2014 FIFA World Cup

@Desmonic: Don't really know if I'd call the performance of either team "bad", they were just very organized and played to counter the strengths of the other. Both seemed from the start like they were trying to play for penalties. In essence they achieved what they tried to do. Obviously one side didn't profit from that tactic. :P

Penalties are fine since it's a legit tactic to try and take the game to one if you have a team like the Netherlands who are notorious at sucking at them. If 120 minutes have passed and it's still a draw, they are not going to keep playing until someone scores because that's even worse. Games would then come down to whoever tried to conserve the most energy which would suck hard. As it is now the system is fine but I do think they should go ahead with that rule that awards you one extra substitution in extra time.

Keep playing.

This isn't a new thing:

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FIFA president Sepp Blatter has challenged Franz Beckenbauer to come up with an alternative to penalty shootouts—the go-to resolution for knock-out matches in football's premier tournaments.

As honorary president of Bayern Munich, Beckenbauer experienced spot-kick agony in last weekend's Champions League final against Chelsea.

Blatter clearly feels his pain. And with Beckenbauer leading Football Task Force 2014, a group charged with improving the game ahead of the Brazil World Cup, he's asked him to find a better option.

Here's what Blatter had to say, as per BBC Sport:

Football can be a tragedy when you go to penalty kicks.

Football should not go to one to one. When it goes to penalty kicks football loses its essence.

Perhaps Franz Beckenbauer with his football 2014 group can show us a solution, perhaps not today but in the future.

With that in mind, here are 10 possible alternatives to the dreaded penalty shootout—some you'll have come across before, others you won't.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1195909-10-alternatives-to-a-penalty-shootout

Other alternatives:

http://www.penaltyshootouts.co.uk/alternatives.html

Awww, well played Holland vs Argentinia :D

Will Holland break Germany's record score (7-1) against Brasil? We'll find out soon enough ;)

Yeah, what he said.

Only thing I think they should change is to just not have a third place match. It's a fucking joke, no one cares, and it's the only competition in club and world football that has it. Waste of god damn time.

I'd like to see history made with a Euro team winning in this hemisphere. This world cup has been the best yet for me because of all the shockers. We'll remember it for a long time.

I don't want to miss this one though. I want to see how the match for 3rd place turns out. The home crowd will probably have nooses ready....in case they see a repeat of last Tuesday.

@Master_Live: you can't expect them to play anymore after two hours of running... Seriously...

Germany will be happy.

Argentina played for 120mins plus the psychological drain of penalties.

They played for 30mins and sailed through the rest of their match.

Tired legs out there.

Ich hoffe Die Mannschaft wird WC 2014 Champions Jetzt:-) Los geht's!!

Too bad for Netherlands. A penalty shootout was deserved looking back at how the match was played. Very solid defending from both teams. Vlaar was beast on the dutch side during the game. Too bad his PK was kinda bad.

Deutschland wird jetzt auf jeden fall Weltmeister.

I was dumb founded when I saw Argentina win. I would say I can't really see Argentina beating beating Germany but I couldn't see them beating the Netherlands either so now it can go either way. I've never been more intrigued by the result of a WC final more.

Not directly related to the World Cup and there's no where else to talk about this but Alexis Sanchez has signed to Arsenal.

Neat transfer for them.

Yeah he will be great there. Hopefully Wenger gives him a free role so he can roam instead of playing on the wing.

As for Suarez, apparently they are selling his shirts at the Camp Nou store but nothing official yet. Probably in a day or two at the latest since they got the Sanchez business done.

Netherlands vs Argentina was the most boring game so far. Not one decent goal chance...

I'm surprised the Netherlands lost to Argentina on penalty kicks after they did the same to Costa Rica just a few days prior.

How about a compilation of beauties in shocked agony (or tears)? This World Cup is certainly full of shocking results. I'm glad I didn't bet on any game.

i have a bet for germans still hanging, the bet was made before the start of WC

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/games/dream-team/index.html

Pick your dream team from this World Cup. I went with: 4-3-3 and coached by Louis van Gaal.
-----------------------------------Manuel Neuer---------------------------------------
Daley Blind-------Mats Hummels-------Raphael Varane------Pablo Zabaleta
------------Paul Pogba----------------Toni Kroos--------------James Rodriguez
------------Arjen Robben-------------Lionel Messi---------------Thomas Muller

Who needs to defend when you have a team like that?

There's always two sides to sports. The old ABC Wide World of Sports from a few decades ago said it best, "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat." There has to be balance. I've seen the pretty side. I like to see the other side as well. You can't really appreciate the former without having first experienced the latter.

I'm not gonna see today's play off for third place ( BRA VS NETH ), whats gonna be the score tonite fellas ? Can Brazil win ?

I know. But, I prefer to see how the nation and the fans react. The way Brazilians reacted, you just know Brazil will be back in a big way. Here in the US, not much crying which means our team will continue to improve in small increments. *SIGH*

hahaha pen.maybe a free kick.

should of been red.

2-0, its happening again!

Brazilians must be so embarrassed.

0-2 for Holland already?

Brazil didn't deserve it this time.

Neither goals should have counted. I despise this current Brazilian squad but both goals were a result of the ref making the wrong decision (or in the case of the second goal, no call at all).

lol, I like how the referee gave a dive for no contact and the tackler got carried off on a stretcher. :)

3-0.

Netherlands' half time talk :P

Thank me later :P

Even though we didn't make the final, I'm proud that we got so far in this world cup with a very mediocre dutch side (apart from sneijder, robben and RVP of course)