Muller should’ve received yellow card for (over)acting, but Pepe got what he deserved (for his actions AFTER the foul).
Today we have yet to see how Belgium is feeling against Algeria, a team that could probably be more solid than people think, and Russia - Korea match that is hard to predict although many will pick Russia as favorites.
But the most interesting match today is first 2nd round match, Brazil against Mexico. That could be very interesting match if Brazil doesn’t again receive friendly wind in their backs. For Croatia it would be best if Brazil wins, but I think that Mexico can easily upstage them.
Quite an interesting game, Ghana - USA, with Ghana dominating most of the game, but in typical African fashion: great individual skills, it all looked impressive, but it remained almost completely ineffective. They created hardly any opportunity. USA had more chances and in that aspect they even deserved to win, but they clearly are a modest team without any great personalities (apart from their coach). Two key players also left the pitch with what looked like serious hamstring injuries, so we probably won’t see them again.
Seems good news for Portugal. I still think Ghana is the stronger of the two next opponents, and they have zero points. Portugal should be able to beat USA.
Not good news I’m afraid Sherp.
In case of a points tie the first factor for qualification is goal difference, and the second more goals scored, the result between the teams camesilast. So even if we win both games we can still go out. US last game will be aainst Germany, that by then must have the qualification assured, so they will logically play with a B team, to rest players. Spain has the same problem.
Now everybody is critic to the national side from best to beast as we say here. To be honest there aren’t a lot of players to choose for. The team that played yesterday was the same that started the fist game of the last Euro (with only Almeida for Postiga), no renovation. The coach choices where for the ones who made the qualification campaign which is the most logical thing to do, but when you see the clinical report of most players I’m starting to have my doubts.
Postiga almost didn’t play for the last 6 months, he’s still injuried, Meireles was also out for a long time, Coentrão was a clinical case in RM for most of the season, Pepe also was in doubt (he didn’t play the CL final), combine that with the lack of shape from Moutinho, Veloso (who IMO doesn’t have the quality for a call in the first team), and Ronaldo (we can’t ask for more, he has a lot of games in his legs), even Eder the unknown striker, and still a project of a player comes from a long 6 months injury, combine that with a very nervous goalkeeper due to a new contract abroad and you got the recepy for disaster, but no one saw it coming. So in the end maybe we should had started with some new blood.
I confess I have some envy of the Dutch team (and also England), I didn’t know half of the Dutch team, had the check the internet where most of them played, for a moment thought Danny Blind was back again, but there you go, you choose the best players of the national leagues for a premium for their good seasons, and not experienced but injuried and tired players, with little to give
Daley Blind is of course Danny Blind’s son. He was one of this season’s breakthrough talents. He had been playing for Ajax for some time, but many thought he wasn’t making any real progress (he was described as “a good player for an average Dutch team of the premier league”), and then, all of a sudden, he picked things up and now people are discussing what his best position in Oranje would be: left back, where he can give the long ball, or in defensive midfield, alongside De Jong (instead of DeGuzman or Feyenoord’s Clasie). He’ll probably remain on the left, because we don’t have too many options in that position.
Actually Van Gaal did what Bento probably should have done: replace a few older players by younger ones. He qualified easily with those youngsters, but to be honest, the opposition (Rumania, Turkey, Hungary) was far from impressive, and with the World Cup approaching, many people thought Van Gaal should bring back players like Heitinga or Matthyssen, but he didn’t, he only selected Vlaar, who had a fairly good season in England and who had already played with those youngsters (at Feyenoord). So far it seems to go well, but what are people going to say when these young players make stupid mistakes that cost Holland a place in one of the next rounds?
Bento is a very conservative coach, and wanted to preserve the group for the world cup I can understand that, and any changes should really had been made during qualification (we had some bad results ties with Israel and Northern Ireland), he did not. Even so there are at least two or three players he should had brought.
I 'll say that is better for the kids to fail, that’s how they growth,
Curious to see the Red devils today, in paper they have a great team, but Algeria is normally a very combative side. So far the most positive surprises to me were Italy (not for the status but for thier cnfirmation, and what they played), and Holland of course
[quote=“El Topo, post:183, topic:3252”]Not good news I’m afraid Sherp.
In case of a points tie the first factor for qualification is goal difference, and the second more goals scored, the result between the teams camesilast. So even if we win both games we can still go out. US last game will be aainst Germany, that by then must have the qualification assured, so they will logically play with a B team, to rest players. Spain has the same problem.[/quote]
Not necessarily. For the Netherlands it is very important now to win the group, to avoid Brazil. So it would be stupid not to try to win the last game. And Germany has a pretty equable team, apart from the defense. Lots of similar good midfield players. They will make some changes anyway. I’m sure Schweinsteiger will get his chance in the next game, and Klose also.
And it is probably not too good to get out of the rhythm by changing too much key players…
Btw, Portugal is always a good opponent for Germany. They played against them in any tournament since 2006. And won every time.
While Italy is poison for Germany. They never won against them in any tournament since Jesus’ birth
Some words on the [size=12pt]Belgian Disease[/size]
The Red Devils have become a bone of contention over the past few months, in a rather peculiar way. There’s a psychological war going on in this country between two groups of nationalists, a) the Belgicists, who want the country to remain as it is, and b) the Flamingants, who want Flanders to become an independant nation, or (if this is not possible) want to turn Belgium into a confederation of independant regions.
Similar things are going on elsewhere, but the situation is complicated by the fact that both regions, Flanders and Wallony, have a completely different cultural background and don’t even have a language in common (the prime minister, Di Rupo, only started to study Flemish/Dutch recently and his atrocious accent and stupid mistakes have caused a lot of offence). Anyway, the Belgicists have used the Red Devils to promote their cause and the captain of the team, Vincent Kompany, is a well-known Belgicist. For this reason, many people in Flanders have turned their backs on the team and decided to support Oranje (“We support only two teams: Holland and any team playing against Belgium”)
As a Dutchman I’m happy with all support, but as a football fan I regret this whole situation. Using football, or sports in general, for political purposes is disgusting. It has been done before and will be done again in the future, but I don’t like it. I hate this ‘Belgium promotion’ by the Belgicists, but don’t agree with the reaction of the Flamingants either.
Personally I support the Flemish cause, not because I’m a nationalist of any kind, but because I think this country is a ‘historic error’, as it has been called on various occasions (it never worked and never will) and I support the Red Devils, but not for political reasons, but because they have a young, attractive team.
That’s a possibility, it’s called the ‘Groot-Nederlandse-gedachte’, something like ‘The idea of a Great Netherlands’
They were one nation before 1830, but then there was an uprising (complicated historic situation) and the country of Belgium was created by the European superpowers; they also installed the King (the family had never been in the region before). Ever since then there have ben only but troubles, with the royal family (members often refused to study or speak Dutch), with the two communities, with Brussels - originally a Dutch-speaking city, later officially bilingual, now largely French speaking, etc.
Things got even worse in the past decades, when the Flanders became a rich, prosperous region and Wallony became poverty-stricken. The magic word in Belgian politics today is ‘transfers’, and it doesn’t refer to football in general or the stars of the Red Devils in particular (some of them are worth a penny) but the money that is transferred from Flanders to Wallony, to save the economy and the social security of the Southern parts of the country.
I only check the geographical stituation after a relatively new country has qualified for the World Cup.
Can’t keep up with the political chances, it’s all going too fast. But I’ll have to keep up certain standards.
Yes it’s a good method for both political and geographical changes. As I remember most of members from the Belgium parachute regiment I met did had French names.
That’s better. 2-1 now, and more forward momentum, less fannying about. Still not exactly breathtaking stuff but both Belgian goals (so far) were very impressive. The introduction of Fellaini has brought another dimension to the Belgians.