GoslingLooking Up Soccer In Mongolia Right Now, ProbablyWatertown, WIRegistered Userregular
edited June 2014
My shiny, updated, not-from-December predictions:
A- Brazil 9, Croatia 4, Mexico 2, Cameroon 1
B- Netherlands 7, Spain 6, Chile 4, Australia 0
C- Cote d'Ivoire 5, Japan 5 (I somehow managed to get them tied to the point where FIFA would draw lots, but sure I'll predict the outcome of a coin flip, why not), Colombia 3, Greece 1
D- Uruguay 7, Italy 6, England 4, Costa Rica 0
E- France 7, Ecuador 5, Switzerland 4, Honduras 0
F- Argentina 9, Bosnia/Herzegovina 4, Nigeria 2, Iran 1
G- Germany 7, United States 5, Portugal 4, Ghana 0
H- Belgium 5 (+3 differential), South Korea 5 (+1 differential), Algeria 4, Russia 1
ROUND OF 16
Brazil over Spain
Italy over Cote d'Ivoire
Bosnia/Herzegovina over France
Germany over South Korea
Netherlands over Croatia
Uruguay over Japan
Argentina over Ecuador
United States over Belgium
QUARTERS
Italy over Brazil (oh yes I'm going there)
Germany over Bosnia/Herzegovina
Uruguay over Netherlands
Argentina over United States
SEMIS
Germany over Italy
Argentina over Uruguay
FINAL
Argentina 3, Germany 2
Brazil is a very sad panda at the end of this.
Gosling on
I have a new soccer blog The Minnow Tank. Reading it psychically kicks Sepp Blatter in the bean bag.
Switzerland are definitely placing first in that group now (they probably would have anyway) but I still think France will place second. Ecuador aren't exactly world beaters.
Switzerland are definitely placing first in that group now (they probably would have anyway) but I still think France will place second. Ecuador aren't exactly world beaters.
Ecuador didn't do too badly against England the other night, and that French midfield looks weak. I can't believe they didn't call up Nasri even if he is disruptive.
I'm in the bracket. ESPN just had me create another bracket for the group, and I think I ended up just recreating my other bracket without thinking about it.
How critical is Reus to the current German setup? Haven't seen much of their games in qualifying, I know their midfield is stuffed with talent either way, but was wondering how important he was to the side.
Joined the bracket group thing. I'm picking a few underdogs here because I feel the weather and atmosphere will probably not be a big factor but since this isn't for money, I'm going to assume it will be as far as my bracket picks.
How critical is Reus to the current German setup? Haven't seen much of their games in qualifying, I know their midfield is stuffed with talent either way, but was wondering how important he was to the side.
Khedira is probably the only player that's critical. Without Gundogan they don't have as many top quality defensive/central midfielders as they would otherwise, so Khedira is really the last player before that central midfield looks less than world-class.
Reus will be a miss, he's a very good player, but they have other players for his position (Podolski comes to mind).
I'm guessing if he's out they'll call up Kevin Volland (striker) from the reserve list.
I have Germany winning my bracket at the moment, but I'll need to keep an eye on these injuries leading up to the world cup.
The system van Gaal picked for Holland didn't have a spot for vd Vaart & Sneijder, only one. vd Vaarts injury is a loss of quality, but it has also cemented both the system and the the frontline.
Do not expect shiny combination soccer out of the Netherlands this year though, we're 5-3-2 with only 3 offensive players (van Persie, Robben, Sneijder) and are basically hoping that the extra defender lowers the amount of goals against, while the individual quality of the 3 allstars scores enough goals to see us through.
The three practice matches have all had real sloppy buildup, with tons of defender to defender passes because they can't find an opening on the midfield.
What is interesting is that after the total crash that was EC 2012 the Dutch seem to totally have accepted this 'fuck it, if it works it is good, even if it's ugly' mentality.
Been looking through my bracket and I'm tempted to make some changes.
Currently I have Argentina going out at the semis to Spain, setting up a Germany/Spain final.
I'm tempted to have them go out to Belgium at the quarters stage.
Argentina's defensive set-up isn't great. Their goalkeeper couldn't even get in the first team at Monaco against not even Croatia's number 1 goalkeeper (might even be their number 3 looking at their shirt numbers). They let in almost a goal a game during the qualifiers to not particularly stellar teams, Uruguay and Colombia aside.
I'm thinking as soon as they come up against a decent european team with a good balance between defence and attack they're going to ship more goals than they can score (even if they do have Messi).
Do not expect shiny combination soccer out of the Netherlands this year though, we're 5-3-2 with only 3 offensive players (van Persie, Robben, Sneijder) and are basically hoping that the extra defender lowers the amount of goals against, while the individual quality of the 3 allstars scores enough goals to see us through.
Given the formation, I imagine Van der Wiel is a big loss for the Netherlands.
Do Van Persie and Huntelaar play up front together, or are they more likely to pair one with Kuyt?
So Sony, one of the big sponsors of the Fifa World Cup are calling for an "appropriate investigation". Maybe this scandal rabbit hole runs just deeper enough its getting everyone involved with the world cup seriously worried.
So psyched that Jozy finally broke his drought - with a brace no less! Didn't catch much of the match though, to be honest. How'd the back line look? Obviously that penalty at the end was pretty bad/discouraging given similar type of play against Turkey, but was it tighter the rest of the way?
when I started watching our starting lineup D looked solid, It really helped that Beckerman was doing alot of that D work so bradley and jones could get forward.
Morskitter wrote "Spikes, choppas, tentacles, magic? Can't hold a candle to Sergeant Pimp here."
So psyched that Jozy finally broke his drought - with a brace no less! Didn't catch much of the match though, to be honest. How'd the back line look? Obviously that penalty at the end was pretty bad/discouraging given similar type of play against Turkey, but was it tighter the rest of the way?
It was. Defense played pretty well in the first half, then Nigeria was kind of terrible for much of the second half so they weren't tested all that much until very late. Jozy's first goal was just a tap-in, but the second goal was a very nice individual effort with a laser finish. Nice to give him a little confidence going into the real matches.
Just got back from tonight's game. Good lord I don't think I've ever seen more blatant "I'm going to lay down on the turf because I totally pulled a muscle to waste time since we're up in the second half." The ref finally started handing out cards for it after one of them walked over for a throw in, picked up the ball, set it down, and another guy walked over to throw instead. The 5 minutes of stoppage ended up being more like 10.
Most satisfying stoppage goal ever. Wish it was for a win instead of a tie, but man.
Posts
A- Brazil 9, Croatia 4, Mexico 2, Cameroon 1
B- Netherlands 7, Spain 6, Chile 4, Australia 0
C- Cote d'Ivoire 5, Japan 5 (I somehow managed to get them tied to the point where FIFA would draw lots, but sure I'll predict the outcome of a coin flip, why not), Colombia 3, Greece 1
D- Uruguay 7, Italy 6, England 4, Costa Rica 0
E- France 7, Ecuador 5, Switzerland 4, Honduras 0
F- Argentina 9, Bosnia/Herzegovina 4, Nigeria 2, Iran 1
G- Germany 7, United States 5, Portugal 4, Ghana 0
H- Belgium 5 (+3 differential), South Korea 5 (+1 differential), Algeria 4, Russia 1
ROUND OF 16
Brazil over Spain
Italy over Cote d'Ivoire
Bosnia/Herzegovina over France
Germany over South Korea
Netherlands over Croatia
Uruguay over Japan
Argentina over Ecuador
United States over Belgium
QUARTERS
Italy over Brazil (oh yes I'm going there)
Germany over Bosnia/Herzegovina
Uruguay over Netherlands
Argentina over United States
SEMIS
Germany over Italy
Argentina over Uruguay
FINAL
Argentina 3, Germany 2
Brazil is a very sad panda at the end of this.
LISTEN UP! Send me you email addresses so I can invite you to the bracket group I set up on ESPN. Please use your forum name for your bracket name.
The one here:
http://en.mcdonalds.fantasy.fifa.com/
BBC article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27739174
Big loss for France, they barely got out of the qualifiers with him so god only knows how they're going to do in the cup now.
Plays into my prediction that Switzerland and Ecuador will get out of that group.
Switzerland are definitely placing first in that group now (they probably would have anyway) but I still think France will place second. Ecuador aren't exactly world beaters.
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
If we already have an ESPN bracket set up, will your bracket group use that one?
Also, let's forget about the email thing, just follow this link:
http://games.espn.go.com/world-cup-bracket-predictor/en/group?groupID=35919&groupp=d2FuZw==&invitesource=email&inviteuser=MjcxMTUwMzI4A&ex_cid=invite-email-worldcupbp
Password: wang
@PantsB I've already sent you an invite.
Ecuador didn't do too badly against England the other night, and that French midfield looks weak. I can't believe they didn't call up Nasri even if he is disruptive.
I've also got an Argentina-Germany final with Brazil as a sad sad panda, but I got there via a much different route than you did.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
They lost van der vaart and van der wiel.
Germany are currently only without gundogan but reus looks like he may be out as well.
Khedira is probably the only player that's critical. Without Gundogan they don't have as many top quality defensive/central midfielders as they would otherwise, so Khedira is really the last player before that central midfield looks less than world-class.
Reus will be a miss, he's a very good player, but they have other players for his position (Podolski comes to mind).
I'm guessing if he's out they'll call up Kevin Volland (striker) from the reserve list.
I have Germany winning my bracket at the moment, but I'll need to keep an eye on these injuries leading up to the world cup.
\
seems longer now
Do not expect shiny combination soccer out of the Netherlands this year though, we're 5-3-2 with only 3 offensive players (van Persie, Robben, Sneijder) and are basically hoping that the extra defender lowers the amount of goals against, while the individual quality of the 3 allstars scores enough goals to see us through.
The three practice matches have all had real sloppy buildup, with tons of defender to defender passes because they can't find an opening on the midfield.
What is interesting is that after the total crash that was EC 2012 the Dutch seem to totally have accepted this 'fuck it, if it works it is good, even if it's ugly' mentality.
Currently I have Argentina going out at the semis to Spain, setting up a Germany/Spain final.
I'm tempted to have them go out to Belgium at the quarters stage.
Argentina's defensive set-up isn't great. Their goalkeeper couldn't even get in the first team at Monaco against not even Croatia's number 1 goalkeeper (might even be their number 3 looking at their shirt numbers). They let in almost a goal a game during the qualifiers to not particularly stellar teams, Uruguay and Colombia aside.
I'm thinking as soon as they come up against a decent european team with a good balance between defence and attack they're going to ship more goals than they can score (even if they do have Messi).
Just thinking out loud here though.
Given the formation, I imagine Van der Wiel is a big loss for the Netherlands.
Do Van Persie and Huntelaar play up front together, or are they more likely to pair one with Kuyt?
Fabian and Bedoya setting the table nicely. Johnson especially has been solid all day.
Jurgen playing a Bedoya-Bradley-Jones-Beckerman midfield for this one.
So Sony, one of the big sponsors of the Fifa World Cup are calling for an "appropriate investigation". Maybe this scandal rabbit hole runs just deeper enough its getting everyone involved with the world cup seriously worried.
It was. Defense played pretty well in the first half, then Nigeria was kind of terrible for much of the second half so they weren't tested all that much until very late. Jozy's first goal was just a tap-in, but the second goal was a very nice individual effort with a laser finish. Nice to give him a little confidence going into the real matches.
but mostly playing jones beckerman and bradley together helped a lot
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
Not pictured: Ninty-five degree temperature at kickoff.
Also not pictZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
I can't believe Portland got him on a free loan. The man deserves to be starting for his national team.
Most satisfying stoppage goal ever. Wish it was for a win instead of a tie, but man.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Ha, nice. Same here. Glad May is over, apparently they can win again!
Pins!
I wonder what FIFA will say. (They won't say shit).
pleasepaypreacher.net
That thread was made in 2011.
mods pls
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA