Posted on 06/29/2014 4:37:45 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
Nice to hear the Greek anthem for once, outside of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies.
CONCACAF got three teams into the last 16, England, Italy and Spain went home early. UEFA has taken it right on the chin so far.
Absolutely right. I can almost literally hear the TV networks' little brains spinning ("increased ratings and a chance to add a commercial break, or two....GOALLLLLLLLLL!).
"Waving flags, honking horns and chanting for their team, hundreds of soccer fans gathered Sunday afternoon in Huntington Park after Mexico’s loss to the Netherlands in its World Cup match.
Police in riot gear stood down one boisterous group gathered at the corner of Florence Avenue and Pacific Boulevard, a three-block section of which was closed earlier to traffic. Police had increased their patrols in the area on Sunday after fans turned rowdy following Mexico’s victory over Croatia last Monday."...
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-huntington-park-crowd-mexico-world-cup-loss-20140629-story.html
Sloppy Costa Rica/Greece game. CR’s defense looks weak. They’ll have a hard time stopping Robben. But their offense looks good. Pretty cool that they may make the final 8.
Gooooooooooooaaaaaaaal Greece!
Never seen so many last-minute goals in a world cup. CR’s in trouble now. Tough to survive OT down a man.
Surviving to the shootout likely looks good for Costa Rica now.
They’re down a man, though.
Costa Rica wins in the shootout.
Robben: “I must apologise,” he told NOS.
“The one (at the end) was a penalty, but the other one was a dive in the first half. I shouldn’t be doing that.”
http://us.soccerway.com/news/2014/June/29/robben-apologises-for-diving-in-mexico-clash/n342903/
A bit confusing, many of us were told the one in the first half was a penalty.
Same as last time so far.
2010 and 2014, UEFA sent 13 teams. Both tournaments, 6 advanced.
2010 World Cup , advanced out of group stage: Spain, Netherlands and Germany, the top 3. And then, England, Slovakia and Portugal
2014 World Cup, advanced out of group stage: Netherlands, Greece, France, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland
2010 World Cup, France finishes 4th in group A, Serbia finishes 4th in group D, Italy finishes 4th in group F
2014, UEFA has one 4th place finisher, England in group D.
It's interesting that in 2010, UEFA had 2 more last place finishers.
A few factors to consider.
What we can say is this time, 3 of 4 CONCACAF teams advanced. Mexico has advanced every time since 1994. USA advances for the first time, 2 times in a row. Costa Rica actually qualified for the final 16 before in 1990 under the famous Bora Milutinovic (also our coach in 1994).
BIG CONGRATS TO COSTA RICA, GREECE TOO for playing a sporting game.
One in the first half was a dive. The second one in the first half should have been a penalty.
There have always been water breaks. They were just thinly disguised “injuries”.
What flavor is that clear “Powerade”. Haven’t seen even one player consume a sport drink.
I think Colombia has two players disqualified for the Brazil match due to have two yellow cards. That’s going to hurt them.
It will, but Brazil will miss Luis Gustavo, who has played well and distributed the ball well for them.
Chile also missed two players against Brazil due to yellow card suspension and still nearly won. I think it will be a good match.
Looks like soccer is about to join all the other sports and have “TV Timeouts.”
At the bottom of the page is a column, topscorers, one can click it and get disciplinary. It appears Colombia has received only 3 cards this world cup, to Armero, Guarin and Sanchez.
http://us.soccerway.com/international/world/world-cup/2014-brazil/group-stage/r16351/
Van Persie, 2 yellow cards, he will miss a game.
Germany may not have any yellow cards yet. I’ve heard that.
Looks like the USA has 3 players with a yellow, Beckerman, Jones and Gonzales.
The database is not perfect.
One can go through a count by going through boxscores for the games as well.
I think one would be thinking of the Chilean players, Mena and Silva, not apparently, any Colombian players.
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