World Cup Finals 2014-Brazil

[Lamb of BOD]

Is anyone watching the panel on RTE? What is up with Kenny Cunningham (sly bacon), why is he soooo angry?

He really does get het up very easily. I wonder if there's some bad blood between himself and Richie Sadlier? Have to say that I;ve enjoyed the punditry from Sadlier and Hamann as well as Giles. The rest I could take or leave

[Lamb of BOD]

[cormac]

Is anyone watching the panel on RTE? What is up with Kenny Cunningham (sly bacon), why is he soooo angry?

He really does get het up very easily. I wonder if there's some bad blood between himself and Richie Sadlier? Have to say that I;ve enjoyed the punditry from Sadlier and Hamann as well as Giles. The rest I could take or leave

The senior panellists (Giles, Dunphy, Brady) have zero time or respect for Cunningham because he's been so bland in the past, so it appears he's decided to become Mr. Angry instead.

[jezzer]

Is it just me or is Sadlier becoming an incredible Dunphy impersonator? The facial expressions (hair excepted clearly!), the tilted head, the furrowed eyebrows, the pursed lip, the measured delivery, the deadpanned dismissal of entire football cultures, the 1000% confidence with which the opinion is delivered.... I feel like I'm looking at Dunphy the Prequel.

Anyone else spotted the resemblance? It's uncanny...

[Lar]

Ghana Betting Scandals?

Ronaldo goal in a game that was probably meaningless.

Ghana Keeper looking to earn a few bob before knowing his tournament fee was on a private plane from home?

2+2 = 4 (ish)

[cormac]

Cracking match last night between Germany and Algeria. I'd say the only people more relieved than the German team are the French police.

[Avenger]

Cracking match last night between Germany and Algeria. I'd say the only people more relieved than the German team are the French police.

Brilliant game. Not often you see such entertaining nil nil draws.

[nelly the elephant]

Cracking match last night between Germany and Algeria. I'd say the only people more relieved than the German team are the French police.

Brilliant game. Not often you see such entertaining nil nil draws.

+1 to both of you......it was one of those games that will live long in the memory bank of World Cup Classics.

[Dave Cahill]

This is a f%~king brilliant World Cup

[nelly the elephant]

This is a f%~king brilliant World Cup

The most even spread of potential winners ever, I would think.....no out-and-out clear front runner....but loads of endeavour, skill, guts and excitement in most of the games.....


Still hate the thought of that w*nker Blatter getting undoubted credit though.

[Dave Cahill]

Brazil attempt to win by roughing up opposition.


Lose best player and icon in rough tackle.



Alanis Morrissette pens new verse to biggest hit.

[Hippo]

Brazil attempt to win by roughing up opposition.


Lose best player and icon in rough tackle.



Alanis Morrissette pens new verse to biggest hit.

Hilarious alright

[Donny B.]

Brazil attempt to win by roughing up opposition.

Lose best player and icon in rough tackle.

Alanis Morrissette pens new verse to biggest hit.

Yeah Brazil were filthy. Feel sorry for Neymar but if you live by the sword...

Hope the Germans stuff them, but can't see it happening.

Refs seem under orders to let them hack their way to the trophy. Most unlikable Brazilian team ever and the thought of Scolari being a two time winning manager is a depressing one indeed.

[AwayTheWell]

Refs seem under orders to let them hack their way to the trophy. Most unlikable Brazilian team ever and the thought of Scolari being a two time winning manager is a depressing one indeed.

A bit before my time but the '74 Brazil team was quite thuggish as well. A huge comedown from their sublime outfit of the previous World Cup.
Eamon Sweeney seems to be absolutely distraught about the loss of Neymar, comparing the foul to the German Goalkeeper's Schumacher in the 82 World cup against France. I certainly am much more in the camp that it was a bit of schadenfraude. If you are happy to target star players, commit constant fouls without punishment, don't get upset if the opposition can do so too. Feel sorry for Neymar who has been delivering under huge pressure, but not one bit for Scolari or the Brazilian team.

[Donny B.]

Refs seem under orders to let them hack their way to the trophy. Most unlikable Brazilian team ever and the thought of Scolari being a two time winning manager is a depressing one indeed.

A bit before my time but the '74 Brazil team was quite thuggish as well. A huge comedown from their sublime outfit of the previous World Cup.
Eamon Sweeney seems to be absolutely distraught about the loss of Neymar, comparing the foul to the German Goalkeeper's Schumacher in the 82 World cup against France. I certainly am much more in the camp that it was a bit of schadenfraude. If you are happy to target star players, commit constant fouls without punishment, don't get upset if the opposition can do so too. Feel sorry for Neymar who has been delivering under huge pressure, but not one bit for Scolari or the Brazilian team.

I actually remember Mick Channon being asked who the dirtiest defenders were and he said Brazil.

[Lamb of BOD]

Putting my cards on the table, I like Neymar, and I think he'll develop into a super player. I also like Brazil - well, I like the idea of Brazil, perhaps not this incarnation, That being said, the challenge on Neymar - a player jumping with his knee up - was something you see in every soccer match regardless of the standard. It was extremely unfortunate for the player to have suffered the injury he did. It was hardly a challenge in the same bracket as Neymar's own attempt to elbow an opponent in the nose in their first game. The refs have been soft on Brazil, that much is for sure, but that's FIFA for you. Whether that's home crowd bias or instruction remains to be seen, but I suspect the semis and final will be reffed 'properly'. FIFA have an interest in keeping the host nation involved deep into the tournament (I'm thinking more South Korea here than South Africa - who never had a chance anyway), but that sort of messing wouldn't stand up to scrutiny after a semi final. Surely.

[Hippo]

Excellent KE piece on the topic today:

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/ ... -1.1857489

[paddyor]

Putting my cards on the table, I like Neymar, and I think he'll develop into a super player. I also like Brazil - well, I like the idea of Brazil, perhaps not this incarnation, That being said, the challenge on Neymar - a player jumping with his knee up - was something you see in every soccer match regardless of the standard. It was extremely unfortunate for the player to have suffered the injury he did. It was hardly a challenge in the same bracket as Neymar's own attempt to elbow an opponent in the nose in their first game. The refs have been soft on Brazil, that much is for sure, but that's FIFA for you. Whether that's home crowd bias or instruction remains to be seen, but I suspect the semis and final will be reffed 'properly'. FIFA have an interest in keeping the host nation involved deep into the tournament (I'm thinking more South Korea here than South Africa - who never had a chance anyway), but that sort of messing wouldn't stand up to scrutiny after a semi final. Surely.

German paper(tabloid) reporting that FIFA instructed the refs to hold out on giving out yellow cards for as long as possible. Which I think is disgraceful. If you're giving the refs that kind of instruction then the info should be public knowledge. If a team knows that they're liable to take advantage of it by playing rough and it puts them at risk.

FIFA did the opposite a couple of years ago in a European championship(IIRC) where the refs where told to be eager to show cards for any sort of rough play. Lead to a bit of a farce where 3 players got sent off and several more where on yellows. Think it was Portugal playing Netherlands.

[Avenger]

German paper(tabloid) reporting that FIFA instructed the refs to hold out on giving out yellow cards for as long as possible. Which I think is disgraceful. If you're giving the refs that kind of instruction then the info should be public knowledge. If a team knows that they're liable to take advantage of it by playing rough and it puts them at risk.

This is the type of refereeing that Howard Webb is famous for. He refers to it as game management and I have to admit that it drives me insane because cynical teams take advantage of it.
I saw a stat last season that he had never given a yellow/red card of a penalty in the first or last 15 minutes a match. As teams know he won't caution them they go out and stick the book in early knowing they have free reign to pretty much get away with it.

The referees need to realise that they are not part of the entertainment and are there to enforce the rules of the game and nothing more.

[Lamb of BOD]

Not to mention the number of times a fellow will get booked for kicking a ball away or berating a linesman (which are petulant and do deserve some degree of admonishment) and not sanctioned at all for trying to break an opponent's nose etc.

There really needs to be some mechanism to help refs and FIFA could do worse than borrowing from rugby and from hockey. After a spate of niggles, a ref should be able to talk to the captains and tell them to get a grip on their team or there will be cards shown. I've also long felt that a second referee - one in either half (of the pitch) perhaps, as in hockey - would make the game flow more freely and reduce the number of errors made by refs who are too far from the play to have a clear view of fouls, dives etc. A by-product of this would be that refs wouldn't need to be quite as fit as they are currently required to be, and so we wouldn't have the likes of Collina having to retire long before their time is up. As an aside, I'd love to see a second referee introduced into rugby - they have it in (Australian) rugby league and it works a treat.

The reason FIFA would have told refs to relax on handing out cards is that they don't want to have games potentially upset by player suspensions. Instead, why not just cancel all outstanding yellows for the knockout stages and again for the final? I'm almost certain there is some precedence for this. They could even differentiate between sendings off for two yellows or a straight red. I don't think that sort of system would be any more open to abuse than the current 'soft' refereeing. Also, the rugby league play of 'putting incidents on report' to be looked at after the game might well cop some fellows on. That and a citing commissioner - especially one that looked at 'simulation' - might alleviate the strain on refs by taking some of the 'cheating' out of the game.

On another note, there was a group of Germans in the pub the other night watching Netherlands v Costa Rica. When asked why they were cheering on the Dutch they said it was because they wanted the Netherlands to win, so the Germans could beat them in the final! The ultimate twist of the knife