he's nothing. you should watch la liga to catch some primo somersaults

Mexico didn't throw the game, they just got outplayed by a better team.

!@#$%! much like our chat about the USMNT, I just don't think Mexico's attack is strong enough to sustain for an entire match. Sure, they made it easier for Netherlands by not attacking as much in the 2nd half BUT its not like Mexico's defense was making it any easier for Netherlands either.

Shit, by the 80th minute Netherlands was looking like Mexico's defense was psychologically getting to them.. ALL that attacking, ALL those corners, wasted? For nothing? Mexico was clowning on the defensive end.

Was it a risk? Yes. Was it a gamble that lost? Of course. But for 82 minutes it was totally working and it was really looking like Netherlands was going to legitimately lose this match.

Then Netherlands remembered,"Hey offensively we are really that good.." and kept up their relentless attack and broke through. That first goal by them was epic good, they just found a hole and punched it through..

Mexico can leave proud. They played fantastic in this tournament and they weren't realistically going to advance much deeper regardless..

Again, my FAVORITE part about the World Cup is REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

where did you get that mexico's attack was not strong enough? it was strong enough to get ahead of the netherlands. herrera shouldn't have taken out dos santos there. when chicharito came in he had nobody to connect for him. netherlands risked a lot by pushing with everything to even out and mexico did not offer danger on the counter. bad tactics.

From watching them play!!



That was a lucky goal in injury time, I think its an outlier more than an indicator...


Look, I totally don't disagree with your analysis of a balanced, attack AND defense oriented strategy.. For the better teams in the world that is EXACTLY how you need to play.

But for USA? Yeah, if we tried that shit there would be nothing but broken plays and takeaways by the other team..

If Mexico had tried that shit they would have equally been clowned by Netherlands. While true Mexico's attack is much better than USA, lets not kid ourselves and pretend its anything like the Dutch ;)

I do agree with you, when Dos Santos came out it became very clear that Mexico was going to give up attacking and play for defense. Meanwhile didn't you see how discombobulated, visibly frustrated and perplexed Netherlands were looking? Point blank, Mexico's defense was STIFLING them, I dare say it almost worked!

What if Mexico had attacked a bit more and that resulted in worse defensive rotations and subsequently opening up more holes for Netherlands? See, that is why I disagree with your attack-first strategy for teams that don't have the talent to pull it off..

You are talking about how the BEST teams in the world play and that strategy simply doesn't work for lesser quality rosters... The trick is to play to your strengths, and in particular CONCACAF teams strength has always been on the defensive end, and even Mexico over-exerts themselves when they are forced to attack too much..

I don't think that its about Mexico not keeping possession so much as not being ABLE to keep possession. And to be sure, you are totally right, after the Dutch missed what seemed like the 1000th corner kick I said to myself, "Its sheer MATH, the Dutch almost HAVE to make one of these..."

watch greece play ACTUAL defense

Sorry broham, but YOU'RE THE COACH, be a big man and admit fault. That was a total fucking foul, just like what happened to Ivory Coast against Greece. NOW, I can agree that it shouldn't have been a direct free kick, just like I don't like the direct free kick Greece was given, should have been an indirect free kick at most, BUT it was totally a penalty. Own up to it, don't be a denialist like Luis Suarez and the entire nation of Uruguay ;)

Also, that penalty didn't lose the match. As !@#$%! suggested, Mexico deciding not to score anymore goals cost them the match. Giving up that first goal to the Dutch cost them the match. The penalty was just a nail in the coffin.

I hate when coaches blame officiating on their losses, when there are so many other things that happen in any given game. EVERY possession counts, so if you lose a game on a bad or questionable call, you really just lost it on those other errors, mistakes, or wasted opportunities your team left on the table. Such is sport, own up to it.

this first half was as entertaining as watching flies fuck

I know!!!! It has been as boring as the second half of yesterday's Brazil-Chile match....

I had more fun reading all the hater comments on ESPN about that penalty call than trying to watch this match. Ivory Coast would be ripping it up by now ;)

ate mexican today. so that's about as close as a came to watching this shit. i just had to sit under the flat. screen.

Here we just call it comida

30 more minutes of this? i already fell asleep once (well, it's also a hot day).

Well that has to be the first game (outside of England) where I've actually dreaded an equaliser happening. Just awful. So I awful I can't bring myself to watch extra time.

im gonna make myself a gin + tonic and stare at the ceiling

Totally. If only both teams could be eliminated and somehow let Chile back in on a wildcard.

i can't understand how this costa rica is the same team that beat uruguay and italy.

how the fuck did they do it?

---

eta: well at least they shoot their PKs better than chile

In fairness to Costa Rica they play a quick counter attacking style. Greece sat deep meaning Costa Rica couldn't play with this style. Their style of football also breaks up the play and suffocates any passage of open play, i.e. fouls, 10 men behind the ball, it is very dull to watch. I'm pretty sure Costa Rica will give Holland a much better match, I think Greece just manage to make any game boring.

yes.

====

anyway, my points today, pretty dismal

karnezis 3
manolas 5 marquez 3 gonzalez 9
tejeda 5 herrera 4 maniatis 3


looking forward to having enyeama come in for GK. has to be better than 3 points. nigeria may lose, but the guy is a monster. bound to have great saves.

also coming in:
hummels, halliche, medjani
bentaleb
müller

(all my 3-pointers will be subbed-out)

I think a major weakness of CONCACAF teams is that against each other 1-0 wins are common, and so defensively even the better teams rely on parking the bus too early. This works because none of the teams have quite enough offensive potency to break through.. Meanwhile when they try and rely on this strategy against teams with a better attack you see them falter.. It bit Mexico in the ass today, and it almost bit Costa Rica..

Props to Greece's defense they actually out CONCACAFED Costa Rica for a long while, but Staxtopouta is going home from the Ball a bit early..

made this one myself...

mmm-mmm-mmm! das wrong, man...

i mean when Gekas was to shoot, we all knew he was going to miss it.
cannot understand why the coach put him up to shoot penalty; he was slow during the whole game.
and meh, the coach left the field, when they started shooting? what kind of attitude was this.

im not an expert, football if its slow can put me to sleep.

overall, i think we were playing good, even if 1st half was very conservative. soo many missed chances though, no wonder costa-rica won. and costa-rica was really admirable during the extra time.
so well done and fuck off. (no, ok). nah..fuck off.

I think your coach was sent off by the referee for arguing over something. He wasn't abandoning the players. Greece played like Greece. If anything they seemed a little more attack-minded than normal but they're not a team that's easy for the neutral to follow. Costa Rica are no better, and when two such tactically similar teams play each other they inevitably end up cancelling each other out.

O Σάντος δεν μπορεσε να διαχειριστεί ούτε τις τρίχες της μύτης του

But not really, he’s done fantastically well with a below average side.

yeah that close up was a killer. we almost threw up.:(

^^ jico speaks greek? i'm impressed. the google translate said something about hairs of the nose ha ha ha.

but don't know what you guys are talking about

--

i have musa, benzema and enyeama on today's fantasy game. :eek:

(ditched karnezis, maniatis, marquez and herrera and all of their collective 13pts)

Hahahaha.. my fucking friend txtd me during that match saying, "The Greek coach needs to trim his fucking nose hairs."

priceless!

i'm enjoying nigeria's attacks! standing up very well to france.

end of this first half they seemed to fall back a bit though. some of their defendng has been sloppy (i can't recall the name of the player who instead of clearing gave the ball to who seemed to be pogba right on the edge of the area)

Ha. Well he took advantage of it now.

fuckity fuck, i had a business call that kept me from seeing that.

and now the own goal

gringos have no respect for the game and will call during world cup matches.

Gonna have to add Valbuena to the list of players of the tournament so far.

hummels ill. there goes my fucking fantasy defense.

Algeria can't have that many chances and not score. Germany are bound to improve in the second half and I can see Algeria walking away with nothing now. Hope I'm wrong.

You think you've got problems. I've got 4 Algerians in play and only one of them's actually on the pitch. This round is crucifying me.

i have mbolhi benched. he's already racked up more points than enyeama did in the whole game. i was chicken. halliche whom i've had since the start got carded.
--

and algeria is making germany suffer! neuer as a sweeper. i keep hearing about revenge from 1982. algeria playing great or germany playing terrible? ozil the new bradley, ha ha ha.

---

ETA: great game! ozil redeemed himself in the end. great effort by everyone. algeria fantastic and mbolhi a hero.

Ozil's goal papered over the cracks of an otherwise pretty mediocre performance. Never saw him that much when he was in La Liga but the general impression since joining the Prem seems to be that he drifts in and out of games and struggles to last a full 90 mins. Definite evidence of the former tonight but nobody could say he was guilty of the latter - in tonight's game anyway.

On balance Germany did probably deserve the win but if they play like that against better forwards they won't be able to rely on making another late recovery.

Saying all that, watching Algeria in the first half I'm starting to come around to your argument for the US going for the jugular against Belgium tomorrow.

And Luis says sorry.

And Chiellini says forget about it

well, chiellini is no saint himself-- one sinner forgives another-- nice.



besides, chiellini got even with his elbow, right on the spot. no need to stay sore, ha ha.

this is how i'd do it:

---------------------HOWARD-----------------------
JOHNSON----GONZALEZ----BESLER------BEASLEY
BEDOYA/ZUSI--BRADLEY--BECKERMANN--JONES
---------------------DEMPSEY-----------------------
---------------------ALTIDORE-----------------------


1) Pull back Bradley to sit as holding midfielder. He can help put a damper on the Belgian attack. When free, he can serve long balls well (when jammed, he's useless and invites counters).

2) Channel our attack through the flanks (because Belgium has no real fullbacks)

3) Dempsey in the hole to take advantage his good dribbling/creative ability

4) Jozy as a pure center forward to save his legs