Amazing. Just amazing.
Van Persie for golden boot?

I love that Busquets (cunt) went missing in the 2nd half.

Slow it down, a bit early for all that?

i don't think so, the way they are playing they're a strong candidate for the final. even if they somehow don't make it and go for 3rd place that's the top # of games to play. forlán made golden boot with 3rd place.

BUT i'd add robben to the pot. holy fuck it's great to see him play outside of pep's boring shadow. he was ON FIRE. a joy to watch.


you can't phrophesise the past though. everybody knows this team is old and can be beaten.

what we didn't know is that they could be beaten THIS FUCKING HARD.

tikikata is over. fast transitions are on the rise.

(and fucking del bosque a dunce for insisting on keeping javi martinez out.)

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A QUESTION FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO KNOW VAN GAAL:

is this a signature system for him? or has he been klopp-inspired?

ps- GET READY FOR CHILE, MAN.

maybe they'll knock out spain haaa haaa haaaa

The aussie cpt is a palace player so I have to support them
(But c'mon Chile! )

Props to Australia they didn't let Chile totally beat them up and more or less competed until in the final minutes of injury time they just couldn't keep it up! Oh to be sure, they were down, and very likely going to lose, but 2-1 meant they had a miraculous chance, 3-1 meant its over. While they should be proud of their showing, they know more than anyone that moral victories are not necessarily actual victories.

I was really looking forward to seeing Chile and I loved watching them attack but I can see better quality forwards running their defence ragged. And as the game went on I actually started to want Australia to do it. In terms of chances, they deserved at least a draw. Cahill was great and probably deserved man of the match despite being on the losing side.

Yup


me too!!


Exactly.

i'm going to take that back.

they disappointed me. in spite of the 3-1. i expected more but after 20 minutes they went awry.

their 3-man defense is like an exposed jugular and they didn't have the creativity i was hoping for.

chile: you shall not pass

Agree. Assuming tonight wasn't just a blip and even if Holland don't make the finals, if Van Persie's in the mood and can stay fit, he's guaranteed to score goals. But I've lost count of seeing Holland blow teams away in early rounds then suddenly come up short when it mattered. Take nothing away from what they did tonight, though, albeit against a truly shocking Spain.

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Not sure how Klopp plays or if Van Gaal even has a signature tactic but I know the system we saw tonight was introduced quite late in their build up to the tournament after Strootman got injured and Van Gaal effectively had to create an entirely different set up. There were serious doubts as to whether they'd even qualify out of the group because of it.

it was like watching dortmund on hypersteroids! fast, aggressive, amazing--but a lot more talent.

sublime.

i screamed like i was dutch.

Haha. I suppose I was concentrating more on how bad Spain were than how well Holland were playing. It was the same for me when Bayern beat Barcelona. I defended Del Bosque for sticking with the old guard but have to admit now that it was probably a mistake.It definitely feels like this could be a tournament too many for Xavi.

spain had a good first half though-- it's easy to forget that. i was going to mention how silva had shined (except for his missed chance at a goal, but still, he seemed to be having a good day). AND THEN…

not sure if fatigue or fouls or what, but i do believe holland gutted them actively-- spain's defeat wasn't all that self-inflicted, except maybe for san iker's mistake.

spain should react and make 2nd place though. and javi martinez needs to be there because he's young, strong, fast, and a fucking champ. also, bring back villa-- he always scores. unlike silva.

Netherlands did to Spain what Spurs did to Heat, they simply outplayed a team that was clearly fatigued for whatever reasons, be it physically or even just mentally. Athletes are human too and none of us are immune to the self-defeating feeling of, "Fuck its just one damned thing going wrong after another.." In the realm of theology we'd call that a Divine Reality check, even if God is merely a construct to define the bigger picture in a longest term sequence of events. If we flip a coin long enough, we get to 50-50, even if for a long run it keeps flipping one way for a long sequence, the math will even out with a string of opposite flips. So in sports, which is really just a matter of chance, we can make the same simple prediction. If the ball breaks a certain way for a team for a long time, we can easily predict that at a certain point all their lucky breaks will reverse and suddenly everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. This is what is happening to Miami Heat, and it could be what is happening to Spain if they don't get a hold of it at take a gamblers' chance that the odds just might flip their way if they are dedicated enough to a longer sequence of events ;)

Missed the best part where he busted a Ray Allen/Kobe Bryant fake and totally slipped by the defender to make himself open!

Something a pundit said which echoes Suchfriends point is that Spain simply lacked energy. It may not be fatigue in any physical sense but just a group of players who've lost some of their drive. They were ok in the first half but even then there wasn't really any spark there, nothing that reminded me of why I started loving Spain in the first place - which was probably more evident in Chile's first half than Spain's.

Well I missed a lot on here!

Here's my tuppence.

You talk abut how Ramos was awful etc. Honestly, Pique did the job of making them BOTH look bad. He was awful. Like, really bad.
As for Casillas you could't help feel bad for him. This is one of the best keepers around and he chooses today to crumble? Shame.

For a one footed donkey Robben still manages to get the better of defenders. God knows how though.

My FB feed was clogged with people saying Netherlands to win etc. How short are their memories?! They'll crumble just as a hard as Liverpool always do.

Not sure I understand the point you're making there. Are you saying Spain simply ran out of luck?

well done, colombia! it was not an easy match, and yet they won 3-0. greece maybe deserved a goal, but instead got only a goalpost… oops! still a lot to happen in this group-- curious about japan and ivory coast.

BUFFON INJURED!!!

my fantasy team is boned :(

Ew that's a harsh one. No backup option?

Yes, in part. Sports is equal parts effort and luck. The ball bounces your way, but that is not enough if you don't capitalize on your opportunities. However, no matter HOW talented or skilled you are, if the ball doesn't bounce your way you're fucked, period. So, when teams go on long winning streaks, clearly the ball has bounced their way more times than it hasn't. That being said, it is pure logic and math that inevitably they are going to get a few bad breaks. It doesn't mean they are finished, but these instances of suddenly increasing bad luck tend to have a more powerful psychological effect on talented or winning teams. When the ball stops bouncing their way, even while they've been giving it all they've got, then they start to break down mentally. It becomes, "What is next??" Sometimes winners get so used to winning that they can't fathom when those lucky breaks stop falling their way. Its not a death sentence, but it means they have to work that much harder to overcome it and survive until the ball bounces their way again, which it may.

If you flip a coin ten times and get ten heads in a row, then you know there will be some tails coming up soon. If you get 5 tails in a row, that can be your season right there! If you are really that transcendentally good you can overcome the bad luck and keep playing until you get a heads or two..

For example, the LA Kings and Rangers were playing for the Stanley Cup in hockey last night.. The game went to double OT, and there were like 7, probably even 8 shots that hit the post! That can be totally deflating. The Kings were looking all the more weary, because they were outshooting the Rangers 49-30 until they finally got the winning shot towards the end of 2OT (by the way it was the longest game in Stanley Cup history)... Had the Kings folded under their clearly bad luck (they had FIVE of those post hits) the Rangers may have been able to capitalize on it. Instead, the Kings just kept subbing fresh legs into the game, kept attacking the goal, and finally managed to flip their luck and got one in to seal it and take home the trophy. Anyone watching could see that those 5 post-hits were totally just bad luck on Kings part, they were all great shots that just didn't go in.

To make it simple, when teams win A LOT they have sort of used up their luck, and they can expect some boneheaded mistakes, some bad officiating, or some rare missed shots that normally sail right in. A dynasty level team can overcome even these, but not usually.

some iranian bunghole who will probably score negative points.

looks like gigi's injury is not so terrible though, so he should be back soon.

good thing for italy they have sirigu though he's part-bruised or something.

whatever happens, should be a great match.

----

meanwhile, uruguay seems to be half-assing it, only ahead 1-0. this could cost them later if things eventually come down to goal difference.

Diesel, I didn't say it was entirely on luck, but in ALL sports its definitely about using talent and skill to capitalize on lucky breaks, period. Its the fundamental, in fact, ontological reality of sports! The ball bounces where it bounces, sometimes the refs blows the whistle (or don't) when they will.. Yes, teams with talent obviously take advantage of good luck, because the losing team equally faces the same kind of good or bad luck, and yet they lose. My entire premise is that good teams eventually run out of good luck because by the sheer natural odds they are playing a lot of high stakes games. Shit happens. In particular, my point is this, that when good teams start facing some blatantly bad luck sometimes it causes a psychological break down because what usually works is not working, athletes are human too even championship caliber ones. This wasn't intended to take anything away from Spain, there is a world of difference from capitalizing on good luck and the more pejorative "just getting lucky."

Superb equalizing goal by Costa Rica by the way, folks be sleeping on those CONCACAF teams and they shouldn't

The second goal just two minutes later was even better, they were still finishing replays of the first one!!

That bad huh??


Shouldn't be rooting for dirty ass Uruguey in the first place!




Simple Truth:

Ball

Don't

Lie

I had just literally sent a text to my friend saying that Uruguay had 10 minutes with injury time to shut me up and equalize this match, then as I pushed "send" Costa Rica started clowning with that 3rd goal.

jeezus fucking christ--uruguay old, slow, TERRIBLE and in the end fucking DISGRACEFUL

no wonder they almost didn't qualify and had to fight new zealand to make it here. tabárez might be a nice old man who loves che guevara but his game plan was an atrocity vs a young fast team in the heat. cavani NOWHERE. wasted chances. wow.

tabárez might be a nice old man who loves che guevara but i think he has diminished capacity at this point. this was an all-around terrible display.

campbell definitely the game's best player. just heard he plays for arsenal but wenger doesn't use him-- lolol, he best give him a chance now.

Far post three times.
That was fun.

I liked Gamboa when they were lead 1-0, and Campbell too, obviously.
The Costa Rica keeper had a really good game there.

Next surprise? Bosnia vs Argentina? Algeria vs Belgium?

Hodgson fielding an attack-minded team for Liverpudlians and guests, that's fun too (on paper).
Sirigu is a very good gk.

They are a dirty ass team, and when their skill ran out all they had left was a barrage of dirty plays. Constant shoves, grabs, kicks, elbows, whacks, throws, yet ironically no good football to speak of ;)

Well, Wenger probably would like him to play for the London club, but it's got something to do with permit, work permit, whatnot or I don't know what at all.
I can't remember precisely what I read in the Guardian, but he would have not been allowed to play in Great Britain. Why? It was too odd for me to catch.

that's classic uruguay, and costa rica were no saints either--hence the well-deserved penalty. some physicality is part of the game.

i said IN THE END disgraceful because as time ran out their fouling increased to their own clock-running detriment, and maxi pereira's foul was beyond cynical and just pure stupid lashing out in frustration. well-deserved red card.



that bears repeating.

We shall see now won't we. Thus far, they aren't showing up. They have a few more games to step it up. I think they're a lock to advance, but that is not much for them now is it.

In ALL ball sports the rule remains the same, "Ball Don't Lie." If refs make a bad call, if a team plays dirty, or if a team is over hyped and can't match it with their play on the field/court/pitch then the ball bounces where it is supposed to to equalize it, period.



If you believe otherwise why not get out of ball sports to begin with, I hear boat racing is nice ;)