The 2018 World Cup Superthread

StringerBell

The lack of quality in this game is enough for me after 5 minutes watching.

Mocha Joe

StringerBell wrote: »

The lack of quality in this game is enough for me after 5 minutes watching.

Jesus christ that's bull****.

Harry Palmr

Wait until there are 48 teams in a world where FIFA has 211 members. - one in four of the feckers will be there.

NIMAN

I enjoyed that funnily enough.
Good pace to it.

Lovely 2nd goal, wee dinked chip over the 2 flying defenders.....you'd know that guy came from Real Madrid academy.

DJIMI TRARORE

Some nice touches from SA but my god they have no defensive nous at all,Luis and Cavani will have a field day. decent finish for 2nd goal

martyos121

I don’t see either of these teams making it out of the group tbh, and that’s even before seeing the other two. Now if Salah isn’t fully fit, Russia might have a chance then.

pleas advice

Is there a world cup forum?

Tom Mann Centuria

pleas advice wrote: »

Is there a world cup forum?

https://touch.boards.ie/forum/1838#

yabadabado

martyos121 wrote: »

I don’t see either of these teams making it out of the group tbh, and that’s even before seeing the other two. Now if Salah isn’t fully fit, Russia might have a chance then.

Egypt aren't particularly good ,Salah is top class but the rest are fairly low level. Uruguay have nothing to fear anyways.

martyos121

yabadabado wrote: »

Egypt aren't particularly good ,Salah is top class but the rest are fairly low level. Uruguay have nothing to fear anyways.

I know, that’s why I said they need Salah to be fit. If he is, I don’t see Russia getting any points from that game, they look shaky at the back and have lost one of their best players in Dzagoev already. Uruguay were always going to beat them.

yabadabado

I'd have it Uruguay Russia 1,2 .
Russia aren't the hopeless case that many have been making out .
A lot of people seem to be talking up Egypt based solely on Salah.

Arghus

Those images of Infantino chatting with Putin and an Arabian big dog, with none of them watching the game, explains a lot about how The World goes round

Ulysses Gaze

martyos121 wrote: »

I know, that’s why I said they need Salah to be fit. If he is, I don’t see Russia getting any points from that game, they look shaky at the back and have lost one of their best players in Dzagoev already. Uruguay were always going to beat them.

I would not fancy that Russian backline against Suarez and Cavani.

martyos121

yabadabado wrote: »

I'd have it Uruguay Russia 1,2 .
Russia aren't the hopeless case that many have been making out .
A lot of people seem to be talking up Egypt based solely on Salah.

With good reason. That was a strange thing you said IMO, he’s one of the best players in the world at the minute, would people be talking up any team as much without their star player? I see some tipping Portugal to go very far, not a chance would that happen if Ronaldo wasn’t in the squad. Top players are proven at making the difference in tight WC matches. If Salah is actually match fit, I definitely can see them making it to the last 16. No further, of course.

I’m not ruling Russia out btw, I just wouldn’t predict them to do much against a better side than these.

martyos121

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

I would not fancy that Russian backline against Suarez and Cavani.

Fully agree, that one could get ugly.

yabadabado

What's strange about it?
Salah is undoubtedly top class but I wouldn't rate the supporting cast at all.
You aren't honestly comparing Portugal and Ronaldo to Salah and Egypt?
Portugal are Euro champions and have numerous players playing at the top level ,they have done well in recent tournaments ,That's not something that can be said of Egypt. Btw I wouldn't expect Portugal to be a huge threat either probably QF .

There wouldnt be a peep about Egypt if Salah wasn't ripping it up in England imo.

martyos121

yabadabado wrote: »

What's strange about it?
Salah is undoubtedly top class but I wouldn't rate the supporting cast at all.
1. You aren't honestly comparing Portugal and Ronaldo to Salah and Egypt?
Portugal are Euro champions and have numerous players playing at the top level ,That's not something that can be said of Egypt.

2. There wouldnt be a peep about Egypt if Salah wasn't ripping it up in England imo.

What’s strange about it is reflected in this post too.

1. Yes, I am, but you’ve misinterpreted the context. If you reread my post, you’d see that I said some people were tipping Portugal to go all the way or very close. Nobody is predicting Egypt to do that. I’m saying if each team were without their star, predictions would be massively wound back, relative to those that were made.

2. If my auntie had balls she’d be my uncle. That’s all I have to say to that one.

All we can do is let things play out and see how it goes. If Russia go through with Salah playing at full tilt, I tip my virtual hat to you and admit defeat.

yabadabado

Must not speak ill of Salah Egypt:)

martyos121

Must not try to argue with the aid of logic in here.

Mushy

Great finish there

Arghus

Brilliant goal. Gotta love an outside of the boot finish.

Jim Bob Scratcher

Great free kick, Pootang looks pleased :pac:

Mushy

Another nice one. That's a hammering

martyos121

Surprised Cheryshev didn’t start the game, the manager seems to favour players from the Russian league.

And another goal for Russia. Very good performance overall, I’m looking forward to seeing how they defend against quality attackers like Suarez, Cavani and Salah though. Their weakness is clearly in defence.

corny

The 'Coo da grass'.

Arghus

Great free kick. You'd got to wonder how many the Saudis are going to concede over the next few games.

ERG89

Arghus wrote: »

Great free kick. You'd got to wonder how many the Saudis are going to concede over the next few games.

Certainly no argument for the worst team at present but I feel Panama could ask them to "hold our drink" soon enough

HalloweenJack

So easy for Russia, some nice goals there. Good for them to get a nice win on the board. I can imagine the pressure on them is unreal.

Saudi, unsurprisingly, don't seem to be up to anything.

Liam O

martyos121 wrote: »

With good reason. That was a strange thing you said IMO, he’s one of the best players in the world at the minute, would people be talking up any team as much without their star player? I see some tipping Portugal to go very far, not a chance would that happen if Ronaldo wasn’t in the squad. Top players are proven at making the difference in tight WC matches. If Salah is actually match fit, I definitely can see them making it to the last 16. No further, of course.

I’m not ruling Russia out btw, I just wouldn’t predict them to do much against a better side than these.

Without Ronaldo Portugal are still probably a quarter final level team. Sure they likely get Uruguay if they finish 2nd and are miles better in defense and midfield than them. The big jump in the WC is between being a quarter final and a semi final team as England have shown so even with Ronaldo I'm unsure if they will get further than that.

Vincent Vega

That Saudi goalkeeper sure looked like he gave it his all...:rolleyes:

DJIMI TRARORE

At least the lgbt are up 50k of PPs money,SA are going home pointless and goal less

martyos121

Liam O wrote: »

Without Ronaldo Portugal are still probably a quarter final level team. Sure they likely get Uruguay if they finish 2nd and are miles better in defense and midfield than them. The big jump in the WC is between being a quarter final and a semi final team as England have shown so even with Ronaldo I'm unsure if they will get further than that.

I see Ronaldo coming up with a big goal somewhere in the knockout stages to drag them towards a result the rest of the team don’t deserve. I think he can still make a difference when the chips are down and in this competition that’s huge when many teams set up so defensively. So, I’d personally have them going out sooner if he wasn’t there. Agree about England and that stage of the competition though, there’s a gulf between the quarters and the semis that some teams just cannot cross. Belgium is another team I see falling victim of that, they have as much quality as any team but that squad will never be as united as you need to be to live up to expectations.

titan18

yabadabado wrote:

Egypt aren't particularly good ,Salah is top class but the rest are fairly low level. Uruguay have nothing to fear anyways.

They're better than you think. Hegazi and Elneny would be known in PL and neither are bad, and of course Salah, but they've another winger Trezeguet who's excellent aswell. Also Cuper has the team very well organised and extremely defensive relying on Trezeguet and Salah on counter attacks.

Uruguay should be too good but Egypt arent as bad as people might think.

yabadabado

titan18 wrote: »

They're better than you think. Hegazi and Elneny would be known in PL and neither are bad, and of course Salah, but they've another winger Trezeguet who's excellent aswell. Also Cuper has the team very well organised and extremely defensive relying on Trezeguet and Salah on counter attacks.

Uruguay should be too good but Egypt arent as bad as people might think.

I really dont think they are,I'v seen enough of them to form my own opinion.

Ceremony any good?
5-0 first game, not bad. Will catch the highlights on RTE later.

the untitled user

Fred The Red wrote: »

Ceremony any good?

It seemed to be more about keeping Williams entertained than the audience. He looked proud as punch up there on the stage while he only sang about half his lyrics as he was too busy posing.

yabadabado

the untitled user wrote: »

It seemed to be more about keeping Williams entertained than the audience. He looked proud as punch up there on the stage while he only sang about half his lyrics as he was too busy posing.

Who did he bribe to get that gig,talentless nuisance.

Surely FIFA coukd have their pick of musicians.

pjohnson

yabadabado wrote: »

Who did he bribe to get that gig,talentless nuisance.

Surely FIFA coukd have their pick of musicians.

Hes a major upgrade on Pitbull & J-Lo tbf

yabadabado

pjohnson wrote: »

Hes a major upgrade on J-Lo tbf

:eek::eek:

Ehhh where's the lovely world cup ladies thread gone??

recyclebin

Fred The Red wrote: »

Ehhh where's the lovely world cup ladies thread gone??

Was just thinking the same myself!

Skylinehead

Fred The Red wrote: »

Ehhh where's the lovely world cup ladies thread gone??

recyclebin wrote: »

Was just thinking the same myself!

Look harder.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057877548

OwaynOTT

Nixonbot wrote: »

Look harder.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057877548

Oh, I'll look harder, I'll look very hard.

Just watched the highlights, 4th goal for Russia was a stunner

Outside of the left foot, boom

Loafing Oaf

the untitled user wrote: »

It seemed to be more about keeping Williams entertained than the audience.

As the song says, "let you entertain me..."

jacool

Liam O wrote: »

Without Ronaldo Portugal are still probably a quarter final level team. Sure they likely get Uruguay if they finish 2nd and are miles better in defense and midfield than them. The big jump in the WC is between being a quarter final and a semi final team as England have shown so even with Ronaldo I'm unsure if they will get further than that.

Portugal are hugely over-rated IMO.
They won the Euros by drawing 6 of 7 games !
I can't see them beating Uruguay, IF, they get out of the group.

Cantona's Collars

Where's the lovely wimmins thread?

https://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/7453473/91abcddb/nederlanders_bij_het_wk_rusland.html

yourdeadwright

I see it looks like Ashley Young will start left wing back for England ,
He's had a decent season but just shows how poor the England squad is
I reckon its the worst in my living memory and I'm 35

the untitled user

yourdeadwright wrote: »

I see it looks like Ashley Young will start left wing back for England ,
He's had a decent season but just shows how poor the England squad is
I reckon its the worst in my living memory and I'm 35

I don't know about that, I'm feeling surprisingly optimistic about their chances of progression to the latter stages.

The big thing for me is that this is the first time in 20 years of following football that I can remember an English football manager not just mindlessly sending out his best 11 players and hoping they click.

Southgate seems to have a coherent plan as to how they should play. And more importantly it seems he's not afraid to drop some of his better performers to fit it. Overall, they seem a better balanced squad to me.

irishguitarlad

I can't wait for Egypt v Uruguay. The first proper game, I think Uruguay will win as they have a very good young midfield. However, with mo salah Egypt definitely have a Sting in their tales.