Marquee
2.1K
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6.4K
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over 14 years

NHpeter wrote:

Bazil

Germany

Usa

Senegal

That is where my money is going

Hope you did not put all your money there
Legend
2.3K
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17K
·
almost 17 years

Brilliant drama in the peno shootout between Serbia and USA after a largely dull match. The Serb fans were great all game though, be good to see them back at Harbour.

Have to say it's disappointing to see Germany fall before getting the chance to see them in the flesh. 

Marquee
410
·
6.3K
·
almost 17 years

I didn't think it was dull - lots of tension.

Phoenix Academy
230
·
360
·
over 16 years

Like Cosimo I didn't think it was a dull match - always felt that someone was going to score and it was compelling.

hate penalty shoot outs as I don't think they prove anything but that was one of the most exciting I've seen for the twists and turns.

Serbian fans were great - didn't realise there were that many Serbs in Auckland - they'll certainly add something to the semi final.

Some of those Serbs were big units and I suspect Mali will be similar.

Can't wait for Wenesday.

Starting XI
2.1K
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4.3K
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over 11 years

Went to Senegal-Uzbekistan yesterday. Was a fairly uneventful match though Senegal always looked the more likely to score. Shame we were the only game to miss out on extra time though. Glad I made it to a couple of games in Wellington (or 2 and a half considering one was a double header). Would have liked to go to more but couldn't make the midweek ones.

Jag
Not Elite enough
730
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8K
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almost 17 years

This Brazil team are 'anti-football'. They are the South American reincarnation of the horrible Greek team that bored their way to European Champs win in 2004.

Marquee
2.1K
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6.4K
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over 14 years

Jag wrote:

This Brazil team are 'anti-football'. They are the South American reincarnation of the horrible Greek team that bored their way to European Champs win in 2004.

Or parallels with the Brazlian side that won the 1994 World Cup

Marquee
970
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6.5K
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over 11 years

sthn.jeff wrote:

Jag wrote:

This Brazil team are 'anti-football'. They are the South American reincarnation of the horrible Greek team that bored their way to European Champs win in 2004.

Or parallels with the Brazlian side that won the 1994 World Cup

Yeah, Know what you mean. I drove down from Auck/Ham to see them in NP v Hungary -

my comment afterwards on the BRA group thread -

"Brazil so slick but a bit disappointing for me. Maybe too cold to turn on the flair, or more like they knew they had a job to do."

Early retirement
3.1K
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34K
·
almost 17 years

sthn.jeff wrote:

Jag wrote:

This Brazil team are 'anti-football'. They are the South American reincarnation of the horrible Greek team that bored their way to European Champs win in 2004.

Or parallels with the Brazlian side that won the 1994 World Cup

I was terrified we were going to end up with Brazil vs USA.  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Listen here Fudgeface
3.7K
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15K
·
about 14 years

Hard News wrote:

sthn.jeff wrote:

Jag wrote:

This Brazil team are 'anti-football'. They are the South American reincarnation of the horrible Greek team that bored their way to European Champs win in 2004.

Or parallels with the Brazlian side that won the 1994 World Cup

I was terrified we were going to end up with Brazil vs USA.  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Opposite sides of the draw, thankfully.
Marquee
5.3K
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9.5K
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over 12 years

chubbs wrote:

Some of those Serbs were big units and I suspect Mali will be similar.

No 6 for Mali, Hamidou Maiga. Nearly 2 metres tall and built like a brick sharkhouse. Makes everyone else on the pitch look like they're about 13. Would have been hilarious to see him playing against Myanmar.
Starting XI
300
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4K
·
almost 17 years

sthn.jeff wrote:

NHpeter wrote:

Bazil

Germany

Usa

Senegal

That is where my money is going

Hope you did not put all your money there

Rough times at the tab

Early retirement
3.1K
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34K
·
almost 17 years

No 6 for Mali, Hamidou Maiga. Nearly 2 metres tall and built like a brick sharkhouse. Makes everyone else on the pitch look like they're about 13. Would have been hilarious to see him playing against Myanmar.

By the end Sengal had three players that tall along the spine of the team.

Marquee
5.3K
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9.5K
·
over 12 years

Hard News wrote:

No 6 for Mali, Hamidou Maiga. Nearly 2 metres tall and built like a brick sharkhouse. Makes everyone else on the pitch look like they're about 13. Would have been hilarious to see him playing against Myanmar.

By the end Sengal had three players that tall along the spine of the team.

It's not as funny if there's more than one of them on the pitch at once though. Maiga looked like someone had edited a player on an old video game and maxed out his height and weight ratings
Phoenix Academy
26
·
180
·
over 14 years

chubbs wrote:

Like Cosimo I didn't think it was a dull match - always felt that someone was going to score and it was compelling.

hate penalty shoot outs as I don't think they prove anything but that was one of the most exciting I've seen for the twists and turns.

Serbian fans were great - didn't realise there were that many Serbs in Auckland - they'll certainly add something to the semi final.

Some of those Serbs were big units and I suspect Mali will be similar.

Can't wait for Wenesday.

Well, I can understand that some people think it was a dull match. Two really good teams, it was difficult to create chances.

But, as a Serbian supporter I was on the edge of my seat all game. And I probably don't even need to tell you what was happening to my heart during the penalty shootout.

Traveled from Welly to the game , just got back, a bit expensive - but well worth it.

Serbia were a bit better than what I expected, but I must say that the Americans were a lot better than I expected.

Yes, football (don't want to use the 'S' word they are using in the USA) is not their main sport, but they were bloody good last night !

Before the competition (I mentioned that in one of my comments here) I said that Serbia had the potential to go far and the semi-final is what was quietly hoping for. Now, they are playing Mali who they already played in the group stage and won 2;0 (comfortably, I'd say).

Hmm...I think I am getting a bit greedy now.

Marquee
970
·
6.5K
·
over 11 years

Why not?  You won the UEFA U-19's 2 years ago so you've won stuff before.

PS I'll be there at Nth Harbour tomorrow. Hope to be on the edge of my seat too at some point.

Early retirement
3.1K
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34K
·
almost 17 years

I'm going to be in a lounge at NHS.  I hope to fall off my seat.

Marquee
970
·
6.5K
·
over 11 years

Hard News wrote:

I'm going to be in a lounge at NHS.  I hope to fall off my seat.

Early retirement
3.1K
·
34K
·
almost 17 years

Like that but with less hair.

Marquee
1.2K
·
8.2K
·
over 16 years

Prematch venue?

First Team Squad
280
·
1.6K
·
almost 12 years

chubbs wrote:

Serbian fans were great - didn't realise there were that many Serbs in Auckland - they'll certainly add something to the semi final.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/football-soccer/news/art...

West African country Senegal, which had a New Zealand population of 12 at the time of the 2013 Census, is up against Brazil - which has a New Zealand population of 3588 - in Christchurch at 4pm tonight.

And in Albany, Mali and Serbia go head to head at 7.30pm. According to Census data, there are six Mali-born people living in New Zealand and 1062 Serbians.

Starting XI
1.5K
·
4.9K
·
over 15 years

Traitor wrote:

Shits me an Aussie channel hasn't picked any of these up, grumble.

The semis and the final are live on SBS 2 and streaming live on the SBS World Game website here:

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2015/06/11/...

They have the wrong time for the first semi-final in Christchurch though.

It's a 4 pm kick-off in NZ which means 2 pm AEST (not 1 pm as they have it in all the SBS listings).

Maybe someone in Australia should point this out to them!

They correctly have the second semi as 5.30 pm AEST (it's at 7.30 pm NZT)

Starting XI
1.5K
·
4.9K
·
over 15 years

Jerzy Merino wrote:

sthn.jeff wrote:

Jag wrote:

This Brazil team are 'anti-football'. They are the South American reincarnation of the horrible Greek team that bored their way to European Champs win in 2004.

Or parallels with the Brazlian side that won the 1994 World Cup

Yeah, Know what you mean. I drove down from Auck/Ham to see them in NP v Hungary -

my comment afterwards on the BRA group thread -

"Brazil so slick but a bit disappointing for me. Maybe too cold to turn on the flair, or more like they knew they had a job to do."

I'm surprised that Brazil have got this far considering that they sacked their coach Alexandre Gallo three weeks before the tournament and the new guy only had the team for two weeks in training in a camp in Rio with no build-up matches played what-so-ever.

Argentina too had a really inadequate preparation for this tournament (they only played local amateur and youth teams from the area around their training camp in the month before the tournament - no internationals until they played Tahiti in two games the week before the tournament in climate conditions totally unlike what they would face in NZ)

Brazil's preparation was much worse than Argentina's limp effort. 

Their current coach Rogerio Micale was also stuck with a squad selected by the previous coach Gallo days before he was fired and Gallo retained only seven players from the South American qualifiers after criticism from the Brazil FA for fielding too many 17 and 18 year-olds in the limp fourth-place qualifying.

This did not bode well:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/brazil-olympic-squad-...

The new coach Micale aged 46 is completely new to international football and has never been part of Brazil's national coaching set-up before at any level. He was a successful youth coach at Atletico Mineiro in the Brazilian youth league.

They also sacked the national u-17 coach in April after he actually won the South American qualifying. 

This all points to the hopeless state of Brazilian football currently. Things are so chaotic that they are plucking untried club youth coaches and putting them in charge at FIFA finals.

The Brazilian national championship is a mess too. It's about the level of a second tier European league with lots of long ball tactics. Read Tim Vickery in "World Soccer" magazine to find the reality of Brazilian football these days.

October 2012 report on Brazilian Serie A:

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/10/25/prices-s...

Things ain't changed much since (attendances only slightly improved since the World Cup - now they just have more large, new empty stadia in remote locations where clubs are not well-supported) :

"Following last weekend’s games, the average Serie A attendance is a paltry 12,554. Three of the four Rio clubs boast average gates of 10,000 or less, Santos are often watched by around 5,000, particularly when Neymar isn’t playing, and the recent game between Atlético Goianiense and Sport attracted a grand total of 449 paying customers."

Starting XI
1.5K
·
4.9K
·
over 15 years

Brazil have however done well in some games in NZ such as the 4-2 win over Nigeria in one of the best games of the finals:

And I was at their entertaining 3-0 win over North Korea in their last group game the other week in front of a noisy croud of more than 15,000  in Christchurch. Hundreds of Brazilians at that game with a whole section behind the goal in face paint and waving flags. It seemed like you were at a game in South America. My mate Kevin, a Kiwi who lived in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, loved it.

Love the croud shots in this video! There are more than 2000 Brazilians working in Queenstown and it seemed most traveled up for the game. A lot of Brazilian students and backpackers were there too from around NZ.

The goal by Jean Carlos of Real Madrid at 1.10 mins. is one of the best of the tournament so far:

Marquee
970
·
6.5K
·
over 11 years

yellowsite wrote:

chubbs wrote:

Serbian fans were great - didn't realise there were that many Serbs in Auckland - they'll certainly add something to the semi final.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/football-soccer/news/art...

West African country Senegal, which had a New Zealand population of 12 at the time of the 2013 Census, is up against Brazil - which has a New Zealand population of 3588 - in Christchurch at 4pm tonight.

And in Albany, Mali and Serbia go head to head at 7.30pm. According to Census data, there are six Mali-born people living in New Zealand and 1062 Serbians.

Serbia Utd FC - play Sunday arvos in the Auckland Summer 7's comp. Based at Seddon Fields, home of Western Springs AFC. Google for facebook page.

Trialist
21
·
33
·
5 months
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