World Cup chatter thread.

[dolphins4life]

wonder why they don't use instant replay at the World Cup

[Pappy13]

wonder why they don't use instant replay at the World Cup

For what? Fouls? Offside? I believe they are using ball sensing device this year that is supposed to be able to determine for sure if the ball completely crossed the goal line or not. I don't really see a big need for instant replay. Maybe for penalty kicks. Other than that they don't need it.

[Cathal]

It looks like the US team forgot that there was another minute to play. They just kind of gave up. It's a good thing I don't particularly care about soccer or else I would be POed. Hah.

[RichThrawn]

If the Dolphins did this against the Patriots or Jets, people would be up in arms

[Cathal]

If the Dolphins did this against the Patriots or Jets, people would be up in arms

I actually equated the US teams to the Dolphins when I was watching the last bit of it. I was thinking that with a minute and a half, all they have to do is not let the other team score which should be incredibly easy in soccer, but, of course, I guess it isn't.

[Pappy13]

That is why Portugal is one of the top ranked teams in the World and why the US is not. You can't give up a horrible goal in the first 5 mins and a goal in the last min against them and expect to win. The US outplayed them for most of the game but those 2 lapses in the defense cost them the 3 points. Let's just hope it's not the difference between them moving on or not.

As far as the US chances, I think they are about 50/50. I can see Ghana beating Portugal by 2 goals considering the way that Portugal is playing and I can see the US losing to Germany by 2 goals, however I can also see the US tieing Germany and Portugal beating Ghana, so anything can happen. Just gonna have to wait and see.

One final thought is that we still haven't even seen a good game from Michael Bradley who has been the biggest disappointment in my opinion. If Michael Bradley forgets that he is playing Germany and just plays the way he's capable, the US has a very good chance of moving on. I think he's trying too hard. Someone needs to give him a couple shots of whiskey before the game to relax him. He's playing too fast giving up the ball way too quickly. He's not that kind of player, he's a technician and needs to take a couple more touches and get into the game. C'mon Michael, get it together.

[Phishfan]

By far Bradley has not been playing anywhere near what I think he is capable of. We really need him to step it up in the next game because the pressure is on now. The good news is Germany does not have to win in order to advance so maybe they will be content playing for the tie.

[mboss]

That is why Portugal is one of the top ranked teams in the World and why the US is not. You can't give up a horrible goal in the first 5 mins and a goal in the last min against them and expect to win. The US outplayed them for most of the game but those 2 lapses in the defense cost them the 3 points. Let's just hope it's not the difference between them moving on or not.

As far as the US chances, I think they are about 50/50. I can see Ghana beating Portugal by 2 goals considering the way that Portugal is playing and I can see the US losing to Germany by 2 goals, however I can also see the US tieing Germany and Portugal beating Ghana, so anything can happen. Just gonna have to wait and see.

One final thought is that we still haven't even seen a good game from Michael Bradley who has been the biggest disappointment in my opinion. If Michael Bradley forgets that he is playing Germany and just plays the way he's capable, the US has a very good chance of moving on. I think he's trying too hard. Someone needs to give him a couple shots of whiskey before the game to relax him. He's playing too fast giving up the ball way too quickly. He's not that kind of player, he's a technician and needs to take a couple more touches and get into the game. C'mon Michael, get it together.

I think the US chances are greater than 50/50...more like 75% to move on considering a tie between Ghana/POR sends them on to the knockout round. I was really surprised how much the US controlled the pace of the game against POR considering their first game against Ghana. It was a gut punching end...but if you told everyone at the beginning that you'd have a draw, the US takes that every time.

[CF DolFan]

Don't be surprised if Ghana runs up the score on Portugal and knocks us out on point differential.  I don't know if Portugal will be able to keep up with their outside attack and I expect they will finish crosses better than we did.

[Dave Gray]

It's pretty difficult for the US to not advance.

US win - Advance
US tie - Advance
US loss + Ghana tie - Advance
US loss + Ghana loss - Advance, unless Portugal wins by several goals and US loses by several goals.
US loss + Ghana win - Kicked out, unless Ghana wins by only 1 goal, in which I think US advances on H2H, but I'm not sure.

[Phishfan]

It's pretty difficult for the US to not advance.

Here is the thing about looking at this strictly from a statistics standpoint. This is the "Group of Death" and anything can happen. It is still very likely that we could not advance.

[Fau Teixeira]

US win + Portugal Win by 8
US loss + Portugal Win by 4

those are the only scenarios i like

[CF DolFan]

It's pretty difficult for the US to not advance.

US loss + Ghana win - Kicked out, unless Ghana wins by only 1 goal, in which I think US advances on H2H, but I'm not sure.

They don't go by head to head. It's all points, then goal differential and then # of goals scored.

If we lose by 1(which is highly likely) then we would have 4 points and be at 0 for goal differential. Ghana wins then they have 4 points and depending on how many they win by would be their goal differential. They are only -1 so a win would put them at a tie with us at 0 goal differential. Win by 2 which could easily happen and they are ahead of us.

This is our worst case scenario but unfortunately it makes the most sense.  

With that said  ... make no mistake ... the German coach would love for his friend (Jurgen Klinsmann) to make it the next round too.

[Dave Gray]

But aren't we pretty much expecting Portugal to beat Ghana?  Aren't they the better of the team.  This is the group of death because of Portugal and Germany...not Ghana.

[Spider-Dan]

They don't go by head to head. It's all points, then goal differential and then # of goals scored.

Head-to-head is after goals scored.