Withnail
Well-Known Forumite
I said:
Well that seems to have worked.
I'll be rooting for Nigeria and Algeria, so France and Germany seems a safe bet.
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World Cup 2014
- Thread starter Withnail
- Start date
Well that seems to have worked.
I'll be rooting for Nigeria and Algeria, so France and Germany seems a safe bet.
number9
Well-Known Forumite
this tournament is the best one I have seen.
Belgium have to improve if they're going to win it for me, but so do the other teams left in. the way some of the teams played that have just gone out should be proud of their achievements. they played as a team, as a squad, with passion and commitment. something that England lacks for one reason or another.
the next rounds i'll go
Columbia
France
Costa Rica
Belgium
Belgium have to improve if they're going to win it for me, but so do the other teams left in. the way some of the teams played that have just gone out should be proud of their achievements. they played as a team, as a squad, with passion and commitment. something that England lacks for one reason or another.
the next rounds i'll go
Columbia
France
Costa Rica
Belgium
Withnail
Well-Known Forumite
It has been awesome, perhaps too awesome.
I am suffering from severe Football withdrawal symptoms - when's the next game, man?
Why isn't there a game on, man?
Just one game to see me through, that's all i'm asking....
PUT A GAME ON NOW!
Withnail
Well-Known Forumite
In the absence of any football, it may prove productive to indulge in a 'a la recherche de World Cups perdu' sort of thing. There is a post of mine somewhere about Italia, i'll try and dredge it up as a post script*.
'90 will always be special for me because i was there - not necessarily in Italy but that summer i was travelling round southern Europe and wherever we stopped,when there was a game on, we just seemed to find the best place to watch it. I remember with some vagueness watching a Spain game, in an Italian restaurant, in France, with a lone Spaniard who spent the entire game murmuring ' venga, venga, venga, venga vamos' - i can still see him and hear him to this day. 'We', by the way, was me and a man called Tom - you'd love him, i can't imagine why anyone wouldn't love him, he was and is very lovely.
We were in Turin for Brazil's last group game against Scotland - not in the stadium but as you can imagine the atmosphere at the big screen in the park - possibly the first tournament at which this was put on? - was nothing short of orgasmic. There were a lot of Scots there, the lots of Scots who didn't make it into the stadium must have outnumbered those that did by some sort of World Cup record when size of population is factored in. One wonders whether there were any Scots left in their Land - one wouldn't be at all surprised if it had been, for that day at least, Scot free.
The much publicised 'alcohol ban' for the tournament - which saw English fans quarantined on Sardinia, lest the infection spread... - had been lifted in Turin for that last game, and every single man
I had been hitching round those parts at the time, and sensing an epic night on the announcement of the lifting of the ban and the welcoming of ticketless fans into the town, thought that it was going to be the place to be. We got a lift all the way from Menton, at the French border, to Turin for the game, in a camper van of Scots who had driven all the way from Turin two days before because the exchange rate between the Franc and Lira was such that the monumental amounts of alcohol they intended to purchase were so much cheaper in France that even with the spend on petrol they had calculated they would still be 'up' on the deal. I can't remember what the exact exchange rates were at the time but i'm fairly sure that 10,000 lira was equal to one button.
In fairness it was probably the worst hitching experience i have ever had - numberless fights, both verbal and physical, ensued; we had to stop over one night because the van was on the verge of death - this precipitated an unholy argument during the course of which i was pretty sure one of the occupants of the van was going to be, rather than on the verge, on the very main road of death; inertia, if nothing else, probably saved the day - along with probably half the stash accrued at Menton . The van started in the morning; the arguments did, too - i have never been in such a fraught environment - when we reached the outskirts of Turin we jumped out at the first red light we stopped at.
Anyway... after what turned out to be an incredibly long walk, the rest of the day was joy of the very purest sort. After the game, and what a game, we hooked up with a gang of Torinos with which we saw the evening out with a bonhomie that i have yet t0 replicate anywhere or anyhow.
The police come morning were the system of a down, but by then it was too late to take the high away.
In purely Football terms, however, 2014 urinates profusely on all others - though you might want to keep an eye on Gazza.
http://www.staffordforum.com/xf/ind...istening-to-right-now.1879/page-36#post-37271
number9
Well-Known Forumite
in 90 I was the other side of the world. i'd watched the earlier rounds no problem, but by the time we faced Germany in that semi, we (girlfriend now wife) were away from mod cons. I don't know if it was the ozzies making us suffer, but just before I was to start riding back to civilisation (ok, not the uk, but a town in oz that had tv) they managed to find a generator and a tv to watch the game for the early morning kick off. there was a good size group watching, about 30, Germans, English and some neutrals. a horrible result in what was a paradise of a place.
Withnail
Well-Known Forumite
Can't believe that Italia 90 was 24 years ago. Where does the time go? Me and the Wife (then Girlfriend) were on a Gulet cruise round the Greek Islands for most of the knockout stages. Makes it better to watch the games in your shorts outside a Taverna speaking to the locals in sign language.
Withnail
Well-Known Forumite
I <3 this World Cup.
So sad to see Costa Rica bow out -
Brazil, Germany, Argentina and Holland - not so much the Copa de Zebra now, is it?
Shurely a Germany v. Holland final looms on the horizon? It's quite a scary thought...
So sad to see Costa Rica bow out -
Brazil, Germany, Argentina and Holland - not so much the Copa de Zebra now, is it?
Shurely a Germany v. Holland final looms on the horizon? It's quite a scary thought...
number9
Well-Known Forumite
well I stuffed up their chances.
however, I was proudly cheering the losing four, especially Columbia and Costa Rica on. the 'lesser' teams have certainly made this world cup.
I couldn't believe the Krul substitution, cruel for Costa Rica.
out of the 4 left, I know who I prefer, but i'd best keep quiet.
however, I was proudly cheering the losing four, especially Columbia and Costa Rica on. the 'lesser' teams have certainly made this world cup.
I couldn't believe the Krul substitution, cruel for Costa Rica.
out of the 4 left, I know who I prefer, but i'd best keep quiet.
cometcycle
Well-Known Forumite
I guess tonights game has a lot to live up to. I'm guessing it'll go to Penalties after a tense 0-0.
number9
Well-Known Forumite
WOW.
Brazil finally been shown up for what they are. a very average bunch of players. Germany didn't do anything special, apart from score 7 in the semi final, they did simple things very well. Brazil were just really awful, like watching a sunday league team playing with a hangover.
Chelsea must be laughing they sold Luiz for £50 million before the world cup started, PSG fans wondering why they've paid it.
Brazil finally been shown up for what they are. a very average bunch of players. Germany didn't do anything special, apart from score 7 in the semi final, they did simple things very well. Brazil were just really awful, like watching a sunday league team playing with a hangover.
Chelsea must be laughing they sold Luiz for £50 million before the world cup started, PSG fans wondering why they've paid it.
kyoto49
Well-Known Forumite
Whilst David Luiz had a nightmare of epic proportions, Brazil's tactics and formation, with such an average bunch of players was always going to lead to that type of result, even if Neymar and Thiago Silva had played. Against the powerful Germans, playing with your full backs as wingers, and with no link between attack and defence the result was inevitable. Furthermore, if Fred is your best striking option then you should know your team is doomed
