http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i/?img...s_1296x729.jpg
This was the hand shake and give Ghana the ball play !@#%! mentioned..

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...book-world-cup

Balotelli fills up his sticker book with stickers of himself.
Genius

This mother fucker is priceless. I hate Uruguay but I wish he and Suarez could have an epic FIFA troll battle, Mario being the good troll who "trolls the right way like the San Antonio Spurs" and Suarez can be the Villain.

Bloody knew I'd regret not watching the game.

Some guy!

what a tense match. That first goal was insane quick, and I think it pissed Ghana off! They controlled the ball much of the match and the USA was very lucky indeed that the final was 2-1 in their favor when it could easily have gone 2-2 or 3-2 Ghana.

Very exciting match.

i don't know, i'm more filthy minded-- i'm sort of hoping we can be in a position where loew and klinsmann can make a "gentleman's agreement" to play their benches and tie 0-0 haaa haaa haaaa haaa. of course, not gonna happen, but one can dream.

as for portugal, hard to know what to expect. i certainly expected them to do a lot better than this-- this wasn't quite the netherlands-spain surprise from the other day, but it was a huuuuuge surprise.

bento has promised changes for the u.s. match. even out 3 players they still have better individual talent (except i think we have a better goalkeeper), but where the u.s. could win is tactically, because it seems we have a more disciplined team-- only reason we held up against ghana.

and who knows, maybe portugal has a meltdown like france did in south africa! (though i don't think so).


it was very risky against ghana but it would be even riskier (untenable really) against cronaldo i think. that guy is a beast. germany did a great job at shutting him down, and he's been having some fitness problems, but the u.s. doesn't have a shadow of germany's individual talent or tactical resources, and if ronaldo is fit, we don't have a bus big enough to park there.


portugal appeared in disarray yesterday, but brace yourself for an epic battle. look at what ronaldo did to sweden:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot7YbwrV4ww

if i were a cynical manager like … what was his name… bilardo... i'd take my worst player, ask him to break ronaldo's kneecap, and eat the red card/suspension/jail sentence. but i'm not.

the only realistic sporting way i see to deal with the (fit) ronaldo threat is to keep the ball away from him as much as possible… and for that, i think the only answer is possession.

don't know what klinsmann has planned or what players he'll have available, but i trust he'll have a good game plan… not involving needles (google "bilardo needles" to see what i mean, ha ha ha).

very worrisome no matter how you look at it.

--

ps- having said all that, maybe parking the bus is the only way to go, ha ha ha...

My Fifa SYG fantasy team has 53 points. Is that very low, high, or average?

sez i had 60 this morning and i was right about the middle (but i have taken out kun agüero who gave 3 points so i should have 57 atm). your total position is on the team page-- i was around 440,000 and i think there are about 890,000 players

now i have both belgians and algerians in my team! here's hoping they don't cancel each other out ha ha ha.

Just so you know you can now put your starting xi up for the second round. There's an overlap with the first of the 2nd round games coming before the last one from the 1st round. Anyway, work quick to get your 2nd rd XI up and running in time for Brazil's game.

my first round hasn't completed yet cuz i have 3 belgians.

i ended up taking out aguero (3pts) to put in lukaku, but had aguero made more i would have taken out fred (4pts). which would have given me a 1h window to make 2nd round substitutions.

gotta keep an eye on the cattle!

Really enjoyed the USA-Ghana game. Ghana did play physical (like African teams often do), but I wouldn't say it was dirty.
Of course Altidore's injury is a big blow for the team, but Aron Johannsson really isn't that bad, !@#$!

He might surprise in a positive way later on. He plays for AZ Alkmaar and was definitely one of the more prolific strikers in the Dutch league this season... but then again that's just the Dutch league which has nowhere near the quality of Germany and Portugal. Funny detail: at AZ he was also the replacement for Altidore, who moved to Sunderland (I think?) the season before.

you can click the tab for "2nd group phase" above the pitch... so you play your 1st and 2nd round teams simultaneously.

I'm on 112 points right now, but I'm taking Iniesta off (3 points, most expensive midfielder in the game). Surely Kevin De Bruyne can do better than that.

Montazeri from Iran delivered me 9 points yesterday! :eek:
Good so, because Vermaelen isn't staring for Belgium. Wilmots somehow decided to go with grandpa Van Buyten instead. :rolleyes:

Meireles' response to Pepe's red card:



Jogi keeping the whole boogerman image going:

So that's the mighty Belgium, ah?

fucking shit. chaos!

but isn't that why we love the world cup?

Meireles is gesturing positioning instructions at Miguel Veloso with his index fingers.

I'm not on the SYG league but here's a crowdsourced list of the players scores:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?pli=1#gid=0

Feel free to pass it along/contribute.

As to the whole Ronaldo thing, he is one dude, there are a few more other dudes on the pitch, its not a one on one game, I respect him, but I'm not afraid. Concerned? Rightfully, but not scared.

As to packing the defense, risky or not, its essentially how US plays defense so the BEST strategy is to go with what your team does best, experimenting with different styles potentially outside your range is way worse than just sticking with your best able game plan. Belgium won, but I dare say they shit the bed.

Mexico is bringing that CONCACAF gum up the works defense. Patented "Cero a Cero" shit...

Brazil must be disappointed, but I think after enough attacks Brazil will draw first blood and force Mexican offense to respond. Much like USMNT, Mexico relies on its defense, but in World Cup you obviously have to score.

That is why I admittedly like basketball a bit more than futbol, in basketball you have to score on every possession, it makes your two-way game so much more important. In futbol you can do what USMNT did yesterday, score and just defend the rest of the game. In basketball, you have to score about 35-40 times AND stop the other time from scoring to cut them down to at least one or three less scores than you. In other words, basketball makes players have to be more honest about their approach and game plan, futbol can hide weaknesses better. Same thing happens in American football. A team can score very little so long as their defense is superb enough to carry the load. Teams win plenty of championships this way in Futbol/Football, but in B-Ball you have to do BOTH at an elite level to win.

For example, point blank, in the NBA Finals recently the Miami Heat were ranked 11th in NBA defensive efficiency, which is pretty good. Is it good enough to win it all? Nope. In NBA history Heat were the FIRST team in 50 years to even make the Finals outside of a top-10 defense, and by no surprise they didn't win against a Spurs team that ranked in the top-5 in both categories, even when Miami had the No. 1 offense in the NBA 4 consecutive years.

well, of course nobody is asking anyone to shit their pants in terror, but the concern should be plenty serious. i'm sure klinsmann's plan is not to dismiss the threat. i'm curious as to what he'll do.


alright, yes. torment as it may be to watch, you're right on that argument. however, without at least decent counterattack (jóhannsson best rise to the occasion) it's a losing proposition. though as demonrail notes, a tie might be sufficient.


gum up what? it's an interesting, fun, classic latin-american style open game, more focused on scoring than in parking the bus. it's a back and forth thing, and it's very enjoyable so far.


blanco please…!

Normally Brazil plays with a bit more finesse, this looks more like the way Mexico sits back around the goal and works on not stopping shot attempts, but simply blocking shots when they go down. Brazil's passing game isn't as sharp as it was against Croatia. Meanwhile Mexico's doing what they do. If you ask me both teams are just overbooting it, too much energy on the kick, and I've seen at least 6 shots on goal between both teams just sail right over the top of the goal post.


I'm just comparing the different approaches to sport. Futbol allows teams to hide their two-way weakness.

Basketball and headbands allows media darlings to hide their receding hairlines...

Not parking the bus, meanwhile Brazil is outshooting Mexico 12-9, more glaringly 7-1 on goal... In what world is that a back and forth match??

Mexico isn't even playing a 4-2-2-2, they playing some kind of wild "pack the paint" where they have 6 even 8 defenders in front of the goal to get stops on every Brazilian attack, hence their 7 saves thus far.

If I'm Mexico I'm happy living with this game. If I'm Brazil I'm pissed..

Also, Rob, you're being childish. The WHOLE world already knows what Lebron's hairline looks like, and not like he hides it in his everyday life by wearing hats or shaving his head. The guy wears a headband like he ALWAYS has, to keep the sweat out of his face. How about being a good sport and celebrating the Spurs WITHOUT it coming at Lebron's expense? Or wait, are you feeling jealous because your precious Rockets attempt of a super team didn't quite work out as well as Miami's ;)

childish like a motherfucker.

I hate all who stand opposed to my beloved Houston Rockets!

Fuck The Spurs too! While I admire their gameplay and talent (like I do BronBron) they can all go fuck themselves.

I am a die-hard HOMER. Fuck all y'alls teams! Fuck their stars! Fuck their whiny preening egos!

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Rob Instigator again.


You have Dwight Howard and James Harden, its not like y'all aint used to whiny preening egos or stars ;)

Back to World Cup..

Mexico is showing up defensively. Brazil should be embarrassed.

Mexico is a lucky strike away from fucking Brazil in the eye.

(BTW, I shuddered in disgust when we picked up Harden and Howard!)

Straight up, this was one of the best 0-0 games I've ever seen.. Too bad Mexico was essentially playing to draw when they subbed out Peralta and Dos Santos, they had a shot at an almost easy goal to win it in injury time but they didn't have any guys down pitch to score they were so focused on stopping Brazil on the other end..

However, I think Mexico is happy with a draw.

uau. méxico played great. ochoa was incredible.

will the russia/Korea match be any good?

....told y'all ;)

Mexico played far better than in their first match that is for sure.

I think so, but we'll see..

miguel herrera has been a tremendous improvement over the hapless chepo de la torre.

if you see a no-neck beetle-man with a helmet haircut on the side of the pitch, that's him-- usually arguing with the ref.


no team in this match was playing for a tie.

You're crazy. Were we even watching the same match??

Brazil out shot Mexico 3-1 on goal.. Mexico may have had 13 shots but 90% were terrible. It was clear by their formations that Mexico was playing to more so to stop Brazil than to make competent goals on offense. That being said, El Tri still had a chance to win it in injury time, which is saying something.

evidently we weren't.

OF COURSE mexico had to defend, i mean, what idiot wouldn't defend. and they defended well. but both during the first 15-20 minutes on the second half and again during the last minutes in the end mexico was heavily on the attack.

prior-- first 20 minutes of first half mexico sat back and absorbed. but soon they were going on the offensive and not as a single solitary attacker on a long ball but in triangulated team attacks. there was a lot of back and forth. and just because the brazilian attackers had more penetration it does not follow that mexico wasn't trying. that's a gross misreading/misinterpretation of stats.

i think you're confusing the fact that brazil was recovering balls in the midfield and had more penetration with the idea that mexico had no offensive proposition. two different things that might look the same to you, but really aren't.

the fact that herrera brought chicharito in late in the game speaks more to his intention of scoring and winning than any numerical reading of failed attacks.

the game was great precisely because mexico took on brazil as an equal.

Fantastic game and greats saves by Ochoa. Missed the last 15 minutes because I had to come see mah docta....
Happy with that outcome though.

Mexico was on the attack, but their shots were wild and rushed, they never looked like they actually controlled the ball through their offense, even if they had the ball 48% of the time and took 13 shots. Brazil meanwhile even though they only had the ball 52% of the time, took consistently good shots and really, Mexico got THREE pointblank lucky saves. Brazil makes those shots and it finishes 3-0 would you say the same thing about this match? Either way, we can agree to disagree on this, but please don't come at me with your usual condescending attitude, I may not follow all your Euro teams, but one thing is certain, I am intimately aware of what and how Mexico plays ;)

Absolutely. Mexico defended really well but they weren't playing over defensively, and no way were they playing for a point, even towards the end. The big surprise for me is how sluggish Brazil are. I think they'll qualify out of their group but I've seen nothing so far to make me think they should be favourites for the trophy. Right now I wouldn't fancy their chances against Germany or Holland or even France or Italy. Argentina need to up their game too if they want to ensure this isn't the first Sth American WC won by a European side.

That is where we disagree completely, what I saw was Brazil attacking like crazy with shots on goal and Mexico just shutting down several great opportunities for Brazil. I don't think Brazil was sluggish so much as slowed down.


Now to this we agree completely ;)

for those who miss the vuvuzelas. 10 hours http://youtu.be/-E6ljLSOkbY

thanks to crypto for the link