A Year Since World Cup 2014 (Brazil)

Paully D

Well, not exactly a year but a year this week since the sun was splitting the trees outside and we were all looking forward to the 2014 World Cup kicking off. Hard to believe just how quickly that year has flown by!

A really enjoyable tournament IMO. The group stages were absolutely fantastic and while the pace tailed off a lot from the QF's onwards, there were enough big moments from there onwards to make it arguably one of the best World Cup's. So many great games, goals (171 in 64 games for an average of 2.67 per game) and moments, some controversial (Costa Rica, the Suarez bite, van Gaal substituting Krul in for the penalty shootout etc).

What were your favourite memories, moments etc from the World Cup? Any good stories to share?

For me it would have to be the batterings of Spain and Brazil by Holland and Germany respectively. I had backed Spain pre-tournament and when they went 1-0 up in their opener I was feeling rather smug, only for Holland to go insane in the 2nd half. I was just speechless for the Brazil/Germany semi-final, it'll be a long time before we ever see anything like that again, if at all.

Part 2 is missing from the below compilation unfortunately but there's enough there to pass an hour in work :pac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjPa4PNGdGI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHZ_DWI02e8

kfallon

Had a good bet on Germany, the games were mentally tough to watch, especially the Q/F and Final!

The semi final was just amazing! Really enjoyed the tournament, some big shocks in the first round.

gosplan

Alvaro Pereira bringing the tough South American thing to new levels against England.

He took a knee to the head and was out cold. When he came to he basically shouted the medical team down and made them put him back on.

What you miss from the above video is what he did next. Just as the whole world was thinking 'he won't be up to this after that' his first act having come back on was to absolutely cream the first English player he got near and lay down a marker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdb-6L_ozXQ

Epic stuff. Really not complete without the crunching challenge he did next though.

gimmick

My abiding memory of the world cup aside from the semi final battering of Brazil was the asbolute insanely good performance of Mascherano in the other semi. Truly one of the great world cup performances.

Also I remember with laughter Pepes insanity against Germany. What a lunatic that man is.

The USA"MNT" were a good feel good factor of the tournament also.

kfallon

gimmick wrote: »

My abiding memory of the world cup aside from the semi final battering of Brazil was the asbolute insanely good performance of Mascherano in the other semi. Truly one of the great world cup performances.

Also I remember with laughter Pepes insanity against Germany. What a lunatic that man is.

The USA"MNT" were a good feel good factor of the tournament also.

Mascherano v Schweinsteiger in the final was a true battle of gladiators, epic stuff!

Won't forget this either, size of the yoke :eek:

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

I've been living in South America for a year and one day now, ever since I flew into Rio to go to the World Cup. It's really flown by.

HalloweenJack

James' goal against Uruguay, though Stephanie Roche might not be a fan.

There were some really good games throughout the tournament. I was also a big fan of Algeria's run.

Biggest moment was the Spain Holland match. I live in Spain and in the run-up all I heard was how Spain are the best team in the world and how they're going to win it with ease.

Now, I did want Spain to win it and I also thought they would but that match/result was a massive one but what I loved/hated was how all the Spaniards just turned around after that game and pretended as if they never liked football. Drove me nuts. To this day, they still don't talk about it, just go on about how they won everything beforehand and that it doesn't matter.

Lovely Bloke

Germany pillaging Brazil was an awesome hour and a half, even my wife was "wtf is going on", it seemed like every time Germany attacked they scored, it was painful to watch a team with Brazil's reputation being put to the sword like that really. Shocking.

Costa Rica stunning everyone by coming out of their group too, amazing.

brevity

kfallon wrote: »

Mascherano v Schweinsteiger in the final was a true battle of gladiators, epic stuff!

Won't forget this either, size of the yoke :eek:

Sitting here in work that was a bit of a risky scroll :pac:

kfallon

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

it was painful to watch a team with Brazil's reputation being put to the sword like that really. Shocking.

No it wasn't, it was great

bucketybuck

My memory of the tournament is that of a great start followed by some really crap games in the later stages. Seriously, some of the play in the later stages was boring as ****, for all that there was a shock here and there. The Dutch team especially, followed up the shock Spain win with a series of dour defensive boring games.

My other memory was the travesty of Messi getting player of the tournament, talk about an award based on reputation rather than reality! He wasn't even the most influential player on his team never mind the whole tournament.

RayCon

The thing I remember most was the beer and the heat ....... and I wasn't even in Brazil !

The Gibzilla

One of the funnier moments of the World Cup

Also, Krul being brought on for the penalty shoot out Vs Costa Rica was another moment I enjoyed. Could've back fired terribly.

Overall, I thought it was a great World Cup. There were some terrific games and I enjoyed it much more than 2010.

aidan24326

The Gibzilla wrote:

Overall, I thought it was a great World Cup. There were some terrific games and I enjoyed it much more than 2010.

2010 was spoiled by those bloody vuvuzuelas!!

FatherTed

My memories:

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Watching that semi final in a crowd of thousands of Brazilians was a bit worrying.

Anonymou

McGrath5

Hard to believe its been a year.

I do recall the emergence of Brian Kerr commentating for RTE was quite interesting.

murpho999

Some great memories for me.


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The Germany v Brazil semi though was one of the biggest shocks for me though. Just never expected that result.

CSF

Great group stages. Didn't enjoy it that much afterwards though unfortunately.

Hulk Hands

Got nostalgic recently and started watching the intro on repeat, really liked it for some reason.

First time in a good while I started to feel excited by Soccer again, for the group stages anyway. Was finding it hard to watch any game it wasn't my team playing, even the champions league quarter, semi finals etc. But remember driving home like a madman to see Brazil-Croatia in time and then waiting all day the following day for the Mexico Cameroon game to start. Was a great tournament imo

bucketybuck

That picture of Suarez holding his teeth and pretending to be in pain after yet again biting another player, it remains one of the cringiest things I've seen in years!

kfallon

bucketybuck wrote: »

That picture of Suarez holding his teeth and pretending to be in pain after yet again biting another player, it remains one of the cringiest things I've seen in years!

He could well have been in pain after biting him!

Benimar

bucketybuck wrote: »

That picture of Suarez holding his teeth and pretending to be in pain after yet again biting another player, it remains one of the cringiest things I've seen in years!

It isn't even the cringiest photo on the page. That goes to Brazil and the Neymar Jersey! You would swear he had died.

deadybai

Iran vs Nigeria :pac:

Arghus

Suarez biting Chellini was the absolute highlight for me. The farcical drama; you really had to savour it

I'll never forget my joy, as I watched the replay, at that exact moment of my realisation, that he'd just been rolling around on the ground holding his teeth, for exactly the right reason that I had suspected.

"He's hardly just bitten someone again and is trying to cover it up, that would really be too daft...". The insanity was just priceless entertainment.

My joy was tempered by the knowledge that I'd soon have to put up with idiots telling me that getting bitten was somehow worse than having your tibia smashed in two, and that Luis was a disgrace who should never play again.

Why couldn't they acknowledge that his madness-along with his skill-was the thing that made him, in the summer of world cup 2014, the worlds foremost sports entertainer? I'll never forget the way a the face of a friend-who hadn't seen the game-lit up when I told him that Suarez had bitten someone...again.

As the for the tournament as a whole. It was great for a while. Some of the group stage games were outstanding- Uruguay v Costa Rica was a great victory for a likable underdog. USA v Portugal has been largely forgotten because it was a late kick-off, but I thought it was a brilliant game-maybe the best in the tournament. The US fought back from an early goal conceded and battered the Portugese until Jermaine Jones scored a cracker of an equaliser- he smashed it in from the edge of the box, the goalie rooted to the spot. The ball made the single most satisfying sound of the entire cup, as it swished into the back of the net. Me and Brian Kerr shared the moment The US scored again to take the lead after that and but were caught again right at the death- 2-2. Cracking game of football. I really loved a lot of the late kick-offs. Something so relaxing about watching football in the wee small hours, especially in the company of the largely unknown, even to himself, comic genius of Brian Kerr.

I'm always a sucker for the group stages, there's just so much football. A steady diet of three whole matches a day, for two solid weeks. You can't fault it; my favourite fortnight in every four year period.

Things dropped off severely after that -Algeria gave Germany a hell of a game and Brazil-Germany was something else, but there was an awful lot of dull as dishwater games. I thought the tournament ran out of gas severely as it went on. Not many games will live on in the annals, maybe only Spain-Netherlands and Brazil-Germany. At the time we were falling all over ourselves to proclaim it the best tournament ever, but a year later; I don't think it's anywhere close.

But it was still a world cup and that's special enough in and of itself. That magical month that comes but once every four years, when everyone-even the usual nay-sayers-are converted and you receive renewed confirmation of those facts that you always have suspected:
All that matters is football.

FatherTed

Arghus wrote: »

...

As the for the tournament as a whole. It was great for a while. Some of the group stage games were outstanding- Uruguay v Costa Rica was a great victory for a likable underdog. USA v Portugal has been largely forgotten because it was a late kick-off, but I thought it was a brilliant game-maybe the best in the tournament. The US fought back from an early goal conceded and battered the Portugese until Jermaine Jones scored a cracker of an equaliser- he smashed it in from the edge of the box, the goalie rooted to the spot. The ball made the single most satisfying sound of the entire cup, as it swished into the back of the net. Me and Brian Kerr shared the moment The US scored again to take the lead after that and but were caught again right at the death- 2-2. Cracking game of football. I really loved a lot of the late kick-offs. Something so relaxing about watching football in the wee small hours, especially in the company of the largely unknown, even to himself, comic genius of Brian Kerr.

I'm always a sucker for the group stages, there's just so much football. A steady diet of three whole matches a day, for two solid weeks. You can't fault it; my favourite fortnight in every four year period.

....

Good oe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDEBuAj2pBQ

KungPao

It was a great tournament. I was depressed when it ended...was addicted to watching it..I just love the WC.

I was gutted when Brazil were steam-rolled by the Germans. I have some connections to Brazil and they were my team, and with it being in Brazil it was extra special.

I still don't know what they were thinking that day. The setup of the team and the tactics were just 100% wrong. Fred as a striker, Luiz running up the pitch like a maniac, Dante being on the pitch, a QPR/Toronto 'keeper (who seems not to try any more) in goal. Attacking MORE as they conceded goal after goal. It was the perfect storm of madness, mostly caused by Big Phil.

Glad to hear Dunga has begun turning things around.

Boskowski

I watched a few world cups and I saw Germany winning three times. This was the best ever. I actually watched the Brazil game in full on YouTube only a few weeks ago.

74 memories are a bit hazy. I remember losing 1:0 to the GDR and I remember having watched the final. I know I had the ball and the tshirt.
We were basically the Bayern side that won the European cup 3 times in a row starting that year. We were good but we were mostly effective - German style like.

Even more so in 90. We were dour at times but we beat teams. We had great players but they were not known for their technical abilities. We won but I don't remember any great games.

This was different. I don't know is it Löw or is it just the way footie has gone but we actually have skill, ability and flair now. Bucket loads of it. And we're dodgy at the back. And we won anyway. In Brazil. And we created some unbelievable memories doing it. Best ever no doubt.

Drexel

when I think of the Brazil world cup this is what comes to mind immediately




The emotion. Fantastic

Tipsy McSwagger

Watching that Brazil team getting stuffed was a thing of beauty

~Rebel~

Any excuse. Goosebumps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKw3EO3xpQc