World Cup 2014

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:35 am

I gotcha you. I was looking at that backwards.

Zero · Post by **Zero** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:37 am

That being said they are screwed.

Katzenfreund · Post by **Katzenfreund** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:51 am

SCCat · Post by **SCCat** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:55 am

The Ticos have qualified (and have a very decent chance to win the group) in a group that included Uruguay, England and Italy.

That's just amazing. Good work CR.

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:56 am

Katzenfreund wrote:
CalStateTempe wrote:Katz,

How goes things in the Fatherland? Is it WC crazy over there? Seriously believe Germany is the team to beat.

Some of my favorite times living/Traveling in Europe were during EuroCup/WorldCup years.

Hopp Suisse.
Spent the days since the beginning of the tournament in Le Mans, France (24 hours race), Switzerland and now here in Austria for "our" home F1 GP. The German sentiment towards this WC has been rather reserved, since it's been the common opinion among fans that the team is light years away from our great squads of the past. Jogi Löw's suitability for the coaching job is debatable and the win over Portugal left a lot to be desired. However, those three points moved the anticipation needle towards cautious optimism, considering previous occasional concerns that we wouldn't even make it out of the group stage (which can still happen). But most fans here take it one game at a time and so there's a lot of World Cup partying going on, nevertheless.

Swiss fans are ecstatic since they've got a promising team and 2014 is only their fourth (third consecutive) WC since 1966. Strong, almost exuberant national pride makes for a lot of red flags with white crosses in any given place.
I remember shooting in the Swiss Alps at one of the gnarliest MTB downhill World Cups in the history of the series. Rain, mud and a terrain so steep that my guys had problems getting their cameras up the mountain. Several riders had to be airlifted to the hospital, others rode injured (broken fingers, etc.) after being involved in one of the many heavy practice crashes. Eventually, during an unbelievable finale among the remaining top ten riders, the proud event announcer's voice blared through the speakers: "Attention everyone, Roger Federer hat gerade die nächste Runde der French Open erreicht. Again, our Roger Federer has just advanced at the French Open!" This was comparable to a proclamation of the latest Olympic figure skating result during a MMA cage match. Needless to say that it raised a pretty good laugh from everybody. The Swiss organizers were swollen with pride, though.

Now, for tomorrow's game against Ghana I'm in the best place for a (hopeful) German win: Austria. The passionate hate and envy, harbored by many Austrians towards German football teams, is almost unparalleled and a reliable source for amusement on behalf of our fans. The GER vs. POR game thread in Austria's largest broadsheet newspaper had over 5000(!) posts, the post game analysis made it to over 1700 comments. Adjusted to US population numbers, it's the equivalent of 200,000 and 68,000 posts respectively. A victory in tomorrow's game against Ghana would best be compared to an Arizona NCAA Tournament win while being among scummies in Phoenix. Not at Arcadia Tavern, though, which is better than McKale anyway.

I'll be in Switzerland starting on July 7. I'm guessing I'll be too late to see this ecstatic fanaticism of which you speak, but maybe I'm wrong. I do like being in countries that are "still in it."

Zero · Post by **Zero** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:12 am

Italy vs Uruguay is gonna be good stuff.

legallykenny · Post by **legallykenny** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:42 am

Kind of disappointed we won't get to see England find a new epic way to lose in the QFs. That being said, love seeing their arrogant fucking fans put in their place. Apparently the excuse this time is going to be that FIFA screwed them by not giving them a seed in place of Switzerland.

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:46 am

Zero wrote:Italy vs Uruguay is gonna be good stuff.

cage match

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:48 am

Why do little countries like Uruguay and Costa Rica hold their own against big nations when it comes to team sports? I always expect that the more population you have, the greater your talent pool.

Does it really just not matter once you get to around a total population of something like 3 million? That out of that number, you're going to find 15 or so players that are as good as the best 15 players that a country of 60 million plus can produce? Like there's some kind of bottle-neck of potential talent no matter how wide the vessel???

SCCat · Post by **SCCat** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 12:18 pm

By the way...CONCACAF so far is 4 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw

Miller time · Post by **Miller time** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 12:19 pm

Good sign for the US that the CONCACAF teams are playing well, might be a little underrated.

SCCat · Post by **SCCat** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 1:32 pm

Congrats France on winning their group. It will be very interesting to see how far they can go in the knockouts.

ASUHATER! · Post by **ASUHATER!** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 1:34 pm

France and Germany are good

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 1:38 pm

Is France that good?

TheBlackLodge · Post by **TheBlackLodge** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 1:41 pm

LOL @ that Swiss free kick goal

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 1:49 pm

How confident are you that USA will at least get a draw against Portugal.

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 1:49 pm

That Swiss goalie is the opposite of Mexico's.

cue swiss cheese jokes.

LH: Very, in fact I think US takes the win.

NYCat · Post by **NYCat** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 1:51 pm

French are good

SCCat · Post by **SCCat** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 2:05 pm

Longhorned wrote:How confident are you that USA will at least get a draw against Portugal.

There are some interesting cross currents outside of just "who has the better players."

1. Is Portugal mentally strong? If I had to rate all 32 teams' mental fortitude, I would have Portugal in the weakest third. So after getting totally shelled in their first game, do they come back stronger than ever knowing they have to preform or do we get a listless/folding performance?

2. How will the weather effect the teams? Manaus was a mistake to hold games at. Supposedly it's going to be 85+ degrees and 85%+ humidity. Who will be able to adapt to the weather better? Besides the physical element there is a mental element and this dovetails back into point #1: do the miserable conditions start effecting the mindset (which might already be in a not so good place), drive and concentration of Portugal?

3. USA sits at 3 points, Portugal 0. Portugal could theoretically take a draw and try to pin their hopes on outright beating Ghana by a large goal differential (since Germany shelled them so badly), but the reality is at -4 goal differential they probably need to go for a win. The USA will know that and sit back in the miserable conditions and absorb the pressure and let Portugal run themselves out of the game in the miserable conditions.

So lots of cross currents that really have the chance of piggybacking onto each other to crush Portugal. Not mentally strong, conditions sapping your energy in about 45 minutes but you know you have to go for the win even though you physically and mentally feel like crap?

And Klinsmann will know all that and plan accordingly to bring the most out of all those disadvantages for Portugal.

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 2:25 pm

SCCat wrote:
Longhorned wrote:How confident are you that USA will at least get a draw against Portugal.
There are some interesting cross currents outside of just "who has the better players."

1. Is Portugal mentally strong? If I had to rate all 32 teams' mental fortitude, I would have Portugal in the weakest third. So after getting totally shelled in their first game, do they come back stronger than ever knowing they have to preform or do we get a listless/folding performance?

2. How will the weather effect the teams? Manaus was a mistake to hold games at. Supposedly it's going to be 85+ degrees and 85%+ humidity. Who will be able to adapt to the weather better? Besides the physical element there is a mental element and this dovetails back into point #1: do the miserable conditions start effecting the mindset (which might already be in a not so good place), drive and concentration of Portugal?

3. USA sits at 3 points, Portugal 0. Portugal could theoretically take a draw and try to pin their hopes on outright beating Ghana by a large goal differential (since Germany shelled them so badly), but the reality is at -4 goal differential they probably need to go for a win. The USA will know that and sit back in the miserable conditions and absorb the pressure and let Portugal run themselves out of the game in the miserable conditions.

So lots of cross currents that really have the chance of piggybacking onto each other to crush Portugal. Not mentally strong, conditions sapping your energy in about 45 minutes but you know you have to go for the win even though you physically and mentally feel like crap?

And Klinsmann will know all that and plan accordingly to bring the most out of all those disadvantages for Portugal.

Nice. Thanks, sc. Can't wait.

NYCat · Post by **NYCat** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 2:57 pm

Guise US national team just got a great supporter!

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 3:19 pm

Supporting how, Piers?

SCCat · Post by **SCCat** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 3:31 pm

Just amazing

Honduras 1, Ecuador 0

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 6:15 pm

Longhorned wrote:Supporting how, Piers?

Hopefully by killing himself.

thenewazcats · Post by **thenewazcats** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 12:30 am

Good read: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/longfo ... index.html

SCCat · Post by **SCCat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 10:27 am

Iran played very good D in the first half and here at the 68' they really have Argentina on the back foot.

The typical thing to see when the underdog has you on the back foot without capitalizing is to see a very against the run of play counter for a goal. Hopefully Iran can avoid that and keep doing what they're doing.

SCCat · Post by **SCCat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 10:50 am

Man that's a heart breaker for Iran

SCCat · Post by **SCCat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 11:42 am

Let's see another nice 4-0 German victory over Ghana this afternoon.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 12:27 pm

SCCat wrote:Let's see another nice 4-0 German victory over Ghana this afternoon.

I really want to root for Ghana here.

SCCat · Post by **SCCat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 12:41 pm

Chicat wrote:
SCCat wrote:Let's see another nice 4-0 German victory over Ghana this afternoon.
I really want to root for Ghana here.

I understand the feeling but...you want to see Ghana basically eliminated with a loss. Leaving Ghana even on one point (so a draw with Germany here) going into their last game against a potentially despondent Portugal could lead to a 3 or 4 to zero Ghana win, giving Ghana 4 points and a good enough goal differential to beat us out for second place in the group.

A straight win for Ghana over Germany would be even more dangerous for us. Like much more.

SCCat · Post by **SCCat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 12:45 pm

SCCat wrote:
Longhorned wrote:How confident are you that USA will at least get a draw against Portugal.
There are some interesting cross currents outside of just "who has the better players."

1. Is Portugal mentally strong? If I had to rate all 32 teams' mental fortitude, I would have Portugal in the weakest third. So after getting totally shelled in their first game, do they come back stronger than ever knowing they have to preform or do we get a listless/folding performance?

2. How will the weather effect the teams? Manaus was a mistake to hold games at. Supposedly it's going to be 85+ degrees and 85%+ humidity. Who will be able to adapt to the weather better? Besides the physical element there is a mental element and this dovetails back into point #1: do the miserable conditions start effecting the mindset (which might already be in a not so good place), drive and concentration of Portugal?

3. USA sits at 3 points, Portugal 0. Portugal could theoretically take a draw and try to pin their hopes on outright beating Ghana by a large goal differential (since Germany shelled them so badly), but the reality is at -4 goal differential they probably need to go for a win. The USA will know that and sit back in the miserable conditions and absorb the pressure and let Portugal run themselves out of the game in the miserable conditions.

So lots of cross currents that really have the chance of piggybacking onto each other to crush Portugal. Not mentally strong, conditions sapping your energy in about 45 minutes but you know you have to go for the win even though you physically and mentally feel like crap?

And Klinsmann will know all that and plan accordingly to bring the most out of all those disadvantages for Portugal.

More mind games for Portugal after the first half of Germany v Ghana.

Germany > Portugal
USA > Ghana
Germany and Ghana play a close half

So if you rated teams based on results, the chart might look like

1. Germany
2. USA
3. Ghana
4. Portugal

With this first half of Germany v. Ghana, Portugal gets more reinforcement that they are playing like (and might in fact be?) the worst team in the group.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 12:53 pm

SCCat wrote:
Chicat wrote:
SCCat wrote:Let's see another nice 4-0 German victory over Ghana this afternoon.
I really want to root for Ghana here.
I understand the feeling but...you want to see Ghana basically eliminated with a loss. Leaving Ghana even on one point (so a draw with Germany here) going into their last game against a potentially despondent Portugal could lead to a 3 or 4 to zero Ghana win, giving Ghana 4 points and a good enough goal differential to beat us out for second place in the group.

A straight win for Ghana over Germany would be even more dangerous for us. Like much more.

I know I know, but in any other circumstance I'm rooting for an African nation to take down a favorite.

Ghana is playing inspired. Looks like this truly is the Group of Death.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:22 pm

Wow Ghana!

But how about the German keeper acting like a total asshole yelling at his defense on both goals?

SCCat · Post by **SCCat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:23 pm

That's big trouble.

If this stands we're probably going to need a result against Germany 1) after having just played in Manaus (so fatigue questions) and 2) with Germany still needing a result themselves to advance.

MrBug708 · Post by **MrBug708** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:26 pm

Ghana always finds a way to troll the US

SCCat · Post by **SCCat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:29 pm

I don't know if this has been the best game of the tournament so far, but it's gotta be damn close.

2-2 with two lead changes so far.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:32 pm

I wish all Futbol matches were as awesome as this one.

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:38 pm

Black stars are no joke; really dangerous team.

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:40 pm

Isn't a draw here a good result for USA? Like even better than a German victory? And a Ghana win the worst possible result for USA?

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:45 pm

German win is the best result if you have no confidence that we can beat Germany.

SCCat · Post by **SCCat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:47 pm

Longhorned wrote:Isn't a draw here a good result for USA? Like even better than a German victory? And a Ghana win the worst possible result for USA?

It's a longer analysis that I'll get into perhaps tomorrow before our game, but I think a Ghana draw here (and then the expected Ghana thrashing of Portugal in the final group game) would create a goal differential problem for us that might make it necessary to straight beat Portugal tomorrow instead of going for a draw ourselves.

ASUHATER! · Post by **ASUHATER!** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:50 pm

yeah a draw here means we need a win tomorrow much more than we did before.

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:52 pm

SCCat wrote:
Longhorned wrote:Isn't a draw here a good result for USA? Like even better than a German victory? And a Ghana win the worst possible result for USA?
It's a longer analysis that I'll get into perhaps tomorrow before our game, but I think a Ghana draw here (and then the expected Ghana thrashing of Portugal in the final group game) would create a goal differential problem for us that might make it necessary to straight beat Portugal tomorrow instead of going for a draw ourselves.

I'm a greedy man. Portugal is down, so go for the win. We've beaten Germany recently. We can hang in this group without a white flag. I shouldn't be this greedy about USA Futbol.

Miller time · Post by **Miller time** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:52 pm

SCCat wrote:
Longhorned wrote:Isn't a draw here a good result for USA? Like even better than a German victory? And a Ghana win the worst possible result for USA?
It's a longer analysis that I'll get into perhaps tomorrow before our game, but I think a Ghana draw here (and then the expected Ghana thrashing of Portugal in the final group game) would create a goal differential problem for us that might make it necessary to straight beat Portugal tomorrow instead of going for a draw ourselves.

Wouldn't we advance over Ghana then with a draw against Portugal or Germany?

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:53 pm

Balls to the walls!

SCCat · Post by **SCCat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:53 pm

Umm...woah. I hope those guys are ok. Yikes

SCCat · Post by **SCCat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:56 pm

Miller time wrote:
SCCat wrote:
Longhorned wrote:Isn't a draw here a good result for USA? Like even better than a German victory? And a Ghana win the worst possible result for USA?
It's a longer analysis that I'll get into perhaps tomorrow before our game, but I think a Ghana draw here (and then the expected Ghana thrashing of Portugal in the final group game) would create a goal differential problem for us that might make it necessary to straight beat Portugal tomorrow instead of going for a draw ourselves.
Wouldn't we advance over Ghana then with a draw against Portugal or Germany?

Goal differential issues could become big. Like if we drew Portugal and then lost 1-0 to Germany I would expect we wouldn't go through.

SCCat · Post by **SCCat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:59 pm

Chicat wrote:German win is the best result if you have no confidence that we can beat Germany.

It's tough to get a result from Germany in the best of circumstances.

To have to travel 3000 miles, play a game in the middle of the unholiest jungle you've ever seen, fly 3000 miles back and play Germany on one day less rest and get a result is...tough for me to imagine. I would have to put myself into the "not much confidence" category there.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 2:07 pm

If we could beat their asses in WWII, we can beat their asses anywhere.

'Murica!!!!!

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 2:11 pm

Goal differential is another one of those challenges Americans face in trying to identify with this sport.

"A win is a win!"

"No it isn't."

"Well, we beat them, so we own the head-to-head."

"No you don't. You beat them, but they might beat somebody else by so many points that you go home."

"Oh. So our players should have just fallen down and writhed in pain. Now I get it."

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