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Re: World Cup

PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 11:15 pm
by Trick
KEND wrote:England should get past Sweden but I don't see them beating Brazil or France either of which should be the eventual winner

The last two times England managed to go to the quarterfinals they had an Swedish coach, but there it ended. This WC they’ll face an Swedish team in the QF...we’ll soon se how it ends 8-)

Re: World Cup

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 6:44 am
by Steve James
Coutinho should've hit the target when Neymar cut it back.


I think he'll be reliving that moment in his dreams for a long time.

Re: World Cup

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 7:30 am
by everything
This Swedish team seems like it cannot even string together 5 passes. WTF are they doing in a quarter final?

England, however, hasn't yet asserted itself enough. Sweden is just packing the middle, and you never know what could happen on a counter.

It's like the striker who can always "catch" you with the big KO even though you were dominating the fight. (added this sentence for the mma and ima people who don't watch the world cup haha)

Re: World Cup

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 7:36 am
by Steve James
Right now, the English look motivated.

Re: World Cup

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 9:41 am
by KEND
England won, hard physical match but without the deliberate fouls, trips ang jersey pulling that marred the Columbia match, terrific goalkeeping by England, . On to Russia/Croatia, could make final but will have to raise their game to beat France

Re: World Cup

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 1:41 pm
by Steve James
So, Russian v Croatia coming down to another shootout. Wow.

Re: World Cup

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 5:37 pm
by KEND
I noticed that Sweden had the best looing supporters , a bevy of Miss Swedens in the stands

Re: World Cup

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 9:36 pm
by everything
Croatia "deserves" that outcome but didn't really shine. Definitely outclassed Russia for the most part. If Russia advanced, would've been truly ridiculous. Same with England and Sweden. England have a talented team, but have faced such relatively easy competition, it's laughable how ridiculous that has been, and they haven't really played to their potential or showed their talent yet. A bit of the problem is the FIFA rankings, which are at least switching to Elo (used in chess and adjusts according to strength of opponent until the calibration is more or less accurate) after the tournament. Still, if Sweden had advanced, it would've also been ridiculous.

Final:
England a slight favorite over Croatia, and France a slight favorite over Belgium, so likely France vs. England with France the champion, but it's really too close to call. I think I'll root for Croatia, but expect France to win as the "best" team.

Re: World Cup

PostPosted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 6:39 am
by vadaga
everything wrote:Yow!!!

Can't believe the Brazil Belgium game. Just one somewhat random deflection can be so game changing. That is one thing that irritates me about soccer. It seems to have more randomness than other top team sports.

don't forget the diving and the questionable handballs inside the 18... many matches decided by these things... eagle eye couldn't come too soon

Re: World Cup

PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 4:26 am
by cloudz
It's coming home! :D

Re: World Cup

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:44 am
by KEND
Watched France vs Belgium, could have gone either way but France took their chance. Lot of unnecessary fouls by Belgium. Extraordinary athleticism, they never stopped. f England get past Croatia I think they stand a chance

Re: World Cup

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 3:00 pm
by KEND
Bye bye England. For the first half hour it looked like they would make it. In the second half Croatia came alive Croatia's short precise passes were always dangerous in spite of their inability to put the ball in the net in front of the goal.. England had an annoying habit of passing back to the goalkeeper who followed with a big kick upfield, last century but nowadays possession is king The English side is young and their lack of maturity showed Harry Kane did a sterling job, almost scoring a second goal but that was not enough. As I predicted much earlier France is the team to beat, they should win the final by a couple of goals

Re: World Cup

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 4:00 pm
by everything
I'm rooting for Croatia again, but "on paper", France has always been one of the most likely winners (along with Germany, Brazil, Spain), and will surely win.

France's bench is more valuable than most starting lineups in the knockout rounds.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/fr ... g-lineups/

"France’s starting roster is the most valuable in the tournament,1 and France’s bench alone is more valuable than the starting rosters of 11 teams that made it through the group stage to the round of 16, including Uruguay, Portugal, Argentina and potential championship match opponents Croatia. And that’s not to mention some of the players France left home, such as Karim Benzema, Adrien Rabiot, Kingsley Coman and Alexandre Lacazette — all of whom are worth at least $45 million."

Re: World Cup

PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 6:34 am
by cloudz
KEND wrote:Bye bye England. For the first half hour it looked like they would make it. In the second half Croatia came alive Croatia's short precise passes were always dangerous in spite of their inability to put the ball in the net in front of the goal.. England had an annoying habit of passing back to the goalkeeper who followed with a big kick upfield, last century but nowadays possession is king The English side is young and their lack of maturity showed Harry Kane did a sterling job, almost scoring a second goal but that was not enough. As I predicted much earlier France is the team to beat, they should win the final by a couple of goals


They needed the second goal when they were on top; that just didn't come. All said and done it's a great showing from a young squad that can only improve from here. All credit to Southgate, it was an absolute godsend that the old dinosaur Allerdyce shot himself in the foot when he did. England have been crying out for a modern progressive manager who would trust in the young guys. They did all we could ask for as a nation, and more. Well done England.

Re: World Cup

PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 8:36 pm
by everything
Definitely a great run, and great to see this team moving forward and betting on youth, and Southgate learning from Guardiola and others.

Now on to the final topic...
Croatia is an amazing and experienced team with so many trophies at club level. If Croatia wins, Modric needs to be getting the Ballon D'Or. France has so much star quality, it's ridiculous. The final has quite a few Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid stars and bench players. Who do you predict as the winner? Who will you root for?