Next time some ignorant Yank comes and sputters in indignation at how a game that ends in zero zero can be entertaining, sit them the fk down and ask them to watch this match.
Costa Rica spent 250 k usd on their football federation and Van Gaal’s salary alone must be more than that. It’s incredible how they gave a fight till the very end and almost came out on top. If they had buried that chance in the 119’th minute the scenes in San Jose would’ve probably rivalled woodstock.
Well bloody played. As for Argentina it looks like Messi’s supporting cast has finally decided to show up. Brazil are at a serious disadvantage now vs Germany. Dante is an adequate replacement for Silva but since they’ve lost their talisman Neymar i doubt they can afford to keep a passenger like Fred on the pitch. Move Hulk (waste of space but that’s all they’ve got) up front and get Bernard and Willian in the startling lineup.
Probably an Argentina Germany final with Messi getting the winning goal.
Robben owned the entire costa rican defense the whole game. The dutch should have been up 3-0 during regular time, well deserved win. Lookig forward to isildurr’s spontaneous combustion
Argentina will knock them out. Robben needs a ban for the amount of playacting he does. Seriously, it is beyond ridiculous now.
Also I cannot help but reiterate Costa Rica’s achievement. I mean 250,000 their entire federation spent, less than what I bankers pull in New York, no star players, everyone just playing for the badge on the front of their shirt and they’ve beaten Uruguay and Italy, drawn with the English, beaten the Greeks and taken the Dutch for 120 min.
Other countries have no excuse. Just goes to show what can be achieved when everyone pulls in the same direction.
Robben is awesome and tearing up this tournament, I love it. I must be the only one who doesn’t find the diving and playacting annoying.
As for Brazil, this side was very undeserving of winning a WC, and now that Neymar is done, the public will be at peace even if they crash out, so I expect the refereeing to be more “even”, let’s say. The Germans are getting their ish together and are a wonderfully well balanced side.
My only hope is for a fair refereed game between Argentina and Netherlands, this should be a classic, and I think the Argentines will win it.
he moved from Porto to Monaco for €45m but I don’t think anyone in the uk had heard of him. All the pundits here keep calling him james as if he was English
the whole game I couldn’t help but hope that one day Scotland could pull of a team display like that. Similar population, similar mix of average premier league players and complete donkeys trying their hardest. Pinto for Scotland!
Well I never think Scotland will manage that, but there’s definitley been an improvement since Strachan came on the scene. Scotland stand a good chance of actually qualifying for Euro 2016 I think.
While it is true, I think he’s just stating the obvious. I think the American media is a little too much in awe of Klinsmann, the guy was a mediocre coach at Bayern, he had a talented tactician working for him in Low who has done well without him, and a good generation of players in the 06 World Cup. Maybe he is a good motivator, but I don’t see what he brings that can change the US program, nothing compared to what Pekerman did for Argentina in the 90s.
Not trying to undermine Costa Rica’s achievement but you have to look at their peformance over a longer period to justify if they are really that good.
Usually, these are one off cases, for example Turkey/korea in '02, Ukraine in '06, Paraguay in '10.
Also, I think Costa Rica’s group was easier than a lot of other groups. Italy is on a downhill since 2006 (Still confused how they won that WC). They even drew with New Zealand in 2010 and failed to qualify for Round of 16. And I don’t want to even start on how bad England is. Surely, all the EPL pundits will disagree with me but England is an average team, at best.
For me, the teams that have most improved are Chile & US. They can become really stronger if they keep doing what they are doing.
I can’t understand why people are saying Costa Rica played better than Holland. All they did was parked the bus and had luck on their side, until the penalties.
Sneijder was shooting rockets at their goals but was unlucky. Robben owned CR’s defense, despite all the acting he did.
Everybody but Scolari seems to want that. Even before Neymar was out (then it would be Neymar instead of either Bernard or William).
Even though Dante is not bad, I atually think Thiago Silva is a worse loss than Neymar, for the vs Germany game.
The World Cup was filled with surprises and yet the top 4 is almost the obvious one. Most people I know (myself included) thought the top 4 would be Brazil, Argentine, Germany and Spain, although in different orders. And that early 5-1 Netherlands-Spain game was a pretty good tip to change one of the spots.
If Brazil loses to Germany people will be disappointed. If Brazil goes to the finals and loses to Argentine people will be pissed off. Even parts of the media seem to try to make argentinian fans as a whole look like bad people to generate more hype.