FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil - General Discussion

Which big name(s) will crash out in the group stages?


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necromancer

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Posters come up all over the place when world cup starts. Argentina and Brazil fan clubs try to outdo each other by catchy slogans etc.

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Maradona is probably the most popular person in the state. A jewellery chain in Kerala had invited him for their inauguration last year and tens of thousands filled a stadium just to see the great man.

He even sportingly wore a mundu (traditional dress)

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jammin

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Maradona in a mundu :lol: :lol: :proud:

~

There used to be some awesome murals of Brazilian players in Male'. Sadly, all of its been pretty much painted over by political stuff.
 

Mario

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Wtf do todays games start an hour earlier?
 

Ashish

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man these guy are bonkers

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there is so much awesomness in world cup season, man if argentinna and brasil meets in finals many will literally die in riots :lol:
 

Mario

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Colombia, Chile and Netherlands for me :thumbsup:
 

Sven

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There's something to be said about the football style of this WC. The maestros all failed. Xavi, Busquets, Pirlo, Modric are all packing their bags.
Games have not at all gone their way. Nothing like the chess battles of CL where the team win games by controlling the flow and keeping possession and braining the game and so on.

Games are ruthless, open, frantic. Almost everything happen in reactive ways, in little battles and personal victories through the field. There's a lot of man-marking, and crashing and chasing.
Most players seem quite on the limit of their fitness too.

To sum it up, it's an American football style that is played there.
 

Rickaka

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Yes I noticed this aswell.

Reactionary football has been both popular and sucessfull this tournament. Lots of counter goals have been scored and teams like Brazil and Holland are built around counter football for this tournament. It's the smart and logical thing to do when you think about it. Conditions are not particularly suited to high intensity football so you just hold off and go full force at the right time with a lot of intensity. Tiring effect of letting the opposite team dominate you is multiplied by the extreme conditions.

Italy against both Costa Rica and Uruguay were broken towards the backhand of those games, the pipe was empty and despite them needing goals they were physically unable to bring it, due to dominating the games.

Then you look at for ex Holland who play pure reactionary football and win games on saved energy (8 of their 10 goals were scored in the 2nd half)
 

Curupira

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There's something to be said about the football style of this WC. The maestros all failed. Xavi, Busquets, Pirlo, Modric are all packing their bags.
Games have not at all gone their way. Nothing like the chess battles of CL where the team win games by controlling the flow and keeping possession and braining the game and so on.

Games are ruthless, open, frantic. Almost everything happen in reactive ways, in little battles and personal victories through the field. There's a lot of man-marking, and crashing and chasing.
Most players seem quite on the limit of their fitness too.

To sum it up, it's an American football style that is played there.

It's great so far! I'm not sure on the statistics but I am sure there has been way more goals at this stage of the WC compared to the last 2
 

Sven

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Everyone saying Holland had a really good preparation.

They also have a very laid back approach. They train at the beach, get adapted to climate they interact with people, journos and go to places normally, their resort is in the City and Van Gaal almost doesn't put rules...
IDK if it has any consequence but they're probably much more comfortable playing there than most.
 

jammin

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Thinking about it, only truly possession-based team going through will be Germany, and they weren't impressive at all against Ghana, a pure counter-attacking team.
 

Rickaka

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Everyone saying Holland had a really good preparation.

They also have a very laid back approach. They train at the beach, get adapted to climate they interact with people, journos and go to places normally, their resort is in the City and Van Gaal almost doesn't put rules...
IDK if it has any consequence but they're probably much more comfortable playing there than most.

True, van Gaal calls it the 'total human being principle' (LvG :lol:). He even lets the players see their wives and play with their children mere hours before the match.

Though I really think their succes has been tactical more than anything (532 has worked out perfectly, especially against sides who want to dominate). And add to that 4 players who are on fire in Robben, RvP, Nigel and Memphis. When you look at the material he has at his disposal, LvG has overperformed massively and I think he will continue to do so as long as he draws sides who like to see lots of the ball.
 

jammin

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Got 10/16 qualified teams correct (from the polls). Anyone did better?
 

necromancer

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9 damnit. It was rather tough this time though.
 

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The final will be Brazil vs Germany...u heard it here first :o
 

AC_Wesley

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Pinilla: One centimetre from glory

Cagliari forward Mauricio Pinilla has ensured he will never forget his near-miss for Chile against Brazil at the World Cup.

In the closing stages of extra-time of their Round of 16 clash on Saturday evening, Pinilla lashed a shot from just outside the penalty area that struck the crossbar before rebounding back into play.

Whilst the South Americans were then eliminated on penalties, the 30-year-old has ensured he will never forget the moment, by getting a tattoo of it on his back.

Alongside an image of a prone Julio Cesar watching the ball hit the bar reads the text: ‘One centimetre from glory’.

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:lol:
 

seveners

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@iRasdellaFossa
Fuori anche Lichsteiner. Della Giuventus restano solo #Pogba e #Rizzoli al mondiale.


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crazy4milan

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Best world cup I've ever seen.

We went from high scoring end to end matches in the group stages, to close and super intense games with GKs becoming stars.

LOVE IT.

Also ooooeeeaaaa is the most catchy thing on earth.
 
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