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The World Cup 2014 Thread


Woodsinho

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Messi getting the Golden Ball was the biggest token gesture I've ever seen.  There are loads of players who had a bigger impact than Messi.  He didn't light up the tournament like they obviously expected him to.  They probably engraved his name on the trophy before the tournament started.

 

Rodriguez and Neymar are two that spring to mind that did more than Messi.  Look how utterly terrible Brazil were after Neymar was out of the team.

 

The Germans were definitely the best team in all the games I saw.  Not a great final but it was still intriguing  and what a goal to win the tournament.  Great take, great finish.  Schweinsteiger was an absolute beast in the middle of the park.  What a guy to have marshalling the midfield.

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A very good world cup. Sometimes it feels like everything has to be labelled the best or the worst these days. Brilliant or terrible. This is definitely in the good side of world cups but I don't see how it was clearly better than 94, 98 or 06. I think it is just a reaction to 2010, which while poor was not as bad as some like to make out. 

 

It was a good final though, at least the first half was excellent. Argentina have every right to feel very disappointed and unlucky not to win that match but there can be no arguing about Germany being the best team in the tournament. It would have been interesting to see how the game would have gone if there had been the red cards there should have been.

 

My favourite goals of the tournament are Van Persie, Cahill, both Rodriguez goals vs Uruaguay, Messi's goals against Bosnia and Iran (both would have got so much more praise if anyone else scored them), the fourth Algeria goal against South Korea and Germany's fourth fifth and seventh goals against Brazil. The best though has to be the James chest and volley.

 

Favourite match was Germany - Algeria, exhilarating and gripping. Algeria basically gave the football performance equivalent of Rocky against Apollo Creed in the first film.

 

Messi getting the golden ball is fair enough to me. He's one of a few stand out players, but there was no one person who really elevated themselves above the rest. He was in the final so they gave it to him. He's getting held to a ridiculous standard at the moment, albeit a standard he set. He was a fantastic player in the this tournament, again if anyone else played like he did they would be getting praise from all sides.

 

Absolute highlight of the world cup:

 

Jang+Ye+Won+Korea+World+Cup+2014+Fan.gif

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That was the best group stages of any WC I've watched. It was anybody's game in almost every match and each group had it's own little story line. As for the latter stages, '98 still takes it for me.

 

The final was pretty boring all things considered. I'm disappointed Messi didn't really get going at all and despite the best team winning it, I didn't enjoy watching Germany all that much throughout the tournament. They deserved the win though.

 

Very few standout performances besides the goalies. All the star players were kept looking fairly average overall. Highlights for me were Italy getting dumped out and that Chilean penalty (best penalty ever).

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2006 group stages were incredible. All the media was calling it the best world cup ever a couple of weeks into that tournament as well. There was a fall off in entertainment in the knock out rounds but not enough to make the whole competition be considered poor. Plus it had the greatest world cup match of my (memorable) life time. 

 

 

But Korean girl.

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06 was great too. Definitely one of my favourites. I just enjoyed this one more. I struggle to think of more than 1 or 2 games that weren't great, but there still wasn't a bad game, I don't think.

 

Here's my ranking of World Cups in my lifetime:

 

2014

1994 = 2006

1998

2002

2010

 

That said, I still enjoyed 2010. Because every World Cup is great. Just some are slightly less great.

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I was only 4 when Italia 90 was happening. I very vaguely remember a tiny bit of it, and not really being interested in it. I did have a Mexico 86 video though called Hero when I was a kid. It was mostly about Maradona, but had highlights of nearly all the games too. And Michael Caine!

 

510709TY39L._SY300_.jpg

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06 was great too. Definitely one of my favourites. I just enjoyed this one more. I struggle to think of more than 1 or 2 games that weren't great, but there still wasn't a bad game, I don't think.

 

Here's my ranking of World Cups in my lifetime:

 

2014

1994 = 2006

1998

2002

2010

 

That said, I still enjoyed 2010. Because every World Cup is great. Just some are slightly less great.

 

Oh definitely. 

 

Also i think that a lot more than just the football affects how much someone enjoys a tournament. In 2006 I took holidays and swapped shifts so I wasn't working during a single match. I also watched the first few days of it when on one of the most enjoyable holidays of my life. Then it was won by an Italian side full of players I loved. So I have a lot of positive memories around the tournament in general. 

 

Whereas in 2002 I remember the time zones being shit for when I was working and a lot of my favourite teams under performing and going out early, so it's my least favourite. 2010 gave me the experience of being in the country of the winners for the whole tournament, which might not happen again.

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Oh definitely. 

 

Also i think that a lot more than just the football affects how much someone enjoys a tournament. In 2006 I took holidays and swapped shifts so I wasn't working during a single match. I also watched the first few days of it when on one of the most enjoyable holidays of my life. Then it was won by an Italian side full of players I loved. So I have a lot of positive memories around the tournament in general. 

 

Whereas in 2002 I remember the time zones being shit for when I was working and a lot of my favourite teams under performing and going out early, so it's my least favourite. 2010 gave me the experience of being in the country of the winners for the whole tournament, which might not happen again.

 

I agree, and my experience of 2002 was the same. I remember not seeing much of it. Maybe it was great, I just can't remember it.

 

USA 94 was the first one I properly paid attention to, and it was just great. Humongous stadiums, all packed, with great atmospheres. So many great kits with crazy patterns and colours. And Alexi Lalas' beard.

 

2010 was decent. but the atmosphere's let it down a little. The stadiums were a bit lifeless, and sometimes a little emptier than you'd expect. And the noise made some games unenjoyable to watch. But that Spain side at their peak was superb.

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I just wish Switzerland hadn't beaten them in the first match. I think that led to everyone else trying to follow their example as the best way to defeat them which led to very tight matches. 

 

I basically became a huge football fan during 94. I'm not sure I even cared that much when it started but by the end Baggio not winning was the worst thing that had ever happened to me.

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I'm old enough to have been aware of the 1978 finals.  I liked football then but the matches were on past my bedtime, so I didn't see much of it.  The first ones that I watched a lot of were 1982 and 1986 and they still set the benchmark for me.  There were some dull games, but a lot of very epic stuff.  I think in an age when we really didn't know much about football from other countries it all seemed incredibly exotic too.  I think it's hard to get that sense these days.  I was into football so knew about British players but when you saw a team like Brazil in 82 there were suddenly all these totally astonishing players who you'd never heard of.  Imagine watching this World Cup and not knowing anything about Messi, Neymar, Rodriguez etc.  It was like that.

 

Since then I think 1994, 1998 and 2006 have been mostly good and I certainly enjoyed this one too.  There were probably more really tight games in this World Cup than in any other I can remember, so there's been a lot of tension and dramatic finishes.

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I imagine most people will have really fond of their first couple of world cups, whichever they are. I agree that is a shame that the world cup has lost the element of the unknown it used to have. I got that experience somewhat in 94, due to not knowing much about football outside of the UK before then. Hagi, Stoichkov, Baggio and Romario were all unknowns. 

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The earliest I was really aware of was '94, but only really Baggio/Italy and a bit of Ireland and Nigeria.

 

After this one, fuck y'all, '02 was the best, because of Senegal, South Korea (outrageous decisions be damned), Japan and Turkey. And a classic Brazil team still won. Then '98, which had probably the best teams. Several worthy world champions going into the late stages and a winner couldn't be spotted a mile off, unlike this year (and indeed '02, tbf). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10963667/World-Cup-2014-Was-this-the-greatest-tournament-of-all-No.html

 

I remember little of 2006 and 2010. The latter seemed pretty dull and irritating, as already stated. 2006 seemed to lack any stories or surprises, and ended with Italy beating France - dragged there by Zidane - on penalties, which seemed like a lukewarm rerun of a much more classic contest several years prior.

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I'm old enough to have been aware of the 1978 finals.  I liked football then but the matches were on past my bedtime, so I didn't see much of it.  The first ones that I watched a lot of were 1982 and 1986 and they still set the benchmark for me.  There were some dull games, but a lot of very epic stuff.  I think in an age when we really didn't know much about football from other countries it all seemed incredibly exotic too.  I think it's hard to get that sense these days.  I was into football so knew about British players but when you saw a team like Brazil in 82 there were suddenly all these totally astonishing players who you'd never heard of.  Imagine watching this World Cup and not knowing anything about Messi, Neymar, Rodriguez etc.  It was like that.

 

Since then I think 1994, 1998 and 2006 have been mostly good and I certainly enjoyed this one too.  There were probably more really tight games in this World Cup than in any other I can remember, so there's been a lot of tension and dramatic finishes.

 

Yeah that's the same for me - I remember being allowed to stay up and watch the 78 final, it was mental - the Argies on home soil against the Dutch winning 3-1.  With less media channels and no internet and very few foreign players in the English game the world cup was really mysterious!  As I recall did Spurs not sign Ardilles and Villa on the back of that world cup win?  And it was a massive deal over here!  

 

I think 86 and 90 were my favourites because the media coverage of England wasn't as unbearable as it is now and England had a good team in both competitions and were desperately unlucky not to go further.  86 was my first drinking world cup, games kicked off at stupid o clock, my parents left me in charge of the house whilst they went on holiday so loads of my mates piled round!  England need to beat Poland in their last group game to qualify and Linekar got a hat trick in the first half!

 

It's been a very good world cup and Germany were worthy winners.  I love the fact they built their own training ground and hotel before the tournament hiring local people and giving it to the people of Brazil.  Plus they had a tough schedule playing in different climates, loads of the team got a flu bug but they still came through.  Glad it didn't go to penalties and the winning goal was a more than worthy match winner.

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