The 2018 World Cup Superthread

blueser

pjohnson wrote: »

Jeez man dont take it that badly!

My maths were a bit duff there. It should have read 2046, which I edited when I spotted it. But you were too bloody quick. My point was, if I'm still around, I'll be 84. Can't see me making it to there.

retalivity

Post mortem in itv now is hilarious.
First Scapegoat - Kane

kerplun k

England shouldn’t be too disappointed. They exceeded all expectations. At the moment they are too limited. They got lucky with the draw and path to the semis but they never had enough quality to win it.

In the past year they’ve either won, or come second in every youth competition going. The future is bright for them and I definitely see them proper challenging in the next couple of World Cups.

super_furry

Croatia have basically played an extra match with the three spells of extra-time in each knock-out game. It has to take it's toll on Sunday.

Paully D

England’s route to the semi-final:

Tunisia
Panama
Belgium (a game they wanted to lose)

Colombia (no Rodriguez)
Sweden
Croatia (a side who had just gone to 2 extra time periods in consecutive games)

People will say it was a great achievement for them to get as far as they did, but man, they have completely blown it.

Hard to see them ever getting such a kind route again.

Jelle1880

Deserved for Croatia, not the best of games tbf.

France will destroy them though.

NIMAN

I would think the next tournaments will have better focused Germany, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Italy, Belgian teams....so this was a massive chance for them.

eigrod

NIMAN wrote: »

I would think the next tournaments will have better focused Germany, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Italy, Belgian teams....so this was a massive chance for them.

And Ireland, if we can just keep Glenn Whelan ticking over for another 4 years.

adox

Kane despite the goals had a fairly poor tournament imo.

Was awful tonight.

Three jokers at the back eventually found out.

Good tournament for England overall though. Young squad. Seem very together and some talent there.

The formation I think won’t win them anything ultimately though and will have to be changed. Midfield is wide open with only one holding player. Also prioritizing ball playing defenders over defenders that can actually defend will catch you out ultimately.

Deli Ali and Sterling the worst of the regular starters with Trippier probably their most impressive.

kevthegaff

Paully D wrote:

People will say it was a great achievement for them to get as far as they did, but man, they have completely blown it.

Paully D wrote:

Hard to see them ever getting such a kind route again.

Paully D wrote:

Tunisia Panama Belgium (a game they wanted to lose)

Paully D wrote:

England’s route to the semi-final:

Paully D wrote:

Colombia (no Rodriguez) Sweden Croatia (a side who had just gone to 2 extra time periods in consecutive games)

A few good points, England also played into their hands by taking off sterling

ThunbergsAreGo

Paully D wrote: »

England’s route to the semi-final:

Tunisia
Panama
Belgium (a game they wanted to lose)

Colombia (no Rodriguez)
Sweden
Croatia (a side who had just gone to 2 extra time periods in consecutive games)

People will say it was a great achievement for them to get as far as they did, but man, they have completely blown it.

Hard to see them ever getting such a kind route again.

Croatia arguably had as easy a route

NIMAN

At this top level, you need good midfielders who can hold the ball and take control of a game.

Hendo ain't the man for the job. The likes of Isco, Modric etc are.

Can England find such a player? Not so sure.

An Ciarraioch

Just think of it, a country with about the same population as Ireland is 90 minutes away from lifting the World Cup - their domestic league also tends to be rather competitive on the European stage.

Gary Neville looks sick

NIMAN

An Ciarraioch wrote: »

Just think of it, a country with about the same population as Ireland is 90 minutes away from lifting the World Cup - their domestic league also tends to be rather competitive on the European stage.

Would they be the least populated country to win a WC?

Is Uruguay smaller?

quarryman

retalivity wrote: »

Post mortem in itv now is hilarious.
First Scapegoat - Kane

Raging this wasn’t on TV. Wanted to see the English reactions post-match.

Iused2likebusts

Thank god for that

An Ciarraioch

NIMAN wrote: »

Would they be the least populated country to win a WC?

Is Uruguay smaller?

Yes, 3 million, I believe.

Cantona's Collars

Keano tearing into Wright like a parent giving out to a bold child. :):)

Vincent Vega

naughtb4 wrote: »

Croatia arguably had as easy a route

No they didn't.

eagle eye

England have a lit of young talent at the moment. Johnjoe Kenny, Walker-Peters for full back as I'd expect to see Alexander-Arnold move into midfield. Loftus-Cheek looks like a future star too. Young Sessegnon will challenge Rose for the left full back spot. Stones and Maguire will have this experience, as will Kane, Sterling, Alli, Lingard and Rashford. Keeper is all set with Pickford looking the real deal.
This team will be a real threat at the next World Cup if the heat doesn't kill them.

eagle eye

I really hope Croatia win it.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

eagle eye wrote: »

I really hope Croatia win it.

Same, there's something extremely unlikable about that French team.

MisterAnarchy

adox wrote: »

The formation I think won’t win them anything ultimately though and will have to be changed. Midfield is wide open with only one holding player. Also prioritizing ball playing defenders over defenders that can actually defend will catch you out ultimately.

There was no balance to the midfield ,too many runners and not enough players that can actually hold the ball and dictate play.

Its the same old failing with England ,they just kept on giving the ball away time and time again.

What was Lingards role in the team tonight ,he contributed almost zero from an attacking point of view and Sterlings only role was to chase long balls hoofed up to him or put his head down and run.

England needed another ball playing midfielder in the team ,someone like Shelvey or Wilshere .
They might not be good enough but that is the type of player they needed instead of direct impact players like Sterling and Lingard who are very average footballers in general play.

Delle Alli isnt that type of player and he didnt look fit either .

Ashley Young was awful tonight ,he contributed nothing going forward and he isnt a defender so whats the point of playing him ?
Rose should have started instead of him .

England played little to no football after the first half ,they couldnt retain the ball and panicked against a Croatian team that were poor for large periods of the match ,they laboured and created almost nothing of note until England tired .
England will never get a better chance to reach a major final ,they had an easy run to the final and the standard of international football is arguably at an all time low.
They werent good enough though .

ThunbergsAreGo

Hunky Monster wrote: »

Same, there's something extremely unlikable about that French team.

Deschamps?

ERG89

NIMAN wrote: »

I would think the next tournaments will have better focused Germany, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Italy, Belgian teams....so this was a massive chance for them.

I expect some of those teams to improve in the next 2 years. Even though they qualified Germany & Spain were an utter shambles at this tournament. Italy & Holland badly need a few good attackers to come through; after having an embarrassment of riches up top for years. They tend to develop these players who quickly tail off the last 5 or 6 years.

The Golden Miller

eagle eye wrote: »

England have a lit of young talent at the moment. Johnjoe Kenny, Walker-Peters for full back as I'd expect to see Alexander-Arnold move into midfield. Loftus-Cheek looks like a future star too. Young Sessegnon will challenge Rose for the left full back spot. Stones and Maguire will have this experience, as will Kane, Sterling, Alli, Lingard and Rashford. Keeper is all set with Pickford looking the real deal.
This team will be a real threat at the next World Cup if the heat doesn't kill them.

I think due to the draw, England's progress in this tournament was a bit of an anomaly. I think as every year passes, they fall further and further behind the top international sides on a technical level, despite the standard of international football being quite poor. They'll be doing well to get past the last 16 next time around if they come up against a decent outfit. If a few of the top international teams pick the standard up, England will be a long way behind

gimli2112

In fairness they were well in control at half time. 45 minutes away from a WC final playing a style of football never seen before. It was heavily influenced by corners, free kicks and being able to buy a clever penalty.

J. Marston

Has there been a worse golden boot winner in recent times?

Sprinter Sacre

J. Marston wrote: »

Has there been a worse golden boot winner in recent times?

That Russian lad Salenko in 94 although that's nearly quarter of a century ago now

ERG89

Sprinter Sacre wrote:

That Russian lad Salenko in 94 although that's nearly quarter of a century ago now

Thanks for making me feel as old as humanly possible. Kane and Lukaku are 1+2 in the charts, both were in a group with Panama + Tunisia. What a remarkable coincidence.

pjohnson

blueser wrote: »

My maths were a bit duff there. It should have read 2046, which I edited when I spotted it. But you were too bloody quick. My point was, if I'm still around, I'll be 84. Can't see me making it to there.

Oh right! I thought you were taking the result extremely bad!

TheCitizen

Hitchens wrote: »

May the best team win regardless

The best team most definitely won tonight. Think it will be a decent final now with France and Croatia.

TheCitizen

eagle eye wrote: »

England have a lit of young talent at the moment. Johnjoe Kenny, Walker-Peters for full back as I'd expect to see Alexander-Arnold move into midfield. Loftus-Cheek looks like a future star too. Young Sessegnon will challenge Rose for the left full back spot. Stones and Maguire will have this experience, as will Kane, Sterling, Alli, Lingard and Rashford. Keeper is all set with Pickford looking the real deal.
This team will be a real threat at the next World Cup if the heat doesn't kill them.

No they won’t

Drumpot

Just watching highlights on bbc.

They showed the incident where the ball whacked walker on the nads and it went to VAR to check for handball. Looked like they went to VAR just to see how painful it was .....

TheCitizen

Hunky Monster wrote: »

Same, there's something extremely unlikable about that French team.

Happy to see either win. Maybe preference for Croatia because they’ve never won it before. Don’t get the hate for France? I think they’ve played some good football at times.

Drumpot

TheCitizen wrote: »

Happy to see either win. Maybe preference for Croatia because they’ve never won it before. Don’t get the hate for France? I think they’ve played some good football at times.

Meh, I think it would of been a much more entertaining final with Belgium.

Asides from Argentina game which was kind of a freak match there hasn’t been much to purr about france. Didn’t have any decent team in their group and were poor, needing VAR a few times to bail them out. Two set pieces and an awful goalkeeping error have gotten them through semis and quarters...

They have been efficient and more defensively solid since the Argentina game but I don’t get the way people think they have been so much better then Croatia (or England for that matter).

I hope Croatia score first cause I don’t see it being much of a game if France get the first... also better for the sport to have a new winner...

acquiescefc

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

There was no balance to the midfield ,too many runners and not enough players that can actually hold the ball and dictate play.

Its the same old failing with England ,they just kept on giving the ball away time and time again.

What was Lingards role in the team tonight ,he contributed almost zero from an attacking point of view and Sterlings only role was to chase long balls hoofed up to him or put his head down and run.

England needed another ball playing midfielder in the team ,someone like Shelvey or Wilshere .
They might not be good enough but that is the type of player they needed instead of direct impact players like Sterling and Lingard who are very average footballers in general play.

Delle Alli isnt that type of player and he didnt look fit either .

Ashley Young was awful tonight ,he contributed nothing going forward and he isnt a defender so whats the point of playing him ?
Rose should have started instead of him .

England played little to no football after the first half ,they couldnt retain the ball and panicked against a Croatian team that were poor for large periods of the match ,they laboured and created almost nothing of note until England tired .
England will never get a better chance to reach a major final ,they had an easy run to the final and the standard of international football is arguably at an all time low.
They werent good enough though .

100%

giveitholly

Hunky Monster wrote: »

Same, there's something extremely unlikable about that French team.

Greizmann for me,don't know what it is but can't warm to him

Iused2likebusts

J. Marston wrote: »

Has there been a worse golden boot winner in recent times?

If you had told me before the tournament started that Kane would win the golden boot and england make the semis I'd have imagined him scoring a few crackers and dragging them through a few games. He has been pretty invisible in every game they have played and has actually had a poor tournament despite being odds on for the golden boot.

NIMAN

I will watch the final now as completely neutral, may the best, and most entertaining, team win.

NIMAN

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

If you had told me before the tournament started that Kane would win the golden boot and england make the semis I'd have imagined him scoring a few crackers and dragging them through a few games. He has been pretty invisible in every game they have played and has actually had a poor tournament despite being odds on for the golden boot.

Pens shouldn't be counted.
Make it a proper goal scoring prize.

Ol' Donie

giveitholly wrote: »

Greizmann for me,don't know what it is but can't warm to him

Almost definitely due to that celebration he used to do.

Bleedin eejit.

TheCitizen

Drumpot wrote: »

Meh, I think it would of been a much more entertaining final with Belgium.

Asides from Argentina game which was kind of a freak match there hasn’t been much to purr about france. Didn’t have any decent team in their group and were poor, needing VAR a few times to bail them out. Two set pieces and an awful goalkeeping error have gotten them through semis and quarters...

They have been efficient and more defensively solid since the Argentina game but I don’t get the way people think they have been so much better then Croatia (or England for that matter).

I hope Croatia score first cause I don’t see it being much of a game if France get the first... also better for the sport to have a new winner...

Croatia are dark horses in the final. France would’ve beat England no bother. Croatia will be more tricky. England have been boring, thankfully they’re out

castletownman

Anyone else think Sterling's game intelligence is low? That Kane miss in the first half that was called offside, Sterling played the through ball even though he surely, surely knew he was about three foot offside. Same with the Tunisia game I think, Kane scored the first goal and Sterling had continued attacking the ball despite being offside but not interfering with play himself.

Caused problems tonight to be fair, and I say Lovern will be the sick of the sight of him when the PL returns, but between his finishing and his final ball, he is a mile off the finished article

Drumpot

TheCitizen wrote: »

Croatia are dark horses in the final. France would’ve beat England no bother. Croatia will be more tricky. England have been boring, thankfully they’re out

I didn’t say anything about England. What are you talking about?

Paully D

NIMAN wrote: »

I will watch the final now as completely neutral, may the best, and most entertaining, team win.

Aye, nice to kick the feet back and relax for the final without really caring about the outcome.

farna_boy

castletownman wrote: »

Anyone else think Sterling's game intelligence is low? That Kane miss in the first half that was called offside, Sterling played the through ball even though he surely, surely knew he was about three foot offside. Same with the Tunisia game I think, Kane scored the first goal and Sterling had continued attacking the ball despite being offside but not interfering with play himself.

Caused problems tonight to be fair, and I say Lovern will be the sick of the sight of him when the PL returns, but between his finishing and his final ball, he is a mile off the finished article

Walcott mark 2?

TheCitizen

Drumpot wrote: »

I didn’t say anything about England. What are you talking about?

You did actually. You said you don’t get why people think France are a lot better than Croatia “or England for that matter” is what you said.

I don’t think they are that far ahead of Croatia but they’re certainly better than England as were Croatia. Much better final in prospect now that England are going home.

IncognitoMan

kevthegaff wrote: »

A few good points, England also played into their hands by taking off sterling

Not at all, If anything he was hooked too late when the game was already slipping away from England. He made runs into the wide areas well but was never a threat of putting in a decent cross or shot. He's so directionless in this England team it's unreal.

Ball comes to him and he takes too many touches and allows the opposition to set or loses the ball. Another top quality attacker along side Kane and they could have been 2 or 3 up by the time Croatia got going in that game.

Sterling is grand as a good player in your squad but he'll never be the main man. At City he's just one of a good set of attackers and he gets a lot of chances so his poor finishing doesn't stand out especially to those watching highlights because you see "oh Sterling has another goal, he's doing really well".

For England when it's him and Kane leading the line and half the chances (and much less chances) fall around him it's far more noticeable because he has to be more clinical in that situation. At 23/24 I doubt he's going to develop that killer touch to bring him to the next level.

Edit: Just to add he's played 43 times for England and scored just twice, back in 2015 against Lithuania and Estonia. That is bad no matter how you try to dress it up considering some of the jobbers England play in qualification. Not one goal in the entire campaign for the 2018 World Cup.