Iran could have had a couple of penalties. One, in particular, was pretty much beyond debate. Poor refereeing again. :/ On the plus side of things, it was a screamer from Messi. If it had to end in a pretty undeserved 1-0, I'm glad it was at least settled by a good goal. :'D
I'd comment on some of the other stuff recently, but there's a lot to say, and a lot of it has already been said better by you guys. Will simply say that I am really, really pleased with this tournament so far. :3 Crap refereeing / goalkeeping in places, and a lot of the teams I've been rooting for have disappointed, but it's been great entertainment.
Miro the hero saves the day for now. Had to blow off the dust and remove the moth balls before putting him in.
What Elly said. There was a very clear penalty by Zabaleta not given to Iran while the game was tied in the 2nd half. Quite shameful.
As for Germany, I can't say I've liked them today too much. Ghana did a great job positioning themselves in the pitch during pretty much the whole match, which is unusual for African teams.
A couple of things I'd like to say about Germany that are undermining my respect for Low:
- it really hurts to see Germany without a true forward striker in the pitch. It feels like he is kicking the german tradition just because playing with a false 9 is the new fad.
- no matter what some may say, Lahm is a right or left back, not a midfielder. He misses too many passes there compromising the defense.
He should correct both. The less Germany tries to imitate Guardiola's silly ideas, the better they'll do it.
Yep. Lack of a striker and not playing Lahm as a wing defender will be the undoing of this team.
And yes...way less German-taka please.
Going forward Basti needs to start in midfield and Lahm needs to be moved back in defense.
Last edited by Gypsy; 21st-June-2014 at 23:33.
Very much my thoughts exactly. I can understand that Löw is trying to imitate Spain/Barca/Bayern's tiki-taka because he has the players for it, but they became much more dangerous after starting to play more straight-forward. And if you lose every second ball in midfield like yesterday and have no decent wing defenders, you are just mercilessly struck by counterattacks. Ghana did pretty well and deserved the point, so no real complaints here.
Although I really adore the short pass and ball possession driven football, it is tiring to watch if it reduced to merely passing the ball horizontally to the player 3m beside you, I want to see it combined with genius passes that lead to great scoring opprtunities, like the style Barca praticed under Guardiola 2008-2012. Now it has gradually developed into the wrong direction with the balance between ball possession and creating chances shifting towards the former while ignoring the fact that more and more teams have adjusted to the style.
Yeah Lahm contributes both ways there. He's not a midfielder and he would be a better wing defender.
Lahm for Boateng. Basti into Lahm's vacated spot. Simple fix. I'd also like to see Podolski in for Ozil (Reus instead of Podolski if he were healthy but he's not) and change the formation but that seems very unlikely at this point. Hell this team could probably use Mario Gomez.
Yeah tiki-taka for now is dead. The king (Spain) was killed and soon the subjects will follow.
Edit: Spicy Algeria! Shame they didn't take this approach against Belgium! They might have won. I hope they advance from this group.
Last edited by Gypsy; 22nd-June-2014 at 19:52.
FFFUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKK.
We should have won that game That's ok, we'll win against Germany!
Play like crap against Ghana and win. Have 10 men play well against Portugal (Geoff Cameron..... ) and draw. SOCCER.
In our defense, https://www.google.com/webhp?#q=Portugal+FIFA+rank
Yeah that's bs though, Portugal is heavily overrated. They will probably go out of this WC w/o winning a game and a negative gd.
If we can make it out of group play I'd call this WC a success for us, especially after avenging our loss to Ghana 4 years ago
They aren't playing any good in this WC (too slow, too dense..), but it's also true that Portugal is severely ballasted by injuries.
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So long, Spain. That was a match without history.
If only, it only served to show that a more direct style of playing always yields more benefits and that bringing Costa with the team wasn't the brightest of ideas.
Also, I find it funny that despite being in Group A, Brazil gets to play later, after knowing the final outcome of Group B. GO Brazil, the final is almost there!
FIFA really wants Brazil to show well of course.
With Spain out, you should root for the US now!
Here, have this comfort gif: http://gfycat.com/AcrobaticLastIndusriverdolphin