Author Topic: Soccer World Cup 2014 (Read 22,366 times)

mouser · « **on:** June 08, 2014, 02:33 PM »

The 2014 World Cup of Soccer (or football to those of you outside of the US) starts this month -- it's the only sport I ever watch.
Anyone else going to watch?

ps.
20 World Cup goals that changed history: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/06/06/20-world-cup-goals-that-changed-history/?hpid=z4

tomos · « **Reply #1 on:** June 08, 2014, 09:24 PM »

Quote from: mouser on June 08, 2014, 02:33 PM

Anyone else going to watch?

You betcha

Brazil didnt look too impressive in their warmup game. Germany did, FWIW. Havent seen any other teams lately. Hope everything runs smoothly in Brazil...

nosh · « **Reply #2 on:** June 08, 2014, 09:41 PM »

I'll be watching though the timezone difference is a bit crazy - lots of matches airing at 3:30 AM. I've already tried around 6 different iPad apps to go with the games. #geek

Germany looked very impressive - they started somewhat slow and then it was like they suddenly figured out the Armenian players had zero mass and they could just pass the ball through them at will. No fun really when that happens.
When it comes to individual players Cristiano Ronaldo is one heck of a specimen - always awesome to watch!

rgdot · « **Reply #3 on:** June 08, 2014, 10:52 PM »

Will be watching

emphasis mine

mouser · « **Reply #4 on:** June 10, 2014, 09:20 PM »

Guide to streaming the world cup:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/soccer-insider/wp/2014/06/09/streaming-the-world-cup/?hpid=z2

tomos · « **Reply #5 on:** June 12, 2014, 08:43 PM »

Exciting opening match:
40 minutes down -
Croatia 1 : Brazil 1

mouser · « **Reply #6 on:** June 14, 2014, 12:32 AM »

Holy cow today (fri jun 13, 2014) was a fantastic day of soccer. Beautiful goals by the Netherlands and Chile teams.

Josh · « **Reply #7 on:** June 14, 2014, 12:46 AM »

And now for the piece of software that will change the way we pick a winner: World Cup Predictor

mouser · « **Reply #8 on:** June 14, 2014, 12:57 AM »

We updated it for a couple of years, then there seemed little point to updating it -- no one was using it and by now there must be similar tools that have fancier GUIs.

Renegade · « **Reply #9 on:** June 14, 2014, 02:54 AM »

Quote from: mouser on June 08, 2014, 02:33 PM

Anyone else going to watch?

The games? No. The riots? Maybe.

lanux128 · « **Reply #10 on:** June 15, 2014, 02:47 AM »

for quick updates, just type 'fifa 2014' into google!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

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nosh · « **Reply #11 on:** June 21, 2014, 10:34 PM »

I've been rooting for Germany from the get-go. Today's match was a _complete_ nail-biter... hope you guys caught it.
SO glad Klose equalized in the end or it would have been embarrassing, to say the least. I tend to be pretty obnoxious in my pre-match smack talk... would have had to eat a large portion of humble pie had Germany lost.

tomos · « **Reply #12 on:** June 21, 2014, 10:44 PM »

Quote from: nosh on June 21, 2014, 10:34 PM

I've been rooting for Germany from the get-go. Today's match was a _complete_ nail-biter... hope you guys caught it.
SO glad Klose equalized in the end or it would have been embarrassing, to say the least. I tend to be pretty obnoxious in my pre-match smack talk... would have had to eat a large portion of humble pie had Germany lost.

yeah, they recovered well from their bad patch thankfully

But Ghana played really great :thmbsup:
Seen a few really exciting games by now, but that was one of the best.

Spain and England out

Italy looking shakey.
Havent seen any team yet that looks like a clear favourite. Which makes it all the more interesting to see what'll happen

40hz · « **Reply #13 on:** June 22, 2014, 03:57 AM »

Much as I've tried, I just can't get into soccer.

Or watching any sporting event on TV for that matter.

Wish I could sometimes. But there you have it.

Anybody else have this same problem?

skwire · « **Reply #14 on:** June 22, 2014, 04:32 AM »

The second half of the Germany/Ghana game was great and I'm sure neither side is happy with the draw. However, the upset of the day (tourney?) would have been Iran drawing with Argentina had Messi not saved Argentina's collective asses in the 91st minute. Neither of those two teams is among my favs so I tend to root for the underdogs in those situations. I was really hoping that Iran could have pulled it off just to witness Argentina's reaction.

nosh · « **Reply #15 on:** June 22, 2014, 06:46 AM »

40, I can identify. I feel that way about most popular sports. Cricket is one of the most boring sports ever invented and the level one is exposed to it here is, literally, nauseating.

I can get into tennis and atheletics in addition to soccer. The more I understand the intricacies of a sport, the more I tend to like it. And there's nothing like a (small, friendly) wager to really fire up the interest level for an event.

Quote

Spain and England out

England was out before Germany had even played its second game. (Ouch!)
Guess Portugal is on its way out too? Lots of big name causalities. Brazil have been rather lackluster too, esp. considering the home advantage. I'm hoping they don't manage to step it up in the later stages, though that would make for some amazing matches.

Quote

I was really hoping that Iran could have pulled it off just to witness Argentina's reaction

- there you go 40, yet another reason to get into these things... schadenfreude. GO, GERMANY!!

mouser · « **Reply #16 on:** June 22, 2014, 10:40 AM »

The play at this world cup has been consistently exciting -- well beyond the last couple world cups, imho. Great stuff.

tomos · « **Reply #17 on:** June 22, 2014, 10:51 AM »

^agreed

I was trying to find a match schedule based around each group as opposed to an overview.
This one from the Telegraph is good, it's actually a 'predictor':

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10501412/World-Cup-2014-Wallchart-Predictor-Game.html

this one below is a lot more interesting though - http://rasenball.com/ - it's interactive (html5) and seems to have everything you could want:

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http://rasenball.com/

mouser · « **Reply #18 on:** June 22, 2014, 10:53 AM »

Nice finds -- thanks for sharing those.

Giampy · « **Reply #19 on:** June 25, 2014, 12:06 PM »

"They cooked us in 90 minutes"

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superboyac · « **Reply #20 on:** June 25, 2014, 05:37 PM »

Quote from: 40hz on June 22, 2014, 03:57 AM

Much as I've tried, I just can't get into soccer.

Or watching any sporting event on TV for that matter.

Wish I could sometimes. But there you have it.

Anybody else have this same problem?

Me too.
Watching Sports feels old-fashioned to me, like listening to the radio in the living room.
A while back, I said basketball would be more interesting to me if HBO took it over and showed games with just a mic'd building. SO you hear the players, coaches, fans (hopefully not the arena music/fx). And not that fake stuff where the mic the coach and he knows it so when the tv comes on him he says some generic coaching cliche. i want to hear the real stuff.

I went to a Laker game last year...people laugh. I didn't even watch the game. I watched, through binoculars, the coaches, the play by play announcer, officials. It was fascinating. You know those huddles? Well, they only do that in the 4th quarter when the tv camera is on them. In non-televised timeouts, the players just sit and don't talk. Even funnier...the coaches don't talk either! people just sit and stand around. that stuff is largely for show.

So as you can see, I'm more interested now in how the mechanisms of the sports works. the game itself is not as interesting.

nosh · « **Reply #21 on:** June 25, 2014, 09:15 PM »

Quote from: Giampy on June 25, 2014, 12:06 PM

"They cooked us in 90 minutes"

So sad to see Pirlo's WC end.

wraith808 · « **Reply #22 on:** June 26, 2014, 06:27 PM »

So the U.S. won, tied, lost, and advanced? I will never make fun of American football again.

tomos · « **Reply #23 on:** June 26, 2014, 09:13 PM »

Quote from: wraith808 on June 26, 2014, 06:27 PM

So the U.S. won, tied, lost, and advanced? I will never make fun of American football again.

now it gets serious though

Shades · « **Reply #24 on:** June 27, 2014, 01:45 AM »

Quote from: wraith808 on June 26, 2014, 06:27 PM

So the U.S. won, tied, lost, and advanced? I will never make fun of American football again.

If you'd ask me (and I know no-one did), in every tournament it is important to score as much points as you can all the time, while your opponent(s) don't. However, if more than one team has to same score at the end of the pool and only one of them is allowed to advance, then the team that has been able to score the most in all of the previous tournament games will be allowed to continue.

Not nearly as convoluted a rule set than what American Football subjects you to. And if that doesn't make sense...then you should wonder why American Football is only popular in the US. And it is not that Europe didn't try to start a American Football League. It is just that tickets were expensive, teams have way too much low-profile players to "connect" and so, so many rules...that it became a drag to sit through a game and that can only last so long.

To me it appears that American Football is much more about destroying the opponent mentally and physically (preferably both), not about two groups of talented players that want to have a good/great game. And with the easy accessible game of soccer (in comparison) I think it isn't weird that soccer is played by much more people globally. And for those outside the US that are into full contact team sports, there is rugby.

Not to dis the players or the sport, American Football sure requires skill, stamina and perseverance. It is just not sufficiently "dressed" to appeal to anywhere else than the US.

Then again, what do I know, I ain't a big sports fan. The only exceptions are Formula 1 + MotoGP + world cup soccer.