hooijdonk that well, but he was the star of Feyenoord when they won the UEFA Cup in 2002. Him and Van Persie have hated eachother ever since RvP claimed a free kick that Pierre wanted to take. Pierre's been a regular studio analyst the last couple of years and he's never missed an opportunity to take shots at RvP, always being a hypocrite about it and pretending it's nothing personal. RvP called him out on it in an interview. He basically called him an idiot, said nobody wants to hear from him and that Pierre should just stick to golf. And having had to listen to Pierre for the last couple of years, I fully agree with RvP. He's just dreadful. The best part was Van Hooijdonk's response afterwards, just sitting there with a face like somebody just told him Santa Clause wasn't real. He'd thought he'd get always away with his nonsense, but it finally caught up with him. He also hinted at already knowing which Dutch players will join him at United, no names obviously. After the game Van Gaal told Arjen Robben he could always join United, won't happen though, obviously.

Brazil would have been in a much worse place if the ref made the right call there, free kick outside the box and a red card for Silva. Still, they must be panicking somewhat, even if this is a meaningless encounter.

That Zenden-goal was class, really fun game if I recall correctly. I wouldn't be too surprised to see something like that goal from a Brazilian, they care way more about putting on a performance. Both Sneijder and Van Gaal have stated they don't really want to be there at all. I think there should be some discussion within FIFA to get rid of the third place game. Most teams that get knocked out in the semis just want to go home, I think it's almost cruel to make them stay half way across the world for another couple of days after such a disappointment. Punishing teams for making the semis instead of the quarters cannot be the intended meaning of such a game.

Well, this sucks. I feel so bad for Vlaar and Cillessen. Cillessen was incredibly calm and composed during the match, there when we needed him and even gave us some good laughs. But now all that will be remembered about his performance is that he wasn't Tim Krul. Vlaar was playing like a champion, it was just as weird as it was great to see Vlaar continuously shutting down some of the greatest players in the world. And now he essentially set the tone for a bad penalty series. Also, getting knocked out by Sergio Romero, that hurts. On the bright side, there's no way we would've beaten the Germans anyway. And we never thaught we'd even make it this far, so there's that. Great World Cup! It's been too long since I watched a final in Germany anyway. Just a weird little thought I had, but Greece only advanced after a late penalty kick, only to be knocked out bu Costa Rica in a penalty shootout, who were in turn eliminated by us in a penalty shootout, we were just knocked out the same way. So Germany by penalty shootout would be the only logical conclusion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHHZnOAMTGI

Congratulations to you as well.

Yeah, totally forgot, congrats Reise, if you'll ever be sober enough to read this again. Oktoberfest must be early this year. Haven't seen any fireworks on the horizon yet, but a group of cars blowing their horns just went by.

They should probably set up some sort of refugee camp on the pitch, and Fly the Germans out of there for the final.

Aw, I'm glad they scored.

I just realized they still have to play the third place match. Those poor guys.

I think you're right. The are intentionally losing in the most humiliating way at the World Cup at home, more or less making them black sheep in their home country for the forseeable future. Clearly.

I get that Müller would throw a tantrum if Löw takes him off, but they're risking his health right now. Love the way Scolari's still standinf there like the right instructions might turn this one around.