World Cup 2014!

[Blu]

What a shelling. The drama begins. The third goal was a foul on the keeper for sure, but what about the other four.

Netherlands carried some vengeance and bitter feelings these past four years. Wow.

[ZeroAX]

What a shelling. The drama begins. The third goal was a foul on the keeper for sure, but what about the other four.

Netherlands carried some vengeance and bitter feelings these past four years. Wow.

well....no I don't think Spain could have won today the way they played, but you never know how 1 goal can change a match. Remember England VS Germany in 2010?

And they were the ones with the vengeance? They weren't the ones who needed to be hospitalized after that final

[jfrost]

I'm confused, do you want Brazil to win or not?

Also it's a scandal that the foreign media aren't covering the protests :/.

I do. I just thought it was funny the complete dismantling of Spain (also, the Netherlands were being ruled out - and why shouldn't they? Their players seemed old and in bad form).

Boring ass side-passing tiki-taka is done, get over it. Spain have been figured out. If they have no plan B, it's gonna be a short stay in Brazil.

[ZeroAX]

I wouldn't rule them out yet though.

Anyway I really feel like we're going to get a big surprise in this tournament. Everyone has really high hopes for Belgium.

But yeah the refs are just horrible, I've seen 3 games and in all 3 they made horrible horrible mistakes.

[Sload Soap]

Nothing wrong with that third goal for me. Casillas got nothing on the ball so I can't see how he was impeded. It does show inconsistency from the officiating however if this one was ok but Croatia's last night was not. We're only three games in and each one has had one bad or terrible call. Not great prospects for the rest of the tournament.

Odd game. Earlier on Spain had a lot of the ball and seemed reasonably in control. Holland had to work really hard just to get anything going. The second half Spain's defence just drifted all over the place and lost their shape. It was far to easy to loop balls over the top and bypass their midfield. Costa bought his penalty by being a cheat and possibly should have been sent off. Spain could have lost this one 6-0. They totally collapsed tonight.

And because Spain couldn't assert their boring (IMO) slow build-up passing game on the Dutch, it turned into a good game to watch. Great stuff so far and if Chile beat Australia it'll really spice that group up.

[jfrost]

The Dutch could've easily have scored 7 or 8. Spain looked awful, plain and simple.

As an aside, the Netherlands are the greatest national side that have never won anything. It's not a surprise that they should win a game like this (even though the score is probably too lopsided), I think it's more of a surprise that Spain looked so dominant for such a long time. I would root for the Dutch if Brazil weren't in it. We have to win at home!

They can take Russia, maybe.

[Sload Soap]

The Dutch could've easily have scored 7 or 8. Spain looked awful, plain and simple.

As an aside, the Netherlands are the greatest national side that have never won anything. It's not a surprise that they should win a game like this (even though the score is probably too lopsided), I think it's more of a surprise that Spain looked so dominant for such a long time. I would root for the Dutch if Brazil weren't in it. We have to win at home!

They can take Russia, maybe.

I've always liked watching Holland as well. I think it's a bit unfair that they have been pigeonholed as this team of bruisers because of their performance in the last world cup. They play damn good football and for such a small nation always have a good or excellent team. As you say, they are easily the best nation to never win the world cup, even over the mighty magyars. I still expect Spain to progress, but like Brazil last night, there is some stuff they really have to work on. I expect a avalanche of "Is this the death of tiki-taka?" articles to follow tomorrow.

[emwearz]

Hoping the Socceroo's can bounce back. (pun intended)

Edit: Oh dear...

[jfrost]

Chile is great. I feel bad for the Aussies. They'll only be able to beat Spain.

[emwearz]

TIMYYY!!!!