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[Davio]

Based on the entire tournament, can't say it's undeserved.

I feel sorry for Messi, not because he lost, but because the joy seems to have been sucked out of him somehow. He never laughs anymore, nor does he cry for that matter. He's just a dulled down football machine.

[Teproc]

Very happy with the result obviously. Argentina played well too.

What does everyone think about Neuer's foul that was given to Higuain instead ? Lots of comparisons to Schumacher in '82 going on here (then again I'm not sure anyone beside us even remember that).

[StrongRhino]

I was rooting for Argentina for two reasons, they had the better uniform, and if Germany lost I could have said "Klose, but no cigar," or "so Klose, but yet so far," but oh well it was a Klose game and was fun to watch.

[MarkowKette]

Very happy with the result obviously. Argentina played well too.

What does everyone think about Neuer's foul that was given to Higuain instead ? Lots of comparisons to Schumacher in '82 going on here (then again I'm not sure anyone beside us even remember that).

Well obviously it was no foul from Higuain. Neuer played the ball before he crashed into the player so i think the ref could have decided either way foul or not.
It was a game with lot's of fouls on both sides though, but i guess that is understandable in regard of what it's all about.
I think Argentina played their best game of this tournament and they would have also deserved to win.

[soulnet]

I more or less agree it was an even match and it could have gone either way.

Neuer over Higuain was definitely a foul. It is not a matter of intention. The fact that Neuer plays the ball first could be an argument for no red card, or even no card at all, but not for no foul. The fact that they called Higuain's foul is just absurd.

Also, there was another non-called penalty over Aguero in the 2nd half (grabbed by the shoulder), though in that case both the referee and linesman were far away, so it was easier to miss.

I feel biased, but I thought the Germans were diving and complaining a lot. There were fouls, of course, but I am talking when there were none or when they exaggerated the falls. There were plenty of non-called fouls on Argentinians as well.

[MarkowKette]

As far as i know this was not a foul on Neuer, by modern refereeing standards. Though, perhaps said standards allow goalkeepers far too much leeway.
The referee didn't have the best performance this game but we saw a lot far worse performances in the world cup.
I think the wrong decisions kind of evened up in this game and in the end obviously commentators from each side believe their teams in a disadvatage there (like the german commentator claimed a penalty for the tackle against Kramer and wanted to see second yellow cards against Mascherano and Aguero and didn't really mention most of the wrong decisions in germany's favor)

It was a really good and very fast match with both teams fighting very hard. Argentina deserves a lot of respect for their performance.
In the end Germany had the lucky shot on their side and that's what decides such a close and even match which could have gone either way.

[Davio]

Bloody FIFA, how could they pick Messi as best player? He was so invisible I suspect his twin brother played after the group stage.
It should have clearly been Robben or Kroos or something or even Rodriguez, anyone but Messi. Bunch of idiots, pisses me off. Somehow this award has transformed into a consolation price since Forlan won it last year.

And the foul was obviously by Neuer (dangerous play) and an indirect free kick within the penalty box would have been the right decision there.

But again, we've seen a horrible ref. They should just pick the best ref regardless of where he comes from; the Dutch ref Kuipers who did the Champions League final for instance, but stupid rules prevent the game from moving forward.

[ipofanes]

It's up to the referees to judge, I guess. They could for instance only show yellow if another defender was coming in from the side at an amazing speed to stop the attacker from reaching a good shooting distance.

Or if the forward was fouled at an acute angle to the goal, again with some defenders storming the center of the box, denying Robben style cut-ins.

[ipofanes]

Interesting decision to field Christoph Kramer. I am heavily biased towards this guy but I would have liked to see, sometime during the tournament, an option where he was playing a whole match next to Schweinsteiger subbed by Khedira, or vice versa. His stamina and distance covered is one of the best in the Bundesliga, so I figured he was fielded as some "safe bet" along the replacement candidates Schweinsteiger and Klose. The early check on him nipped this tactic in the bud. The tactical shift was very interesting but for the worse (although it allowed Özil to play more towards the centre) as the offensive seemed to be less connected to the defensive and Kroos had to assume a more defensive rôle, which suits him less.

[Davio]

This is pretty interesting: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/statistics/castrol-index/index.html

Apparently, Messi was NOT the best player at this year's WC (shocker!), rather it was Kroos! Had they given him the golden shoe, I could certainly have lived with it.

Robben also did very well, but what surprised me most was to see De Vrij completing the top 3, rated best defender of the WC!
Our Dutch goalie Cillessen ended up 2nd behind Neuer. And where did Messi end up? 11th.

Here is Castrol's top 11 of the WC:

Neuer
De Vrij - Hummels - Thiago Silva - Rojo
Kroos - Oscar - Lahm - Rodriguez
Robben - Müller

[2.71828.....]

"To say clearly we have four years to prepare this cycle and our goal is to go into a semifinal in a World Cup and that means a lot of work, a lot of competition and a lot of grind." -Jurgen Klinsmann

I know it early, but I love having this goal set by Jurgen Klinsmann.  Anything else will be a disappointment for me in 2018.

[Teproc]

Well, prepare to be disappointed then. You just can't go into a World Cup expecting to make it to the semifinals : look at Spain.

I mean it's great to have it as an objective but it shouldn't be an expectation. This is what plagues Brazil : they expect to win every time, so when they don't it's considered a failure, which is ridiculous.

[Holger]

And the foul was obviously by Neuer (dangerous play) and an indirect free kick within the penalty box would have been the right decision there.

Can there be a free kick in the other team's penalty box? I thought any foul inside your penalty box required a penalty. An indirect free kick would probably not have mattered much...

I suppose Argentina got their revenge yesterday 

[Joseph2302]

Can there be a free kick in the other team's penalty box? I thought any foul inside your penalty box required a penalty. An indirect free kick would probably not have mattered much...

Yes there can, if it's an indirect free kick. The most common occurrence of this is for a deliberate backpass to the goalkeeper.

[Holger]

Can there be a free kick in the other team's penalty box? I thought any foul inside your penalty box required a penalty. An indirect free kick would probably not have mattered much...

Yes there can, if it's an indirect free kick. The most common occurrence of this is for a deliberate backpass to the goalkeeper.

Right. But a deliberate backpass is not a foul, I think. Can there be an indirect free kick due to a foul by the defending team within its box?

[soulnet]

Right. But a deliberate backpass is not a foul, I think. Can there be an indirect free kick due to a foul by the defending team within its box?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indirect_free_kick

Many kinds of fouls (should) grant indirect free kicks. Only direct free kicks inside the opposing team penalty box are "converted" into penalty.

I have even seen indirect free kicks taken so close to the goal line, that all defenders and the goal keeper had to stand inside the goal.

[Jack Rudd]

Can there be a free kick in the other team's penalty box? I thought any foul inside your penalty box required a penalty. An indirect free kick would probably not have mattered much...

Yes there can, if it's an indirect free kick. The most common occurrence of this is for a deliberate backpass to the goalkeeper.

Right. But a deliberate backpass is not a foul, I think. Can there be an indirect free kick due to a foul by the defending team within its box?

The deliberate backpass is not a foul, but it's a foul if the 'keeper picks it up.

[Holger]

Right. But a deliberate backpass is not a foul, I think. Can there be an indirect free kick due to a foul by the defending team within its box?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indirect_free_kick

Many kinds of fouls (should) grant indirect free kicks. Only direct free kicks inside the opposing team penalty box are "converted" into penalty.

I have even seen indirect free kicks taken so close to the goal line, that all defenders and the goal keeper had to stand inside the goal.

That's interesting. I don't think I've ever seen such a free kick in the other team's penalty box, it sounds weird...

Can there be a free kick in the other team's penalty box? I thought any foul inside your penalty box required a penalty. An indirect free kick would probably not have mattered much...

Yes there can, if it's an indirect free kick. The most common occurrence of this is for a deliberate backpass to the goalkeeper.

Right. But a deliberate backpass is not a foul, I think. Can there be an indirect free kick due to a foul by the defending team within its box?

The deliberate backpass is not a foul, but it's a foul if the 'keeper picks it up.

According to Soulnet's link, it's still not a foul, but an infringement of "certain technical requirements".  But this may just be a wording question; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fouls_and_misconduct_%28association_football%29#Indirect_free_kick_offences does support your point. Wikipedia is inconsistent...

[soulnet]

Wikipedia is inconsistent...

[citation needed]

That's interesting. I don't think I've ever seen such a free kick in the other team's penalty box, it sounds weird...

It is uncommon, but not so rare to spend more than 1 min on youtube to find one:

[Holger]

Wikipedia is inconsistent...

[citation needed]

"An indirect free kick is awarded to the opposing team when a player commits a foul other than a penalty foul (e.g. dangerous play) or infringes certain technical requirements of the laws (e.g. touching the ball a second time following a restart, or the keeper touching the ball with his hands when a teammate has used his foot to pass it back to the keeper)."

"Fouls punishable by an indirect free kick are:
    When a goalkeeper, inside his own penalty area:
[...]
        touches the ball with his hands after it has been deliberately kicked to him by a team-mate (the back-pass rule)"

Now we may add "[citation needed]" to either of these claims...

[yuma]

Well, prepare to be disappointed then. You just can't go into a World Cup expecting to make it to the semifinals : look at Spain.

I mean it's great to have it as an objective but it shouldn't be an expectation. This is what plagues Brazil : they expect to win every time, so when they don't it's considered a failure, which is ridiculous.

That is interesting because there is a fair amount of sports media (basically people who don't cover soccer ever) giving him flack because his goal isn't to WIN the World Cup!

But I do think there is a great difference between having a goal and having an expectation.