The Official Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup thread

[Megaman]

from someone who has become increasingly bored with soccer and would rarely watch a match the past few seasons this world cup has been fantastic.

i have found myself actually looking forward to games.

Couldn't believe how much i got into the games last night especially the 2nd half of extra time.

Some cracking games to look forward to so Brazil v Colombia and France v Germany in particular for me so lets just hope it continues.

[J OGorman]

I think anyone who is quick to suggest the Champions League as the pinnacle of football should remember just how boring and predictable the Group stages at last 32 tend to be.
An average Arsenal side have routinely qualified from this stage since, well, forever.

There's no doubt that from the quarter-finals onwards, when the billionaires face off against each other, that the CL produces an exceptionally high standard.  But for overall quality and competitiveness among 32 teams, a World Cup tournament is on a different level - for no other reason than it's a slightly more level playing field, and the players by-and-large are doing it for national pride, and not as a job.

Billy, there's a lot in what you're saying about tournaments bringing together teams that don't play together, thereby making things a little less structured. But the Greeks, Yanks, Costa Ricans, Colombians and Germans have shown it's very possible.

Id agree. Less diving (has Naymer dived at all?) and acting the wag too when playing for you country it seems, with the exception of the likes of Robben. Real pride in the jersey. Great excitement and very few dud matches.
Havent watched near as many matches in recent years, but will miss it the next couple of nights. A wee episode of Father Ted between the 1st and 2nd matches was a nice wee bonus too

Quater-final predictions:
Colombia
Germany
Argentina
Holland (though I'd love CR to beat them. Robben & De Jong no thanks)

Semi-final predictions:
Colombia
Argentina

Winner:
Argentina

[Denn Forever]

Brad Friedel with Hammen and Sadler have been the best pundits on RTE.

[AZOffaly]

De Jong is out for the tournament, J, so you might be okay now if Robben gets rabies or something.

[J OGorman]

De Jong is out for the tournament, J, so you might be okay now if Robben gets rabies or something.

oh. bit of karma there no doubt on old Nige

[give her dixie]

Fantastic show of generosity from the Algerian team who have decided to donate their $9 million prize money to Gaza. According to their striker Islam Slimani "they need it more than us."

http://www.diehardsport.com/2014/07/02/algeria-striker-announces-team-will-donate-world-cup-prize-money/

[clarshack]

What's the story on aguero's fitness?

[CiKe]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/lionel-messi-is-impossible/

Long but quite interesting statistical analysis of Messi versus the rest - some of the figures and his outperformance are crazy.

[Zip Code]

Your man who wrote that has too much time on his hands!

[WT4E]

Your man who wrote that has too much time on his hands!

Anyone who read that has too much time on their hands! 

[thewobbler]

A notable trend in the interwingle over the past 12-18 months, is the number of blogs and articles popping up like that one, where someone tries to turn a game as fluid as soccer, into a statistical study.

I find these things appalling. Death by numbers is bad enough. Death by numbers when accompanied by terrible prose is worse again. Death by numbers with terrible prose and a wholly unsuitable subject matter should be punishable be death.

We don't need 5,000 words, 20 graphs, and two weeks of research to understand that Messi is more gifted than almost anyone else who has played the game. We have two eyes.

[EC Unique]

A notable trend in the interwingle over the past 12-18 months, is the number of blogs and articles popping up like that one, where someone tries to turn a game as fluid as soccer, into a statistical study.

I find these things appalling. Death by numbers is bad enough. Death by numbers when accompanied by terrible prose is worse again. Death by numbers with terrible prose and a wholly unsuitable subject matter should be punishable be death.

We don't need 5,000 words, 20 graphs, and two weeks of research to understand that Messi is more gifted than almost anyone else who has played the game. We have two eyes.

This.

[Billys Boots]

I find these things appalling. Death by numbers is bad enough. Death by numbers when accompanied by terrible prose is worse again. Death by numbers with terrible prose and a wholly unsuitable subject matter should be punishable be death.

You have my vote.

[Bingo]

A notable trend in the interwingle over the past 12-18 months, is the number of blogs and articles popping up like that one, where someone tries to turn a game as fluid as soccer, into a statistical study.

I find these things appalling. Death by numbers is bad enough. Death by numbers when accompanied by terrible prose is worse again. Death by numbers with terrible prose and a wholly unsuitable subject matter should be punishable be death.

We don't need 5,000 words, 20 graphs, and two weeks of research to understand that Messi is more gifted than almost anyone else who has played the game. We have two eyes.

Its moneyball gone mad and everyone looking for the next model of it.

Was out watching a senior club challenge match recently. The opposition who will remain unnamed had a camera in the stand and another guy doing stats who never stopped writing all game. This was much to the amusement of one of the old timers who'd have a pocket full of championship medals. He was talking about this and said in his day you didn't need stats or a DVD to tell you who was or wasn't a coward on the field and that's all you needed to know!

[deiseach]

Was out watching a senior club challenge match recently. The opposition who will remain unnamed had a camera in the stand and another guy doing stats who never stopped writing all game. This was much to the amusement of one of the old timers who'd have a pocket full of championship medals. He was talking about this and said in his day you didn't need stats or a DVD to tell you who was or wasn't a coward on the field and that's all you needed to know!

I think I'd rather engage with the stathead than the old timer. You can't have a discussion with someone who argues from authority.