Because of "Las Malvinas Son Argentinas"? (trying to imitate the voice of the Emperor in ROJ) Without Neymar and Thiago Silva Brazil is going to find this rather difficult on Tuesday. On the positive side: Should Brazil not be able to defeat Germany on Tuesday, they have a good excuse, IMHO. Bob
Good God no, they can have the bloody islands for all I care. No, it's something far more sinister and much more important : http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-ccNkksrfls Never forgive. Never forget...
^ Hence my remark above about Argentina deifying a cheat. ...eh, I'd still like to see Brazil win it...but with reservations.
Yeah, Scholl was completely right and he was indeed speaking from experience. I remember quite a few games where his opponents were quite literally attacking him constantly to demoralize and intimidate him. I feel very sorry for Neymar, it's true that he's still young but a chance to play in the World Cup in your own country comes once in a lifetime.
The thing is (and this is direct from fans mouths), they think cheating is both clever and admirable. It's using all the tools available and is how they think the game should be played. They consider nations trying to 'play fair' foolish. It's not just the Argentinians either - most South American fans think that way, and it's spread (and spreading) elsewhere. Ah, the 'Beautiful Game'...
So my wife and I spent the holiday weekend up at a friend's house. He's a big soccer fan, and he let me know that Saturday would be spent watching two games. I have never watched a soccer game in my life. The Argentina/Belgium game wasn't too bad. I liked the guy with the giant digital watch on the sidelines... The Costa Rica/Netherlands game was...well, not so great. I ended up taking a nap in the second half, and woke up during the extra period where it was still 0-0. The shootout was pretty cool. I certainly have a better appreciation of how physical and strenuous the game can be. I don't think I'll become a soccer fan because of the experience, but hey...I gave it a fair hearing, and it wasn't as bad as I feared. Enjoy the rest of the tournament!
^^ But that tells me you never watched a "soccer" game with a normal goal during the first 90 minutes. Something to look forward to in the future, I'd recommend. Bob
Argentina scored pretty early in that first game. 9-10 minutes in, as I recall. That game seemed more exciting to me. The Costa Rica/Netherlands game was boring as hell, but I'm sure there are lots of nuances that I missed, being so uneducated about soccer.
Yeah. Games like that can seem very boring for people who haven't yet learned to "read" the game. There's always a lot of tactical stuff like re-positioning and maneuvering going on. Trying to create gaps in the opponents defenses that you than exploit, etc. That in itself can be very rewarding to watch but it is hard to grasp for the uneducated eye. Costa Rica was playing an excellent defensive game. You can tell by how many times they managed to trap Van Persi in Offside position. However, there are also very fast-paced matches with lots of goals and/or drama. For example, I still very fondly remember Netherlands vs. Czech Republic back in 2004's European Championship as one of the most exciting matches I have ever seen. If you find the time you could check that one out. I'm sure it's somewhere on YT. Pretty much any Turkey match from the 2008 EC is also worth watching.
Well I only have around 18 years of my 27 year life of watching football as a hardcore fan so with my little knowledge I'll drop my 2 cents... The Holland/Costa Rica game was far from a boring 0-0 draw, I've seen many many worse. Holland's formation and tactics are designed to really encourage the other team to attack them so the Dutch counter fast & hard but Costa Rica were never going to play like Spain. However I am very interested to see how Argentina tackle the Dutch and wonder if Holland can do to them, what they did to Spain or will Argetina try to play a lot smarter like Mexico and Costa Rica did who came so close to succeeding. The Dutch luck will eventually run out IMO.
As an ignorant American who only watches soccer once every four years, I've been enjoying watching the World Cup, and I don't think the Netherlands-Costa Rica game was boring. But if I have to watch one more guy pretending to fall down then writhing around in pain... In basketball and American football, players will pretend not to be injured just because they don't want to be taken out of the game.
Basketball players "flop" all the time, and are motivated to do so for the same or similar reasons as soccer players: to get a foul called against the opposing team. You also see soccer players flop late in the game to let their team have a "breather" even though that can bite them in the butt because stoppage time is added to the game.
5-0 at 30 minutes. Just... What am I watching? This is hilarious, I kinda feel sorry for the Brazilian suporters since it's at home and all that but the team's just been severely outclassed. I think my 1/4 German is showing a little too.