World Cup (football) 2014.

[Wowbagger]

This Belgium - USA match is a real cracker. If football was like this more often it would be worth watching.

[Deano]

Tim Howard - beard of the tournament?

[Deano]

What a miss. I reckon the linesman ruled the USA player offside out of sympathy there.

[Jaded]

Tim Howard - beard of the tournament?

He's been outstanding tonight.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Great match. I really feel for the USA - they have played with great sportsmanship. They just get up and play on. The Belgians are just too strong (2:0 now).

[Deano]

Game on!

The USA have been brilliant - I totally agree about the sportsmanship. And the effort, they've never stopped.

[Wowbagger]

I'm glad that didn't go to penalties. It was too good a game for that and I don't think I could have stood the tension. Brilliant game.

[Deano]

What a game, and what a finish!

Made up for the earlier game today, and then some.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Great to see the Americans get a goal back. What a match! Sorry to see them go.

[Wowbagger]

I had a vague recollection of watching a match in 1970 which came alive with a stack of goals in extra time and it was Italy v West Germany. Tonight's game reminded me of that.

(click to show/hide)

17 June 1970
16:00
Italy    4–3 (a.e.t.)    West Germany
Boninsegna Goal 8'
Burgnich Goal 98'
Riva Goal 104'
Rivera Goal 111'   Report   Schnellinger Goal 90'
Müller Goal 94', 110'

Edit: Blimey! Some bright spark has put the whole game on 2ndpersonsingulartube. It's worth watching if you've got a couple of hours to spare.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUGTLnFaRfs

[LEE]

Good effort by the USA but it really was all effort.

If Belgium has played Lukaku from the start it could have been 8-0

[Von Broad]

Great game.
I thought they played brilliantly - probably as well as they possibly could have. They kept the ball well, passed with speed moving forward, supported each other off the ball, often finding available players, played it out of defense without hoofing a long hopeful ball, and, crucially, Tim Howard played a blinder. I thought the free kick was pretty clever too.

Although never quite to that extent, it's not the first time we've seen the USA play well at a World Cup. When you haven't got so-called great players or are putting a ludicrous amount of faith in talented young players, you have no option but to look at team formation and team spirit. They did well to get out of a tough group too. Fair play to 'em.

I would love to have seen them get the equalizer, but looking forward, I'm happy that Belgium go on to meet Messi Argentina.

[Jaded]

Now the Round of 16 is over and having seen the quality in them, can it be safely said that we were very lucky to have been spared the embarrassment of England being in them?

[Cudzoziemiec]

5 out of 8 matches in that round going to extra time and 2 of those going to penalties. That's got to be an unusually high proportion. Perhaps too many of the teams are too good! Which can only be a good thing, I guess.

[Jaded]

First time that the teams that topped their groups have all gone through.

[Wowbagger]

Now the Round of 16 is over and having seen the quality in them, can it be safely said that we were very lucky to have been spared the embarrassment of England being in them?

I don't think luck was involved.

[LEE]

Now the Round of 16 is over and having seen the quality in them, can it be safely said that we were very lucky to have been spared the embarrassment of England being in them?

I don't think luck was involved.

Agreed.

We're (England) falling further behind every year.  One by one African teams are moving ahead of us technically and also in work-rate. That puts us behind another continent.

Work-rate was what gave us the edge but now even the "Latin" teams have added that to their repertoire.  Skill plus work-rate means we don't have a look-in.

The great pity is, that if we had some talent, we'd stand a chance because nobody looks that unbeatable and the "giants" are either struggling to get through or have been sent packing already.

An opportunity missed.

To put it in perspective, the Germans had yet to play their second match of the World Cup and England were already knocked out.

I'm just pleased that reality has dawned on the majority of England supporters.  We never expected much more than this and so they were free to have a good time without rioting at the host cities.
Just a few years ago this would not have been the case.
So a big thank you to all those average England players who have played so badly, for so many years, that even the most Neo-Nazi Skinhead England Fan has had all the enthusiasm for a good fight slowly knocked out of them.

[pcolbeck]

It's telling that English Premiership league is first class and it'slubs are very competitive in international football but of course they are all stuffed with foreign players many of whom are representing their countries at the World Cup.
The starting eleven fielded by Germany in this World Cup featured seven players from Bayern Munich !
The Germans though have a cap on the number of foreign players per team whereas Premiership teams just buy ready made fully developed talent from anywhere in the world. Something needs to change to give more English home grown players a chance in the Premiership so they can get top class experience if we are ever to get better. Other than that you are just waiting for a lucky coincidence when there just happens to be a great player for each position at the same time in the Premiership. At the moment we do produce good players but never enough all at the same time. One world cup its a striker the next it's a midfielder and a goalie. You can't deny Beckham was absolutely world class or Paul Scholes for example but you need the rest of the team to be very good as well rather than relying on a couple of brilliant players.

Still the football has been excellent at this World Cup in general and I am enjoying it immensely. With England out it I can just enjoy each match for what it is.

[Mr Larrington]

Good effort by the USA but it really was all effort.

I was particularly amused by the occasion when the Belgian no. 17 was ambling up the park with the ball at his feet when one of the USAnian lads neatly took possession of the ball and ran off with it in the opposite direction.  The Belgian player continued to amble withe the air of one who, while picking daisies on the railway embankment, has just caught the 08:29 in the small of the back.

[Jaded]

With England out it I can just enjoy each match for what it is.

Yes, very true.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Penalty shootouts are no way to settle a tournament. At an international level, no one's going to miss a target 7.32 metres wide. Penalty shootouts are instead more a test of how well a magic sponge man can palm a couple of beta blockers to a nervous sweeper than actual footballing skill.

That's rather crude. Surely they must have developed a way of dissolving the beta blockers in the magic sponge water and getting it absorbed directly through the skin?

[Pingu]

Watching the Golden Gordon episode of Ripping Yarns and thought of this thread.

[Deano]

The referee in the Brazil-Colombia game is a bit lenient, isn't he?!

[Peter]

A very poor display from the ref. but I suppose any ref. n the Brazil games this far in is worried about getting shot.  Brazil are a disgrace.  I really hope Germany thrash them.  There, I've said it.

[Sergeant Pluck]

It was pretty scrappy, all right. There were almost too many fouls for one ref to manage - about 40 or 50.

I really enjoyed the match. But I can’t see Brazil beating Germany, if that is what transpires.