Congratulations Germany, SJC and Yung-T. You deserved it. I am happy that finally a European country has won a WC in south America. Enjoy the party, and we will see you in 2 years at the EC I understand the pain of Mexico it is terrible to lose in the last 5 minutes when leading. However the self-victimization is a bit annoying. First it is debatable if it was a penalty, Secondly Robben should have had a penalty in the first half, it was a clear penalty (he was fouled twice), if the refs gave a penalty at that time the game would have been different, and I expect that it would have finished in 2-0 or even 3-0. Thirdly let’s not pretend like Mexico wasn’t the lesser team, the Netherlands had already tied the game the momentum was completely in favour of the Netherlands. The chance the Netherlands would have won in overtime was pretty big. So like I said I understand your pain (we have had our share of calls not going our way at important moments), but let’s be realistic. So yes you could have won if the penalty was not given but it would not have been a deserved victory. I feel your pain. Really I do. Sometime I also get that feeling, we have been close so many times. However we have to stay positive. It will happen for us. And when we win it will be that much sweeter since we were so close so many times. These tournaments will breed many new talents since many young children will start playing football as a result of this tournament. Also the culture is amazing here, and many players who play or played in the eredivisie were important during this tournament. Things are looking up for us. Trust me our time will come. I have faith (which is ironic since I am a Atheist ) I am not a fan of this. Messi was invisible in the semi final and finals. I would have preferred if Muller would have won it (I also do nor think Robben should have won it, since he was invisible in the semi-finals). Overall I want to say I was really impressed with de Vrij and Vlaar. De Vrij will bring in a lot of money after this tournament. He really looked like the talented defender we all think he can be. Ron Vlaar, I am so happy how he played. He really was one of the best defenders this tournament, if he could keep this form up an entire year he should play for a European top team. When he played with AZ he looked like a huge talent, I was ecstatic when Feyenoord bought him, I expected him to become the new great defenders (like Jaap Stam used to be). However he did not seem fulfil this expectation (when he started a friendly against Italy under Van Basten he seemed overwhelmed. He learned a lot the last year in England, and he finally arrived at the level i expected him to play
You are right, Vlaar was fantastic. Solid game last night. I was happy Germany pulled it off but it would have been nice if Argentina played a little more forward and if Messi had had a great game. But really there was no way for the final to have stood up against the dramatics of the tournament as a whole with so much at stake. Regardless, extra time with an excellent goal right before PK's was pretty good. Tevez? He would not have helped as history had shown. He and Messi do not mix. Höwedes seemed as if he was scared or trying to lose the game for Germany.
Golden Ball should have gone to Neuer or Schweinsteiger - Schweinsteiger delivered another unbelievable showing of fighting spirit - he got fouled like 6 or 7 times really hard, was bleeding, got stitches without anesthesia - and led the German team. I don't know if it is more difficult to see on TV, but once again, it was obvious to me who the leader and conductor of this team is. Also, Mario Götze is an unbelievable talent - stupid Pep said something to the media this season like "people compare him to Messi...he's a pretty good German player, but Messi is on a totally different level, you cannot compare this" - well look, Pep - who decided the match? Was it your little Argentinian la-z-boi who sometimes runs less during a match than Manuel Neuer? No, it was Mario Götze. Götze is the future. He already has one more world cup title under his belt than Messi, decided the world cup final, and he can win 3 more before he is 34. Who the hell says something like this about his own player? It's ridiculous. Pep better learn to shut up or he will get the boot.
I agree Schweinsteiger deserved it much more. I think you can make a argument for a couple of Germans. I am not fond of giving the golden ball to a player who did not win the tournament, unless he was clearly the best player in the tournament, and IMHO that was not the cae for Messi. You are not a fan of Pep are you? You are also not a fan of Löwe, right (or has this tournament improved your opinion of him). Which coaches do you like?
No, it was obvious that he was controlling the game. It was also obvious he was being targeted after the first 30 min or so (seemed the first 30 Argentina was content to let him have the ball with a little space...dumb). He had a definite Battier moment when he looked at the ref and pointed to his bleeding face. Line judges were generally outstanding but the ref definitely missed a lot or made weird calls.
BTW why do people say that the collision between Neuer and Higuain should be a card for Neuer or a penalty kick? (I hvae heard different media claiming this). It was a good move by Neuer and not a foul. That being said I also do not think it was a foul by Higuain. Just a play on type of play.
You have to play slow motion to see what Neuer did there. It was a hard tackle and it hit Higuain's face or side of his face. I think it won't be called in the Premier League but it's a FIFA final. It probably should be called a foul at least. Yellow card, maybe. It wasn't in the penalty area so no penalty. A free kick. The way the refs called diving, this was a clearer foul than any of those in close moments.
Shout-out to ATW, who now has the coolest profile picture ever, don't know if he'll post it here haha. Plus he partied with some big names. You're the boss, breh.
Yeah, congrats guys! Happy that two Clutchfans bros are experiencing the ultimate joy of winning the World Cup. Wondering - do you guys care more about this win, or Bayern's trophies? Equal? Agreed. It's not like the entire world media agreed that it wasn't a penalty. Even at the table at ITV and BBC they were arguing about it, with most saying it WAS a penalty. They just found Robben's exaggerations annoying, which I can understand. However, in my opinion, the foul was there. And the opinion is mixed amongst the 'experts' with most actually saying that it was - that tells me that it's not an obvious clear-cut case. I guess it's just biased fandom that comes into play here, which I don't really blame the Mexicans for. It's a really painful way to go out. Better than Marquez being blamed and not being able to stay in the country! Yeah, I was thinking about that actually - - what will we do once we win? Lol. Will be a weird feeling as I almost expect it never to happen now. But that's the kind of attitude that doesn't help, so I hope the players don't feel like eternal bridesmaids in the future. The winning mentality seems to be part of German DNA, not ours unfortunately. Yeah, agreed. Robben should have buried it with the chance at the end. He had a great World Cup, I would have been happy with silver for him and then a German first. Margins are fine at the World Cup and you have to be there when it counts - sometimes that's just a single moment. I'm reading that Lazio only want to pay around 6.5 million Euros. No way. Ask for at least 10. It's not like even 10 million can buy us a replacement that's anywhere near as good. Vlaar was amazing. But I don't think he's as good as de Vrij. de Vrij reads the game so well, is defensively solid, and can pass the ball as well. If he continues to develop, he'll get to the top I think. Vlaar has sort of reached his top performance level right now.
Firstly, congrats. Am happy for you! Now almost the whole Bayern team is full of Champions. Don't know if Dante will ever recover though! Agreed. Should have gone to a German player. I just thought it was laughable to give it to Messi. It's also a little cruel on him if I'm honest! I'm sure he didn't want to be up there. Lol, nice rant. :grin: I agree - why would a manager do that? Maybe he was trying to trim the expectations to let him develop without the hype. No idea. One thing I've really noticed this World Cup is how bad the media is when quoting players in print. I mean I obviously already knew that newspapers take what they want and give it a spin, but it's crazy the level that it goes to. I pretty much don't trust any quotes, especially if translated and reported in a foreign paper or online publication. The amount of misquotes from Dutch players (interviews I watched on the NOS) in the international press, ridiculous.
Kinda hard to say, I'd go with the World Cup. Only played every four years and it's a global event where you play as a nation, not just a club. Plus, it's really rare to win it because of the time frame and competition. This is where legends are made, see Maradona, Müller, Fontaine, Romario, Platini, Klose, Baggio, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Garrichna, Pele,....(Götze? ) This is one of those trophies&moments that you'll remember forever and tell your kids and grandchildren about when you're old and TV shows the WC history.
Definitely one of those moments. For now I can only tell them "we came so close". I'll probably say something like "when I was young, the USA was terrible at football! And Holland actually did well, third!" So I'm actually trying to take on the good points - having one of the best players in the world, overachieving yet again, and having experienced some incredible moments of joy throughout the tournament. Was very different 2 years ago. I think for Götze it's that moment where he establishes himself on the world stage. I love this kind of story - a player gets one moment where time sort of stands still and he takes it, delivering. He's going to be one of the main guys for Germany going forward, this is just the start.
Ridiculous that Messi got the golden ball. His fame tipped the scales. One of the German players should have won it, but due to all the publicity about their "team approach" and frankly because the German guys aren't flashy or attention seekers they tend not to get as much attention, but I would have thought Müller would have been in contention for it, at a minimum. Maybe others too.
Read that the trophy is sponsored by Adidas, explains a lot. Messi is their most important marketing figure and having a rough season, they want to boost the sales and improve his image.
The weird thing is that this doesn't really help. Pretty much everyone thinks it's a complete farce, which just adds to the whole idea that FIFA/big brands are just corrupt. Doesn't seem like a smart move if that's what they were doing.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Congratulations, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GER?src=hash">#GER</a>! Tonight, we'll glow gold, red & black to honor their <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WorldCup?src=hash">#WorldCup</a> win. Photo by <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC">@ABC</a>. <a href="http://t.co/5M4bQDNM0y">pic.twitter.com/5M4bQDNM0y</a></p>— Empire State Bldg (@EmpireStateBldg) <a href="https://twitter.com/EmpireStateBldg/statuses/488438549663191041">July 13, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Ozil, and Neuer are sponsored by Adidas as well. I am not sure I buy that theory. Also, by giving him the award when he clearly did not deserve it, if anything, it hurts his image. Lastly, if Adidas was involved in giving him that award, they violated their own World Cup marketing slogan of "All in or nothing" because they gave him something. :grin:
What a night! Got home drunk and wasted - but so happy. The minutes between the goal and the final whistle were probably the toughest in my long years watching football. Have to agree with Yung-T, winning the World Cup means more to me than Bayern winning the Champions League last year. The last time, Germany won the World Cup I was five years old and not allowed to watch the game.
