The World Cup, Germany, and Beer

It's a bloody rout for the Orange! Wow....

 

@mjtierney2 is a genius!

 

Oh, hell no! No one does. But I think it'll be 50-50 against Italy. The Netherlands are looking pretty tip-top, hey?

 

Wow... Is there some way to delete my earlier (obviously idiotic) comment that the Dutch were overrated? Didn't have any Dutch beer on hand, so I drank a Duvel Tripel Hop 2014 instead, and ate as much crow as I could stomach...

As for the Ladenburger Weizenbock, I'm assuming this came from Getränke Fein. I noticed the last 6 pack of that I brought home from them had exactly the same best-by date as the previous 6 pack, even though there were 2 months in between. Either way, it was still excellent, so I didn't mind.

 

Thanks... My half-Dutch wife was taunting me the entire last 45 minutes, so that's what I get for doubting the Oranje.

 

Dutch always do pretty well in the early rounds (though perhaps not *this* well!). Wait until things get a bit deeper to see if they can keep up the same high level of play.

Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed today's game!

 

Could be different this time though. You can see the players believe in the Van Gaal philosophy. Like teams he has previously managed who buy into it like 90's Ajax and his time at AZ, under his stewardship were very successful. Perhaps that's why his time at Bayern wasn't as successful since he wasn't given the time for the players to adapt to his process, (even though he won the bundesliga and pokal).

Will be interesting to see how far they can go. I'm still sticking to German bier though!

 

Shoulda been 8-1, and the end of tiki-taka. Both Bayern (in 2012), Dortmund (v. Bayern), Real Mardrid and now the Oranje have shown how to defeat it. I dislike this style as much as the old Italian park-the-bus defensive strategy of old, and I drank a home-brew of mine, a Verbodene Vrucht, while loving the 2nd half. I enjoyed it in a Schadenfreude way. Arjen Robben deserved the liberation of the burden of not scoring against Iker Casillas in South Africa in 2010. And god I felt sorry for Iker, but it's just one game and Spain's still got 2 more games to right the ship. As much as I dislike Luis van Gaal, I gotta give him props for coming up with the 3-5-2 put a fork in tiki-taka. BTW, if you're interested in learning or reading up on football strategy, read this site regularly: Zonal Marking, or the German-language Spielverlagerung.de.

 

Bayern didn't win the game (DFB Pokal) in regulation time. The BVB was robbed of a clear goal that was plain to everyone in the world except the ref. That should've given the win to BVB, so again, Bayern didn't in the Pokal. I think the ref was in the pocket of Bayern, after all, the side judge initially indicated a goal and was overruled by the ref. Tika-taka was defeated in regulation time, and then BVB tired in overtime.

But that wasn't my point. My point was the tactics have been developed to thoroughly defeat the tiki-taka system by overwhelming the midfield (Holland & BVB) and always keeping all players behind the ball in defense (Bayern 2012).

 

I'm settling in with a nice, refreshing and local Äppelwoi. I wish the England vs Italy game would be now and not at midnight. I won't make it, have to get up at 5.30 tomorrow.

 

Ah yes, the day to skip work has arrived. Enjoy the day, gentlemen, and let's hope that our US/German hearts will be treated well by the Fußballgott himself.