World Cup Final Thread

[BrahimHemdani 1]

A very well deserved victory for the Germans and their goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was probably my player of the tournament.

 

The Germans rely on him so much when they press high up the pitch but he'll get caught out one of these days.

 

How about Schweinsteiger, what a kicking he took last night, punched in the face as well and still keeps getting up. Mascherano as well, I've always just seen him as a bit of a clogger but he is so much more, some great tackles and fine play out of midfield.

 

But Muller for me, the complete centre forward and Robben THE most dangerous attacker.

[Zappa 0]

The Germans rely on him so much when they press high up the pitch but he'll get caught out one of these days.

 

How about Schweinsteiger, what a kicking he took last night, punched in the face as well and still keeps getting up. Mascherano as well, I've always just seen him as a bit of a clogger but he is so much more, some great tackles and fine play out of midfield.

 

But Muller for me, the complete centre forward and Robben THE most dangerous attacker.

 

Neuer is probably the best keeper in the world at the moment and I think he showed it at this World Cup. The amount of variation and level of quality to his game is second to none.

 

Schweinsteiger was good last night, but wasn't good in every game he played in this World Cup.

 

Mascherano is total and utter quality, a really top class player and I've never seen him as a clogger at all.

 

Muller is a superb striker who can also do a great job of mixing it up and coming from wider areas like we saw when they started both him and Klose in the last couple of games. A definite candidate for player of the tournament.

 

Robben is a fantastic player, but the guy is a diver who constantly tries to con free kicks/fouls and even penalties out of the ref. The annoying thing for me is that he has an amazing center of balance and is capable of staying on his feet any time that it suits him, but what he does is that if he takes a good touch he more often than not stays on his feet or if it's a heavy touch he goes down looking for something. Personally, I regard that as cheating.

[Zappa 0]

Forgot to mention that from the Brazil squad, I thought Marcelo was probably their best player over the whole tournament.

[Zappa 0]

Special mention for - I didn't bite him, but I hurt my teeth in the process - Suarez!

[BrahimHemdani 1]

Special mention for - I didn't bite him, but I hurt my teeth in the process - Suarez!

 

What an idiot and getting sympathy from it wasnae us it was the independent commitee Blatter; you know I don't like to use foul language on here but a right couple of pr*cks

[Zappa 0]

What an idiot and getting sympathy from it wasnae us it was the independent commitee Blatter; you know I don't like to use foul language on here but a right couple of pr*cks

 

FIFA and UEFA have both become a joke. The way FIFA have set up the World Cup qualification and the way UEFA have set up the Champions League qualification simply isn't fair at all.

[der Berliner 3,813]

Neuer is probably the best keeper in the world at the moment and I think he showed it at this World Cup. The amount of variation and level of quality to his game is second to none.

 

Schweinsteiger was good last night, but wasn't good in every game he played in this World Cup.

 

Mascherano is total and utter quality, a really top class player and I've never seen him as a clogger at all.

 

Muller is a superb striker who can also do a great job of mixing it up and coming from wider areas like we saw when they started both him and Klose in the last couple of games. A definite candidate for player of the tournament.

 

Robben is a fantastic player, but the guy is a diver who constantly tries to con free kicks/fouls and even penalties out of the ref. The annoying thing for me is that he has an amazing center of balance and is capable of staying on his feet any time that it suits him, but what he does is that if he takes a good touch he more often than not stays on his feet or if it's a heavy touch he goes down looking for something. Personally, I regard that as cheating.

 

Good summary indeed. While he rarely starts, IMHO Schürrle brings a different dimension to the German team when he plays. If the current German front line and midfield "clicks", they are really formidable.

[BrahimHemdani 1]

FIFA and UEFA have both become a joke. The way FIFA have set up the World Cup qualification and the way UEFA have set up the Champions League qualification simply isn't fair at all.

 

You don't need to look far for evidence of that in the WC. The South Americans get 4 of 10 qualifiers plus Brazil as host plus one play off place in which Uruguay got a mismatch vs Jordan, so end up with 6 of 9. Mexico failed to qualify in the 35 member CONCAF GROUP but also got a mismatch play off against New Zealand. Meanwhile Europe gets 13 of 53.

 

This is a great page if you want to know how many countries from each continent get places but it would be interesting to know how FIFA decide on the numbers and how they decide on who gets play-off places although it's literally a lottery who plays who in the play-offs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup_qualification

 

Currently:

Africa 5 of 51 countries (9.8%); being 15.5% of the finalists.

Asia 4 (+ play off place) out of 43 countries (9.3% - 11.6%); being 12.5% - 15.5% of the finalists.

Oceania 1 play off place only for 11 countries (0% - 9%); nominally giving them the possibility of 3% but effectively zero% of the finalists.

Europe 13 for 53 countries (24.5%); being 40% of the finalists.

North and Central America and Caribbean 3 (+ play off place) of 35 (8.5% - 11.5%); being 9.5% - 12.5% of the finalists.

South America 4 (+ play off place) out of 10 (40% - 50%); being being 12.5% - 15.5% of the finalists (excluding hosts).

 

(all rounded to nearest 0.5%)

 

And if you think the European qualification is complicated take a look at the convoluted route to the finals for the Asia countries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_%28AFC%29#cite_note-1

 

So very broadly speaking all continents except the weak Oceania group (but try playing them at rugby!) get about 10% of their countries to qualify and around 11% - 15% of the finalists; but Europe gets 25% qualification and 40% of the finalists and and South America gets at least 40% and given their play-off was against the 5th placed country from Asia, it was more or less a bye to get 50% qualification but still only 15% of the finalists.

 

Interesting to note that the comparative strength of the African (one team in the last 16 every year since 1986 and two this year and 3 in the last 8 since 1990) and Asian teams (although S Korea and to a lesser extent Japan apart they don't seem to perform very well at the finals) has been rewarded with a big percentage increase in places in recent tournaments at the expense of Europe who had more than 50% of the finalists the last time it was 16 in 1978, but the same 13 now as when it was 24 finalists in 1982-94.

 

That said one could easily argue that Europe should only have half the number of finalists.

 

I suppose it is based on the rankings and performances over a certain period; quite a study if someone wants to do it!

 

BTW if we can maintain 27th place or possibly even a top 30 place in the FIFA World Rankings, we'll be in the European Pot 2 for the next qualifiers.

 

I'll leave the CL for another night!!

[Ser Barristan Selmy 222]

Forgot to mention that from the Brazil squad, I thought Marcelo was probably their best player over the whole tournament.

His performance against Germany largely undermined his tournament.

 

He was excellent v Atletico in the CL final though.

[Zappa 0]

Brahim I'll keep this short, but for me, the only way to make World Cup qualification even remotely fair is that there needs to just be one big worldwide qualification pot and do away with the confederations qualification system altogether because it simply isn't a fair system at all.