2014 FIFA World Cup

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Bit sad to see Casillas so desperately scrabbling all over the ground for that goal.
 
I would imagine so. Casillas hasn't played lots the past two years. Pique doesn't look fit, Albiol instead I guess, but he is the only other central defender they took with them, though Javi Martinez can play CB. Fabregas for Xavi. I would scrap Costa as the team clearly have no idea how to use him best and just have Mata or Pedro start instead.
 
Chile look pretty smooth so far.

Wikipedia claims Tim Cahill is 5 foot 10. I don't believe that for a second.
 
LJT said:
I would imagine so. Casillas hasn't played lots the past two years. Pique doesn't look fit, Albiol instead I guess, but he is the only other central defender they took with them, though Javi Martinez can play CB. Fabregas for Xavi. I would scrap Costa as the team clearly have no idea how to use him best and just have Mata or Pedro start instead.
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Albiol would be pretty bad I think, Martinez (or Busquets at CB and Martinez filling in at DM) is probably the way to go.

Pedro should be starting, he gives the team the better vertical attacking option and works harder defensively than Mata.
 
Australia push and push and push for an equaliser, goes down the other end for a goal outside the box. Tough.

prbiker15 said:
"Worst loss by a defending champion in World Cup history", per ESPN. Ouch. Let the memes begin.
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Surely France 2002 was worse?
 
Vlad n U 2 said:
Australia push and push and push for an equaliser, goes down the other end for a goal outside the box. Tough.

Surely France 2002 was worse?
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1-0 to Senegal is hardly a disaster, especially considering Senegal ended up making a final 8 run.

Also, with the disastrous goalkeeping so far, it was nice to see a couple of decent keepers for once in the Chile-Australia match.
 
Spain had over 60% of the possession and only scored one goal. That's typical of tiki-taka, last WC they only averaged one goal per game. It's every bit as defensive a strategy as Catenaccio.

Hopefully it will join Catenaccio and we can see some real football again.

Watching a team playing keep away is not what the game is about.
 
JTbaby said:
Spain had over 60% of the possession and only scored one goal. That's typical of tiki-taka, last WC they only averaged one goal per game. It's every bit as defensive a strategy as Catenaccio.

Hopefully it will join Catenaccio and we can see some real football again.

Watching a team playing keep away is not what the game is about.
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That's because the other team's response to tiki taka was to park the bus. Honestly there is no such thing as 'real football'. The problem with Spain's tiki taka compared to say Guardiola's Barca is a lack of variation in pace ie. no Messi. They currently are not doing tiki taka well enough. Euro 08 they had the good Torres and a fit Villa that provided more pace and penetration.
 
England vs Italy
should get a few people tuning in

who is going to win this one?

we could do a survey of their female fan pictures to come up with a favorite? :shrug:
 
LJT said:
That's because the other team's response to tiki taka was to park the bus. Honestly there is no such thing as 'real football'. The problem with Spain's tiki taka compared to say Guardiola's Barca is a lack of variation in pace ie. no Messi. They currently are not doing tiki taka well enough. Euro 08 they had the good Torres and a fit Villa that provided more pace and penetration.
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The other thing that casual fans completely don't get is that short passing is only 50% of the Guardiola philosophy. The other 50% of it is relentless defensive pressure when you lose the ball so that the other team can't counterattack easily and so you can keep the other team pinned in their end. Spain/Barca did this masterfully from 2009-2012 but have fallen off as key players have gotten older/worse and less able to put on this kind of two-way pressure.
 
I've always been a big fan of Italy, though the match is at midnight here, so I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to stay awake to watch.

:sad: Buffon is injured, damnit. Hie sprained his ankle at the training last night.
 
speedracer said:
The other thing that casual fans completely don't get is that short passing is only 50% of the Guardiola philosophy. The other 50% of it is relentless defensive pressure when you lose the ball so that the other team can't counterattack easily and so you can keep the other team pinned in their end. Spain/Barca did this masterfully from 2009-2012 but have fallen off as key players have gotten older/worse and less able to put on this kind of two-way pressure.
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It's not about not getting it. It's about it just being painfully boring to watch. I know it's technically brilliant and you need a set of brilliant players and tactics to execute it but that doesn't make it exciting. Football is fun when teams take risks. And tiki-taka is the most risk averse tactic there is. When they go one goal up, the game is basically dead.

The pressing is great. I love teams that press permanently. But I really love teams that actually try to score a goal immediately after they win the ball by taking some risks. Dortmund is of course the best recent example of this.
 
nielsgov said:
It's not about not getting it. It's about it just being painfully boring to watch. I know it's technically brilliant and you need a set of brilliant players and tactics to execute it but that doesn't make it exciting. Football is fun when teams take risks. And tiki-taka is the most risk averse tactic there is. When they go one goal up, the game is basically dead.

The pressing is great. I love teams that press permanently. But I really love teams that actually try to score a goal immediately after they win the ball by taking some risks. Dortmund is of course the best recent example of this.
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I'm pretty sure Spain doesn't go into games thinking "let's get a goal in the first 15 minutes and then sit on the ball for the remaining 75". They'd like to score more goals and put the game away, but if the other team just stays in their bunker when they're down 1-0, Spain isn't going to commit more numbers forward to score extra goals when doing so would expose them to unnecessary danger at the back.
 
I don't recall Barcelona being painfully boring to watch defeating United in the Champion's league final. I still think people are mainly complaining about how the other teams reacted to tiki taka, rather than tiki taka itself. Bayern discovered a way to update tiki taka when they won the champions league. Even Dortmund's style is not that far away from the way Barca played when under Guardiola.

They are all fairly similar variations on a theme. It just depends how well it's carried out. Think it was Maldini who said of Arrigo Sacchi high pressing game when at Milan, that they could only do it for a max of 3 seasons due to the physical fitness required. Can't help but see that in Barca's current play, Dortmund's lacklustre year as well. Spain have done quite well to keep it going this long really.
 
campbells.jpg
 
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