World Cup 3Rd/4Th Place Play-Off

[bibblebub]

Is there any point to this match? There's been one at every World Cup tournament since 1934. Van Gaal doesn't like it http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28243020 and he's probably right.

Since it will be taking place on Saturday, what sort of game will it be? Will the Dutch be bothered at all? Will the Brazilians try to restore some sort of pride or do they have no hope of achieving that?

[Ken4155]

^^^

LOL, DTC, surely you're not saying that Fred IS a striker?!

[bibblebub]

i was half right

[Ken4155]

R.I.P. Brazilian football.

[bibblebub]

they started the tournament as very average and went downhill from there

[Zacs-Master]

You could say that about all the teams bibble. Very poor World Cup IMO.

[bibblebub]

absolutely, quite how the voters for this bbc poll http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28268842 have voted it the best ever eludes me

[jim360]

Hmm. Perhaps. But even if the skill levels haven't been brilliant it's still been exciting. Watching one of the all-time great teams get dismantled, twice, for example.

[Ken4155]

The group matches made for an exciting World Cup but once it got to the knock-out stages, teams became afraid of expressing themselves and the goals dried up. An average tournament imho but the most lucrative for me in terms of profit. And there's still the final to go!

[bibblebub]

the only 2 games worth remembering are the Dutch thrashing the Spaniards in the first round of games and Germany obliterating the Brazilians in the semi-final

[DaisyNonna]

Ken, never read any quotes in the press.

[jim360]

And what about Iran's valiant defensive effort against Argentina? or Algeria putting in a better showing against Germany than the host nation? Costa Rica qualifying from a group with Italy, Uruguay, England, as group winners, when the conversation was all about how many goals the other nations could bang past them? Australia's efforts against the Netherlands? Colombia's wonderful player James Rodriguez?

It's been a mixed tournament but I don't think it's been boring by any stretch of the imagination. Quietened down a little in the knockout stages but then it always does.

[bibblebub]

it only takes a few months until all that gets remembered of most games is the final score with some vague memory that the losing team might have done quite well

[Ken4155]

Bibblebub, surely one of the most exciting games in terms of attacking football and shots on target was the Belgium v USA game. Despite being 0-0 after 90 minutes, there were a total of 52 shots on goal, 36 of which were on target and 25 saves - some of them quite brilliant - by Tim Howard. That's the game i'll take from this tournament.

[jim360]

No matter the good intentions, tight controls can slip over time. I don't expect this to be the first step on the road to enforced euthanasia at 80 or something, but I'd be worried that the odd poor decision would slip through, and someone would die against their real will. I think the current balance is about the right one, with the onus on people to prove that there was no criminal intent and maximum scrutiny applied to each case.

[Zacs-Master]

The fact is that players playing in top flight countries leagues is leading to an homogenisation of football in general. There are no countries with any chance of winning the WC who play significantly different to any others like in the 50's 60's and 70s.

[Zacs-Master]

Wrong thread Jim?

[jim360]

Gosh darn it, wrong thread...

Mind, I could have been talking about the fate of Brazilian football I suppose.

[murraymints]

well that was a bit of nothing !

[Ken4155]

LOL, i thought you were, jim:-)