2014 FIFA World Cup

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Croatia made Brazil look defensively weak especially early on. On another day they could easily have gone 2 0 up just before Brazil equalised

[eFestivals]

Croatia made Brazil look defensively weak especially early on. On another day they could easily have gone 2 0 up just before Brazil equalised

and they could have easily gone 2-1 up in the minutes before Brazil got their 2nd too. And 2-2 before Brazil got their third.

Having said that, while they put the pressure on, they weren't exactly peppering the goal with shots. But the opportunities were there, and Brazil could have lost and probably would have to a not-hugely better team.

[philipsteak]

I'm surprised people are saying Croatia did well? I thought their game was sadly lacking. Their passing was piss poor in the midfield, the only thing they did well was a few crosses into the box.

I really hope the cheating isnt going to go unpunished all the way through the tourney.

And ITV appear to have been able to surprise us all by proving that their coverage can get worse than it always was. Its fucking awful, Chiles is an utter dronebag. How the fuck he garners such a prestigious role is beyond me. Twitter was alight for most of the night with "WTF is this ITV?" and "adverts adverts adverts", and "ITV player goes down during the opening game of the WC", but my personal fave was #taxiforchiles

Makes me appreciate paying the TV license.

[TheGayTent]

At least Chiles can speak English (sort of). I loved watching Cannavaro as a player but he added virtually zero as a pundit mainly due to his poor level of English.

[t8yman]

Its the "laddy" adverts that wind me up too, especially Ray "Fucking" Winstone, a man I loved whilst growing up - Scum was (and still is) one of my all time faves. Now I cringe every time he comes on telling me to " 'ave a bit o'that son!". And the fact that every advert seems to start with some shitty stereotyped "you love football, we love football" bullshit marketing bollocks, usually followed by "so buy our car".

And the ad breaks are bookmarked by ITV's shitty overblown idents.

Fuck right off.

rant over.

[t8yman]

Agreed on Cannavaro, terrible choice for a pundit.

Edited June 13, 2014 by t8yman

[TheGayTent]

Agree about Winstone. Superb in Scum, Nil by Mouth etc, but his abysmal accent in the departed and these bet365 are putting me off him!

[TheJackson]

I don't understand why ITV keep Chiles, ITV coverage is bad enough as it is. People have been going on about how boring and aggravating he is for ages, surely someone at ITV has Twitter?! Never thought I'd be so happy to hear Patrick Viera speak.

All in all I think Croatia played really well. Did anyone else think Marcelo was gonna cry when he knocked in the OG?!

[5co77ie]

anyone else only watching after the match in the hope a brick hit Chiles last night? What's the betting they're not in a big lit up window tonight.

[5co77ie]

on Winston - he's bloody sucking me back into gambling - every match I've watched in the last month he's done the half time to score next and been right - every single time!

[eFestivals]

I don't understand why ITV keep Chiles

when he was popular doing the bland One Show on BBC, ITV offered him and Mrs Lumpard a very fat and many years contract to come to ITV.

They were a disaster doing ITV brekkie, but they've still gotta pay them. And given that Chiles is a better presenter than many ITV have had over the years, they're gonna use him.

[pink_triangle]

At least Chiles can speak English (sort of). I loved watching Cannavaro as a player but he added virtually zero as a pundit mainly due to his poor level of English.

[ThomThomDrum]

I'm surprised people are saying Croatia did well? I thought their game was sadly lacking. Their passing was piss poor in the midfield, the only thing they did well was a few crosses into the box.

[dentalplan]

Chiles ain't that bad. I've really no idea why he gets so much stick, is it that old thing about the Brummie accent being the least favourable in the UK? Some of the ex pro's like Strachan and Wright are quite entertaining too.

With the match though; it was probably about 50-50 whether the penalty was right - it seems like it could be a penalty if he's held but the theatrics have you thinking he's diving. Either way they'd still have won if they didn't get that penalty. Neymar however should have been off.

Edited June 13, 2014 by dentalplan

[TheGayTent]

Penalty wasn't a penalty in my book and Neymar shouldn't have been sent off.

Other than that I agree with you!

[Essex_George]

Chiles ain't that bad. I've really no idea why he gets so much stick, is it that old thing about the Brummie accent being the least favourable in the UK? Some of the ex pro's like Strachan and Wright are quite entertaining too.

With the match though; it was probably about 50-50 whether the penalty was right - it seems like it could be a penalty if he's held but the theatrics have you thinking he's diving. Either way they'd still have won if they didn't get that penalty. Neymar however should have been off.

[ThomThomDrum]

With the match though; it was probably about 50-50 whether the penalty was right - it seems like it could be a penalty if he's held but the theatrics have you thinking he's diving.

Edited June 13, 2014 by ThomThomDrum

[Andre91]

Agreed on Cannavaro, terrible choice for a pundit.

[Andre91]

Chiles ain't that bad. I've really no idea why he gets so much stick, is it that old thing about the Brummie accent being the least favourable in the UK? Some of the ex pro's like Strachan and Wright are quite entertaining too.

With the match though; it was probably about 50-50 whether the penalty was right - it seems like it could be a penalty if he's held but the theatrics have you thinking he's diving. Either way they'd still have won if they didn't get that penalty. Neymar however should have been off.

[kaosmark2]

I thought Chiles was fine on MotD2 when he didn't have to try and lead and hype up a show so much. I think the ads on ITV accentuate every single problem with their presenter though, and I don't think he's suited to a major role quite as much.

I think there's far far worse things about ITV than Chiles (Townsend), but yeah, he's fairly bad.

[5co77ie]

I think the fact the indigenous population is rioting outside - kind of makes making any decision against their team difficult for the referee to make - and I personally suspect FIFA have made the officials aware of that, especially for this the first game where they hope a result going their way will now quell any unrest. But, does that mean Brazil will have no decisions against them throughout the competition?

[dentalplan]

Eh no. Its never a peno. No where near it. The player was not held. An arm was placed on his shoulder and he threw himself on the ground. If an arm on a player in that fashion is a peno then we might as well not play football and simply just have peno competitions between teams, as there would be that many penos per game. The ref watches a lot more football than me and surely at this stage can tell whats fake and real! Physics, Bio-mechanics and the law of gravity simply do not work like that!

Eh no. Football does not work like that. They went on to win because they scored the peno. There is no garuntee they score again if they dont get the peno. The peno changes the way the game is played by both teams. No peno, different game.

Yes he should. And then his goal would not have happened. But send Neymar off in the first game in Brazil, for Brazil, in front of a load of Brazilians and Sepp Blatter?? You dont get paid your "special bonus" if you do that!

Edited June 13, 2014 by dentalplan

[ThomThomDrum]

I'd still say Brazil would've won had they not had that penalty................Brazil were all over them and it seemed that a goal was coming from the start of the second half.

[TheJackson]

Even though he had an ok game last night, I can't help but feel David Luiz is one of the most over-rated players in football.

Edit: Agree about Alves too!

Edited June 13, 2014 by TheJackson

[ThomThomDrum]

Even though he had an ok game last night, I can't help but feel David Luiz is one of the most over-rated players in football.

Edit: Agree about Alves too!