Day 2: Spain vs. Netherlands

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wythyred

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2-1 Holland RVP & Sneijder, don't know if my hatred for Spain minus DDG & Mata is clouding my judgement though haha.
 

Xaviesta

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I know a lot despise Spain for their so called "boring" football, but isn't in United's best interest for Spain and Chile to beat the Dutch at the World Cup, so Van Gaal can start at united quicker than he would if the Dutch go far in this competition.
 

Xaviesta

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Teams or players? Busquets isn't just obnoxious because he dives anyway.
Well the majority of teams at this World Cup have players who dive. I have no issue with Busquets apart from his diving.
 

Adzzz

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Well that was an illuminating exchange, thank you.
 

sammyvine

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Well the majority of teams at this World Cup have players who dive. I have no issue with Busquets apart from his diving.
His diving has been vastly overrated anyway
Apart from those horrendus dives against madrid and inter what dives has he committed? He ones of those players living off a past reputation,
 

Xaviesta

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His diving has been vastly overrated anyway
Apart from those horrendus dives against madrid and inter what dives has he committed? He ones of those players living off a past reputation,
I do believe there are many other worse divers around. Robben, Young, Suarez etc.
 

Stadjer

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His diving has been vastly overrated anyway
Apart from those horrendus dives against madrid and inter what dives has he committed? He ones of those players living off a past reputation,
He just falls down everytime he can fall down. Some players actually try to stay on their feet but as soon as Busquets has a chance to hug the grass he does so. After he has fallen down he is almost always simulating some extend of pain and looks very annoyed at the other player and hopes the ref gives a yellow. He's just nasty and has very low sportsmanship. He is a great player though.

I am quite sure he will make some horendus dives again but only at crucial moments. He just is that kind of player.
 

Cait Sith

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According to rumours that will be Spain's starting 11. Only question seems to be Silva or Perdo:

Casillas; Azpilicueta, Ramos, Piqué, Alba; Xabi Alonso, Busquets; Pedro/Silva, Xavi, Iniesta; Diego Costa
There were some rumblings about del Bosque using only Busquets at the base of the midfield in the training session yesterday so we might see Busquets-Xavi-Iniesta with Pedro-Costa-Silva infront. It would look amazingly fluid however del Bosque has most likely learned from the experiment in the Confeds of only using 1 defensive pivot. Alonso remains essential for balance so your lineup is probably right. Curious to see how Costa will do.

Netherlands under van Gaal will most likely go with a back 5 to make up for their rather inexperienced defensive unit. For Italy it worked quite well in 2012 however back then Fabregas was starting upfront and Italy had more individual quality in both defense and midfield. Once Torres came on his runs troubled Italy in the 2nd half. With Costa and Pedro providing more direct runs in behind this time around, that formation might not work quite as well for Netherlands. From what I've seen Spain have already trained a lot of direct long and over the top balls to Costa and Pedro in their recent friendly against El Salvador.

With Sneijder, Robben and RvP upfront I envision Netherlands struggling to get hold off the ball. Which doesn't mean they can't score from few touches.

Should be a good game.
 

RooneyLegend

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Spain to hand out a spanking tonight is what I think. For the dutch to have a chance hollands big three has to play a blinder.
 

gaucho_10

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Who's the ref tonight..? :D

I am bitter after yesterday, but we need to move on and the best way to do so would be to have a good game without the extras.
 

sammyvine

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Apparently, Diego Costa has been heavily booed and called a traitor at training. I expect him to get booed during the match too.
He deserves to be imo

Why is he playing for Spain? Thats bizarre and whats worse is that he has been capped by Brazil before. I think he is a glory hunter and knows that he will have a better chance being the main striker with spain rather than being behind neymar.
 

sammyvine

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He just falls down everytime he can fall down. Some players actually try to stay on their feet but as soon as Busquets has a chance to hug the grass he does so. After he has fallen down he is almost always simulating some extend of pain and looks very annoyed at the other player and hopes the ref gives a yellow. He's just nasty and has very low sportsmanship. He is a great player though.

I am quite sure he will make some horendus dives again but only at crucial moments. He just is that kind of player.
I am not a fan of his too. I never forget the terrible playacting he did to get Motta sent off. I do however feel that are worse divers around
 

Xaviesta

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Apparently, Diego Costa has been heavily booed and called a traitor at training. I expect him to get booed during the match too.
He deserves to be booed at every opportunity. He's spent 18 years in Brazil; he's as good as Brazilian for me.
 

Gianni

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He deserves to be imo

Why is he playing for Spain? Thats bizarre and whats worse is that he has been capped by Brazil before. I think he is a glory hunter and knows that he will have a better chance being the main striker with spain rather than being behind neymar.
I agree. IMO nothing justifies his choice. I don't fully agree with the Neymar part though. Fred played last night so Scolari would probably have chosen Diego Costa over him in a starting eleven. They could both easily co-exist and succeed.
 

Lyricist

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This game is bound to suck isn't it? I hope Chile and Australia qualify from this group. :lol:

In reality though, I wouldn't mind the Netherlands winning the group although I can't see it at all. Only problem with that though is if Spain gets second in the group that'll throw them over to the left side of the knock out bracket which from my German point of view would be a truly shitty thing to happen. So for me it's either Spain winning the group or Spain going out completely. Don't want them on that westside!


I agree. IMO nothing justifies his choice. I don't fully agree with the Neymar part though. Fred played last night so Scolari would probably have chosen Diego Costa over him in a starting eleven. They could both easily co-exist and succeed.

Absolutely! Does Costa feel that Spanish because it never felt to me like he does. Can some of our Spanish posters on here tell us what they truly think about Costa playing for Spain (despite obviously being happy about having a quality striker)?
 

Cait Sith

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He deserves to be imo

Why is he playing for Spain? Thats bizarre and whats worse is that he has been capped by Brazil before. I think he is a glory hunter and knows that he will have a better chance being the main striker with spain rather than being behind neymar.
Scolari ignored Costa completely for the likes of Fred and Jo. We can talk about the moral side of such a decision all the day long but at the end of the day Costa would be watching the World Cup from his TV at home like Felipe Luis and Miranda if it wasn't for Spain calling him up so I'm not complaining. Costa is a bit of a nutjob anyway so he won't care I guess.
 

Bob Loblaw

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My Prediction: Spain to win 1 or 2-0 in a match they dominate. Holland will probably play defensively and not throw many players forward but the general public will chastise Spain for creating a boring match because as you all know it's their fault that barely anyone tries to take them on any more.

There were some rumblings about del Bosque using only Busquets at the base of the midfield in the training session yesterday so we might see Busquets-Xavi-Iniesta with Pedro-Costa-Silva infront. It would look amazingly fluid however del Bosque has most likely learned from the experiment in the Confeds of only using 1 defensive pivot. Alonso remains essential for balance so your lineup is probably right. Curious to see how Costa will do.
It'll be Busquets and Alonso holding, that's how they lined up for most of the training sessions - the single holding player was probably just an experiment. Casillas; Azpilicueta, Ramos, Piqué, Alba; Busquets, Alonso; Silva/Pedro, Xavi, Iniesta; Diego Costa is how they'll almost definitely line-up.
 

Gianni

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That's true enough and you can understand that in some respects. Portuguese and Brazilians however have a strong link to One another over the years. Brazil to Spain is a little more controversial.
That is true, our connection with the brazilians is way stronger but it makes you wonder if the fans' hate isn't directly connected to the players' quality.
 

sammyvine

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That's true enough and you can understand that in some respects. Portuguese and Brazilians however have a strong link to One another over the years. Brazil to Spain is a little more controversial.
Wow didnt,know pepe was brazillian
Whats his excuse lol?
 

Matador8

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That is true, our connection with the brazilians is way stronger but it makes you wonder if the fans' hate isn't directly connected to the players' quality.
It's all down to quality unfortunately. Deco wasn't considered for Brazil so he chose to play for Portugal, because he wasn't good enough. Brazil's loss as it turned out.
 

Physiocrat

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Wingbacks against the Spanish are a good call especially if they play and false-9 without Pedro. It will stop Spain spreading the play and make it congested in the middle. They can then be got at on the counter if they can surmount the press.
 
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