Cottager58, yeah, I heard that, too. It made me laugh. Murphy also lamented that Dembele wasn't playing. Dempsey was once quoted saying that Murphy and Dembele were the two best players he'd ever played with. I'm sad that the USA went out, but overall I'm happy with the team's performance. There were times during this WC when the technical superiority of Belgium and Germany showed, but I'd say the majority of both games the USA players held their own, in terms of class and ability, with the best of their European rivals. I think if you combined the salaries of the top three Germany or Belgian players, you could easily buy the entire USA squad.
You can certainly be proud after those prformances. And HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY DR. Wonder if Shad Khan will be celebrating as much as he did last year ? [he bought us one week after 4th July 2013] please log in to view this image Link to pic: http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.608018046191994222&pid=15.1
Thanks Cottage58 for the independence day wishes, but these days I wonder if we'd have been better off staying part of the common wealth, given the state of politics in the US.
BBC pundits saying this was so "bad luck" are so terribly wrong - please log in to view this image Link to pic: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BrzUvqUCYAAHMHY.png - it was one, of many, premeditated ugly challenges in last night's game.
The fatal attraction of German goalkeepers. Neuer on Higuain (2014) = Schumacher on Battiston (1982) please log in to view this image Link to pic: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bsc2NLSCYAAw5Xb.png
That's the power of marketing. FIFA have to keep the sponsors happy. The golden boys didn't have much of a tournement at all did they. Ronaldo was annonymous, Messi had his moments and certainly got them out the group, but didn't set the world on fire in the later rounds and Neymar just looked OK in a poor Brazil side. The real winners were a host of minor characters in unfancied sides. Ironically a lot seemed to play for Fulham - Bryan, Dejagah etc - so you are left wondering how we were relegated!! The Germans have set the blueprint on how to integrate some star players into a cohesive team.
Exactly! FIFA, being the most corrupt sporting organization on the planet, had no problem pandering to the money people so vested in the stardom of certain players. Messi wasn't even close to the best player - I can think of 5 better just off hand. The award should have gone to Mueller, who was instrumental in most of Germany's wins. I certainly hope the FIFA investigation of the WC awards to Russia and Qatar yields findings that force an open and honest re-vote. Those two oil-ocracies with no legitimate claim to football's highest honor. I've been to Qatar; it's a spit of sand and rock without enough naturally-growing vegetation to feed an emaciated herd of goats. But FIFA finding itself guilty ... seems unlikely to happen.
I wouldn't have given the golden ball to Messi, but I seem to be less outraged by the decision than most people I know. I thought there was no outstanding candidate this time, with several players having more-or-less equally strong cases. After the group stages, Messi and Naymar were in the running, along with Robben. Rodriquez of Columbia, and (to be honest) half the German side. The case for Messi - four goals, most (all?) of which were significant in changing the outcome of matches, said by many to have carried a poor Argentina side single-handed (that's overstating the case, but lots of people were saying it earlier in the tournament) - is as strong as the case for any of his rivals for the trophy. The only thing you could criticise him for is not being quite as good as his reputation makes us expect him to be. There may or may not be 5 players who did better than him, as DR said, but there's nobody who was miles better.
I'll say this in support of Messi: both he and C. Ronaldo were very closely marked throughout the tournament, yet Messi still managed to emerge as a top player, unlike his RM rival. Germany is/was a much more balanced team, so paying too much attention (double marking) Mueller would have been quite risky for Germany's opposition, considering all of its other dangerous players. But because Argentina and Brazil were so reliant on Messi and Neymar, Germany could risk double-marking star players. The fact that Argentina had two silver-platter chances blown by lessor players suggests Germany's gamble paid off. Depth and teamwork trump stardom.
