Soccer / Football 2012-2013 Always With The GERMANS!

[Bregor]

Thinking back on all four US games, and reading a 2018 roster projection, I am excite for Yedlin and Green. Don't think I'm going to get into MLS or anything just because there's no buzz in DC and the quality of play isn't that great. If I lived in Seattle I'd probably be a Sounders fan. Real Sports had an awesome piece on the team's construction and marketing strategy. But I will watch CONCACAF and friendlies and such. Sad that Howard will probably be too old for Russia.

[Mertron]

I view Portugal's performance in this world cup as just like what happened to West Virginia that year they were the best team in the world, and then K-State utterly destroyed them and they were a joke for the rest of the season; they were simply broken on that day, and lost all their heart for the rest of the way.

i

wait

what

[Plow]

portugal is really good, they got smashed and played like they didn't care at all the rest of the way

[Judai]

Don't think I'm going to get into MLS or anything just because there's no buzz in DC and the quality of play isn't that great.

nah, DC loves DC United, you just don't know the soccer ppl! The main issue is they are in this one good year, one completely shit year rotation atm and we have so many fucking hyped up teams right now they get lost in the shuffle but hopefully they get the new stadium and can bring in more fans. You do have to really like soccer to watch MLS though, because the quality is nowhere near European leagues.

it's just really silly to call the U.S.'s group a hard one with ghana being in there and portugal being a broken team

This is so dumb, lol. Which group was harder?

Italy,Uruguay,England? Oh wait, Costa fucking Rica smashed them all.
Brazil,Mexico,Croatia,Cameroon? Brazil was pretty blah, IN BRAZIL. Mexico wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for the US. Yea, they played decent but Brazil was pretty crap so who really knows.
Netherlands,Chile,Spain? fucking lol@Spain this WC and everyone shat on Netherlands when they played poorly against Australia.

None of the other groups are even close, as they are all REALLY weak, with 1 top team each and 3 shit teams. (ok Ivory/Columbia group is two second tier teams but fucking Greece advanced)

Meanwhile, Germany smashed Portugal, Ghana and the US played everyone tough and Portugal still pulled out a win and a draw on Ronaldo's talent alone. You keep saying Ghana is shit but this is 3 straight WCs they advanced past the group stage and last WC they got to the Quarters, which you don't do if your team is shit.

[Talint]

portugal is really good, they got smashed and played like they didn't care at all the rest of the way

Sure, it's easy to diminish this after the fact; but even being at a -4 GD didn't mean Portugal were finished in the group (2W = 6 points, would have made them second to Germany, which is what everyone expected, Germany 1, Portugal 2). It wasn't until the 2-2 draw with the US where they were in some serious mathematical trouble.

And, like, I get it - The US didn't do AS BAD as Portugal and that's why they went through. But, y'know, this shit matters. And I feel like this odd metric is only applied for the US. It's not like anyone's saying "Well, Italy's better than Costa Rica, but they were just 'simply broken that day' and that's why Costa Rica went through."

[Plow]

Groups A, B, and D were considerably better than group G.

Groups C and E could also make strong arguments.

Group F might have even been as well.

Sure, it's easy to diminish this after the fact; but even being at a -4 GD didn't mean Portugal were finished in the group (2W = 6 points, would have made them second to Germany, which is what everyone expected, Germany 1, Portugal 2). It wasn't until the 2-2 draw with the US where they were in some serious mathematical trouble.

And, like, I get it - The US didn't do AS BAD as Portugal and that's why they went through. But, y'know, this shit matters. And I feel like this odd metric is only applied for the US. It's not like anyone's saying "Well, Italy's better than Costa Rica, but they were just 'simply broken that day' and that's why Costa Rica went through."

I'm not sure what you're getting at, because it's not like I'm arguing that Portugal was the better team in this tournament. They were trash. They made it easy for Ghana and the U.S. to compete for the 2nd spot despite failing themselves.

[Plow]

and btw, Costa fucking Rica smashed the U.S. last year in qualifying

[Plow]

Seriously, though "Brazil was pretty crap" DID YOU FUCKING WATCH GROUP G

what the shit people

[Rhyis.]

Group A, B, D, and G are were all very strong groups.

[Plow]

sorry I can't hold my tongue I have to break into this post

Italy,Uruguay,England? Oh wait, Costa fucking Rica smashed them all.

Costa Rica is an underrated team whose defense has played fantastically, and not by massively exposing their keeper.

They've now beaten #'s 7, 9, and 12, and drawn #10 in the world, on the biggest stage.

The U.S. is #13.

Brazil,Mexico,Croatia,Cameroon? Brazil was pretty blah, IN BRAZIL. Mexico wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for the US. Yea, they played decent but Brazil was pretty crap so who really knows.

Mexico played above themselves and got some of the best goalkeeping in the tournament. Unlike the U.S., they played solid 90 minute games, they didn't squeak through on a few minutes of quality ball in the entire tournament. So that amazing goalkeeping wasn't constant non-stop holy shit this is getting embarrassing for the defense cuz he's having to carry them so hard.

The only remotely weak game Brazil played was against... Mexico.

The same Mexico that almost knocked the Netherlands out.

Was Brazil supposed to win their other 2 games by more than a combined 7-2?

What you're doing is quite directly just blowing off teams that clearly performed better than the group you want to say is the best while ignoring how much of the soccer played in your favorite group was absolute trash.

For example, the Mexico team Brazil drew against was playing one hell of a lot better than the Ghana team Germany drew against.

Netherlands,Chile,Spain? fucking lol@Spain this WC and everyone shat on Netherlands when they played poorly against Australia.

Spain won as many games in this WC as the U.S. did. Everyone always shits on Netherlands, the team is infamous for dirty play and at the same time having Robben flopping around like he's mr. garrison's cock on a mouse. Netherlands won through with a +7 goal differential and no loss or draw in what was projected as the second toughest group. The Spain team you're lol'ing about at least handled their business against the lower quality team in their group, unlike Germany.

None of the other groups are even close, as they are all REALLY weak, with 1 top team each and 3 shit teams. (ok Ivory/Columbia group is two second tier teams but fucking Greece advanced)

lmao... quick, who is the highest rated team between Greece, U.S., and Ivory Coast?

hint: I listed them in order.

Ivory Coast is 10 spots back from the other 2 and Ghana is 15 spots back from that.

and btw, while their exact rankings might change, the order between those 3 will stay the same after WC

Meanwhile, Germany smashed Portugal, Ghana and the US played everyone tough and Portugal still pulled out a win and a draw on Ronaldo's talent alone. You keep saying Ghana is shit but this is 3 straight WCs they advanced past the group stage and last WC they got to the Quarters, which you don't do if your team is shit.

ghana had a draw and 2 losses, and did not advance past the group stage...

in 2010, ghana got through a group with serbia and australia at 1-1-1 (with scores of 1-0, 1-1, and 0-1 >.>), and then got to the quarterfinals by beating... the U.S.

you also just insulted the costa rica team that's in the quarterfinals just a minute ago...

bravo

[Alvinho]

You know, with every WC we get to watch, it has become very clear that the groups are pretty much even, and in about say, 20 years, it really won't matter. The sport's been globalized to a degree that most people playing for their national team play out of some EU club, so the "weight of the shirt" is hardly relevant these days. When you see shit like what we saw in Germany x Algeria, Argentina x Iran, and Costa Rica x whoever, it really puts things in perspective.

Sure, there were some really bad games, specially those involving teams with less "tradition", but even teams "with shirts" played some really bad games (Brazil, Argentina, and Italy). Keep in mind those teams combined have won 11 world cups. Italy, Uruguay, England, and Spain are gone already, and they have 8 cups combined.

Playing field is more even than ever, and continues to even every year. Before 2010, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, and/or Germany were present at every WC final since ever (sometimes playing each other, in 70, 82, 86, 90, 94, and '02). Then we got Spain x Netherlands.

Times are changing, which makes me think the USMNT has the resources to become a respectable team in the foreseeable future.

[Plow]

I agree that there's much more parity than ever before, but you can still definitely watch Brazil or Germany play, even in the games they under perform against lesser opposition, and go "Yep those guys are miles and miles and miles better than what we have."


USMNT has a long, long, long way to go, and I have my doubts to if it will ever get there, though. The development of players just can't touch countries that care. Who makes it to the national team is a whole lot more about whose parents have a name in their local/regional soccer community than anything else.

[tyven]

I am just glad Plow found a way to reference K State

[Alvinho]

Well, yeah. Here in Brazil for example, you will see people use a bunch of socks, an orange, fuck, even coconuts as a ball, just so we can play. I remember in elementary school, we'd play with paper balls during recess, since we couldn't use actual footballs. I've read somewhere that Brazil has some 40 million (potential) football players to choose from.

I'm pretty sure in Argentina it's the same way, as is probably the case in most South American countries that care (Uruguay, Colombia, etc.), but their population is significantly smaller than Brazil's.

I've seen some footage of football schools for kids in Germany, and holy shit. If Brazil had that kinda shit going on here, we'd be unstoppable. We lose a lot of natural talent due to lack of resources and proper education/training.

[Judai]

lmao... quick, who is the highest rated team between Greece, U.S., and Ivory Coast?

hint: I listed them in order.

Ivory Coast is 10 spots back from the other 2 and Ghana is 15 spots back from that.

and btw, while their exact rankings might change, the order between those 3 will stay the same after WC

ghana had a draw and 2 losses, and did not advance past the group stage...

in 2010, ghana got through a group with serbia and australia at 1-1-1 (with scores of 1-0, 1-1, and 0-1 >.>), and then got to the quarterfinals by beating... the U.S.

you also just insulted the costa rica team that's in the quarterfinals just a minute ago...

bravo

The fact that you actually pay attention to FIFA rankings is funny, cause they mean nothing. The BCS has a better ranking system then FIFA. You seriously think Switzerland is #6 and Greece 12? Yea, they both advanced but in shit groups. They played easy friendlies and raked up FIFA POINTS, you actually mentioned this before when talking about Switzerland.

Yea, idk why I used present and listed 3, I meant 2 years and still, they obviously aren't as bad as you make them out to be. That team has quality players and a good deal of speed which makes them hard to play against. Again, FIFA rankings are shit. You are actually the only person I have even heard say Ghana wasn't good, everyone else has said they played pretty well.

I didn't make fun of Costa Rica, I was making fun of the other 3 super power teams who shit it up in that group. Costa Rica plyaed their hearts out and deserved to win that group. Also, good job listing all the groups I posted as the only possible better groups. Mexico was decent, not amazing. Brazil beat Croatia but it wasn't beautiful, shit it up against Mexico and then beat down a shit Cameroon squad who was already beyond done.

Costa Rica was by far the best team in Group D and I think England was probably the second best. Italy stole one against England and shit it up in the other two games. Uruguay stole one against England. I'm not saying Group G played the best soccer in the WC but you can't just write it off because Germany/Portugal weren't perfect, when every other group had teams/games that looked stupid as well.

[Plow]

you asked which group could possibly have been better, then laid out your arguments against every group you considered competition saying how shit they were

but you're not saying they were the best group


oh, ok

[Plow]

and ghana has a shit ranking because they constantly lose to shit teams in competitive settings, not because of friendlies

[tyven]

are any of the big homies playing today on mighty Everton?

[Plow]

no games today lol

[Plow]

also I think the only Everton player left is the guy that backs up Eden Hazard XD