World Cup GDT: June 29th

[SebC]

Sunday, June 29th

10:00 AM Netherlands (Group B winner, 3-0-0, 15) vs. Mexico (Group A runner-up, 2-1-0, 20)
2:00 PM Costa Rica (Group D winner, 2-1-0, 28) vs. Greece (Group C runner-up, 1-1-1, 12)

Numbers in brackets are group stage finish, and W-D-L in the group stage, and FIFA ranking.

Bracket:

Spoiler!

(from CBC)

[Itse]

Costa Rica has looked way better than Greece, but Greece is one of those teams that never looks good but surprisingly often finds a way to survive.

Netherlands would otherwise be the favourites, but American (CONMEBOL/CONCACAF) teams have done very well against teams from other continents in this tournament. That's a big reason I picked Mexico and Costa Rica to go forward.

Two very even matches, very hard to say which teams will go forward. Should be good night of football again

[Party Elephant]

Hoping for a Mexico/Costa Rica QF!

[GirlySports]

should be a lot of fun. The first goal in the mexico-holland game will be important. These teams are playing well but have a history of imploding. Will they start to argue with each other when things go wrong?

[vennegoor of hesselink]

Nigel de Jong coming off is a huge blow for the Netherlands. He's been great for them so far.

[GirlySports]

Hmmm isn't Martins Inde hurt too?

It's not the Mexican wave. Americans invented it.

[Luder]

This must be the soccer version of " letting the players decide the game". Love this ref so far

[Street Pharmacist]

Yikes. Netherlands with the ball a lot but Mexico with all the chances

[rich76]

Looking at the draw, it's possible that no European team will make the last 8.

We could be looking at;
Brazil v Colombia
Mexico v Costa Rica
Nigeria v Algeria
Argentina v USA

How amazing would that be?

A couple of upsets along the way, but all feasible.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

A cooling break? Never seen this before..........38.8 before kickoff in the shade, no wonder.

[GirlySports]

It was the opposite in USA 94. 7 european teams made the quarters but Brazil still won. The world has caught up.

[Arsenal14]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Hmmm isn't Martins Inde hurt too?

It's not the Mexican wave. Americans invented it.

The world first learned about it at the Mexico 86 World Cup which is why the Brits usually refer to it as the "Mexican Wave". And yes, I do remember reading something about it's origins being American. College football?

[Itse]

Netherlands plays easily the most boring football of the major countries right now. Pretty close to being the most boring soccer in the tournament, top 5 certainly.

Really hoping this is the last we'll see of it.

[seattleflamer]

The first recorded Wave occurred in Oakland at an Athletics' playoff game against the New York Yankees on Oct. 15, 1981.

It was organized and led by professional cheerleader Krazy George Henderson and was seen by a national TV audience and captured on film. Sixteen days later on Halloween at the University of Washington in Seattle, former UW cheerleader Robb Weller -- back for a game as guest yell leader -- led fans in a Wave at Husky Stadium during the school's 42-31 victory over Stanford.

LINK: http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fan...-first-started

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Really? Highest scoring team in the WC, it's not like they're trying to win 1-nil.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Itse

Netherlands plays easily the most boring football of the major countries right now. Pretty close to being the most boring soccer in the tournament, top 5 certainly.

Really hoping this is the last we'll see of it.

What tournament are you watching?

[seattleflamer]

That was a PK.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

Really? Highest scoring team in the WC, it's not like they're trying to win 1-nil.

Are you actually looking at the game? They're just sitting back and occasionally throwing long balls to Robben and van Persie.

Absolute crap. The Finnish commentators have been jeering at them pretty good too.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Itse

Are you actually looking at the game? They're just sitting back and occasionally throwing long balls to Robben and van Persie.

That's more due to Mexico defending well than anything else

[Itse]

Originally Posted by seattleflamer

That was a PK.

True. But then again so was the kick in the Mexicans head in the other end.