I hope Germany will destroy them. germany has been playing very good and attractive football since 2006 (Klinsmann), so they really deserve a title. Also, they've been impressive this tournament, especially of course this last match.
Anyway, tonight's match was pretty poor from both sides. Defense was good, but the Holland players didn't dare to take their shots at goal, instead constantly trying to feed Robben or Van Persie instead with a through ball or long ball.
Clasie and Wijnaldum and a couple of other players came in good shooting positions, but they just didn't go for it. Almost as if they were too scared to go for their own glory, for fear of being shouted at by team mates if they missed.
Van Persie was absolutely terrible once again. He fails every tournament. Piss-poor. Huntelaar should always have been our nr. 1 striker.
boring match. neither team look like world champion material. repeating the same tactics that dont work for 2 hours. really? clearly they werent thinking. playing it safe.
i think its clear to say that this was by far the most boring match of world cup 2014.
FRA vs GER wasnt the most exciting match but that got done in 90 minutes and we had one highlight to show for it. this match takes the cake coz we had to sit through 2 hours of the same repetitive tactics. it would be a different story if the score was 0-0 but we were all raving about how great the defence was, making great saves throughout the match, clearing off the line, that type of stuff but nope, cant even talk about that unless the robben chance in the 80-something minute did it for you.
Pretty much called this, Argentina were superior throughout with only 1 chance for The Nederlands blocked by Mascherano, 10/10 performance by him in my opinion.
The Dutch have slowed down since beating Spain, barely got passed Costa Rica. So both teams that beat Spain didn't make it all the way + Brazil got Mullered too. :)
Messi for World Cup glory, would be fantastic to see. Germany have crumbled before, could easily happen again on Sunday.
Argentina were hardly 'superior', rather both teams were underwhelming and lacked the quality of a World Champion team. There is a reason why it went to penalties, and that's because neither team was 'superior'
Argentina created more chances, had more shots and more importantly, more on target. The Nederlands took 99 minutes to get a shot on target against Romero. Robben had a 3rd of ball touches when compared with Messi. The Dutch played a very defensive game, even though they had more ball control.
Perez was wiped-out in the 2nd half running on goal, no card. Messi chopped down several times, only Vlaar got near him with clear tackles. Jordy Clasie virtually pushed him every time instead of winning the ball. Vlaar essentially tried a rugby tackle on Higuaín to stop him from keeping the ball in play near the far corner (Kuyt's wing).
Both teams had their moments, I'd still say the Dutch were more dirty.
Fair result however you slice it. Argentina wanted it more, whilst The Nederlands played with the ball more and yet created near half the chances.
There's a difference between failed tackles and malicious intent.
Look at the gifs I posted - both show clear cases of Argentine players attacking the Dutch players, rather than the ball. The player attacking Sneijder had his eyes on Sneijder's leg, not the ball. Knocking the ball out of the goal keepers hands was also completely unnecessary. It's poor sportmanship, plain and simple.
It was like they were playing mirrors of each other. None of their star players stood out either. Was a tense game but at times boring game, neither wanting to make a mistake. What about that tackle from Mascherano to block Robbens shot in the last minutes though? Unbelievable covering back. http://gfycat.com/OblongJoy...
Anyways, Argentina are the big underdogs going into the final. Wonder if Germany will play it tight on Messi like every other team has; he always has two players on top of him whenever he gets the ball. Would love to see him lift the WC, although it's going to be seriously tough to do that against the Germans.
Germany is the more complete team, they "deserve" their title, but you never know with this sport. Argentina's defense has surprised me, they have contained a Dutch offense. If Argentina can set the pace of the final, like they've done with every match, they can maybe lean on moment of brilliance. It will be extremely difficult to contain them, but I'm hoping they do. I'm tired of hearing people say Argentina will get raped.
Yeah Argentina's defense has been surprising. For starters Mascherano hasn't been much of a wild man and has contained himself. Garay has been decent and I really have no complaints with Rojo or Zabaleta.
I'm afraid Argentina have an uphill battle if they want to seriously content with Germany.
boring match.
neither team look like world champion material.
repeating the same tactics that dont work for 2 hours. really? clearly they werent thinking.
playing it safe.
i think its clear to say that this was by far the most boring match of world cup 2014.
Pretty much called this, Argentina were superior throughout with only 1 chance for The Nederlands blocked by Mascherano, 10/10 performance by him in my opinion.
The Dutch have slowed down since beating Spain, barely got passed Costa Rica. So both teams that beat Spain didn't make it all the way + Brazil got Mullered too. :)
Messi for World Cup glory, would be fantastic to see. Germany have crumbled before, could easily happen again on Sunday.
Such a disparity between the two semis, as an Englishman this is the worst possible final!
It was like they were playing mirrors of each other. None of their star players stood out either. Was a tense game but at times boring game, neither wanting to make a mistake. What about that tackle from Mascherano to block Robbens shot in the last minutes though? Unbelievable covering back. http://gfycat.com/OblongJoy...
Anyways, Argentina are the big underdogs going into the final. Wonder if Germany will play it tight on Messi like every other team has; he always has two players on top of him whenever he gets the ball. Would love to see him lift the WC, although it's going to be seriously tough to do that against the Germans.