Rodriguez didn't want to deal with giving a card with 10 seconds to go. Easier for both teams if he doesn't.
Well that was certainly not what we were expecting. Referee crew is probably absolutely bewildered after that, in a good way.
They did well to land the plane without any horrible accidents (or 'accidents'). Blowout games where one team has nothing to lose can go very wrong very quickly. (Although it helps in this case that the losing team looked absolutely deflated and lost rather than angry...)
I like how he grabbed the ball at 91:50 and blew shortly thereafter. That ball is on its way back to Mexico....
BAHAHAHAHA. Its okay I grew up going to Northwestern pointy ball and Cubs baseball. One win a year was a good year.
Well I was pulling (slightly) for Germany to win, but didn't exactly have this in mind. I appreciate how Brazil came out playing at the start of the second half when the game was essentially lost, and had several very good chances that only some emergency defense and goalkeeping turned away. Would have made for a much more interesting second half if they could have put a couple of those in the net. Rodriguez did what he needed to do to land the plane, and everyone got out of there intact except for a bit of Brazil's pride. We'll see what Germany has left for the final.
If Argentina beats Brazil for the third place then there will be a real civil war. Anyway, Fred has got to be the worst player in the World Cup. If he was iranian, he wouldnt have been called up.
Agreed. If I did not know better, it looked like a dream I did not believe what I witnessed. It was surreal.
I thought the rhythm of the match was off from the get go. Brazil was playing wildly in the first few minutes and it was though they had a premonition that only by striking first could they win. But, their method was madness. After the first goal, how many of you thought it was going to be a rout? I know it's 20/20 hindsight, but I turned to my daughter and said this is 6-0.
Big Felipão needs to sit there and answer the press corps questions rather than storming out when they ask tough questions. As the technical director, the buck stops with him and frankly he did a terrible job preparing this team for this game. Those tactics he employed allowed Germany to attack. Brasil constantly lost it's shape defensively and lacked a real commitment to working hard to get into position defensively.
I had picked Brasil to win going into the tournament. In fact I had the four semi-finalists in my pre-World Cup selections. That said, when Silva and Neymar went out, I held little hope for Brasil to beat Germany. Like many, I felt Brasil needed to score first. Like you, I was concerned if Germany scored first, Brasil would be in trouble. A fragile team, perhaps that explains why Scolari hired the psychologists. Lacking organization defensively without Thiago Silva and quality in finishing except for Neymar Jr this was a recipe for distaster. Congratulations to Germany. I feel bad for Marco Rodriguez. That was basically a do nothing match. Brasil was a shell of it's self and didn't really resort to fouling. That 10 minute stretch destroyed Brasil and made the match a joke.
In the 67th minute, Paulinho was called offside. He was in an offside position when his teammate hit the ball towards him, then Mertesaker flicked the ball on (Paulinho was in an onside position when this occurred), and the ball reached Paulinho where he performed a bicycle kick. Is this the correct way enforce offside?
When I watched that play (I'm pretty sure it's the same one), I said no offside because of the deliberate play by the defender -- which would match one of the FIFA (UEFA?) videos on the Garcia-Aranda site where a defender essentially tries to head the ball and it goes a way he didn't intend it. But I don't necessarily have a problem with this being offside if that's what it's supposed to be (and in lower divisions I do I'd likely flag it since there's little chance it's any type of controlled effort)
EDIT: when I first replied to this post I had a brain fart and was thinking Paulinho was on the German team. If anyone read that, ignore what I said If Mertesaker played the ball (which USSF defines as "possesses and controls", and I'm sure the international standard is more of less the same), then this would be an incorrect call. However, if Mertesaker did not play the ball, and instead it was just a deflection, then offside is not reset, and the correct call was made. It comes down to a judgment call, and I wish we had a video of the play to make a judgment ourselves.