Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

In my day, never was longer.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Keep the Immigrants and deport the fascists!

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

You are here: Home / Sports / Belgium v Algeria Open Thread

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42Comments

  2. 2.

    Lee

    Talking with other guys at work apparently I was the only person who did not know that Germany is known for being a bunch of floppers.

    Yes I know they won, but they should be embarrassed. My 14 year old daughter plays soccer tougher than they do.

  3. 3.

    catclub

    well, if they have as much hope as Costa Rica had versus Uruguay, that might be enough.

  6. 6.

    Punchy

    What’s the opposite of The Group of Death? The Troupe of Trollops? The Clutch of Clowns? Set of Sissies? Hacks and Hayseeds?

  10. 10.

    Randy Paul

    @Punchy: For the love of God and all things decent, please do not make Tommy Smyth references. The man puts the ass in bombastic.

  11. 11.

    Amir Khalid

    And Algeria convert a penalty to gain the lead. Does anyone here remember how they got screwed in the infamous Germany-Austria match in the 1982 World Cup?
    ETA: No wonder they’re celebrating like crazy. This was their first goal at the World Cup since 1986.

  12. 12.

    Randy Paul

    @Amir Khalid: Of course. It led to a rule change, which is why the open threads for the third game of each group will be titled e.g. Group A Third Game Open Thread.

  16. 16.

    Morzer

    Well, I guess Belgium is up a kriek without a paddle. They’ve had lots of possession, but haven’t really done much with it. If Algeria were a touch more ambitious and quicker to break out defense, they might find themselves rewarded.

  18. 18.

    Amir Khalid

    @Randy Paul:
    Did you have the misfortune of watching Die Schande von Gijon? I saw both teams just quit trying at all after the goal was scored. The fans in the stadium were furious. Algeria filed a complaint against Germany and Austria, but FIFA did nothing. I doubt I’ll ever see a duller or more shameful World Cup match.

  19. 19.

    Morzer

    @catclub:

    They seem to have an endless supply of micro-brews. That said, I think their distinguishing feature in Europe is chocolate, rather than beer, although they face stiff competition from the yodeling mountain-dwellers who invented the cuckoo clock.

  21. 21.

    handsmile

    De-lurking to note that footballing genius Michael Cox of Zonal Marking cautioned: “Can Belgium succeed without proper fullbacks?”

    zonalmarking.net/2014/06/10/belgium-can-they-succeed-without-proper-full-backs/

    Seven of the eight defenders on Belgium’s WC squad regularly play center-back for their respective professional teams. Vertonghen, who was comically responsible for the penalty, does so for Tottenham in the EPL.

    Hard to imagine that Belgium’s overall man-to-man quality will not come to dominate the second half here. But its recent inexperience at this level of international competition (WC, Euros) I always felt could be an Achilles’ heel in this tournament.

    Cox also had this to say about the Desert Foxes: “I might be hugely wrong about this, but I’m convinced everyone is underestimating Algeria. Decent, organized young side in a poor group.”

  27. 27.

    Punchy

    Can Algeria win Group H with a victory here? I would think the Commie Pinkos and Seoul-less Koreans aren’t very good.

    ETA: OK, nevermind. Here comes the Belgies.

  29. 29.

    Amir Khalid

    There’s always scepticism about the value of bringing on Marouane Fellaini, given the less than brilliant season he’s had at Manchester United, but then he’s just gone and scored the equaliser for Belgium.

  33. 33.

    handsmile

    Somewhere – undoubtedly somewhere remote – David Moyes is smiling wryly.

    Evidently, Belgium does have a Plan B. Marc Wilmots to be hailed for his substituting nous.

  34. 34.

    PaulW

    I still think soccer should allow for more Par-4 holes across the pitch. …what you mean, golf is not part of the game?!

  35. 35.

    peach flavored shampoo

    Anyone understand why the Mexicans are such enormous underdogs in the next match? They played well in their first game…is the home-cooking for Brazil just that obvious? Seems unusual to have such a disparity in terms of the point spread between 2 reasonably strong futbol clubs.

  36. 36.

    ⚽️ Martin

    Missed the first half, so don’t know what went wrong there, but Belgium has looked pretty good here late in the 2nd. Thus far I haven’t seen any team attack the ball on defense as well as Algeria and their passing is impressive. Do they have any offense to speak of?

  37. 37.

    catclub

    @peach flavored shampoo:

    Anyone understand why the Mexicans are such enormous underdogs in the next match?

    My understanding is they barely made it into the tournament ( with a little help from the USA) and had played badly most of the time. Maybe Croatia is kind of the opposite.

  38. 38.

    Morzer

    @catclub:

    El Tri is one of those teams that probably ought to do better and yet perpetually disappoints at the world cup.

  40. 40.

    ⚽️ Martin

    @catclub: This. I have a few coworkers that are big Liga MX fans, and they don’t think the national team has played well.

    Its interesting that they’re cheering as much for the Mexican team as the US team, but it’s mainly because they think that MLS is pretty crap, so the players that they know and follow and are fans of are mostly on the Mexico team. They tell me their parents would be far more likely to learn English if the best soccer on TV weren’t on Univision.

  42. 42.

    Morzer

    @PaulW:

    I have it on good authority that Punchy’s picture appears in the dictionary next to “cheese-eating surrender monkey”.

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