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Dear me, you would make a Chelski fan convulse to even consider removing the special one!

They waited so long to get him back!

He will make that side shine again, no doubt about it, if he can live with the Russian!

And I always thought you were a Manchester United supporter. :clueless

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Group of death lol. Try group G for a real challenge.   Looks like the lowest ranked team will win the group.

Hi,   The World Cup is in a very glamorous setting this year, Brazil. I’m sure some on here find Brazilian women almost as hot as our Thai ladies so there are a few reasons to go if one has the mone

Saintly Mrs Gonzo was smart enough to have a good sleep last night instead of watching the poor games shown. She seems to know more about football than I do. One thing is for sure, if it would not hav

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Columbia have played good football so I hope they beat Brazil. When the French are united they are hard to beat. Ask the All Blacks ! I'm letting my heart rule my head today. :party

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Tomorrow : Belgium versus Messi replay of the 1986 game Belgium versus Maradona

 

21o4mcw.jpg

 

 

The reason why the Belgians could win tomorrow : Messi isn't as good as Maradona was.

Edited by groover
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It looks like Germany will start with Manuel Neuer, Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels, Höwedes, Sebastian Schweinsteiger, Sammi Khedira, Thomas Müller, Toni Kroos, Memet Özil and Miroslav Klose. We will know in half an hour's time.

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France could start with Lloris, Debuchy, Evra, Varane, Sakho, Cabaye, Valbuena, Benzema, Griezmann, Matuidi, Progba. Looks like Germany will have to play against more Algerians again. Karim Benzema will be the danger man.

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As far as I am concerned, this is the worst side Brazil fielded, since I first watched them play against Sweden in a World Cup in 1958, which they won with a 17-year old Pele making his debut with a fantastic performance and then went on to be the best player in the world for a very long time. In the first half tonight, Brazil's Silva scored a lucky goal after 7 minutes from a corner, after a bad defensive error from a Columbian defender.

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As far as I am concerned, this is the worst side Brazil fielded, since I first watched them play against Sweden in a World Cup in 1958, which they won with a 17-year old Pele making his debut with a fantastic performance and then went on to be the best player in the world for a very long time. In the first half tonight, Brazil's Silva scored a lucky goal after 7 minutes from a corner, after a bad defensive error from a Columbian defender.

Well that will encourage me to watch more. :D

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And I always thought you were a Manchester United supporter. :clueless

:yikes:

 

Well Germany and Brazil through, but with Neymar out for the rest of the World Cup, you must fancy Germany now!

Edited by jacko
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Liking the Brazil/Columbia game so far, 28 mins in. Good pace, action and the refs are letting them play.

 

I like to see Ref's let the game flow to…..But….

Here's another view of that……… Also remember that our romantic view of Brazilian football should consider they have the highest number of Red cards of any country in WC history.

 

 

 

 

(Reuters) - Colombia were kicked out of the World Cup by a bruising Brazil team who committed 31 fouls and stretched the laws of the game to the limits on their way to a 2-1 quarter-final win on Friday.
Spanish referee Carlos Velasco stood by and watched as Colombia, who have delighted the world with flowing, attacking soccer were drawn into a kicking match by the hosts who were clearly intent on stopping their opponents playing by any means.
Velasco waited for 41 fouls to be committed before pulling out his first yellow card, well into the second half, and his leniency allowed Brazil carte blanche to freely use tactical fouling in midfield.
Colombia playmaker James Rodriguez, arguably the top player in the tournament, took a fearful battering as Brazil adopted a rotation system in which players took it in turns to foul him.
To add insult to injury, Rodriguez was one of four players booked in the 54-foul match.
Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar was lucky to escape a red card for a legs-first foul on Carlos Bacca which led to the penalty that Rodriguez converted for Colombia's 80th minute goal.
At times, the match looked like a bad day in the Libertadores Cup, the South American equivalent of the Champions League which has a turbulent history of violence and skullduggery.
Although Brazil were the main perpetrators, Colombia also got involved, more out of necessity than choice, and it was Neymar who came off worse, suffering a fractured vertebrae that the team doctor said had ruled him out of the World Cup.
The Brazil forward was carried off on a stretcher near the end and taken to hospital, crying in pain after receiving a knee in the back from Colombia defender Juan Camilo Zuniga who, in a sadly familiar routine, escaped without a booking.
Brazil's performance, which has set up a semi-final against Germany, bore the hallmarks of their coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who was criticized in the run-up to the match after his players exposed their nerves during the second round win over Chile.
Scolari has mellowed over the years but won a certain amount of notoriety during his club career in Brazil for the methods used by his teams.
MORE FOULS
During a stint with Cruzeiro, he noted that his team gave away an average of 25 fouls per match but said that was one of the lowest numbers in the Brazilian championship at the time.
When he was at Palmeiras, there was uproar after a television crew outside the changing room recorded a private team talk in which he urged his players to kick a member of the opposing team.
The man known as "Big Phil" also used other tactics such as throwing spare balls on to the field to disrupt an opposing team's attacks.
Scolari was certainly not alone and there was a period in Brazilian soccer around 10 years ago where some coaches believed that committing more fouls than the opposition was the key to winning the game.
Many of Scolari's contemporaries came to regard fouls as a tactical resource rather than an infringement of the laws of the game.
Since returning for a second stint as Brazil coach in November 2012, Scolari has once again got his team playing to the limits of the law.
When his side thrashed Spain 3-0 in the Confederations Cup final last year, they managed to commit 26 fouls without receiving a single yellow card.
FIFA's refereeing head Massimo Busacca told Reuters in an interview in November that referees should nip the problem in the bud if they sensed a team were using tactical fouls.
"If you realize in the first 10 minutes that the coach has prepared the game (plan) in that way, you have to understand what is happening and... you have to do something," he said.
"This is what we expect from top referees... to understand how the coach prepared the game, respect the other team and say now we have to stop this type of play."
But the message clearly did not get through to Velasco and raised questions as to why FIFA picked a European referee to officiate at a game between two South American teams in conditions he did not seem to be familiar with.
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It was the roughest, dirtiest match of the WC indeed. I was amazed that there were no bookings for so long.

 

Composed on a mobile phone.

 

 

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I would not put money on a Germany-Brazil final. Watching Brazil yesterday was like watching Brazil-Chile again. The referee was like the Japanese referee in the Chile game and favoured Brazil for most of the time. I dont know why the second goal Columbia scored was disallowed. I would like to see another replay. Bad luck for Brazil to lo lose Nyamar to a back injury for the rest of the WC.

 

Germany played much better last night than they played against Algeria. Joachim Löw made the right changes when he strengthened the defence by putting Phillip Lahm into his preferred position as right back and having Mats Hummels return as a defender was also good news. That made it possible to play both Sammie Khedira and Sebastian Schweisteiger in midfield together and Miroslav Klose up front. Mats Hummels scored the only goal of the game with a good header in the 13th minute. Neuer made a great save again in the last seconds of added on time from a shot at goal from Karim Benzema to prevent the game from going into extra time.

 

That was enough to reach the last four in the World Cups 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014. Not a bad record considering what they achieved before that, winning the WC three times and being runners up three times, including the World Cup against England in 1966, which they lost late in the game after that controversial goal.

 

Now its time to start packing the suitcases again. The TGF put so much gear into hers to make it ten kilos over the allowable limit. I dont know why she needs another three pairs of shoes to take with her and all the other rubbish. She has already all the stuff she needs in the condo in Darwin from our previous visits. I will be able to watch the games tonight and the game against Brazil next Tuesday. Then it will be off to the airport and I wont be able to post much, if anything at all for the next three months, probably to the relief for some of the board members following this message board.

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It was the roughest, dirtiest match of the WC indeed. I was amazed that there were no bookings for so long.

 

Composed on a mobile phone.

Only watched the first half and a few minutes of the second but I didn't see much that I'd consider flagrant. That said, I just read that Neymar was kneed in the back and is out. Was it bad in the second half or do I just not have the eye for the game?

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Only watched the first half and a few minutes of the second but I didn't see much that I'd consider flagrant. That said, I just read that Neymar was kneed in the back and is out. Was it bad in the second half or do I just not have the eye for the game? 

I think atlas' quoted article above gives a more expert view than I could ever do. The play was laissez-faire until the second half (much of which I missed due to a minor emergency that came up).

 

Composed on a mobile phone.

 

 

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I think atlas' quoted article above gives a more expert view than I could ever do. The play was laissez-faire until the second half (much of which I missed due to a minor emergency that came up).

 

Composed on a mobile phone.

Sorry A2, breezed through it the first time. May d/l the game and watch the 2nd half.

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Hi,

 

Columbia try to play football like Brazil did years ago. What a shame the ref allowed Brazil to break their rhytm by continous fouling. Sad day for Brazil, sad day for football.

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Sorry A2, breezed through it the first time. May d/l the game and watch the 2nd half.

 

No apology necessary … as I said I agree it's great when a ref let's it flow…..This time though it smacked of dereliction of duty.

 

I'm watching the game again now. It's a shame about Neymar you always want the best players fit and able to take part. The French lost Ribery which helped the Germans and now Brazil lose their best player. I think Germany will go through.

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I missed most of the second half as I said, but caught this scene at the end of the match which I thought was quite touching. I mistakenly thought the other Brazilian player was Neymar due to the hair style, not knowing at that time that he had been injured.

 

David Luiz, even though he fouled James Rodriguez during the match, showed him some compassion and empathy which raised my estimation of him a lot.

 

Luiz encouraging the crowd to give James an ovation...

Capture1.JPG

 

 

Luiz and James exchanging shirts....respect!

Capture.JPG

 

 

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Good clean game between Argentina and Belgium in the first half with Higuaine scoring a good early goal after 8 minutes. Good save by Romero after 25 min. and Messi missed with with a good free kick after a foul on him after 38 min. from just outside the penalty box, which went over the corner bar by a small margin. Di Mario had to come off with a calf injury after 32 minutes. Reminds me of the Germany-France game with Argentina leading 1:0 at half time. Further goals could be hard to come by between the two teams defending well and playing good technical football.

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No apology necessary … as I said I agree it's great when a ref let's it flow…..This time though it smacked of dereliction of duty.

Painfully obvious that I know little about the rules, I thought they were more than anything just playing hard (tough) and as it's the big tourney the refs were letting the game be decided by the players. At my level of interest that's better than watching flopping. Heck, the Hockey fan in me was wondering why they didn't send out a thug to deal with Suarez biting :D.

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An even less exciting second half. Argentina played it save. 1:0 is enough to get to the semi finals. Ask Germany. I will try to have a nap before the Netherlands - Costa Rica game, which could be difficult after two cups of coffee. :blink:

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Painfully obvious that I know little about the rules, I thought they were more than anything just playing hard (tough) and as it's the big tourney the refs were letting the game be decided by the players. At my level of interest that's better than watching flopping. Heck, the Hockey fan in me was wondering why they didn't send out a thug to deal with Suarez biting :D.

Sometimes, when I watch a football game like the one that just finished, I wished they would start thinking about starting up a proper Rollerball competition.

 

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