FIFA World Cup Football 2014 Official Thread

[Pesh]

Okubo just did a Torres ;d

 

[fiend]

Japan held off by 10 man Greece, they tried but the greek defended valiantly, both teams can still qualify.

 

[Memento Mori]

Saurez is amazing

 

[The Sach]

Disappointing performance from Japan in first two matches. The way they were hyped before the beginning of the world cup, one loss and one draw isn't what at least I was expecting. The way they got held off by 10 men Greece yesterday was clearly an indication that, this team still has a long way to go.

 

[-Punk-]

Disappointing performance from Japan in first two matches. The way they were hyped before the beginning of the world cup, one loss and one draw isn't what at least I was expecting. The way they got held off by 10 men Greece yesterday was clearly an indication that, this team still has a long way to go.

Yes I was very disappointed by them ........the hot weather is not doing them any favors either , thye look really tired .......I had high hopes for them , dammit .....no way they will win against Colombia :/

 

[Memento Mori]

Disappointing performance from Japan in first two matches. The way they were hyped before the beginning of the world cup, one loss and one draw isn't what at least I was expecting. The way they got held off by 10 men Greece yesterday was clearly an indication that, this team still has a long way to go.

Yes I was very disappointed by them ........the hot weather is not doing them any favors either , thye look really tired .......I had high hopes for them , dammit .....no way they will win against Colombia :/

Lol...At that Media Hype tho

 

[Matt]

go Brazil U_U

 

[Itachi Minato]

This is the best I have seen England play for over 8 years and ironically it will be their quickest exit. Oh well they didnt have high expectations and they can take a lot of things away from this tournament. If they manage to sort out their defense then they could be contenders for France 2016.

 

[The Sach]

Yes I was very disappointed by them ........the hot weather is not doing them any favors either , thye look really tired .......I had high hopes for them , dammit .....no way they will win against Colombia :/

Being an Asian myself and considering their performance in last few world cups, the least I was expecting is qualifying them for round of 16. It isn't like they had bad team either, they just under performed. Many stars wasn't able to fulfill the high expectations including big names like Shinji Kagawa and Makoto Hasebe. Shinji Kagawa wasn't dangerous throughout the season, he wasn't impressive for United as well. I know Greece defense was impressive, but wasn't invincible. 68% possession and still 16 shots on goal says a lot.
Although I agree on climate matter, performance in the second half against Ivory cost is an indication of that.U_U

Lol...At that Media Hype tho

Not exactly media hype, Japan was actually playing good till last Fifa confederations cup, where they lost all their 3 matches. It certainly is a set back, I just hope they will bounce back.

 

[Caliburn]

Lol, I just read that the final matches of group B will be finished a few hours before those of Group A even have begun. With other words Brazil/Mexico/Croatia will know before they play their final matches who is the 1st and 2nd between Chili and the Netherlands.

And yes England finally started playing more sexy rather than their conservative no-***-before-marriage - play, though twice they have been taught a lesson in efficiency. First by Italy, now by Uruguay.

If Italy wins today however I actually believe England will still be the one to pass to the 2nd round.

 

[Roby]

Lol, I just read that the final matches of group B will be finished a few hours before those of Group A even have begun. With other words Brazil/Mexico/Croatia will know before they play their final matches who is the 1st and 2nd between Chili and the Netherlands.

And yes England finally started playing more sexy rather than their conservative no-***-before-marriage - play, though twice they have been taught a lesson in efficiency. First by Italy, now by Uruguay.

If Italy wins today however I actually believe England will still be the one to pass to the 2nd round.

Well they need Italy to crush Costa Rica by a an immense amount of goals and then England must do the same. All in all Costa Rica must get like 4-5 goals inside their net in two games for England to stand a chance and on top of that, one of the teams that score to Costa Rica must be England itself. And if Italy loses their last match, England is pretty much out

 

[-Punk-]

Being an Asian myself and considering their performance in last few world cups, the least I was expecting is qualifying them for round of 16. It isn't like they had bad team either, they just under performed. Many stars wasn't able to fulfill the high expectations including big names like Shinji Kagawa and Makoto Hasebe. Shinji Kagawa wasn't dangerous throughout the season, he wasn't impressive for United as well. I know Greece defense was impressive, but wasn't invincible. 68% possession and still 16 shots on goal says a lot.
Although I agree on climate matter, performance in the second half against Ivory cost is an indication of that.U_U

Not exactly media hype, Japan was actually playing good till last Fifa confederations cup, where they lost all their 3 matches. It certainly is a set back, I just hope they will bounce back.

Yeah & No not the media ...Japan was looking so strong before the cup , even played on pair with the Netherlands , I am surprise , hopefully they defeat Colombia , do I see it happening ? No I don't really .

 

[Totsuka No Tsurugi]

If Italy wins today however I actually believe England will still be the one to pass to the 2nd round.

The Italians might go for the draw, looking at their habit playing against weaker team.

 

[Caliburn]

Well they need Italy to crush Costa Rica by a an immense amount of goals and then England must do the same. All in all Costa Rica must get like 4-5 goals inside their net in two games for England to stand a chance and on top of that, one of the teams that score to Costa Rica must be England itself. And if Italy loses their last match, England is pretty much out

Not really, the current goal differences are:

Italy +1

Costa Rica +2

Uruguay -1

England -2

If Italy wins, it means a minimum difference of 1 goal and then you get after two matches:

Italy +2

Costa Rica + 1

Uruguay -1

England -2

So if Italy wins also from Uruguay, again a minimum of 1 goal difference, you get:

Italy +3

Costa Rica +1

Uruguay -2

England -2

Now if England wins of Costa Rica with at least 2 goals difference, you get this:

Italy +3

England 0

Costa Rica -1

Uruguay -1

In this case England is qualified. If England wins with only one goal difference, Costa Rica is qualified with a difference of 0 against -1. Winning from Costa Rica with 2-0 shouldn't be that impossible for England. Costa Rica played well against Uruguay, however the overall quality of their players wasn't that high outside a few. If you see what kind of attacking line England has, this shouldn't be that hard. In the case they both end up with the same goal difference, which I think should be impossible in this scenario unless I'm missing something, the one who scored the most goals goes through. If that's the same the result of their confrontation counts, which means England would go through.

The only major drawback is that Italy has to win from both Uruguay as Costa Rica. If one of them scores just one point, it's over for England.

The Italians might go for the draw, looking at their habit playing against weaker team.

Why would they go for a draw? If they win, they're practically qualified.

 

[Totsuka No Tsurugi]

Why would they go for a draw? If they win, they're practically qualified.

I've been an Azzuri fans for over a decade and if history ever taught us something the Italian tend to crumble when people expect them to win.

 

[Caliburn]

I've been an Azzuri fans for over a decade and if history ever taught us something the Italian tend to crumble when people expect them to win.

History taught us too that Spain always fails on big tournaments, but still they succeeded to win three consecutive tournaments and were finalist on a 4th.

Frankly I never believed in such baseless stuff like this as it's more chance than anything else.

 

[Totsuka No Tsurugi]

History taught us too that Spain always fails on big tournaments, but still they succeeded to win three consecutive tournaments and were finalist on a 4th.

Frankly I never believed in such baseless stuff like this as it's more chance than anything else.

The Italian have Monster Team during 2002 WC and 2004 Euro most people believe this team can win everything, they make it out from the group stage in WC with poor performance and ultimately cheated to death by the dirty Koreans in the round of 16,

In Euro 2004 they got eliminated in the group stage from relatively easy opponent, with 1 win and 2 draws but they fail short in goal difference,

Looking at the fact above, something like chances is never relevant for the Italians,
There's also their history with the Germans, over the years the Germans always have a better team and better chances and yet Italy always manhandled them in the end,

Oh and for the record if Italy win today they're still not qualified since Costa Rica can always beat England.

 

[Flakez]

Go Italy :hooray:

 

[fiend]

Battle for spot 1 in group D starting soon, as of now costa rica is on top with their superior goal difference of +2, Italy should not be complacent today and try to qualify in this match only, as for costa rica they can qualify if they play like they played against uruguay.
England must be hoping for Italy to crush Costa rica by a big margin like 2+ or 3+.

Campbell and ruiz for costa rica are two key players, Buffon is back and I am hoping for some Pirlo magic with balotelli.
2-1, for azzurri.

 

[Caliburn]

The Italian have Monster Team during 2002 WC and 2004 Euro most people believe this team can win everything, they make it out from the group stage in WC with poor performance and ultimately cheated to death by the dirty Koreans in the round of 16,

In Euro 2004 they got eliminated in the group stage from relatively easy opponent, with 1 win and 2 draws but they fail short in goal difference,

Looking at the fact above, something like chances is never relevant for the Italians,
There's also their history with the Germans, over the years the Germans always have a better team and better chances and yet Italy always manhandled them in the end,

Oh and for the record if Italy win today they're still not qualified since Costa Rica can always beat England.

And that is what I call chance unless you are claiming there is some kind of higher power that makes it so that Italy always 'manhandles' Germany. If Germany always loses from Italy, while having a better team, well that's just chance. The Germans might have had an offday, bad luck, while the Italians had lots of luck and a good day. That coincidently Italy always wins from Germany, while being in such a state, is just chance. There is nothing substantial that will make it so that because all previous matches ended up like that, this match will have the same result.

And I said practically qualified. There is only one scenario in which a team gets 6 points, but fails to qualify for the next round, and that scenario doesn't occur often.

Battle for spot 1 in group D starting soon, as of now costa rica is on top with their superior goal difference of +2, Italy should not be complacent today and try to qualify in this match only, as for costa rica they can qualify if they play like they played against uruguay.
England must be hoping for Italy to crush Costa rica by a big margin like 2+ or 3+.

Campbell and ruiz for costa rica are two key players, Buffon is back and I am hoping for some Pirlo magic with balotelli.
2-1, for azzurri.

Actually just a victory with one goal difference is enough for England. I already calculated that in a previous post of mine unless I made a mistake somewhere.