Brazil 2014 - The Bear and Badger

Ed_Flanders

I'm glad Germany won. They were certainly the best team of the tournament.
Time for post World Cup depression to kick in...

dynamiteReady

Fucking Chermans...

Great goal to win it though.

adored

mistercrayon wrote:

WorKid wrote:

James was POTT.

I wonder if there's an element of Adidas sponsorship at play. The goalie trophy certainly was adi branded and the best player trophy had a three stripes look too. Messi is not a Nike guy (I think...)

Had to be a sponsor thing or down to FIFA 'politics' (i.e backhanders). Messi shouldn've have amde the top 3, nevermind be named POTT.

Funkstain

It's so insultingly transparent though. Luiz in wc team? Messi pot? Surely this kind of thing backfires, everyone thinks FIFA is even more of a corrupt shill, Adidas get to fuck for influencing this stuff. Surely?

RamSteelwood

i doubt it. for many years adidas/messi can advertise themselves as 'best player of world cup' and people will lap up the merchandise, and the history books will say 'messi was player of tournament' and are unlikely to include an asterisk by the award to say "as picked by the main sponsor in a blatant and fairly corrupt marketing manoeuvre - messi was in fact no where near best player in the tournament"

Gremill

I'm surprised that you're all surprised. FIFA make the Indian government look like a model of transparent governance.

LarryDavid

Their ludicrous kit rules were the thing that pissed me off the most this tournament. Just unnecessary meddling; at the expense of tradition, for no real benefit. Although maybe Adidas had an influence there too.

Unless you're colour-blind, no one's going to confuse Brazil and Germany in their respective home kits, and the rules about teams having matching shirts and shorts smacks of finding a solution to a problem no-one even cared about.

I realise it's a bit of a non-issue but it annoyed me throughout.

Gremill

I'm probably more disgusted by their wholesale changing of countries laws, their extortionist dismissal of taxation and their complete moral vacuum than by kit changes. But it all adds up to such a picture of complete and utter corruption at a genetic level that they're almost a satire of an evil corporation.

Diluted Dante

LarryDavid wrote:

and the rules about teams having matching shirts and shorts smacks of finding a solution to a problem no-one even cared about. I realise it's a bit of a non-issue but it annoyed me throughout.

Annoyed me too. "Looks better on the telly" apparantly. I actually think it looks worse. Different coloured shorts break up the image, I find it easier on the eye.

But yeah, the John Oliver thing where he runs down FIFA is bang on. It's a horrible little organisation, and the removal of Sepp Blatter can't come soon enough. But the litte things are an indication of of the larger problems in FIFA.

I_R

Blatter makes sure everyone makes money. Even if he goes, it'll be more of the same. They're a shady and corrupt organisation, but also incredibly successful and completely democratic.

adored

Diluted Dante wrote:

LarryDavid wrote:

and the rules about teams having matching shirts and shorts smacks of finding a solution to a problem no-one even cared about. I realise it's a bit of a non-issue but it annoyed me throughout.

Annoyed me too. "Looks better on the telly" apparantly. I actually think it looks worse. Different coloured shorts break up the image, I find it easier on the eye. But yeah, the John Oliver thing where he runs down FIFA is bang on. It's a horrible little organisation, and the removal of Sepp Blatter can't come soon enough. But the litte things are an indication of of the larger problems in FIFA.

Fuck knows what the shorts thing was about, obviously Brazil weren't asked to change their kit though, but the away kit thing stems from b+w days doesn't it?

Someone watching in b+w would struggle to tell the difference between a team in (say) orange and a team in blue, so despite there not being any clash, one would change to a colour with more 'contrast'.

LarryDavid

Trivial World Cup listings:

Worst haircut: Palacios. Truly an abomination, the only way it could get worse is if Bobby Charlton had decided to add a straggly little ponytail to his late-60's bryl-creamed combover.

Honorable mention to the Argie ref with a greased down, lacquered combover of his own.

Worst tattoo's: Chile. Tough category to pick but the sheer over-indulgence of ink in the squad led me to go for the whole Chilean team, en-mass.

Worst kit: Spain's black 'n' neon away shirt, mercifully only seen once.

Favourite goal: Rodriguez, the volley, although the one he scored against Japan was an underrated gem. Plaudits for Cahill, Shurrle and RVP too.

Biggest let-down: Spain. Everyone expected England to be shit anyway.

Best manager: Mexican bloke, for his over-zealous celebrations and all-round enthusiasm. Costa Rica's wiley old fox was another favourite as was Sabella, with his arched eye-brows and Mick McCarthy-esque looks to camera.

Most inept player: Fred.

Worst performance: Hard to pick between Marcelo and Luiz in the semi-final but the fact that Luiz personally cost his team three goals and he still kept on rampaging forward like he was single-handedly going to score six goals to get them back into it has to be the worst. I also considered his smug dancing and singing in the ITV intro.

Best game: USA v Belgium

Worst game: Holland v Argentina

Best Hondurans: Honduras. Committing a foul straight from the kick-off is rarely easy but the Hondurans managed it with style against Equador, a game that came right off the back of a glorious foul-fest versus the French.

Favourite foul: Again the Hondurans take it, for me the boot up the arse against Equador was just lovely stuff. Cracking technique and wisely decided to go with the laces rather than the sidefoot. We'll be seeing much more of these lads in years to come.

Best totty-cam moment: Really tough category to pick as the competition was fierce, but for my money the Mexicans won - despite a late charge from the German ladies in the final and a good all-round showing from the Belgians and Brazilians.

EDIT: Best Punditry: Glen Hoddle calling Algeria Al-Jazeera

adored

Outstanding work Larold.

LarryDavid wrote:

Worst tattoo's: Chile. Tough category to pick but the sheer over-indulgence of ink in the squad led me to go for the whole Chilean team, en-mass.

This being my favourite, even though he didn't get it until after the match against Brazil.

[Deleted User]

Worst game: Holland v Argentina

Japan Greece should get a mention here.

TheDJR

Great post LD!

Knight

Right when does the pl start?

TheDJR

August 16th.

mistercrayon

The Aus Holland game was pretty good.

TheDJR

Extra time of Holland vs Costa Rica was unbelievable. The worst game was Iran vs Nigeria.

Gremill

USA v Belgium was my game of the tournament - thrilling.

monkey

So many unbelievable games. But Brazil Germany was possibly one of the most amazing games of football I've ever seen. I'm pretty sure I'll never forget it.

[Deleted User]

Yeah one to remember was Brazil Germany.
Holland vs Spain was also fantastic.

g.man

There were a lot of pretty ladies from every country, but the Colombians knocked it out the fucking park in the totty competition from where we were sitting.

Diluted Dante

I imagine being at that game was like when United beat Roma 7-1. After the first few, you kindof stopped celebrating and just turned to those around you in amazement.

Multiplied then some for it being Brazils World Cup, and the semi.

Moot_Geeza

This must have been posted before, but I can't see it:

Who won the World Cup of Arm-Folding?

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