diamond_ace

Well no shit, I'm getting tired of that place, have been for a while actually. Only reason I kept my Co position when Ocho took over is because he wanted to work with me, and I know I can lend some insight, although at this point he sure as hell doesn't need it. I'll quit being Co in a couple seasons, hopefully, then just be the occasional fly on the wall over there because that's all the more that league deserves. Pop on here and there, do the occasional PT, and gtfo for sanity's sake. You're really just making my point.

The biggest difference between SHL and VHL is that VHL realizes that activity simply for its own sake is useless. Activity with a purpose is what's needed, with a couple of off topic sections but not dominating the board with them. SHL has far too much discussion on completely bullshit and irrelevant things and calls it activity, and then brags about having more of it than us. If that's activity, we don't need it.

Death Note

Best GM since I joined the site, which is half of the history of the league

So I had to leave for work just before the beginning of extra time in Argentina-Switzerland. I was at work for USA-Belgium, but DVRed it, then got home and noticed the DVR only recorded the period of time the channel was supposed to air the coverage, which meant I missed almost all of the extra time in that one as well. I saw De Bruyne's goal and it cut off about 30 seconds later.

https://vine.co/v/MFgTtBvMjQM

So how many people would have predicted the following: Islam Slimani, Jackson Martinez, Bryan Ruiz, Memphis Depay, Ahmed Musa each scored as many goals as England.

I guess the sex with a dog. Enough therapy and I'd be able to convince myself it didn't happen, and then I'd have life as normal. Win the lottery but pay 1/3 of it in taxes, then overly splurge and end up in worse financial shape at the end than you currently are, but with a few nice things or Get a small raise at your current job, be in a little bit better financial shape at the end than you currently are but without the nice things.

Bushito would get a disproportionately high amount of TPE (in an actual sense, not in a haha Victor is old sense)

Calgary just won the lottery! Well, not by the standard definition. Helsinki is still at pick 1. Calgary, however, as the fourth-worst team, is at pick 2 and therefore made the best jump. This makes things interesting, although from a league perspective, it might have made it less interesting (not going to get into that)... There are so many good players in this draft, ranging from first-gens to vets to some cross between the two (looking at eQ with that one, not a first-gen but not an immediately-returning vet either) and it's kind of a shame we don't have all the picks of Helsinki, but we do have a better pick than we originally expected, and that'll be made to count for something one way or another. Wranglers gonna wrang and all that good stuff. We're looking forward to the draft, and then to after the draft, to next season, where we would play for potentially our first playoff berth after the rebuild. It's a big jump for the team no one thought would get out of the rebuild that quickly, and it's a good time to be a Wrangler.

A draw and you'd still win the group, facing the easier team (not Belgium). There is very little incentive for Germany to outright win. Obviously they'll play for the win, all teams do, but if you're an individual German player in this situation, do you go in for the risky tackle with a 5% chance of injury, or do you let it slide and just defend standing up? A handful of those split second decisions, not having to go all out, can leave the door open for the draw. Even if the draw doesn't materialize, winning by more goals does nothing for you, and you won't have a reason to pile on like you did on Portugal, which also frees up possibilities for USA. You guys had, simply put, more percentages riding on the Ghana game than you do on the USA game. Going into the USA game, you qualify barring some really bizarre results. You'd have to lose (outright lose, against USA) and on top of that, whittle away the whole GD you have on Ghana and Portugal. There's like a 0.2% chance Germany doesn't go through. Additionally, there's about a 85% change Germany takes top of the group, considering the draw as well as the win will do it. There's not the pressure, and while it won't show in overall play, it very well could be in the minds of some of the guys and could influence some split second decisions. Anyone who's watched Michael Bradley this WC knows how important a split second decision can be. I didn't touch the midfield comment because I never brought up the midfield in the first place. I don't claim USA is the more talented team, nor do I disagree with you on the fact that the USA has a weaker midfield. I also don't disagree with you on the fact that this font color is black, yet I didn't feel the need to bring it up, because it doesn't really matter for what we're saying. It's entirely possible to get a draw as a weaker team, we've seen it all over the place.

I hardly think Ghana is weak. Prior to the tournament I actually thought Ghana had a better shot at pulling 2nd than Portugal, and certainly better than USA. That said, there was nothing in my previous post indicating a belief that Ghana was weak, or that even could be misconstrued (your favorite tactic) to indicate that. I said there was more of a competitive incentive in that match, which was true. At the time, a win would have locked up qualification for you, yet you only drew. In this match, you don't really have any reason to win, why should I believe you'll do it, when you couldn't do it when it actually meant something?

You guys didn't exactly eat up Ghana, and there was more of a competitive incentive in that match. I think USA lines up pretty defensively, nips a goal against the run of play, and holds Germany to 1. At the very least, a 2-1 loss, which is probably also enough.

I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL DRAW!

Which means Greece and Costa Rica will play each other in the Round of 16. Who had money on one of them making the quarters?

So the refs directly influenced the finishing order of 3 teams with their rig job in the opener. Would have been Mexico, Croatia, Brasil if Croatia wins that (and with two Brasil goals and one Croatia non-goal directly affected, that's a possibility) Mexico, Brasil, Croatia if it's a draw (which is arguably more likely, based on teams playing differently with a different score line)

and it has NOTHING AT ALL to do with wanting to play Croatia or Mexico instead of Brazil

I mean the vast majority of them were, and the other few were just playing up as recipients of outlet balls. They were trying to do what Wondo did at 92 minutes, running it into the corner and wasting 30 seconds before kicking it out off the Portuguese guy. USA was playing very defensive there and almost pulled it off, but that was just a phenomenal cross by Gel Boy.

Ivory Coast are likely to advance, 2nd on points in their group and only Greece left to play, with Katsouranis out for the match.

No. Two reasons: One, it'd be more difficult for the player to get onto the team, if he's not already on the team. Two, some GMs might be more inclined not to give the team up if there's a chance of it going to a member they either don't like or that they don't think would do well with the team, especially if the current GM is iconic enough with the team that it's become somewhat of their identity. Example: me with Ottawa (we're discussing VHL teams, but the example still applies). I had a handful of people in mind, one of these people applied, and they got the job (I believe I had some influence in that happening). Now, in hindsight, Munk screwed it up, and since I was synonymous with Ottawa for the longest time (having left them a ton of draft picks) I felt personally disappointed in the performance of the team even though I technically had no position with them. It would be similar with if I stepped down from Calgary, I'd want someone in there who I was confident could do the job, or I'd feel like I personally let the franchise down even without still being the GM.

FIFA 98 is one of the best FIFAs, to be fair

I'm just telling him the full information. He's not playing because he retired from internationals. For someone who may not understand the sport as much, as it seems might be the case with Metis, he might not get that there are two different retirements (one from internationals and one from club) when most jobs in the world have one. Henry is still somewhat able to play, which is why he still plays for a club, although the same drop in skill that brought him to MLS compared to the teams he's played for is the same drop in skill that caused him to retire from internationals. You and I, of course, understand this.

Henry is 36, Zidane is 41. Both are retired from international football, Henry still plays club football for Red Bulls. Zidane is a coaching assistant with Real Madrid.

Henry still plays (in the MLS) but is far too old and lost too many steps to still be on the national team. Also, England is eliminated.