That There World Cup of Winning Football.

[JimC]

It will be the night of the long knives in Madrid...

[HomerJay]

Odds and statistics are about probability. Of course individual results will not necessarily stick to the average. Duh. Spain is an extreme example of just that.

Spain are much more than just an example of averages, it's their whole tactical system; tiki-taka. It relies entirely on possession football. (Although after this it might be the death of tick-tock).

So it's not enough to know the value of the stats, you need to know the basis for the figures. Duh.

Good job by Chile though, their left back used to play for Nottingham Forest, in the second tier of english football but he's just be released as not good enough, so beating the galaticos of Spain, very impressive.

[Hermit]

Spain are much more than just an example of averages, it's their whole tactical system; tiki-taka. It relies entirely on possession football. (Although after this it might be the death of tick-tock).

Oh yes, there is definitely more to possession than mere percentage. Passing the ball to and fro in midfield improves the rate, but does nothing in regard to winning games.

Is it too late for you to fix your quoting fuck-up?

[HomerJay]

Assou-Ekotto the ex-Tottenham haircut nearly gets into a fight with his own number 8, Moukandjo and could have been sent off for a headbutt, after Cameroon already had Song sent off for punching.

The argument carried on after the players left the pitch.

This is what the world cup should be about, tempers in the heat of the night.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Spain are much more than just an example of averages, it's their whole tactical system; tiki-taka. It relies entirely on possession football. (Although after this it might be the death of tick-tock).

Oh yes, there is definitely more to possession than mere percentage. Passing the ball to and fro in midfield improves the rate, but does nothing in regard to winning games.

Is it too late for you to fix your quoting fuck-up?

Spain had tons of possession in both games but half the time their players had their backs to their opponents' goal! You can't win games that way. When your midfielders' first instincts are to pass to someone behind them rather than someone in front of them, your team is in trouble. Let's hope we see a little of the "old" Spain in their last game - nothing to play for so just fucking go for it!

[HomerJay]

Spain are much more than just an example of averages, it's their whole tactical system; tiki-taka. It relies entirely on possession football. (Although after this it might be the death of tick-tock).

Oh yes, there is definitely more to possession than mere percentage. Passing the ball to and fro in midfield improves the rate, but does nothing in regard to winning games.

Is it too late for you to fix your quoting fuck-up?

It's much more complicated than that though, stats simply don't relate enough information about the game.

Look at England v Italy for example, the Italians enjoyed much more attacking possession in the final third but the reason for that was actually that England were better than Italy at defending.

The Italians were shut out and had to retain possession in an attempt to find an opening, England OTOH, when they attacked, found quicker ways through the Italian defence and hence had less time and possession in the attacking third and the stats can't demonstrate the actualité of that.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

There's only one stat that matters in the end...

[klr]

Assou-Ekotto the ex-Tottenham haircut nearly gets into a fight with his own number 8, Moukandjo and could have been sent off for a headbutt, after Cameroon already had Song sent off for punching.

The argument carried on after the players left the pitch.

This is what the world cup should be about, tempers in the heat of the night.

Meh. Carlos valderrama in his pomp would have taken Assou-Ekotto to the cleaners:



And yes - Moukandjo should have been sent off. Has a player ever been sent off in the World Cup for assaulting a team-mate?

There's only one stat that matters in the end...

I remember a Champions League match some years ago between Galatasary of Turkey and some Swedish club. Galatasary had 22 corners. The Swedes had one corner, scored from it, and won 1-0. Now that's efficient.

[PsychoSerenity]

Is it over now for England? Will I not have to tell anyone that I'm not really interested in football for another four years?

[klr]

It's not over yet "mathematically".

... which almost always means that yes, it's over.

It will be over tomorrow if Italy don't beat Costa Rica. But since an Italian victory is the most likely outcome, England will probably stay on life support for another few days.

[FBM]

...
I remember a Champions League match some years ago between Galatasary of Turkey and some Swedish club. Galatasary had 22 corners. The Swedes had one corner, scored from it, and won 1-0. Now that's efficient.

I would have loved to see that.

[klr]

England are out, because Costa Rica have beaten Italy 1-0, and very deservedly so. Costa Rica - the no-hopers of the group - are through with a game to spare. Italy and Uruguay will scrap it out for the second place. That will be some game.

[cronus]

Don't give a toss. Hated football since I was a kid.

[SteveB]

The groups in this World Cup seem poorly ordered compared to the last one.

Got some ass easy groups and very difficult ones.

[klr]

The groups in this World Cup seem poorly ordered compared to the last one.

Got some ass easy groups and very difficult ones.

Indeed. *Three murderously difficult groups, a couple of "average" groups, and a couple of easy-peasy groups.

For this, you can blame a draw system that lets geography get in the way of world rankings. This has been the way of it for some time, but it's produced an unusually uneven draw this time.

*Spain, Netherlands, Chile, Australia
Italy, England , Uruguay, Costa Rica
Germany, Portugal, Ghana, USA