The matches have been very entertaining. Compare Netherlands v Spain to the last final. Brazil v Croatia was a fun match despite of the controversies. Chile v Australia was great. Mexico v Cameroon very good as well. The ball can actually be controlled, no vuvuzelas, political mayhem in the streets to fill in the down time. Looking good so far...
All 4 matches have been entertaining. I think the presence of Chile made the Spain v Netherlands more entertaining because neither team is guaranteed to beat them, so they had to try and beat each other. If the other two teams were easily beatable they wouldn't have been as eager to go for the win.
Yeah also the thinking that Brazil will win Group A so neither team wanted to settle for a draw and risk finishing second in B, thereby facing the hosts next.
However, to the best of my recollect, it took an entire week in 2010 before the officials started screwing up. They wasted no time in 2014.
I don't agree. We have had 2 decent games of 4 and the officials have left their mark on all of them. The officiating should never be the story.
It has been pretty open and attacking ... maybe more so than 2010 so far. Also no offense to South Africa, but Brazil is a more entertaining host. A more traditional host nation with a much more vibrant footballing culture ... The setting suits beautiful football ...
Also, the south american fans are the most passionate in the world, and you can see this in the matchs the atmosphere for Colombia in Colombia-Greece is amazing, and this is gonna be felt in a WC full of southamericans
Lots of empty seats in this Uruguay match. Surprising after Chile and Colombia fans filled their stadiums. I know Uruguay is much smaller but I thought they would still sell out.
yeah, it won´t worth much if it starts with lots of goals (and gee, Mexico-Cameroon should had been 3-0) and then when we go to the knockout stages, we get lots of 1-0 or 0-0 (penalties) results. Well, at least boring Spain (all 0-0 or 1-0 matches in 2010) or Greece (also always low scoring results) resulted in good scoring matches, though not in their favor. Let's see what happens with Switzerland, which also was the country of 0-0/1-0.
More and more goals ... It's impressive ... If the linesman doesn't rob Mexico of those 2 goals then every game so far would have a minimum of 3 goals. That's entertainment.
Blame Spain and the bunker style teams adapted to beat them, post tika kaka, football is actually enjoyable. Best WC since I started watching (so far) 1990-
Every game looks like a CONMEBOL qualifier or Copa America game: 3-1, 5-1... teams having no difficulty moving the ball through the midfield and dozens of chances for each side per game. Must be something in the water down there.
Let's us all pray for the football gods that it stays this way and that we don't get any more refereeing blunder
Welp, I can admit it when I am wrong and boy was I wrong. I am missing prjects and avoiding family to follow these matches. This world cup has been amazing. Each game has taken it own character and reflected the styles of the participants while still providing suprises. The officiating has also gotten better and better game after game. I am highly impressed with the CONCACAF teams we have seen so far and most of the stars who are healthy and some who are not have delivered so far. Neymar, Balotelli, Pirlo, Sanchez, Dos Santos, Cavanni, Robben, Van Persie. This is an amazing Cup so far. I hope the scoring pace continues.
Yes, usually the World Cup is a nervous affair where teams keep testing each other and being ultra-cautious, given the high stakes, and we see the attacking brand of football in club league play rather than in the WC. This World Cup, however, has not been like this at all. Teams are opening hostilities from the moment the game starts, and are going at it full speed. This is just fabulous. The average is 3.5 goals per game. If not for the two disallowed Mexican goals we'd have had 30 goals already, in 8 games. Amazing! I think it does have to do with the atmosphere. After all, this Cup is in Brazil, the football nation. They got to a rough start with protests and delays and all, but things are now coming along fine, and this may very well prove to be the best World Cup in history.
Well, I hope Messi doesn't score... Seeing Rooney continue his streak of zero goals in 11 WC matches today was entertaining.
I'd gladly root for Portugal (and did so last Cup) if not for the fact that I also root for the United States and you guys are direct competitors. But if we can both knock out Germany and Ghana, then it's the ideal situation. I'd like to see the United States and Portugal come out of the group.