Predictions for the final:
- my mom's: BRA - NED: 2-0
- mine: BRA - NED: 0-2
- my dad's: GER - NED: 1-2

While the ref left em play, Brazil started all the extra physical stuff, Colombia just responded appropriately. I LOVED that Netherlands game even though it was invaluably boring, but it was nice to see Costa Rica put down a CONCACAF shut out and for Netherlands to attack the shit out of it and be baffled like Belgium was against USA..

Costa Rica had a great run, they should be well equipped to do some damage at the Centenial Cup in 2016 where 5 CONCACAF and ten CONMEBOL teams are meeting for a tournament hosted in USA. I expect USA, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica and Honduras do so some damage in that one, and the 2015 Gold Cup will be great practice.

These semis would be so much more epic if Brazil didn't have those injuries and suspensions.

I still have Germany Netherlands as my Final, but Argentina can pull of a great upset the way they have picked up their game in the Knock Out rounds.. The Germans I had favored to win it all but I think if the Dutch can sneak by Argentina they will take it home FINALLY after so many failed Finals..

Damn...what happened to Neymar though...that shit shouldn't have happened. Ijust heard about the borken vertebrae on Saturday. That's really fucked up. I may not be a fan of his...but I'd hate to see this shit type of stuff happen(I don't know how serious it is...but it sounds really fucking serious). It's a shame that had to happen.

As !@#$%! mentioned, Brazil shouldn't have started playing so ruff expecting Colombia to bitch out or the refs to bail them out. Instead, Neymar became collateral damage :(

I don't like it, but it went both ways in that game, even Brazil's coach mentioned that. Neymar going out singlehandedly knocks Brazil out of the Semis if you ask me, after all, they were shaky even at full strength!

cracked vertebrae is fucking shitty.

Fuck Thom Yorke here is the Tim Howard Dance


We can dance if we want to

We can leave your friends behind

Because if your friends don't dance well if they don't dance..

then they're no friends of mine

If a team playing 4-4-2 wins the world cup, Michael Cox will probably shut down zonalmarking in sheer disgust.

ha ha ha ha

it's probably the compromise between sabella's 5-3-2 and messi's 4-3-3

but the balance was right-- neither too much nor too little defense, no?


wishes: germany argentina TBD
probably will happen: brasil hacks and buys their way to the trophy -- a cristo redentor miracle!


true enough but none of that was appropriate. teams will try what they can though, so for me the big criminal there was the useless ref.

speaking of which-- what's worse? a broken spine or a tooth mark? it's funny how the suárez bite becomes a circus but neymar's injury was merely attributed to "una jogada". i can see the fnords!

---

thanks demonyo and h8kurdt for nots on europa league. i wonder if it's the same for dutch, french, italian, smaller spanish teams… honestly i'm looking forward to seeing a little deeper into the smaller european teams. lots of world-class talent. where else am i going to see james rodríguez? is monaco going to the CL this year?

oh, another bonus of that stream is: CONCACAF gold cup + EURO qualifiers!

ps-- that site used to carry the prem as well but NBC bought it and they are a pain in the ass to get, i.e. available only on expensive packages.

Agreed to that completely. Also I didn't mean it was necessarily appropriate so much as that Colombia seemed to think so! As to the particular play that broke Neymar's back, THAT was definitely out of line, but I'm also not sure it was intended to be that bad. It wasn't exactly an accident, but I don't think he intended to break the dude's back..


I agree that the Neymar injury should get more coverage BUT the Suarez incident was part of a long standing narrative of him cheating in big games. There were RUNNING bets on when he would bite somebody! So who the cap fit, let them wear it yo. This was Suarez's fifth strike, meanwhile we can give Colombia as a team the benefit of the doubt for now.

^^ oh yeah i don't mean the scandal of zúñiga but the scandal of the ref and his conduct and what he allowed and how that turned. instead, fifa congratulated him for his performance! and he's a candidate to ref the final. i'm not making this up!

http://www.marca.com/2014/07/05/futb...404513346.html

http://www.20minutos.es/deportes/not...bia-2185731/0/

boggles the fucking mind

I'm like wait.. what??

Shit, wait.. WHAAAT??

EXACTLY.

The Europa league isn't appreciated by the French clubs either, as they fear a good run there would damage their season, seeing them struggle to remain somewhere around the 12th place.
In 1994-95, Bordeaux finished 7th. They played qualification games and reached the equivalent of the Europa League. They eventually reached the final in 1996. They lost it, but on the way they had eliminated Milan AC 3-2 on aggregate. It showed how much the team was strong with Lizarazu, Zidane, Witschge, Dugarry... Yet, in the national league, they barely escaped relegation, finished 16th, and saw Zidane go to Juve, Duga go to Barcelona (he did) for all the good they'd done; Liza stayed at Bordeaux, but the team got down in 1996-97.

As a viewer, I like the idea of the EL, though I only get access to games when there's only 8 teams left.
I wouldn't see any Portuguese club if there were no airing of this cup.
Plus it once provided a gung-ho final in 2001, with Liverpool beating Alaves (poor Alaves) 5-4...

And yes, Monaco will play the CL.

That's really fucked up! Who in their right mind would choose that fucking moron?

FIFA is rigged. all high money futbol is rigged.

bra/ger lineups are up!

copypasta:

12J. César(G)(G)M. Neuer1
23Maicon(D)(M)P. Lahm16
13Dante(D)(D)J. Boateng20
4David Luiz(D)(D)M. Hummels5
6Marcelo(D)(D)B. Höwedes4
5F. Rosa(M)(M)Schweinsteiger7
17L. Gustavo(M)(M)S. Khedira6
7Hulk(M)(F)T. Müller13
11Oscar(M)(M)T. Kroos18
20Bernard(M)(M)M. Özil8
9Fred(F)(F)M. Klose11
Substitutes
14Maxwell(D)(G)Weidenfeller22
2Dani Alves(D)(D)Mertesacker17
18Hernanes(M)(F)Podolski10
22Victor(G)(G)R R Zieler12
19Willian(M)(D)Grosskreutz2
21Jô(F)(F)A Schürrle9
16Ramires(M)(F)M. Götze19
1Jefferson(G)(M)C. Kramer23
15Henrique(D)(M)J. Draxler14
8Paulinho(M)(D)M. Ginter3
(D)E. Durm15
Coach
L. F. ScolariJ. Löw

am i dreaming?

this is INSANE

karma has to be real

--

this is ridiculous

AM I DREAMING????

Hahahaha this is insane!!!! Yes!!!! FUCK BRAZIL!

This is the most insane futbol game ive ever seen.. insane. Germany is playing with the cheat codes .. to be sure there WILL be riots tonite in brazil

Bloody hell!