US N+A World Cup General Discussion Thread

Few Thoughts on this World Cup,
- This Brazil team is very good, but I think they are overrated. This is not the overwhelmingly talented Brazil teams of the 90s and early 2000s. They have lots of very good players, but very few superstar caliber players. With the homefield advantage, they certainly should be one of the favorites, but not the Outright favorites many people are pegging them to be.

-This World Cup is extremely deep. This is absolutely the deepest World Cup since they expanded it to 32 teams. Even with the injuries the amount talent spread across the teams in this tournament is unreal. With the reemergence of the fringe South American sides (Colombia, Chile, Uruguay) the rise of the United States, The continued improvement of the African Sides, plus the rise of teams like Japan Belgium, Switzerland, Bosnia and others, this world cup is shockingly stacked. Its amazing to see how the most popular game in the World has continued to grow. Given this fact, in a short tournament like this, it would not be surprised to see several upsets. Many of the sides people people are discounting, ( like Japan or Cameroon, but also many more) are on paper, much more talented than many people realize and could surprise.

-Lastly, Spain should be the favorite for this tournament. They are still without a doubt the best team in the tournament on paper and in recent performances. Its amazing to see how many people are dismissing them. Before Euro 2012, the exact same thing happened. Everyone said that it would be impossible for team to win three straight major tournaments, and they did it anyways. The talking point about how Barcelona isnt good anymore and people have figured out tiki taka in my view is mostly nonsense. There is a hint of truth to it, but in reality Barcelona Still finished 2nd in one the best leagues in world, went to the final of the Copa Del Rey, plus the Quarterfinals of the Champions league. Plus the teams that beat them in all those competitions were the ones that Played in the Champions league final, and they will have several key players from those Squads. Not to mention the star players they have playing in the Prem. In a knockout tournament anything can happen, but they have as good a chance as anyone. Italy is another side that I think is being underrated as well.

 

wouldn't mind seeing a repeat of this final .....

 

Uruguay wins 2-1 over Brasil in the final

 

England wouldn't think about it long. They'd gladly exchange the Malvinas for a shot at a World Cup final, which is telling I suppose.

 

replace that with Argentina and I think that's a real possibility....

 

If that would happen again, Brazil would explode

 

Nietzsche has just been booked for arguing with the referee...
He has accused Confucius of having no free will; and Confucius say "Name go in book."

 

Uruguay won't make it out of the group, drops points to Costa Rica.

 

I think a big reason for this is the Confederations Cup. Brazil demolished Spain there, and it seemed like they had a style of play that ruined tiki taka's effectiveness. And 3 of Spain's biggest players in the midfield are now 34 (Xavi), 32 (Xabi Alonso) and 30 (Iniesta). It's possible the age will catch up to them and some younger faces will outshine them. Spain are definitely still one of the favorites, as they should be, but I think these are the reasons more people are going with Brazil, Argentina or Germany.

 

I also have USA vs England in the SF in Belo Horizonte in another bracket.

 

Four years ago, Brazil was the one team I thought that could really kill Spain. Alas, they choked against Holland.

 

We had expected this, but here is the official Mexico line-up for tomorrow's match vs. Cameroon:

Alineación de México ante Camerún: Ochoa, Aguilar, Rodríguez, Moreno, Márquez, Layún, Vázquez, Guardado, Herrera, Dos Santos y Peralta

— Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (@FMF) June 12, 2014

 

That's a good lineup and you have Jimenez and Hernandez off the bench

 

Don't you mean Las Malvinas?

 

4 years ago today:

 

That's the way I see it too. The Ticos know how to play South American teams well.

 

Here is an Ultimate Guide to Streaming the World Cup with multiple streaming sources for every game:

http://deadspin.com/your-ultimate-guide-to-streaming-every-world-cup-match-1588679981

 

I'm too lazy to post my entire tournament's predictions, but i have a 2-2 draw today and Brazil and Croatia 1st and 2nd, Mexico 3rd, Cameroon 4th.

 

We gave the Maldives independence ages ago. Not sure what that has to do with the Falklands.....

 

Enrique Bermudez and Phil Shoen are the best CONCCAF commenters out there may better then Twellmen and Ian darke

 

Has the opening ceremony started or what is on Univision right now?

 

brazil 3 - 1 croatia

booooo

 

Yeah, I just turned it on to test ESPN3 before the game and look like the opening ceremony started. There's just a bunch of guys dressed up like flowers and trees dancing around though, so I'm not gonna bother watching til it's closer to game time.

 

Does the PbP ceremony go here?

 

I'm watching it on espn3. Apparently it isn't important enough for espn to broadcast. I only checked espn and espn 2 though.