Tom
Member
*Of Royal Blood*
Posts: 15,419
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Post by Tom on Jun 15, 2014 13:14:16 GMT 1
To be fair it was a foul on Casillas for the 3rd goal, from the corner, Van Persie did nothing but foul him, no attempt to head the ball. Always nice to see the Spanish thrashed though, could have been more as well. Should make Spain v Chile interesting! If this World Cup has a handful of matches as good or better than that, then it is going to be easily the best one of the 21st Century so far. Interesting point. I said elsewhere yesterday that this is the first WC since France 98 that I've properly looked forward to, probably helped by the fact that this is the first time since 1998 that Reading haven't had a successful season. The England result yesterday has put a bit of a dampener on it but the early signs are still very good. Definitely got the potential to outshine Wimbledon this year for me. #poorwimbledon May be displaced as my #2 major sporting event (Olympics is #1).
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Post by Panda on Jun 15, 2014 13:26:18 GMT 1
From Opta Stats: Of the 16 teams we have seen so far, England had more shots on goal than any other team. England's passing accuracy ranks 2nd, just behind Italy, but ahead of Spain, Holland and Brazil. For passing accuracy in the opposition's half, England rank first. Yet for crosses in the opposition's half, England rank 16th & last. Conclusion: the crossing ability of David Beckham is much under appreciated. I saw Gary Lineker tweeting these stats earlier. Much to ponder and progress is clearly being made in most areas. The crossing stat is worrying. Even more worrying is the best crosser in the squad is arguably Milner. But if you stick him in, every other aspect suffers...
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Post by Panda on Jun 15, 2014 16:41:08 GMT 1
Generally not a fan of ITV's coverage but it's so much better when they venture outside the studio and take a more relaxed approach like they are today.
Ian Wright jumping around in the middle of a bunch of singing Argentinians is the non-footballing highlight of the World Cup so far.
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Post by Panda on Jun 15, 2014 18:50:47 GMT 1
1st round, Group E: | 2-1 | |
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Post by Panda on Jun 15, 2014 18:52:36 GMT 1
Great finish to that game. Goal saving tackle for Switzerland, they break down field, referee plays a great advantage after a foul and the Swiss snatch it in the 93rd minute. Still don't think they're even remotely close to being one of the top 8 teams in the world, though.
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rewardman
Member
*rock n roll juvenile*
Posts: 33,504
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Post by rewardman on Jun 15, 2014 19:08:56 GMT 1
Pleased with that result.
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Post by suedehead on Jun 15, 2014 19:15:50 GMT 1
Great finish to that game. Goal saving tackle for Switzerland, they break down field, referee plays a great advantage after a foul and the Swiss snatch it in the 93rd minute. Still don't think they're even remotely close to being one of the top 8 teams in the world, though. It's good to be talking about a very good refereeing decision rather than a dodgy one, particularly one as crucial as this one.
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Post by raliverpool on Jun 15, 2014 19:31:14 GMT 1
Great finish to that game. Goal saving tackle for Switzerland, they break down field, referee plays a great advantage after a foul and the Swiss snatch it in the 93rd minute. Still don't think they're even remotely close to being one of the top 8 teams in the world, though.Then it comes down to the old statistical chestnut ELO Ranking versus FIFA Ranking: Prior to the World Cup WC Final Nation ELO FIFA Brazil 1 3 Germany 2 2 Netherlands 3 15 Spain 4 1 Argentina 5 5 Portugal 6 4 England 7 10 Colombia 8 8 Uruguay 9 7 Chile 10 14 France 11 17 Italy 12 9 USA 13 13 Belgium 14 11 Switzerland 15 6 Russia 16 19 Ecuador 17 26 Mexico 18 20 Greece 20 12 Croatia 21 18 Ivory Coast 22 23 Japan 23 46 Bosnia 25 21 Nigeria 29 44 Ghana 32 37 Iran 33 43 Costa Rica 34 28 Australia 35 62 South Korea 43 57 Honduras 45 33 Algeria 50 22 Cameroon 58 56
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Post by o on Jun 15, 2014 19:47:17 GMT 1
Can I just say how refreshing it is NOT to have the physio on the pitch every 5 minutes, lots of people going down under "challenges", ref ignores and they spring back up. Even where the ref has given a foul, the player has got up without the need for the physio, first time I saw the physio come on was in the England v Italy game. Generally I think the refs have been okay, games have been fairly flowing rather than the stop/start I feared and the amount of diving has been less as well. Still no 0-0 games as well, although I may now have jinxed that
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Post by suedehead on Jun 15, 2014 20:29:42 GMT 1
There was a lot of criticism of Phil Neville's performance in the commentary box last night. I thought he was OK. His delivery was a bit monotonous but the content was generally far better than from the likes of Andy Townsend.
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Post by Panda on Jun 15, 2014 20:57:01 GMT 1
Yeah, I thought Neville was OK.
I don't quite understand what Clarke "Zero International Caps" Carlisle is doing at the World Cup as a pundit. I'm sure he's a nice bloke but his continued presence on TV seems to be solely down to him being a rare example of a footballer with a triple-digit IQ, rather than anything he achieved during his career. Having Neil Lennon and Robbie Savage there is stretching it but at least those guys went through the process of failing to qualify for a World Cup, compared to someone whose career highlight was winning Countdown.
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Post by suedehead on Jun 15, 2014 20:59:44 GMT 1
I've been disappointed with Clarke Carlisle as I thought he would do a decent job. So far he's proving me wrong.
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Post by Panda on Jun 15, 2014 21:06:50 GMT 1
Goal-line technology scores!!
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Post by Panda on Jun 15, 2014 21:11:55 GMT 1
Jonathan Pearce seems to be under the impression we've all tuned in just to listen to him.
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Post by suedehead on Jun 15, 2014 21:13:09 GMT 1
Goal-line technology scores!! And Jonathan Pearce wins the award for most confused commentator at the World Cup.
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Post by Panda on Jun 15, 2014 21:20:23 GMT 1
Goal-line technology scores!! And Jonathan Pearce wins the award for most confused commentator at the World Cup. And showing just why he was overlooked for the top BBC commentary job when Motty retired from internationals.
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Post by Panda on Jun 15, 2014 21:41:55 GMT 1
Going back to the football, what a disgrace Honduras are...
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Post by Panda on Jun 15, 2014 21:56:15 GMT 1
1st round, Group E: | 3-0 | |
Pos | Team | Pld | GD | Pts | 1 | | 1 | +3 | 3 | 2 | | 1 | +1 | 3 | 3 | | 1 | -1 | 0 | 4 | | 1 | -3 | 0 |
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Post by suedehead on Jun 15, 2014 21:57:27 GMT 1
Going back to the football, what a disgrace Honduras are... If that's the way they played against England then I can see why Gerrard etc. were complaining. The sooner they are on their way home, the better for the tournament.
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Post by Panda on Jun 15, 2014 22:00:23 GMT 1
Going back to the football, what a disgrace Honduras are... If that's the way they played against England then I can see why Gerrard etc. were complaining. The sooner they are on their way home, the better for the tournament. I'm assuming from that you didn't see the England game against them. That's exactly how they played.
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