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It's Carnival Time! - The WORLD CUP FINALS 2014.

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  • Sammm04Sammm04
    Posts: 479
    jobo wrote: »
    WillyGalore wrote: »
    Saying that Champions League is bigger than the World Cup, apart from being absolutely mental, is akin to saying Diamond League meets in Athletics are bigger than the Olympics.

    The World Cup is the pinnacle of achievement in football.

    It's the pinnacle in terms of prestige and spectacle, yes. Not in level and general quality. European club teams will always have the upper hand in terms quality personel, and they are far better organized, cohesive and well drilled as they have the luxury of training together every week.

    Would a semifanalist in the CL play with Fred and Hulk up front? Gago and Biglia in midfield? Demichelis (to be fair he's actually had a great tournament, but who on earth could have anticipated that?) and Martins Indi? No. They would have used the money necessary to invest in a world class player where required, recruiting from any corner of the globe.

    Would any world cup team be able to field Ronaldo, Benzema, Bale, Di Maria and Modric together? Would any World Cup team be able to match At Madrids brilliantly organized and cohesive defence? Of course not! The two last WC winners are those who had the possibility to base their team on a club side of the highest level: Spain - Barcelona, Germany - Bayern.

    Football as all other sports has evolved. The WC has kept it's status, but is no longer the tournament with the highest quality. Do I need to elaborate more?

    Quality is not measured on paper, but on the field. National teams, whilst I agree many will lose to top notch European football teams, play a much better brand of football, and many varying types of football, which makes the quality better. Just because the European Cup has better teams on paper, does not mean it has a higher quality of football.

  • OtisFairplayOtisFairplay
    Posts: 45
    A proper end to a highly entertaining tournament. Per usual, I found the group stages most fun but the final rounds had more than their share of drama, craziness and flashes of brilliance to keep my attention. It was refreshing to see less inspired European teams sent home early in favour of more energetic and impressive combatants from Latin and South America and overall I think most games showcased great skills and spirit. Of course I would have liked to see my native Sweden join the fun but frankly: apart from a possible class goal by Ibrahimovic it’s hard to see what our team could bring to the party but some comic relief and an early exit.

    However, in spite of all the great performances on the field I think the image that will resonate in my memory is that of David Luiz and Julio Cesar holding up the shirt of Neymar during the Brazilian anthem prior to the semi-final. So brave, so loyal, so determined, so strong in their camaraderie, so proud, so emotional and so very, very oblivious.

    The best World Cup in some time as far as I’m concerned, in spite of any misgivings I might have regarding FIFA. I hope the Brazilian hosts share the sentiment.
  • jobojobo
    edited July 2014 Posts: 7,500
    European club football is better both on paper and in practice. They have more solid teams with less weak positions, if any... And they are far more well drilled for such obvious reasons that I really shouldn't need to state them again. I'm actually slightly perplexed I have to Even debate this, considering it's a pretty obvious conclution... And I'm certainly not the first person to bring this up. Not Even in the slightest...

    @Samm04: "National teams play a much better Brand of football". Well, talk about the need to elaborate... ;))
  • 00130013
    Posts: 1,817
    Did anyone here believes that Neuer deserved the Golden Glove? Many people in my country wanted Navas to win it, of course. I do also, but at the end FIFA choices are guided more by economics and politics than by skills and performance.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Congratulations to Germany.

    But it is just a football tournament, you know. Not a war.
  • SaintMarkSaintMark
    Posts: 7,653
    0013 wrote: »
    Did anyone here believes that Neuer deserved the Golden Glove? Many people in my country wanted Navas to win it, of course. I do also, but at the end FIFA choices are guided more by economics and politics than by skills and performance.

    Neuer. I can believe he is actually one of the better goalkeepers of Europe and showed that as well in the tournament. It is nice playing a game with this man in the goal.

    Navas was good too but in the end he did not get to the finals.

    This is one of the choices of the FIFA I can actually agree with.
  • DoctorKaufmannDoctorKaufmann Can shoot you from Stuttgart and still make it look like suicide.
    Posts: 1,261
    WillyGalore wrote: »
    Er, @DoctorKaufmann you do realise Daniel Passarella captained Argentina to the 1978 World Cup?

    Yes, I do. OMG, Lothar Matthäus as well?
    Kerim wrote: »
    Also, Diego Maradona won't be present due to the huge line he encountered at his hotel.

    :) =))
    Thanks, Kerim. That just made my (Sun)day!
  • DoctorKaufmannDoctorKaufmann Can shoot you from Stuttgart and still make it look like suicide.
    Posts: 1,261
    Kerim wrote: »
    The Eastern part of Germany is a few minutes away from enjoying their first World Cup championship.

    True. But in the public notion and the media this just went unnoticed. Maybe because people got used to it after all those years (yes, 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down - and David Hasselhoff still believes, his singing made that thing collapse).

  • WillyGaloreWillyGalore
    Posts: 6,396
    DoctorKaufmann wrote: »
    Kerim wrote: »
    The Eastern part of Germany is a few minutes away from enjoying their first World Cup championship.

    True. But in the public notion and the media this just went unnoticed. Maybe because people got used to it after all those years (yes, 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down - and David Hasselhoff still believes, his singing made that thing collapse).

    And caused several thousand windows and mirrors to shatter as well. ;-)
  • RogueAgentRogueAgent
    Posts: 12,506
    Well? See you all in Russia Comrades!!! Ready for another England meltdown! >:)
  • Sammm04Sammm04
    Posts: 479
    Hopefully Russia won't resort to dirty tactics, use the referees to win games, (this is probably very likely though) scrape by every game whilst the media still sticks its you know what straight up their ass and have fans who expect too much from their team, whilst also being disrespectful (lost all respect for Brazil fans when they booed the Chilean National Anthem).
  • DoctorKaufmannDoctorKaufmann Can shoot you from Stuttgart and still make it look like suicide.
    Posts: 1,261
    WillyGalore wrote: »
    DoctorKaufmann wrote: »
    Kerim wrote: »
    The Eastern part of Germany is a few minutes away from enjoying their first World Cup championship.

    True. But in the public notion and the media this just went unnoticed. Maybe because people got used to it after all those years (yes, 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down - and David Hasselhoff still believes, his singing made that thing collapse).

    And caused several thousand windows and mirrors to shatter as well. ;-)

    We are talking about houses and whole streets. Not to mention the people who became deaf as a result.

    ;) ;)
  • mirandafrostmirandafrost
    edited July 2014 Posts: 368
    The day of the World Cup final was just amazing!! After we had won the Wc everyone partied. I went to a party in the main street afterwards and it was just fantastic. German flags everywhere and everyone was happy. I'll never forget it. First time I witnessed a German victory! :)
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,459
    Good for you! :) I would have loved to have been in Germany to celebrate. I was rooting for them, and it was a great winning goal.
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,570
    Thank you to everyone for contributing to a fine and entertaining World Cup thread. I think it can be closed now. Football will continue to be discussed in the normal thread.

    Congratulations to Germany.

This discussion has been closed.