Day 10: Belgium vs Tunisia, South Korea vs Mexico and Germany vs Sweden

What?:lol:

Each to his own. I am watching the WC as a neutral.

I really don't understand how one can support a country other than their own, it is an entirely different thing to supporting a club. The success of Manchester United belongs to Manchester United fans, but the success of Germany rightly can only belong to Germans. I can have soft spots for a country, for eg, I like Australia as I have stayed there and have many Aussies as my mates, but I really don't care overmuch about whether they win or lose. Hard to be a fan of another country and share their glory, if you can do it, more power to you.

It's not really that hard, especially for people from sub continent. I think I know Hasan from Orkut boards and I can attest that he is a dedicated German tem supporter. If I'm right,he also took a youth team from Pakistan to Brazil so he is a great guy as well
 
If that bald prick had given the penalty and sent Boateng off Germany would have been out. It was the most obvious penalty ever. Even without VAR you give it. Besides, wtf was that last tackle that awarded Kroos the winning free kick? Really stupid.
I'm surprised nobody is even talking about this, Germany were handed this win. They would probably be out if that penalty was given.
 
Boateng was absolutely awful today. Brainless in possession, senseless tackles, ran around aimlessly, gave away possession by making terrible passes and had terrible positioning. He was lucky to not concede a penalty. He shouldn't play another game in the tournament again. Or for Germany again. They need a better centre half.

Boateng obviously didn't have a good game, but I don't think he was bad in possession. Played a couple of good long balls. Stats also view him positively (whoscored possession score and Lucid's ball advancement scores both have him as second best player on the pitch in that regard).
 
I'm surprised nobody is even talking about this, Germany were handed this win. They would probably be out if that penalty was given.
It wouldn't have changed that much, Sweden would have just turned up the time wasting even earlier.
 
Switzerland will trouble everybody. And in two games the adversaries created a total of 1.5 chances of goal against Brazil. Compare it with other favorites that allow dozens of chances each game.

The style is not beautiful but is not so bad as some here are saying. Especially because Neymar is not fit yet and its like playing with 10 men.
Switzerland are ok-ish and Costa Rica are naff but they needed injury time to finally win the game. Brazil have been scoring quite a few in their friendlies running up to this tournament so they have been disappointing as well.

Point is, friendlies tell you nothing and just as well Germany might find that click in these one off games and serve up a decent game vs Brazil.
 
It's not really that hard, especially for people from sub continent. I think I know Hasan from Orkut boards and I can attest that he is a dedicated German tem supporter. If I'm right,he also took a youth team from Pakistan to Brazil so he is a great guy as well

Sure, I am not saying he isn't a dedicated supporter. I guess its' because I would feel strange waving the flags of another country with pride, something doesn't seem natural to me there. It isn't a club color. But I respect his dedication, each to his own as I said.

Dude what does Pakistan do in football :lol:

But yea, I've never had the chance to support a national team because of my nationality so yea I choose Germany because the 96' final was the first football match I saw (and started supporting United since then as well).

Cool. From my perspective, I will support India if they ever make it to a WC, or I am just watching the WC as a neutral. There isn't a necessity for me to support any particular team to enjoy the tournament.
 
It's not really that hard, especially for people from sub continent. I think I know Hasan from Orkut boards and I can attest that he is a dedicated German tem supporter. If I'm right,he also took a youth team from Pakistan to Brazil so he is a great guy as well

No way dude! What's your name? I didn't take them but I did coach them for a while when the team just started out, it was Haris Jadoon who took them there.
 
Sure, I am not saying he isn't a dedicated supporter. I guess its' because I would feel strange waving the flags of another country with pride, something doesn't seem natural to me there. It isn't a club color. But I respect his dedication, each to his own as I said.



Cool. From my perspective, I will support India if they ever make it to a WC, or I am just watching the WC as a neutral. There isn't a necessity for me to support any particular team to enjoy the tournament.

I'd definitely support Pakistan if they make it, but that is hardly going to happen in my lifetime :lol:
 
Sweden's bench all aggressive after the final whistle.. should've found their balls while the game was still running and they were up a man, instead of sitting at the back shitting their pants and wasting time for 70 minutes.
 
They were lucky to win as it is, no way would they have won if we were're up by 2.
If there hadn't been a red card you'd say the same about that. It's impossible to know.

Should have been a penalty though, I agree with that.
 
No way they fluke yet another tournament, especially one with one game more.
I dunno. I'm seeing a side with iron clad belief who simply do not lose.
They could / should be facing Uruguay next round and maybe a disjointed France after that?
All of a sudden the semi finals beckon. They have as much chance as anybody IMO.
 
If there hadn't been a red card you'd say the same about that. It's impossible to know.

Should have been a penalty though, I agree with that.
It is impossible to know, I agree. Maybe we would have played differently but it's unlikely we'd concede 3.
 
Really? You think they would have managed to score 3 goals? We gave them the win by making that stupid tackle anyway. They barely won as it is, never mind if they'd been down by 2.
Well Germany were very fortunate to win that game, it wasn’t easy for them. Even before their red card.
 
I dunno. I'm seeing a side with iron clad belief who simply do not lose.
They could / should be facing Uruguay next round and maybe a disjointed France after that?
All of a sudden the semi finals beckon. They have as much chance as anybody IMO.

They had some really good spells of attack in this game. It seems to be slowly clicking into place for them, just need that goal-scoring touch to be better.
 
Sane, who? Brandt is a great impact sub so far. So please finally stop this inSane talk please.

I find that such a weird position to take. Every single attacker bar Brandt has looked supbar so it's entirely conceivable that Sane would be an improvement. He might not be - that's conceivable too. But it's odd that so many German fans have decided to dismiss the possibility that he might actually be useful altogether. Dismissing the idea of him being your savour seems totally reasonable, dismissing the idea he'd be useful is just toeing the line.
 
Germany is the most consistently successful national team in the world result wise from 96 until now.

It's like bragging about being a real madrid supporter since '98 and sticking with them through the "tough" times from 2003-2013 :D

With two group stage exits and one title? Can’t really believe that. 1998-2004 was the worst period of Germany, ever.
 
Switzerland are ok-ish and Costa Rica are naff but they needed injury time to finally win the game. Brazil have been scoring quite a few in their friendlies running up to this tournament so they have been disappointing as well.

Point is, friendlies tell you nothing and just as well Germany might find that click in these one off games and serve up a decent game vs Brazil.
I dont think Iran, Sweden, Australia, etc, are better than Switzerland and those teams created plent of chances against France, Spain and Germany. Costa Rica parked the bus against Brazil and it works sometimes. But they had only one decent chance in the game. Switzerland had one chance too and i believe it was a fault in Miranda.

I dont know why you are talking about friendlies or Germany here. Brazil played against a Germany alternative team with 7 non starters. Nobody in Brazil think that is an indicative of the level of the German nt.
 
Germany had terrible teams at Euro 2000 and 2004, they drew 1-1 with Lativa in 2004.

I know they reached final in 2002 but they had nearly as much luck as South Korea in the knock outs. Against USA Lahm handled the ball on the line at 0-0 but no penalty was given.

Lahm 2002?
 
If that bald prick had given the penalty and sent Boateng off Germany would have been out. It was the most obvious penalty ever. Even without VAR you give it. Besides, wtf was that last tackle that awarded Kroos the winning free kick? Really stupid.

You should look up the rules again probably. That wouldn’t have been a red in any case.
 
Can't believe Sweden didn't see that out for a draw.
Against 10 men, yet playing like they were outnumbered.

Dreadful lunge in by the defender late on, and even the commentator knows where that free kick was going.

They had no strenght left to even try to do anything with more than 15min left. Yes they should have done better but it was clear as day that their legs were completely gone, and we're a pretty shit team going forward no matter the situation or opposition. Sweden with 11 men are much worse at holding then ball than Germany are with 10 men, by quite a distance, add the fact that no one was able to run and then it gets even worse.

What I can't understand is why wait until the 89th minute to make the final sub.. makes no sense at all.
 
Sweden in trouble now. They have to win against Mexico and they're not exactly geared as a team to bring the game to the opponent. If they don't score quickly the pressure is going to pile up and those fast Mexican forwards are going to give them trouble.
 
I dont think Iran, Sweden, Australia, etc, are better than Switzerland and those teams created plent of chances against France, Spain and Germany. Costa Rica parked the bus against Brazil and it works sometimes. But they had only one decent chance in the game. Switzerland had one chance too and i believe it was a fault in Miranda.

I dont know why you are talking about friendlies or Germany here. Brazil played against a Germany alternative team with 7 non starters. Nobody in Brazil think that is an indicative of the level of the German nt.
Because I was quoting someone whose post contained "Brazil haven't been great but they did beat Germany away in a friendly in March. We've seen in this WC friendlies have actually been an indicator of Germany's level" (and which I eplicitly bolded and reacted to)? I disagreed with that part and pointed out the flaw in that logic.

Not sure why you waded into this without knowing why I wrote it and what I was reacting to.
 
No way dude! What's your name? I didn't take them but I did coach them for a while when the team just started out, it was Haris Jadoon who took them there.

Was it OFB? The group name on Orkut? I followed it but wasn't active. That Haris guy was a pleasure to talk to thoguh. Huge United Fan.