OT: FIFA World Cup

[Romang67]

I, Romang, have heard your requests, and decided that having a thread devoted to discussion about the World Cup in Grass-Ball-Hockey this summer is not something that is strictly against what should be discussed on HFBoards.

So, rejoice, and discuss whatever you deem worthy of discussion in this thread. As long as it's about the World Cup.

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/

A few ground rules.

1. Don't discuss why Sweden missed the World Cup. We decided unanimously that no one wants to do sports in the middle of the summer, so it seemed unfair to demand that our poor players should go all the way to Brazil, when they could stay home where the sun doesn't set.

2. If you really want to discuss Sweden, we missed this stupid tournament because the refs cheated.

3. Yeah? Well, I can't see Canada anywhere on the World Cup webpage either!

4. If you start mocking Sweden, I'm gonna take my ball and go home.

Now, some topics of discussion for the people who can't come up with anything on their own.

1. Who will be the MVP of the tournament?

2. Who will win?

3. If Sweden doesn't play, can we really call the winners "World Champions"?

4. Who do you root for?

5. If not for that darn ankle/knee/groin/back/foot/head injury you suffered when you were young and clearly on your path to an impressive breakout season, would you have played this summer? You know, that injury that the doctors never were able to diagnose, but which clearly ruined your soccer career.

6.


7. That injury that you suffered, was it caused by Matt Cooke?

8. Sports!

Click to read more...

 

[wpgsilver]

This is spectacular.
I've always been a Brazil fan, but I'm not sure they can take it at home.
I'm also a fan of how Spain plays football, I know a lot of Canadians find their ball possession boring, but I love how they play.

I'm not going to make any predictions, I get to wrapped up in what I predict and its detracts from the event

 

[EvilCoop]

USA!!! Ugh...

 

[CorgisPer60]

A rare pic of Romang, being upset that Sweden's not in the World Cup.

 

[sully1410]

Portugal!!!!!!

 

[GJF]

DEUTSCHLAND!


and Belgium.


also, here are the world cup ads again:

Beats:


Nike:


Adidas:


Adidas - The ball:



'edit'


oh, and btw: There will be one Swedish player in Brazil:

 

[robbza]

Vindaloo

 

[Guilty Party]

Couldn't come up with my own discussion topic. Thanks for fostering the suggestions Romang!

IMO you really develop an appreciation for it around the 7-8 hr mark...



*honkhonk*

 

[KCjetsfan]

I always root for Croatia, for some reason.

 

[garret9]

Did you know: soccer has taken most of the advance statistics in hockey and applied them to fussball?

Also:

 

[GoJetsGo55]

Did you know: soccer has taken most of the advance statistics in hockey and applied them to fussball?

Also:

GERMANY!!!!!!!

 

[Sweech]

This year looks like a three way battle between Germany, Brazil, and Spain to win.

Darkhorses: Belgium, Argentina

Personally I'm of German decent, so that's who I'll be pulling for. I'll also be watching a lot of Belgium games because I really like their players and several play for my favourite team (Tottenham Hotspur). I'll also be watching Switzerland as it's another interesting team with players I like.

 

[Sweech]

Oh and here's a great preview from SBNation.com

http://www.sbnation.com/a/world-cup-preview-2014

Probably one of the best previews I've seen around.

 

[garret9]

Tyler Dellow (@mc79hockey) right now is tweeting hockey team and fussball national team comparables.

 

[BigZ65]

Did you know: soccer has taken most of the advance statistics in hockey and applied them to fussball?

Really? I thought soccer was always pretty heavy on evaluating games based on possession and passing quality.

 

[garret9]

Really? I thought soccer was always pretty heavy on evaluating games based on possession and passing quality.

They do have a lot of those things, and they are the big stats.

But, they do look at a lot of the stats hockey fancystats use too. Just not as big for them as it is for us (they have far fewer attempts per time on attack, so makes sense why).

Not uncommon for some of my non-Jets articles to get links from soccer blogs.

 

[Analyst365]

Really? I thought soccer was always pretty heavy on evaluating games based on possession and passing quality.

Tactics and stats in soccer?

"Iverting the Pyramid" by Jonathan Wilson

and

zonalmarking.net

And you're covered.

 

[SCP Guy]

Go Portugal go! Unfortunately we are a 1 man team.... And that 1 man is pretty banged up going into this tournament so I don't expect very much from us. A quarter final appearance with Ronaldo being far less then %100 would be a great tournament for us. I'm gonna go with Germany winning if I had bet my own money.

 

[GJF]

I'll probably bet 20 Euros on Spain to win it. Worked well for me over the last two tournaments.

 

[garret9]

From my friends who know more than me, there are injury concerns with GER midfield. So maybe not count them as too much favourites.

 

[GJF]

From my friends who know more than me, there are injury concerns with GER midfield. So maybe not count them as too much favourites.

We'll see, Khedira probaly still isn't at 100%, wouldn't surprise me to see Lahm next to Schweinsteiger but I think it will be Schweini and Khedira in CM. We have Bender, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Khedira and Kroos who can play the position, I'm not worrying at all about CM.

At RAM, LAM and CAM, we may have the best and widest roster in the tournament, even without Reus (I love Reus, though, losing him really sucks).

I'm way more worried about our defense (we haven't had a clean sheet since forever), we're in big trouble when the opponent has a quick translation to offense after giving up possession or generally, when they face our back four with speed and drive.

Also, we lack central striker depth. Without Gomez, we only have Klose, I'm not a fan of playing a false 9 with Götze and a 50-50 solution with Müller in front (playing with his back to the goal is not his game). This system doesn't have enough straight drive to the net, leading you to a lot of possession in front and around the penalty area but most teams lack results, IMO. The best example was our last friendly match vs. Armenia: We had so much possession in the first 45 minutes but couldn't score or generate clear chances - Reus got injured, Müller switched to the right side, Klose came in as main striker and Podolski had room on the left side to drive into the penalty area. The game changed immediately and we scored 6 goals in the second half.


At the end of the day, I think we have the best team alongside Spain and Brazil. I think Brazil won't handle the pressure and I seem them struggling. If we don't win it, it'll be Spain again (and I'll hate it ).

 

[Hank Chinaski]

Aww yeah. Here are my predictions (for anyone that cares):

GROUP A
Brazil
Cameroon
Croatia
Mexico

-this would have been a group of death years ago, but Mexico and Cameroon were brutal in qualifiers, meanwhile Croatia has one of their weakest squads in quite awhile. Second spot is up for grabs.

GROUP B
Spain
Chile
Netherlands
Australia

-hard for me to pick against my favourite team, but I think the Dutch are hooped in this group. Spain is Spain, and Chile has become a powerhouse.

GROUP C
Ivory Coast
Japan
Colombia
Greece

-Probably the weakest group in the tournament. Colombia looked like the favourites going in, but they're not the same team without Falcao.

GROUP D
Uruguay
Italy
England
Costa Rica

-Italy traditionally starts slow in the group stage, but I think they'll do just enough to progress. Both them and Uruguay are a cut above England.

GROUP E
Ecuador
France
Switzerland
Honduras

-I'm pegging Ecuador as the surprise team of the group stage. Anyone but boring Switzerland.

GROUP F
Argentina
Nigeria
Bosnia-H'govina
Iran

-I'm rooting hard for Bosnia to progress, but I think Nigeria is just a bit better. Argentina should steamroll this group with relative ease.

GROUP G
Germany
Portugal
Ghana
United States

-I'd like Ghana's chances of progressing in just about any other group, but I just don't see them getting past Portugal. It's going to be fun watching the USA get curb-stomped.

GROUP H
South Korea
Belgium
Russia
Algeria

-The most wide-open group in the tournament. Belgium are the favourites, but I wonder if their inexperience might show. South Korea is such a fun team to watch, so they're going to be my sentimental pick to win the group.

ROUND OF 16
Brazil over Chile
Spain over Cameroon
Italy over Ivory Coast
Uruguay over Japan
Ecuador over Nigeria
Argentina over France
Germany over Belgium
Portugal over South Korea

QUARTERFINALS
Brazil over Italy
Uruguay over Spain
Germany over Ecuador
Argentina over Portugal

SEMIFINALS
Argentina over Uruguay
Germany over Brazil

FINAL
Germany over Argentina

 

[garret9]

@GJF

Klose must be getting on in years.
Isn't he 35?

 

[garret9]

Tactics and stats in soccer?

"Iverting the Pyramid" by Jonathan Wilson

and

zonalmarking.net

And you're covered.

I checked the website briefly.
Neat stuff.

Still, one sport of fancystats is enough for me.

I will stick to just hockey haha. Not enough energy for me ha.

 

[Romang67]

So, it's not England's year this year either then?