[WC 14] The Round of 16 Thread

[Floyd Pacquiao]

Rofl Mexico, biggest choke in world cup history?

[FkLA]

but we're rivals
Mexico powerhouse
We beat Trinidad & Tobago, Haiti and Jamaica all the time
we should be world champs
why always this
'muricans gonna laugh at me
while I clean their dishes

You're an imbecile if you think any fanbase should be happy to be close so many times and keep falling short. Also nobody has claimed Mexico is elite.

Strong irony at the end too considering the fact that Argentina as a country isn't exactly well off.

[dfens]

The most infuriating thing is that they constantly complain to the ref and get into opponents face, and the ref doesnt do anything (vlaar and sneijder are the worst). Today Martins kicked a guy on the floor after being whistled and not only wasnt cautioned, he started barking at the Mexican player, of course not a single card for them today- robben should have one for his double flop, Martins threw an elbow shortly after mexicos goal (plus the dead ball hit on the floor).

And of course there will be no review of that martins hit despite it being the definition of unsportsman behavior.

I saw those too. They have a long long long history of doing like this but when they meet a team that plays them hard (not necessarily dirty) they fold. Like today vs mex before that dumb fat coach decided that the best way to win the game is to let a team taller by an average of 2-3 inches rain balls in their box. Talk about suicidal.

[Muser]

1.Almost every team parks the bus when they're up. Plenty go on to hold on their lead, we are just cursed.

Teams park the bus when they're up by 1 with about 5 minutes to go, not with 40 minutes of the game to go. That's being dumb not being cursed.

[dfens]

Rofl Mexico, biggest choke in world cup history?

Nothing but an argentina beating brazil in the final at this cup would beat the following:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urugua...A_World_Cup%29

[IronMaxipad]

Teams park the bus when they're up by 1 with about 5 minutes to go, not with 40 minutes of the game to go. That's being dumb not being cursed.

This..

Mexican coaches are pussys

[DPG21920]

Teams park the bus when they're up by 1 with about 5 minutes to go, not with 40 minutes of the game to go. That's being dumb not being cursed.

Yup. Anyone who has not only played soccer but watched enough can differentiate the two. Especially against a team like NED, with much more pace and talent, you can't sit back and make it that easy. NED was able to save energy because they didn't have to defend and only had to focus on attacking.

MEX's defense, especially on set pieces/corners is lack luster and giving that many chances up to NED is silly. They had the right strategy, but really didn't execute it well. They packed it in way too early and guys like Robben shoved the ball down their throats and created enough chances in that last 35 minutes to win.

[FkLA]

Teams park the bus when they're up by 1 with about 5 minutes to go, not with 40 minutes of the game to go. That's being dumb not being cursed.

It was dumb for sure, mentioned that in the thread.

two minutes away tho

[UNCLE-DREW]

I'm from NED and without sounding to one sided.. this coach of the s is so ing clueless

NED switch from 5-3-2 counter to 4-3-3 with Depay coming in shortly after the 0-1.. you could see mexico didn't even know who to guard anymore and they were more talking to eachother then
defending a player.. add in that they forgot the game wasn't over at minute 55 rofl you could easily feel the 1-1 was coming..

After they figured it somewhat out how to defend.. van gaal changed Kuyt (who is a ing working legend) switched from left back -> right back -> to striker next to Hunterlaar so Ned started to play 4-2-4 with
Depay / Hunterlaar / Kuyt / Robben and again this mexican fatty was clueless

NED was lucky this game but it was deserved since mexican showed up for 55 minutes only

the robben dive wasn't a flop.. in a dutch interview after the game he apologized for a flop in the first half (first dive).. the second one in minute 46 or something was a 10000% penalty.. if you saw the replay and still say it was a dive you are either retarted or just blind.. the actually penalty was a 50/50 and certainly not a flop just stupid from the defender

anyways should win from greece or costa and then we should have a big chance vs this one man show of messi or belgium imo

[ManuLoco]

Mexico will pull a Spurs, they'll come back next year and will go all the way, book it!

[DPG21920]

Mexico played a great tourney though and it's in the moment so fans most likely are pissed. When they step back, they will be proud.

Just like USA fans. If it unfolds the same way against Belgium as today for MEX, I will be upset, but happy about how they performed overall.

[Relevancy]

wrong take.
The mexican coach lost the game when they decided to not play their usual game and defend, while not being comparable in size and strength to the dutch. This compressed the mexican midfield and defence and brought nothing while allowing the dutch to come with their defenders at the middle of the pitch and throw ball after ball in box. The first goal came exactly from such a play. The second one was because they had fallen mentally from the first goal.

Star power didn't win this one. This one was lost, not won.

Mexico was too happy to just let holanda have posession of the ball, they just fell back and did little to move further to at least cause problems, thing is, if Mexico really wanted the win, they could have kept there cool and do ground passes instead of launching the ball wherever, something that I saw during the last minutes. The coach has influence, yes, but at the end it depends how badly the players want to win, they will resolve the game how they best see it as. At the end Mexico wanted nothing to do with the ball, thats chicken that made me really mad. You cant blame robben for making every single one of our wingers look like , Robben did what Robben does best, take on players with his speed and cause danger, and guess what? He did that at the end, when it counted. Thats what I call individual power.

[DPG21920]

Kuyt was so underrated today. He really did all the things necessary to help NED stay in the game. Very, very good game from him.

[DPG21920]

Mexico will have to stop pressuring so high IMO and if they do they will give up a goal. Mexico playing so well though and I should not be surprised with how well they did in group stage.

This was something I said right after the MEX goal - it was meant to say they needed to be cautious, but not too cautious because NED is too dangerous to sit back on.

[ManuLoco]

I'm from NED and without sounding to one sided.. this coach of the s is so ing clueless

NED switch from 5-3-2 counter to 4-3-3 with Depay coming in shortly after the 0-1.. you could see mexico didn't even know who to guard anymore and they were more talking to eachother then
defending a player.. add in that they forgot the game wasn't over at minute 55 rofl you could easily feel the 1-1 was coming..

After they figured it somewhat out how to defend.. van gaal changed Kuyt (who is a ing working legend) switched from left back -> right back -> to striker next to Hunterlaar so Ned started to play 4-2-4 with
Depay / Hunterlaar / Kuyt / Robben and again this mexican fatty was clueless

NED was lucky this game but it was deserved since mexican showed up for 55 minutes only

the robben dive wasn't a flop.. in a dutch interview after the game he apologized for a flop in the first half (first dive).. the second one in minute 46 or something was a 10000% penalty.. if you saw the replay and still say it was a dive you are either retarted or just blind.. the actually penalty was a 50/50 and certainly not a flop just stupid from the defender

anyways should win from greece or costa and then we should have a big chance vs this one man show of messi or belgium imo

lol, it was a flop.

[dfens]

As I said, I was not evaluating their ability to move on, but how they played in just the group stage coming into this game. Playing in a tough group and still scoring a ton of goals, staying focused enough to get 9 points (even if not needed) and defending well enough to give up only 3 goals is huge to me. I thought they played an offensive/attack minded brand of soccer that was overall a top 2 performance in the group stages.

The point of that was not say they were a clear cut top 2 favorite, just that MEX got a tough draw and so did NED. I felt with how well NED played in group stage (whether you want to say top 2 or 3 or 4 - which is splitting hairs), that MEX winning might put some more pressure on USA as well.

3 goals in 3 matches is not good defense. Now it's at 4 goals, so one goal per match. WC winners don't receive that much, not by a longshot.

They didn't play an offensive brand of football, they played mainly counterattack because their defense is too shaky to play at midfield and doesn't have the technical ability to confidently pass under pressure.

Also, I wouldn't say that netherlands had a tough group. Spain was a total mess and it was 3 easy points for both chile and netherlands.
Australia shouldn't even be in the tournament!
Chile was the only good side and that was a close game, by no means did they dominate them.

There is no pressure on the usa

[Manu'sMagicalLeftHand]

anyways should win from greece or costa and then we should have a big chance vs this one man show of messi or belgium imo

What's the point in winning those matches? Sooner or later you're gonna choke. 1988 was an abherration, the only time someone applied the Heimlich maneuver on time on your squishy asses.

[Brazil]

Rofl Mexico, biggest choke in world cup history?

not even close

try France Germany, France leading 3-1 15 min to play as a starter

[Infinite_limit]

lol, it was a flop.

Sloppy challenge

[Relevancy]

How the can you just fall back and let holanda touch the ball countless of times in the last minutes, thats ing dumb.

[DPG21920]

3 goals in 3 matches is not good defense. Now it's at 4 goals, so one goal per match. WC winners don't receive that much, not by a longshot.

They didn't play an offensive brand of football, they played mainly counterattack because their defense is too shaky to play at midfield and doesn't have the technical ability to confidently pass under pressure.

Also, I wouldn't say that netherlands had a tough group. Spain was a total mess and it was 3 easy points for both chile and netherlands.
Australia shouldn't even be in the tournament!
Chile was the only good side and that was a close game, by no means did they dominate them.

There is no pressure on the usa

I disagree with most everything you say, so it's all for not

[FkLA]

Per ESPN, Mexico has scored first in four knockout games in their history and went on to lose all four--only team that has had that happen to them.

[dfens]

Part of being a better team is strategy. They were the better team for 50 minutes, then their strategy failed them. They lacked the star power to execute their strategy, especially since they couldn't keep the ball in the 2nd half. I agree their coach lost the game, but it was a symptom of their talent vs NED. They didn't feel they could play their game for 90 minutes a win. They had to get a goal and hope for the best and it failed.

You start by saying something right and then say something totally stupid. It certainly wasn't about star power, it was all about (bad) coaching.
I agree that the netherlands are a better team BECAUSE of a superior coach but this game was lost and the better field team was undermined by a dumb, chikened coaching decision. If you looked at the game mex were always going up but fat be@ner coach was yelling for them to come in their own side, so the players certainly didn't feel they couldn't do it anymore after outplaying the dutch for 50 mins.

[Floyd Pacquiao]

not even close

try France Germany, France leading 3-1 15 min to play as a starter

Wow, that sounds like game 6 times a 1000

[DPG21920]

If you really think that MEX's top players are better than NED's, I don't know what to tell you. At the end of the day, it was a combo of bad strategy and a world class player in Robben asserting his will on the game.