World cup in Brasil 2014

[Surfbird]

YAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA WELTMEISTER!

YEEEEEEEEEHOOOOOOOO, BEST DAY THIS FUCKING YEAR, CANT GET THE SMILE OU OF MY FACE. VICTORY!!! 54, 74, 90, 14! ORDERING 4th star jersey tomorrow! BEST TEAM EVER. Sorry for this caps shit, I'm just so fkin happyyy!!!

[Fuchs]

Schneider! There's a face we should see more often here. And it's okay, buddy, 2016 is the year the ultimate match will be and must be played.

[Torenico]

1. Germany
2. Argentina
3. Holland
etc

[Zoologic]

The midfield is Argentina's under performing side. Messi is forever alone. Argentina has loads of top class attackers, and yet they still keep Tevez, Milito, etc from the squad. At the back, Mascherano, Zabaleta, and friends are very solid. There was a time when Argentina's midfield flourished with brilliant midfielders like Riquelme, Aimar, Veron, Sorin, Castroman, etc. Messi could have played with them and plays great like he should.

Germans in the others hand, are ruthless, consistent, and young. They will be there, at the podium (either 1, 2, or 3) for quite a long time. Their victory kinda restores faith in hard work, toil, persistence, and perseverance. From zero to Weltmeister. From nothing in Euro 2000, to champion in World Cup 2014.

Meanwhile, in England... well, they are great spectators, I enjoy listening to football commentary in perfect British accent. 

[Wulfburk]

How was the WC for you guys? Football quality, supporters, atmosphere, tension, etc...

Even though Brazil lost 7-1 (never passed through my mind i would see the biggest defeat in Brazilian football in its 100 years of history) it is the best i have ever seen, but that might be just because i was only old enough to follow in 2002 and on.... Much better than South Africa and Germany IMHO, and you guys?

[Zoologic]

This is the cleanest world cup I have ever seen.

Those players seemed to dive a lot less. They also showed more attacking phase than the extreme carefulness in South Africa. I have been watching football since World Cup 1998 in France. IMO, that WC event could be the best, but this one in Brazil might have surpassed it.

It is still sad to see great team of the past gone away without successor, like Gherge Hagi/Ilie/Mutu's Romania, Nedved/Poborsky/Koller/Smicer's Czech Republic, Andersson/Larsson/Dahlin's Sweden, Laudrup/Schmeichel/Sand's Denmark, Stanković/Mihajlović/Mijatović's Serbia, Boban/Tudor/Suker's Croatia. South America is watching its revival, team like Colombia, Chile, and Paraguay will always be strong.

But not missed: Ahn Jung-hwan/Lee Won-jae's South Korea, Ferdinand/Terry/Lampard/Gerrard's England.

[Surfbird]

Well, we are Weltmeister. So this is pretty great. I'm starting to realize what happened. When that game ended I was just sitting there...

About the game:

Unbelievable fight by every player on the court. They ran lots of kilometers. Argentinian players treat Kramer and Schweinsteiger like some street dogs. Yellow-Red card for Aguero not given, also Mascherano can be happy to have been playing until the end.

This is the reward for a great tournament. Amazing team.

I enjoyed the world cup very much, personally I remember the great atmosphere in Germany of 2006 and the good performance of our team which was somewhat unexpected back then. Lot's of people from all over the world around being guest in your country is something great (At least when the economical & social situation allows it). Also I remember that that was an awesome sommer as we had a lot more sunshine than usual.

Overall a good world cup in Brazil though. Thanks a lot to all the Brazilians, the atmosphere (until the Germany game) seemed to be always great in your country. Referee performance was questionable once again, time FIFA decides after the most able refs and not after having a team being as international as possible. A top class event need top class refs. I don't think there was less diving, about average. The amount of complaints to the refs increased and for some players the slightest touch was reason to fall and being "injured" for a minute.

Gameplaywise there were quite a bunch of unspectecular games, but a lot of extra times and a fair amount of penalty shootouts. The action in the K.O phase was kind of limited this way, not too many goals being scored. Excitement level for many games was very nice this way though.

So, I dunno. I like the country of Brazil and I enjoyed the world cup very much. Thank you Brazil for the great world cup. For a German this will of course be unforgettable and always be something I will remember. I never liked Götze, but he made himself a hero with this shot. This whole team is just very special. I'm so happy for these guys.

[Slayer]

Argentinian players treat Kramer and Schweinsteiger like some street dogs. Yellow-Red card for Aguero not given, also Mascherano can be happy to have been playing until the end.

Now don't exaggerate The clash with Kramer was more some sort of an accident. I mean, Neuer's clash with Higuain was more intended than the Kramer clash. Agreed with Schweinsteiger and the card for Aguero, though.

Gameplaywise there were quite a bunch of unspectecular games, but a lot of extra times and a fair amount of penalty shootouts. The action in the K.O phase was kind of limited this way, not too many goals being scored. Excitement level for many games was very nice this way though.

I believe this WC was the tournament with the most prolonged games (extra time and/or penalty shootouts): nine in total. Iirc the previous record was eight. Sadly the record of most goals wasn't broken. The presumed German walkover in the final didn't happen after all, so there was little chance for that record to fall.

About unspectacular games: I have seen more unspectacular games in 2010, so I guess there has been some improvement. I also noticed that last three WC finals all have been decided in extra time or with penalties, which means that teams are either more careful in a final, or more equal opponents than before (I mean, 1998 final was almost a walkover for France and 2002 final was not very difficult for Brazil). Calculating the amount of chances to score, though, I believe in the latter.

This is the cleanest world cup I have ever seen.

What do you mean by thias? You mean fouls, or diving? I think diving was done less than before by some teams (eg Spain), but more by others (Brazil mostly). Refereeing this WC was good at times (I hope the Gambia referee we had in the match vs Chile will be chosen again for big tournaments, as he was really cool and didn't fall for all the Chilean diving), but often very bad too. The Algerian Haimoudi who was whistling in the 3rd place match was a total joke. Like Surfbird I'm hoping for the best referees next time, and not for example the best referee from Polynesia, just because he is from Polynesia.

I had fun this World Cup and I'm hoping for a better result, and better gameplay for our team in the next one.

[Zoologic]

This is the cleanest world cup I have ever seen.

What do you mean by thias? You mean fouls, or diving? I think diving was done less than before by some teams (eg Spain), but more by others (Brazil mostly). Refereeing this WC was good at times (I hope the Gambia referee we had in the match vs Chile will be chosen again for big tournaments, as he was really cool and didn't fall for all the Chilean diving), but often very bad too. The Algerian Haimoudi who was whistling in the 3rd place match was a total joke. Like Surfbird I'm hoping for the best referees next time, and not for example the best referee from Polynesia, just because he is from Polynesia.

Cleanest = no more Battle of Nuremberg (2006, Portugal vs. Netherlands), no more that South African final (2010 Spain vs. Netherlands). Let's not forget the blatant and obvious dive in 2002, I couldn't forget Rivaldo fell into the ground and clutching his face like that after receiving a very gentle hit from the ball. No more stuffs like that Beckham-Simeone drama and Zidane red card incident in 1998.

Yes, the opening game was marred by the cheeky Brazilians, but their dives is pretty obscure at best. Robben did admit diving against Mexico, but he did it a lot previously in South Africa, and no confession. The most reformed team should be the Dutch now. Overall, nobody started a fight (like Argentinians, when losing the penalty shoot-outs against Germany in 2006).

About unspectacular games: I have seen more unspectacular games in 2010, so I guess there has been some improvement. I also noticed that last three WC finals all have been decided in extra time or with penalties, which means that teams are either more careful in a final, or more equal opponents than before (I mean, 1998 final was almost a walkover for France and 2002 final was not very difficult for Brazil). Calculating the amount of chances to score, though, I believe in the latter.

Football has becoming more serious business. Transfer fees are now within ridiculous range, they don't see it as a game anymore. It has become a corporate "risk management" to not lose in such a big game.

[Torenico]

The midfield is Argentina's under performing side. Messi is forever alone. Argentina has loads of top class attackers, and yet they still keep Tevez, Milito, etc from the squad.

Castroman

Tévez is an asshole, he always sucked on the National Team, he is having a great time in Juve but he was average on the national team. Diego Milito is too old, in fact he just returned to Racing from Inter during the World Cup, nobody noticed.

Castroman, you got to be kidding me.

[Dukat]

'As you know, I'm no soccer fan,' she [Argentina President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner] said, while standing next to Messi and Argentina manager Alejandro Sabella. 'I didn't see a single match, not even the one yesterday (on Sunday).' Kirchner revealed she phoned Sabella after the match because it felt like the team had won, regardless of the result. 'That's how I felt and how 40 million Argentines felt too,' she added.

The zombie has spoken. Not wise in a country that has nothing to win except the soccer cup. Riot? Anyone?
Cosmetic surgery is a bitch, btw.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldcup2014/article-2691957/Lionel-Messi-welcomed-home-World-Cup-final-heartache-Argentina-President-hugs-Golden-Boot-winner-Buenos-Aires.html

[Captain Pyjama Shark]

The midfield is Argentina's under performing side. Messi is forever alone. Argentina has loads of top class attackers, and yet they still keep Tevez, Milito, etc from the squad.

Castroman

Tévez is an asshole, he always sucked on the National Team, he is having a great time in Juve but he was average on the national team. Diego Milito is too old, in fact he just returned to Racing from Inter during the World Cup, nobody noticed.

Castroman, you got to be kidding me.

Just wondering, since you're an Argy bargy, what is your opinion of Messi?  I read an article in the Economist recently that says he is considered too Spanish by most Argentines.  I know he's not Maradona, but do you like him, personally?

On that note:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/messi-im-sorry-i-let-down-the-people-of-barcelona,36456/

[Zoologic]

Yeah Torenico, you said Tevez is bad in Argentina, what about Messi? The Barca's Messi and the Argentine Messi? Isn't it the same with Juve's Tevez?

It is like what I said: no decent attacking midfielders. Mascherano is great for defense, but not offense. Same goes for England. After Scholes is gone, the great England play is gone. Anyway, I take that back with Castroman. He is just average, if not below average.

About Kirchner: well, she is too busy nationalizing foreign companies and seeking other parties to blame. It is a very demanding job, no wonder she didn't watch a single game. But the official reason for absence in Rio was "sickness." Still, she is right though. Argentine did perform well and almost "won" the cup. Second place finish is not a joke.

Anyway, anyone has a "dream team" yet? Surely it must include James Rodriguez, Arjen Robben, Thomas Mueller, Javier Mascherano, Manuel Neuer. Then I would add Boateng, Hummels, Blind, Schweinsteiger/Depay, Joel Campbell, and thinking that Chilean Vargas is quite sharp too. What's yours?

[Slayer]

Dreamteam of this WC, in a "classic Dutch" 4-3-3:

Goalkeeper: Neuer (Ger)
Defense: Hummels (Ger), Kompany (Bel), Vlaar (Ned), De Vrij (Ned)
Midfield: Mascherano (Arg), Kroos (Ger), James Rodriguez (Col)
Attack: Muller (Ger), Robben (Ned), Neymar (Bra)

Oh, and here is why the final should have been Ned-Ger (): http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/statistics/castrol-index/index.html

[Schneider]

I can't really disagree with Slayer's list.
And on a sidenote, sprung to my mind after reading about that ingenious political work by the argentinian president - about everything I read to be said by Maradona during this WC was complete trash, but I felt like he had a point when he said that Messi didn't really deserve to be nominated as MVP in this World Cup. I kinda have to agree, no idea how that came to pass - I guess by FIFA logic the MVP must be a team member of the two finalists.