Football Fanats 2014 - The year of World Cup

[Akoss Poo a.k.a. Zorromeister]

1 Netherlands: impressive against Spain, but then they were rather suffering... still, they beat a big gun, I can rate them high

2 Brazil: suffering so far, but a very strong team and they are playing on home grass... well, they didn't meet any top teams so far, so they didn't need their top form so far

3 France: very impressive, which is very surprising after their qualification...  looked a bit impotent against Ecuador

4 Belgium: after a good qualification (which surprised me... they were not a top seed there), they started slowly... unlike Bosnians, they managed to score important goals and the refs did not take away from them... but against the USA, which team caused problems even for better teams, they were very impressive... creating many chances despite wasting them

5 Argentina: scored goals only when they really needed... not a brilliant performance so far, but they have a strong team, too

6 Germany: they can call them lucky to be there without any problems... shining bright against out-of-form Portugal, but them suffering against weaker teams, and not only on one match...

... Colombia, Costa Rica: they can be happy to be there... if the WCH weren't in Latin America, they would already been eliminated in the group stage... one more thing: their opponents were totally out of form...

[alanrotoi]

Remember Colombia is here without Falcao (the best colombian player.) They must be very motivated right now. The best teams right now are Germany, France and Colombia but of course the other teams have stars like Robben, Messi and Neymar (plus Brazil plays at home) so you never know what about them.

Only who were 1st in their groups are now in quarterfinal.

[Duplode]

Any public tip?

France - Germany 2-2 (3-5 on penalties) : ...at the end, the Germans always win.

Brazil - Colombia 1-2 : Too many things can go wrong. Cuadrado will run rampant through Alves and Marcelo, Rodríguez's presence will even out Neymar's, and the Brazilian squad appears to be, after a long while, starting to wither under the expectations.

Argentina - Belgium 1-0 : While Begium did much better against the USA than in the group stage, the onslaught only truly began after the hour mark, around the time Mirallas was brought in. If they waste any time before showing their true colours they will be setting themselves up for yet another Messi miracle. (Then again, I predicted something similar before the USA game...)

Netherlands - Costa Rica 2-0 :  Costa Rica are unlucky to face the one team demonstrably capable of a clinical performance. They will not go down without a fight, though.

The first three matches are too close to call. Except perhaps for Costa Rica, it is easy to see any of the teams winning the title.

[Chulk]

I'll join public tipping.

I also preddicted a 2-2 draw between France and Germany, with Germany winning the penalties thanks to the huge advantage they have regarding GK skills

Same as DD too, I went for a Colombian 2-1 victory. The strongest TEAM with one of the best players as of today's form has an edge over a Brazilian squad that lacks a strong defense (contrary to common belief before the cup started), lacks creative midfielders and depends more than it should on Neymar Jr and Hulk (to a less extent).

Argentina 4-2: Considering Belgium doesn't know how to play defensively, they'll do what they are best at: full field pressure, dynamic attack focusing on the sides and fast pace. This will leave a lot of room for Argentina to do what they are best at: counter-attacking at full speed with Di Maria, Higuan, Messi and Palacio/Lavezzi. Two GK that are in good form, two defenses that could be better, the difference will come due to forwards skills, Messi, Higuain, Di Maria, Palacio/Lavezzi being better (and more used to playing important games in a yearly bassis) than Origi, Hazard, De Bruyne, Meertens/Mirallas.

Last but not least, I think Costa Rica has given all they had. They were exhausted after last match and The Neds weren't. The Netherlands will take advantage of it with their usual long passes ti exploit Robben's, Van Persie's or Depay's speed. Dutch victory 3-1.

[alanrotoi]

BTW Diego Milito is already a Racing Club player

[CTG]

Now I understand what happened to Honvéd last year...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x9bAmKR8cQ

[Akoss Poo a.k.a. Zorromeister]

Weak, boring match... but really... no-one of you thought that the German team would beat the French before the penalty shootout?

[alanrotoi]

Yeah I guessed a boring match til penalty kicks.
LQR 1 - Sylvain Chabert 0

[Chulk]

Weak, boring match... but really... no-one of you thought that the German team would beat the French before the penalty shootout?

It's obvious none of us did.

I expected Germany to suffer defensively like they did versus Algeria but they were solid today. On the offensive end, Germany did very little and won on a free kick play so it isn't that we didn't think of the obvious outcome anyway.
French coach is a pussy! Never really thought of making an offensive minded susbtitution even when he was being knocked out...

[CTG]

no-one of you thought that the German team would beat the French before the penalty shootout?

I can't trust in a German team full of falafels and niggers.

[Akoss Poo a.k.a. Zorromeister]

no-one of you thought that the German team would beat the French before the penalty shootout?

I can't trust in a German team full of falafels and niggers.

Maybe it's not about them, but their lobby and the will of the football mafia. You should have known that. Germany is a good sport diplomacy nation. See handball WCHs...

[CTG]

I should play a world cup in EA FIFA whatever instead.

[CTG]

LOL! 

[alanrotoi]

Francisco is from my neighborhood (Flores). He lived 3 blocks from here.
I live in the blue dot and Francisco lived in the red dot.

[Chulk]

Looking at the poll I can say we (as a community) got the TOP4 right.