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FIFA World Cup Brasil 2014

Hope we ll get to see De Gea and some more of the young ones in Spain's last game.
Australia played really well today but the penalty was silly (I know it was hands but seriously that kinda stuff is stupid) and I never expected the Australians to fall over so easy with each contact.. In the end 4-2 would've been a score to reflect the balance in the game as a whole. But.. Guess it's good to see the Dutch have some resilience these days.. Something they often lacked in the past. RvP s yellow card was a dumb call imho (I saw no intention there whatsoever) and it sucks he ll have to miss the game against Chili but perhaps Huntelaar will surprise us in his stead. Hell a lot of folks were clamoring for him to replace RvP at the WC in S Africa (heck we might ve actually beat Spain then considering how poor Robin was that tourney). Hope Chili doesn't watch today too much bc for a while they had the men in Orange (well.. Blue again) by the balls.
 
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Cameroun embarassed theirselves.
Well deserved Chile victory, but sad to see players like Casillas, Xavi and Xabi Alonso end their international carreer like this.
In the end they fell victim to their own success, they haven't rested decently for years.
I think it was last season or even two seasons ago that drekkard reported about a carreer threatening injury for Xavi for example. Torres' is another player who was daten by his own success. Don't understand the people who are happy now...
This is the best national team ever. They should have had a standing ovation at the end of the match.
 
Anyone know what Alex Song was thinking? Did Mandzukic say something to him?

This is worse than that stupid brickhead Pepe! It's amazing to see how selfish and undisciplined a player can be. Four years of work and wait and you let your coach, teammates and million compatriots down in one moment. It is inexcusable!
 
Anyone see how Assou-Ekotto tried headbutting his own teammate? Can't believe he acted like a cunt to his own teammate.
 
Reminded me of Lehmann and Marcio Amoroso several years ago at the BVB. I'm not sure, who was sent off, but I think it was Lehmann back than and he didn't head-butted his team mate. Unbelievable, they really embarrassed themselves yesterday.
 
Milanista said:
Guys.... you're forgetting Zidane's headbutt. It was a WC final and the best player and captain decided to get himself sent off! :D :D
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yeah, but zizou didn't headbutt a teammate but an opponent; and it wasn't just any opponent... it was materazzi. if there ever was an extenuating circumstance for smashing your head against your opponent's chest, it's gotta be this one :P
Gerd said:
Don't understand the people who are happy now...
This is the best national team ever. They should have had a standing ovation at the end of the match.
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i don't think spain was the best nt ever (not that i have another team in mind..... i just don't care for hyperbole), but i agree with Gerd. if i may give u a suggestion guys, don't ever publicly vent your satisfaction for someone else's demise. whatever your reasons might be, rejoicing in someone else's failure will only make you look petty.

i also definitely don't think this loss is an indictment of tiki taka. u might like tiki taka or not, but it's a fact that this is the 2nd most succesful tactic in the history of the game (after catenaccio). so to claim that spain's first failure in the last 4 years is a proof of the ineffectiveness of a tactic which as won everything over the last 6 years, doesn't really make any sense.

and it actually goes even beyond silverware. the real measure of tactical innovation isn't the silverware it helped winning, but the impact it had on the "tactical debate".
so the real legacy of tiki taka isn't the fact that it led spain and barcelona on top of the world for years.... it's the fact that this tactic had a resonance all over the world.
tiki taka is arguably the biggest tactical innovation of the last 20 years and it had the widest and deepest impact on the way football is played across the planet since sacchi.
again, like it or not, it's a fact that all over the world many teams play tiki taka-based football. of course every club, every national team gives its own interpretation of it. we all combined "the spanish innovation" with our own football school, with our own traditions, with our own tactical beliefs.
and the result is often something quite different from the original, so that u can hardly recognize anything spanish in that football anymore. but that's just what happens to great ideas (not only in football); eventually they evolve into something different..... something different which, however, wouldn't have been possible without them.

over the last 4 years everybody seemed to enjoy italy's football. and honestly who wouldn't? it's elegant, yet effective; it's technical, but always "vertical". and yes, on its surface it looks nothing like tiki taka. we're italians, we could never play that football as it's too distant from our culture. our football has always been vertical and we would never deploy a false 9, for instance.
however, different as it may be from spanish football, we wouldn't have prandelli's football today if it wasn't for tiki taka; because prandelli's football is an italian reinterpretation of that tactical idea. and mind u, i'm only talking about italy coz i'm italian. if i were german i would mention the huge impact tiki taka had on german football and so on....

so don't toast to tiki taka's death just yet, because that's not what happened yesterday. tiki taka is a big chapter in football history, like it or not. and even though this last season might have marked the beginning of the end for the "original idea", tiki taka's basics will live on in its many reinterpretations and evolutions, all across the world.
 
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African football is fucked and this makes me so sad

What the fuck is wrong with us?

Before there was huge demand in Europe there was passion that made a 40 plus do a dance afyer scoring now we do shit like this. Asshole ekotta and Song just dropped down my popularity list.
 
amineken22 said:
Wasn't Totti playing that role under Spaletti though? You know the year he won the Golden Boot.
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not really. a false 9 is an inside forward playing as a striker, whereas in spalletti's system, totti was a striker playing as an inside forward.
also a false 9 main duty isn't to score, but to create space for the upcoming midfielders and wingers, whereas totti's main responsibility was to score (which is why he got the golden boot), even though he also had to absolve the duties of an advanced playmaker.
finally spalletti's interpretation of totti's role came before tiki taka (and with it, the current interpretation of a false 9) was born. we might call spalletti's totti a "false 10". :D

however yes, the 2 roles are very similar and that was probably the closest we ever got to deploy a false 9 :))
 
lo zio said:
i don't think spain was the best nt ever (not that i have another team in mind..... i just don't care for hyperbole), but i agree with Gerd. if i may give u a suggestion guys, don't ever publicly vent your satisfaction for someone else's demise. whatever your reasons might be, rejoicing in someone else's failure will only make you look petty.

i also definitely don't think this loss is an indictment of tiki taka. u might like tiki taka or not, but it's a fact that this is the 2nd most succesful tactic in the history of the game (after catenaccio). so to claim that spain's first failure in the last 4 years is a proof of the ineffectiveness of a tactic which as won everything over the last 6 years, doesn't really make any sense.

and it actually goes even beyond silverware. the real measure of tactical innovation isn't the silverware it helped winning, but the impact it had on the "tactical debate".
so the real legacy of tiki taka isn't the fact that it led spain and barcelona on top of the world for years.... it's the fact that this tactic had a resonance all over the world.
tiki taka is arguably the biggest tactical innovation of the last 20 years and it had the widest and deepest impact on the way football is played across the planet since sacchi.
again, like it or not, it's a fact that all over the world many teams play tiki taka-based football. of course every club, every national team gives its own interpretation of it. we all combined "the spanish innovation" with our own football school, with our own traditions, with our own tactical beliefs.
and the result is often something quite different from the original, so that u can hardly recognize anything spanish in that football anymore. but that's just what happens to great ideas (not only in football); eventually they evolve into something different..... something different which, however, wouldn't have been possible without them.

over the last 4 years everybody seemed to enjoy italy's football. and honestly who wouldn't? it's elegant, yet effective; it's technical, but always "vertical". and yes, on its surface it looks nothing like tiki taka. we're italians, we could never play that football as it's too distant from our culture. our football has always been vertical and we would never deploy a false 9, for instance.
however, different as it may be from spanish football, we wouldn't have prandelli's football today if it wasn't for tiki taka; because prandelli's football is an italian reinterpretation of that tactical idea. and mind u, i'm only talking about italy coz i'm italian. if i were german i would mention the huge impact tiki taka had on german football and so on....

so don't toast to tiki taka's death just yet, because that's not what happened yesterday. tiki taka is a big chapter in football history, like it or not. and even though this last season might have marked the beginning of the end for the "original idea", tiki taka's basics will live on in its many reinterpretations and evolutions, all across the world.
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Great post, Ben! I share the exact same feelings. Plus, even Spain has attempted to evolve from tiki-taka. Del Bosque and co. recognized after their 2010 World Cup win that in order to maintain their incredible run of success they had to evolve. The side that won Euro 2012 had a vertical element to it in Navas and Pedro despite playing a false 9. They asked more of their outside backs, Alba and Arbeloa, in terms of getting involved in the attack (e.g., Jordi Alba's goal anyone?). I believe Del Bosque wanted to evolve again for this World Cup by bringing in a more natural #9 in Diego Costa to give a focal point to their attack. However, Costa never played in qualifiers and he looked to still be struggling with injury. He never looked to be a good fit with the rest of the team. Perhaps it might have been different if Navas wasn't injured and Negredo and Llorente were selected? Maybe those selections would not have mattered because this national team has been playing almost year-round since 2008? I can only imagine how difficult it is for a player of Xavi's age to recover from playing this many matches regardless of how advanced sports science is.

  • 2008: Euro 2008, FC Barcelona in UCL semis
  • 2009: Confed. Cup, FCB in UCL & Club World Cup finals
  • 2010: World Cup, FCB in UCL semis
  • 2011: Off, Real Madrid in UCL semis, FCB in UCL & Club World Cup finals
  • 2012: Euro 2012, FCB & RM in UCL semis
  • 2013: Confed. Cup, FCB & RM in UCL semis
  • 2014: World Cup, Atletico Madrid & RM in UCL final
Chile were excellent and certainly deserved their win (please, I'm not insinuating anything else), but the Spain team we've seen over the past two matches looks very tired and out of ideas. They really could have used more speed on the flanks, a healthy Thiago, and an in-form keeper (e.g., López, De Gea). However, I'm not going to blame Del Bosque because regarding squad selection because he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He is damned by the media if he does choose the old guard and damned if he doesn't. Given his healthy resources, he decided to go with the old guard and now we're talking about the end of a great generation of players. Del Bosque even said it himself that he did not expect to go out like this. Hindsight is always 20/20.
 
It's strange that. Everybody is focusing on Spain's failure and not on the fantastic performance of Chile. Before that Holland supposedly was brilliant against Spain.
Yesterday they showde that they are not that good.

Chile have a great team.
 
Jamezinho said:
Perhaps you should focus on how well Australia played.
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Aye sounds like Gerd didn't watch the game. Netherlands played like shit in the first half before switching to their trusted 4-4-2 in the second.. From that pt on it was a lot of one way traffic. Australia played really well as a whole though.
 
I'm so happy right now. Colombia is the only team that hasn't dissapointed me yet, I like what Pekerman has done with the team, James is still on the same form I left in from last season's Ligue 1 and if it wasn't for their poor CB I'd be backing them up to win it all.
 
amineken22 said:
I'm so happy right now. Colombia is the only team that hasn't dissapointed me yet, I like what Pekerman has done with the team, James is still on the same form I left in from last season's Ligue 1 and if it wasn't for their poor CB I'd be backing them up to win it all.
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J.B. Quintero snuffed your <James allDay!!!
 
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