2018 World Cup in Russia

Post by **Laan Yaa Mo** » June 29, 2018, 1:25 am

Of the three axis powers: Germany, Japan and Italy, only the Japanese live to see another day

Post by **Laan Yaa Mo** » June 29, 2018, 1:40 am

Panama, or is it Paraguay, have taken a one nil lead over the North Africans from Tunisia, Chad or Niger.

Post by **Laan Yaa Mo** » June 29, 2018, 2:35 am

And the North Africans are now up 2-1 over the Central Americans in this seesaw battle.

Post by **BobHelm** » June 29, 2018, 7:15 am

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Hard to judge the England v Belgium game as both sides made so many changes - England 8, Belgium 9. The one thing it appeared to confirm is that England have almost no hope of winning if Harry Kane misses a game.
England will play the difficult Colombia on Tuesday, Belgium face the far easier on paper task of Japan on Monday..
Tunisia deserved their win against Panama in the dead rubber..

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Japan progress instead of Senegal after a game with a farcical finish against Poland with neither side interested in attacking the others' goal.

Akira Nishino's side finished with the same number of points, goals scored and goals conceded as Senegal, but were shown only four yellow cards during the group stage to the African side's six.

Columbia did enough to get past Senegal but maybe have a worry with James Rodriguez going off injured. They look a far better side with him in the team. With them only needing a draw to progress (& very much looking like that was what they were playing for in the first half) it does question the managers' decision to start him..

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Day off for the competition today....tomorrow..

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Post by **Zidane** » June 29, 2018, 8:01 am

Well,that was worth staying up for till 3am wasn't it ?

Pretty awful match.....Southgate made 8 changes but,of these,only Alexander-Arnold,Rose and Cahill justified their places.Most worrying was that neither Rashford or Vardy made any impact,so expect Sterling to come back.
One thing is for sure,Belgium have much better strength in depth than England.
England certainly didn't want Colombia but that is who they have got after Japans surprise defeat.If they are able to get past the Colombians then its Switzerland or Sweden in the quarter finals.....and if they manage that,most likely Brazil or Belgium in the semis....but getting way,way ahead of myself here.....
One bright spot for England is that Colombias star man and playmaker,James Rodriguez,could well miss the game after being taken off injured after 30 minutes yesterday.

Colombia v Senegal was a strange match.For 60 minutes Senegal looked the fitter,stronger side and the most likely to win.Then they switched off for 15 minutes,allowing Colombia to wrest the initiative and take the lead.The last 15 minutes plus injury time,Senegal upped the tempo again but couldnt find a way through,so they are out after Japans surprise defeat by Poland leaves them 3rd in the group.....an opportunity missed for them to become the only African side to progress......Belgium v Japan.....Martinez could make the same 9 changes and still win but Belgium v Brazil in the quarter finals is a distinct possibility and should be worth watching if it happens.

Post by **stattointhailand** » June 29, 2018, 2:54 pm

Perhaps the last 10 mins of the Japan v Poland game was where the VAR supervisor should have been in the refs ear telling him to issue a couple of yellow cards for time wasting

PS you cant play someone from your own group (ENG/BEL) until the final so they cannot meet in the semis

Post by **Zidane** » June 29, 2018, 4:06 pm

stattointhailand wrote: ↑
June 29, 2018, 2:54 pm
PS you cant play someone from your own group (ENG/BEL) until the final so they cannot meet in the semis

Yes,you are quite right,statto.Potential semi final opponents for England would be Spain,Russia,Croatia or Denmark $\:D/$
Footballs coming home.....well,we'll see in the Colombia game !

I do apologise for any unecessary suffering I have caused to any diehard England fans out there

Post by **stattointhailand** » June 29, 2018, 4:22 pm

No sense getting any hopes up too high zid

Just about the ONLY good thing to come out of the Belgium game was that even Southgate MUST have seen that Pickford is a liability.

Post by **arjay** » June 29, 2018, 8:26 pm

I vote for Zid as "man of the match", for his many pics of cheery fans. (I was going to say gay fans, but thought that might be misconstrued!)

Post by **747man** » June 29, 2018, 8:28 pm

stattointhailand wrote: ↑
June 29, 2018, 4:22 pm
No sense getting any hopes up too high zid

Just about the ONLY good thing to come out of the Belgium game was that even Southgate MUST have seen that Pickford is a liability.

Oh ! STOP It......He's The Best we've got at the moment.....

Post by **dunroaming** » June 29, 2018, 8:32 pm

As an outsider looking in seems England played to lose for an easier passage hope it doesn't come back to bite them

Post by **fantom** » June 30, 2018, 12:06 pm

So, other things being equal, the side with least yellow cards gets promoted to knock-out stage (Colombia progress, Senegal go home). I wonder if this rule accounts for the apparent reluctance of referees to produce yellow cards during the group stage.

Post by **mathusalah80** » June 30, 2018, 12:23 pm

Exhibiting my usual bravery,( or lack of football knowledge :-" ), below is my forecast of the likely results of the quarter final games. My selections are highlighted.

A.Uruguay v Portugal.
B.France v Argentina.

C.Brazil v Mexico.
D.Belgium v Japan.
...................................................................................................
E.Spain v Russia.
F.Croatia v Denmark.

G.Sweden v Switzerland.
H.Colombia v England.

I think England have the players to overcome Colombia but, sadly,are unlikely to do so due to Southgate's stubborn determination to continue to select Young, Henderson, Alli & Sterling; so yet again denying Harry Kane the support he needs, if he is to score goals. For what it is worth, and using the 1-2-5-3 formation, I think the following selection provides England with the best chance of victory:
Goalkeeper; Stones & Maguire; Trippier, Walker, Delph, Loftus-Cheek & Rose; Lingard, Kane & Rashford.

I am disappointed that my first & second favourites, (Belgium & Brazil), have both ended up in the top half of the drawer, so my alternative choice, to meet one or other of them in the final, is Croatia.
[/b]

Post by **Adhoc** » June 30, 2018, 1:15 pm

Another incisive match report on the England - Belgium game.
https://deadspin.com/england-score-big- ... 1827218894

Sums it up nicely.

Post by **Zidane** » June 30, 2018, 3:14 pm

fantom wrote: ↑
June 30, 2018, 12:06 pm
So, other things being equal, the side with least yellow cards gets promoted to knock-out stage (Colombia progress, Senegal go home). I wonder if this rule accounts for the apparent reluctance of referees to produce yellow cards during the group stage.

You are correct in your thinking but Colombia actually won the group with 6 points.It was Japan who progressed at the expense of Senegal due to receiving less yellow cards.

Unlikely to be picked anyway......

FABIAN DELPH has left England's World Cup camp in Russia ahead of his wife giving birth.
Delph started the defeat to Belgium in Kaliningrad and immediately flew back home to be with his partner Natalie.
The Football Association has confirmed that Delph left straight from Kaliningrad, with their third child due on Saturday.
Delph, 28, revealed he had discussed the "domestic situation" with Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate.
He said: "Gareth’s been absolutely fantastic.
"There’s nothing more important than family to me, it always comes first and always will.

Post by **mathusalah80** » June 30, 2018, 3:44 pm

Zidane wrote: ↑
June 30, 2018, 3:14 pm

fantom wrote: ↑
June 30, 2018, 12:06 pm
FABIAN DELPH has left England's World Cup camp in Russia ahead of his wife giving birth.
Delph,.. said: "There’s nothing more important than family to me, it always comes first and always will.
Heart warming to read of someone who has his priorities right! =D> =D>
In practical terms, it hasn't changed the situation since, as I have repeatedly written, and Zid seems now to agree with me, Southgate was never going to select him, in preference to the 'in favour', Henderson. Dier was a possibility but, unfortunately, his abject display against Belgium put paid to any remote chance he may have had of selection.

Post by **stattointhailand** » June 30, 2018, 8:04 pm

747man wrote: ↑
June 29, 2018, 8:28 pm

stattointhailand wrote: ↑
June 29, 2018, 4:22 pm
No sense getting any hopes up too high zid

Just about the ONLY good thing to come out of the Belgium game was that even Southgate MUST have seen that Pickford is a liability.
Oh ! STOP It......He's The Best we've got at the moment.....

Even the "EXPERTS" and "PUNDITS" are now picking up on what I have been saying for about 2 years ....... he cannot deal with near post corners, and he is prone to pushing the ball out into dangerous areas instead of punching it well out of danger. If they are now noticing these weaknesses then you can bet your bottom dollar the likes of Falcao and co have spotted them so its too big a risk to play him

Post by **747man** » June 30, 2018, 10:57 pm

June 30
FT France 4 - 3 Argentina

An Absolute CLASSIC !!!!

Post by **BobHelm** » July 1, 2018, 6:39 am

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France came good at the right time. Although it was a number of good individual efforts that saw them through rather than a team effort. Kylian Mbappé man of the match with a couple of goals. The weight of the world (well Argentina anyway) on Lionel Messi's shoulders just proved too much for him & he had a poor, probably last, World Cup.

Uruguay look a very difficult team to beat. This was the first goal they conceded. At the other end, Edinson Cavani seems to have found his scoring boots while Luis Suarez always looks a danger as long as he can keep his temper in check!!

France against Uruguay looks like being a cracker..

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Post by **Zidane** » July 1, 2018, 8:08 am

747man wrote: ↑
June 30, 2018, 10:57 pm
June 30
FT France 4 - 3 Argentina
An Absolute CLASSIC !!!!

Indeed,a classic Alan.With the non stop goal action in the second half it put me in mind of an EPL Classic match last season (Everton 2 Arsenal 5) but the teams were much more equal on this occassion.
But I digress.....

France started off incredibly fast....Greizmann hit the bar,Man of the match Mbappe won a penalty after a great run and then 10 minutes later he could have had another penalty but the referee chose to give the offence outside the box.
So after this 20 minute onslaught it could have been 3-0 to France but Argentina weathered the storm and came back into it equalising with a great effort by di Maria just before half time.
Then just after the break Argentina took the lead and it looked like an upset could be on the cards.But then Pavard equalised with a stunning side foot volley from 25 yards (did he really mean it ?) and Mbappe grabbed two more in the next 10 minutes to put France 4-2 up.
Aguero pulled one back for Argentina in injury time but it was not enough.How can Argentina leave a top striker like him on the bench for nearly 70 minutes ?

I have to admit I wasnt looking forward to this match,too much,beforehand but it turned out to be probably the match of the tournament,so far.

Uruguay v Portugal was also a good match.Cavani scored two lovely goals,particularily the first.Unfortunately for Uruguay he appears to have injured his hamstring and could well miss the quarter final tie against France which would be a big blow to Uruguay.Portugal played well and had more of the possession but Ronaldo was very subdued.

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