There is definitely something magical going on with CONCACAF this tournament. I'm a fan of the Dutch team but will definitely be cheering on my bros and hoping that magic carries through to USMNT and the Ticos.
2014 FIFA World Cup |OT5| Que Jara, Jara. Whatever Will Be, Will Be.
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SkylineRKR
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US has decent payout and them losing isn't as likely as Algeria is going to do. I would bet on a draw after 90 mins tbh.
Bam Bam Baklava
Member
Given how effective Algeria is when they decide to park the bus I think a draw for them is a safer bet. They drew Russia and were one late counter away from drawing Belgium. They could really frustrate Germany.
The US will come out with a much more attacking mentality than Algeria who I suspect will be in survival mode the entire match.
Portugeezer
Member
Joking aside, if Altidore plays, it helps a great deal. The ideal attack for the US is Altidore being assisted by Dempsey with Bradley leading the counter. Bradley is damn good at that when he's on his game, haven't seen it much this WC, but also only had Altidore for 15 minutes. Dempsey is just not a true striker. He tends to disappear for much of the game, but he has his moments. I just don't like him being the guy we rely on, but I don't think Johannsson is ready to for the lead role yet, and apparently Klinssmann doesn't either.
Personally, I'd like to see the US play Yedlin a little more. and send him up there with Dempsey and have Bradley come forward more. Our whole offense will have to come forward a bit more than yesterday. Yedlin gives defenses fits with his speed.
For every poster here calling Belgium overrated or overhyped (and i wouldn't disagree, since A/ our manager sucks B/ it's a very young team), i must say i'm a bit surprised to see so many folk here putting Holland in their top 3. Their team has a lot less talent, player for player and i think the match against a burnt out Spain is throwing people off. They do have Robben/VanPersie who have reached an age of certain maturity, but other than that their team isn't anything to write home about. Not trying to downplay them, i'm rooting for them (until/unless they play Belgium). It's just an observation.
Then you haven't watched their games carefully. Their attack has also excellent results when guys like Origi (physical with techinicity) and Mertens (speed and reactivity) are leading the games. Hazard is a better passer and has better tactical intelligence though.
That's funny, because I see CONCAGAF underrating the Dutch, because they see Mexico as a strong side even though they almost didn't qualify.
Yeah, well, the US hasn't lost to Mexico in the last 5 matches but everybody is rating them higher than the US. Most people are keyed in on the RIGHT NOW, not in recent history.
I'm not underrating the Dutch, but I personally am giving Mexico some credit because of how good they've looked in the WC so far. No doubt they looked like shit leading up to it. They barely made it.
That's your mistake, Mexico is always shit in the qualifiers, ALWAYS, they've had a a lot of trouble in the last 3 out of 4 qualification stages. Remember Herrera has only managed the team since the matchs against New Zealand, it was a similar situation in 2002 and 2010 with Aguirre coming to the rescue after an abysmal display and being close to not qualifying.
The team was also a lot different a year ago, plus like i said, Mexico are masters at playing shit before world cups and then looking like a completely different team once in the tournament.
You shouldn't judge Mexico based on how poor they were a year ago at all.
Even on the right now, their performance against Argentina was arguably more impressive than what Greece or Algeria have done so far.
Algeria's solitary win came against a Korean side that have been average at best. Greece have been even less impressive, they scraped through to the round of 16.
If i remember correctly at least 1 if not both of their recent matches were when Herrera was the Mexican coach. Their most recent one definitely was if im not mistaken.
The major failing with the Nigerian team are set pieces, Argentina won the game against them on set pieces and if i remember correctly Messi's 1st goal was the only the 2nd time Argentina has scored from open play against Nigeria at a World Cup.
Bam Bam Baklava
Member
Maybe they're so good they just put in the bare minimum to win.
I feel alone in this but I think Belgium is getting really underrated. Have a feeling they will put it together against USA.
People arebeing too hard about their group stage 9/9 is doing well always.
2-1 against algeria - Algeria parked the bus and they still managed to comeback
1-0 against russia - Capello team, enough said.
1-0 against korea - "B" team
People arebeing too hard about their group stage 9/9 is doing well always.
2-1 against algeria - Algeria parked the bus and they still managed to comeback
1-0 against russia - Capello team, enough said.
1-0 against korea - "B" team
meanspartan
Member
First of all, Greece has only ever won two World Cup tournament matches in its history, one this year vs. Ivory Coast, and the other four years ago in their first ever win vs. Nigeria, so thanks for that.
Second of all, I am sick of the constant put-downs. Sure, Costa Rica will probably win if I am being honest, but let's not forget that Greece's defense has held better teams than Costa Rica scoreless.
Greece won that game after a Nigerian player was sent off. The match was 1-0 in Nigeria's favor before that sending off and barring a sudden change in momentum was looking like Nigeria would score again.
The Ivory Coast match was a result of that incorrect penalty. Even though they had played better than Ivory Coast in the 2nd half of that game, had that penalty not been imo wrongly given Ivory Coast would have gone through.
leandrochiarello
Member
Tactical intelligence, not so much though. Hazard is very good in possession, like the ball is glued to his shoe (like Dembele), a better dribbler, but he's less "direct" (than both Mertens and Mirallas) and he isn't the fastest of the bunch. He does have the ability to draw up to 4 players closer, and outplay them with a simple pass, freeing space for his teammates.
Tactical intelligence, that's where Debruyne comes in. When he's on his A game, it's difficult to beat us because we will score at least once or twice (and our defense/goalie aren't in the habit of conceding many goals). One of the main problems in the WC so far, is that Van Buyten is playing, instead of Vermaelen (injuries) and he is terrible at setting up the game from the back. Bringing us to the real problem, we don't have any good left and right backs, so there are two central defenders playing there. Otherwise, Vertonghen could just take Vermaelen's place in the centre.
The biggest strength is that we have guys on the bench that can make an impact. Be it Mertens, Mirallas, Origi or Fellaini. It's not luck that they won the past three matches in the last 15 minutes.
How is Holland's physical condition? It's been said it will be a hot day, they are playing at noon and Mexico's physical condition is one of their stronger assets (see Croatia).
lastflowers
Banned
This tournament, Belgium has looked like a team that likes passing the ball around for with no goal in mind. It feels like a shittier version of Spain in 2010, who at least had an ethos and a wonderful striker in David Villa.
That being said, they could snap out of it like we all know they can and wreck shit. I still rate them far higher than my beloved USA, but definitely feel like they are beatable if US comes with its a-game. The US has looked great in moments, but without possession they have decided to lock-down instead of attacking GER/Ghana. Part of that comes from getting a 1-0 lead incredibly early. The moment Ghana tied it, they came out of their shell and started attacking again, getting another goal fairly quickly. GER they just wanted to not get slaughtered. It's hard to really tell the quality on the team.
The nature of the US attack (funneling through Fabian Johnson or Beasley) could result very easily in destructing counters by Belgium. If the US wants to win the game, they need Bradley to find his inner Bald Eagle and figure out how to pass in the attacking third. The most surprising thing from this tournament is how well our defense has held up under long bouts of pressure. Conceding only one goal to Germany was very surprising to me, as I thought our defense (with Fabian's winged flights, Beasley's converted winger, Besler unproven, Cameron has been serviceable though) was by far the weakest part of our team.
meanspartan
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Ya even as a Greek fan, I gotta predict a Costa Rica win. They just have been playing out of this world, while Greece had to grind it out to barely make it in to their first ever round of 16.
But the fun thing about being a Greece fan since 2004 when Rehhagel's defense/counterattack strategy revitalized a team who had never won a single major tournament match (and then won Euro 2004 LOL), is that no matter the odds, there is always that slim hope that their stubborn as fuck defense will be enough.
Still the best goal of the tournament for me, closely followed by Jghamesz Rodriguez's lob goal and Cahil's amazing volley.
Costa Rica came in with a tactical plan tailor-made to the opponents in their group. Italy, England, and Uruguay all want the ball and want to attack through the middle of the field. Costa Rica put three center backs and two stout midfielders in there and dared them to come.
Greece isn't going to play into that sort of game. Costa Rica will need something different, and the game is also in the south of the country, which gives up some of their weather acclimation advantage.
That said, they still have the talent to play a good game against the Greeks and have a reasonable chance come out ahead, but a lot of the factors that led to their early success aren't going to be in their favor this time.
meanspartan
Member
Ok so this actually made me tear up a little. I thought I was happy when Samaras scored lol, made my day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGSFGtbq9pA&feature=youtu.be
Lost it at the end when it showed him with the kid at a Celtic match and the little dude was in awe of the roaring stadium.
Lost it at the end when it showed him with the kid at a Celtic match and the little dude was in awe of the roaring stadium.
Sorry if I was unclear, my reply was to counter the claim that their attack was only Hazard, it's not they also have other excellent players at the front.
That said, reducing your analysis to "score" is missing a lot of what makes a good offence (yet I agree that Belgium was not "spectacular" in the first three games, but "efficient" at least)
Then what should I base them on? History? Mexico has never reached the quarter final that wasn't on Mexican soil. Group stage? They weren't that impressive. Were lucky they could draw against Brazil and could make the goals against Croatia, because the Croatians had to win and therefore didn't have sound defensive lines.
His Majesty
Banned
USA should be careful attacking because the counter-attack is Belgium's strong point, that's how we wrecked Serbia and won away at Croatia.
John Dunbar
correct about everything
that's a pretty narrow way of looking at it. germany beat usa 1-0, but it was still a vastly superior performance. spain won their last 4 matches in 2010 1-0, and were still dominant.
lastflowers
Banned
my great fear.
Luckily we've had 2 defensive midfielders instead of the diamond with 2 up front. It adds defensive solidarity to protect against counters. Still, if Altidore come back I'd expect the diamond with jones Bradley Beckerman Zusi/Bedoya to return.
Some statistics of the Dutch squad during this World cup.
33 of the 41 shots ended between the goal posts, of which they scored 10 goals. This makes them the most effective side of this World Cup. With a shot precision of 80.5 % they lead the table.
The Dutch squad only used 89 attacks to score 10 goals (Due to their Counter football), while countries like Belgium and Argentina needed 150 attacks to get to 4 and 6 goals.
Defensive stats are also ok for the Dutch side, goalie Jasper Cillessen only made 6 saves in 3 matches and that puts him on the second place behind Julio Cesar (5 saves).
33 of the 41 shots ended between the goal posts, of which they scored 10 goals. This makes them the most effective side of this World Cup. With a shot precision of 80.5 % they lead the table.
The Dutch squad only used 89 attacks to score 10 goals (Due to their Counter football), while countries like Belgium and Argentina needed 150 attacks to get to 4 and 6 goals.
Defensive stats are also ok for the Dutch side, goalie Jasper Cillessen only made 6 saves in 3 matches and that puts him on the second place behind Julio Cesar (5 saves).
His Majesty
Banned
Against Algeria we were the dominant team but that's because they decided to park the bus. Against Russia and South Korea the game was in balance most of the time.
Klinsmann said today he's hopeful that Altidore will be back and it's looking good. He didn't say if he'd start, I'd doubt they'd try to keep him in for a whole game if so. Seems risky to rush his recovery.
How many teams did Holland play that parked the bus?
It's all about YEDLIN.....he's the hero you need.
John Dunbar
correct about everything
i wasn't actually arguing belgium was dominant. just that a match being low scoring does not mean a team did not have full control of it so posting nothing but scorelines is pointless.
SkylineRKR
Member
Oh yeah I watched Belgium. But it was boring me to tears. Everything went through the middle against Algeria while they stood behind the ball with all players. It was obvious the playing field needed to be wider and more attacks from the wings. I was screaming for a Dembele -> Mertens switch after some 20 minutes. Which the coach finally did but he took the other guy off I think.
Their goal ratio speaks for itself. 4 goals against relatively weak sides isn't good. Algeria scored more. Belgium offense need to be sorted if they want to decide games before overtime. Opposition becomes harder from here on.
Best of the tournament so far imo. Australia fitness was rated highly but they looked fatiqued after 70 minutes, yet Holland continued on and could score a few more during injury time. Chile, same story. Holland was far stronger in the final 20 minutes, still resulting in a lightning quick rush by Robben who played the whole game. Spain were also empty during the second half.
The thing that surprises me the most isn't their results, but rather their fitness. Especially considering our dreadful Euro 2012 campaign on which they were physically the weakest side.
Their goal ratio speaks for itself. 4 goals against relatively weak sides isn't good. Algeria scored more. Belgium offense need to be sorted if they want to decide games before overtime. Opposition becomes harder from here on.
Best of the tournament so far imo. Australia fitness was rated highly but they looked fatiqued after 70 minutes, yet Holland continued on and could score a few more during injury time. Chile, same story. Holland was far stronger in the final 20 minutes, still resulting in a lightning quick rush by Robben who played the whole game. Spain were also empty during the second half.
The thing that surprises me the most isn't their results, but rather their fitness. Especially considering our dreadful Euro 2012 campaign on which they were physically the weakest side.
Maninthemirror
Banned
I wouldnt be surprised if France loses to Algeria
Tragicomedy
Member
Does not compute.
SkylineRKR
Member
Pretty much. The Algeria game confirmed for me that Wilmots isn't the right man for these huge talents.
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