Who will win the World Cup?

[admin]

Some figures are particularly surprising. Which team committed the most fouls in the group stage? Honduras, right? Wrong. Holland, free-flowing, slick-attacking, butter-wouldn’t-melt Holland, were the dirtiest team in the group stages in terms of fouls committed with 68. Honduras, in contrast, committed only 46

Lies, damned lies and World Cup 2014 group-stage statistics | John Ashdown | Football | The Guardian

Italy and Spain are right at the top of the tables for possession (61.4% and 57.6%), pass success rate (85% and 82%) and total passes (2071 and 1859) yet they will watch the last 16 from home, while Algeria completed only 68% of their passes and attempted more than 800 fewer than Spain and 600 fewer than the Azzurri but still have a last-16 tie with Germany to look forward to. And perhaps most telling of all, Holland stormed through their “group of death” despite having a total of only 39.5% of the possession – only bettered (if that is the correct word) by Iran’s measly 29.7%.

Lies, damned lies and World Cup 2014 group-stage statistics | John Ashdown | Football | The Guardian

Holland are one of the tournament favourites after blitzing reigning champions Spain 5-1 and beating Chile 2-0 but they will not want to take Sunday’s last-16 match against Mexico to a shootout. The reason? Holland have won just one of their five tournament shootouts, a win percentage of 20%. Only England, with their win percentage of 14% (one win in seven), have a worse record from 12 yards. Holland’s lowest point from the spot came at the Amsterdam Arena, in their Euro 2000 semi-final against Italy. They managed to miss five penalties in the same game, including two in normal time.

Holland prepare to face Mexico fearing their worst nightmare: penalties | Ben Lyttleton | Football | The Guardian

[admin]

It begins with the Hino Nacional Brasileiro and the way that the people here don’t appear to think the national anthem should be sung when the alternative is to bellow the words, heads back, faster and faster, louder and louder. David Luiz, eyes boggling, veins popping, looked like he might actually start head-banging at one point and, brilliantly, the mascots were not holding back either. Chile’s national anthem had been stirring. Brazil’s made you wonder if this was a Rage Against the Machine cover version.

Brazil beat Chile on penalties to reach World Cup quarter-finals | Football | The Observer

The heat was so stifling in Fortaleza many of those in the stands moved into shaded seating. The mercury hit 38C at one point in the first half. Kuyt was playing on the left, the sun beating down. The second half should have given him some slight respite on the shaded section of the pitch. Instead, he was switched to the right.

Holland’s Dirk Kuyt: An unsung hero who simply refuses to stop running | Alan Smith | Football | The Guardian

[Cann]

Nobody really looks like a world champion, so far, apart perhaps from Colombia

[Petrovale]

Nobody really looks like a world champion, so far, apart perhaps from Colombia

That's because STP deliberately selected the wrong countries, and left the best one out...

[admin]

Nobody really looks like a world champion, so far, apart perhaps from Colombia

That's because STP deliberately selected the wrong countries, and left the best one out...

Hehe, yea, but did you really think before the worldcup started that Holland had a realistic chance?

Anyone?

[admin]

Belgium!

• Finally started to play, magnificently, best team performance of the tournament so far
• Could (should..) have scored many more, but Howard was excellent (but so was Hazard)
• Worryingly, Belgium imploded after a surprising goal of a US youngster
• And lest we forget, a minute from the end of regular time, US could (should) have won it

Where is my guy Januzaj?? Bring him on, he's very disruptive!

[admin]

These are the guys who deserve to be in my XI. Some of them might have gone home now but what they did remains special

World Cup 2014: Zico’s team of the tournament so far | Football | The Guardian

[admin]

Luis Suárez is close to sealing his preferred move to Barcelona after the Catalan club held a “productive” first meeting with Liverpool and offered around £70m for the controversial forward.

Barcelona close in on Luis Suárez with £70m cash bid to Liverpool | Football | The Guardian

Messi, Neymar and Suarez? How quickly Barca gave up on being the anti-galacticos after Laporta left..

Cruyff already had doubts about Messi and Neymar in one team (and indeed Neymar has produced little for Barca this season), adding Suárez into the equation seems a bit over the top. Three captains on a ship?

[admin]

They want to feel like the Argentine coach Angel Cappa, who was in Spain for the 1982 World Cup, and gleefully recalls that when he was watching Brazil "the ball arrived in one part of the field and disappeared to reappear again in the form of a rabbit and then a dove, and then hide again as the opponents rushed about trying to find it, all of us in the stadium looked at our watches with the intention of making time stand still because we wanted the game to go on for ever".

BBC Sport - World Cup 2014: What's wrong with Brazil?

[admin]

• The worst Brazil since 1974 is nevertheless through to the semis
• A rather lucky Argentina goal puts them through as well
• Belgium didn't have much bite today, no sense of urgency (at least Brazil had that yesterday, the first half). It seemed they played in slow-motion, creating very little. Too bad, the chance of playing the semis of a worldcup don't come around that often..
• We can't believe Januzaj didn't play at all in this worldcup, he has that directness which much of Belgium lacked, at least today.