Let's hope we can see Merkel do the "hands up scream in triumph" thing again. (only without involving PKs)
Do they all have tickets?:grin: Novo Hamburgo some kind of name Pretty good match and Di Maria might be back. I also know that there are some Germans, Japanese there after WWII
Agreed, but for the perennial powers, it serves no purpose. Robben just came out and said they should should abolish these Saturday games that precede the final game on Sunday. I feel for top players like him, who pretty much gave everything they could muster to no avail, and he will be 34 in four years. Same applies to Thiago Silva. Is this the end of their WC careers? Four years is a long time.
This is when discussions about whether to hold the WC every two years and just abolish various continental championships should be held. Will never happen but still worthy of discourse.
To me the Euros are worth almost as much as the World Cup and I think most Europeans feel the same way. Have a feeling the Copa America isn't quite as important in that sense to the South Americans.
Robben is the perfect guy to say it because he never got hold of that title. 2nd place was the best I guess. It always has been till now. Holland will win someday. No question about that.
Euros are pretty spectacular indeed. And you have teams like Greece winning, Czech Republic, Russia going to Semi or Final. I am interest in South American and American football so Gold Cup and Copa America, Copa Libertadores I will watch occasionally.
Sorry man. This is my first time commentating on a World Cup, if you don't like my posts, feel free to ignore me. What I said a little ago, even Ferrari could attest were true enough. I grew up there and I can tell you this is how I perceive things. I have been trying to be friendly to what you say. Brazilians are rooting against Argentinia, but not everyone is rooting for Germany. It means the winner could just be the Netherlands too. If I do not pass your standard quality test, then thank you for your feedback. This is the Internet, try not to act as thread fascist. Thank you again.
What he means is, you're sometimes replying three times to one post etc, instead of thinking first and doing it in one post. And you post about everything that comes to your mind. Calm down, ma breh.
In time my hands just typed quicker than my mind can think. FWIW I have that in control in other threads now. I just love talking about soccer related things maybe. It got out of hand when the knockout stage started. I just can get the knack of things here, I do not use the multiple post option well. It backfired a couple of times. Mostly I get agitated by other posters, surely not you, ATW, Arno or Ace. Those are all rational ones. And of course the 1:7 and I am sure I would post half as much if it just were a 0-2 for Germany. I try to save time for everyone by typing fast.
So, ATW, was this some master plan by Löw to use a clearly inferior lineup until France to rest players and try to get the team to peak at the right time? Do you think all this time he has secretly been a genius? I am sure you are willing to consider his true genius, right? Now everyone looks silly for questioning his decision to only bring one 36 year old striker...uh...right? In all serious, though, will he try to play it off as his grand plan if they win? I still think they should take this game. They have more skill all around to get the ball up top (unlike Holland who had to rely on either sloppy or invisible players around Robben) to at least take some shots and that is when Argentina is in trouble. I don't care about the PKs last night, Romero's hands and instincts are terrible.
I like the 3rd place game. It's two really good teams that don't have a fear of losing so they just go out and play. The odds of seeing a team bunker is pretty low.
I'm still not Löw's biggest fan, but he DID make some of the necessary adjustments (although possibly due to a lot of pressure from the media) - moved Lahm back to the right, let Schweinsteiger take control of the game, played Schweinsteiger and Khedira together. Höwedes has done better than I could have hoped for (always thought he's a very nice guy), but I am still worried how he will do against Messi and Lavezzi on that side, after seeing how fast Lavezzi is. Özil should already have been replaced by Götze long ago, in my opinion, but hey, I don't care as long as we end up winning it.
Löw made early mistakes, the team played like crap and the public went nuts with the critique (rightfully so). He then corrected his mistakes and made the right decisions, doesn't sell it as a masterplan at all and admitted Lahm might be better at RB for our team. I think we're favourites vs. Argentina, but they have shown a great defensive effort after group stage and a team with Messi, Aguero, Higuain, Lavezzi is always dangerous, all these guys can have one brilliant moment after 90+ minutes of crap. Think our chances are 70:30 or slightly better, containing Messi will be the key, they're lost without him. We should also attack Demichelis, he's their weakest link and always looks bad vs. quick players.
Götze played like crap though, still not sure why Podolski hasn't seen any playing time after his brilliant performances in the friendlies right before this World Cup.
