FIFA World Cup Brasil 2014

[Ernesto Lee]

Scolari is a very conservative man, grumpy, truth owner type of person. When getting questioned in those press conferences he always gets all angry and pissed off.
In my opinion he is a terrible coach, his playing style is far antiquated, before returning as Brasil´s coach he did a terrible job at Palmeiras, the club got relegated to the second division.
He is the kind of coach who prefer calling the players who are his friends(and won´t question him) instead of those who are the best, he just called Robinho(most deceptive player of all times) back.

IMO Brasil lost a tremendous opportunity to do something new when Mano Menezes was sacked from the coach´s job.

 

[Rantboy]

Scolari is a very conservative man, grumpy, truth owner type of person. When getting questioned in those press conferences he always gets all angry and pissed off.
In my opinion he is a terrible coach, his playing style is far antiquated, before returning as Brasil´s coach he did a terrible job at Palmeiras, the club got relegated to the second division.
He is the kind of coach who prefer calling the players who are his friends(and won´t question him) instead of those who are the best, he just called Robinho(most deceptive player of all times) back.

IMO Brasil lost a tremendous opportunity to do something new when Mano Menezes was sacked from the coach´s job.

Exactly. He called Robinho. I rest my case.

Sometimes I think he's not watching European football and lives in the past. He keeps trying the same 2 right backs all the time - anyone can see Daniel Alves and especially Maicon are past their best. There are other guys like Rafael (Man Utd) and Rafinha from Bayern who never get a call up.

Now the last straw for me is calling Robinho and leaving PSG's Lucas Moura out. If he recalls Ronaldinho, I'll officially pick another team to support in this WC.

PS: he needs to call Marquinhos from PSG too. Ah, there are so many players he could have been using.

 

[lo zio]

With all due respect to these teams. But as luck would have it, the distant city of Manaus will host Italy vs England in the middle of the Amazon

can u imagine the humidity and heat?! theese sort of games are gonna be a borefest. prandelli asked fifa if it would be possible for the coaches to have 2 timeouts, in order to allow the players to drink.

i remember this summer sauce told me something about the best brazilian regions to play in (dry and not too hot) and the worst, but i can't remember which were what.... how did italy end up in that respect? i assume manaus is gonna be hell on earth, but how about the other 2 matches? God knows we can't play with heat and humidity! infact, nevermind fifa, the referees and neymar's or suarez's theatrics. italy's worst enemy is gonna be the temperature and humidity. i'd rather have italy playing against germany or spain somwhere dry, than playing iran in the middle of the amazon forest!

as for the draw, the seedings and the groups themselves, i just choose to ignore them. if u wanna get to the final, u're bound to face some top teams sooner or later, and no top team (italy included) should cower and hide behind this sort excuses.
besides i think i'm gonna enjoy a game against england or uruguay much more than i would enjoy a game against a lesser team

as for neymar, i have to admit, he really got on my nerves this summer at the confed cup! but then again, this is unfortunately an aspect of the game (not the most beautiful aspect though) and we just got to deal with it.

Scolari is a very conservative man, grumpy, truth owner type of person. When getting questioned in those press conferences he always gets all angry and pissed off.

wow! scolary grumpy?! i haven't followed him since his days in europe but he always struck me as an easy going, always smiling fella. then again, u certainly know him better than i do. perhaps coaching brasil took its toll on his attitude.... i mean, pressure-wise, it's hard to to worse than coaching brazil

PS: he needs to call Marquinhos from PSG too

yep, that kid is really something special. i'd pick him over david luiz in a heartbeat!

 

[Ernesto Lee]

Exactly. He called Robinho. I rest my case.

Sometimes I think he's not watching European football and lives in the past. He keeps trying the same 2 right backs all the time - anyone can see Daniel Alves and especially Maicon are past their best. There are other guys like Rafael (Man Utd) and Rafinha from Bayern who never get a call up.

Now the last straw for me is calling Robinho and leaving PSG's Lucas Moura out. If he recalls Ronaldinho, I'll officially pick another team to support in this WC.

PS: he needs to call Marquinhos from PSG too. Ah, there are so many players he could have been using.

I already did man, can´t stand the likes of Scolari, Parreira, Marin, the whole Globo press...

 

[Rantboy]

can u imagine the humidity and heat?! theese sort of games are gonna be a borefest. prandelli asked fifa if it would be possible for the coaches to have 2 timeouts, in order to allow the players to drink.

i remember this summer sauce told me something about the best brazilian regions to play in (dry and not too hot) and the worst, but i can't remember which were what.... how did italy end up in that respect? i assume manaus is gonna be hell on earth, but how about the other 2 matches? God knows we can't play with heat and humidity! infact, nevermind fifa, the referees and neymar's or suarez's theatrics. italy's worst enemy is gonna be the temperature and humidity. i'd rather have italy playing against germany or spain somwhere dry, than playing iran in the middle of the amazon forest!

Ok I've just checked for you and I'm afraid I've got bad news. Italy will play in Manaus (95% humidity), Recife and Natal. All these cities are near the Equator: there's little difference between summer and winter. It will be winter, but still, extremely hot. Expect temperatures of around 30-33 degrees Celsius.
The other two don't have as much humidity as Manaus, but still, bad conditions for Europeans.
Remember De Rossi saying this year how he never played somewhere so hot before? That will be the case again.

England was a bit luckier, because after Manaus they go to Belo Horizonte (pleasant winter weather) and São Paulo, where winter is a bit colder, similar to English spring

I didn't realise the weather factor would make for so much chaos until now. There are cities like Porto Alegre and Curitiba to the south, which will have temperatures of 0 degrees! And there will be Manaus and the other cities in the North Eastern part, where it's hell on earth temperatures.

The most dry atmosphere and mild temperatures during that time are found in Brasilia, where I hail from. However, the dry factor is quite the opposite of Manaus: at peak times the humidity gets as low as 10-15% during winter! I'm not so sure this is good for the practice of professional sports. And to make it worse, Brasilia is 1,000 meters above sea level, making it just a tad more difficult to breathe that dry air

Come to think of it, Brasil is a hostile environment for sports, I don't know why we're good at football

BTW: the time-out thing you mention already happens in Brazil, but only during summer, when the pre-season and State Championships happen. During summer, temperatures in Rio easily reach 40 degrees, so not even Brazilians can stand this heat.

 

[VK]

The distance teams like England, Italy and USA will have to travel is insane!

It's gonna be much more fun at the 2018 WC in Russia.
For instance, a one-way trip from St. Petersburg to Yekaterinburg is 2300km.

 

[sauce]

Common fellow brazilians, the seleção has always been like this, it has always been a joke, Mano was no different.
The seleção never had chemistry with the people, in recent years obviously, it's always those CBF bullshit players that get called.
The federation holds all of the cards of our beloved game, whether is for our national competitions or our national team.

As for the heat, I dont remember in recent years Belo Horizonte being that comfortable in july-august. It's been hot years here too.

I only expect a 'cold' weather down south. I said cold weather cause I've played football on the street with 35-40º my whole life

 

[bebo]

My dream final Brasil vs Argentina ! ooo I just wet myself of the prospect.

 

[Ernesto Lee]

Common fellow brazilians, the seleção has always been like this, it has always been a joke, Mano was no different.
The seleção never had chemistry with the people, in recent years obviously, it's always those CBF bullshit players that get called.
The federation holds all of the cards of our beloved game, whether is for our national competitions or our national team.

As for the heat, I dont remember in recent years Belo Horizonte being that comfortable in july-august. It's been hot years here too.

I only expect a 'cold' weather down south. I said cold weather cause I've played football on the street with 35-40º my whole life

I agree with you, but I have never said Mano was good, what I said is that after Mano´s departure CBF missed an enormous opportunity to bring someone new, by new I mean a foreigner coach, Guardiola would be the ideal, but I think Bielsa, Carlos Bianchi or even Guus Hiddink would also be great.

Neither CBF neither the conservative brazilian people and press would approve, so let´s go back again to old formula, the old hollow speech, etc etc

Anyway, to hell with this seleção.

 

[renato0araujo0]

Why play matches ?
Just give the Cup to Brazil.

That would be nice, don't know if it would be profitable though.

My opinions on soccer will all be like that, I don't understand people that talk about what COULD happen, anything can fucking happen, that's why we love the game.
I talk about what I think will happen and why. And of course my opinions are influenced by emotions (even more on Friday night, think you know why).

@Steve-O21:
I don't know that much about the US NT, ESPN broadcasts MLS but I've never had a chance to watch. I admit that I still think of US as a weak side with a lot of determination and poor technique. Seems like I'm wrong. But my skepticism now is also based on the 'bad luck' in the draw.

@gabe.paul.logan
Neymar lead Santos to the Libertadores title. A extremely hard competition. Don't know if you ever had a chance to watch a Libertadores game.
Neymar has something different in him, the pressure kind of helps him perform.

@lo zio
You're right in some points, there really is a lot of pressure on those players a lot of expectations and there is the obligation to win.
But i think that all this happen till the national anthem, from that point on everyone on the stadium will cheer the team up, from that point on the pressure becomes support.
Most of times anyway, of course the display on the pitch is a differential to the crowd.

And I share your opinion on the conspiracies thing.

 

[Steve-O21]

Don't think it would be any more Americans watching those games than the draw that was done yesterday. Your average American has no idea the historical significance...I would guess 90% of Texas has no idea Italy was once our enemy...or that Mussolini and his followers were, to be correct.

90% of Texas believes everyone is our enemy.

That is indeed much more correct the majority of Italians (an overwhelming majority really) never saw the Americans as enemies, but as liberators

I agree with both of you. My statement was stated more tongue-in-cheek than anything else. I thought of the hypothetical draw and imagined Will Ferrell in his George W. Bush getup doing his Axis of Evil skit on SNL.

 

[Ernesto Lee]

Ben, i think the FIFA wants Brazil to progress at least until the semi's (that way the homeland stays in the Tournament until the end, that is much better for profits)and i think they are cynical enough to make that happen regardless of the quality of the team or the pressure that cripples them...
One example: 2002. In the first match after the group stage, Brazil had to play Belgium. Belgium had an outstanding match and our current national coach scored a goal that was ruled out by the Jamaican referee Prendergast (he is well known in Belgium). Until today nobody knows why that goal was ruled out. At the moment it was 0-0.

Brazil scored in the second half (a lucky goal, a ball deflected by a Belgian defender) and right at the end Belgium play all or nothing and Brazil scored asecond on the counter. Even the Brazilian players conceded that the best team lost...

I give this example because obviouslyas a Belgian i remember well...

IMO FIFA looses lots of credibility with that draw. First of all, Belgium, Switzerland and Columbia should not be in pot one. Italy and Netherlands should be.
The fact that Belgium was in pot 1 and the Netherlands not was due to a friendly match between the both of them in august 2012. Holland used this match to experiment, for us those matches against Holland are the matches of the century. Belgium won and that made the difference. Holland has a much better (and lesser hyped) team... Same goes for Italy.

Then there was the charade with pot X...what the hell was that ? Why couldn't there be 3 European or 3 South American teams in the same group ?

I like WC's but they are overrated massively...the team who has the best form in those 7 matches wins (usually slow starters). Players who shine get a big transfer and more than 50% of them never perform at their new club. Watch out next season...the players who emerged during a WC will not play well for their club(i'm not talking about the Ronaldo's and the Messi's).

totally agree with you man, I have always been a huge Marc Wilmots fan, when scored that disallowed goal I was also shattered.
the man himself talking the truth:
YouTube - Marc Wilmots - Goal WK 2002

I hope he gets his revenge here in Brasil.
I will be at Maracana showing my support in the match against Russia!
Allez les Diables Rouge.

 

[Daniel_Juve]

Common fellow brazilians, the seleção has always been like this, it has always been a joke, Mano was no different.
The seleção never had chemistry with the people, in recent years obviously, it's always those CBF bullshit players that get called.
The federation holds all of the cards of our beloved game, whether is for our national competitions or our national team.

As for the heat, I dont remember in recent years Belo Horizonte being that comfortable in july-august. It's been hot years here too.

I only expect a 'cold' weather down south. I said cold weather cause I've played football on the street with 35-40º my whole life

Could't agree more, you spoke my mind

And the south is very hot in the summer, but during the WC period it will have the best clime by far from the cities, to be honest it's not professional or sportive at all to make games in the extreme north, this is not fair to all the teams, remember that ridiculous situation in USA 94, that was just a stupid decision for the WC (clime).

Italy got the worst group and match places

I agree with you, but I have never said Mano was good, what I said is that after Mano´s departure CBF missed an enormous opportunity to bring someone new, by new I mean a foreigner coach, Guardiola would be the ideal, but I think Bielsa, Carlos Bianchi or even Guus Hiddink would also be great.

Neither CBF neither the conservative brazilian people and press would approve, so let´s go back again to old formula, the old hollow speech, etc etc

Anyway, to hell with this seleção.

I agree with practically everything you said before, but..

A country with 198 million people needs to get a coach from another country? That's like signing a paper saying "we are pathetic and can't even find a single person to lead this football team in the entire nation".

I don't care at all if for example Italy does not have the best coach or players generation right now, what I wanna see is what the Italian players and staff can do in the competition, that's the whole point.

This should be even forbidden imo, the national teams thing should be to see what's the best nation in that competition, the team represents the country as a full, this is not clubs, putting a outsider to lead (or in the squad) just shows how weak that country really is, that needs to pathetically appeal like that.

That ultimately destroys any kind of meaning the "national team" has, and we don't even need that since we have the clubs for that, using that way of thinking you might get a better team in a technical view, but they don't represent the people anymore at all...

And I don't think that's being conservative, that's being coherent (having the 'nations' thing in mind), really.

This is my opinion

 

[Asiat]

I had hoped that Russia will play with the U.S. in the same group. It was close. Russian would be useful to see how 20 years can build from scratch a good league and a good national team. League attendance and get more than Russia, where soccer being chief sport.
Although I do not understand how you can love soccer, when the country has NBA NFL NHL.

 

[gomito#10]

I had hoped that Russia will play with the U.S. in the same group. It was close. Russian would be useful to see how 20 years can build from scratch a good league and a good national team. League attendance and get more than Russia, where soccer being chief sport.
Although I do not understand how you can love soccer, when the country has NBA NFL NHL.

Well I love all of those..., but to be honest the best game experience for a fan is by far going to an MLS match. NFL game is a horrible experience at the game amazing in my basement. NHL is really really expensive game experience here in Washington. And nba whike I watch on tv, the game experience went from awesome organ player in the background to constant rap and hip hop playing while the game is on!!!! Horrible. Love the bullets though. MLS experience is awesome, we tailgate , which is an American experience in itself. Basicaly you park your cars in the stadium parking lot drink beers, kick ball around, eat food with your friends and listen to music. Then go to game, repeat after game to avoid traffic getting out....

 

[gomito#10]

On that note what I would not give to have an evo web tailgate...

 

[Rantboy]

It's gonna be much more fun at the 2018 WC in Russia.
For instance, a one-way trip from St. Petersburg to Yekaterinburg is 2300km.

England will have to travel around 3500 km from the Amazon forest to Belo Horizonte

I'm sure Russia has even bigger distances, but I hope they think about the host cities more carefully than Brazil did.

 

[Kolia V]

England will have to travel around 3500 km from the Amazon forest to Belo Horizonte

I'm sure Russia has even bigger distances, but I hope they think about the host cities more carefully than Brazil did.

As I know WC2018 will have "clasters": north-west, south, Volga claster and central (Moscow).

 

[lo zio]

Ok I've just checked for you and I'm afraid I've got bad news. Italy will play in Manaus (95% humidity), Recife and Natal. All these cities are near the Equator: there's little difference between summer and winter. It will be winter, but still, extremely hot. Expect temperatures of around 30-33 degrees Celsius.
The other two don't have as much humidity as Manaus, but still, bad conditions for Europeans.
Remember De Rossi saying this year how he never played somewhere so hot before? That will be the case again.

oh shit! if that's the case then i don't think i'll be watching the games live. it's no worth to stay up until 2 in the morning to watch our players wandering around the pitch like zombies.
btw thanks for checking, mate!

BTW: the time-out thing you mention already happens in Brazil, but only during summer, when the pre-season and State Championships happen. During summer, temperatures in Rio easily reach 40 degrees, so not even Brazilians can stand this heat.

i see. then i guess that's where prandelli got that idea from

I only expect a 'cold' weather down south. I said cold weather cause I've played football on the street with 35-40º my whole life

no way!
be honest, u're just trying to make me feel like a pussy, aren't u?

so next wc is gonna be in russia? that's cool! i though i heard blatter was going to cash in in qatar after this world cup.

 

[Steve-O21]

I had hoped that Russia will play with the U.S. in the same group. It was close. Russian would be useful to see how 20 years can build from scratch a good league and a good national team. League attendance and get more than Russia, where soccer being chief sport.
Although I do not understand how you can love soccer, when the country has NBA NFL NHL.

I grew up living in an area and state without any top-level professional sports teams (3 hours from Kansas City, 3 hours from Minneapolis, 6 hours from Chicago, and 10 hours from Denver), so while I have MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, and NHL teams I generally root for, I don't have any one particular team I consider "my" team. Also, people in my state generally support its public universities with the same passion as others in the US support the professional teams. For example, I grew up driving four hours round-trip in order to watch "my" public university play each weekend. If it makes any sense at all, following international soccer became an almost natural progression of my fan-dom because I could watch every match as a neutral and enjoy it without any of my loyalties getting in the way...because my attachments are to amateur rather than professional sports. Now, I cannot go a day without watching at least one professional soccer match. Also, international soccer has no commercial breaks! I have attended/watched so many college football games that last on average three-and-a-half to four hours! That is absolutely ridiculous and tends to affect the outcome more than players, coaches, fans, and the media here will admit.

Well I love all of those..., but to be honest the best game experience for a fan is by far going to an MLS match. NFL game is a horrible experience at the game amazing in my basement. NHL is really really expensive game experience here in Washington. And nba while I watch on tv, the game experience went from awesome organ player in the background to constant rap and hip hop playing while the game is on!!!! Horrible. Love the bullets though. MLS experience is awesome, we tailgate , which is an American experience in itself. Basically you park your cars in the stadium parking lot drink beers, kick ball around, eat food with your friends and listen to music. Then go to game, repeat after game to avoid traffic getting out....

I've also heard awesome things about DC United matches. I coached a college soccer team out in Pennsylvania for the last couple of years and had a number of players on the roster from the DC Metro Area who would routinely make the short drive east to watch matches. They absolutely loved doing that. I'm surprised you think Wizards games are worth the expense. Where are your seats? I went to a game once where I got stuck up in the nosebleeds watching Chris Webber...enough said! Washington, DC is a great city/sports city though. The atmosphere there is great and you have the ability to take the Metro everywhere.

On that note what I would not give to have an evo web tailgate...

+1

 

[S-NipE]

so next wc is gonna be in russia? that's cool! i though i heard blatter was going to cash in in qatar after this world cup.

That'll be in 2022.

 

[bebo]

I had hoped that Russia will play with the U.S. in the same group. It was close. Russian would be useful to see how 20 years can build from scratch a good league and a good national team. League attendance and get more than Russia, where soccer being chief sport.
Although I do not understand how you can love soccer, when the country has NBA NFL NHL.

We call it Futbol/Soccer ..here`s a little American history from my view . I wasn`t born in this country ,but I made it my home. Ppl don`t consider me American so fuck them all! (mainly my family in the old country )

Boys n Girls play soccer at a very young age . The younger the better, not for the sport ,but to be consider a parent. Its part of being looked at as a good parent. Something about loving your children blah, blah ,blah. Anyhow , once your son turns btw 12-14 he`s encourage to play another sport. This all depends on the parents' preference ...real men play rough American NFL.If ,your Son is tall and not so rough play basketball. The rest could be baseball,swimming,jockey(NHL) etc.

Girls don`t have many options(pressure) so they usually stay w/ the sport they started. Its possible, the reason women football (NT) are the best. Who knows really... another point is the sports in this country are shown in seasons . This keep everyone enjoying different sport venue. Me personally Soccer in Europe takes too much of my time to follow anything else. I just couldn`t keep up w/ it! Being husband,Arsenal,father, making a living.Its 10 month and then tourney.

 

[gabe.paul.logan]

Simulated my "personal 2014 WC" using the Sport1 WM Simulator:

Spoiler

---------------------Neuer(ter Stegen)

---Lahm(Boateng)----Mertesacker(Badstuber)---- Hummels(Höwedes)---Schmelzer(Grosskreutz,Jansen, Bender)

----------------Schweinsteiger(Kroos)--Khedira(Bender)

Müller(Draxler)--Özil(Götze, Gündogan)---Reus(Schürrle, Podolski)

--------------Gomez(Klose, Kruse, Kiessling, Podolski, Götze)



Champions?? Unlikely

 

[sauce]

no way!
be honest, u're just trying to make me feel like a pussy, aren't u?

Yes its true, my father is from north of the state, its near a very arid area. When I was a kid I used to stay an entire month at times two, playing on the street at 35°.

Although we have a nice river there, lots of trees on the house, but down on the football pitch we used to get 35-40° Its not like we played for more than 30 minutes though.

 

[Gedtillo]

Brazil has already won, it has been decided and nobody with FIFA will have any doubt with that.

Allowing games to be played at the equator one day and in winter conditions five days later, referees being threatened by the audience and environment... You'll see.

Big rivals' games will take place with 90% humidity at jungle conditions, or with two days less for resting...

But it's ok. Football stopped being clean way before this WC. Byron Moreno. Al Ghandour. Ovrebo...

Just want to see nice goals, nice plays and good skills in between.

 

[gabe.paul.logan]

you guys taking this climate thing like they were playing on Mars and every South American is martian and they dont need a suit to breath.

 

[lo zio]

That'll be in 2022.

oh i see, cheers mate. i should really pay more attention to sports news

Yes its true, my father is from north of the state, its near a very arid area. When I was a kid I used to stay an entire month at times two, playing on the street at 35°.

Although we have a nice river there, lots of trees on the house, but down on the football pitch we used to get 35-40° Its not like we played for more than 30 minutes though.

wow, it takes some real love for the game to show such commitment.
i play once a week with my friends (thursday night football is a long standing tradition for us), but we usually take a break in december and july\august because of the temperature...
...keep in mind that where i live the coldest it gets during winter is around 12° (celsius) and the highest summer temperatures are around 30/33....
i guess we (italians) really are a bunch of sissies!

 

[S-NipE]

---------------------Neuer(ter Stegen)

---Lahm(Boateng)----Mertesacker(Badstuber)---- Hummels(Höwedes)---Schmelzer(Grosskreutz,Jansen, Bender)

------------Schweinsteiger(Kroos)--Khedira(Bender)
Müller(Draxler)--Özil(Götze, Gündogan)---Reus(Schürrle, Podolski)

--------------Gomez(Klose, Kruse, Kiessling, Podolski, Götze)



Champions?? Unlikely

With that team, why not? The best starting 11 would be a bit different though:

---------------------Neuer

---Lahm----Boateng----Hummels----Schmelzer(or Jansen, only position with a real problem in this team imho)

--------Schweinsteiger--Khedira

----------Müller--Özil---Reus

-------------------Klose

As reserve players there are a bunch of very good players, you all mentioned them here, so I won't write them down here, but you can easily bring on Kroos f.e. for Özil or Khedira and the team wouldn't be worse.

Btw: Feel free to simulate your "own" WC, am interested in seeing your version now.

 

[Kanouté]

Btw: Feel free to simulate your "own" WC, am interested in seeing your version now.

okay, here is mine.

http://i.imgur.com/9UvBVzg.jpg

Spoiler

glückwünsche!

 

[gabe.paul.logan]

With that team, why not? The best starting 11 would be a bit different though:

---------------------Neuer

---Lahm----Boateng----Hummels----Schmelzer(or Jansen, only position with a real problem in this team imho)

--------Schweinsteiger--Khedira

----------Müller--Özil---Reus

-------------------Klose

As reserve players there are a bunch of very good players, you all mentioned them here, so I won't write them down here, but you can easily bring on Kroos f.e. for Özil or Khedira and the team wouldn't be worse.

Btw: Feel free to simulate your "own" WC, am interested in seeing your version now.

did i look that serious there? damn i should be an actor