Close your eyes, give me your hand, darlin’
Do you feel my heart beating
Do you understand
Do you feel the same
Am I only dreaming
Is this burning an eternal flame
You’re welcome.
2.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Hup Holland hup!
3.
Corner Stone
Man. Josh Gordon, American Footballer WR in Cleveland just can’t seem to understand where his bread is buttered. Arrested for DWI in NC.
4.
Corner Stone
That Beckham commercial where they play in his house is hilarious.
5.
Corner Stone
Oh, and I’m starting to feel very badly for the Bacardi family. It seems Fate has had it in for them through the ages.
6.
Corner Stone
Go Little Neddy Nederlanders!
7.
Valdivia
Valdivia The Terrible reporting for los Ticos!
8.
Alex S.
I’ve always liked this mercantile, seafaring, liberal country.
9.
raven
Vamos Los Ticos!
10.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Okay, Bruno. You’re starting and don’t screw this up.
11.
SRW1
Last opportunity for a fairy tale story. Every tournament deserves a fairy tale story. Let’s have one.
For Amir:
Ich bin klein
mein Herz is rein
soll niemand drin wohnen
als Amir allein.
Sorry, but that’s all I remember from the days when I was young and innocent.
I’m very torn here. I quite like the Netherlands team, but I’m fairly convinced that Germany will beat Brazil, and I don’t really want to see 2 european teams in the final.
I think Netherlands has the odds here, but I’ll be content either way. I’ll cheer for a non-1-0 score, instead.
14.
dance around in your bones
OMG Dutch! I feel like Jamie Lee Curtis when Kevin Kline spoke Italian to her in A Fish Called Wanda.
Molto peligroso, segnorina! Con pepperoni!
Patates Frites – met mayonaisse! (They’re actually very good, you haters).
15.
Corner Stone
Whatever you do, do not use the espanol word for “I too”, as in agreement. It includes a word that some people use for an Rx to go to sleep at night. And FYWP eats it.
Maybe Argentina will beat the Netherlands and solve your conundrum.
18.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Good lord. Have the Dutch decided to fall in love with possession?
19.
raven
Vincent: You know what they put on French fries in Holland instead of ketchup?
Jules: What?
Vincent: Mayonnaise.
Jules: Goddamn.
Vincent: I’ve seen ’em do it, man. They fuckin’ drown ’em in that shit
20.
raven
dupes
21.
Corner Stone
I have a great skin tone to wear orange.
Go Big Orange!
@Corner Stone: It’s been really tough for them, what with using their billions of dollars in annual sales to buy Congress to maintain the embargo against Cuba so that they don’t need to compete against Cuban rum.
It’s tough for multinational businesses out there.
All I want is a good game, a good game, with a team I can actually be interested in watching go through. I’ve nothing to offer Amir, maybe I’ll just go build that soda and vinegar volcano after all.
The crowd seems a little restive against this style of play.
38.
Mike E
Univision’s play by play announcer has a basso profundo voice, like the guy who sang “You’re a mean one, Mr Grinch!”
39.
Corner Stone
Did someone cast a spell that forbids CR players from crossing the mid line?
40.
Corner Stone
Do they give points for Time of Possession?
41.
Citizen_X
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): They’re looking more lively now, but hey Ticos: you know, Mexico didn’t let ’em get away with that shit, because they kept attacking. Get busy!
@Alex S.: Yeah, actually having Netherlands advance would provide a nice balance. Shame none of the African teams could have made it to the quarters.
But I was very encouraged by my visit to the barbershop this morning. Belgium/Argentina was at the break, and absolutely everyone had been keeping up on all the matches. The shop is run by a Vietnamese immigrant and she employs mostly family members, a few of which have barely passable english. The young guy with the neck tattoos (a little uncommon in my neighborhood) was following Belgium and knew the players names well. There were two 60-something white guys – one a retired truck driver, the other guy I think was a cabinetmaker or something along those lines, were both keeping up and were looking forward more to this afternoon’s games. There was an african american woman who came in late (not many black people in my neighborhood, so seeing a black woman in a vietnamese barbershop was new) and she and I chatted while I waited for my son to finish up, and she was following every game as well and we shifted over to next season BPL.
I’m not surprised to find people following soccer here, but I was surprised to find so many people that were following this to a much deeper level. I’m not surprised to find Liga MX fans at work, but this was a whole different demographic. I think if soccer can get a stronger foothold in the US, we might start fielding really competitive teams. There are certainly enough kids playing it, but it all starts to fall apart up around high-school level.
@raven: I did not. Hubby and I have been wondering if the Americans retiring to Costa Rica are idiots, or if they’re on to something. Because I dread growing old in the US.
55.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Corner Stone: Yeah, but if the Dutch manage to time one of those runs right, they’ll be in business.
The Ticos need to reconsider that tactic of giving the Dutch the ball in midfield for counter attacks. Generates exciting scenes, but one of ’em give aways might make the round end up in the rectangular one.
59.
Amir Khalid
Nice to see Costa Rica giving as good as they get from the Dutch.
60.
Onkel Fritze
Slow start to the game, but this looks increasingly like it’s not gonna end well for the Ticos. That Navas is really good, though.
61.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Why the hell was that a foul by Robben?
62.
Corner Stone
Bullshit call.
63.
burnspbesq
Robben might have a fair beef there. The contact isn’t what caused the defender to fall down.
64.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Whew, on the play off that free kick.
65.
Corner Stone
No warning? Or a warning but no card?
66.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
The Dutch set pieces aren’t amounting to much.
67.
Valdivia
CR getting nearer to their side of the pitch. Now they just have to finish one.
68.
burnspbesq
The fact that the Dutch don’t have four defenders better than Ron Vlaar is a pretty serious indictment of their youth development system.
69.
Corner Stone
The ref needs to step in for this game. It’s getting very nutty.
70.
burnspbesq
At times, this looks like a college game: overly ambitious first-time balls being sprayed all over the place.
71.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Okay, that one was nice.
72.
Morzer
That Navas is quite a keeper, even if the free kick owed more to Robben’s rehearsal for a gig with Masterpiece Theater than anything else.
Tentative half by both teams but I thought the Netherlands had by far the better of the play. The Ticos had about three attacks and only one decent scoring chance.
Is it just me, or is the Dutch formation a 3-4-2-Robben-wherever-the-hell-he-wants?
Total Robben.
83.
Amir Khalid
La Sele have held their own against the Oranje, not conceding and not just hanging on desperately. They might just have won my favour. I’ll have to see.
84.
gene108
Maybe the wrong thread for this, but I have a quick computer question.
I have a six year old Mac Book Pro. When I go to the disk utility it says the hard drive is corrupted and I need to go to an Apple Store to get it addressed.
If I buy a PC instead of a Mac, would my .dmg files be transferable to a format that could run on a PC?
85.
Valdivia
@Amir Khalid: anyway I Valdivia the Terriblr can do anything to help that along? :)
@raven: Thanks for that. We’re still in our 40s, but if we’re going to make such a big move in the future, we should probably start thinking hard now about whether it would work for us.
88.
Tony J
The Ticos are working really, really hard and maintaining a disciplined defence 99% of the time, but the Dutch have the quality up front to turn one of their half chances into a goal. Once that happens and Costa Rica have to go hunting for an equaliser Robben and Van Persie can really hurt them.
I really want Costa Rica to advance, but the longer this game goes on the more likely it is a moment of Dutch brilliance will break the deadlock.
That said, all my predictions in this World Cup have been worth a bag of salty dicks, so roll on the second half.
@Tony J:
I’m hoping Pinto and the sociologist they hired will give them a talking to so they attack more instead if just defending because otherwise it will be as you say.
Still can’t believe we held them off this well though. Let’s see what happens.
91.
dmsilev
@gene108: DMG files are Mac disk images. Out of the box, a Windows machine wouldn’t be able to do anything with them. On the other hand, do you have any DMGs which you made, or are they all program installers and the like? If the latter, even if you could open the files under Windows, they wouldn’t do anything useful over there.
92.
burnspbesq
If this match isn’t doing for you, the alternatives available on the Watch ESPN app include New Zealand vs. West Indies in T20 cricket, Toronto vs. Saskatchewan in the CFL, and the women’s semifinals of the US national ultimate frisbee championship.
I think the longer the game goes without a goal the more nervous the Dutch will become. I could see them making a blunder out of mutual frustration. Costa Rica know what they are doing here.
94.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Man, this game is a complete non-starter for the Golden Scissors. Neither team has anyone with notable hair, either good or bad. The Dutch are all balding and los Ticos play it conservative. Dirk Kuyt might have the most impressive coif on the pitch.
@gene108: The first thing you should be doing right now, if you haven’t already, is to do a complete backup of your mac computer.
Even if you regularly use something like Time Machine for backups, you might want to use Carbon Copy Cloner to get a complete backup of your computer to an external drive.
Bring the external drive with the back with you when you go to the Apple Store. That way when they install the new drive (likely) they can transfer the data and you will be as good as new.
97.
Citizen_X
@Amir Khalid: Hah! Liked the song. But they comments were refreshing different. Instead of being full of angry Americans showing heir asses, they were full of angry Dutch and Mexicans showing their asses.
98.
Alex S.
Well, at least it’s the qualitatively best quarter-final. The Dutch play well, and Costa Rica faces them with discipline and a good keeper.
99.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
So when, exactly, is pushing someone from behind to get him off the ball a foul? I’ve gotten very mixed messages about that from this ref.
100.
dance around in your bones
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): Well, de Nederlands swapped out Jean-Luc Picard for a goalie grasshopper with some hair.
101.
Valdivia
For those interested and able to read Spanish here is an article about how the Sele came to hire a sociologist. Interesting.
After the way Costa Rica conducted themselves in the group stage against Uruguay and Italy (the games they took seriously) and the mental strength they showed putting out Greece, I’m no longer surprised by anything they do.
But yeah, they need to make and take a chance. Otherwise the Dutch will grind them down eventually.
104.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@SRW1: Robben has made things look spectacular but at least today they were all real fouls.
105.
mali muso
Hmm, well at least the Ticos are holding their own. Need to see some more possession though and start threatening the Dutch defensive line.
P.S. If you do a carbon copy cloner backup (program is free for a trial) be sure to click the box to make the backup bootable. That way if you do get a new internal drive, they can boot up from your backup and transfer everything to the new drive in your computer.
108.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Morzer: The Dutch don’t seem like a team that will collapse with nerves. The longer the game is scoreless the more the odds of Costa Rica winning improve but that’s purely a sample size thing. The fewer the number of goals in a game, the more likely that it’s decided by something fluky or a run against play.
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): The really great contenders for the Golden Scissors went out in the group stage.
116.
Valdivia
@Tony J:
Must say we are very proud to have accomplished all of that. But no reason we can try and do more. Like get rolled by Messi in the next game. ;)
117.
mali muso
About time that Dutch player got booked. C’mon Ticos!
118.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Meh, that was probably a foul on Indi, but the dive was worthy of anything Robben has done.
119.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Campbell coming out?!?
120.
burnspbesq
Vlaar does just enough to throw off Gonzalez. That was a sweet delivery.
121.
Onkel Fritze
Now here’s a question: I keep hearing variations of: ‘Yes, there was a contact, but the way he went down that was just too much acting. A ref will not give a penalty for these kinds of theatrics.’
If that is true and the players know it, why do they keep acting like that? Why don’t they just fall down without these expansive gestures?
122.
Tony J
Campbell not happy to be taken off, especially for a guy who apparently hasn’t played a league game in the last two years and hasn’t scored in three. I shit you not.
123.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
One too many passes there (and how often in the recent past have you said that about the Dutch?).
124.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Onkel Fritze: My take is just the opposite, and it relates to hockey, too. The reason they act it up is because there are too many times when, if you don’t go down when an opponent fouls you, the ref won’t call it.
125.
mali muso
ruh roh. Gamboa injured and they’ve just used a sub to swap out Campbell?
126.
Violet
I’m guessing those gentlemen they just showed in the blue jackets and orange ties are the Dutch coaching staff but my goodness they looked like flight attendants in uniform.
No shame in getting rolled by a talent like Messi, but should you get through and on a field with him and his ten nameless friends, well, got to be in it to win it, that’s why they play the matches, etc.
Plus, Messi aside, Argentina are as beatable as Italy.
130.
burnspbesq
This is exactly what we saw from Costa Rica in qualifying: five at the back, very well organized and disciplined. They are hard to break down.
131.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@SRW1: Looks like van Gaal thought Depay was the problem.
I suspect that you may have missed the word ‘biggest’ there.
136.
Violet
Happened to catch a bit of some stupid ESPN show on Wednesday. They were discussing soccer and its popularity in the US. The whole thing was awful, but this was interesting from Dave Zirin:
“There is a huge soccer culture in the United States that I think a lot of us in the mainstream media did not see and only revealed itself with this World Cup.”
What a shocker. The mainstream media did no research on a subject, had no idea what was happening on the ground and was surprised by actual results. Who would have guessed?
What TTP said at 126, plus the idea is that A) there’s so much theatricality on show that if you don’t go the full mime-act route silently screaming “I was fouled!” the referee will conclude that you don’t think you we’re fouled and will let okay go on, and B) the game is so fast, and the demands on the referee’s attention so intense, you need to flag wave to get him to notice.
Well, there’s the rules and there’s the instructions FIFA gives to the refs. The latter is secret, though events this far at the tournament appear to suggest that what FIFA told the refs is to go easy on the cards.
148.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
And it may still be scoreless but this is by far the most entertaining of the four quarterfinal games.
149.
Violet
@burnspbesq: The owner of Seattle, Joe Roth, was on the panel and making the same argument. Myopic sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy was whining, “Why do you insist I like soccer?” Dave Zirin told him he didn’t have to like it but as a sportswriter he should go do some sports journalism and report on it. That was kind of funny.
150.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
If the ref has a bad feeling about the tackle, he yellow-cards the tackler.
151.
Valdivia
If it’s overtime will it be penalties or Robben diving?
152.
SRW1
Dear Mr van Gaal, Huntelaar would have put that thing into the net.
153.
mali muso
soooo, are we going to the extra 30 minutes or what?
154.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Violet: When it comes to what sportswriters cover, there are two teams in the Twin Cities that have won two championships in the last three years, the only titles local teams have won, college or pros, in the last decade. One of them has gone 87-2-1 in its last 90 games.
No one covers them because they’re the wrong gender.
Edit: I define local as Twin Cities rather than Minnesota because the Minnesota-Duluth football and both men’s and women’s hockey have won titles in the last five years.
Ones that the referee thinks are deliberate and impact on the fair flow of the game without rising to the level of a straight red, and persistent ones. You do it a couple of times, he’ll give you a verbal warning. You keep doing it you’re going in the book for cheating.
158.
Baud
Damn.
159.
mali muso
omg, that was some crazy action! nice goalie work by number 17.
160.
SRW1
Amir is not with Holland. That’s for sure!
161.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
HOW DID THAT NOT FUCKING GO IN?
162.
Valdivia
Viva Yeltsin!
163.
Alex S.
Well, the Dutch can’t complain…
164.
burnspbesq
If CRC somehow pulls this out, there will be many baby boys named Yeltsin in 2015.
Depends on the commentators. British ones are always harrumphing that “We didn’t do that in my day!” and squaring their manly jaws, but they’re mostly full of it. Commentators from Italy, Spain, etc, are a lot more sanguine about the whole thing. It’s all part of the game, the point if which isn’t to take part, but to win.
All mileages will vary.
174.
Randy Paul aka Randinho
Diaz got a gift from the referee. That could have easily been a second yellow.
175.
Onkel Fritze
OK, so apparently the Dutch have never won a game in overtime at the World Cup.
176.
Bill E Pilgrim
Captain! Their shields are holding! We’ve thrown everything we’ve got a’ em, but it dinna get throo!
177.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Is Yeltsin the one that let it roll up his entire body, off his head, and into the crossbar?
@Bill E Pilgrim: Time to land on a distant planet for more dilithium crystals.
Preferably whilst losing a shirt in the process.
180.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@burnspbesq: Yeah, but at that moment, the ball can bounce off of you in funny ways and go in. And when you spend the entire half in your end of the field, the chances of that happening go up in a big way. There have been a lot of times in this game when the ball could have bounced in a different direction and gone into the Costa Rica net and every single time it has failed to do so. Even if you’re in the right place every time, it takes a big dose of luck to get away with it when a game is this tilted.
181.
Amir Khalid
Costa Rica have shown discipline in defence and (so far, anyway) shut out the only team to score five in a match this World Cup. Now let’s see if they can conjure up enough of an attack to score.
I have looked upon Navas with favour and allowed him to keep playing.
190.
Tripod
Ticos are going to give one up. No speed up top since Campbell went off
191.
burnspbesq
Urena makes a meal of not much contact. Ref decides he’s not hungry.
192.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
In hockey, Costa Rica would be struggling to get a line change. Yeah, yeah, it’s a different sport and you can’t really compare it but that’s what this reminds me of.
193.
Onkel Fritze
@Amir Khalid: So that was you taking out Neymar, then?
Van Persie must be pursuing a record for offside calls.
196.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
It seems like it’s the Ticos doing the diving here.
197.
Corner Stone
Don’t want to hear anymore bullshit about Orange diving.
That was bullshit stoppage.
198.
Corner Stone
Hand ball!
ETA, bad call.
199.
Randy Paul aka Randinho
Pretty weak hand ball call.
200.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
The Dutch are getting to all the loose balls and they still have two substitutions left.
Huntelaar lurks!
201.
dance around in your bones
@MomSense: Really! I think most people who diss patates frites met mayonaisse have never really tried them. They are delicioso.
Ok, I have refrained from groaning throughout this whole match, but really – 100+plus minutes into the game and not a single frickin’ goal? The beautiful (but boring) game.
Flame away!
202.
Corner Stone
Come the fuck on.
203.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Can Costa Rica survive two games in which they’re holding on for dear life?
204.
Corner Stone
Why does the one guy with hair on NED seem like their weakest link?
@dance around in your bones:
I’ve seen some fascinating matches that ended up as scoreless draws. Goals are gratifying to see, but they don’t necessarily make the match.
210.
SRW1
So, Holland will be switching to 4-4-2 for the final 15 minutes.
As with the noble samauri, all it takes is one attack to penetrate the opponent’s defence and it’s all over.
212.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
The Dutch are down to two defenders. They clearly don’t fear a Costa Rica attack.
213.
Amir Khalid
Why did van Gaal wait so long to bring on Huntelaar? I’d have brought him on at halftime.
214.
SRW1
What did the ref take out the yellow for if he wasn’t going to show it to any player?
215.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@efgoldman: The Boston MLS team draws about 15,000 fans a game. It is a thing in Shaughnessy’s city.
216.
raven
@SRW1: He was using it as a flat surface to write himself a note.
217.
Onkel Fritze
@efgoldman: Leave me alone he screamed, as he followed me around.
218.
Amir Khalid
@SRW1:
There’s nothing in the rules against the ref making a feint at carding a player.
219.
raven
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): The NHL Championship was played between the two biggest TV markets in the country and 5 white guys watched it.
220.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
The Ticos are finally doing something.
221.
Violet
@efgoldman: No one is making anyone watch soccer or like it. You’re not interested–go do something else. Plenty of people don’t watch NFL football or even pay attention to the Superbowl. Same for NBA and MLB and other “American” sports. Lots of other things to do out there.
As for Shaughnessy, he’s a sportswriter. This World Cup has drawn record crowds at viewing parties all over the country. It’s been a big story. He writes about sports. Writing that soccer is stupid and he doesn’t care is ridiculous. It’s big, it’s happening, it’s his job to write about it.
222.
dance around in your bones
@Amir Khalid: Well, I respect your opinion (as always) but Jehoshaphat, for a soccer novice it’s like watching paint dry. I am giving it the old college try, however.
@Tony J: One could expire before that one attack, however. Then it would be all over :)
ETA: I said however TWICE! Don’t call me How, EVER!
223.
Corner Stone
Fuck. How they can they not be offsides there.
224.
SRW1
Well now it becomes clear why van Gaal waited and waited with his replacements. It appears he is preparing to hook his goalie if we go to a penalty shoot-out.
Apparently he is too ugly to be seen when the attention would be on him during a penalty shoot-out.
242.
Tony J
What? The Dutch are putting in a keeper cold just before penalties?
That’s just crazy bizarre.
Raven – The only possible reason is Van Gaal thinks Tim Krul is a penalty stopping machine. I do not know where he would get that impression from.
243.
burnspbesq
Somebody wake up the Toon Army. It’s a Tim Krul sighting.
244.
dance around in your bones
@raven: I’ve watched more than a few of these rounds.
For my money (probably being invested in USA!USA!) I found the last few minutes of the USA-Belgium match rather compelling. After many many minutes of tedium.
Ok, I’ll shut up now. Enjoy, all you futbol fans!
245.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
I hate shootouts. At this level, you should have to win by playing football.
246.
Amir Khalid
LvG has subbed his keeper just for the penalties. Funny, I can’t imagine why Cillessen would be tired after this match.
Well, LVG may be right or not. The kind of problem with this is that he had to use one of three replacements for this when in extra time any pair of fresh legs might be the difference.
255.
Valdivia
Dying here!
256.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Amir Khalid: My sentiments exactly. Lest you end up with days-long matches, like in that other non-American game.
257.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Amir Khalid: I’ve been at a hockey game that went more than double regulation time. It’s incredible.
258.
Amir Khalid
Costa Rica got to this match by beating Greece on penalties. They scored all five of theirs.
With that, I need to sign off because when this is over I need to fly to the place I’m supposed to be at 6pm.
262.
dance around in your bones
@Violet: Thanks, Violet – but Jeebus H. Crisco, you call these matches TENSE?
Ok, OMFG Costa Rica just scored a gol while I was typing.
And de Nederlands did, too? Ok, it got tense in the last minutes – like that samurai thing Tony J was talking about!
It kind of is. This isn’t like American football where you bring on a specialist for certain jobs. Your first choice keeper is your best keeper, no one ever swaps them out just before a penalty shoot out.
Krul might well turn out to be a sorcerer of stopping, but it is very, very odd.
264.
Bill E Pilgrim
The level of detail from the BBC announcers is rather impressive, if a bit obsessive. “Changed, didn’t he. He went the other direction against Greece”
A few years back in Mexico I met two young girls from Netherlands. They were awesome.
267.
MattR
@Amir Khalid: Switch to golden goal and make each team take off a player at the start of every 15 minute extra period until a goal is finally scored. To keep things reasonable, each team gets an additional sub as well with each extra period.
I’m sorry, but it’s basically insane to have a sport where the object is to score, and one team can play 120 minutes making virtually no attempt to score, and not even pretend about it, and still win.
287.
Tripod
The Orange just wanted it more.
288.
dance around in your bones
I give up. I think I might have been watching in an alternate universe.
Costa Rica made some good chances and should have had a penalty. Besides, all sports are insane in strictly rational terms. At the end of the day, teams chasing a ball, hitting a ball, throwing a ball etc aren’t doing anything objectively worth paying money to watch.
Argentina will think that Los Ticos knew how to neuter the Dutch attack – and made them run and suffer in the heat. They’ll fancy their chances after seeing this game.
294.
Amir Khalid
@MattR:
Any team that had to survive that would be well beyond knackered at the end of the marathon match, and at a great disadvantage against its better-rested opponent in the next round.
295.
Onkel Fritze
Lots of old aquaintances in the semis. 3 teams that share 10 of the 19 titles between them and the Dutch, who have been in the final 3 times but never won.
296.
Violet
@dance around in your bones: I totally get where you’re coming from. I used to think soccer was boring and kind of dumb. Over the years I started watching it a bit. Last World Cup I got hooked. Don’t really know how. Just happened.
I get that the low scoring games seem like they’re boring–and sometimes they are! But sometimes they’re tense and exciting and lots of back and forth and shots on goal and it’s really exciting. The final score doesn’t always tell the story of the game.
But it’s not for everyone. Even people who grow up with it as sort of the national sport of their country aren’t necessarily fans.
It’s somewhat depressing that it ended up that way. I do think the earlier rounds were more fun to watch.
Depressingly, I seem to have ended up having to root for the Germans.
299.
Corner Stone
@raven: Dude blocked two. That’s like getting Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie showing up at your place on successive nights.
300.
Onkel Fritze
@Morzer: Maybe it’s better for you if you start out that way?
301.
Violet
@Morzer: I enjoy the group stages the best in the World Cup. Various countries participating, interesting fans in the stands, and the play seems more wide open. Plus since it can end in a draw the games seem less tense. It’s just more fun.
I’ve watched several Rugby World Cups and feel the same way there. The group stage games are much more fun.
302.
mali muso
@raven: Crass over class. Navas and his equipo can hold their heads high.
303.
MattR
@Amir Khalid: I am not sure that it would be that significant. Opening up the play and switching to golden goal should end games quicker making it much less likely that they would get to 120 minutes. Granted, the players on the pitch will have to run more as players are removed, but by adding the extra subs there won’t really be too many players putting in that much of an extra effort. A team would only have to have 5 of its initial field players on for the first extra period for 10 on 10 play and only 3 for the second for 9 on 9 play. Is that really much more exhausting than asking 7 players to go the entire 120 minutes 11 on 11? (And if it goes to a 8 on 8 in a third extra period, a team would only have to have one of its original field players still on the field.)
I could have done for other editions of die Mannschaft, but I don’t find anything very inspiring in the 2014 vintage. Honestly, I don’t know that any of the teams in the semi-finals are particularly inspiring to watch. I guess Germany are the team I dislike least, although I am not sure that Jogi Löw is especially astute tactically.
305.
mali muso
@Morzer: I quite liked them in 2010, but they seem boringly efficient this time around.
306.
dance around in your bones
@Violet: I lived in both Holland and Mexico, and experienced die-hard futbol/soccer fans without ever really getting into it. (Not that I am any kind of sports maven as it is – there’s an old term :)
But how a game can end in a 0-0 score but one team wins is sort of a mystery to me. Probably points or style or penalties?
But, whatever. I used to watch buzkashi in Afghanistan and boy, was THAT a game that could go on forever! And you never knew what the hell was going on except a bunch of high-heeled cowboys riding their horses around, whipping each other over a dead goat. It was exciting, though.
307.
dance around in your bones
Ok, I am in moderation for saying either high-heeled cowboys or buzkashi. test
ETA: perhaps it was a link too far…..
308.
Amir Khalid
@MattR:
Such an arrangement still leaves a few players who have to stay on the pitch the whole time. They would not be keen on it. Besides, a World Cup squad is limited to 23 players. You could run out of unused substitutes, even if the GK subs played outfield.
309.
MattR
@Amir Khalid: It’s not perfect, but IMO it is better than the randomness of penalty kicks or the potential endlessness of continuing extra time until a goal is scored.
Each team has 10 outfield subs. Assuming 2 pre game injuries leave only 8 available, a team would not be able to make a 9th sub until after the 5th extra time (which would have been played with 6 players on a side, including the goal keeper). The odds of a game reaching that point are quite remote and even if it does, it would not be a terrible thing if they had to finish the game without being able to make additional subs (since the 4 field players in the 6th extra time will most likely all be subs) [Or switch to 10 minute extra periods, if you think that will make things less exhausting]
Campbell not happy to be taken off, especially for a guy who apparently hasn’t played a league game in the last two years and hasn’t scored in three. I shit you not.
Uh, no. Campbell hasn’t played for Arsenal, the club that owns his contract, but he has played 85 games and scored 13 goals on loan at L’Orient, Real Betis and Olympiakos. He didn’t qualify for an English work permit until last July, so couldn’t play for Arsenal until then.
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Corner Stone
Close your eyes, give me your hand, darlin’
Do you feel my heart beating
Do you understand
Do you feel the same
Am I only dreaming
Is this burning an eternal flame
You’re welcome.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Hup Holland hup!
Corner Stone
Man. Josh Gordon, American Footballer WR in Cleveland just can’t seem to understand where his bread is buttered. Arrested for DWI in NC.
Corner Stone
That Beckham commercial where they play in his house is hilarious.
Corner Stone
Oh, and I’m starting to feel very badly for the Bacardi family. It seems Fate has had it in for them through the ages.
Corner Stone
Go Little Neddy Nederlanders!
Valdivia
Valdivia The Terrible reporting for los Ticos!
Alex S.
I’ve always liked this mercantile, seafaring, liberal country.
raven
Vamos Los Ticos!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Okay, Bruno. You’re starting and don’t screw this up.
SRW1
Last opportunity for a fairy tale story. Every tournament deserves a fairy tale story. Let’s have one.
For Amir:
Ich bin klein
mein Herz is rein
soll niemand drin wohnen
als Amir allein.
Sorry, but that’s all I remember from the days when I was young and innocent.
Corner Stone
@Alex S.: Si. Yo tambien.
⚽️ Martin
I’m very torn here. I quite like the Netherlands team, but I’m fairly convinced that Germany will beat Brazil, and I don’t really want to see 2 european teams in the final.
I think Netherlands has the odds here, but I’ll be content either way. I’ll cheer for a non-1-0 score, instead.
dance around in your bones
OMG Dutch! I feel like Jamie Lee Curtis when Kevin Kline spoke Italian to her in A Fish Called Wanda.
Molto peligroso, segnorina! Con pepperoni!
Patates Frites – met mayonaisse! (They’re actually very good, you haters).
Corner Stone
Whatever you do, do not use the espanol word for “I too”, as in agreement. It includes a word that some people use for an Rx to go to sleep at night. And FYWP eats it.
Morzer
Go Los Ticos! Crush the Formation Diving Team!
Alex S.
@⚽️ Martin:
Maybe Argentina will beat the Netherlands and solve your conundrum.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Good lord. Have the Dutch decided to fall in love with possession?
raven
raven
dupes
Corner Stone
I have a great skin tone to wear orange.
Go Big Orange!
Corner Stone
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
It is 9/10ths of the law, I believe.
⚽️ Martin
@Corner Stone: It’s been really tough for them, what with using their billions of dollars in annual sales to buy Congress to maintain the embargo against Cuba so that they don’t need to compete against Cuban rum.
It’s tough for multinational businesses out there.
Karen in GA
You ain’t much if you ain’t Dutch.
Citizen_X
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): They do love to play keep-away, don’t they? They realize somebody has to score this afternoon?
Morzer
@Karen in GA:
Costa Rica
For love’s true seeker!
raven
Looks like fucking D-Day!
scav
All I want is a good game, a good game, with a team I can actually be interested in watching go through. I’ve nothing to offer Amir, maybe I’ll just go build that soda and vinegar volcano after all.
Corner Stone
@Citizen_X:
Me! Me! Oh Lord, please let it be me!
Morzer
No Nigel De Wrong today, but the Saucers still have Urgent Robbin’.
raven
@Karen in GA: Did you know UGA has a campus in Costa Rica?
Corner Stone
Why does NED have a grasshopper playing goalie?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Citizen_X: On the other hand, through nine minutes I’m not sure the Ticos have completed a pass.
Amir Khalid
From Mexico, a musical salute to the Oranje. I posted this in the other thread, but this seems more fitting here.
Valdivia
Still breathing here.
Morzer
@Valdivia:
Push, Valdivia, push!
Corner Stone
The crowd seems a little restive against this style of play.
Mike E
Univision’s play by play announcer has a basso profundo voice, like the guy who sang “You’re a mean one, Mr Grinch!”
Corner Stone
Did someone cast a spell that forbids CR players from crossing the mid line?
Corner Stone
Do they give points for Time of Possession?
Citizen_X
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): They’re looking more lively now, but hey Ticos: you know, Mexico didn’t let ’em get away with that shit, because they kept attacking. Get busy!
Valdivia
@Morzer:
I’m trying! These Oranges are hard to control though.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Corner Stone: Of two teams that seemingly would rather be counterattacking, Costa Rica seems to be significantly more adamant about it.
mali muso
Cheering for the Ticos over here! We need some fresh new blood in the final stages.
Mike E
@raven: More like Battle of the Bulge.
burnspbesq
Defenses are way ahead of the offenses so far. Could be a while before we see any sort of scoring chance.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Damn. I wanted one off that sequence.
burnspbesq
@burnspbesq:
Of course, as soon as I post that, we see the game’s first scoring chance.
You’re welcome.
pete
@Corner Stone: “Possession is nine tenths of the problem” — John Lennon
⚽️ Martin
@Alex S.: Yeah, actually having Netherlands advance would provide a nice balance. Shame none of the African teams could have made it to the quarters.
But I was very encouraged by my visit to the barbershop this morning. Belgium/Argentina was at the break, and absolutely everyone had been keeping up on all the matches. The shop is run by a Vietnamese immigrant and she employs mostly family members, a few of which have barely passable english. The young guy with the neck tattoos (a little uncommon in my neighborhood) was following Belgium and knew the players names well. There were two 60-something white guys – one a retired truck driver, the other guy I think was a cabinetmaker or something along those lines, were both keeping up and were looking forward more to this afternoon’s games. There was an african american woman who came in late (not many black people in my neighborhood, so seeing a black woman in a vietnamese barbershop was new) and she and I chatted while I waited for my son to finish up, and she was following every game as well and we shifted over to next season BPL.
I’m not surprised to find people following soccer here, but I was surprised to find so many people that were following this to a much deeper level. I’m not surprised to find Liga MX fans at work, but this was a whole different demographic. I think if soccer can get a stronger foothold in the US, we might start fielding really competitive teams. There are certainly enough kids playing it, but it all starts to fall apart up around high-school level.
burnspbesq
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Vamos Pinches?
Corner Stone
Dude was 8ft offsides.
Corner Stone
Strike that fucking ball!
Karen in GA
@raven: I did not. Hubby and I have been wondering if the Americans retiring to Costa Rica are idiots, or if they’re on to something. Because I dread growing old in the US.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Corner Stone: Yeah, but if the Dutch manage to time one of those runs right, they’ll be in business.
Corner Stone
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): They’ve got to stop the sloppy passing if they want to get on time.
Valdivia
Navas really working hard for us.
SRW1
The Ticos need to reconsider that tactic of giving the Dutch the ball in midfield for counter attacks. Generates exciting scenes, but one of ’em give aways might make the round end up in the rectangular one.
Amir Khalid
Nice to see Costa Rica giving as good as they get from the Dutch.
Onkel Fritze
Slow start to the game, but this looks increasingly like it’s not gonna end well for the Ticos. That Navas is really good, though.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Why the hell was that a foul by Robben?
Corner Stone
Bullshit call.
burnspbesq
Robben might have a fair beef there. The contact isn’t what caused the defender to fall down.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Whew, on the play off that free kick.
Corner Stone
No warning? Or a warning but no card?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
The Dutch set pieces aren’t amounting to much.
Valdivia
CR getting nearer to their side of the pitch. Now they just have to finish one.
burnspbesq
The fact that the Dutch don’t have four defenders better than Ron Vlaar is a pretty serious indictment of their youth development system.
Corner Stone
The ref needs to step in for this game. It’s getting very nutty.
burnspbesq
At times, this looks like a college game: overly ambitious first-time balls being sprayed all over the place.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Okay, that one was nice.
Morzer
That Navas is quite a keeper, even if the free kick owed more to Robben’s rehearsal for a gig with Masterpiece Theater than anything else.
⚽️ Martin
That whiff could be meme-worthy.
mali muso
@Morzer: He certainly has a possible future career as a thespian if this futbol thing doesn’t work out for him.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Is it just me, or is the Dutch formation a 3-4-2-Robben-wherever-the-hell-he-wants?
Corner Stone
Put the ball in the hoop! Jeebus!
gene108
@⚽️ Martin:
Balance?
Bah with balance. Let some new blood in.
I want a CONCACAF team to win for once.
mali muso
Navas! Way to sacrifice your body.
raven
@Karen in GA: The people I know love it.
Valdivia
Navas saves our hide.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Tentative half by both teams but I thought the Netherlands had by far the better of the play. The Ticos had about three attacks and only one decent scoring chance.
burnspbesq
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Total Robben.
Amir Khalid
La Sele have held their own against the Oranje, not conceding and not just hanging on desperately. They might just have won my favour. I’ll have to see.
gene108
Maybe the wrong thread for this, but I have a quick computer question.
I have a six year old Mac Book Pro. When I go to the disk utility it says the hard drive is corrupted and I need to go to an Apple Store to get it addressed.
If I buy a PC instead of a Mac, would my .dmg files be transferable to a format that could run on a PC?
Valdivia
@Amir Khalid: anyway I Valdivia the Terriblr can do anything to help that along? :)
raven
@gene108: DMG on PC
Karen in GA
@raven: Thanks for that. We’re still in our 40s, but if we’re going to make such a big move in the future, we should probably start thinking hard now about whether it would work for us.
Tony J
The Ticos are working really, really hard and maintaining a disciplined defence 99% of the time, but the Dutch have the quality up front to turn one of their half chances into a goal. Once that happens and Costa Rica have to go hunting for an equaliser Robben and Van Persie can really hurt them.
I really want Costa Rica to advance, but the longer this game goes on the more likely it is a moment of Dutch brilliance will break the deadlock.
That said, all my predictions in this World Cup have been worth a bag of salty dicks, so roll on the second half.
raven
@Karen in GA: Sure!
Valdivia
@Tony J:
I’m hoping Pinto and the sociologist they hired will give them a talking to so they attack more instead if just defending because otherwise it will be as you say.
Still can’t believe we held them off this well though. Let’s see what happens.
dmsilev
@gene108: DMG files are Mac disk images. Out of the box, a Windows machine wouldn’t be able to do anything with them. On the other hand, do you have any DMGs which you made, or are they all program installers and the like? If the latter, even if you could open the files under Windows, they wouldn’t do anything useful over there.
burnspbesq
If this match isn’t doing for you, the alternatives available on the Watch ESPN app include New Zealand vs. West Indies in T20 cricket, Toronto vs. Saskatchewan in the CFL, and the women’s semifinals of the US national ultimate frisbee championship.
Morzer
@Tony J:
I think the longer the game goes without a goal the more nervous the Dutch will become. I could see them making a blunder out of mutual frustration. Costa Rica know what they are doing here.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Man, this game is a complete non-starter for the Golden Scissors. Neither team has anyone with notable hair, either good or bad. The Dutch are all balding and los Ticos play it conservative. Dirk Kuyt might have the most impressive coif on the pitch.
raven
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): The pucker factor trying to get to the final four.
WaterGirl
@gene108: The first thing you should be doing right now, if you haven’t already, is to do a complete backup of your mac computer.
Even if you regularly use something like Time Machine for backups, you might want to use Carbon Copy Cloner to get a complete backup of your computer to an external drive.
Bring the external drive with the back with you when you go to the Apple Store. That way when they install the new drive (likely) they can transfer the data and you will be as good as new.
Citizen_X
@Amir Khalid: Hah! Liked the song. But they comments were refreshing different. Instead of being full of angry Americans showing heir asses, they were full of angry Dutch and Mexicans showing their asses.
Alex S.
Well, at least it’s the qualitatively best quarter-final. The Dutch play well, and Costa Rica faces them with discipline and a good keeper.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
So when, exactly, is pushing someone from behind to get him off the ball a foul? I’ve gotten very mixed messages about that from this ref.
dance around in your bones
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): Well, de Nederlands swapped out Jean-Luc Picard for a goalie grasshopper with some hair.
Valdivia
For those interested and able to read Spanish here is an article about how the Sele came to hire a sociologist. Interesting.
http://www.ovaciondigital.com.uy/mundial/innovacion-costa-rica-sociologo-concentracion.html
SRW1
How many points is that triple rolling?
Tony J
@Valdivia:
After the way Costa Rica conducted themselves in the group stage against Uruguay and Italy (the games they took seriously) and the mental strength they showed putting out Greece, I’m no longer surprised by anything they do.
But yeah, they need to make and take a chance. Otherwise the Dutch will grind them down eventually.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@SRW1: Robben has made things look spectacular but at least today they were all real fouls.
mali muso
Hmm, well at least the Ticos are holding their own. Need to see some more possession though and start threatening the Dutch defensive line.
SRW1
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Yes, that was a foul and the card was deserved. But Arjen just can’t do it without the theatrics.
WaterGirl
@WaterGirl: @gene108:
P.S. If you do a carbon copy cloner backup (program is free for a trial) be sure to click the box to make the backup bootable. That way if you do get a new internal drive, they can boot up from your backup and transfer everything to the new drive in your computer.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Morzer: The Dutch don’t seem like a team that will collapse with nerves. The longer the game is scoreless the more the odds of Costa Rica winning improve but that’s purely a sample size thing. The fewer the number of goals in a game, the more likely that it’s decided by something fluky or a run against play.
Tony J
@Morzer:
I would agree with you wholeheartedly, but my track record suggests that the Dutch would immediately score.
So I’ll restrict myself to a non-committal grunt and hope you’ve got the gift of the chicken bones.
burnspbesq
@SRW1:
How many points is that triple rolling?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Is there any reason FIFA can’t just use a regular soccer ball for the World Cup?
Alex S.
@SRW1:
It’s just the way he rolls (and rolls, and rolls….)
Otmar
The Austrian commentator claims this was worthy of a penalty
raven
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): The ball has evolved quite a bit.
Violet
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): The really great contenders for the Golden Scissors went out in the group stage.
Valdivia
@Tony J:
Must say we are very proud to have accomplished all of that. But no reason we can try and do more. Like get rolled by Messi in the next game. ;)
mali muso
About time that Dutch player got booked. C’mon Ticos!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Meh, that was probably a foul on Indi, but the dive was worthy of anything Robben has done.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Campbell coming out?!?
burnspbesq
Vlaar does just enough to throw off Gonzalez. That was a sweet delivery.
Onkel Fritze
Now here’s a question: I keep hearing variations of: ‘Yes, there was a contact, but the way he went down that was just too much acting. A ref will not give a penalty for these kinds of theatrics.’
If that is true and the players know it, why do they keep acting like that? Why don’t they just fall down without these expansive gestures?
Tony J
Campbell not happy to be taken off, especially for a guy who apparently hasn’t played a league game in the last two years and hasn’t scored in three. I shit you not.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
One too many passes there (and how often in the recent past have you said that about the Dutch?).
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Onkel Fritze: My take is just the opposite, and it relates to hockey, too. The reason they act it up is because there are too many times when, if you don’t go down when an opponent fouls you, the ref won’t call it.
mali muso
ruh roh. Gamboa injured and they’ve just used a sub to swap out Campbell?
Violet
I’m guessing those gentlemen they just showed in the blue jackets and orange ties are the Dutch coaching staff but my goodness they looked like flight attendants in uniform.
SRW1
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Van Persie has a bit of a problem to keep onside. When will Huntelaar replace him in this game?
Randy Paul aka Randinho
@Corner Stone: Karma.
Tony J
@Valdivia:
No shame in getting rolled by a talent like Messi, but should you get through and on a field with him and his ten nameless friends, well, got to be in it to win it, that’s why they play the matches, etc.
Plus, Messi aside, Argentina are as beatable as Italy.
burnspbesq
This is exactly what we saw from Costa Rica in qualifying: five at the back, very well organized and disciplined. They are hard to break down.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@SRW1: Looks like van Gaal thought Depay was the problem.
Randy Paul aka Randinho
@Morzer: Agreed. Amity! :-)
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
C’mon, Oranje. Convert one of these set pieces.
raven
@efgoldman: oh byte it
SRW1
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
I suspect that you may have missed the word ‘biggest’ there.
Violet
Happened to catch a bit of some stupid ESPN show on Wednesday. They were discussing soccer and its popularity in the US. The whole thing was awful, but this was interesting from Dave Zirin:
What a shocker. The mainstream media did no research on a subject, had no idea what was happening on the ground and was surprised by actual results. Who would have guessed?
mali muso
uggggh, Robben does it again.
Tony J
@Onkel Fritze:
What TTP said at 126, plus the idea is that A) there’s so much theatricality on show that if you don’t go the full mime-act route silently screaming “I was fouled!” the referee will conclude that you don’t think you we’re fouled and will let okay go on, and B) the game is so fast, and the demands on the referee’s attention so intense, you need to flag wave to get him to notice.
Like Robben did right there.
burnspbesq
@Violet:
Anybody who thinks there is no football culture in this country should spend a Sounders gameday in downtown Seattle.
Baud
Can someone explain which trips are worthy of a yellow card and which are not?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Randy Paul aka Randinho: I’m still not seeing signs of Dutch nerves.
Tony J
What a fantastic free kick, but it’s still 0-0. Will that prove costly?
burnspbesq
You could see that coming. The wall was too far to the outside.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
The chances in this game are all going in one direction. Have the Ticos done anything offensively in this half?
Alex S.
I am impressed though. The Dutch are the fittest team of the tournament.
Onkel Fritze
@Tony J: I see both your points, but that still leaves the question why TV commentators so often claim the opposite.
SRW1
@Baud:
Well, there’s the rules and there’s the instructions FIFA gives to the refs. The latter is secret, though events this far at the tournament appear to suggest that what FIFA told the refs is to go easy on the cards.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
And it may still be scoreless but this is by far the most entertaining of the four quarterfinal games.
Violet
@burnspbesq: The owner of Seattle, Joe Roth, was on the panel and making the same argument. Myopic sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy was whining, “Why do you insist I like soccer?” Dave Zirin told him he didn’t have to like it but as a sportswriter he should go do some sports journalism and report on it. That was kind of funny.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
If the ref has a bad feeling about the tackle, he yellow-cards the tackler.
Valdivia
If it’s overtime will it be penalties or Robben diving?
SRW1
Dear Mr van Gaal, Huntelaar would have put that thing into the net.
mali muso
soooo, are we going to the extra 30 minutes or what?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Violet: When it comes to what sportswriters cover, there are two teams in the Twin Cities that have won two championships in the last three years, the only titles local teams have won, college or pros, in the last decade. One of them has gone 87-2-1 in its last 90 games.
No one covers them because they’re the wrong gender.
Edit: I define local as Twin Cities rather than Minnesota because the Minnesota-Duluth football and both men’s and women’s hockey have won titles in the last five years.
Valdivia
@SRW1:
And more in some games than others
Amir Khalid
@Valdivia:
If they’re still level after 120 minutes I expect penalties. As far as I’m aware, Costa Rica don’t have a designated diver.
Tony J
@Baud:
Ones that the referee thinks are deliberate and impact on the fair flow of the game without rising to the level of a straight red, and persistent ones. You do it a couple of times, he’ll give you a verbal warning. You keep doing it you’re going in the book for cheating.
Baud
Damn.
mali muso
omg, that was some crazy action! nice goalie work by number 17.
SRW1
Amir is not with Holland. That’s for sure!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
HOW DID THAT NOT FUCKING GO IN?
Valdivia
Viva Yeltsin!
Alex S.
Well, the Dutch can’t complain…
burnspbesq
If CRC somehow pulls this out, there will be many baby boys named Yeltsin in 2015.
Baud
Thanks for the answers about the yellow card.
Violet
That was insane.
SRW1
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Amir jinxed it. Twice in one second.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Bad offsides call. Robben was behind someone on the other side of the pitch.
And Costa Rica is incredibly lucky to be going to extra time.
burnspbesq
Bonus football in Salvador.
smintheus
Van Persie is coming up small again. He has been offside so regularly that I’m beginning to suspect that he’s been paid off to throw the match.
Amir Khalid
@SRW1:
If the Dutch don’t convert the chances I give them, they can’t blame me if they don’t win. Know what I’m saying?
burnspbesq
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Naw. Tejeda was where he was supposed to be and did what he was put there to do. Not luck.
Tony J
@Onkel Fritze:
Depends on the commentators. British ones are always harrumphing that “We didn’t do that in my day!” and squaring their manly jaws, but they’re mostly full of it. Commentators from Italy, Spain, etc, are a lot more sanguine about the whole thing. It’s all part of the game, the point if which isn’t to take part, but to win.
All mileages will vary.
Randy Paul aka Randinho
Diaz got a gift from the referee. That could have easily been a second yellow.
Onkel Fritze
OK, so apparently the Dutch have never won a game in overtime at the World Cup.
Bill E Pilgrim
Captain! Their shields are holding! We’ve thrown everything we’ve got a’ em, but it dinna get throo!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Is Yeltsin the one that let it roll up his entire body, off his head, and into the crossbar?
Valdivia
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): Yeltsin was the one who saved the one inside the frame.
dance around in your bones
@Bill E Pilgrim: Time to land on a distant planet for more dilithium crystals.
Preferably whilst losing a shirt in the process.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@burnspbesq: Yeah, but at that moment, the ball can bounce off of you in funny ways and go in. And when you spend the entire half in your end of the field, the chances of that happening go up in a big way. There have been a lot of times in this game when the ball could have bounced in a different direction and gone into the Costa Rica net and every single time it has failed to do so. Even if you’re in the right place every time, it takes a big dose of luck to get away with it when a game is this tilted.
Amir Khalid
Costa Rica have shown discipline in defence and (so far, anyway) shut out the only team to score five in a match this World Cup. Now let’s see if they can conjure up enough of an attack to score.
Alex S.
When it comes to penalties…advantage Navas!
Edit: Oh no, he sits on the ground!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Navas is down.
Corner Stone
@Amir Khalid: They might not. But I can.
Corner Stone
For God’s sake. Just put the fucking pig bladder into the silk area.
Jesus Christ.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
And there goes Yeltsin. Pinto must be convinced that Navas isn’t seriously hurt.
burnspbesq
Dirk Kuyt and Kyle Singler: separated at birth?
MomSense
@dance around in your bones:
Very good. Tartar sauce is also tasty.
Amir Khalid
I have looked upon Navas with favour and allowed him to keep playing.
Tripod
Ticos are going to give one up. No speed up top since Campbell went off
burnspbesq
Urena makes a meal of not much contact. Ref decides he’s not hungry.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
In hockey, Costa Rica would be struggling to get a line change. Yeah, yeah, it’s a different sport and you can’t really compare it but that’s what this reminds me of.
Onkel Fritze
@Amir Khalid: So that was you taking out Neymar, then?
Tony J
@Randy Paul aka Randinho:
QFT. That was as stonewall a yellow as I’ve seen this tournament and I still can’t believe he didn’t give it.
Then again, that was a penalty for Costa Rica he just didn’t give. Maybe he’s aiming for a zen-like balance in all things.
Randy Paul aka Randinho
@Amir Khalid: Praise Amir Khalid!
Van Persie must be pursuing a record for offside calls.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
It seems like it’s the Ticos doing the diving here.
Corner Stone
Don’t want to hear anymore bullshit about Orange diving.
That was bullshit stoppage.
Corner Stone
Hand ball!
ETA, bad call.
Randy Paul aka Randinho
Pretty weak hand ball call.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
The Dutch are getting to all the loose balls and they still have two substitutions left.
Huntelaar lurks!
dance around in your bones
@MomSense: Really! I think most people who diss patates frites met mayonaisse have never really tried them. They are delicioso.
Ok, I have refrained from groaning throughout this whole match, but really – 100+plus minutes into the game and not a single frickin’ goal? The beautiful (but boring) game.
Flame away!
Corner Stone
Come the fuck on.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Can Costa Rica survive two games in which they’re holding on for dear life?
Corner Stone
Why does the one guy with hair on NED seem like their weakest link?
SRW1
@Randy Paul aka Randinho:
What I am saying. Van Gaal appears way too invested in having van Persie on the pitch.
Violet
@Randy Paul aka Randinho:
The Dutch in general are.
Link.
mali muso
@Corner Stone: Maybe it’s a reverse Samson thing?
Onkel Fritze
@Violet: Paul Carr blows your mind.
Amir Khalid
@dance around in your bones:
I’ve seen some fascinating matches that ended up as scoreless draws. Goals are gratifying to see, but they don’t necessarily make the match.
SRW1
So, Holland will be switching to 4-4-2 for the final 15 minutes.
Tony J
@dance around in your bones:
As with the noble samauri, all it takes is one attack to penetrate the opponent’s defence and it’s all over.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
The Dutch are down to two defenders. They clearly don’t fear a Costa Rica attack.
Amir Khalid
Why did van Gaal wait so long to bring on Huntelaar? I’d have brought him on at halftime.
SRW1
What did the ref take out the yellow for if he wasn’t going to show it to any player?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@efgoldman: The Boston MLS team draws about 15,000 fans a game. It is a thing in Shaughnessy’s city.
raven
@SRW1: He was using it as a flat surface to write himself a note.
Onkel Fritze
@efgoldman: Leave me alone he screamed, as he followed me around.
Amir Khalid
@SRW1:
There’s nothing in the rules against the ref making a feint at carding a player.
raven
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): The NHL Championship was played between the two biggest TV markets in the country and 5 white guys watched it.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
The Ticos are finally doing something.
Violet
@efgoldman: No one is making anyone watch soccer or like it. You’re not interested–go do something else. Plenty of people don’t watch NFL football or even pay attention to the Superbowl. Same for NBA and MLB and other “American” sports. Lots of other things to do out there.
As for Shaughnessy, he’s a sportswriter. This World Cup has drawn record crowds at viewing parties all over the country. It’s been a big story. He writes about sports. Writing that soccer is stupid and he doesn’t care is ridiculous. It’s big, it’s happening, it’s his job to write about it.
dance around in your bones
@Amir Khalid: Well, I respect your opinion (as always) but Jehoshaphat, for a soccer novice it’s like watching paint dry. I am giving it the old college try, however.
@Tony J: One could expire before that one attack, however. Then it would be all over :)
ETA: I said however TWICE! Don’t call me How, EVER!
Corner Stone
Fuck. How they can they not be offsides there.
SRW1
Well now it becomes clear why van Gaal waited and waited with his replacements. It appears he is preparing to hook his goalie if we go to a penalty shoot-out.
raven
@dance around in your bones: This round is not the place to start.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@SRW1: the Dutch have a goalie? I haven’t seen him in forever.
burnspbesq
Heck of a time to OD on adrenalne, Bolanos.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Oh, wait. There he is.
Onkel Fritze
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): Neither have the Ticos.
Corner Stone
Just strike the fucking ball you pitty pat motherfucker.
burnspbesq
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Now you have.
raven
Gettin pretty good now Bones.
Tony J
@dance around in your bones:
8-)
You’ve got to admit, since the Ticos abandoned their cunning hour long feint of just defending their own penalty area it’s got damned exciting.
Violet
@raven: Agreed. This is not the place to start watching.
@dance around in your bones: Next World Cup start watching during the group rounds. Tons of fun and the games aren’t quite as tense.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
How many times have the Dutch hit the crossbar today?
Bill E Pilgrim
I’m telling you, there’s a force field around that thing. Do they check for those?
raven
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): the 12th of never
mali muso
Think that’s the first time I can recall seeing a goalie subbed out.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Are you not allowed to sub between extra time and the shootout?
raven
OK deep soccer peeps, what’s the deal on this goalie switch?
SRW1
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Apparently he is too ugly to be seen when the attention would be on him during a penalty shoot-out.
Tony J
What? The Dutch are putting in a keeper cold just before penalties?
That’s just crazy bizarre.
Raven – The only possible reason is Van Gaal thinks Tim Krul is a penalty stopping machine. I do not know where he would get that impression from.
burnspbesq
Somebody wake up the Toon Army. It’s a Tim Krul sighting.
dance around in your bones
@raven: I’ve watched more than a few of these rounds.
For my money (probably being invested in USA!USA!) I found the last few minutes of the USA-Belgium match rather compelling. After many many minutes of tedium.
Ok, I’ll shut up now. Enjoy, all you futbol fans!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
I hate shootouts. At this level, you should have to win by playing football.
Amir Khalid
LvG has subbed his keeper just for the penalties. Funny, I can’t imagine why Cillessen would be tired after this match.
SRW1
@raven:
Presumably the Dutch coach judges him to be much better in saving penalties.
burnspbesq
Although, given that it’s 2330 local on Saturday night, the Toon Army might be too drunk to notice.
raven
@SRW1: Ah, so as long as he goes in while the game is live then he’s the one. Sorry, I’m dense.
Onkel Fritze
@Tony J: So van Gaal thinks his second keeper is better at penalties. Big deal.
Amir Khalid
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
When 1 1/3 matches have failed to yield an outcome, it’s probably a good idea to try something other than more football.
mali muso
Funny, but I thought attempting to kick the ball into the square net area was football.
Corner Stone
Bullshit. PK outcomes are stupid.
SRW1
@Onkel Fritze:
Well, LVG may be right or not. The kind of problem with this is that he had to use one of three replacements for this when in extra time any pair of fresh legs might be the difference.
Valdivia
Dying here!
Bill E Pilgrim
@Amir Khalid: My sentiments exactly. Lest you end up with days-long matches, like in that other non-American game.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Amir Khalid: I’ve been at a hockey game that went more than double regulation time. It’s incredible.
Amir Khalid
Costa Rica got to this match by beating Greece on penalties. They scored all five of theirs.
Onkel Fritze
@Bill E Pilgrim: Baseball?
⚽️ Martin
@Amir Khalid: Not today.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
With that, I need to sign off because when this is over I need to fly to the place I’m supposed to be at 6pm.
dance around in your bones
@Violet: Thanks, Violet – but Jeebus H. Crisco, you call these matches TENSE?
Ok, OMFG Costa Rica just scored a gol while I was typing.
And de Nederlands did, too? Ok, it got tense in the last minutes – like that samurai thing Tony J was talking about!
Tony J
@Onkel Fritze:
It kind of is. This isn’t like American football where you bring on a specialist for certain jobs. Your first choice keeper is your best keeper, no one ever swaps them out just before a penalty shoot out.
Krul might well turn out to be a sorcerer of stopping, but it is very, very odd.
Bill E Pilgrim
The level of detail from the BBC announcers is rather impressive, if a bit obsessive. “Changed, didn’t he. He went the other direction against Greece”
SRW1
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Cricket. At least they have tea breaks.
Corner Stone
A few years back in Mexico I met two young girls from Netherlands. They were awesome.
MattR
@Amir Khalid: Switch to golden goal and make each team take off a player at the start of every 15 minute extra period until a goal is finally scored. To keep things reasonable, each team gets an additional sub as well with each extra period.
⚽️ Martin
I’m impressed that Krul has guessed every shot correctly. That’s really hard to do.
Corner Stone
Stuff this motherfucker!
mali muso
sigh, damn shame. But the Ticos can certainly go home with their heads held high.
Corner Stone
Fuck yeah!
Violet
Oh, that sucks. Poor Costa Rica. They showed such heart. I’m sad.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Onkel Fritze: No, I think the record for that is like eight hours.
At least with the one that lasts days sometimes you certainly do get your money’s worth out of the price of your Jiminy.
Randy Paul aka Randinho
Sorry Valdivia. Ticos have every right to hold their heads up. I wasulling for you.
Bill E Pilgrim
@SRW1: I think you were answering Martin. I knew I meant cricket.
Amir Khalid
And the Oranje are in the semifinals by the skin of their teeth.
raven
What a fucking asshole, now I have someone to be against! Fuck da dutch.
Onkel Fritze
@Tony J: Seen it done before.
Tony J
And it’s over. Krul did what he was sent out to do.
Costa Rica can leave this tournament with heads way high. They were excellent. Argentina will – not – be happy.
SRW1
So, Krul does it for Holland and the usual suspects are in the semis.
HumboldtBlue
Damn fine run by Costa Rica, well done, Ticos
Citizen_X
Pinches Nederlandeses…
mali muso
So much for Dutch dominance. They won that on pure luck against a tiny little team like Costa Rica. Bring on the next round!
burnspbesq
Hell of a tournament for CONCACAF.
Tony J
@Onkel Fritze:
Fair enough. I haven’t.
Heliopause
I’m sorry, but it’s basically insane to have a sport where the object is to score, and one team can play 120 minutes making virtually no attempt to score, and not even pretend about it, and still win.
Tripod
The Orange just wanted it more.
dance around in your bones
I give up. I think I might have been watching in an alternate universe.
Morzer
@Heliopause:
Costa Rica made some good chances and should have had a penalty. Besides, all sports are insane in strictly rational terms. At the end of the day, teams chasing a ball, hitting a ball, throwing a ball etc aren’t doing anything objectively worth paying money to watch.
And yet, we pay the money and we watch them.
Corner Stone
@raven: What happened?
mali muso
@raven: Vamos Argentina!
Valdivia
@Randy Paul aka Randinho: thank you. I wasn’t pulling for Argentina but in the next game I hope they give Robben a taste of his own medicine.
Morzer
@Tony J:
Argentina will think that Los Ticos knew how to neuter the Dutch attack – and made them run and suffer in the heat. They’ll fancy their chances after seeing this game.
Amir Khalid
@MattR:
Any team that had to survive that would be well beyond knackered at the end of the marathon match, and at a great disadvantage against its better-rested opponent in the next round.
Onkel Fritze
Lots of old aquaintances in the semis. 3 teams that share 10 of the 19 titles between them and the Dutch, who have been in the final 3 times but never won.
Violet
@dance around in your bones: I totally get where you’re coming from. I used to think soccer was boring and kind of dumb. Over the years I started watching it a bit. Last World Cup I got hooked. Don’t really know how. Just happened.
I get that the low scoring games seem like they’re boring–and sometimes they are! But sometimes they’re tense and exciting and lots of back and forth and shots on goal and it’s really exciting. The final score doesn’t always tell the story of the game.
But it’s not for everyone. Even people who grow up with it as sort of the national sport of their country aren’t necessarily fans.
raven
@Corner Stone: That goalie woofin shit.
Morzer
@Onkel Fritze:
It’s somewhat depressing that it ended up that way. I do think the earlier rounds were more fun to watch.
Depressingly, I seem to have ended up having to root for the Germans.
Corner Stone
@raven: Dude blocked two. That’s like getting Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie showing up at your place on successive nights.
Onkel Fritze
@Morzer: Maybe it’s better for you if you start out that way?
Violet
@Morzer: I enjoy the group stages the best in the World Cup. Various countries participating, interesting fans in the stands, and the play seems more wide open. Plus since it can end in a draw the games seem less tense. It’s just more fun.
I’ve watched several Rugby World Cups and feel the same way there. The group stage games are much more fun.
mali muso
@raven: Crass over class. Navas and his equipo can hold their heads high.
MattR
@Amir Khalid: I am not sure that it would be that significant. Opening up the play and switching to golden goal should end games quicker making it much less likely that they would get to 120 minutes. Granted, the players on the pitch will have to run more as players are removed, but by adding the extra subs there won’t really be too many players putting in that much of an extra effort. A team would only have to have 5 of its initial field players on for the first extra period for 10 on 10 play and only 3 for the second for 9 on 9 play. Is that really much more exhausting than asking 7 players to go the entire 120 minutes 11 on 11? (And if it goes to a 8 on 8 in a third extra period, a team would only have to have one of its original field players still on the field.)
Morzer
@Onkel Fritze:
I could have done for other editions of die Mannschaft, but I don’t find anything very inspiring in the 2014 vintage. Honestly, I don’t know that any of the teams in the semi-finals are particularly inspiring to watch. I guess Germany are the team I dislike least, although I am not sure that Jogi Löw is especially astute tactically.
mali muso
@Morzer: I quite liked them in 2010, but they seem boringly efficient this time around.
dance around in your bones
@Violet: I lived in both Holland and Mexico, and experienced die-hard futbol/soccer fans without ever really getting into it. (Not that I am any kind of sports maven as it is – there’s an old term :)
But how a game can end in a 0-0 score but one team wins is sort of a mystery to me. Probably points or style or penalties?
But, whatever. I used to watch buzkashi in Afghanistan and boy, was THAT a game that could go on forever! And you never knew what the hell was going on except a bunch of high-heeled cowboys riding their horses around, whipping each other over a dead goat. It was exciting, though.
dance around in your bones
Ok, I am in moderation for saying either high-heeled cowboys or buzkashi. test
ETA: perhaps it was a link too far…..
Amir Khalid
@MattR:
Such an arrangement still leaves a few players who have to stay on the pitch the whole time. They would not be keen on it. Besides, a World Cup squad is limited to 23 players. You could run out of unused substitutes, even if the GK subs played outfield.
MattR
@Amir Khalid: It’s not perfect, but IMO it is better than the randomness of penalty kicks or the potential endlessness of continuing extra time until a goal is scored.
Each team has 10 outfield subs. Assuming 2 pre game injuries leave only 8 available, a team would not be able to make a 9th sub until after the 5th extra time (which would have been played with 6 players on a side, including the goal keeper). The odds of a game reaching that point are quite remote and even if it does, it would not be a terrible thing if they had to finish the game without being able to make additional subs (since the 4 field players in the 6th extra time will most likely all be subs) [Or switch to 10 minute extra periods, if you think that will make things less exhausting]
Bill Murray
@Tony J:
Uh, no. Campbell hasn’t played for Arsenal, the club that owns his contract, but he has played 85 games and scored 13 goals on loan at L’Orient, Real Betis and Olympiakos. He didn’t qualify for an English work permit until last July, so couldn’t play for Arsenal until then.