The world cup!

[Yngwie]

I like the way the Brazilian crowds boo negative or poor quality football.

[dougiedanger]

I slipped and fell onto him has to be the worst excuse ever!

 

Granvillesque.

[+bughtmaster]

Vive la France, splendid display, still in the running !!!

[Scarlet Pimple]

Watched the Germany match today. Man oh man are these players fit or what?

 

That was some match I must say. Pulsating even.

[Scotty]

Watched the Germany match today. Man oh man are these players fit or what?

 

That was some match I must say. Pulsating even.

 

especially when you consider the Muslim players (which was most of the Algerian team, and a couple of the Germans) could not even drink water due to Ramadan. Thought the Algerians played very well but just lacked that killer touch.

[Yngwie]

I read somewhere that the Muslims at the tournament (not just Algeria but also the likes of Mezut Ozil) generally haven't been following Ramadan. Apparently they can use an exemption for going into battle. 

[+bughtmaster]

Hang on to your hat little urchin big day on Friday.........good luck

 

Vive the Auld Alliance

[Scarlet Pimple]

It's annual Canada Day holiday here in La La Land so my wife is off out with the ladies ona shopping binge or summat, and I'm  stuck at home to watch the cup matches. Of course I would rather be out shopping but just handed over the wallet instead and called off with a bad  knee...  Ha!

 

Great matches on too --things are revving up....atmospheres are fantastic. Stadiums looking good and the locals are having a....ball. Pity the underdogs don't always win , eh? Germany sure had a lot of possession yesterday but looked very strained at the end just prior to getting that first goal.

I can't believe the heat  there. It would be impossible to play at all without water, guys. You know that. 

[Scarlet Pimple]

By the way, how many of you know that today Canada is just 147 years old.

 

It has a population of about 35 million with a square footage that is incalculable. One province alone, British Columbia, is 1.5 times the size of France. Yet we talk about stuff in any other city, (other than Vancouver) as if it is next door. Flying thousands of miles to Toronto, for example, means that we might take more time getting to and from the local airport than the length of flight itself.

 

The Trans Canada highway stretches from the pacific Ocean to the other side of the country without a break. The differences in the physical properties of each Province is matched only by the differences in the climatic changes. e.g Tornadoes were threatened

recently in Toronto when we were basking in lovely sunny weather here on the West coast.

 

As a matter of fact, there has been some talk of merging the three cities of Vancouver, in Canada, Seattle (named See-attle after one of the past very prominent Indian Chiefs hereabouts) another large west coast port just down the road from us in the U.S. and Portland ,Oregon , also in the U.S.,  to form a new territory named Cascadia. The latter two cities are situated in Washington State which must be differentiated from Washington , District of Columbia, which is on the East coast.--i.e where the WhiteHouse is.

 

That name, Cascadia,  comes from the mountains in this district of the West Coast of North America called the Cascades .

I think it is more fantasy than anything. All three cities would merge just dandy since we are more or less all North-Americanised and have similar life-styles and all three are beautiful places to live. But Mr Obama would have a heart attack if he thought he was going to lose these two cities. The U S also has a large naval facility at Bremerton also in Washington State here in the North West so...nah....maybe a merger of the football teams though... Last time I went to Oregon I went out in the midday sun on the lovely beaches there and paid a heavy price--sunstroke and delirium and the shivers at night. Never again.  Hope you enjoy the footie on the T.V. then and  let's keep into touch..eh?

 

Scarlet

[caleyboy]

What worries me most is how far we need to develop our game to qualify for either Europe or World Cup finals. Some of the speed and quality in the matches so far has been awesome. I'm sure we will improve under Strach but do we have the players?

[Sneckboy]

I am still rejoicing at the news that a major European club are prepared to pay millions for a young Scottish player - Ryan Gauld moving to Portugal is a huge shot in the arm for Scottish football. I can't remember the last time a Scot was signed by a major European club!

[+DoofersDad]

What a thrilling game between Belgium and the USA last night!  It goes to show that it is not quality football that necessaril;y entertains, but a real desire to play attacking football.  There was some poor defending with players being out of position and allowing attacking opportunities to develop for the opposition and there was some poor finishing by the Belgians who kept aiming at Howard's legs rather than lifting the ball over his flailing arms as he went to ground early time after time.  Made for a really exciting game though.

 

If Iain Stewart had been in the Belgian side last night he would probably have scored about 10.

[Sneckboy]

Another terrific effort from Costa Rica last night! I doubt anybody had them down to be only penalty-kicks away from the semi-finals.

 

The Tim Krul substitution in the 120th minute was bizarre - but worked. I seem to remember in the build-up our League Cup final, with penalties against Aberdeen being a realistic possibility, some speculation on the wisdom of taking-off Brill and sending on Esson. I think it was Renegade's suggestion (?) but it was 'shot down'!

I wonder if van Gaal has started a new trend! It's a bit like bringing on 'special teams' in American Football, I suppose.

 

The Costa Rican 'keeper had an astonishing World Cup, beaten only once from open-play in the whole tournament, despite playing games against Italy, England, Greece, Uruguay and the Netherlands, including 2 periods of extra-time.

 

I did read about him in a 'players to watch' feature before the tournament. He'd been named top goalkeeper for the season in arguably the world's best league (Spain's La Liga) so it should come as no surprise - but I 'poo-pooed' the article thinking he'd be picking the ball out of his net at least 10 times!

 

Anyway, I'm delighted with Costa Rica's exploits as it should finally put-to-bed any remaining stigma (misplaced, in my book - even at the time) surrounding Scotland's 1-0 defeat to them in the Italia 90 World Cup!

 

 

 

[Renegade]

Another terrific effort from Costa Rica last night! I doubt anybody had them down to be only penalty-kicks away from the semi-finals.

 

The Tim Krul substitution in the 120th minute was bizarre - but worked. I seem to remember in the build-up our League Cup final, with penalties against Aberdeen being a realistic possibility, some speculation on the wisdom of taking-off Brill and sending on Esson. I think it was Renegade's suggestion (?) but it was 'shot down'!

I wonder if van Gaal has started a new trend! It's a bit like bringing on 'special teams' in American Football, I suppose.

 

There was a big discussion about it prior to the last semi-final and in the end we didn't need to.  Brill staying in for the shootout for the Aberdeen game was also fair enough.  I was calling for it though during the extra time of the one we lost.  Reguero was terrible with penalties, everyone knew that and having Esson (a man who we've never lost a shootout with us) put in would have given us a far better chance.

 

I do remember some people being against making the switch, one person saying that Reguero "would be within his rights to get back on a plane back to Spain post-match"  .......which of course in the end, is pretty much what he did.  I reckon we'd have won the game had we made a switch and probably have won the cup.

[Sneckboy]

Cheers Renegade for 'clearing that up'!  Your suggestion struck a chord with me as it was a novel, yet viable option - but, If I remember, got 'mocked'.  Apologies for getting the wrong year, but it shows that your idea was ahead of its time!

[+DoofersDad]

I suspect we may see the tactic a little more often in the future and I fail to see why people think this is somehow insulting to the keeper who has played the match.  Saving penalties is a very specific keeper task and whilst one keeper may be a good spot kick stopper, another keeper in the squad may well be a more rounded keeper better at narrowing angles, collecting crosses, coming off the line to make blocks etc.  It's a bit like taking off a defender and putting a striker on when you're chasing a game - it doesn't mean the defender has played badly, it is just that you need a different skill set on the park at that time of the game.

 

In the context of the world cup game I think the strategy of bringing Krul on worked brilliantly.  He is a very big man and his sheer presence immediately puts a bit of pressure on the kick takers who feel there is that little bit less margin for error.  Added to that is the fact that it gives a message to the opposition that the substitute keeper is good at saving penalties and again this must put pressure on them.  Krul also used psychology effectively by his general swagger and body language which oozed confidence.  But regardless of any pschology here, Krul actually did the business making 2 stops, the second of which was a particularly good save.

 

It is a sensible tactic and the keeper who has played the rest of a match should not have a problem with that provided it is a strategy agreed in advance.

[+DoofersDad]

Another terrific effort from Costa Rica last night! I doubt anybody had them down to be only penalty-kicks away from the semi-finals.

 

 

The Costa Rican 'keeper had an astonishing World Cup, beaten only once from open-play in the whole tournament, despite playing games against Italy, England, Greece, Uruguay and the Netherlands, including 2 periods of extra-time.

 

I did read about him in a 'players to watch' feature before the tournament. He'd been named top goalkeeper for the season in arguably the world's best league (Spain's La Liga) so it should come as no surprise - but I 'poo-pooed' the article thinking he'd be picking the ball out of his net at least 10 times!

 

Anyway, I'm delighted with Costa Rica's exploits as it should finally put-to-bed any remaining stigma (misplaced, in my book - even at the time) surrounding Scotland's 1-0 defeat to them in the Italia 90 World Cup!

 

The Costa Rican keeper did play well but it was not a one man show by any means.  Defensively they were excellent.  The backroom staff had done their homework and they developed effective game plans which the players then delivered in a very disciplined way.  They all worked tremendously hard for each other.  If they had had a little more quality in the final third who knows what they might have achieved.

 

I was also sorry to see Colombia lose to Brazil.  Rodrigues is clearly the stand out player but again it was a great team effort.  Brazil resorted to the dark side of the game with an astonishing number of fouls which the referee let go without showing the yellow card.  It all rather backfired on them when Colombia started dishing it out on Brazil's star player who will now miss the rest of the tournament.  It's a shame because he's a great talent who seems to have a good attitude.

 

I can see Germany winning it now.

[Scarlet Pimple]

You could be right about the winner, DD.

[+DoofersDad]

You could be right about the winner, DD.

I hope I'm wrong.

[Yngwie]

David Luiz is in shock.

 

[WYNESS101]

Half time: Brazil 0-5 Germany

[The Mantis]

It's Cowdenbeath I feel sorry for - they'll need a new nickname.

[Yngwie]

David Luiz is in shock.

 

916380174e18d85b7b825995beebf818-palm-tree.jpg

 

 

At least if you planted a palm tree somewhere on the pitch, it would sometimes be in the right position!

[Ayeseetee]

This is all I could think about after it went 5 - 0

 

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/scotland-handed-daunting-euro-2016-3176742

 

 

 

Ugh.

Edited July 9, 2014 by Ayeseetee

[AlexJones]

Wouldn't be so pessimistic. USA and Algeria both ran the Germans close. Brazil were just honkin. Had images of a Butcher post match interview 'we just throw that one in the bin and forget about it.' It was one of those.