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.

Don't forget about the billions that'll be spent rebuilding their cities after tonight.

Anyone heard anything about riots in Brazil yet? That's got to be inevitable.

So, Germany's going for 10 I suppose. What a World Cup.

Objectively, you're absolutely right. The UEFA Cup used to be the tourney without the best teams, whereas the Euros is a tourney of the world's best teams without Brazil and Argentina. I know the competition is at the same level. But that's just not how it feels to us. Anyway, the semis. On paper, Germany should be able to outplay these Brazilians the entire game. But in Brazil? I honestly don't know. Brazil will probably sneak by them somehow. Argentina haven't looked that impressive either, but there's Messi. If we will have as much trouble finding the net as we have these last two matches, we'll be out for sure. I really don't want to, but I'm picking Argentina, Van Gaal's luck has to run out sometime.

Sound analysis. To be fair, during the Euros our nation also suffers from orange fever, but the World Cup is the one that's being talked about for years to come. We've got a strange relationship with the Euros, on the one hand it's the one we did win before, yet we generally seem to do a lot better at the World Cup. The Euros are 1988, any other tourney rarely gets mentioned anymore. Now when it comes the World Cup, the world knows how badly we want it to win it, just once. It's an ugly trophy, but we need it. The World Cup is our cruel mistress, she's given us so much, allowed us to shine, gave us hope and pride, made us believe we could the be the greatest. And just as we're about to climax, she kicks us in the nuts and runs off with another country. You could be a 16-year-old who's only seen the horrible 2010 final, but you'll still feel like this. We feel like we've earned one and but fate just won't let it happen. Obviously, we don't feel that way about the Euros. I wouldn't go as far as the Europa League-Champions League comparison, because the Europa League has basically been the Football League of European competitions. I'd say it's closer to the old UEFA Cup vs Europa Cup in the way we see them.

Make that two. For international competitions, the EUROs aren´t that far away from the World Cup when it comes to importance. Belgium might play a good part in France 2016. Absolutely, aside from Van Buyten, who's not that great anyway, this team will only get better the next couple of years. If they don't go all Belgian on us and disintegrate over petty differences, they'll be a powerhouse for the next couple of years. I can't quite agree with you on the Euros vs the World Cup. While the competition is almost as heavy at the Euros, probably even tougher in the group stage, from our national perspective the Euros are just a consolation prize. Objectively it's not, but it feels that way to me.

Damn, credits to Costa Rica for being so effective with their offside plays and swarming Robben. That could have backfired immensely, but they held the line. Robben was still on fire, but there's only so much one guy can do. It was weird to see Van Persie being unable to grasp the workings of an offside trap, but still, there's a reason Costa Rica has conceded the most offsides this tourney. Changing the goalkeeper was really ballsy, but also perfectly understandable. Cillessen never seems confident defending penalty kicks, and Krul does. Van Gaal just indicated he hadn't even told Cillessen he was going to do this, even though they've been preparing Krul for this exact scenario. Weird stuff. So sad we won't be facing Belgium, but there just never seemed to be a real possibility for them today. But they've got a very young squad, so they'll definitely be back for more in four years.

Hey guys, I used to be a member here like five years ago, nobody cares, love these World Cup threads, but the validation takes about two weeks, so I'm sorry for being late. Anyway, my QF picks: Brazil-Colombia, like everyone else, I really like this Colombian team, while not caring much for these Brazilians. I desperately want Colombia to win, they definitely have the team to pull it off. But this being the World Cup in Brazil, I suspect they'd need to absolutely crush them to even have a shot at victory. Could be really good, but if the Brazilian defense manage to keep James contained, it'll probably be a stinker. I regretfully pick Brazil. France-Germany, this could have been the final. France have looked great this year, but they haven't really been tested at this tournament. Germany have looked both stellar and lackluster this year, but they're more experienced and they're still, you know, Germans. Even though it should be a close and exciting one, I think the Germans will take it. Netherlands-Costa Rica, I'm not sure what to expect. Costa Rica have been impressive, but they've beaten one of the worst Italian sides in recent memory and Uruguay without Suarez. I'm not sure if Van Gaal will finally start with a 4-3-3 formation, but if he does, it should be fun. If he'll maintain 5-3-2, it could be a stalemate. I'd say The Netherlands should win this. Belgium-Argentina, could be the upset of the tournament. Belgium's forwards need to be more accurate than they were against the USA, but Romero's quite useless compared to Howard, so that probably won't happen again. Messi's been deadly, there's a handful of other great players at Argentina, but as a team they haven't really been that impressive in years. I know I'm not exactly objective, but I'm going with Belgium. Now, about my own side, The Netherlands. Before the World Cup no one, including me, was expecting anything remarkable. Especially after we lost Strootman, public opinion said we really shouldn't even bother showing up. Even if somehow we managed to survive the group stage, Brazil would humiliate us. Obviously, after the Spain victory all that's changed. People are actually thinking we might win the World Cup, but I don't think we will. With Nigel de Jong out for the remainder of the tourney, there's a big hole right in front of the defense. It'll be interesting to see how Louis plans to fix it, I'm not ruling out Dirk Kuijt. But without De Jong, who's clearly been our most important player after Robben, I'm not really liking our chances. With Nigel it would be hard enough to make the final, without him it'll be quite the challenge.