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No USA in the World Cup! crybaby



Oh, well. I guess I'm cheering for Germany and Brasil. I was born in Germany and my wife is Brazilian.

No Wales either 😢 saw on Twitter that fox spent like $400 million for the English rights of the world cup, now USA aren't in it hardly any of America will watch probably.

Germany/Brazil is a good shout

Originally posted by walshy
saw on Twitter that fox spent like $400 million for the English rights of the world cup, now USA aren't in it hardly any of America will watch probably.

Haha.. really?

Originally posted by walshy
No Wales either 😢 saw on Twitter that fox spent like $400 million for the English rights of the world cup, now USA aren't in it hardly any of America will watch probably.

Germany/Brazil is a good shout

After what they did to Seamus Coleman, **** 'em.

Originally posted by Patient_Leech
Haha.. really?

yup. poor guys.

Was sad to see the US didn't make it either. Uruguay did, so that's good

Originally posted by -Pr-
After what they did to Seamus Coleman, **** 'em.



yup. poor guys. you act like Neil Taylor tortured and murdered his family, it was an accident, same thing happened to Ramsey when he started at arsenal. Shit happens.

Good luck in the play offs awehaweOriginally posted by Robtard
Was sad to see the US didn't make it either. Uruguay did, so that's good also Argentina qualified with their final match, would've sucked if a team of their quality didn't make it. Surprised Chile and Netherlands aren't in tho

Originally posted by walshy
you act like Neil Taylor tortured and murdered his family, it was an accident, same thing happened to Ramsey when he started at arsenal. Shit happens.

Good luck in the play offs awehawe also Argentina qualified with their final match, would've sucked if a team of their quality didn't make it. Surprised Chile and Netherlands aren't in tho

Wales players were smiling while Walters was trying to hold Coleman's leg together. Kind of rubs a person the wrong way.

Thanks. I pray we don't get Italy.

North Korea will win it again like they always do.

Originally posted by walshy
also Argentina qualified with their final match, would've sucked if a team of their quality didn't make it. Surprised Chile and Netherlands aren't in tho

Oh shit, the Dutchies are out too? Slay's probably shitting himself.

Originally posted by jaden101
North Korea will win it again like they always do.

Originally posted by -Pr-
Wales players were smiling while Walters was trying to hold Coleman's leg together. Kind of rubs a person the wrong way.

Thanks. I pray we don't get Italy. you got Denmark which is winnable, but I'm still bitter so I hope you lose.

Italy Vs Sweden will be a good play off, Italy haven't got a world class team like they used to

Italy are out! Sweden's in. Italy isn't half the team it used to be but this is still surprising

Northern Ireland and Greece are out, Croatia and Switzerland in

Now it's just Ireland Vs Denmark..

wow denmark beat republic of ireland 5-1, thats a mauling

Bad defending. At least three of those goals wouldn't have happened without the personal mistakes by one player that caused them.

Not long to go now...

All the squads have been announced now as well.

My prediction to win the world cup is... Argentina. It's hard to not think Germany will win again tho. I feel like it's harder this year to guess who will win cause France and Belgium both still have good players and the usual teams like Brazil Spain etc

I'll be supporting Iceland cause they're the underdogs and it'll be amazing to see how far they get. Maybe they'll do what Costa Rica did last world cup.

European teams tend to do better at the Europe based tournaments than the S. American teams do and vice versa, although Germany did pull off a win at the last world cup in Brasil so who knows, Argentina and Brasil should never be completely ruled out. I'm opting for Germany to do it again, outside bet of Belgium even though they've never won a tournament before, the quality of their squad going right the way through is insane.

Spain still have a good squad, maybe not as good as the team that won in 2010 but still definitely in with a shout

^Their squad is ageing though, still a good team obvs but guys like Xavi, Iniesta, Ramos even have lost a yard or two, Morata is a good player but hasn't had the best of seasons at Chelsea, in fact has hardly played since the turn of the year. England have a decent midfield and forward line but the defence is way behind the ability of their teammates further up the pitch.

Today's the day! Russia Vs Saudi Arabia might not be the most exciting match but when it's the start of the world cup it's completely different

2-0 for Russia at halftime

Good result from Russia under pressure but the Saudis aren't exactly a challenge, Portugal V Spain today though.

yo mexican goalie got it down af

JFC England, stop picking Jordan Henderson. He's not good enough.

Kane was the star today, England was about to do the expected draw in their WC opening game, but his head saved them from that.

Originally posted by -Pr-
JFC England, stop picking Jordan Henderson. He's not good enough.


I think Henderson suffers from the same thing that a lot of players like him do, his performances are only noticeable when he plays badly, if he does his job, he doesn't stand out and he doesn't grab the headlines. Carrick suffered the same thing for 10+ years at Utd, a lot of 'water carrier' type players do.

Originally posted by Robtard
Kane was the star today, England was about to do the expected draw in their WC opening game, but his head saved them from that.

I don't rate Kane as highly as a lot of people do, but even I can admit the dude just seems to know where to be when crosses come in.

Originally posted by samhain
I think Henderson suffers from the same thing that a lot of players like him do, his performances are only noticeable when he plays badly, if he does his job, he doesn't stand out and he doesn't grab the headlines. Carrick suffered the same thing for 10+ years at Utd, a lot of 'water carrier' type players do.

I would agree that it does happen to players, but I still don't think that Henderson is World Cup material. And I didn't like him in the CL this year either. I think he's a liability, and funny you mention Carrick, I think England desperately needed someone like him today.

This is arguably the weakest England team I've seen compete in a tournament in years too. I think if they play the way they did tonight against Belgium, they'll get destroyed.

I think it's an inexperienced team but that might be a good thing for England, it's not like they've won a tournament in over 50 years so why not put some newbies out there.

Depends on how the next fixtures go for England and Belgium really, if they both win, they're both through and don't need to risk star players in a nothing game relatively speaking. They'll both want to top the group for sure but you also have to play fringe players when you get the opportunity otherwise they're not up to tempo when brought on as an impact sub or to cover injury/suspension.

Originally posted by samhain
I think it's an inexperienced team but that might be a good thing for England, it's not like they've won a tournament in over 50 years so why not put some newbies out there.

Depends on how the next fixtures go for England and Belgium really, if they both win, they're both through and don't need to risk star players in a nothing game relatively speaking. They'll both want to top the group for sure but you also have to play fringe players when you get the opportunity otherwise they're not up to tempo when brought on as an impact sub or to cover injury/suspension.

Yeah true; if they both win their next matches, i'd expect reserve teams put out in the last fixture.

I think that having a young team is great, but I worry about the quality of a fair number of them. Rashford is great; Loftus-Cheek looked busy when he came on. Trippier played well. But they have a dodgy defence and I really don't rate the likes of Dele Alli or Ashley Young that highly.

England deserved the win, Tunisia was nothing more than moaning , niggling team that went down far too easy under any challenge

Tunisia passed the ball around quite well I thought, also I didn't know they are the highest ranked African team, higher than Senegal, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast who didn't even qualify.

WORLD CUP MOTHER****ERS!

Going for Brazil

Originally posted by samhain
Tunisia passed the ball around quite well I thought, also I didn't know they are the highest ranked African team, higher than Senegal, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast who didn't even qualify.

Yeah, they played really well and kept the ball better than England did.

==

Argentina... Jaysus. The first goal, woeful mistake. Second one I don't blame anyone but the third? Them all just standing there hoping to get a flag? No. Terrible.

It's not Egypt. It's not one really good player and everyone else is shit. They've got some really good players, and yet again their over-reliance on Messi is costing them.

Originally posted by -Pr-
their over-reliance on Messi is costing them.


It's like they rely on Messi but don't play to his strengths.

Nigeria just gave Argentina a massive chance at making the KO stages. The last round of fixtures in that group will be interesting.

Yup. I'm fairly confident CRO won't lose to ICE, ether win or tie. So ARG only need win their first game of this WC against NGE to guarantee their spot/survival.

I have little hopes for ARG though at this point. I'm thinking it's going to be CRO (obviously) and NGE moving forward. Which sucks for me, as I'm both a fan of ARG/Messi and I wanted ICE to perform well in their first WC.

The Argies will have a hard time against Nigeria though, they're not playing with a lot of confidence and Nigeria can send themselves to the knockouts if they win.

Agree on Messi, was heartbroken for him at the last WC, if he wants to be there to be no doubt he's the G.O.A.T. then he really needs a winners medal.

England, even with a couple of decisions that could have gone the other way, absolutely battered Panama. Wonder what they'll think going in to the next match or two.

That front four for Colombia were immense. Poland weren't exactly great, but they were still torn apart with an ease that now makes the upcoming Senegal v Colombia match really interesting to me.

Nigeria were seriously unlucky there, great kit though.

yeah feel so bad for nigeria

argentina don't really deserve to go through, knowing them they will start playing well now and win the whole thing

Unfortunately, that's usually the case. Teams scrape through then turn it on in the KO's. I think Germany did that in Brazil 4 years ago.

Germany's weaknesses finally caught up with them. Can't say I wasn't expecting it. Brazil played well at least, though Neymar looks like he's trying to copy Ronaldo with some of those dives.

are you ready for argentina vs france? who do you think will win this? i want argentina to win, but i have the feeling france will take it. argentin a isnt using its best pressure players. the pressure of argentina is weak and messi is not going to do the work. they need to let in kun aguera at the very least to help out. they let him in the last 10 minutes and together the team creatded enough pressure for the goal that basically saved their ass. they must focus on more attackers and not inside politics. everybody are looking for messi and the coach is trying to let messi shine by allowing him to take over the pressure on the field. thats a mistake. they have to understand that its about argentina and not about messi.

Originally posted by -Pr-
Germany's weaknesses finally caught up with them. Can't say I wasn't expecting it. Brazil played well at least, though Neymar looks like he's trying to copy Ronaldo with some of those dives.

its the curse of the champion. who ever wins the world cup championship, will get humiliated in the next one. just look what happened with spain in 2014 for example.
brazil played very well. neyman IMO was great. he didnt score but he did great. the second goal was possible thanks to him. also, he almost scored so many goals, but it wasnt his day for a goal Lol. the goal keeper saved it like superman.

and argentina lost to france. not a bad game from argentina but france was too athletic with its youngsters for argentina to keep up. MBAPPE was too much for argentina which didnt even have its strikers because they were on the bench. finally towards the end the coach decided to let aguera join, wow. such a great coach. they had no strikers, no defence, free pass goalkeeper and messi was guarded like he is in prison. and yet argentina gave a good game and lost 4-3. could do better with smarter choices. if only the coach invested into the strategy as much as he invests in his tatoos.

All the reports seem to suggest that the Argentina coach has practically no power or influence on the players, their body language would suggest that too.

this world cup is very interesting. argentina is out, portugal is out, spain is out, basically all the "stars" proved to be nothing but empty baloons. well, brazil is a good team in the current worldcup. lets see brazil tomorrow vs mexico. this is some underdog world cup Lol

Belgium Vs France Final. Mark My Words.

Originally posted by The Spectre+
Belgium Vs France Final. Mark My Words.

if belgium will defeat japan, which probably will happen, she will face brazil. lets see how well belgium will play today. anyway, the game vs brazil will be very hard for belgium. the way brazil dominated mexico today, made it clear that brazil is on the top with only france and belgium threatening it.

Originally posted by The Spectre+
Belgium Vs France Final. Mark My Words.

Can't be a final because of the draw. Only way they'll meet is in the semis.

Holy shit, that Belgium vs Japan game was incredible.

Psyched about Brazil vs Belgium.

Originally posted by Patient_Leech
Holy shit, that Belgium vs Japan game was incredible.

Psyched about Brazil vs Belgium.

yes it was my favorite game this world cup. the game IMO was amazing. finally a clean game without any bullshit. the japanese players are so full of dignity and honor. no bullshit pretending to be hurt, no nothing. just 100% running and playing doing everything they can. such great players and such great sportsmenship.

Switzerland v Sweden wasn't great, with both teams really not having any kind of cutting edge in front of goal.

England v Colombia was a shit-show. England played reasonably well, even if as time went on they started trying to beat Colombia in an Olympic diving competition. Colombia came back in to the game late on and caused real trouble, but then the penalties...

Colombia had it in the bag, but ****ed it up. I hope England play better in the next round, though I still think his choices of players and formation will eventually cost them.

Originally posted by -Pr-
Switzerland v Sweden wasn't great, with both teams really not having any kind of cutting edge in front of goal.

England v Colombia was a shit-show. England played reasonably well, even if as time went on they started trying to beat Colombia in an Olympic diving competition. Colombia came back in to the game late on and caused real trouble, but then the penalties...

Colombia had it in the bag, but ****ed it up. I hope England play better in the next round, though I still think his choices of players and formation will eventually cost them. you don't seem bitter at all with the lies that England were diving worse than Colombia

Originally posted by Insane Titan
you don't seem bitter at all with the lies that England were diving worse than Colombia

You might want to re-read what I said. Or are you saying Sterling and Young did a better job of it than Colombia did?

Originally posted by -Pr-
You might want to re-read what I said. Or are you saying Sterling and Young did a better job of it than Colombia did? so you think a couple of players is the same as the full Colombian team who fell over every time they was touched.

Like I said your bitterness shines through every time

Originally posted by Insane Titan
so you think a couple of players is the same as the full Colombian team who fell over every time they was touched.

Like I said your bitterness shines through every time

Nope, and I never said that either.

I know you really want an argument about this, but making shit up isn't the way to go about it.

Originally posted by -Pr-
Nope, and I never said that either.

I know you really want an argument about this, but making shit up isn't the way to go about it. so saying England trying to beat Colombia at diving means what exactly? Other than they started going down to easy.

No argument to be had, your bitterness comes through everytime you talk about England. It has done for years with back handed compliments etc.

Only Brazil were far and away the better team in the last 16. Every other team pretty much scraped through.

Originally posted by Insane Titan
so saying England trying to beat Colombia at diving means what exactly? Other than they started going down to easy.

No argument to be had, your bitterness comes through everytime you talk about England. It has done for years with back handed compliments etc.

Literally that, that they shouldn't have sunk to the Colombian level. Nothing more.

Dude, don't lie. If you have to make shit up just to feel like you have an argument when you double down, then so be it, but don't expect me to play along.

Originally posted by samhain
Only Brazil were far and away the better team in the last 16. Every other team pretty much scraped through.

I was impressed with Uruguay too, and Belgium at times.

Originally posted by -Pr-
Literally that, that they shouldn't have sunk to the Colombian level. Nothing more.

Dude, don't lie. If you have to make shit up just to feel like you have an argument when you double down, then so be it, but don't expect me to play along.



I was impressed with Uruguay too, and Belgium at times. sinking to their lvl would diving everytime they got touched or niggling at every opportunity and completing to the ref with every secession

The only person lying is you as per normal. But please make up what excuse you want to cover your tracks.

Originally posted by samhain
Only Brazil were far and away the better team in the last 16. Every other team pretty much scraped through.

i think france presented a very strong game. argentina came together but it simply wasnt enough. auruguai was a strong team as well. however, both teams relied on strong defence and burst attacks. no midfield control. will be interesting to see the 2 teams playing. brazil vs belgium will be a very strong game as well.

Originally posted by samhain
Only Brazil were far and away the better team in the last 16. Every other team pretty much scraped through.

I guess every team showed that they can be 'got at' to a certain extent might be a better way of saying it. Everyone except Brazil will have given their next opponents something to look at and possibly exploit.

Originally posted by Dareangel
i think france presented a very strong game. argentina came together but it simply wasnt enough. auruguai was a strong team as well. however, both teams relied on strong defence and burst attacks. no midfield control. will be interesting to see the 2 teams playing. brazil vs belgium will be a very strong game as well.


France played well don't get me wrong, I'd make them 2nd favourites, but it's worth remembering they conceded 3 to a poor Argentina team, without Mbappe's 2 goals they would have went out. Don't usually make those kinds of points, after all, if Mbappe didn't play then someone else would have and who knows how many they would have scored or how they would have influenced the game.

Originally posted by samhain
France played well don't get me wrong, I'd make them 2nd favourites, but it's worth remembering they conceded 3 to a poor Argentina team, without Mbappe's 2 goals they would have went out. Don't usually make those kinds of points, after all, if Mbappe didn't play then someone else would have and who knows how many they would have scored or how they would have influenced the game.

argentina scored 3 goals because as i pointed out, they came together and played well. i admit argentina played poorly in almost all its games. but in this one, they were not at their best, but good. however, they looked poorly because they didnt have the athletism to deal with the younger french players who ran too fast for them, which allowed france to initiate succesful burst attacks. saying that without Mbape france would lose doesnt mean much, because the fact he IS playing. its like saying back in the day that the brazilian team wouldnt be so good without ronaldo and ronaldinho playing. yes and? but they are playing and so is Mbape.

But i have to say, we should wait until we treat Mbape like a star. he did so well because he faced a team that couldnt outrun him, or at least catch up with him. however, uruguai are at better shape. today we will see how Mbape can play when the other team also has athletic players that can catch up with him.

All over Sweden today, I think we can beat Croatia...

Belgium v France tomorrow. Belgium were frankly awesome against Brazil, and if they play that well against France, I could see them going through. France have done well to get where they are, but I think they're relying a bit too much on Mbappe and a couple of others, and they've suffered with a lacklustre Pogba in midfield.

I honestly can see England beating Croatia. Colombia were not great against them, but England made them pay for it as they should have. Same with Sweden. I expect Croatia to be a tougher foe, but if England can remain as dangerous at dead balls and crosses as they have so far, they can do it. I still think Henderson is a massive liability and playing Sterling as forward is a mistake, but it hasn't cost them dearly yet.

This world cup has been crazy, I don't see it happening but if Belgium and Croatia are in the final it'll be the first time since 1934 that two teams have been in the final for the first time. Right now I think France are favourites, but I've said Argentina/Brazil/Spain would win it so who knows. Just hope England don't win it now.

Originally posted by -Pr-
I still think Henderson is a massive liability and playing Sterling as forward is a mistake, but it hasn't cost them dearly yet.


Henderson was immense against Sweden, completely ran the show but people will go on about him missing a penalty against Columbia which goes back to what I said earlier about him only getting noticed when he screws up.

Agree on Sterling though, all he's done so far is display incredible pace and poor finishing, I'd give Rashford a go. Then again Sterling does make defenders nervy when he's on the ball. It's almost worth it for that alone.

Kind of glad Belgium went out TBH, their players appear to be getting a bit arrogant. To be expected probably when you have a squad with that much talent, just don't think 'Bobby' Martinez deserves to win a World Cup, not yet at any rate.

Originally posted by samhain
Henderson was immense against Sweden, completely ran the show but people will go on about him missing a penalty against Columbia which goes back to what I said earlier about him only getting noticed when he screws up.

Agree on Sterling though, all he's done so far is display incredible pace and poor finishing, I'd give Rashford a go. Then again Sterling does make defenders nervy when he's on the ball. It's almost worth it for that alone.

Him not having a big game isn't the same as being immense, imo. I think he's really going to struggle once they come up against a really good midfield.

I'd play him as a winger tbh. Or some sort of attacking midfielder.

Originally posted by samhain
Kind of glad Belgium went out TBH, their players appear to be getting a bit arrogant. To be expected probably when you have a squad with that much talent, just don't think 'Bobby' Martinez deserves to win a World Cup, not yet at any rate.

More arrogant than the French?

Why doesn't Martinez deserve it?

Hell of a time for Belgium's inconsistency to hit them, though.

Undoubtedly he has bad games, but he is capable of playing well against tough opposition too.

He actually came through the Sunderland ranks as an attacking right winger but has slowly migrated into the role he plays now.

You just assume the French are going to be arrogant.

Don't think he's done enough to merit getting the job in the first place.

Yeah, but they're definitely a growing force in world football just seems that right now they're not quite sure what kind of team they want to be.

Originally posted by samhain
Undoubtedly he has bad games, but he is capable of playing well against tough opposition too.

He actually came through the Sunderland ranks as an attacking right winger but has slowly migrated into the role he plays now.

You just assume the French are going to be arrogant.

Don't think he's done enough to merit getting the job in the first place.

Yeah, but they're definitely a growing force in world football just seems that right now they're not quite sure what kind of team they want to be.

Disagree about Henderson, but fair enough.

There's a precedent with France, though. They've come to a few tournaments with the camp full of so many egos that they end up going home early or just underperforming. Why do you say Belgium are arrogant?

You can say he didn't merit it, but he did get his team to the semi-finals of the world cup. That's not exactly a small achievement. Same with Southgate.

You think 1 FA Cup win 5 years ago in the same season he got Wigan relegated and 1 good season with Everton in his first season when they still had defensive discipline from the Moyes era until he obliterated it is enough to warrant an international job on the scale of Belgium? That's like giving Redknapp the Italy job or something. Also, Southgate didn't get the job due to his friendship with England's top striker, unlike Martinez, he got it because of the work he did with the international youth teams and his appointment still raised a lot of eyebrows.

Lot's of not so good teams have made the semis, Turkey, South Korea, Bulgaria, Sweden, Poland and now England, lol.

I guess the arrogance thing is just I vibe I get from players like Lukaku and De Bruyne, they don't look like they're enjoying it as much as they could be. When I said I was glad they went out though, it was mostly due to the fact that if England make the final, I'd rather they lost out to France than Belgium.

Originally posted by samhain
You think 1 FA Cup win 5 years ago in the same season he got Wigan relegated and 1 good season with Everton in his first season when they still had defensive discipline from the Moyes era until he obliterated it is enough to warrant an international job on the scale of Belgium? That's like giving Redknapp the Italy job or something. Also, Southgate didn't get the job due to his friendship with England's top striker, unlike Martinez, he got it because of the work he did with the international youth teams and his appointment still raised a lot of eyebrows.

Lot's of not so good teams have made the semis, Turkey, South Korea, Bulgaria, Sweden, Poland and now England, lol.

I'm not saying whether Martinez did or didn't deserve the job; only that he has done a decent job since he's had it, same as Southgate, who, let's be fair, a large part of him getting the job was the scandal with whatsisface.

Originally posted by samhain
I guess the arrogance thing is just I vibe I get from players like Lukaku and De Bruyne, they don't look like they're enjoying it as much as they could be. When I said I was glad they went out though, it was mostly due to the fact that if England make the final, I'd rather they lost out to France than Belgium.

Fair enough.

==

Sucks for England right now. They had such a good first half, but when that Croatia goal went in, I felt like their midfield went missing. I might knock Henderson a fair bit, but I don't rate Delli Ali much either, and Lingard, as much as I like him, is not a central midfielder. I don't know if they were trying to play him in the same position he was in at United, but without the same level of service it was never going to work.

And Walker as a centre-half. Jesus.

I feel bad for guys like Pickford and Trippier who, to me, played really well during the entire tournament. Guys like Vardy, Rashford and Dier barely got a look-in, and ffs, Ashley Young shouldn't have played a single minute of that WC. Fair play to Southgate for getting them this far though.

Pretty much. And I still think not bringing Wilshere was a massive mistake.

Not sure I agree on the Wilshere point, he can be such a great player but his injury-proneness is a massive worry, one of the things that people praised Southgate for was him assembling a team without any major fitness/injury issues, which hasn't happened for a long time.

Fair play to England though, not a lot of belief going into the tournament, (which hasn't happened for a long time either) but I think they can be proud of their achievements this time around.

France have to be nailed on to win it now though, Croatia's last 3 games have gone to extra time, that's literally a whole extra football match than France have played, and not just any football match, 90 minutes of intense, can't-give-an-inch type of football, that should give France more of an edge than they have already.

Looking at the guys who didn't get a game, I think you could have easily brought Wilshere and left someone like Fabian Delph at home. You could even only use him as a sub, bringing him on when England are at the point in the match when keeping the ball is a premium.

I also really think they should have brought a physical midfielder. Someone who can break play up and disrupt the opposition momentum. I'm not going to pretend he's World Class, but I honestly think someone like Shelvey could have come on against Croatia and just hassled Modric like Fellaini did with Neymar.

Sorry, as regards what else you were saying, yeah, France are the obvious favourites, but I still can't get over the energy levels of the Croatian players. Even with how tiring this has all been for them, they were still chasing people down in extra time. That is some freakish conditioning, and I wouldn't be surprised if it continued on Sunday.

I'm sure being in the final will be a massive boost for them and at first they won't feel the tiredness but if they wind up chasing the game then France can really pick them off. I like both teams though so not sure who I'd like to see win it yet. Delph's England career is turning into his Man City career, people are going, 'Oh yeah, I forgot he plays for them.' I like Ashley Young but he's past it now and I can't believe he got the nod ahead of Danny Rose.

i really hope croatia will win. they deserve it so much, true warriors and true fighting spirit. hope they will have the energies for this, but deep inside i have the feeling france will win. i am not so confident that croatia can stop this team. but i hope they can.
i think Mbappe is overrated. he is good but not what people are trying to make him. griezman is the real threat.

I'm just happy England didn't get to the final. I would like Croatia to win too but hard to see France not winning. Hope Belgium win 3rd place tomorrow

Originally posted by samhain
I'm sure being in the final will be a massive boost for them and at first they won't feel the tiredness but if they wind up chasing the game then France can really pick them off. I like both teams though so not sure who I'd like to see win it yet. Delph's England career is turning into his Man City career, people are going, 'Oh yeah, I forgot he plays for them.' I like Ashley Young but he's past it now and I can't believe he got the nod ahead of Danny Rose.

Or even Luke Shaw. Dude was doing well towards the end of the season but still didn't get brought.

Originally posted by Dareangel
i really hope croatia will win. they deserve it so much, true warriors and true fighting spirit. hope they will have the energies for this, but deep inside i have the feeling france will win. i am not so confident that croatia can stop this team. but i hope they can.
i think Mbappe is overrated. he is good but not what people are trying to make him. griezman is the real threat.

I think Griezmann is a better player in general, but that Mbappe has been France's best player this WC.

==

The England V Belgium match was kinda dour. A really good opening goal for Belgium and then many minutes of meh, until England made some substitutions and really came at them. Dier and Rashford were impressive, though Kane... He looks sluggish to me. I know there was talk about him being injured, but he really didn't look as sharp as usual at all imo.

Well-taken goal by Hazard at the end too.

There is a good group of talent coming through the ranks, Rashford, Alexander-Arnold, Chalobah, Loftus-Cheek, Sessegnon, just hope they can get the game time they need at their clubs, Premier League clubs are awful for that, if it was Spain or Italy they'd all be playing regularly. Harry Kane only got his chance at Tottenham because of injuries.

I'm rooting for Croatia for the win.

Btw I'm actually more interested with BTS' live performance of Fake Love after the match. Lol.

Reading the England comments. they had no plan B. Southgate didn't know what to do to change things and had no passion, Fergusson, Marinio and Wenger would have been shouting from the touchline and would have sent a plan on with a player. He got too matey with the kids imo.

IMO Southgate doesn't have the persona to be one of those managers, nor does he have the experience yet to be one of the 'shrewd silent strategists', forging a close bond and being friendly with his players is really the only route open to him at this stage.

No world cup for Blowatia, haha.

Congrats France, you did Africa proud.

the finals were not the game that was suppose to be. first of all, that retarded self goal is just .... its literally the first self goal inflicted in the world cup finals ever. then, the ref gave the penalty which was bullshit. yes there was a hand touch but it wasnt on purpose and you could see he whithdrew the hand. in average games its a toss up of 50/50 if to give or not a pentaly in such situation. but in the finals of the freaking world cup? you just dont do that. and the ref gave france a free goal. of course later the ref acted like he is in favor of croatia by "ignoring" all kinds of faults they did in mid field, but that was really to cover his deadly shot at croatia with the penalty. croatia dominated completely the first half and ended up losing 2-1. later on when france finally scored a deserved goal, that 3-1 started to crack croatia already. overall, this is not the game that was suppose to be. but hey, its usually the case in world cups. you always got the teams that are very friendly with the ref. and its usually the western countries.

I don't think it should've been a penalty either, the amount of time the ref took watching the VAR, he couldn't have been 100% certain on it which was one of the rules introduced with it. I wanted Croatia to win cause it'd be their first and they're a smaller nation so it's be a great story. Overall throughout the tournament tho France probably did deserve it.

Would've been bit more exciting of it went to penalties but this was probably the best final in my lifetime that I can remember anyway

Originally posted by -Pr-
Wales players were smiling while Walters was trying to hold Coleman's leg together. Kind of rubs a person the wrong way.

Thanks. I pray we don't get Italy.

Yeah, when Coleman went down. We all thought it wasn't good for the rest of the match.

Originally posted by walshy
I don't think it should've been a penalty either, the amount of time the ref took watching the VAR, he couldn't have been 100% certain on it which was one of the rules introduced with it. I wanted Croatia to win cause it'd be their first and they're a smaller nation so it's be a great story. Overall throughout the tournament tho France probably did deserve it.

Would've been bit more exciting of it went to penalties but this was probably the best final in my lifetime that I can remember anyway

Yeah, many of us at the hotel. Actually thought Croatia had a real shot. The odds were stacked up against them. Great team! Very determined.

Originally posted by Dareangel
the finals were not the game that was suppose to be. first of all, that retarded self goal is just .... its literally the first self goal inflicted in the world cup finals ever. then, the ref gave the penalty which was bullshit. yes there was a hand touch but it wasnt on purpose and you could see he whithdrew the hand. in average games its a toss up of 50/50 if to give or not a pentaly in such situation. but in the finals of the freaking world cup? you just dont do that. and the ref gave france a free goal. of course later the ref acted like he is in favor of croatia by "ignoring" all kinds of faults they did in mid field, but that was really to cover his deadly shot at croatia with the penalty. croatia dominated completely the first half and ended up losing 2-1. later on when france finally scored a deserved goal, that 3-1 started to crack croatia already. overall, this is not the game that was suppose to be. but hey, its usually the case in world cups. you always got the teams that are very friendly with the ref. and its usually the western countries.

Yeah, I won big on the whole self goal thing. I mentioned after it was over how. No one was monitoring, well playing defense on those fans screaming and yelling. After, he kicked it in his own goal france was almost guaranteed a chance to win. World Cup politics are just the politics the international sports scene needs. Especially, with the women's World Cup staged in France Summer 2019.