Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

2014 WORLD CUP THREAD


RIPPA

Recommended Posts

Marco Reus is out of the World Cup aswell. He got injured in a one on one in Germany´s final friendly against Armenia (6-1 win). Looks like German ankles are achilles heels.

Reus has been in terrific form during the late stages of the season. The Dortmund midfielder is a really bad loss for us and diminishes our chances further. He will now be replaced by Shkodran Mustafi, a central defender who plays for Sampdoria Genua in Serie A. I really don´t know anything about him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What are the chance of Gotze getting much of a look in for Germany? I snapped him up for my fantasy World Cup team and need to pick from him, Cavani, Forlan, Higuain and Gutierrez (Colombia) for my starting lineup.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really hard to say. He appears to perform well as a CAM or kind of a winger, unfortunately he mostly gets brought on as a sub on that position. The last few games he started he did as a false-nine-striker on top, which he didn´t seem very comfortable at though. If Löw cuts back on false nine bs (just because it works for Spain doesn´t mean it does for us) he might very likely be benched, despite performing at his best within that system. I´m sure he will get quite a few minutes, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really hard to say. He appears to perform well as a CAM or kind of a winger, unfortunately he mostly gets brought on as a sub on that position. The last few games he started he did as a false-nine-striker on top, which he didn´t seem very comfortable at though. If Löw cuts back on false nine bs (just because it works for Spain doesn´t mean it does for us) he might very likely be benched, despite performing at his best within that system. I´m sure he will get quite a few minutes, though.

 

Low has to go with false 9's though doesn't he? Klose's not going to be playing every 90mins of every game. Still seems stupid not to take at least 1 or 2 more strikers.

 

Germany were my favourites for the WC since the euros but i just can't see them winning it now. Too many players have had bad seasons or injuries and losing Reus is a serious blow.

 

 

 

Argentina are ready

BpkCJX0IAAI8WCa.jpg

Let's go Argentina, fucking let's go

Bpj3KO0CUAAM_pV.jpg

Falklands are Argentina's

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I consider Argentina heavy favourites aswell. Them or Brazil, but I´m really not sure if the hosts are ready. After the last two World Cups got dominated by the European nations towards the end, it should be South America´s turn now. Even Uruguay and Columbia shouldn´t be taken lightly, and many fans I talked with consider Chile somewhat of a dark horse for the tourney. Will be very interesting to see who gets through in the end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pick your all time World Cup XI:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-27699398

 

And why not.

 

I only picked players from my generation so no place for dudes like Pele and Maradona. I mean, who'd they ever whoop?

 

Buffon

 

Cafu

Thuram 

Cannavaro

Maldini

 

Hagi

Zidane

Iniesta

Rivaldo

 

Ronaldo

Romario

 

Defenders are slightly all over the place, Cafu and Thuram were both immense but both right backs but had to have them both in there so Thuram slots in at centre half where he also played a bunch of times. Most of the team picked themselves but put a little bit of thought into the last midfielder, Iniesta got in there slightly ahead of Xavi/Pirlo/Schweinsteiger. Got a 10 for defensive strength but a team with Zidane, Rivaldo, Ronaldo et al only got a 6 for attacking. The fuck?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll also go the route of not picking people I haven't seen enough of to have some idea what I'm doing. This isn't baseball you can't just vote off some grade 10 math stuff.

 

Buffon

 

Cafu

Maldini

Thuram

Lahm

 

Gattuso

C.Ronaldo

Iniesta (Heart said Figo brain said Iniesta. Really, Figo has much better hair though.)

Zidane

 

Klinsmann

Ronaldo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, lack of Germans stood out for me too. Schweinsteiger was one of the best players at the last World Cup but Spain won it in the end so went with Iniesta. If I'd been born 10 years earlier Matthaus probably would have walked into the team for World Cup longevity alone but I don't remember much of him from 94 and he was past it in 98.

 

Forgot to mention Frank de Boer narrowly missing out, if only for THAT pass for THAT goal during World Cup 98.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

AP has a report that the Cameroon players refused to get on the plane taking them to the World Cup over a bonus pay dispute.

 

FIFA has been assured that the team will arrive by tomorrow

 

And for what it is worth - their head coach is claiming that everything has been worked out

 

 

However, Finke says that an agreement has now been struck and the team will be flying out to Brazil on Sunday.

 
"It's just one of those things that these agreements can take longer in Africa," Finke, a former coach of Bundesliga side Freiburg, told Germany's Sport1.
 
"That agreement was struck this morning and now we can fly to Brazil today. Our fans will be pleased -- Cameroon will of course be participating in the World Cup.
 
"The agreement is there and there's no point making such a big fuss out of the whole thing. It's really not as big as it has been made out to be in recent days.''

 

No big deal. Teams refuse to board planes all the time...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Personal World Cup XI, my first tournament I can recall watching while having a level of cognitive skills which matters was Italy 90.
Therefore I might be able to work some Germans into the team...I think in the back of my mind I took peak performances over total performances, but in the end it is highly subjective I´d say.

GK - Kahn
Kahn had the best single GK performance during any tourney I have seen in 2002, despite his heartbreaking mistake in the final against Brazil. I´d say with any other goalie, Germany would have lost in the group stages, Kahn was an absolute animal and I bet every US footie fan will be with me on that subject.

DEF - Cafu (RB), Cannavaro (CB), Staam (CB), Roberto Carlos (LB)
- Roberto Carlos is not my favourite type of full back, but he played two really successful World Cups. I was waging my mind between Germany´s Juergen Kohler and Japp Stam, then I remembered I found Stam to be a scary mofo and picked him. Cafu is pretty much a no brainer to me.

 

MID - Brehme (RM), Zidane (CM), Matthaeus (CM), Iniesta (LM)
- Iniesta might not be the fastest today, but there were years in his career where he was good to use on the wings. Matthaeus was playing the extinct position of the libero in 1990 and 1994, but in today´s systems he would be best used in a center defensive mid-spot. I felt like I could have taken 11+ Center Mids, ultimately I choose Zidane over Pirlo and Maradonna for my second CM on the team, probably mainly because I didn´t really see the 86 World Cup (being about 3 years old). Brehme might be the most exotic pick, but that guy was really really good and able to utilize both feet without diminishing the quality of his strikes, passes and crosses.

 

ATT - Ronaldo, Suker
I really think I should have put Klose in their, but four Germans would have been a little too much. There were a few other great striker performances in World Cups I saw, but Ronaldo and Suker took the cake for me. I also would like the mention the great Dennis Bergkamp, Romario and Kennet Andersson, all of them performing tremendously in World Cups. I even gave some brief consideration to Toto Scillaci, who scored whenever he wanted in Italia 90, but I ultimately thought this combination to be the most lethal one (not pairing Ronaldo and Klose ;)).  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...