World Cup 2014

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