World Cup 2014

I think the England team might be unauthorised - all the players look like they've been wonkily cropped from other pictures, which does nothing to flatter their already wonky faces.

England have a deal with someone other than Panini, hence the wonky photoshops. The England shiny, with a hastily cobbled together MS Paint St George's cross, is the worst of all stickers.

any wall-chart recommendations? fear i may have left it too late to get a good one

Want one of the England players to not sing the national anthem just to see if any of the tabloids campaign for him to be dropped,

the Observer are doing one next week NV

I usually rock the When Saturday Comes wallchart, but it's a bit of a half-assed effort this time round.

yeah i used to love the WSC charts but i'm a bit tired of their shtick tbh, guess this weekend's papers will be worth perusing

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-England-Players-Playlist-Brazil/dp/B00K8K4UM6

sold

Frank Lampard: Bastille – Pompeii
Wayne Rooney: The Lumineers – Ho Hey
Jack Wilshere: Sam Smith – Money On My Mind
Gary Cahill: John Newman – Love Me Again
Phil Jones: Duke Dumont feat. Jax Jones – I Got U
Steven Gerrard: Avicii – Wake Me Up
Glen Johnson: Naughty Boy – La La La
Rickie Lambert: OneRepublic – Counting Stars
Raheem Sterling: Drake – Started From The Bottom
Danny Welbeck: Chase & Status – Blk & Blu
Ross Barkley: Ben Pearce – What I Might Do
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: Fuse ODG – Antenna
Daniel Sturridge: Banks – This Is What It feels Like
Chris Smalling: Sub Focus – Turn Back Time
Joe Hart: Klangkarussell – Sonnentanz
Michael Carrick: Robin Thicke – Blurred Lines
James Milner: Avicii – I Could Be The One
Tom Cleverley: Disclosure – You & Me

leighton baines: conscientious objector

*cough* Golden Generation players still knocking around have comfortably the worst choices there.

Never have I been so glad of John Terry's international retirement.

Carrick subtly commenting on his exclusion from the squad

Falcao OUT

some amazing clips in this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b045q1dd/world-cup-brush-up-with-danny-baker

^the clip of Jimmy Greaves' angrily letting off steam about weathermen on TVAM in post-Great Storm 1987 was certainly something.

I've been watching the vintage FIFA documentaries on each World Cup that are going up on the iPlayer. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b045p4tb/fifa-world-cup-official-film-4-1962 They're a bit creaky and quaint, but contain some wonderful footage. Just watched the one on the bad tempered 1962 WC in Chile - so many punch-ups it's crazy ("Sanchez, whose father is a boxer, knocks him out with a beautiful left hook!"), players being escorted off the pitch by police, and Jimmy Greaves grappling with a runaway dog during the England-Brazil match.

it didn't occur they'd get an iPlayer airing, i caught the 1958 one on TV then waited in vain for more. i like the quaintness and find it less off-putting than any 2014 pundit wd manage.

James Milner will get a chance to press his claims for a place in England's World Cup starting line-up in an unfamiliar right-back role against Ecuador in Miami.

England manager Roy Hodgson has seen enough from the 28-year-old Manchester City player to try him out as a potential alternative to first-choice Glen Johnson.

Frank Lampard will captain an experimental England side which is set to include Wayne Rooney in a left-sided role.

xxpost crying laughing at all the blue peter bits, from demon keegan through to 'the dog deserved to die'

another good ye olde world cup british clips show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMuDqAJW3AE&feature=kp

think the hardest I laughed at the danny baker one was the bulldog mascot bit

U.S. soccer coach Juergen Klinsmann says American players can have sex during World Cup

Can't be bothered to poll it, but who do we think will win?

Argentina

okay, partly hope they will win and partly clearly they have a shout

I'd like to see Argentina or Brazil win but i have a feeling it could be Spain again.

Depends on the draw and I haven't looked clearly at it, but Spain are on paper the best, but could be taken down by a determined and/or inspired performance from Germany, Brazil or Argentina. Argentina's squad is lopsided but their attacking options are better than anyone else's.

I don't really think that looks like a World Cup-winning Brazil squad, midfield in particular, but, still home advantage. Something at the back of my head keeps saying Germany though.

I've barely watched any international football in four years so stoked for all this.

It's certainly very open. Germany have been fairly underwhelming in a string of recent friendlies and look quite light in terms of striking options, but obviously have a great midfield.

Hopes for the WC:

- Messi to have at the least a good WC.

- See an interesting team - e.g. Belgium, but any others too do well

- See a team or a player surprise/come out of the blue

The last two items is what most would want out of any WC.

It's possible that I'm fatigued by seeing most of them play week in week out in the Premiership but Belgium strike me as a team who will utterly fail to justify any of the hype.

There's nothing more exciting than seeing a great young player explode onto a World Cup though.

Same here, what are the other teams beyoond the top 4-5 people are looking at?

Mostly want to see Eng utterly humiliated at the group stages but I do like Woy...

dunno if England humiliation is fully enjoyable when it leads to the same old point-missing autopsies, but usually after a couple of truly cynical displays of boredom and self-aggrandisement from the usual suspects i'm ready for the coup de grace

there are players in the England squad who i'd like to get a chance to do something constructive, i guess

They have a tough group but i'd love Bosnia to do well.

don't feel like there's much potential for surprise packages in this lot. i like to see the West African teams do well.

There's definitely a part of me which would just love to see Messi take the tournament by storm and outscore everyone en route to the Cup, if only to settle all the debates about his status as the GOAT.

Starting to get irrationally hopeful about England's prospects as well, I never learn.

i think Ladbrokes spike the water around now

Yeah I don't think Eng we'll be humiliated really. The last WC might be a one-off.

It'll be some 'heroics' to another pen failure instead. The usual nonsense.

If I had to put money down, I'd say Spain, theyve got the best squad. Uruguay have potential too, they could go all the way. I can't see England getting out of their group but I've no idea what Italy are like right now, but its Italy, theyre always decent.

Italy tend to start slow but yeah i wdn't put my own money on England getting out of the group

Uruguay have potential too, they could go all the way

Really? What makes you say that?!

Japan is a good pick if you want an underdog that also plays nice football

Uruguay = Suarez, Cavani, great defence

backing spain at the last few big tournaments has served me well and i think they have one more in them. portugal, france and colombia all have the draws to go well. the latter will obv miss falcao but look like they have enough options up front to cope w/ gutierrez, martinez and bacca. had a few quid on benzema top scorer too.

I'm psyched as fuck for this WC I've seen hardly any football all season

psyched but with reservations, that heat is surely going to sap the life out of a lot games

Uruguay will struggle if Suarez isn't 100% fit. England are no better though and this isn't a vintage Italy team. The group is wide open.

I'm interested to see how Algeria get on as well. Korea aren't great and Russia are Russia so they might be a good outside bet for second place behind Belgium.

can't see flakers like the Belgian individuals ever going beyond first knockout

Prevailing attitude amongst Italian fans seems to be one of pessimism - they still think they can take us because they're well aware that we're shite, but they're definitely not confident in their squad. I watched the game against Ireland in a bar with a few mates last week, and they were really pretty dire.

Ordinarily I would never back England to get anything against a team like Italy, but it does feel like we've improved slightly since the penalty loss at Euro 2010, have more attacking options, players in better form and so on, while received wisdom here is that this Italian team is going backwards as the squad ages and that the youngsters aren't reliable. Everyone here also seems gutted about Montolivo, I hadn't previously realised they considered him to be such a big player for them.

So maybe England in with a fighting chance in the opening game if we go out with guns blazing? Welp, there I go again!

Theres no big Serie A scandal this year to get them riled up either

still think Lloris is one of the greats, but not based on what he's displayed at this WC (although no fault of his own).

congratulations to germany on their first world cup win, big moment for any country

agree that messi doesn't feel right for best player. for a tournament with a lot of goals it is interesting that a lot of goalkeepers really stood out. neuer was exceptional, shout out to navas too. i thought khedira (autocorrect suggestion in chrome: dickhead. why is that even in its dictionary?) who i have had doubts about in the past was really good when he played, but i am sure he'd have been miles away from winning even if he had played the final and scored. of the teams that reached the semis, and really you can only pick from them, i do think robben was as visibly impressive as anyone and have a better shout than messi. i saw that di maria is getting widely mixed reviews for his tournament but i think he was the guy that provided a spark for arg more than messi a lot of the time. i think losing the ball a lot can be a product of being the only guy on a team who is consistently, energetically trying to make something happen.

sure this has been covered before but is the "Golden Ball" - best player of the World Cup - actually a different thing from the the "FIFA Ballon d'Or" - best player of the previous year? if so that's fucking stupid

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BsdOq3PIYAEh_Fn.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BsdZ3VRCIAM6M13.jpg

I don't ever remember a Golden Ball being a thing before, except dimly remember Zidane getting some award in 2006. In any event it doesn't matter, nobody's memory is going to be shaped by Fifa approval however much Blatter'd like it that way.

Best player this time was definitely James Rodriguez fwiw. Loads of honourable mentions but he stood out.

Mods, the World Cup is over, please lock this thread. Thanks in advance!

Messi winning that trophy was a classic Borgesian "inversion" (cf. Stanislaw Lem article in Microworlds) and underneath the thousand yard stare with which he accepted it one might interpret the stoic, world-weary fatalism that is his birthright. Perhaps a tango lyric or two was going through his mind at the time, but who can say.

congratulations to germany on their first world cup win, big moment for any country

Eh?

sure this has been covered before but is the "Golden Ball" - best player of the World Cup - actually a different thing from the the "FIFA Ballon d'Or" - best player of the previous year? if so that's fucking stupid

Eh?

Germany != W. Germany, apparently

Messi had a good World Cup, goals at the start to carry Arg, then that pass from the moon for ADM, pretty good final, marked out the game in the Semi. He doesn't look athletically like he once did. Don't know why. But a good tourn. Didn't act like a moron in the final, diving everywhere like some Germans.

Götze boner all over my feed atm

But you didn't have to cuuut me ouuut...

http://m.fifa.com/ballondor/news/newsid=2261052/index.html

Messi's been injured all season on and off, vomited on the pitch during the final (admittedly not unusual for him, apparently), and his friend died a few days before the final.

The Castrol index (on the official FIFA website) says Toni Kroos was the best player of the tournament, followed by Robben and De Vrij. Messi's not even in the top ten. http://fifa.to/1sTLV4p

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/full-time-fading-images-of-the-world-cup/

^^ this is a lovely way to cap it off

It is, thanks for the link. Great photos, too.

so which club side had the most scorers at the world cup?

Must be one of Utd, Bayern, or Madrid. I know Utd had six

yeah, Bayern had seven

just creeping over the line with that Julian Green goal

I would like imago to present my FF world cup trophy to me plz

I was surprised by how aggressive argentina were yesterday, I expected them to hang back more but they got forward quite a lot. ridiculously fine margins in the end, more than any other final I can remember

fine margin was higuain being a choke artist

if ye signed him tomorrow you'd be gargling out of him

Belgian 15 minutes of fame hunter girl is back, she did the celeb kickoff for a match in the Belgian competition.

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/949/Belgisch-Voetbal/article/detail/1979320/2014/08/03/WK-babe-Axelle-verzorgt-aftrap-in-Brugge.dhtml

fittingly, that link took me to an advertisement for the newspaper :D

Remove your hln.be cookie & try again

Ismael, you're not really worried about LFC are you? They'll be fine.

― pandemic, Thursday, 26 June 2014 14:41 (10 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thread is a total fucking joy obv

We hadn't sold Suarez then had we?

I miss IK :(

Darragh got me going thru that thread now.

poor old kuyt y'day, first half patrolled the wing with no shade, then 2nd half LVG had him swap wings so he was doing it again!

― pandemic, Monday, June 30, 2014 9:50 AM (10 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no point coddling a workhorse

― do u like green ez & jam (darraghmac), Monday, June 30, 2014 9:55 AM (10 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

noticed that, like his whole job was to soak up the u/v

― clockpuncher (Noodle Vague), Monday, June 30, 2014 10:56 AM (10 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

bit of the old u/v, a clockworkhorse oraanje

― do u like green ez & jam (darraghmac), Monday, June 30, 2014 11:01 AM (10 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

our old friend louis van, rvp all nonsense now

― Ismael Klata, Monday, June 30, 2014 11:17 AM (10 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

my god what a post by me there

i just spent an hour reading this thread, cheers guys

feel like a bergkampesque revisitation of what I was thinking as I typed it, my process etc is in order

deems ilx is just an extension of fives for u isn't it

give me the tools and I'll finish the job

the lads at footy dont believe for a second about the brilliance of my message board posts obv

ha

https://youtu.be/Yc76VhT2a6U

rte2 ran a very fine programme today with every goal from this excellent tournament