It's easy to call it smart coaching in the aftermath, but imagine the Netherlands had lost. Krul isn't an exemplary penalty saver, I think his record coming into that game was something like three in twenty four. Had the Dutch lost their media would have been hounding him for not bringing on a swift forward during extra time. They could then ping some balls over the top of the tired Costa Rican defence for him to chase on to. Against a Costa Rican team which is on paper much weaker than yours, playing for penalties is a very dangerous game. In high temperatures deep into a tournament at the end of a season bringing on someone with fresh legs gives you a massive advantage. It worked out well for the Dutch this time, but it could easily have been seen as a massive error of judgement.
They've used their three subs already, so they won't be making that change this time. Heading for penalties I think.
I'm not saying that 0-0 soccer is boring. But THIS is. Fucking stultifying. It was like watching the hour hand on a clock.
Agreed. Just a downright awful game. My friend and I just watched in awe at the lack of initiative and shitty crosses. Naturally this is the game I left work early to catch while I missed the vast majority of Germany and Brazil, which probably wasn't a great game either, but I imagine it was infinitely more entertaining. However, I am glad that since one team had to advance out of that disaster it wasn't the Netherlands. They beat Mexico by taking a dive in the box, then couldn't score against Costa Rica, and this made two straight games plus overtime they hadn't been able to put together a goal. Argentina at least created a few opportunities and looked more interested in putting it into the net rather than just dribbling in the back field and kicking it back to the goal tender. Even in Argentina's territory they spent almost the entire game with meaningless passes around the deep perimeter with one guy triple covered in the box. I couldn't fathom a more boring soccer game.
Two Argentine reporters have died now covering the WC IN Brazil. The first one in a car that "went off a cliff" the other "killed after being hit by a car chased by police." Smells like link-baiting they way press is covering this. It's tragic, and surely to give conspiracy theorists a raging hard-on.
If everyday life was like soccer fouls: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/07/09/330133378/flop-life-what-if-we-all-acted-like-we-were-in-the-world-cup?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20140709" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/201 ... t=20140709</a>
Brazil down 2-0 against Holland in the 3rd place match before it's even hit the 20 minute mark. Unless they can turn this around this is one of the most epic collapses of a tourney favorite in sports history.
Argentina didn't score a goal in two games, thankfully the game didn't end up going to PKs. Its obscene to think a team doesn't have to score but can still win soccer's most prestigious tourney.
While the ultimate result is only surprising in that it wasn't Brazil, I'm shocked that Argentina went out the way they did. Prior to the World Cup, I thought it'd be like watching the D'Antoni Phoenix Suns: sure, goals on goals on goals, but they can't stop anyone. If they were going to win, they'd need to score something like 20+ goals throughout the tournament. Instead they almost won with 8 goals, the same as Spain's record-low total in 2010.
That's why I'm glad Germany won. They clearly set out to play attacking football throughout the entire tournament (except the USA game) despite the fact they either play matches without a recognised striker, or a 36 year old Klose. They were entertaining throughout. Higuain had a terrible match. If Aguero was 100% Argentina may have fared a lot better.