2014 World Cup

[Barrister]

It's better than their last.

I dunno, that might have been more entertaining in a "watching a train wreck" kind of way...

[Maladict]

Some odd refereeing, from what I'm hearing.

[DGuller]

Is it just me, or has the ref gotten pretty much every major decision wrong?  Missed the red card, but at the same time gave the penalty by mistake.  Then gave the yellow card to Robben for nothing at all.  Then fails to call an offside on the second goal.  Then not only misses the penalty for the Brazilians, but actually wrongly gives the yellow card for diving.  Then misses the penalty for the Dutch.  With the way he's going, he may may forget to blow the final whistle, and they'll keep playing until tomorrow.

[DGuller]

Finally a goal for the Dutch that wasn't gifted by the referee.

[Delirium]

Poor Brazil?

[FunkMonk]

Outscored 10-1 in the last two matches. 

[FunkMonk]

After the second goal and the terrible defending before makes you wonder if David Luiz is worth 50 million...

PSG: Masters of the transfer market 

[Valmy]

Poor Brazil?

Del?

[Duque de Bragança]

After the second goal and the terrible defending before makes you wonder if David Luiz is worth 50 million...

PSG: Masters of the transfer market 

Given the level of the French league, they're more than enough. In the Champions' League, David Luiz will need to recover his game though.

[Monoriu]

I hope this makes Brazil realise that their team plain sucks, and it isn't just one unlucky match. 

[PDH]

Poor Brazil?

DEL! 

[alfred russel]

I followed two rules in the languish pool:

I'd pick the US to win every game
I'd pick Brazil to win every game

The first because I have faith in my fellow countrymen, the second because while I know jack shit about soccer, if Brazil can win at anything it is supposed to be soccer.

The two teams combined for 11 games, and won 5 of them. I'm 2 games out of the lead in the languish pool.

The moral: never bet on American football players that can't use their hands (yes that means you can bet on Tim Howard, but be wary if supported by 10 Americans that can't), and never bet on Brazil for anything. Brazil has set its national sliders for max soccer, and if this is the best they can do at a home world cup imagine how bad they are at say building a road network.

[Maladict]

Looks like I will need to pick Argentina to win the pool. 

[celedhring]

¡Adelante Argentina!

[Syt]

Germany was in a similar spot as Brazil now in the lat 90s/early 00s (a lucky advance to the WC final notwithstanding). The home World Cup gave the impetus to change things around. Youth training was improved. Klinsmann and his then assistant Jogi Löw had a lot of detractors at the time, most notably the tabloid BILD who found a lot of their privileges revoked (like receiving match line ups a day before the match, or having practically 24/7 access to the team and its players) - also, BILD and Klinsmann have long been on bad terms (whereas Beckenbauer and Matthäus are BILD darlings). But a lot of people people were complaining about Klinsmann changing the German style of play around to something that felt alien at the time, and inviting people based on performance, not reputation, which brought in a bunch of new faces into the team.

The 2006 World Cup shut the critics up, and Löw has continued on this path. Personally, I thought that the transformation was complete when Ballack finally left the team. He was a good enough footballer, but I never liked him as a person (he's down there with the likes of Andi Möller for me).

Brazil would need a cut, as well. The question is if it's possible under their national football association which is among the more corrupt ones in the business (which is quite a feat).