Official 2014 Brazil World Cup thread

[Itse]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

If you're a new soccer viewer, and appreciate how Canadians approach hockey (duh who doesn't, we're the best), you'll most relate to the English in this World Cup.


They despise diving, the flamboyant exaggeration of most of the nations out there (Scots, Welsh, Irish, not withstanding) & like Canada in SLC '02, are on a dry streak dating back to 1966.

Hard nosed, gritty football.

And to further the contrast between how it should & should not be played, the English play the Italians tomorrow @ 4pm MST.

Bleh

Roy Hodgson football. I was totally fed up with it when he coached Finland, and I can't wait for England to get trounced in these games just so I'll never have to watch him coach another country again. It's the antithesis of entertainment.

And "hard nosed football", hah. Decade after decade of teams lacking in skill, which is why they're the biggest underachiever of the major footbal countries. They're so far from how the game "should be played" it's not even funny.

I also think many will be pleasantly surprised by Italy. They've come a long way from their anti-football of the nineties.

[J79]

Woken up after an unreal night... (the hangover is real though)

To be honest, I don't think we played that good.
The first half was terrible and the second half went our way mostly because of Spains poor play.
They look old, (well, they are old) tired and not 'hungry'.
We look pretty fit.
We could've been down 2-0 at halftime, but we also could have won 8-1.

'We' are a pretty down to earth country, but once the colour orange is in play we kind of lose ourselves and tend to be a bit arrogant.
Looking at the papers, the WC is already ours.
That's clearly not the case.

The game vs. Australia will be totally diferrent.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Yep, as long as the Dutch do not get too arrogant they should be ok. Just take it one match at a time. Confidence is great, cockiness is not so great. Australia is a decent team, don't take them too lightly.

[Samuelsson]

The big one, the one we've all been waiting for. Can't wait to see England get mullered by Italy later.

[SuperMatt18]

Sounds like Buffon is out against England since he hurt himself in training.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Itse

Bleh

Roy Hodgson football. I was totally fed up with it when he coached Finland, and I can't wait for England to get trounced in these games just so I'll never have to watch him coach another country again. It's the antithesis of entertainment.

And "hard nosed football", hah. Decade after decade of teams lacking in skill, which is why they're the biggest underachiever of the major footbal countries. They're so far from how the game "should be played" it's not even funny.

I also think many will be pleasantly surprised by Italy. They've come a long way from their anti-football of the nineties.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying but I think this is the most skilled English team we've seen since 2006. I'm not expecting big things from them but they should be more exciting than the nonsense Capello put together for 2010.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by Itse

Bleh

Roy Hodgson football. I was totally fed up with it when he coached Finland, and I can't wait for England to get trounced in these games just so I'll never have to watch him coach another country again. It's the antithesis of entertainment

Roberto says hello.

"Hodgson's stay at Inter destroyed me," Roberto Carlos told planetfootball. "He played me in midfield and I had to consider that there was a chance that this would ruin my career in the national side.
"It's not that I did not have a good relationship with Hodgson. It is just that Hodgson doesn't know much about football.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/n...e-out-of-inter


But, I think England will surprise.

[Locke]

I just enjoyed watching smug grins wiped off of slimy Spanish faces.

That said, I think this is one of England's best sides in a long time and they might have success in spite of how Roy sets them up.

This is probably one of England's most balanced sides. How that stacks up against Italy? We'll see I guess.

[browna]

As an aside, full credit to CBC for top notch experience so far with their broadcast and coverage, online and on TV.

No issues at work streaming the WC Thursday and Friday at a big screen at work.
Multiple angles all blasting through at 1080 resolution.

Also, no commercials on the stream or on TV (even the split screen they've done before).

Extended highlights, without commentating, of every match within an hour of the final whistle...again, full 1080 and no lag.

Have yet to watch mobile on the Android App, but I suspect the same quality.

Though they could've got someone a little more relevant than Lloyd Barker to fill the "former player" quotient on the panel with Andi and Nigel. Where's Forrest?

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by Itse

Bleh

Roy Hodgson football. I was totally fed up with it when he coached Finland, and I can't wait for England to get trounced in these games just so I'll never have to watch him coach another country again. It's the antithesis of entertainment.

And "hard nosed football", hah. Decade after decade of teams lacking in skill, which is why they're the biggest underachiever of the major footbal countries. They're so far from how the game "should be played" it's not even funny.

I also think many will be pleasantly surprised by Italy. They've come a long way from their anti-football of the nineties.

Underachievement the last 20 years must befall management (which you also identified). Agreed, that they haven't played the most beautiful football-- yet they had the CM assets with Scholes/Lampard/Gerrard/Beckham in their prime-- their club managers utilized them as they should, yet the Swede & Italian managers couldn't make it work-- Too bad they declined the Portugese one.

Compound with the worlds media focusing on the nation with the most popular domestic league, and one of the most prosperous -- and it gives the others that much more ammo for a David vs Goliath tale.

[rubecube]

Nm

[Ark2]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

And to further the contrast between how it should & should not be played, the English play the Italians tomorrow @ 4pm MST.

How did that work out for you?

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Ark2

How did that work out for you?

I'm just waiting for the typical Man U fans defense of Rooney for being largely a non-factor yet again. Nice ball in the first half but went absolutely to pieces in the second.

[seattleflamer]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I'm just waiting for the typical Man U fans defense of Rooney for being largely a non-factor yet again. Nice ball in the first half but went absolutely to pieces in the second.

[cam_wmh]

Aaaaand I'm sober.

Pretty even matchup. England the better side in the first half and the Italians in the second.

Calling out Rooney-- he and Sterling had perfect passes for Sturridge to score. I'd sooner put Welbeck to bench and start Lallana.
That corner was ####, too bad Gerrard waved him off on the free kick near the end -- right in his wheel house.

Lots of movement between those 3 attacking mids, uncertain if that was Sterling or Rooneys cover that overlapped Baines. Rooney did start on the left.

Seconds in Italians flopped, earlier than expected.

[Samuelsson]

Gotta be honest, I didn't expect England to play as well as they did. That's not to say I think that's the best England can play; under another manager, we'd have beaten Italy quite comfortably.
Hodgson's insistence on playing out-of-form players out-of-position is becoming more and more obvious, and more importantly, flawed. Rooney was appalling, and has to be benched for the next game. He should've been benched vs Italy, but it was inevitable that he wasn't. So many people saying "yeah, but you've gotta play him because of the name, and on the hope that he does something spectacular".

At least that thought's in absolutely nobody's mind now.

Welbeck didn't have an awful game; played better than I thought he would. But he's not good enough, and as soon as Oxlade-Chamberlain's fit, then he'll be out of the team.
Next game;
Sturridge
Sterling - Barkley - Ox-Chamberlain
Henderson - Gerrard

[Ark2]

Originally Posted by Samuelsson

That's not to say I think that's the best England can play; under another manager, we'd have beaten Italy quite comfortably.

The arrogance of English supporters never ceases to amaze me. England hasn't won anything in nearly 50 years, yet every competition, their fans act like it's their tournament to lose. England will be lucky to win a game in this group, so forget about beating ANYONE comfortably.

[The Big Chill]

Originally Posted by Ark2

The arrogance of English supporters never ceases to amaze me. England hasn't won anything in nearly 50 years, yet every competition, their fans act like it's their tournament to lose. England will be lucky to win a game in this group, so forget about beating ANYONE comfortably.

I don't understand why this gets said so often. In the build up to this tournament there has been very little confidence from the English supporters in regards to their team's chances, let alone any arrogance.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Seconds in Italians flopped, earlier than expected.

Yet was Welbeck that had by far the worst flop in that game.

Actually was very little flopping in that game.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I'm just waiting for the typical Man U fans defense of Rooney for being largely a non-factor yet again. Nice ball in the first half but went absolutely to pieces in the second.

And, we're off ....... England loses and the backlash begins on Man U and their fans.

Nobody in their right mind has been defending Rooney, before, or now. He was poor. Agreed. Yes, he should be dropped imo, or played in position.

Now, share your thoughts on Captain ordinary, Baines and most worryingly of all, Cahill. The latter to me looked completely out of his depth and clearly was unable to cope last night.