Seli Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 Belgium has had plenty of good players in the last decade, it would be nice to see the team work.The Dutch team is actually getting younger, which actually might lead to issues when too many of the experienced anchors fail. But as always the most important question is whether they can operate as a team. They can do well, but can (as shown in the euro) fail in spectacular ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kairparavel Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 MC and I, along with Ini and Alci did a little pre-game tailgating with the District Ultras before the DC United Vancouver Whitecaps game yesterday afternoon. Good food (MC made these sausages laced with scotch bonnet peppers and someone else had some super tasty barbacoa, plus many sides and snacks and frozen watermelon laced with bourbon), good beer and super fantastic weather, along the muddy (and possibly filled with dead bodies) Anacostia River.And though United lost on a penalty kick, it was so much fun being in a supporter group, with 90 mins of drums and singing and flag waving. Totally look forward to doing it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winterfell is Burning Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 This is true. Spain will never win a world cup either.Uruguay wouldn't reach the semis with this team if they hadn't won it so long ago it's almost beyond living memory? What? I guess someone needs to tell Greece that they couldn't really have won the Euros in 2004, or Croatia that they didn't actually make the semi-finals in France '98 because they've got no history, so how could they have done?The hype for Belgium isn't just because they're doing well in qualifying, it's because anyone with eyes can see that they've got a really talented squad who are impressing at club level and ever since Wilmots took over, they've been looking increasingly together as a team which was the initial concern.I didn't say that less traditional teams CAN'T win, but more often than not they end up chocking, being unlucky, or something else, and sometimes less than brilliant teams from more traditional teams end up winning or getting good results. The shirt you're wearing counts a lot in football, and is silly to argue otherwise. As for Belgium, again, they haven't even qualified for anything since 2002. They have a talented squad, but put it as one of the top sides in the world, ahead of the likes of Brazil and Argentina, is absolutely unjustified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Walker Texas Ranger Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 I didn't say that less traditional teams CAN'T win, but more often than not they end up chocking, being unlucky, or something else, and sometimes less than brilliant teams from more traditional teams end up winning or getting good results. The shirt you're wearing counts a lot in football, and is silly to argue otherwise. That's a specious argument and in my opinion, the dumbest in all sports.Team chemistry and leadership can make a team perform better or worse than their level of talent, and sometimes institutional memory can carry those attributes longer than any individual players are around. Uraguay did well in south Africa because they an easy draw, had good team chemistry, no major weakness and talented attackers with a good understanding of each other and Diego Forlan. In the Copa America, Argentina and Brazil were in shambles and no other team in South America had as much overall talent, except for mqybe Chile. This all was on top of the previous factors and the emergenfe of Suarez. They did not win because of goal scored 60 years ago, especially considering Uraguay's lack of success in between.The shirt is not some magical voodoo charm. Sometimes hostory gets in players heads, but more often shit hapoens because of luck. Luck plays a huge role in every human endeavor. Especially a single elimination tournament with a low scoring game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLU-RAY Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 Amen.Also, that was a fucking rocket from Cavani. Jesus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faraday Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 I didn't say that less traditional teams CAN'T win, but more often than not they end up chocking, being unlucky, or something else, and sometimes less than brilliant teams from more traditional teams end up winning or getting good results. The shirt you're wearing counts a lot in football, and is silly to argue otherwise.As for Belgium, again, they haven't even qualified for anything since 2002. They have a talented squad, but put it as one of the top sides in the world, ahead of the likes of Brazil and Argentina, is absolutely unjustified.I mean, I don't think I'd rank Belgium ahead of Brazil and Argentina but their squad/first team in particular has a lot of talent. A lot of good players. I can't really see why someone would think them better[/] than Argentina - but the Brazil side at least has a few weaknesses, although I think they're better than Belgium too it's not as ludicrous as it sounds on paper.The shirt you're wearing counts? To a certain extent? Has that stopped England "choking" (Okay, they've been overhyped a lot but still)? What about this current German side? There's a reason people question their mental strength - given all their talent the shirt hasn't helped them win something. I'm not really sure I buy the "Shirt argument", I think it's more likely that the better teams tend to do well because they've the better players.Still excited to see Belgium at the world cup. One of the teams I'm really hoping qualifies. (Along with Ireland <_< But that's...um, gonna be well anyway). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kairparavel Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 Jesus, Forlan. Again? I still love you and everything but ..ETAAnd given Forlan's miss against Brazil, I would have put Cavani ahead of him in the order to help take the pressure off. Yes, Forlan should be well versed in pressure at this point, but that kick against Brazil might have been in the back of his mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faraday Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 It's a great squad. Fellaini, in particular, is imo very close to world class anyway, though we'll see I guess coz he's almost certainly moving to a team that'll test that assertion this summer.Depends how you define "World Class", I guess. Dembele has been excellent for a while now. Kompany is world class by most criteria, I think. And Courtois is amazing. Like, he was the second best keeper in La Liga for me last season but that's only because Willy Caballero was fucking inhuman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLU-RAY Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 Buffon is kind of a monster also, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kairparavel Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 He is. But so many poor penalties. No one really had an impressive kick on either side.Bah. I hate penalties. Oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faraday Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 Come on, Brazil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 MC and I, along with Ini and Alci did a little pre-game tailgating with the District Ultras before the DC United Vancouver Whitecaps game yesterday afternoon. Good food (MC made these sausages laced with scotch bonnet peppers and someone else had some super tasty barbacoa, plus many sides and snacks and frozen watermelon laced with bourbon), good beer and super fantastic weather, along the muddy (and possibly filled with dead bodies) Anacostia River.And though United lost on a penalty kick, it was so much fun being in a supporter group, with 90 mins of drums and singing and flag waving. Totally look forward to doing it again.I'm undecided on which experience I prefer.Pros to being in the Ultras' section: A lot of fun. And when we went down on that penalty kick, it was good to spend the second half on my feet singing and waving flags instead of being despondent in my seat.Cons to being in the Ultras' section: With all the singing and flags and stuff I missed like half of the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Mongoose Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 That was quick! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kairparavel Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 Cons to being in the Ultras' section: With all the singing and flags and stuff I missed like half of the game.Yeah, I thought the same thing. But it didn't bother me for that particular game. It's something I'd like to be part of but I'm not sure I could hone my flag waving and watching skills. Especially for a tense or important game. In other news, someone has apparently shattered Neymar's leg based on his expression, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kairparavel Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 That was some impressive defending by Sideshow Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 That was a monster clearance from Luiz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faraday Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 NEYGOAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 He can finish.This is the best I've seen Brazil play for ages. Spain haven't been great but they've been superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faraday Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 Brazil haven't allowed Spain to get going. Their energy has been superb. They've had a few very good chances to be more up, and aside from Luiz stopping that goal Spain have had fuck all. Will be interesting to see if they can keep it up for the 90 minutes. Spain need to change things up. Bring on Silva or someone for Pedro. Still, not over yet - should be an interesting second half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 Nice to see Spain on the losing end of things.Seems to me there is room for some improvement, bring in Fabregas and Soldado like Del Bosque did in his first game, remove Mata and Torres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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