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Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 20 Jun 2018 09:45
by Chrill
Trippier and Walker on the pitch at the same time is weird, that's all I'm saying. :P You won though, so all is good.

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 20 Jun 2018 13:12
by Badger
Chrill wrote:Trippier and Walker on the pitch at the same time is weird, that's all I'm saying. :P You won though, so all is good.
Yeah, Walker as a centre back is a bit odd but there's always Gary Cahill to come in and Walker move to right wing back to replace Trippier. Lots of options!

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 20 Jun 2018 13:41
by Redirect Left
If football fans are a reflection of a country, Russia is a bit violent, the English are drunk, and the Japanese are very clean.

The Japanese team helped clean up the stadium, after their 2 - 1 victory of Columbia yesterday. Which is rather nice of them. I bet you won't see another team doing that during the world cup!
BBC News.

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 20 Jun 2018 13:55
by Chrill
Redirect Left wrote:The Japanese team helped clean up the stadium, after their 2 - 1 victory of Columbia yesterday. Which is rather nice of them. I bet you won't see another team doing that during the world cup!
BBC News.
As did Senegal!

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 20 Jun 2018 14:36
by Redirect Left
Chrill wrote:
Redirect Left wrote:The Japanese team helped clean up the stadium, after their 2 - 1 victory of Columbia yesterday. Which is rather nice of them. I bet you won't see another team doing that during the world cup!
BBC News.
As did Senegal!
Ah, so they did. Although the BBC article doesn't mention it beyond a little footnote. The Guardian is bit more in their favor though.

Sir Alan Sugar (or Lord Sugar, if you prefer) has been heavily criticised for a tweet, comparing Senegal players to beach sellers in Marbella. With some people and media outlets labelling it 'racist'. Despite Alan Sugars comment, they won their match 2-1 against Poland, so they've not started badly at all.
BBC News.

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 21 Jun 2018 07:43
by Chrill
Yes, I did see his comment. It's not slightly racist, it's extremely racist. Oh well, that's just the way things are these days. Racism is rampant and becoming socially acceptable.

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 21 Jun 2018 20:14
by Redirect Left
Somehow, Croatia have beaten Argentina 3-0. Argentina are clearly not at their best this year, and no where neat it! Croatia are now guaranteed in the final 16, whereas Argentina will need a belter in their next match against Nigeria on Tuesday to avoid being dropped early this year after being runners up in 2014!
Chrill wrote:Yes, I did see his comment. It's not slightly racist, it's extremely racist. Oh well, that's just the way things are these days. Racism is rampant and becoming socially acceptable.
I didn't really find it that racist at all. But I tend to take things at face value, in this case clearly a joke based upon factual observations.

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 23 Jun 2018 20:49
by Chrill
Damn you Germany. We played really well. Really well. We just had the margins against us in the end. That final free kick was so unnecessary to give them. Near the end, John Guidetti could have passed the ball but opted to shoot. Had he passed, the goal was open.

We could have won that, now we lost. Mountain to climb if we are to go through, need to take down Mexico and most likely needs two goals to do it. Unless of course South Korea stuns the world and takes points away from Germany, which I assume they will not.

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 23 Jun 2018 21:46
by Pyoro
Tsk. I disagree with that assessment. I do agree with that you could have won ... or you could have lost worse. Or neither side could have won. That's just football ;) But if you're one guy up and looking more tired than your opponent then you have gotten something wrong; either in physical preparation in the weeks up to the game or during the game in not providing enough relief from constantly running after the ball ...

Anyway, tense game and surely tense final games now too for this group. This sort of thing is what's worth about watching the World Cup :mrgreen:

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 24 Jun 2018 16:34
by Redirect Left
Hurray for England. After securing a 6-1 win against Panama, they're already guaranteed a spot in the top 16, regardless of their upcoming match against Belgium. England have the opportunity to top their groups, although I'm hoping they'll haver the foresight to not do. As generally speaking the top of each group will have a tougher time onwards in match drawings.

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 24 Jun 2018 16:55
by Pyoro
Redirect Left wrote:As generally speaking the top of each group will have a tougher time onwards in match drawings.
Depends on the Group you are in. Going strictly by current Group standings on the left side of the bracket you'd face:
France, Nigeria (probably Argentina), Russia (probably Uruguay), Spain (or Portugal), Brazil, Germany (or Mexico/Sweden) and Japan.
On the right side you'd face:
Portugal (or Spain), Uruguay (probably Russia), Croatia, Denmark (or Australia), Mexico (or Sweden/Germany), Switzerland and Senegal (maybe Colombia).

So, to me, it looks as if the LEFT side currently will probably be the more difficult one, on paper. And that's indeed where the group winner goes. But, Germany and Brazil could also easily switch sides as goal difference will most likely define their position and then you'll face either of them when you could have avoided them by winning the group ... so, you know. You can speculate a lot but imo you just need to play your best ^^

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 25 Jun 2018 20:37
by Redirect Left
A few more results I found interesting today.
[+] Spoiler
Spain only managed a draw against Morocco, at 2-2
Portugal only managed a draw agianst Iran, at 1-1.
Russia, who had done so well to this point, were beaten 3-0 by Uruguay.
Seems like there are no obvious winners emerging so far!

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 25 Jun 2018 20:52
by Pyoro
Yes, games today were very nice again. Really like this World Cup so far.

Tomorrow I'm sure will be nice as well. And we're still only doing group games!

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 25 Jun 2018 20:59
by Chrill
Redirect Left wrote:Seems like there are no obvious winners emerging so far!
I really agree with you. None of the favorites are too convincing. Brazil looks set to go through, but others have struggled. Germany and Argentina in particular, Argentina needs a whole lot of luck to pull through from their group.

I could see France doing well, as it stands. Or a real surprise performer, how about Uruguay or Croatia?

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 26 Jun 2018 07:26
by Pyoro
With how closely teams are analyzed it's tough to talk about any real surprises. Croatia especially has been marked by many as a "surprise team", but how is it surprising if everybody expects them to surprise? ^^; They have players like Modric and Rakitic etc after all. Uruguay, lead by their amazing attacking players, played some of the worst teams in the tournament. I'd say they deserve more accolades if they beat Portugal (which looks very possible ^^; )

My candidates would be:
Japan. Nobody expected much of them; they were a bit lucky but worked hard and are in a good position now. They won't go far but people expected them to go out in the group, so ... but they still might mess it up ^^;
Mexico. After the first game most might have picked them; the second was much weaker and it's tough saying how good they are now. But potentially they could turn into a real surprise, I think. They seem to be blessed with a pretty strong midfield.
Switzerland. Two strong games and every chance to win their group ahead of Brazil. Many picked Serbia as the surprise-team in this group, so maybe a warranted choice - if they top the group, they might end up playing Mexico; and who knows what's possible then?

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 26 Jun 2018 08:54
by Chrill
Pyoro wrote:Mexico. After the first game most might have picked them; the second was much weaker and it's tough saying how good they are now. But potentially they could turn into a real surprise, I think. They seem to be blessed with a pretty strong midfield.
Well, for Sweden to progress we have to beat em and on paper Mexico ought to win but I'd say it's a 60-40 to Mexico in reality. After all, Sweden beat France and sent Netherlands+Italy home during the qualifiers. We got to Russia the hard way. :lol:

If you watch S Korea vs Mexico, the first 15-20 minutes Mexico had nothing at all. Then, South Korea messed up their own defence. Sweden can easily maintain such a defence for 90 minutes. All we need is one goal. 1-0 to Sweden is very possible. If we can score against Germany, we can do it to Mexico. And we know we can keep Mexico away from our goal.

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 26 Jun 2018 09:00
by Pyoro
Yes, I'm not convinced at all that Mexico will win this game. But if they do they have the potential to surprise, I think. Either way this one's going to be tight, which is great.

I expect the same today. France will probably grind down Denkmark, but can Australia beat Peru to steal 2nd in the group? We have seen with Morocco that teams that are already out still want to perform at a World Cup.
Also, Croatia will probably beat Iceland, but can Argentina beat Nigeria? Normally you'd expect them to, but they looked incredibly unsettled so far.

It's going to be interesting.

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 26 Jun 2018 10:55
by Chrill
As it stands, I see these teams pulling through:

In order of finishing position:
A: Uruguay, Russia
B: Spain, Portugal
C: France, Denmark
D: Croatia, Nigeria (sorry Iceland. Sorry Argentina)
E: Brazil, Switzerland
F: Mexico, Germany (Sorry Sweden!)
G: Belgium, England
H: Colombia, Japan

Which should give us this round of 16. Oh boy, let's build a table.

Uruguay Portugal
France Nigeria
Brazil Germany
Belgium Japan
Spain Russia
Croatia Denmark
Mexico Switzerland
Colombia England

And the following quarter finals:
Uruguay France
Germany Belgium
Spain Croatia
Switzerland England

And the following semi finals:
France Belgium
Croatia Switzerland (whaaaaat!)

And the final, then:
Belgium Switzerland

Nah... Nah, I don't think it will go down this way. Nope. Switzerland, in the finals? Nah.

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 26 Jun 2018 11:21
by Pilot
From a financial perspective, I want a Brazil - Colombia final, that's worth £120 to me!

From a footballing perspective, I just want an exciting, unpredictable world cup, as we appear to be having. A good final hopefully too!

From an English perspective, I want football to come home!
Chrill wrote:And the following quarter finals:
Switzerland England
Umm, that's an interesting prediction. Wrong, but interesting nonetheless!

Also, VAR; that's been rather controversial this World Cup. What are our opinions on it? I'm still undecided personally.

Re: FIFA World Cup 2018

Posted: 26 Jun 2018 11:25
by Chrill
There isn't a snowballs chance in somewhere warm that England could dismantle Switzerland, mate. That one is the least of my concerns regarding those picks :P

On a VAR note, I don't fancy the way it works right now but I appreciate its existence. In my opinion, the referees with the camera should have the right to overrule the head referee. They should also have an extremely limited time frame so as to not interrupt the game. Perhaps, a team should have 2-3 calls per game where they request VAR to be used.