World Cup Thread.

[PP2]

Terrible effort by Benzema but then Cabaye inexplicably smashes the rebound onto the post. Crazy. They should be out of sight.

I enjoy your distinctly British play by play. Please continue.

 

[BritPat]

I enjoy your distinctly British play by play. Please continue.

I've heard that Ian Darke is very popular your side of the pond, is that true?

 

[BritPat]

A truly pulsating game between the always fancied Argies and the forever no-hopers Iran is settled by a moment of true genius. La Pulga, the flea, otherwise known as the best player of his generation scores an absolute worldy (I can translate for you Yanks ) in stoppage time to seal a 1-0 win.

Messi is ridiculous, and a timely reminder as to why many believe he's the greatest ever.

 

[shmessy]

A truly pulsating game between the always fancied Argies and the forever no-hopers Iran is settled by a moment of true genius. La Pulga, the flea, otherwise known as the best player of his generation scores an absolute worldy (I can translate for you Yanks ) in stoppage time to seal a 1-0 win.

Messi is ridiculous, and a timely reminder as to why many believe he's the greatest ever.

Took the family to lunch in Rockville and sat in a dining room filled with Iranian supporters who screamed and cheered every defensed foray by their team. They were INSUFFERABLE!

The kids and the wife had headaches, but we had a nice time. Left with 15 minutes to go and then WE went nuts in the car when we heard the live call of Messi's goal.

Great stuff! Tomorrow night at 6:00pm should be interesting here in the States:

 

[JayNM]

A truly pulsating game between the always fancied Argies and the forever no-hopers Iran is settled by a moment of true genius. La Pulga, the flea, otherwise known as the best player of his generation scores an absolute worldy (I can translate for you Yanks ) in stoppage time to seal a 1-0 win.

Messi is ridiculous, and a timely reminder as to why many believe he's the greatest ever.

Messi is great, but he's far from that level

 

[BritPat]

Messi is great, but he's far from that level

I know you Brazilians can be touchy about the subject.....

 

[BritPat]

Took the family to lunch in Rockville and sat in a dining room filled with Iranian supporters who screamed and cheered every defensed foray by their team. They were INSUFFERABLE!

The kids and the wife had headaches, but we had a nice time. Left with 15 minutes to go and then WE went nuts in the car when we heard the live call of Messi's goal.

Great stuff! Tomorrow night at 6:00pm should be interesting here in the States:

Looking forward to your game. The US are a hard one to work out, on paper they don't really stand out, but the team is greater than the sum of it's parts. Don't see you making it beyond the next round to be honest. Shame too, I think if you were to go a long way in the competition, the sport could erupt over there.

 

[JayNM]

I know you Brazilians can be touchy about the subject.....

Lol

Honestly though, Messi is not part of a discussion of "the best ever" yet. He's not even the clear cut best player nowadays

 

[BritPat]

1-0 to ze Germans. Gotze with a scruffy finish after a superb cross by Muller.

Jay, we'll leave this for another time

 

[BritPat]

Incredible game, again. Ghana equalised not long after conceding and have now unbelievably gone ahead. And produced the best celebration of the tournament in the process. Best World Cup ever.

 

[Boston Boxer]

Germany ties it up!!!!!!!!!! wow what a game!

 

[BritPat]

Frigging Jerry's.....Klose equals Ronaldo's all-time goal-scoring record at the World Cup.

 

[BritPat]

Basti Schweinsteiger should have made it 3-2....

 

[Mike the Brit]

I think if you were to go a long way in the competition, the sport could erupt over there.

The truth is that soccer is already very popular in the US.

When I first lived here more than 30 years ago it was a different story. I used to play in a regular pick-up game every week and it was was 75% international -- Brits, Brazilians, Argentinians, Italians, etc. The Americans who came tended to play as if the idea was to run straight through your opponent. Tough defenders, but probably wouldn't have lasted long with proper refereeing ...

It's very different now. Not only is there a very solid base among kids, but a lot of people follow it regularly. There was a very interesting piece recently about how MLS is flourishing by having purpose-built stadiums in urban areas -- notably, not in Boston -- and that many of the fans are young Brooklyn-Portlandia types. In fact, one of the most knowledgeable and passionate soccer fans I have ever met was an American businessman in his 40s whom I sat next to on a plane a couple of years ago. He was on his way to Austria, where he'd never been before, but he told me he'd packed his boots anyway in case he could get a game ...

You won't hear much about all of this because as soon as people admit to liking soccer they will be attacked for being part of the "****ification of America" and so on. (This whole "true sports are manly contact sports" stuff is a bit of a joke for a nation that devotes a whole TV channel to golf.) I don't suppose they sell many replica jerseys.

Of course, nitwits like Bob Ryan will continue to write articles claiming that the U.S. isn't serious about soccer because ... er, how else to explain that the U.S. doesn't win the World Cup? But the fact is that soccer has a really solid and growing popularity and that's much better than a passing wave of enthusiasm.

 

[Ivan]

Messi is great, but he's far from that level

He is absolutely one of the greatest players of all time.

 

[BritPat]

Best game of the tournament that, which is saying something. If you can't enjoy football after that, there's no hope for you.

 

[shmessy]

Looking forward to your game. The US are a hard one to work out, on paper they don't really stand out, but the team is greater than the sum of it's parts. Don't see you making it beyond the next round to be honest. Shame too, I think if you were to go a long way in the competition, the sport could erupt over there.

I hear you. The Ghanaians truly outplayed them last game. It was excruciating to watch. If Altidore hadn't gone down, they might have something resembling an attack.

I agree, the last game's outcome was probably max for them. I just don't see much offensive firepower or defensive savvy on that squad. Bradley in the middle is pretty good though.

Post script: Holy crap, Ghana drew with the Germans!!!! - - - I may have been too hard on the US squad........

 

[Mike the Brit]

I had to work today so missed the Iran-Argentina game and the first half of this one. But the second half was excellent. No diving, no niggling fouling ... football as it should be played.

 

[Major **********]

The Lahm at DM/4 CB back line experiment is going to cost Germany the tournament. You have arguably the best RB in the world and you waste him at DM a position he is mediocre at and has barely played. It would be the equivalent of having Revis at his prime and playing him at Safety.

 

[BritPat]

The Lahm at DM/4 CB back line experiment is going to cost Germany the tournament. You have arguably the best RB in the world and you waste him at DM a position he is mediocre at and has barely played. It would be the equivalent of having Revis at his prime and playing him at Safety.

Not true. Lahm plays a huge amount of his club football in central midfield, almost exclusively this last season certainly in Europe, and has played a huge amount of minutes there for Germany. He's superb, whether you play him in midfield or at right back.

I do question whether he wouldn't be better off right now at RB, seeing as Low seems to have absolutely lost the plot when picking his squad, but overall, Lahm in central midfield is almost a no-brainer. It's just who you pick with him.