Cristobal Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Ironically, this makes the Krul substitution look all the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonL21 Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Gordon Bombay should have went with Julie the Cat again. Loyalty to Goldberg cost them a trip to the final. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roman Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Thank God that match is over. Argentina might be the least deserving finalist I've ever seen. I feel bad for Cillessen. Not only does his substitution for Krul look even more justified now, but he tried to imitate Krul as well and failed miserably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 I don´t know, 2002´s Germany beating Paraguay, USA and South Korea via lucky 1-0 and Titan Kahn was pretty undeserved aswell... German TV pundits discuss the penalty shootout. Apparently, the Argentinian goalie moved far off the line for the very first penalty. The first sixty minutes were interesting tactical footie, albeit without any really big incidents. I will for the life of me never understand how a team that would still have power NOT tries to win the match before PKs.The final will be a different game from both teams. A lot of history between both, 3rd place match and final. Holland and Brasil met on numerous occasions in the World Cup, I think 1974, 1994, 1998 and 2010. They split the wins nice and even (well, technically 1998 was a draw, but Brazil won on PKs).Germany vs Argentina is the only match I believe to be the World Cup final for a third time, oddly enough after being a quarter final in two World Cups in a row. While Germany won the majority of the matches, the most spectacular game was the Argentine´s second World Cup win in 1986 and I assume Argentina hopes for Messi to channel Maradonna from that year and bring home the title. I think Argentina is better suited for us than Holland, but still this match can go either way. Argentina has been disciplined the whole tournament and despite all their weaknesses they came out on top in every match. We will see what comes out of this. No sleep over the next few days for me I fear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSJ Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Well, since it would be impossible to throw more than two 180s in a game of darts, the answer has to be two. Of course, if you're playing the classic game of 301, the answer becomes one. I for one hate that all majors have gone to 501. In a game of 301, I have a chance against the best players in the world (and have even beaten a couple of them back in the day), in a game of 501, the superior player will almost always win. In 301, a great player can miss his double on and the lesser player hits a big in and essentially should get a free shot at the out before the other guy catches him. In 501, a guy that opens with a ton (100) is going to get slaughtered by a guy that routinely hits 140s and 180s. As for a darts analogy, I'd think that Roger Carter throwing one dart shy of a perfect game of Cricket when his opponent had only closed the 20s, 19s, and 18s would be about right for a 7-1 victory in soccer. I got to see that and felt bad for Roger, one less dart and he'd have won a $50,000 bonus from Unicorn Darts for tossing a perfect game. (His finish could have been single bull, double bull; as it was he hit two singles and then popped the double on the third dart. That's pretty damn close to perfect.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerard Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zheroen Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 I'd be lying if I stated that I wasn't at all disappointed by the way the Dutch went out (penalties, again?), but then I remember that before the tournament had even started, we were condemned by all to fail in the group stages. Our mostly-young and untested defense kept everyone at bay and gave the offense a chance to win the game, and the young Cillessen in goal looked incredibly assured and will no doubt return to Ajax a stronger player for his experience. This may be the last hurrah for the likes of Robben, RVP, Kuyt, and Sneijder, but Memphis Depay exhibited a few glimpses of a precocious talent has eased a lot of my concerns about whether or not there might be other post-1978 decade of darkness. Overall, I'm rather proud of the team for getting as far as they did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 I think some of the young guys showed good stuff. Wijnaldum and Depay both look like players to me. And who knew the Dutch could defend. Future looks good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Sorry for you guys to get eliminated. Especially how it happened. The penalties are down to luck as much as much as skill, the Dutch players didn´t place their shots the way they did against Costa Rica. Maybe it was the fact that van Persie couldn´t take the first shot, who knows. Anyway, losses after penalties are always really tough.I think the Dutch team surprised. They looked really unexpectedly strong in the group stages, scoring a lot and creating many chances. Then they fought through two strong underdog teams when it got really gritty and tough. So they avoided to scenarios they had encountered before: They avoided elimination from a strong group after the group stages (happening to them at the last EURO), then avoided getting eliminated by a "smaller" team after winning the group (happened in EURO 2008 after they won a group with World Champion Italy and France only to loose to the Russians in the quarter final right away). They showed ability and spirit and I think had they waken up about ten minutes earlier in regulation, they might have scored and won yesterday´s game aswell. Thinking how low expectations were - whether it was here on the board, in Dutch media or among international "experts"- before the tournament, this was a great great campaign to rebuild the confidence of a great footballing nation. Robben might have one major tournament left, he managed to stay healthy for almost the whole season at Bayern, if he does for another two years he might be the key player to lead the young players to another really good tournament campaign. It will be interesting how good the young guns turn out to be in the end, but the way I see it there is a lot of potential in the BENE part of the BENELUX right now.I really hope the final will not go to penalties. I´d rather have my heartbreak in regulation and I always hated the finals that went to PKs so far.EDIT After complaining about not getting obsession with stats, I will of course write about my little pet project of looking after the goal count in the matches. Apparently I had a slip up in my goal count, it seems the tally is not at 169, but 167 goals right now. The goal record of France 1998 is 4 goals away,breaking it would take five goals in the last two games. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LooseCannon Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Javier Mascherano suffers anal injury, unless it is some idiom whose meaning is being lost in translation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roman Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Yeah, but then he gave the cup to a German supporter.Pretty awesome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roman Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 That's amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Yeah, he's been following the national team all over the place the last 20 years. He's a legend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Cool gesture and pretty grand if you´d ask me. There are enough football fans out there who´d rather smash the cup replica while insulting their own team in anger after a scenario like that. He is a supporter with all his heart and that´s something that I have a lot of respect for. Do people remember the penalty of Vlaar in the Netherlands vs Argentina shootout? Might have been a little closer than thought. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DZACTqM76o It apparently didn´t cross the line, but came pretty darn close. Not sure if Vlaar touched it with the shoulder or anything, though. This crazy World Cup ... note to every goalie, if you save a penno, wait and see where the ball is going, maybe boot it away or just downright stop the thing. Watch some youtube videos to see what the consequences can be in any case. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zheroen Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 It's a moot point, and there is an exhausted/hungover part of me that really wishes the video hadn't surfaced, but I'll put it this way - the ball was further over the line there than Geoff Hurst's goal in 1966.Also, what happened to the ubiquitous FIFA Goal Line technology replays they were showing after each and every goal early on in the tournament? Is it just me, or did they kind of quietly disappear?Hope Brazil show up for the third place match, and it is as entertaining as the one we had against Croatia after crashing out in the semis in 1998. Time to bring back a 4-3-3 attacking formation, since it's basically a glorified exhibition. I'd even settle for losing 2-1 if there's a Dutch goal as nice as Zenden's: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 I remember that goal. It was 1998 and I was about to turn 15, so this goal made me believe Zenden would be the next Marco van Basten for the Dutch. Because, you know, one great goal made you a great player automatically. I think he didn´t have that big of a career, although I can´t recall what stopped him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zheroen Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 He ended up at Barcelona after the World Cup, came off the bench a lot and was transformed into a left wing-back under LVG (originally deployed as more of an attacking winger before at PSV), and would soon spend most of his time with Dutch playing left back during the post-Arthur Numan years when a lot of different players were given a chance in that spot before Giovanni van Bronckhorst took over. He moved to the Premiership with Chelsea, didn't play much due to injuries and Chelsea being Chelsea. Moved to Middlesbrough and was converted into central midfield, had a bit of a resurgence in a smaller team in that role before moving to Liverpool. After that my memory gets a little hazy, I think he either once again couldn't break through (this was after Liverpool had won the CL) or had injuries. Anyway, I know he moved to Marseille at the tail end of his career for awhile, and that's about it. Not a total flop, but I think it's fair to say he never really lived up to that early promise he showed. I remember reading an interview with Ronaldo from back in the day where he listed Zenden as one of his all-time favorite teammates, so that's something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerard Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuzzy Dunlop Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Yeah, it's funny, I try to watch most matches in every World Cup because it's the World Cup and you might just be witnessing history (I mean, fuck, they're going to be talking about the 7-1 in 50 years time) but, off the top of my head, I can't remember ever watching one of the 3rd place playoff matches. I mean, no dude ever thought 'I wonder who finished 3rd in the 1974 World Cup?' Ain't nobody give a shit. It's a nothing match they should scrap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Or they can keep it and make millions off of the game. Go on, guess which side wins this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuzzy Dunlop Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 I'm just some anonymous idiot on an internet forum so...them I guess? But it's still shit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobbyWhioux Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 So has anyone been following the story of the Belgian girl who got picked out in crowd shots during games and got a L'oreal contract out of it? Yeah, well, never mind. Facebook Strikes Again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 I remember the Turkey/South Korea one because Turkey scored in like 6 seconds or something stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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