2014 FIFA World Cup: Group B (ESP/NED/CHI/AUS)

[Boognish]

Refs missed the memo to favor teams wearing yellow

[5DOM]

So close

[cgf]

italy and france are the only european teams with a chance to win it and their chances certainly lower than south americans.

You're writing off the iberians far too quickly, and who knows with the dutch, they weren't this good when they went to the final last time.

spain and tiki take is dead, past 2 year shown us that. dutch are too inexperienced, i just don't see portugal having the horses to win it all although they are the most likely of the bunch.

Pretty sure that was what people said at the start of the euros and the last WC. I'll believe spain's golden generation is dead when I see it.

Who does have the horses? Portugal have an excellent defense, are deep in midfield behind Ronaldo, and have shown a great prowess for rising to the occassion and have shown the greatest team-spirit and understanding of any of the "big" nations in recent tourneys. This is a tournament of flawed contenders but Spain's resume and talent level put them in that group, as it does the portuguese.

As for the dutch inexperience RvP, Robben, Sneijder and de jong are plenty experience, they're verey young around them but we've seen teams in this sport achieve the highest success with that kind of combination.

[AdamTheGreek]

Massive save by Bravo. That was a strong shot.

[bksballer89]

Australia has been the better team after the first 15

[AdamTheGreek]

There's the off the line save.

[Matty]

Beautiful.

[No_20]

Why do Aussies have such a great fighting spirit?

No matter what sport.

[El Turco]

You're writing off the iberians far too quickly, and who knows with the dutch, they weren't this good when they went to the final last time.

spain and tiki take is dead, past 2 year shown us that. dutch are too inexperienced, i just don't see portugal having the horses to win it all although they are the most likely of the bunch.

Pretty sure that was what people said at the start of the euros and the last WC. I'll believe spain's golden generation is dead when I see it.

Who does have the horses? Portugal have an excellent defense, are deep in midfield and have shown a great prowess for rising to the occassion and have shown the greatest team-spirit and understanding of any of the "big" nations in recent tourneys. This is a tournament of flawed contenders but Spain's resume and talent level put them in that group, as it does the portuguese.

As for the dutch inexperience RvP, Robben, Sneijder and de jong are plenty experience, they're verey young around them but we've seen teams in this sport achieve the highest success with that kind of combination.

past tournaments premier club teams that employed spain's tactics were not being exposed right and left nor have they ever been embarrassed as they have today. they've been figured out, it is the cycle of football. unless they are thinking off getting rid of del bosque and start from scratch mid tourny, they are going to be exposed again down the line.

portugal only have 2 great players in ronaldo and moutinho, rest you're going to hope to have them in their good days to hope to beat a team like brazil. their excellent defense includes pepe who could have a brain fart any given second and bruno alves who was very inconsistent turkish super league of all places.

with dutch it is the same story, they couldn't win with good offense and mediocre defense for years and they sure ain't winning this time when the defense is more raw than usual.

[Doormatt]

maybe if they had strootman to sit in front of the back four the dutch could make a run but i agree they are far too raw in the back.

[AdamTheGreek]

Cahill is wearing down that Chilean backline.

[bksballer89]

Cahill is dangerous with that head

[bbms]

I like Uruguay chances a lot too, they have a strong and high energy defensive system and they have two frontmen that can score on any given opportunity. All they need is their defense to handle the pressure and to link up fast to Suarez and Cavani.

If Brazil finds once again the tight-marking, high pressure and fast tempo football they played in the Confederations Cup, they not only can win it all, but would put serious money on that. No clear cut world class individual talent to anchor the offense, but Paulinho, Oscar, Neymar and Fred are dangerous men.

I don't like Argentina's chances as much as Brazil and Uruguay. Much like Uruguay, their best chance is to win on counters, since they don't have a solid passing midfield, but it's unlikely that their defense can sustain the pressure. But they should be a fun team to watch, offensive brilliance + fragile defensive = dream of casuals.

I think that there's not a single European team as seasoned as Uruguay is right now, with Spain fading away, Germany being sabotaged by Löw and injuries, and the only Euro team aside of these two that matches Brazil's potential is Belgium, which I put some promise but I don't think they already have what it takes to get past the semis.

[Doormatt]

i dont see how brazils only match is belgium. both france and italy have a lot more potential than belgium, especially looking at forwards, and italy's defense as usual will be stout. big wild card for italy will be how their midfield looks with verratti most likely, plus balo (or immobile) needs to step up and finish the chances they create.

[magik9113]

great 3rd goal

[AdamTheGreek]

Sorry, Ange. 3-1 to Chile.

[AdamTheGreek]

Sweet, some of the Chile fans were able to sneak in flares and smoke bombs.

[bbms]

i dont see how brazils only match is belgium. both france and italy have a lot more potential than belgium, especially looking at forwards, and italy's defense as usual will be stout. big wild card for italy will be how their midfield looks with verratti most likely, plus balo (or immobile) needs to step up and finish the chances they create.

Nevermind, forgot about France. Don't agree with the "a lot more". Cortouis, Kompany, Vertonghen, Witsel, Hazard and arguably De Bruyne are better than whoever both these teams are starting at their positions. Plus Vermaelen, Fellaini and Lukaku who are studs for their NT. This team started slow in the WC Preliminaries, but finished like a machine. I think they have more potential than France and Italy, but are I say believe Italy and France more to go deep.

[MaliBrah]

took 9 games to get 15 goals in south africa , already at that total after 4 games this year. Not bad

[JV4MVP]

Netherlands heat map against Spain (stolen from Reddit) :

Spoiler:

Also another angle on the Von Persie header:

http://gfycat.com/PersonalFakeChital