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World Cup 2014 Thread


geordie9

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Phil Neville's had some stick but God he's monotonous ... made the matches worse to sit through  :D I haven't had the pleasure of Robbie Savage's commentary yet ... was it as bad as his dancing? :D

 

Not fancying our chances against Costa Rica ... they totally outplayed Italy. England just playing for pride now  :empathy:

Edited by poppyshake
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I haven't had the pleasure of Robbie Savage' s commentary yet ... was it as bad as his dancing? :D

 

Not fancying our chances against Costa Rica ... they totally outplayed Italy.

 

He was commentating on the Italy v Costa Rica game - didn't you hear him? :shrug:

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Well said poppy shake :)

 

It seems to be ignored that we weren't that good in the 1970s or 80s either when footballers weren't paid that much and there were few non British players in the then First Division.

 

I think that Rooney hasn't been great - but neither have Gerrard, Johnson, Jagielka, Baines etc and they are spared the vitriol Rooney gets - even though they have been criticised.

 

The Rooney negativity was in full flow before a ball was kicked - how is that helpful?

 

I don't like Rooney at all, but I've been drawn into defending him through all this nonsense!

Well there must be a reason that Rooney always get this criticism. He never scored in World Cup Finals till last night. He doesn't perform well  in tournaments for England. People say he's world class, well last night proved the difference between world class and Rooney, Suarez  is world class. I'm just gutted that we are out, but well done to Costa Rica, didn't see that coming!

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To continue with my blockbustingly accurate predictions, after seeing last night's big match, I think it's worth a punt on Greece or Japan to win the tournament. I'd say they've just been sandbagging.  And sandbagging extremely well! :smile:

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Rooney both scored and set up a goal. I think he's unfairly singled out ... so much so that it must dent his confidence. I totally agree that they're overpaid but that's not their decision is it? They don't under achieve at club level .. they wouldn't stay in the premiership for long if they did. We've nearly always had trouble getting an England side to gel and the line up constantly changes. 

We were in the worst group and playing in heat conditions that we're not used to (all the other teams in our group are far more used to playing in heat.) I know all that sounds like excuses but realistically ... even on paper ... we are ranked lower than Italy and Uruguay so it's not a surprise we lost to them. We need more home grown talent for sure but whenever I hear Trevor Brooking talk about it he says there's been a lack of talent coming through for years now. Despite the high wages .. kids just aren't as passionate about playing the game as they used to be. British kids anyway. I wish Gareth Bale wasn't Welsh  :D

Just my opinion anyway. I was so disappointed last night but ended up more ashamed of English people than English players ... the vitriol on social media was unacceptable in my view.

I'd like to see the FA stick with Hodgson ... I thought we played the best I've seen us in a long while against Italy and it is early days for this team. The defence needs sorting though ... you could usually rely on Ferdinand, Terry and Cole ... now it's all a bit shaky.

 

Sorry for rambling  :blush2: Hope we play well against Costa Rica .. good luck to all other teams  :smile:

 

I agree with this, although I don't know much about football... But I think sometimes us Finns have the same problem: we find fault with our hockey team when we should look at how the other team was more skilled. One can't always win! 

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He was commentating on the Italy v Costa Rica game - didn't you hear him? :shrug:

I had it on red button with Radio 5 live commentary which I think was Darren Fletcher/Jason Roberts .. anyway I thought they were pretty good .. though I only had one ear on it as was busy.

Edited by poppyshake
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I agree with this, although I don't know much about football... But I think sometimes us Finns have the same problem: we find fault with our hockey team when we should look at how the other team was more skilled. One can't always win! 

We are terrible losers .. you'd think we'd have got used to it  :giggle: I think we're annoyed that others are excelling at a game we invented  :blush2: We are a footballing nation and it's tough never to get any reward .. 1966 was such a long time ago  :D Hey ho .. not long until Euro 2016  :D 

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We are terrible losers .. you'd think we'd have got used to it  :giggle: I think we're annoyed that others are excelling at a game we invented  :blush2: We are a footballing nation and it's tough never to get any reward .. 1966 was such a long time ago  :D Hey ho .. not long until Euro 2016  :D 

 

I hope I won't make too many enemies on here by admitting that I don't believe I knew you guys invented the sport :blush: :blush: That explains a lot! It explains the passion you guys have for the game, and I think it also explains why you hate losing so much in that particular sport, like you said. You guys really should've kept your cool when you invented the game, and kept it to yourselves :D When the Finnish legend Tahko Pihkala went to the States to do research on different sports, he studied baseball, for example, and when he got back to Finland he 'reinvented' the game, did a few changes, and now we have our Finnish baseball version. Nobody else plays it so we can rest assured that whichever team wins, it's a Finnish team! :exc::lol:

 

Edit: So are you guys out of the tournament by now? I've not been following the news. Maybe I should not ask. 

Edited by frankie
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I hope I won't make too many enemies on here by admitting that I don't believe I knew you guys invented the sport :blush: :blush: That explains a lot! It explains the passion you guys have for the game, and I think it also explains why you hate losing so much in that particular sport, like you said. You guys really should've kept your cool when you invented the game, and kept it to yourselves :D When the Finnish legend Tahko Pihkala went to the States to do research on different sports, he studied baseball, for example, and when he got back to Finland he 'reinvented' the game, did a few changes, and now we have our Finnish baseball version. Nobody else plays it so we can rest assured that whichever team wins, it's a Finnish team! :exc::lol:

 

Edit: So are you guys out of the tournament by now? I've not been following the news. Maybe I should not ask. 

Yes ... fancy letting other nations play .. what numpties .. we should have banned the use of a football (or soccer ball as some would have it) outside of the UK  :D .. wouldn't have made much of a tournament but our chances of winning would dramatically increase  :D

 

Yay! Go Finnish baseball  :exc::D

 

Yes *sob* We are out after just two games played which is unprecedented I think though we've failed to qualify before so not total disaster. It's very sunny here though and that's not to be underestimated ..  the nation will fire up their BBQs and burn some sacrificial sausages :D

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Yes ... fancy letting other nations play .. what numpties .. we should have banned the use of a football (or soccer ball as some would have it) outside of the UK  :D .. wouldn't have made much of a tournament but our chances of winning would dramatically increase  :D

Exactly! :lol: I'm sure there are patents and contracts and such to forbid other nationalities to play the game ... :D

 

 

Yes *sob* We are out after just two games played which is unprecedented I think though we've failed to qualify before so not total disaster. It's very sunny here though and that's not to be underestimated ..  the nation will fire up their BBQs and burn some sacrificial sausages :D

That's awful to hear, I know how fanatic you guys are about the (your!) sport and would've loved to go on.  :empathy:  :empathy:

 

Maybe I'll see you guys in Euro 2016 and I can watch you guys kick some Finnish butt! :D (That sounds like I'm offering Finnish butt to kick as a way to make you guys feel better....  :roll2: )

 

Wohoo for the weather and BBQ, though!  :alc:

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Well there must be a reason that Rooney always get this criticism. He never scored in World Cup Finals till last night. He doesn't perform well  in tournaments for England. People say he's world class

 

Those are no doubt the same people who put the pressure and expectation on the players in the first place, set them up for a fall and then tear them down and make scapegoats of them when they are beaten by better teams?  I don't think Rooney has ever claimed to be world class but, if it hadn't been for his goals, chances are we wouldn't even have qualified for the tournament in the first place.

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European teams have a tough tournament! 

I am always rooting for Germany (and Sweden, whenever they have qualified). Today, Germany almost lost against Ghana. Thank lord for Miroslav Klose, and congrats to him for his 15th World Cup goal. I hope he makes one more to be the lone #1 scorer. Right now, tied with Brazil's former star Ronaldo. 

 

Spain out. 
England out. 

Italy & Portugal next?

 

Aside from Germany, I am also liking Mexico and Chile. 

 

I am impressed with the new English players though. I see very good promise in Sturridge and especially Raheem Sterling! 

Edited by emelee
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I am absolutely fed up now with an under achieving, unpassionate (is that a word?), overpaid bunch of footballers letting us down all the time. Big changes are needed and id start with putting a cap on foreigners playing in Premier League, we need more English players coming through. Get rid of Rooney, Gerrard, Johnson & Jagielka, bring in youngsters to prepare for Euros and get Alan Shearer as manager (im biased)

Welcome to my world... ;) at least you got there....did feel sorry for Rooney though.

 

I'm sorry the UK isn't in the competition anymore :(, I know there are a lot of supporters here :empathy:.

Not UK....just England. :blush2:

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England were the only "home nation" to qualify for the finals, Gaia :) Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all play as separate countries and didn't make it through pre-tournament qualifying.

 

However, I think Wales and Scotland have a decent chance of making it to Euro 2016. :)

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England were the only "home nation" to qualify for the finals, Gaia :) Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all play as separate countries and didn't make it through pre-tournament qualifying.

Thanks Alexi, I didn't know it worked that way. I guess I see the United Kingdom as one country (though I've only been in the south). Does the USA have multiple teams to quality too or do they just have one national team?

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Thanks Alexi, I didn't know it worked that way. I guess I see the United Kingdom as one country (though I've only been in the south). Does the USA have multiple teams to quality too or do they just have one national team?

 

I guess it doesn't make much sense for us non-Brits, I've been wondering the same thing for a while now :shrug::)

Edited by frankie
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I wouldn't feel bad about it - according to British TV I'm currently watching Holland :D

 

I once had to explain the difference between England and the UK to a global politics university class in Sydney.

 

England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are separate countries, although they form part of the joint entity of the UK which holds our seats on the United Nations, etc. We compete separately at football (except at the Olympics, because we enter the Olympics as Great Britain just to confuse the issue further!). It all goes back to history, for example until 1603 Scotland had a separate King, but when the Queen of England died the King of Scotland was her natural heir and he ruled both.

 

I'm half English, half Welsh, and my optimism, itsmeagain, mainly falls under the fact that the Euro finals extend to 24 rather than 16 teams from 2016 :D

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England were the only "home nation" to qualify for the finals, Gaia :) Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all play as separate countries and didn't make it through pre-tournament qualifying.

 

However, I think Wales and Scotland have a decent chance of making it to Euro 2016. :)

I so hope so Alexi...!

 

Same in the Commonwealth Games coming up....we compete as separate countries Athena.

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USA plays as ONE team. And as said above, the UK is 4 countries and always has been. 

 

You can see what nations have tried to qualify here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification

 

As you can see, over 200 countries competed for the 31 places (Brazil not counted as they were already qualified due to the World cup being held there)

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European teams have a tough tournament! 

 

Spain out. 

England out. 

Italy & Portugal next?

 

Huh... I was right. Portugal is almost out and Italy is out after today's defeat.

 

Bosnia is also out. 

 

Russia needs to win their match or they are out. Greece needs to win while Japan needs to lose for Greece to advance. Switzerland needs to win and hope for a good result in the other match to advance. 

 

The Netherlands, France & Belgium are the only European countries that are ready for the next round. Germany is almost there, but they either need 1 more point or for Portugal or Ghana to win with too few goals in their match to advance. So it's a 90% chance that Germany will advance too. I can't see how they will miss it, to be honest.  

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