All things sporting [2]

Dam, I wanted USA to win. They had a great chance at the end of normal time.
Don,t no who i want to win it now. Pretty evenly matched.

Made me laugh.

I still think the Brazil vs Chile match was the best of the knock out so far.

Funny that there have been a couple of matches where nothing in 90 minutes then all explodes in extra time.

Belgium vs Argentina should be good but think I am looking forward to Brazil vs Colombia Jan the quarters.

I got home from work in time to see the second half of the France v Germany game, but not a lot interesting happened except for a bunch of substitutions. Then in the final minute of stoppage time France finally woke up and almost scored, except for a sweet save by the German keeper. It's interesting, though. There haven't really been any upsets in the knockout round so far -- the statistically superior teams have won all nine games so far -- but none of the winners have really looked all that dominant. I suppose that's better for unaffiliated fans like me since it means there's still a pretty wide field.

I'm more interested in the Brazil v Colombia match coming up, since that has both the upstart underdog and set-upon host narratives going into it. The NY Times had a pretty interesting article about Brazilians' expectations and anxieties going into this match.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/04/sports/worldcup/world-cup-2014-brazils-fans-nervously-eye-colombia.html

i live for pictures like this

OMG at the Suarez/dog attack GIF.

chris63 wrote:

  

Argentina strikes early! Suck on that, Belgium.

Belgium suddenly came alive in the last 5 minutes. Why didn't they do that straight after the goal???

Watching the Holland Costa Rica game. Heres hoping for a good one.

I've been half watching, half working on stuff. Hoping Costa Rica goes through, both to represent CONCACAF and cause it was cool to see them win their group after being written off initially.

Well that's was mainly dull with sparks of excitement.
Still dont know how Holland haven't scored, that goal mouth is charmed.
But got to give credit to the Costa Rica defence, they have put in some shift.

Hoping the extra time will be a bit more like the last fifteen rather than the first 75.
Holland have an annoying habit of upping the tempo getting the opposition on the ropes, and taking their foot of the gas and stopping pressing when they should be keeping the tempo up.   

Well. That was interesting- subbing your keeper in the last minute of injury time.
Yeah he saved two but cant say as I approved of his methodology, not sporting at all!   

Old now, but



{{{}}}

Sauce

Well... from about 80th minute through to the end it was a great game. Felt sorry for Costa Rica as they couldn't have worked any harder.

And no... Tim Krul used some dodgy tactics but then penalties should always be in favour on the taker so he was trying to even the odds a bit. He went the right way all 5 times... I think he has been training specifically for penalties as it was pre agreed that he would come on in that event.

Yeah I agree that was prearranged- you dont put your no1 keeper on for the entire match and extra time then drag him off right before the penalties without agreeing it first or he would be perfectly within its rights to go mental and refuse to play for that manager ever again.

Personally I dont like to see the 'gamesmanship' he was up to trying to put the takers off, getting right up in their face, beating his chest and doing what looked not unlike a preboxing match trash talking session.
Its not in the spirit of the game at all  

Watched the tour of France come by my building today. They shut of a very busy road so was odd to see it so empty for most of the day but the swarm of bikes was quite exciting for the 1:30 that we could see them for. Big crowds too!

Well... bye bye Brazil. Wait to see the explanations of this is the morning.

woah germany put turbo on.

 Thats all Im doing watching this game- this   

Not being one to care much about such things, I wondered in for a happy hour to discover the bar lined with foreign types watching Germany drill Brazil into the ground. Even I know that's not supposed to happen. The funniest thing was checking the news on the smart phone a few minutes after it ended, and finding it full of detailed diagrams of the motion of every relevant team member for every shot made. Hilarious!