World Cup 2014

[nietzsche]

[Army of GOD]

I love how the cameramen kept showing hot Brazilian and Mexican women. Creepy and boner popping at the same time.

[nietzsche]

It's funny I was so immersed in the game and to be honest so nervous at the end to think that all the effort could end up being a 0-1 loss that I lost perspective of many things and I'm appreciating them only now reading them on the different sites:

It's amazing all the recognition Ochoa is getting, and for those of us who know him it's just perhaps a little bit more than what he can do almost every 15 days. And almost everyone is saying that it was a thrilling match, it was very intense for me to watch but I thought it was only for Mexicans. Americans posting in sports sites that this 0-0 was more exciting that the whole NBA final series, and than the Superbowl.

As I said to betiko, I wish Mexico had kept the ball more in the offensive, but Herrera was losing a lot of balls and Peralta isn't in it's best. I loved the shots from outside the box. This Brazil is not as offensive as in the past, they try more to stop the other team from playing, so that's possibly why I was mistaken in the idea that Mexico could win, since that's why Mexico plays great against Brazil (as of late), because they let us play.

[nietzsche]

I love how the cameramen kept showing hot Brazilian and Mexican women. Creepy and boner popping at the same time.

[Gilligan]

those people look too happy being at a Nigeria/iran game

[Army of GOD]

It's amazing all the recognition Ochoa is getting, and for those of us who know him it's just perhaps a little bit more than what he can do almost every 15 days. And almost everyone is saying that it was a thrilling match, it was very intense for me to watch but I thought it was only for Mexicans. Americans posting in sports sites that this 0-0 was more exciting that the whole NBA final series, and than the Superbowl.

As a fan of the losing teams in both the Superbowl and NBA finals, I assure you that passing a kidney stone is more exciting then they were.

[universalchiro]

Anyone see Algerian player #22 take a total flop at the 50' mark? He pretended to get hit in the mouth, he rolled in agony. For 3-5 minutes while he was rolling in agony covering his mouth, the camera kept showing that he never got touched. Lol . They should've carded him for faking.
When he finally got up, he didn't have a mark on him.

[Army of GOD]

Anyone see Algerian player #22 take a total flop at the 50' mark? He pretended to get hit in the mouth, he rolled in agony. For 3-5 minutes while he was rolling in agony covering his mouth, the camera kept showing that he never got touched. Lol . They should've carded him for faking.
When he finally got up, he didn't have a mark on him.

My favorite is when a player is falling down or rolling around in pain and then they point to the referee asking for a call.

[betiko]

It's funny I was so immersed in the game and to be honest so nervous at the end to think that all the effort could end up being a 0-1 loss that I lost perspective of many things and I'm appreciating them only now reading them on the different sites:

It's amazing all the recognition Ochoa is getting, and for those of us who know him it's just perhaps a little bit more than what he can do almost every 15 days. And almost everyone is saying that it was a thrilling match, it was very intense for me to watch but I thought it was only for Mexicans. Americans posting in sports sites that this 0-0 was more exciting that the whole NBA final series, and than the Superbowl.

As I said to betiko, I wish Mexico had kept the ball more in the offensive, but Herrera was losing a lot of balls and Peralta isn't in it's best. I loved the shots from outside the box. This Brazil is not as offensive as in the past, they try more to stop the other team from playing, so that's possibly why I was mistaken in the idea that Mexico could win, since that's why Mexico plays great against Brazil (as of late), because they let us play.

As you know i was nervous too!
Anyway, about ochoa, I will keep saying the same thing; he is one of the best for saves on his line, he has awesome reflexes. But he isn t very good with air balls.
I know he is looking for a club right now, and i doubt any top not h will want him, only mid range clubs will, at least to be the #1 keeper

[oVo]

Several of the Brazil assaults looked like sure goals
and Ochoa was just in the right spot.

The Mexico/Brazil highlights include All the saves
and the woman with the buggin eyes.

[betiko]

Several of the Brazil assaults looked like sure goals
and Ochoa was just in the right spot.

The Mexico/Brazil highlights include All the saves
and the woman with the buggin eyes.

all the saves he did were on the line (and he did some very impressive ones, the most impressive being neymar's head shot in the first half where ochoa makes an incredible dive to reach it). most of the times he punches out the shots without blocking the ball. A goalie that has less reflexes but better blocking skills and better ability to deal with air balls takes less goals per season.
I know ochoa well as he has been playing in france for the last 2-3 seasons. He makes incredible saves but also can make his defense feel pretty unsecure by the way he handles airballs reaching the penalty area. He isn't very good when he leaves the goal line.

[nietzsche]

Several of the Brazil assaults looked like sure goals
and Ochoa was just in the right spot.

The Mexico/Brazil highlights include All the saves
and the woman with the buggin eyes.

all the saves he did were on the line (and he did some very impressive ones, the most impressive being neymar's head shot in the first half where ochoa makes an incredible dive to reach it). most of the times he punches out the shots without blocking the ball. A goalie that has less reflexes but better blocking skills and better ability to deal with air balls takes less goals per season.
I know ochoa well as he has been playing in france for the last 2-3 seasons. He makes incredible saves but also can make his defense feel pretty unsecure by the way he handles airballs reaching the penalty area. He isn't very good when he leaves the goal line.

There was a big debate over who should be the goalie for Mexico before the start of the WC. Two days before it was announced, and the reason the coach gave was that he saw Ochoa more confident and that he needed a goalie that save them (Miguel Herrera, the coach, has always liked to sent his teams happily to the attack, not caring much about the counter attack). The other two contenders were Talavera and Corona. Corona is generally regarded as being a more complete keeper but he has some story of losing his head at times. He plays better with the feet and is better on the air ball. Talavera is also an excellent keeper and at times it seemed he was winning the battle but has less time of being that good.

During the debate, many analysts including one ex-keeper said that the argument of Ochoa not being as good outside the small area was irrelevant because they needed the keeper to be saving balls at the line. If Mexico would have had another keeper today, one that was good on the air ball, they would've lost.

Ochoa played in Mexico for my team, and I was well aware of his issues with the air-ball and I really didn't care. His miraculous saves were enough for me. Believe me he has plenty saves like today's in his career. Just ask Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

If Ochoa had the talent of Jorge Campos for the air ball and playing the whole box he'd be better than Buffon, and Cech and Cuortois. In the fact that he's excellent in the line and not as good in the air ball he's not different than Casillas and look what Casillas has accomplished.

Ochoa is plenty better than many goalies playing in the best leagues.

Who are the good keepers on the air ball nowadays? I remember in the past there were more, but in the past they were allowed to use their knee as a way to defend themselves from strikers.

[nietzsche]

Several of the Brazil assaults looked like sure goals
and Ochoa was just in the right spot.

That happens to him a lot. "He just happened to be there" many detractors say. (He has many detractors in Mexico because he used to play to the most hated team of the league).

I don't think it's luck.

[nietzsche]

Anyone see Algerian player #22 take a total flop at the 50' mark? He pretended to get hit in the mouth, he rolled in agony. For 3-5 minutes while he was rolling in agony covering his mouth, the camera kept showing that he never got touched. Lol . They should've carded him for faking.
When he finally got up, he didn't have a mark on him.

My favorite is when a player is falling down or rolling around in pain and then they point to the referee asking for a call.

This could easily be solved if FIFA would sanction these players after the game, with the help of video.

But as betiko told you, it kind of hurts, being hit on the legs where there's no much muscle of fat. The reason they keep doing it is because it works.

Vazquez was booked today on a fault over Neymar, if you pay attention Neymar sold it well, it was not worthy of a booking.

[nietzsche]

Nobody has commented on this:

Game 1 vs Croatia:

Neymar should've been sent out of the pitch. In the play, you can see he maliciously looks towards Modric then he raises his elbow and hits Modric with it. (He would later score 2 goals).
The referee, with the score tied, sanctions a penalty only he saw.

Game 2 vs Mexico:
Thiago Silva should've gotten the red card. He should've been booked in a strong stepping over Marquez feet and towards the end he tackled Chicharito from behind on a play that alone could've been considered red card worthy. He would later almost score the winning goal.

So far, the group, without interference from the referees should be like this:

Mexico 2 GP 4pts +3dif
Brazil 2 GP 2pts 0dif
Croatia 1 GP 1pts 0dif
Camerun 1 GP 0pts -3dif

[Gillipig]

The Belgium vs. Algeria match was good. I almost started cheering for Algeria, but I'm glad Belgium won in the end.
Mexico vs. Brazil was terrific. Ochoa made so many tough saves. Good result. Though I'm still hoping Croatia gets through over Mexico - sorry guys.
Russia vs. South Korea wasn't too terrible, and it got interesting late. Definitely better than Nigeria vs. Iran - I don't know if there will be a match as awful as that one.

Bollocks.

A serb cheering for Croatia? You're supposed to not get along! Perhaps it's because you live in the states in instead of Serbia.

[Gillipig]

Anyone see Algerian player #22 take a total flop at the 50' mark? He pretended to get hit in the mouth, he rolled in agony. For 3-5 minutes while he was rolling in agony covering his mouth, the camera kept showing that he never got touched. Lol . They should've carded him for faking.
When he finally got up, he didn't have a mark on him.

My favorite is when a player is falling down or rolling around in pain and then they point to the referee asking for a call.

I love it when they look up to see if the ref fell for it or not. Someting they never do if they're in actual pain.

[iAmCaffeine]

Brazil should have one point and Croatia should have three. If that game wasn't totally fucked the referee (and possibly FIFA) it would have been 2-1 to Croatia. We all know the penalty was total bollocks, and then Croatia's goal was wrongly disallowed. But, when Brazil made a counter attack to score a third goal, they fouled a Croatian right in front of the ref and nothing happened.

[DiM]

I love it when they look up to see if the ref fell for it or not. Someting they never do if they're in actual pain.

you mean like this?





crap like this ruins football. imho they should be very generous with fines and suspensions based on video evidence even after the game is over.
you cheated and got a penalty? here's 50% of your wage as fine and a 5 match suspension.

or we could get video evidence during the match so that the ref can take a 10 second break and see if it was a dive or a foul.

stopping cheaters can actually be very easy but fifa doesn't really care.

[betiko]

Nobody has commented on this:

Game 1 vs Croatia:

Neymar should've been sent out of the pitch. In the play, you can see he maliciously looks towards Modric then he raises his elbow and hits Modric with it. (He would later score 2 goals).
The referee, with the score tied, sanctions a penalty only he saw.

Game 2 vs Mexico:
Thiago Silva should've gotten the red card. He should've been booked in a strong stepping over Marquez feet and towards the end he tackled Chicharito from behind on a play that alone could've been considered red card worthy. He would later almost score the winning goal.

So far, the group, without interference from the referees should be like this:

Mexico 2 GP 4pts +3dif
Brazil 2 GP 2pts 0dif
Croatia 1 GP 1pts 0dif
Camerun 1 GP 0pts -3dif

I pretty much agree with all this. Yes, I saw what neymar did vs croatia, and I saw what thiago silva did vs mexico. Thiago Silva doesn't have a reputation to be extremely rough, so he got away with it but he almost broke chicharito's leg.

[betiko]

Several of the Brazil assaults looked like sure goals
and Ochoa was just in the right spot.

The Mexico/Brazil highlights include All the saves
and the woman with the buggin eyes.

all the saves he did were on the line (and he did some very impressive ones, the most impressive being neymar's head shot in the first half where ochoa makes an incredible dive to reach it). most of the times he punches out the shots without blocking the ball. A goalie that has less reflexes but better blocking skills and better ability to deal with air balls takes less goals per season.
I know ochoa well as he has been playing in france for the last 2-3 seasons. He makes incredible saves but also can make his defense feel pretty unsecure by the way he handles airballs reaching the penalty area. He isn't very good when he leaves the goal line.

There was a big debate over who should be the goalie for Mexico before the start of the WC. Two days before it was announced, and the reason the coach gave was that he saw Ochoa more confident and that he needed a goalie that save them (Miguel Herrera, the coach, has always liked to sent his teams happily to the attack, not caring much about the counter attack). The other two contenders were Talavera and Corona. Corona is generally regarded as being a more complete keeper but he has some story of losing his head at times. He plays better with the feet and is better on the air ball. Talavera is also an excellent keeper and at times it seemed he was winning the battle but has less time of being that good.

During the debate, many analysts including one ex-keeper said that the argument of Ochoa not being as good outside the small area was irrelevant because they needed the keeper to be saving balls at the line. If Mexico would have had another keeper today, one that was good on the air ball, they would've lost.

Ochoa played in Mexico for my team, and I was well aware of his issues with the air-ball and I really didn't care. His miraculous saves were enough for me. Believe me he has plenty saves like today's in his career. Just ask Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

If Ochoa had the talent of Jorge Campos for the air ball and playing the whole box he'd be better than Buffon, and Cech and Cuortois. In the fact that he's excellent in the line and not as good in the air ball he's not different than Casillas and look what Casillas has accomplished.

Ochoa is plenty better than many goalies playing in the best leagues.

Who are the good keepers on the air ball nowadays? I remember in the past there were more, but in the past they were allowed to use their knee as a way to defend themselves from strikers.

regarding air balls and getting out of the small area... I'd say that almost all keepers in big european clubs are good at it. It's something we value very much here and that is why sometimes ochoa had fingers pointed at him. At least he is spectacular. But on the line, he is definitely one of the very best currently.
i wonder what will happen to him after the world cup; because he signed for Ajaccio for really cheap a couple of years ago with the idea of getting visibility in Europe (not sure it was the best club for it..); now his contract is terminated and not renewed as they finished last of the league and relegated to second division. I guess his agent has big plans for him.

[Pirlo]

Nobody has commented on this:

Game 1 vs Croatia:

Neymar should've been sent out of the pitch. In the play, you can see he maliciously looks towards Modric then he raises his elbow and hits Modric with it. (He would later score 2 goals).
The referee, with the score tied, sanctions a penalty only he saw.

Game 2 vs Mexico:
Thiago Silva should've gotten the red card. He should've been booked in a strong stepping over Marquez feet and towards the end he tackled Chicharito from behind on a play that alone could've been considered red card worthy. He would later almost score the winning goal.

So far, the group, without interference from the referees should be like this:

Mexico 2 GP 4pts +3dif
Brazil 2 GP 2pts 0dif
Croatia 1 GP 1pts 0dif
Camerun 1 GP 0pts -3dif

I pretty much agree with all this. Yes, I saw what neymar did vs croatia, and I saw what thiago silva did vs mexico. Thiago Silva doesn't have a reputation to be extremely rough, so he got away with it but he almost broke chicharito's leg.

Guys, please get real.. if life was this fair, there would be a risk of seeing Brazil outta the tournament from group stages which means big money will be lost. Be nice and accept the fact that FIFA can't afford making 10 billions instead of 11 or 12!

[Pirlo]

I love it when they look up to see if the ref fell for it or not. Someting they never do if they're in actual pain.

crap like this ruins football. imho they should be very generous with fines and suspensions based on video evidence even after the game is over.
you cheated and got a penalty? here's 50% of your wage as fine and a 5 match suspension.

or we could get video evidence during the match so that the ref can take a 10 second break and see if it was a dive or a foul.

stopping cheaters can actually be very easy but fifa doesn't really care.

The problem with video evidence during the match that it would be taken or done upon request made by coaches.. This could lead a coach like Mourinho to protest over everything and make too many requests in a tight game. You wouldn't enjoy a match that stops every 5 minutes to look at a video.

One good solution is to limit the requests.

Not sure why an ass like Platini is still adamant about goal line technology? he claims it costs too much and those amounts of money should rather be spent on developing the game in poor countries.. well, it's not like you are making it from scratch now... the technology is there, just buy it. I'm sure on the long term, it would not be as costly as hiring 2 extra referees for the line in each game. It's like hiring 5 employees because you don't want to buy a computer or a machine!

[JBlombier]

It's time again...

Hup Holland Hup!

[betiko]

I love it when they look up to see if the ref fell for it or not. Someting they never do if they're in actual pain.

crap like this ruins football. imho they should be very generous with fines and suspensions based on video evidence even after the game is over.
you cheated and got a penalty? here's 50% of your wage as fine and a 5 match suspension.

or we could get video evidence during the match so that the ref can take a 10 second break and see if it was a dive or a foul.

stopping cheaters can actually be very easy but fifa doesn't really care.

The problem with video evidence during the match that it would be taken or done upon request made by coaches.. This could lead a coach like Mourinho to protest over everything and make too many requests in a tight game. You wouldn't enjoy a match that stops every 5 minutes to look at a video.

One good solution is to limit the requests.

Not sure why an ass like Platini is still adamant about goal line technology? he claims it costs too much and those amounts of money should rather be spent on developing the game in poor countries.. well, it's not like you are making it from scratch now... the technology is there, just buy it. I'm sure on the long term, it would not be as costly as hiring 2 extra referees for the line in each game. It's like hiring 5 employees because you don't want to buy a computer or a machine!

platini is against it? that's really stupid. it's actually really stupid that goal-line had to wait till 2014. I just hope all leagues will have it; from what I've heard, there are like 3 companies that have developped a goal-line technology, such as adidas, to sell it to european leagues.