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Official 2014 World Cup Thread (Spoilers)

rtparty said:
Agreed. Dempsey just needed to pull the trigger more often. Good things tend to happen when you send a ball hard into the box. The US just never really shot until they were down 2-0.

I'd also like to give serious credit to the Belgian goalie on the set piece. The US totally fooled Belgium and the only reason we didn't score was because the goalie read it early enough to come off his line and stop it. I didn't see the " blown chance" like most others. The goalie made a gutsy move and it paid off.
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The Belgian goalie was only, as far as I could tell, out of position once the entire game and that was when Wondo blew it up and right.
 
Sorry if I missed this anywhere but did Jurgen ever explain why Altidore wasn't a sub? I understand he may not have been fully healthy and Jurgen couldn't risk another injury with no subs but just wondered if there was an official explanation. I like Wondo but Altidore is the much better player.
 
HBirdman80 said:
I hate internet fighting, but rtparty worte "Personally, I felt Klinsmann blew the roster BIG time." and you quoted rtparty and wrote "Pretty much agree." So I thought I was right in interpreting that as you blaming Klinsmann, but if I interpreted it wrong my apologies.
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All good, man. I said pretty much, but should have been more clear on what pretty much meant. I felt the initial plan was fine, but leaving Bradley out there while clearly struggling I thought was a mistake. No manager is perfect, but JK is most definitely the best option the US could want.
deuce said:
No. You said people would have considered a US win lucky. I said luck favors the prepared. In other words, it wouldn't have been a lucky win, the US was prepared to win.

You don't make such a world stage by "being lucky". You make that world stage by being good, by deserving it. Was the US Hockey Team in 1980 lucky? No, they were good. Brooks said if they play 10 times, Russia wins 9, but all it takes is the determination, planning, and guts to win the 1 that matters. If the US had won against Belgium, that's what it would have taken ... determination, guts, planning ... not luck.

Luck is bulls**t.
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Yes, you make the world stage by being good, and they are, especially considering where the US team has been in the past. But to claim that planning kept the US in the game despite the barrage of offense laid down by Belgium just isn't true. Luck is quantifiable in Baseball and can be in Soccer too. If you break down each legitimate Belgian scoring option in regular time into each possible scenario and base the likelihood of those scenarios based on the average percentage of converted similar chances, the probability that they score 0 goals with that number of chances is very, very low. So did the US get lucky that the Belgians didn't convert a single opportunity that history shows they usually do at a pretty high rate? Absolutely.

Luck isn't BS, as you claim. Baseball sabermetrics has shown that.
 
rtparty said:
Sorry if I missed this anywhere but did Jurgen ever explain why Altidore wasn't a sub? I understand he may not have been fully healthy and Jurgen couldn't risk another injury with no subs but just wondered if there was an official explanation. I like Wondo but Altidore is the much better player.
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The story on ESPN today said Altidore has a Grade 2 Hamstring tear, and that he was not fit to play against Belgium.

http://www.espnfc.us/fifa-world-cup/story/1930115/jozy-altidore-i-wasnt-ready-for-us-belgium-game
 
rtparty said:
I just barely read this before getting on THP, LOL

I originally thought it may be a ploy on the US part. It would make Belgium have to plan for that possibility.
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I think that is exactly what it was. Klinsy is definitely not above attempting to find any edge he can (i.e. complaining about the Algerian ref crew).
 
France v. Germany & Brazil v. Columbia Today.....who is watching?
 
jhstew1 said:
France v. Germany & Brazil v. Columbia Today.....who is watching?
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This guy of course! Should be 2 really great matches. I am pulling for Germany but I can see France playing really well.
 
TheCrest4 said:
This guy of course! Should be 2 really great matches. I am pulling for Germany but I can see France playing really well.
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should be 2 good games, I am going w/ Germany & Brazil but it will not be easy for either
 
jhstew1 said:
France v. Germany & Brazil v. Columbia Today.....who is watching?
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I'm excited for the games, especially because I'll be stuck inside due to all of the rain today. The atmosphere for Brazil-Colombia should be electric. France-Germany is a nice appetizer as well. Of course, very hard to pick against Germany and Brazil in these matches.
 
arydolphin said:
I'm excited for the games, especially because I'll be stuck inside due to all of the rain today. The atmosphere for Brazil-Colombia should be electric. France-Germany is a nice appetizer as well. Of course, very hard to pick against Germany and Brazil in these matches.
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Same here man weather is pretty awful here in Delaware but it seems to be moving fast which is good.

I have an odd feeling about France today just seems they have the better momentum going into this game and Germany may underestimate them. If they can get an early goal could change things big time
 
jhstew1 said:
France v. Germany & Brazil v. Columbia Today.....who is watching?
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I'll catch one of the games, but likely not both. I'm torn about which one to target.
 
That didn't take long for Germany they are definitely controlling the play early on.
 
TheCrest4 said:
That didn't take long for Germany they are definitely controlling the play early on.
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They do look as though they are imposing there will
 
Brianbigoats said:
They do look as though they are imposing there will
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I would absolutely agree, it seems that Germany took it up a notch but waited till this round to do it
 
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Germany dominated good for them 4 straight Semifinals in the WC is extremely impressive.
 
This ref in the Brazil Columbia match is totally clueless! Brazil weren't even 5 yards back for the James free kick on he edge of the box! We didn't he pull em back! Columbia haven't turned up in this game yet! They are going home if they don't significantly improve in the second half!
 
Agreed this ref has lost control of the match gonna be hard to get it back at this point.
 
He must be mates with the Korean guy that ref'd their first game!
 
Lots of respect from the Brazilian players for James Rodriguez after the game. That kid is special.
 
All Tim Howard's saves at once

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Neymar has a fractured vertebrae in his back, out for the rest of the World Cup and probably some time after that. Absolutely horrible news for him and Brazil, and the game against Germany just got much tougher.
 
arydolphin said:
Neymar has a fractured vertebrae in his back, out for the rest of the World Cup and probably some time after that. Absolutely horrible news for him and Brazil, and the game against Germany just got much tougher.
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That is really bad for Brazil they are very banged up
 
Even at full strength, I couldn't see this Brazil squad pulling off a result. It's gonna be a Germany Argentina final. My 2 least favourite teams!
 
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