Yeah, to lose the ball like that in the dying seconds of the game... That can potentially cost them the 1/8 by goal diffrence if they lose to Germany and Ghana beats Portugal.

Portugal will need a miracle so they are probably out anyway. Don't know how fit he's but besides that assist cross, Ronaldo was very poor, especially in the second half.

4 Portugal players around him, just boot it anywhere.

First half he was good, 2nd half he was very wasteful. Probably assist of the tournament though both in quality and importance.

I would have preferred having Zlatan.

Just when I was going to be so scathing on Ronaldo, who to be fair isn't fully fit. He produces that cross, as good as a goal to be honest, on a platter. It's not completely out of the question to see the goal swing.

However, Portugal look awful, Nani is an incredibly average player. Ronaldo just seems to get frustrated with what is around him. Moutinho/Meireles have been awfully disappointing too.

Been a fantastic group to watch for neutrals though.

Too bad Ronaldo isn't in the form he was in when they played Sweden.

The players Portugal have all range from average to mediocre, Ronaldo can't do it on his own, especially when it's very obvious that he's not all quite there.

No excuse. Suarez was in surgery 4 weeks ago. You don't have to be fully fit to make a difference. And Ronaldo just stank last night bar that one killer cross. Which...made said difference.

Ronaldo calling his NT poor and disrespecting his teammates. Well, we all know Portugal are not the strongest of teams participating, but FFS show some respect. Portugal is a proud nation and their NT did their best given, that is all that the team could have done.

Messi, the world's best IMHO does not have this attitude. Even when Argentina, who's nation believe they are favorites in several additions of the WC, did not criticize and disrespect his team mates the way Ronaldo did. Humble and showed respect even when they got knocked out.

Even if Argentina get knocked out, I would be very surprised if Messi came out 'to save face' and blamed this that and the other, the way Ronaldo did.

With that out of the way ... I can see Brazil, Germany and Italy in the latter stages of the competition.

Harsh tbh. He was just being honest. Portugal ARE average. At no point did he exclude himself from it - he said 'maybe we're an average team'. He didn't say 'I'm better than the rest of them'.

Compare that with Gerrard coming out slating Uruguay for being 'disruptive' then attacking Redknapp to name and shame the players he claims don't want to play for England.

As for Messi, he's not exactly little Mr Angel Gracious Perfect himself with the media:

How was Ronaldo having a go at his team mates? He just said maybe Portugal are an average team. I know I support him but I'd be supporting Messi if someone claimed that as being arrogant and calling out his team mates. I just think people look for anything with Cristiano to criticise. If he said we're a great team people would be calling him egotistical too.

I've been away for some time on a trip, so couldn't catch up with the talk here.

But,..how do you guys look at the WC so far? To be honest, I find it quite puzzling. No team really convincing or impressing, not even looking especially strong.

Hmh, I remember you praising Veloso and Moutinho not long ago.

Hope you had a pleasant time, my friend.


Eh, I'd put the Netherlands in good company, though. Only them Not overly convincing, but they have shown strong character. Even if it is only because of a few individuals. Not sure how far this will take them, but I agree, this World Cup is very open. And part of that is because of the diminished statures of some big teams.

No European team has ever won in South America, it's as if that hoodoo is playing a part here with Spain, England and almost certainly Portugal and possibly Italy crashing out this quick.

That said, Argentina have been poor, very poor.

As for overall - love it. Been a very entertaining world cup with the odd dud match now and again.

That's the point though. Suarez has had surgery to fix his problem. Ronaldo needs surgery, but has been playing far too many important games to have the time to get it done.

Playing with injury pre-surgery is far, far more difficult than playing afterwards. I've had surgery on my ankle and knee, I don't even know how these people play on it before they get surgery to be honest. Afterwards isn't difficult at all, it's just match fitness.

Neymar, 1-0.

1-1.

Neymar, 2-1. Good for my fantasy team.

Why are some players so good Internationally and then not for their club? Football is weird.

In Neymar's case because Messi owns Barca, and Neymar is just a cog. For his country Neymar is the main man and holy f*ck did he play well in that first half.

That was the individual display of the world cup so far.

Yeah, I really liked Veloso a few years back, but he has really regressed rather than progressed in the last few years or so. Moutinho I still personally rate, but he's not someone that will carry a team and will more than likely be pulled into the mediocrity if he doesn't have a great team around him

Cameroon falling apart now, they've been terrible throughout this tournament bar that first half


Neymar has really reformed me into a believer after watching him in these 3 games

and that's where Neymar lets himself down. Trying stupid skill that really doesn't achieve anything. Ronaldo and Ronaldinho's skills were for the most part a part of the actual game rather than just being silly.

Should have been penalty for Mexico.

Pletikosa has been abyssmal for Croatia in this WC.

2-0, game over.

Indeed. We need a few changes, I'm really pissed how this one went south.

Neymar in no way let himself down. He was absolutely brilliant tonight.

Will be interesting to see Mexico vs Holland in the 1/8, both teams are in top shape and fun to watch.
Mexico's coach has so much energy, he went bananas after they scored

BTW, it's still early but so far this is definitely the best WC I've seen (1990 was my first).

1/16

His Brazil stats are pretty amazing. Already scored 35 goals for them and he's just 22 y.o. Pele's record of 77 is still far but possible if he stays healthy (Ronaldo was on the same pace as Neymar at his age but finished with "just" 62 because of injuries).

Exactly, we were looking at closer to 100 had he stayed injury free, and played matches. It is worth remembering that he was not called all that often for Brazil NT duty during friendlies and qualifications. In fact, back in 2002, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo were only called up when Brazil was risking missing out from qualification.

Obviously, the three sealed the deal for the finals, but yeah, Neymar seems to be doing very well.

I meant the instance at where I typed that. Brazil where in a great position and he tries stupid skill which puts the ball out of play, why not just put the ball in, it was a good opportunity?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_spot/2014/0..._world_cup.html

Should be a great game. A much better line up compared to Costa Rica disaster.

No Abate. Good.

That guy's the main reason why I want Mexico out. Can't stand him. What professional coach acts like a deranged chimpanzee? Embarrassing.



Yep, really looking forward to it.

I feel like so far, Prandelli has been trying to be too smart for his own good. The defensive disaster against England, the botched line-up against Costa Rica. It's just been bad so far.

I'm not too sure about DS though, he's been struggling so much, even in the warm up friendlies.

@ Fillipo, Abate was great defensively against Costa Rica, no he didn't provide anything going forward, but I can only assume that he had specific instructions not to do that while the team pushed up because of the counter, I counted 4 instances where Abate recovered the ball in what could have been great counter attacking opportunities for Costa Rica. The goal came from defensive mistakes made by Chiellini and Darmian

Btw, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Depay in this thread, he's been one of the most impressive players imo. And not just because of his goals. I really like him, why can't Milan look at talent like him?

I saw him. He plays in the exact same position as El Sharaawy. Only thing he's got that SeS doesn't is a long shot. I like SeS for his workrate.

When you buy a young player, you must play him. Otherwise it's a wasted investment. I don't see Depay walking into our first XI.

I'll probably scream louder for Uruguay tonight than I did V England.

It doesn't let him down. He wouldn't do it at 0-0. The game was already won. He just showboated and I think given the stellar match he'd put in where he basically won the whole f*ckin' thing for Brazil he was kinda entitled to 'let his hair down'.

Yes, I like Neymar.

It's Abate. You can say anything bad about him and it'll always be justified for some reason.



And I hope you sit in a corner and never talk when Italy make it through.

Oh he talks. He rants. He rages. Those of us who follow him on twitter plug our ears.

Please, Abate was bad. Take a look:











Take a look at Gazzetta and Corriere as well. I think no one can agree with you assessment.


Because all the good players go different way? Because we've had the Seedorf dispute? Because we don't have money?

And you even ask? Sure, the kid looks good. He'll probably join City, United, Wolfsburg or another club. Can't see us going for him. All we can do is try signing players who flop at the WC.

And btw., Depay is good, but I really like Daley Blind. Playing on the left, doing good both offensively and defensively. He's should be great investment if he proves to be stable and consistent.

^^^^

All that Fillipo, and yet it was Chiellini and Darmian that made the error on the goal, and it was Chiellini who kept making horrible back passes and positional errors. At one point a few minutes before the goal he went out next to Darmian to try and win the ball and left the player in the centre all on his own to put in a free header which luckily went just wide.

Had Abate not intervened when Costa Rica broke on his side Italy could have ended up doing what Uruguay did.

Yes, he didn't offer anything in attack and he had a few cagey moments due to lack of playing time in the last few months, but he was far from being the bad one in that defence, or in that entire team out there against Costa Rica, that's for sure

You just like Abate a lot. It seems everyone on here, the Milan fans I know on another forum and Italy fans all over twitter don't want to see him play again.

Sitting back as a full back encourages the winger to attack you. Pushing forward keeps him pinned in his own half, so it's not a counter thing.

So now that we found established that Abate had a bad performance and not a "great defensively" performances as you suggested, your defense is that Chiellini and a green Darmian were even worse? Oh, come on!

Abate was poor, so was Darmian and Chiellini especially. The difference is, Darmian was actually good while playing on the right and MDS should get the nod left. Chiellini may have been piss poor, but I still trust him. Abate? Italy have different options to cover that position and I fail to see why you keep clinging on this guy like he's a defensive master.

Count me out. Huge fan of Abate. But he's another who was horrendously treated by Seedorf and he lost his way thanks to it. Both he and DS have been absolutely ruined.

But I have my own reasons for not wanting him to play tonight.

I want more Suarez tears. Liverpool throwing the title away isn't enough. BRING ME THOSE TEARS ITALY!

Just wanted to say (coming out of hiatus!) that it's amazing the length you'll go to when you don't like a player.

Neymar is one of my favourite players at the World Cup.

God forbid I don't follow players to ridiculous fanboy lengths though when they do things I don't like. I said Ronaldo had a crap game v Germany and crap 2nd half v USA. I guess I don't like Ronaldo either.

How is the game looking? (No TV access ...)