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Post by profblues on Jul 3, 2014 7:22:40 GMT -5
I'm just glad the U.S. lost, I was tired of all the nationalistic chest-thumping 'USA! USA! USA!' like posts in my Facebook newsfeed. I recommended that any of my friends who still felt the need to do that should check out Wimbledon to see if there were any Americans still left in the tourney.
I honestly wouldn't care that much about it if soccer was more mainstream in this country, but probably better than half of the people cheering for Team USA were doing it strictly for the pseudo-patriotism and couldn't have told you who was on the team if you asked them on the street let alone explain the rules of the game outside of run down the field kick the ball, miss and run back the other direction. The goalie Howard is enjoying his 15 minutes of fame right now. Next week, a big bunch of his new "fan base" won't even remember his name.
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Post by erik on Jul 3, 2014 8:42:15 GMT -5
Quote by profblues:
I don't think I can agree that Team USA's loss made me feel glad, but I agree wholeheartedly that this "USA! USA! USA!" chest-thumping was bulls**t patriotism at its most godawful, the last refuge of scoundrels, as it has been since 9/11 (IMHO).
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Post by robertaxel on Jul 3, 2014 21:13:40 GMT -5
Something about that jingoistic chanting reminds me uncomfortably of Nuremberg circa 1933..
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Post by arjan on Jul 4, 2014 1:56:53 GMT -5
Of course Netherlands is much more football minded than the USA but you should see how it is here... some streets are entirely 'dressed up' with orange flags and ribbons, when Netherlands plays you see most people wearing something orange when you move through town...Very colourful
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Post by arjan on Jul 4, 2014 2:10:02 GMT -5
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Post by jhar26 on Jul 4, 2014 4:50:29 GMT -5
It's the same here. Belgian flags hanging out of windows everywhere you look. Thousands of people joining to watch the matches on giant screens. It's pretty amusing to see all this nationalism in a country where almost half of the population votes for seperatist political parties. But it's all in good fun I suppose.
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Post by erik on Jul 4, 2014 8:42:43 GMT -5
Quote by jhar26:
Kind of like here too. We have had large TV screens set up in various places where thousands of people have shown up to watch the matches. We are trying to be even a fraction as soccer-savvy as every other World Cup participant nation.
Quote by robertaxel:
Unfortunately, I have to agree.
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Post by arjan on Jul 8, 2014 11:26:58 GMT -5
Today the first semi-final between the 2 countries that got any vote in the poll in this topic Brazil - Germany. I hope it will be an exciting game, not like last friday when Brazil did everything possible to prevent Colombia from playing, and Germany after a 1-0 lead could easily relax and wait til the game was over.
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Post by arjan on Jul 8, 2014 15:53:28 GMT -5
Oh my god what's happening 5-0 half time
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Post by erik on Jul 8, 2014 19:18:22 GMT -5
And in the end, Brazil got their heads handed to them...on silver platters, no less: 7-1!
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Post by jhar26 on Jul 9, 2014 3:25:23 GMT -5
This must be the worst team that Brazil ever had. If they hadn't played in yellow and blue I never would have believed that this was Brazil. And they can count themselves lucky that Germany wanted to conserve some energy for the final, otherwise they could easily have reached a double digit number of goals. I've never seen an important team with as piss poor a defense as this Brazil. It would have been better that instead of defensive players Brazil had put four or five barrels on the pitch. With a bit of luck a German might have bumped into one.
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Post by erik on Jul 9, 2014 8:38:03 GMT -5
Quote by jhar26:
Especially if it had lager (beer) in it (LOL).
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Post by jhar26 on Jul 9, 2014 9:48:44 GMT -5
Quote by jhar26: Especially if it had lager (beer) in it (LOL).
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Post by erik on Jul 9, 2014 11:56:01 GMT -5
We'll see what happens. The Germans will get the winner of Argentina vs. Netherlands this coming Sunday.
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Post by arjan on Jul 9, 2014 11:59:45 GMT -5
Brazil did miss one of their keyplayers... I don't mean Neymar but a defender, don't exactly know his name. Maybe that's the reason why the defence had more holes than a Gouda cheese But now, tonight... Netherlands - Argentina
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Post by jhar26 on Jul 9, 2014 12:15:54 GMT -5
[Brazil did miss one of their keyplayers... I don't mean Neymar but a defender, don't exactly know his name. Maybe that's the reason why the defence had more holes than a Gouda cheese But now, tonight... Netherlands - Argentina Thiago Silva? Yes, perhaps. But they haven't looked right all tournament and played very 'un-Brazilian' in every match. Come on Holland!!!
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Post by erik on Jul 9, 2014 17:40:27 GMT -5
At this writing, they are in the 120th minute of play (YIPE!!!), and there's still no score between Holland and Argentina.
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Post by erik on Jul 9, 2014 17:46:43 GMT -5
Okay, it's final: Argentina wins on penalty kicks, 4-2.
It'll be Germany vs. Argentina in the World Cup final on July 13th.
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Post by arjan on Jul 10, 2014 1:08:09 GMT -5
So, Netherlands neutralized Messi and Argentina neutralized Robben which pretty much neutralized the entire game. I do feel Netherlands was a bit more offensive then Argentina but it wasn't meant to be... 2 penalty shoot-outs in 5 days is too much.
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Post by arjan on Jul 13, 2014 13:17:46 GMT -5
[Brazil did miss one of their keyplayers... I don't mean Neymar but a defender, don't exactly know his name. Maybe that's the reason why the defence had more holes than a Gouda cheese But now, tonight... Netherlands - Argentina Thiago Silva? Yes, perhaps. But they haven't looked right all tournament and played very 'un-Brazilian' in every match. Come on Holland!!! Ok, Thiago Silva probably wasn't the problem, he did play vs Netherlands and they still lost big time
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Post by arjan on Jul 13, 2014 13:18:43 GMT -5
Less than an hour before the Grande Finale exciting, however not a tiny bit comparable to 4 years ago when Netherlands was in the final
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Post by erik on Jul 13, 2014 13:29:55 GMT -5
Quote by arjan:
Can't win 'em all (just ask Team USA [LOL]).
I think both Germany and Argentina are evenly matched; it may go into extra frames, and maybe even those "dreaded" penalty kicks.
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Post by arjan on Jul 13, 2014 13:38:46 GMT -5
Don't know, looking at Germany the entire tournament and specially the 7-1 win over Brazil, I think they are the big favourites to win. Argentina was not very powerful against Netherlands. If Germany manages to neutralize Messi like Netherlands did I don't think they'll have big problems.
The main difference between Germany and Netherlands, I suppose, is that in the German team it's not enough to neutralize 1 person. There's Müller, Klose, Özil, Khedira, way too many to sacrifice 2 defenders - each - to.
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Post by arjan on Jul 13, 2014 15:54:15 GMT -5
Ok, an extra half hour it is You were right Erik
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Post by erik on Jul 13, 2014 18:11:55 GMT -5
Well, Germany finally broke through with the wining goal. And it took until the 113th minute for it to happen.
D**n if that wasn't a fun World Cup (IMHO).
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