World Cup 2014

  On 5/24/2014 at 6:00 AM, goDel said:

This time, even the Dutch don't believe in the Dutch team. There's just not enough players playing at Champions League level.

CL level is overpriced, look at Dortmund and Atletico Madrid, or, in the WC context, Germany 4 years ago. Their biggest loss is Strootman. As long as van Gaal can drop Sneijder, vd Vaart and the like (maybe even van Persie if he's typical himself on such tournament), they can go far by sheer energy.

I dont know why people think Van Gaal is a good manager, his last international trophy was 20 years ago, and hes been losing his mind since leaving barcelona, having random temper tantrums here and there.

  On 5/24/2014 at 8:09 PM, Deer said:

I dont know why people think Van Gaal is a good manager, his last international trophy was 20 years ago, and hes been losing his mind since leaving barcelona, having random temper tantrums here and there.

It's more in-depth view you could miss if weren't watching the actual football of his teams. Like Guardiola won everything like nobody else maybe in history, but he was paying huge debts to Bielsa's ideas of pressing and ball control and Bielsa didn't won anything internationally. Then Bielsa owes much to 90s van Gaal. They are credited as true innovators, capable of developing singular talents like nobody.

Take van Gaal's Bayern, he did everything for Heynckes, he reimagined the role of Schweinsteiger in his adult career to become one of the best in the world at his new position, he introduced Mueller and some others to the first team (previously he did the same with Iniesta and Xavi), he build the tactical skeleton. He's the builder, who's having serious troubles to compromise.

I can go on and on, it's your right to doubt, just take a closer look at what is the differences between the new Dutch team with aged stars and the previous one at its peak, which destroyed the whole legacy of Dutch football. And especially Man Utd.

fair enough but whats the point of being a good builder if you bulldoze the house after building it.

Being a good manager also means having a good personality, the guy is a nutter, if you loose the team you built because of your crazy personality then i dont consider you to be a good manager.

actually he was already infamously mad in his barça days

Van Gaal is just awful at doing interviews. And that says little about him being a manager of a team. How many players have you heard talking bad about van Gaal? I can think of one, perhaps. But that's about it. As far as I've heard, many players respect him very much. Van Gaal talking on TV is not the same Van Gaal who's on the field building a team.

Don't blame him for having a bad TV personality. Not having a good TV personality does not entail not being a good manager. It'd nice if he were better at being on TV though. No arguments there.

  On 5/24/2014 at 10:37 PM, goDel said:

How many players have you heard talking bad about van Gaal? I can think of one, perhaps. But that's about it. As far as I've heard, many players respect him very much. Van Gaal talking on TV is not the same Van Gaal who's on the field building a team.

Non playing, bench-sitters will always be disappointed in the coach and leak shit to the press (like luca Toni at Bayern), and veterans who have seen all are not impressed with him shouting corrections or compliments during training. Van Gaal is good at building a team with young impressionable talented players, players looking up to him. He will always defend his players, but his press skills are hilarious, good television will come out of the next premiership season, facepalms will be had.

Over here no one expects the Dutch to do well, expectations are low mainly because of the quality of the defense, so low it can only be better than expected. I think they'll get past the first round, but if they match up with Brazil it is over.

So far everything I've read about LVG is that he is always forthright with players who are not seeing the pitch much. I don't htink he can only build a team with young, impressionable players - certainly the players he had at Ajax and Bayern were not just dewy-eyed naifs.

Good article on him here: http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/may/24/louis-van-gaal-manchester-united-manager

opening match >>> brazil : croatia

god help us!

The uproar over Landon Donovan being left home is a bit lol, the U.S. won't need its best player on hand to finish without a point (or praps even a single goal).

Can't see past Brazil to be honest. 1/3 WC's are won by the host, and Brazil are a strong team (and squad).

I think England could surprise as well, Roy seems to have them well drilled (even if the media want to slate them after a 'dull' 3-0 win against Peru).

A useful bit of technology:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/06/how-to-avoid-world-cup-2014-spoilers

tonight we'll kick some ass! ...right...

WWWOOOORRRRRRLLLLLLLDDDDDDD CCCCCUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

Watching the opening ceremony.

Italia 90: where they paraded about all these glamourous supermodels.

Brazil 2014: People dressed as trees and shit.

tears of joy. it is time.

hurray, a few weeks of shitty matches no one cares about, up until the quarter finals when things finally start to get interesting.

With regards to the opening ceremony, Pitbull was just on. What a fucking idiot. On a positive note his mic was fucked so you could barely hear the cunt but that didn't stop him from grinning wildly, baring his ghastly little yellow teeth and singing out the side of his mouth for gangsta effect. And let's not even talk about what he was wearing. The appearance of this bell-end has cast a dark shadow over the entire tournament already. The Brazil Crotia match will have to be simply astounding to eradicate the memory of...''Pitbull''.

  On 6/12/2014 at 8:30 PM, Djeroek said:

hurray, a few weeks of shitty matches no one cares about, up until the quarter finals when things finally start to get interesting.

Speak for yourself, heretic.

omg, this is it boy, just an hour away before this bitch starts!

I cant remember an opening match more exciting than Brasil v Croatia

look at this team "Brazil starting XI vs Croatia: Júlio César; Alves, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Marcelo; Luis Gustavo, Paulinho; Oscar, Hulk, Neymar; Fred"

I hope they've cloned David Luiz ten times and field that squad exclusively.

Brazil should win handily, but Croatia's midfield is strong and if Jelavic decides to do anything, he could be tough for the Brazilian defenders.

Should be a great match though - lots of potential :) Best opening match of a world cup for some time now.

hahaha fucking david luiz, never fails

OH I WATCH THE WORLD CUP I EAT ARTISAN BREAD AND OLIVE OIL FOR LUNCH MY WHOLE FAMILY WATCHES AT THE SAME TIME IN OUR FAMILY VILLA WHILE THE NEPHEWS AND NIECES RUN AROUND BAREFOOT

Brazil looks nervous at the back

  On 6/12/2014 at 10:06 PM, sheatheman said:

OH I WATCH THE WORLD CUP I EAT ARTISAN BREAD AND OLIVE OIL FOR LUNCH MY WHOLE FAMILY WATCHES AT THE SAME TIME IN OUR FAMILY VILLA WHILE THE NEPHEWS AND NIECES RUN AROUND BAREFOOT

That's the most unpatriotic thing I've ever heard, shouldn't you be pounding Budweisers in your pickup truck, on your way to the shooting range, like a real Murican?

Also.. Everybody knows soccer needs more guitar solos at the end, what a pussy sport.

#StereotypeShowdown