World Cup 2014

[Concept]

Originally Posted by Red Panda

US faces the second slot from Group H in the round of 16.

Top slot. Second place from one group always faces winner from another. This almost certainly means Belgium.

[Talon87]

Does that mean that if 1st place and 2nd place from a preliminary group each defeat their assigned opponent in the Round of 16 that they will be facing off again in the Round of 8? If so, then America's dreams of beating Belgium will carry them right back into Germany's loving embrace ... oh dear. ^^;

[DaveTheFishGuy]

That has happened before, yeah. Maybe not in the Quarters but definitely further down the line.

Back in the 2007 Rugby World Cup South Africa beat England in the group stage with both making it through to the Knockouts. They then faced off in the final with South Africa winning again.

[DaveTheFishGuy]

Just looked it up. If USA beat Belgium then they'll face the winner of Argentina vs Switzerland. If they win that then they could face Germany in the Semis, assuming Germany beat Russia/Algeria and the winner of France vs Nigeria.

[Concept]

Originally Posted by Talon87

Does that mean that if 1st place and 2nd place from a preliminary group each defeat their assigned opponent in the Round of 16 that they will be facing off again in the Round of 8? If so, then America's dreams of beating Belgium will carry them right back into Germany's loving embrace ... oh dear. ^^;

In short, no. The way the knockout stages are laid out, the two teams from each group are put into different halves of the bracket so can only face each other again if both reach the final.

[DaveTheFishGuy]

Oh the table I just looked at lied. That's cool I guess.

[Mercutio]

Thoughts on progression?

[Fallen Icarus]

Looks like South Korea isn't advancing... *sigh*

EDIT: Yup.

[Red Panda]

And the US is facing Belgium.

At this point I'm rooting for France and the US. All of the other teams failed.

[Talon87]

My predictions for the Round of 16:
Chile beats Brazil
Netherlands beats Mexico
Colombia beats Uruguay
Costa Rica beats Greece
France beats Nigeria
Argentina beats Switzerland
Germany beats Algeria
Belgium beats United States

My predictions for the quarterfinals (assuming everything above is correct):
Chile beats Colombia
Netherlands beats Costa Rica
France beats Germany
Argentina beats Belgium

My predictions for the semifinals:
France beats Chile
Netherlands beats Argentina

My predictions for the championship game:
Netherlands beats France

I'll update with new predictions once we reach the quarterfinals.

[Shuckle]

BELGIUM? BEAT USA?

PREPOSTEROUS

[Sneaze]

>Chile beats Brazil

...no offense Talon but Imma just throw these predictions out the window here.

[Talon87]

a) Have you people never heard of dark horse predictions? What is the point in even making a bracket if you're just going to go by the seeds?

b) Brazil is kind of shit this year (by champion standards). :\ Do not allow generations of Brazil hype to fool you. They only managed 0-0 versus Mexico, and neither Croatia (3-1) nor Cameroon (4-1) have strong national teams so don't read too much into those scores. Netherlands vs. Spain they decidedly were not.

c) Chile has played fairly well. 3-0 vs. ho hum Australia, 2-0 vs. originally No.1 seed Spain, and a respectable (all things considered) 0-2 loss to new No.1 seed Netherlands.

d) all of the above

I choose D.

[Concept]

The Belgium-US game should be really good; both sides are a lot better now than they've been at recent competitions. Belgium has received some well deserved hype and the US seems to be coming into its own a bit with football in recent years.

[Akanjão]

Except the fact that Neymar has been the whole team since the start of the world cup? Haha. No, but honestly, Chile will be hard to beat, but I do believe we'll win. First of all, Croatia and Cameron aren't exactly good teams. Fact, though both gave some problems, we did what we had to. 3-1 and 4-1 is exact score you're aiming for against those sort of teams. Second, Mexico is not exactly bad this year. Actually, it has been better than Spain from my perspective, and Mexico has a pretty damn good goalkeeper. It wasn't fine to expect this sort of score (tie), but shall we be honest, when a goalkeeper want, he can take care of the game almost just fine. And that's what happened there. Third, Chile isn't exactly a traditional team. They're good this year, quite. A lot, actually. But I don't know, I feel like Brazil can be trusted more and has a better team. And then, Neymar.
But then, maybe I'm wrong. But I don't feel like, what happened and is happening is enough to say Chile will win.

[Talon87]

Well, you guys did win in the end.

Barely.

Like I said, Chile was good and Brazil wasn't nearly as hot as they've been in previous generations. Having not watched Colombia play, I'm not sure how they'll fare against Brazil (and vice versa) but I imagine Brazil will be able to manage another win. We'll see. Still, though. This game should've put to rest anyone's doubts about the comparative quality of Brazil's and Chile's football teams this year. It really doesn't get any closer than this.

[Mercutio]

Ehhhhh. One could argue that, but I think it's fairer to say that Brazil deserved the win for the majority of the 90 minutes. They lacked the finish and both teams were fairly middling in the additional 30 minutes, sure, and Brazil did not deserve to win the shoot out (Neymar confirmed for scumbag tier) but for the original game of football Brazil were better.

[Talon87]

[DaveTheFishGuy]

Damn straight.

Though I'm pretty sure it was a draw four years ago.

[phoopes]

Originally Posted by DaveTheFishGuy

Damn straight.

Though I'm pretty sure it was a draw four years ago.

No, we won.

[Akanjão]

Originally Posted by phoopes

No, we won.

Oh lol my stomach.
But hey, I'm happy to see where US is getting at. Who would ever say it? Don't want to sound rude, but I wasn't expecting it. Will make sure to cheer for them now, too!

[Loki]

[Akanjão]

[Concept]

Oh man Netherlands. That game was so dull for the first half, but the second half was intense. Robben is made of magic.

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by Concept

Oh man Netherlands. That game was so dull for the first half, but the second half was intense. Robben is made of magic.

I was rooting for the Netherlands but was disappointed in how they won this game. Robben's dive (you can Google for it if you didn't see the game; here's Slate's sarcastic take on it) which netted them the game-deciding penalty kick left a foul taste in my mouth. I'd been eager to cheer for the Netherlands up until that moment; now, my allegiance is already shifting elsewhere.