World Cup 2014 discussion thread.

Seems like a bit of a pity award for Messi. He played well but didn't really deserve the Golden Ball.

You deserve -1 for comment like that.

SBSP wrote:Seems like a bit of a pity award for Messi. He played well but didn't really deserve the Golden Ball.

Agreed, Rodriguez should have won it.

Keyser Söze wrote:You deserve -1 for comment like that.

Messi is my favourite player, and anyone who thinks he had a poor tournament is clueless. Still, I really don't think he was the best player, maybe top three.

Who do you think is the best player?

Congradulations germany great achievement for the motherland

FCB wrote:Who do you think is the best player?

Probably Robben. James is in with a shout too.

my world cup team

For me:


Honestly I can't help but feel Mascherano, Vlaar, and maybe even Kroos are being slightly overrated because they performed in the semi-finals. People have very short memories.

SBSP wrote:For me:

Neuer
Lahm Vlaar Hummels Blind
Mascherano Medel
Robben Messi James
Muller

Honestly I can't help but feel Mascherano, Vlaar, and maybe even Kroos are being slightly overrated because they performed in the semi-finals. People have very short memories.

mascherano was very good during entire competition

messi scored gols in nigeria, iran and bosnia  

He got the assist against Switzerland and created the space that led to the goal against Belgium. This is all while essentially being double or triple marked throughout the entire tournament.

Straightforward world domination by the Europeans.

SBSP wrote:For me:

Neuer
Lahm Vlaar Hummels Blind
Mascherano Medel
Robben Messi James
Muller

Honestly I can't help but feel Mascherano, Vlaar, and maybe even Kroos are being slightly overrated because they performed in the semi-finals. People have very short memories.

benqbiggis wrote:

SBSP wrote:For me:

Neuer
Lahm Vlaar Hummels Blind
Mascherano Medel
Robben Messi James
Muller

Honestly I can't help but feel Mascherano, Vlaar, and maybe even Kroos are being slightly overrated because they performed in the semi-finals. People have very short memories.

mascherano was very good during entire competition

messi scored gols in nigeria, iran and bosnia  

Mascherano wasn't just good during the semis. He had the most interceptions of any player throughout the whole tournament. He played great.

As SBSP says below, Messi was still vital in the knockout stages. The only games in which Messi didn't play as well was the semifinal and final. But this was to be expected since Argentina were playing better opponents. It's amazing how people expect Messi to do everything and when he delivers, they always come up with the excuse of playing poor opponents or having Xavi/Iniesta helping him.

SBSP wrote:He got the assist against Switzerland and created the space that led to the goal against Belgium. This is all while essentially being double or triple marked throughout the entire tournament.

Watching Mueller win the World Cup gave my eyes leprosy. 

I still can't believe that was a foul against Higuain.

It's just another reflection of the ridiculous protection goalkeepers receive.  That's as dangerous, if not more dangerous than a two-footed challenge that gets the ball.

SBSP wrote:

FCB wrote:Who do you think is the best player?

Probably Robben. James is in with a shout too.

Robben? I could possibly understand if you'd said James but Robben I thought was obviously worse than Messi.

I've been thinking about it some more, and you're probably right. Robben and Messi were pretty close, but Messi carried Argentina more than Robben carried the Netherlands.

Glen Miller wrote:It's just another reflection of the ridiculous protection goalkeepers receive.  That's as dangerous, if not more dangerous than a two-footed challenge that gets the ball.

Exactly. If an outfield player did the same thing with a header, he would at least get a yellow card, if not a red card for kneeing the opponent in the head.

Glen Miller wrote:Watching Mueller win the World Cup gave my eyes leprosy. 

People have said he's entitled to go for the ball, but he clearly isn't. He was too slow off his line. Most players can win the ball using overly aggressive tackles or extremely high tackles but they don't because they know it will result in a foul. In fact, I'd argue Neuer is less entitled to go for that ball than an outfield player that would use his feet because Neuer has the added advantage of using his hands in that jumping stance, thus generating more force. Imagine if a player had leaped with both feet in the air to get that ball and followed through on the player, it'd probably be an instant no-brainer of a red card.

I can see why the ref didn't give a foul by Neuer, but a foul by Higuain is the worst possible decision he could have made.

SBSP wrote:I've been thinking about it some more, and you're probably right. Robben and Messi were pretty close, but Messi carried Argentina more than Robben carried the Netherlands.

And I add that Messi, although playing in a system that Sabella probably built around him, it didn't suit him. Robben played in a counter attacking system that suits him prefect and gets the absolute best out of him.

SBSP wrote:I can see why the ref didn't give a foul by Neuer, but a foul by Higuain is the worst possible decision he could have made.

The linesman is also standing a few feet away and should clearly see Higuain only looking at the ball. Higuain's head and upper body also jilted in such a feeble and painful way upon impact, surely if he knew Neuer was coming and wanted to draw the foul he'd at least tense up and brace himself to avoid serious injury. Or is Higuain that dedicated to the cause?

Keyser Söze wrote:

SBSP wrote:I've been thinking about it some more, and you're probably right. Robben and Messi were pretty close, but Messi carried Argentina more than Robben carried the Netherlands.

And I add that Messi, although playing in a system that Sabella probably built around him, it didn't suit him. Robben played in a counter attacking system that suits him prefect and gets the absolute best out of him.  

It's more to do with the fact that Agüero was injured, Higuaín and Palacio are rubbish, and Lavezzi has no end product.

Come to think of it, Robben didn't score in the knockout round either.

Dagbon wrote:

Vela wrote:http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/2ajywq/van_persie_foul_on_thiago_silva/civw5yo

Look at all the downvotes I got for a fair comment.

It's cool that you act like an idiot on here and try to act normal on a website where internet points are at stake. Who gives a shit honestly

who the fuck are you

I am curious to think how things might have gone if Neymar did not get hurt.  It seems that after that happened was when Brazil started to fall apart.  Granted if it was not for the post they would have likely lost to Chile and they would never even have the chance to play Colombia.  Hell if the final penalty was not hit way too hard it would have went in and the penalty shootout would have continued.  Neymar was quality and I still think Brazil would have probably made the final if he was healthy.

Germany were too strong for Brazil, even with Neymar. I think missing Thiago Silva was a bigger blow.

Brazil still got played off the park against Netherlands even with Thiago Silva.

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

FCB wrote:I feel bad for Messi.

So do I, I hope this doesn't make people go against him in the GOAT debate, he had a great tournament.  He was extremely greedy with that free kick at the end though, dare I say Gerrardesque.

I was thinking the same thing. But, was there really any chance that one of his guys was going to win a header against the Germans? No, not really, but it still would have been a better option. Maybe an own goal or rebound could have fallen to someone to poke home. He was never going to beat Neuer from there though.