soccer/footy/futebol thread

[wiggly--woo]

spain got merked

[maj]

quality world cup football that was, robben and van persie scoring fantastic goals.

[bobo77]

[rublev]

Almost in tears !!!!!!!!!!! *waves Dutch flag*

Honestly was a little worried at half time... felt it could go either way but then boom. Spain taken apart. Probably should have been 8-1 and Costa sent off.

*kisses birth certificate*

[navin]

im just happy spain got fucked cause i really hate them

[bobo77]

I'm conflicted because I'm going to Spain in a couple weeks and I want to be there with happy Spainards (being there during a World Cup win would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience), but they don't need to win another World Cup. I'll stick to rooting for Argentina to win it all and Brazil to get eliminated early.

[stappard_]

That Van Persie goal just supplanted his volley against charlton at the top of my top 5 van persie goals list

[breakadawn]

Australia played well last night, Cahill was truly a monster

[rublev]

A great picture of Robben

[chilljin]

CHIN UP THE DREAM IS NOT DEAD YET

[germinal]

If england had real full backs we'd have won last night. Neither are good enough to be playing internationally. Johnson especially is so slow on the ball and cant cross. The corner rooney blasted straight into the crowd was iconic. Kind of feel he should be dropped after the miss and general anonymity last night but no one else could have played that cross for the goal.

So glad uruguay lost though, and in such fashion. Campbell looks really good and i'll be rooting for costa rica if they go through at our expense.

It's incredible what an effect drogba had on the civ side when he came on; instantaneously fresher football, and a pretty sparkly looking japan crumbled within minutes. Both sides had lovely kits too.

This has been a cracking world cup so far

[germinal]

Also lol at our physio getting injured

[stappard_]

Compared to the same game 2 years ago when England played Italy, there was definite improvement - at least there was an inclination to attack - but for all the small gains made, the core issue of the England team (and probably by extension English football) remains unchanged. At no point in the game was there an option for the England midfield to not move the ball forward; any of the 5 players between the defence and Sturridge would receive the ball and be faced with 4 Italian players between them and a possible pass recipient, so inevitably the only option was a speculative pass forward, which in turn meant almost every move fizzled out discouragingly quickly.

Another systemic issue with this team, whoever's actually playing in it, is the idea that you shouldn't actually play football within 40 yards of your own goal. For some reason we think the only thing to do in that situation, even under no pressure, is to knock it forward again, when in reality these defenders are perfectly capable of actually playing properly and with some consideration that close to their own goal.

In all sports you're told not to do anything without a clear understanding of what you want to achieve - obviously in football there's not enough time to literally visualise the result or anything, but its depressing how often England players will play a pass (in the loosest possible terms) when you know fine well that if you paused the game and asked them what they were trying to do, the answer would either be a confused silence or "i was just trying to get it away from me/our goal". Its telling that the only real moment where a move was strung together that looked like every part of it had a clear intention - 1) pass to space for Rooney to reach, 2) cross to Sturridge specifically rather than just 'getting it in the mixer' - ended up in the only England goal.

Such a frustrating team to support because we seem to be unable to overcome systemic issues that will always hold us back against teams who know how to play. Italy weren't anything special but I had the sense that, until the last moments when they dropped too deep, they always had the wherewithal to stop attacking play that had so little conviction behind it

[stappard_]

ALSO Phil Neville is by some distance the worst commentator I've ever heard. Not only did he say literally nothing of note, he did it with the enthusiasm of a man forced to read the itunes terms and conditions as the support act to his own execution

Oh, and for some reason his voice seemed to be at exactly the same pitch as the ambient noise within the ground so you were never sure if we was talking or if someone was just moving a chair near the microphone

[ramseames]

Think you're not giving us enough credit. Baines was a joke but barring that and the 4(+?) balls we sent right over the net from the 80th minute onward it was a good showing. Italy only had half a dozen proper chances, the fact that they capitalized on the ones they did is a testament to pirlo and the weakness of our d. They scored on 2/5 they managed to put on target.

[starfox64]

In Brazil. At the airport. Can't believe I forgot to bring my vuvuzela

[prawnzee]

[bueno]

it would be nice if football shirts weren't so expensive

[greggy]

can't wait for the fabregas shirt to go on sale, can't decide between first team or third kit though

[navin]

Germany was fucking ruthless
also lol

[rublev]

So many own goals and pens so far it's ridic. I thought Bosnia made Argentina look pretty average last night... really wanted them to get a draw out of it :(

Funny hearing the meltdown about the goal line technology during the French game on BBC... so dumb.

[bobo77]

lol @ Barcelona fan jumping up and down in background

[eufemism]

DEMPSEY MOTHERFUCKERS! USA! USA! USA!

[stappard_]

Great Dempsey goal. Shame for Altidore having to go off but I'm actually excited to see Mr USA Aron Johannsson get some game time now

[rublev]

Good game compared to Nigeria / Iran... that was grim.

Taping the rest of this though as i can't keep doing 1am bedtimes up to my eyeballs in tv...

[bhajz]

I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN

[ramseames]

cannot believe how fucking lucky the US was to pull that one off

Ghanaian striking so inconsistent argh. shouldve buried them

[seth83292]

I mean that accuracy from Ghana was pretty appalling.

Those Altidore and Dempsey injuries weren't exactly lucky either.

[germinal]

The US players are made from glass and butterfly wings. Something is wrong with their physical conditioning if so many players are injured and cramping towards the end of 90 minutes. Until their second goal they looked knackered and swamped in midfield, especially after boateng came on. Against a better side than ghana they're going to get mullered (har har). Still, howard and his back four impressed me and made up for any midfield deficiencies. I'm gutted for jozy altidore too.

Also the first time i saw those pink and blue boots, i thought "oh this guy's cool, sick boots" but now i've come to realise there are half a dozen players on each side wearing the same odd pair of boots and i can't stand them. I know footballers are the most boring people on earth but forcing widespread individuality on them like that is painful.

[Bobbin.Threadbare]

The thing about Arsenal is that they always try and walk it in.