General WC Chat

Woys getting 'with it'... 

Crumbs, that's got a Duncan Norvelle quality about it.  Is Roy saying 'Chase Me!'?

Boss this from the Ecuador fans!

Boss this from the Ecuador fans!

That's awesome!

What is with players wearing different colour boots, I.e. one red and one blue grrrr might as well go the whole hog and have a big L and R on your shoes like Jimmy Cricket. Showing my age I know.

Marketing ploy by Puma to get their shoes noticed. Appears it worked

Best players of the competition so far?

For me, it has to be either Robben or Neymar. Possibly Robben, as he faced tougher opposition.

Best players of the competition so far?

For me, it has to be either Robben or Neymar. Possibly Robben, as he faced tougher opposition.

Hard to argue although I've liked Valbuena as well.

Robben without doubt has been the standout player at the tournament so far in my opinion.

Hard to argue although I've liked Valbuena as well.

Yep, Valbuena has impressed me too, also, Muller for me, he really reminds me of a Fowler, Rush type goal poacher when he plays center forward.

With Robben it's so obvious he excells in the current Dutch style of play, so much more effective in transition than he was in Bayern's possession style this season. He's literally capable of dribbling from his own half to the opposition goal, showed it against Chile again too. I've never seen him on fire like this before.

Neymar is doing amazing too, such a young guy with so much pressure and expectations on his shoulders. He's doing a much better job handling that than Messi or Ronaldo have now or in past tournaments.

Not the best player, but a favourite of mine who is performing too, James Rodriguez. Hope Monaco go bankrupt or something so we can get him!

Not the best player, but a favourite of mine who is performing too, James Rodriguez. Hope Monaco go bankrupt or something so we can get him!

I'm a big fan of James Rodriguez too. I have a soft spot for all South American teams in this World Cup, as I'm really enjoying their fans' presence in Brazil, so I'm pretty happy with how well Colombia have done so far, and he's a big part of their game.

With Robben it's so obvious he excells in the current Dutch style of play, so much more effective in transition than he was in Bayern's possession style this season. He's literally capable of dribbling from his own half to the opposition goal, showed it against Chile again too. I've never seen him on fire like this before.

Neymar is doing amazing too, such a young guy with so much pressure and expectations on his shoulders. He's doing a much better job handling that than Messi or Ronaldo have now or in past tournaments.

Not the best player, but a favourite of mine who is performing too, James Rodriguez. Hope Monaco go bankrupt or something so we can get him!

He's been great. I think he will need to be again when they face Mexico.

Robben that is.

Best players of the competition so far?

For me, it has to be either Robben or Neymar. Possibly Robben, as he faced tougher opposition.

No mention of Suarez?

No mention of Suarez?

Wait until he scores 5 against the Romans.

Wait until he scores 5 against the Romans.

Brazil would be preferable.

Shame we're talking about Suarez when Colombia are going about their business at this world cup in a stunning fashion. Team of the tournament for me. Did think about France who I've been so impressed by but Colombia edge it on sheer passion, inspiration and enjoyment. A real pleasure they've been at this tournament.

Luis Suarez to announce retirement tonight................. .................






















as manager of Honduras after their imminent World Cup exit.

Everyone was banging on about Ronaldo and how Messi needs to step up at the International stage etc. Well once again, Ronaldo who?! Still failing to stand up and be counted on the biggest stage possible whilst Messi has taken his tally to 4 so far and joint top of the goal chart along with Neymar.

Messi scored as many goals today as Ronaldo has in total at World Cups.

Everyone was banging on about Ronaldo and how Messi needs to step up at the International stage etc. Well once again, Ronaldo who?! Still failing to stand up and be counted on the biggest stage possible whilst Messi has taken his tally to 4 so far and joint top of the goal chart along with Neymar.

Messi scored as many goals today as Ronaldo has in total at World Cups.

To be fair though, Messi did need to step up at the international stage. Prior to this WC, he had scored only 1 single goal in World Cups. In 2010, he didn't score at all.

Anyway, I'm happy to see him scoring for fun now, he's a brilliant player, I don't have it in me to criticize anything he does. Simply the best.

In 2010, he didn't score at all.

I remember him being very unlucky at 2010, hit the woodwork quite a few times didn't he?

His stats for the team are incredible since becoming captain and is continuing that fine form on the biggest stage. Even though he only had 1 goal at WC to this years, it was still only 1 less than Ronaldo.

Shame we're talking about Suarez when Colombia are going about their business at this world cup in a stunning fashion. Team of the tournament for me. Did think about France who I've been so impressed by but Colombia edge it on sheer passion, inspiration and enjoyment. A real pleasure they've been at this tournament.

Agree with the Colombia thoughts, they are incredible to watch. Especially James Rodriguez.

Out the last 16, I'd say only 10 are teams that are last 16 quality. Spain, England, Croatia, Portugal, Italy and Ghana not getting through would be because of groups like this.

Costa Rica
Uruguay
Italy
England   

or

Germany
USA
Portugal
Ghana

as opposed to

Belgium
Algeria
Russia
South Korea

or

Columbia
Greece
Ivory Coast
Japan

This is the result of having just 1 pot of seeds and no 2nd or 3rd seeds. Very unbalanced. How is it right for 3 of the top 10 ranked teams in the world to be in a group of 4 from a possible 32 and have another group with 3 teams outside the top 18.

Out the last 16, I'd say only 10 are teams that are last 16 quality. Spain, England, Croatia, Portugal, Italy and Ghana not getting through would be because of groups like this.

Costa Rica
Uruguay
Italy
England   

or

Germany
USA
Portugal
Ghana

as opposed to

Belgium
Algeria
Russia
South Korea

or

Columbia
Greece
Ivory Coast
Japan

This is the result of having just 1 pot of seeds and no 2nd or 3rd seeds. Very unbalanced. How is it right for 3 of the top 10 ranked teams in the world to be in a group of 4 from a possible 32 and have another group with 3 teams outside the top 18.

I don't think there's any excuse. These teams had superior squads to many of the teams who displaced their position but failed to do the job expected of them. With more limited resources the likes of Uruguay (admittedly somewhat fortunate), Costa Rica, Algeria, Mexico, USA did what was required of them. The most reprehensible failure of those 6 teams you listed was England. While some would think Spain were, I can forgive them from suffering from a 'post imperial hangover' but with the vibrancy and youthful (and technical) talent that England had in numbers the fact that they conspired to do even worse than the England team in South Africa is unforgivable.  It's not a failure of the seeding system. It's a failure of these countries and these countries alone. I have some sympathy for Italy. Debatable red card in their match against Uruguay which they were comfortably in control of and the winner coming from a man who should never have been playing (he should have been sent off against England) does make it unfortunate that Italy didn't make it out of the group with Costa Rica instead of Uruguay who, quite frankly, are very lucky to be there.