[Soccer] World Cup 2014

bhamv3

bhamv3

So, the qualifiers are almost all in (woo hoo, England made it!) and the top seeds for the tournament have been established. And apparently Belgium and Switzerland are among the top 8 teams in the world. Also, England are ranked above Brazil, who's not even in the top 10.

I think we've officially entered Bizarro World Cup.
 
Cog

Cog

Ecuador qualified without winning a game as visitor. I hope they play during work hours. I could use the time off
 
Piotyr

Piotyr

jwhouk said:
So if I have this right, 11 more to qualify?
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Four Europe playoffs, five Africa playoffs, one North America/Oceania playoff, one South America/Asia playoff

So yes, 11.[DOUBLEPOST=1382121503,1382121326][/DOUBLEPOST]
bhamv3 said:
So, the qualifiers are almost all in (woo hoo, England made it!) and the top seeds for the tournament have been established. And apparently Belgium and Switzerland are among the top 8 teams in the world. Also, England are ranked above Brazil, who's not even in the top 10.

I think we've officially entered Bizarro World Cup.
Click to expand...
The reason Brazil is so low is because they haven't played many serious matches in about 3 years, since they're hosting the World Cup. In the only games they played that mattered, they swept the Confederations Cup last year and destroyed everyone in the process.

Belgium and Switzerland had the advantage of both blitzing their qualifying groups and not qualifying for Euro 2012, so neither has lost much in a while.
 
Sparhawk

Sparhawk

Just waiting for Friday... and finally subbing to the thread with this post... and just waiting in general right now got somewhere to go in a few minutes.
 
jwhouk

jwhouk

Group of Death. *Sigh*

A: Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Cameroon
B: Spain, Netherlands, Chile, Australia
C: Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast, Japan
D: Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy
E: Switzerland, Ecuador, France, Honduras
F: Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iran, Nigeria
G: Germany, Portugal, Ghana, USA
H: Belgium, Algeria, Russia, South Korea
 
Piotyr

Piotyr

jwhouk said:
We're going to have to beat Portugal to get to the round of 16. Or Germany.

I'm not liking the odds.
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Or beat Ghana, draw Portugal, and keep it close against Germany. Germany might have nothing to play for by then as well, and the US could steal a point from them. The order of play works out nicely for the US, even if the travel doesn't.
 
jwhouk

jwhouk

Well, Brazil is a big country.

It's going to have to depend on how we do against Portugal - and we can't overlook Ghana.

I think I see why the World Cup is so freakin' hard to win - you get killed in the knockout round.
 
Piotyr

Piotyr

So, Landon Donovan left off the final USMNT roster.

For those who aren't familiar with soccer, that's like...LeBron James being cut from the US basketball roster for the Olympics, if LeBron were a couple years older, the Olympics were a bigger deal, and the US didn't have a team full of replacements better than the rest of the world.

Looks like Klinsmann opted to go with youth and athleticism, and wasn't too fond of Landon's attitude towards WC play.
 
Piotyr

Piotyr

bhamv3 said:
Isn't he also getting on in years a bit? And in rather mediocre form this season?
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He's 32, and took 2012 off because reasons. He'd been playing the past year leading up to the Cup, and played in the latter half of qualifying and was in at least decent form now. He's regularly been waffling about his dedication to the national team, and it looks like he paid for that.
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

Piotyr said:
He's 32, and took 2012 off because reasons. He'd been playing the past year leading up to the Cup, and played in the latter half of qualifying and was in at least decent form now. He's regularly been waffling about his dedication to the national team, and it looks like he paid for that.
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Well, honestly, I can respect Jurgen's decision for that. If you don't want to play for the national team, there are probably twenty guys happy to take your place. And someone who wants to be there giving everything he's got is probably a better option than someone who doesn't want to be there, half-assing it.
 
LordRendar

LordRendar

I fear Germany is gonna fare bad this WC. Had a lackluster game against Poland and am not sure how we are gonna play against more agressive teams.

The Bundesliga is all fucked up , since no matter what Bayern Munich is gonna win everything and buy every talented player from the other clubs. There isnt any competition anymore,which leads to boring players and boring games.
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

LordRendar said:
I fear Germany is gonna fare bad this WC. Had a lackluster game against Poland and am not sure how we are gonna play against more agressive teams.

The Bundesliga is all fucked up , since no matter what Bayern Munich is gonna win everything and buy every talented player from the other clubs. There isnt any competition anymore,which leads to boring players and boring games.
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Dude, Germany's got a really scary midfield. Reus, Ozil, Kroos, Muller, Gotze, Schweinsteiger...

They'll probably have to make up for the team's shortcomings in the striker department, but still... that's a terrifying collection of midfielders.

EDIT: Also, I said there're shortcomings in the striker department, but that's before I remembered Germany have Klose. A guy who seems to love to score at World Cups.
 
LordRendar

LordRendar

Meh. From what I have seen,they are underperforming at the moment. They probably will make it to the quarterfinals though. And then lose to Spain or England.
 
jwhouk

jwhouk

If "The Yanks" get out of their group, it'll be a miracle.

If they actually win a game in the knockout round, it'll be like we won the title.
 
Bubble181

Bubble181

Eh, it's been said plenty of times: soccer is 22 people running behind a ball for 90 minutes, and in the end, the Germans win.

For some reason people around here are actually believen Belgium's got a title shot. We've got a godo team this year, and we should be able to get past the first round and possibly the second, depending on our competitor (We've proven we can win from Portugal, I'm not actually afraid of the US, no offense, but we'd lose to Germany). Further than that? Yeah right.

And yes, in Qatar, there's 0% unemployment amongst the Qatarese because they're all given scholarships-for-life aka "being maintained by the state for life"...And everything and anything is done by borderline-slave-labor...And only "borderline" because the Red Cross and similar occasionally manage to rescue a few.
 
SpecialKO

SpecialKO

Jay said:
Looks like FIFA is looking into doing a revote for 2022.
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On the one hand, this seems like a good decision considering all the especially shady things going on re: the Qatar bid and the horrible stories about what the workers are going through (and the heat, of course).

On the other hand, this would also probably mean that various FIFA officials would get a bonus round of accepting under-the-table bribes because that's how they've done business for years.
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

Am I the only one who thinks doing a revote would massively undermine FIFA's authority, and may open the doors to individual nations breaking off and forming their own organization? I mean, UEFA might actually do it.
 
Sparhawk

Sparhawk

At another time, or even a year from now, I think that you would be correct. But right now, with the revelations about the payouts (bribes) being fresh would be the best time and show that they are trying to be honest at least.
 
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