FIFA World Cup 2014 thread of GER bests ARG, Neuer wins Glove, Messi wins Ball

[The Business]

Match schedule

Team-by-team guide

Bore Tipping (kicktipp.de)

Announce your teams now and I'll update the OP.

I'm a USA fan first and formost, but I'll also be rooting for Spain, France, and Argentina should something tragic happen and the USA doesn't leave Group G (50% chance if they beat Ghana, 38% chance if they don't).

Picked up some t-shirts here since I can't afford to spend $100 on three team jerseys. Who are your teams, Bore? Predictions?

The Business: USA, Spain, France, Argentina
Esch: USA, Uruguay, Belgium
Mr. Gundam: USA
Exodust SoulBurn: Brazil, Germany, Netherlands
Steve Youngblood: USA, Italy
Fifstar: Germany
Formerly Known As Himuro: USA, Germany, Colombia, Spain
Creepy Old Guy: Russia, Iran, Netherlands
DCharlieJP: England
Rebiak: Netherlands
pilonv1: Australia
Ruzbeh: Not Netherlands
Momo: Spain

[Mr. Gundam]

USA, but once we get knocked out I'll probably root for the underdog teams. Maybe The Netherlands and Samurai Blue.

[Steve Youngblood]

USA first. Following that, my standard team to throw support behind for no good reason is Italy. I developed an irrational love of the Italian national team when they became the go-to team to defeat my brother and his selection of Brazil back in the days of International Superstar Soccer 64, and I've stuck with them ever since.

[Fifstar]

Germany obviously. In case we get eliminated I'll probably root for one of the "smaller" south american teams like Chile or Uruguay.

[Fifstar]

I hate you, Wrath. You love America. You are studying in the US. You are a huge US stan. Why won't you root for us?

Do the US have any great or interesting players? Doesn't seem like an exciting team unless you're american yourself.

[Fifstar]

Clint Dempsey (), Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Tim Howard, yeah. We've got some great players. I'm interested in the kid we took from Germany too, Julian Green. He has some promise.

Yeah, Green is interesting indeed. Scored at will on the second team from Bayern Munich this season and some stat blogger that's runs an elaborate plus/minus goal difference index for players predicts him to become good enough to be a Champions League regular. Probably to young to make a difference this World Cup though.

[Joe Molotov]

I thought Conchita Wurst already won the World Cup.

[Himu]

USA.

After that, Germany, Colombia, and Spain.

[Himu]

Also group G is bananas. Will be hard competition.

[Himu]

Brad Davis.

#foreverorange
#dynamo

[Himu]

Biz, it is Colombia not Columbia

[Human Snorenado]

I'ma root for the "evil" countries: Russia, Iran, and the Netherlands

[Human Snorenado]

Netherlands

:kosmacry

[Himu]

Making fantasy league.

My group predictions:

Group A - Brazil, Croatia
Group B - Spain, Netherlands
Group C - Colombia, Japan
Group D - Italy, England
Group E - France, Ecuador
Group F - Argentina,
Group G- Germany, USA
Group H - Belgium, Russia

[Himu]

Commercials:

[Mr. Gundam]

USA preliminary roster:

(Image removed from quote.)

Hunky Bocanegra snubbed

Three Sounders as of now.

[Himu]

Did I do it right?

http://games.espn.go.com/world-cup-bracket-predictor/2014/en/group?groupID=11808

Join up.

[Kara]

BOSNA BOSNA BOSNA

[Himu]

The tough thing about predicting USA to leave the group is we are basically saying Ronaldo can't do anything against the mighty USA. We're so screwed.

Not necessarily. Portugal is good but I think the USA can beat them. Portugal is overrated as a team imo, though they've earned their glory and ranking positioning. USA has some very good players and Ronaldo can't beat USA himself. The big bad of Group G is Germany and Germany is squaring off against Portugal in their first match, so we're lucky. USA goes up against Ghana. Ghana is ranked 38. USA is ranked 14. We will likely win.

[Rufus]

Those Chinese kids got paid.

[Himu]

If you can, pirate this and not watch it on television because of the slave labor that took place to make it happen.

Thanks brehs.

went you talking about the next WC and not this WC? Because the WC slavery thing you posted about on fb was for the 2018 WC.

As for the slave labor thing I want an iPhone. That will be covered by child labor too. The naivete of western thinking is that these children are slaves when they're really just trying to make money to take care of their family. I've read more than a few stories about some hippy ass western fuck closing down a factory because children work there and then the children starving because they have no money to buy food. The problem is the conditions, not the work itself. So I will watch the World Cup on my Samsung LCD tv while talking about it on a smart phone like any other westerner gladly.

[Himu]

Himu, Saudi Arabia was ranked 20 in the fifa world ranking going into 2002 and around 15th going into 98, those rankings don't mean shit. Portugal could be great due to C. Ronaldo evolving and some lukewarm performances in past world cups.

Group A - Brazil, Croatia
Group B - Spain, Netherlands
Group C - Cote d'Ivoire, Japan
Group D - Uruguay, Italy
Group E - Switzerland, France
Group F - Argentina, Iran
Group G - Germany, Portugal
Group H - Russia, Korea Republic

Still picking USA over Portugal.

[Himu]

He may as well do a great job. Ballon d'or winner is nothing to scoff at and he has been on a roll.

[Mandark]

Messi didn't suck last WC.  He may not have scored, but did you watch those games?  Higuain should've been shining Messi's shoes.

[Himu]

He was talking about Qatar on fb. Meant 2022 sorry.

[Fifstar]

My predictions:

Group A: Brazil, Mexico
Group B: Spain, Chile
Group C: Columbia, Ivory Coast
Group D: Uruguay, Italy
Group E: France, Swiss
Group F: Argentina, Nigeria
Group G: Germany, Portugal
Group H: Belgium, Russia

[pilonv1]

[Himu]

A list of every fucking squad for every fucking country:

http://www.worldfootball.net/players/wm-2014-in-brasilien/

Fantastic r/soccer country round up previews:

(Today's) Chili: http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/25fxoj/world_cup_2014_team_preview_732_group_b_chile/
Netherlands: http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/25cr5i/world_cup_2014_team_preview_632_netherlands/
Spain: http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/259xb2/world_cup_2014_team_preview_532_group_b_spain/
Cameroon: http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/257bud/world_cup_2014_team_preview_432_group_a_cameroon/
Mexico: http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/254emw/world_cup_2014_team_preview_332_group_a_mexico/
Croatia: http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/2519k7/world_cup_2014_team_preview_232_group_a_croatia/
Brazil: http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/24yofb/world_cup_2014_team_preview_132_group_a_brazil/

These are daily and will be posted daily. Have fun.

[Himu]

Naw, not really. SOME are, and they've made an r/football but most people don't care. r/soccer has 200k subscribers.

[Himu]

[Himu]

It comes on ESPN 2 soon.

[Himu]

Thanks for the heads up on that US NMT doc. It was really informative and fun to watch.

GO USA!

[Himu]

No way! When is part two? Next week?

[Himu]

For Wrath:

[Himu]

http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/25j1zw/world_cup_2014_team_preview_832_group_b_australia/

Sweet kits, Aussies.

[Himu]

http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/25mavn/world_cup_2014_team_preview_932_group_c_colombia/

[Mr. Gundam]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/16/sepp-blatter-qatar-2022-world-cup-mistake

No shit.

[Himu]

http://worldsoccertalk.com/2014/05/16/watch-the-music-video-for-the-official-2014-fifa-world-cup-song-starring-pitbull-and-jlo/

Lol

[Himu]

World Soccer Talk (formerly EPL talk) is now starting a daily count to World Cup set of previews. Today they start off with 4 cliches on World Cup 2014.


http://worldsoccertalk.com/2014/05/18/dispelling-the-top-4-cliches-of-the-2014-fifa-world-cup/

And a they started daily 25 most memorable World Cup moments. Today's is about the hot stud Donavan and the US team.

http://worldsoccertalk.com/2014/05/18/most-exciting-world-cup-moments-number-25-donovan-sends-the-states-crazy/


Agreed with the Donovan goal. It made me a soccer fan.

[DCharlieJP]

world cup prediction!

Gah - this is buggy as hell

Limited Surprises :

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10501412/World-Cup-2014-Wallchart-Predictor-Game.html?prediction=mIVtIG5j

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Brazil win

[close]

Mild Shocks :

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10501412/World-Cup-2014-Wallchart-Predictor-Game.html?prediction=dV5VOjlI

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Germany beat Brazil in tight final

[close]

More Crazy :

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10501412/World-Cup-2014-Wallchart-Predictor-Game.html?prediction=gtJcdNrb

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Brazil dumped by Chile on pens, Netherlands beat surprise package USA in final 

[close]

... wow , this really doesn't seem to work lol.

[DCharlieJP]

Do we still have Europeans here?

we have awesome club football to keep us occupied - the world cup is a side show (aka England suck, so we will make out we don't care about it )

[Fifstar]

Why are two Americans dominating this thread? Do we still have Europeans here?

Except for DCharlie and me there seem to be no europeans posting in the Fussball threads. Guess magus is to busy pirating games and Rufus doesn't strike me as a football fan (?). The rest doesn't seem to leave the gaf thread. Also, league/national cups demanded attention for now, as will the cl final next weekend. I will massively stan the german team when the world cup comes around, although I don't have the best gut feeling.

[Himu]

Magus doesn't watch

[Himu]

landon donovan didn't make the final 23?!

https://twitter.com/MLS/status/469594828213616640/photo/1

On the other hand, GO BRAD DAVIS!!!!

[Himu]

No. If you consider 32 too old for the World Cup, which is a good retiring age for most footballers to have their last WC. Plus, Donovan is one half of the face of US soccer and a giant part of the LA Galaxy's success. Donovan not making it has me confused.

[Himu]

I still can't believe Klinsmann didn't put Donovan in the team, despite being in the Group of Death.

Here are two takes with two widely different views from my two favorite soccer sites on the issue:

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/66/united-states/2014/05/22/4835125/donovans-world-cup-exclusion-a-shock-but-should-it-be?ICID=HP_HN_1

http://worldsoccertalk.com/2014/05/22/no-landon-donovan-will-deal-devastating-blow-to-usmnt-world-cup-hopes/

Either way, Klinsmann has balls. VERY BIG BALLS. If we don't get out of the group of death, or even lose to Ghana in the first match, Klinsmann WILL be sacked.

[Himu]

http://worldsoccertalk.com/2014/05/22/how-jurgen-klinsmanns-world-cup-squad-decisions-mirror-germany-2006/

[Himu]

I've never seen Americans so upset or devastated over soccer before, much less the World Cup.

[pilonv1]

First post hasn't been updated

leper OP

[Reb]

Brazil first and foremost, then Germany, and Netherlands for third.

Brazil over both if they should meet. Germany over Netherlands if it happens.

You wound me.

I'll be repping Netherlands of course, even if they get nasty once it gets tough.

[Himu]

Pilon, tell us about the team name SOCCEROOS.

I'm rooting for any team that's be disadvantaged, especially Australia. How do you NOT support a team called the Socceroos? YOU DON'T.

[pilonv1]

Should be footballeroos

[Steve Contra]

I can't wait for the couple of weeks where American soccer fans pathetically try to get people to call it football.  Otherwise this sport fucking sucks.

[Himu]

Americans try to get people to call it football? I call it football and soccer interchangeably, because I simply have to because I interact with more than Americans on the sport. I try not to force it on anyone, though. As for the sport sucking You watch NBA, not much room, bud.

Should be footballeroos

I thought Australians called it soccer? Then again, iirc football is picking up in all the commonwealth nations. Are the names split among Aussies?

[Steve Contra]

Hey, Steve Contra, I don't agree with your opinion.

[Himu]

Fuck Contra.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I could never beat it without cheating.

[close]

[Steve Contra]

My wife can beat Contra without dying

[Himu]

I haven't played it since I was a kid. I'll beat her at some other game. Just you watch!!

[Himu]

I can't believe I'm teaching a European on soccer.

Netherlands team looks good and are expected to show up. You guys are being managed by the legend and new Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal. Notable footballers include Rob Van Persie, the star forward from Manchester United - fuck em, Arjen Robben of Bayern Munich, Raphael van der Vart of Hamburg.  Netherlands' record in the cup qualifications is the best record in Europe, and perhaps the world. A notable 9-0-1 with 28 whopping points. Considering favorites like Portgual barely qualifying for the World Cup, I think the Dutch will kill it. Maybe not win, but they will be a tremendous force to be reckoned with.

[pilonv1]

Americans try to get people to call it football? I call it football and soccer interchangeably, because I simply have to because I interact with more than Americans on the sport. I try not to force it on anyone, though. As for the sport sucking You watch NBA, not much room, bud.

Should be footballeroos

I thought Australians called it soccer? Then again, iirc football is picking up in all the commonwealth nations. Are the names split among Aussies?

It's called soccer because Victorians think their abomination of a sport (Australian Rules Football) is called footnall by them.