The 2018 World Cup Superthread

massdebater

Honestly, it's been a brilliant world cup so far. No standout teams, a good few shock results, Ronaldo etc.

This world cup is wide open and there's an opportunity for a new team to win it if they have the balls to go for it and get a little luck along the way.

NIMAN

Drumpot wrote: »

those three teams have given England the most heartache in the world cup over the last 30 years. I was thinking when the clock hit 90 mins (when Germany were as good as out) that English fans might start thinking it might be there year!!!

I'm so glad Kroos got that winner, cos the English media were just about to go into full gloat mode. They would have LOVED that.

Instead now they will likely get knocked out by the Germans!

sheroman01

MD1990 wrote: »

World cup been brillant last few days.

It's been brilliant since June 14th!

blueser

Drumpot wrote: »

those three teams have given England the most heartache in the world cup over the last 30 years. I was thinking when the clock hit 90 mins (when Germany were as good as out) that English fans might start thinking it might be there year!!!

I'm an English fan and no way would I think it was our year, even if the Germans go out early. If we get to the QF stage, we'll have got about as far as most sensible English fans would hope for. As for the English media, I wouldn't take a blind bit of notice of what they print or broadcast.

NIMAN

blueser wrote: »

I'm an English fan and no way would I think it was our year, even if the Germans go out early. If we get to the QF stage, we'll have got about as far as most sensible English fans would hope for. As for the English media, I wouldn't take a blind bit of notice of what they print or broadcast.

Its hard not to.

cj maxx

massdebater wrote: »

Honestly, it's been a brilliant world cup so far. No standout teams, a good few shock results, Ronaldo etc.

This world cup is wide open and there's an opportunity for a new team to win it if they have the balls to go for it and get a little luck along the way.

I’d go for Croatia my self . I thought they were outstanding

blueser

NIMAN wrote: »

Its hard not to.

Fair point. Let me rephrase it; I wouldn't give much credibility to what they say.

Drumpot

blueser wrote: »

I'm an English fan and no way would I think it was our year, even if the Germans go out early. If we get to the QF stage, we'll have got about as far as most sensible English fans would hope for. As for the English media, I wouldn't take a blind bit of notice of what they print or broadcast.

I was only joking Blueser.

If you look at most of my posts on England , I’m actually cheering them in this tournament and have had a few arguments with people trying to overplay the “England think they are great” sentiments.

Nunu

Not sure if it was on this thread lamenting about apres match? I just watched Ire v Eng euro 88. Not sure if it was new, thought I’d seen them all? Anyway sweating with laughter!

Paully D

And in the least surprising news ever:

https://twitter.com/sportingintel/status/1010638074584469505?s=21

NIMAN

Paully D wrote: »

And in the least surprising news ever:

https://twitter.com/sportingintel/status/1010638074584469505?s=21

Do you think they have proof that players from other nations are doping too, or just Russia?

blueser

Drumpot wrote: »

I was only joking Blueser.

If you look at most of my posts on England , I’m actually cheering them in this tournament and have had a few arguments with people trying to overplay the “England think they are great” sentiments.

I wasn't arguing with you. I have indeed noticed your posts this past few weeks. It doesn't really bother me too much, those types of posts you refer to; they do actually have a point. Maybe not so much on this tourtnament as in others gone by. There seems to be a more realistic level of expectation from most England fans and the more sensible journalists for this squad. As I said earlier, a QF would be about the limit for this team. They're not technically good enough to compete with the likes of Spain, Germany, Brazil etc. The England squad will be watching the final on the telly in various beachside bars.

764dak

ERG89 wrote: »

NDWC wrote:

Was impressed with Belgium going forward earlier, they easily could've scored 10

Unfortunately for Brazil in 2014 they weren't playing Belgium instead of Germany.
Batshuayi (or as my autocorrect calls him Gatsby) could have easily had a hattrick. Despite the clear difference in quality between Tunisia & Belgium I thought Boyata looked poor.
Glad Tunisia are gone unlike a Australia, Peru or Costa Rica Who have struggled they look completely out of their depth.

They will be knocked out if England win or draw against Panama.

764dak

Paully D wrote: »

And in the least surprising news ever:

https://twitter.com/sportingintel/status/1010638074584469505?s=21

Why did they play poorly in the Confederations Cup?

eagle eye

Where does it say that members of the current Russia squad were part of this?

Drumpot

eagle eye wrote: »

Where does it say that members of the current Russia squad were part of this?

I can’t believe that there is anybody who Doesnt even have the slightest suspicion that Russia might of juiced even a little. I mean they couldn’t even beat Austria, let alone anybody else they played this year just before the World Cup. Russia was involved in strategic doping initiative for the Olympics, they have form on this so I think it’s only fair that people are cautious about their current World Cup story.

Yes, it could be level of opposition, the fact that they are playing at home and building momentum. We have South Korea in 2002 as a great example of a side performing well above their perceived ability....

Did Korea just have more goodwill at the time that nobody questioned their rise? Is Russia’s Olympic cheating sticking in people’s minds? Is it a political thing where we think “Russia bad” and “western countries good” by default? I have thought about it cause it’s not like Russia is the only country to engage in cheating. Why do I find it more plausible that Russia are cheating in soccer then lets say Leicester city whose fairytale story was accepted as just a wonderful example of how a small team can win the top prize....

The Talking Bread

The thing about Russia, they weren't even that impressive in that opening game but they played like machines at times, strength and energy wise. The distance some of them covered was unprecedented from the last two years leading up to this.
They can afford an average result now against better opposition in Uruguay which will ease suspicions but it'll be interesting to see what we'll happen in last 16.
I'm convinced they used PED's anyway.

ERG89

The Talking Bread wrote:

The thing about Russia, they weren't even that impressive in that opening game but they played like machines at times, strength and energy wise. The distance some of them covered was unprecedented from the last two years leading up to this.

I'm sure if one looks at running stats now compared to France 98 they are unprecedented too.
The way football is played at speed now with short recovery times, the fact this tournament is ending 11 months after last season started you'd be naive to believe there are many teams clean.

eagle eye

The Talking Bread wrote:

I'm convinced they used PED's anyway.

I'm convinced that a high percentage of professional footballers are using PEDs.

Corholio

The Panama players greeting the mascots like it's both their best days of their lives. Quite nice to see.

blueser

Sly elbow there.

blueser

Cracking header there Stonesey!

Will I Am Not

Great header.

Will I Am Not

There’ll be a penalty from an England corner. It was like the Royal Rumble in there.

ctrl-alt-delete

Great header, the Panama players too busy dragging out of others creating a huge gap and leaving him unmarked :pac:

blueser

That's a poor tackle there. More a hack.

The Talking Bread

"the end of his world cup" says Ronnie

FFS, he has the guts of 90 minutes to play in the biggest game of his career you would imagine! Even if/when they do get knocked out by losing today!

blueser

Will I Am Not wrote: »

There’ll be a penalty from an England corner. It was like the Royal Rumble in there.

I hope Kane has asked the ref to keep his eyes open. Maguire was being held at that corner. Stones wasn't though!

Agent Coulson

Xhaka and Shaqiri get two game ban for there celebrations.

The Talking Bread

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Xhaka and Shaqiri get two game ban for there celebrations.

eegits. Absolute braindead behaviour by them. Hope they get berated and don't play the victims

Billy86

The Talking Bread wrote: »

"the end of his world cup" says Ronnie

FFS, he has the guts of 90 minutes to play in the biggest game of his career you would imagine! Even if/when they do get knocked out by losing today!

I would listen to Asian commentary over him. Houghton us a moan feck too alright and I'm not fond, but Ronnie genuinely seems to take actual joy from pettiness and misery.

Trigger

That looks a poor challenge by Sterling, studs showing, definitely Card worthy. Though Panama as pretty dirty, so wouldn’ really hold it against him

Blazer

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Xhaka and Shaqiri get two game ban for there celebrations.

link?
All I see are reports of a potential 2 game ban.

The Talking Bread

Blazer wrote: »

link?
All I see are reports of a potential 2 game ban.

It is all speculation it appears. Surely the poster knew that! It would be merited though. Very provocative at such a level

Corholio

Just saw about Salah and the Chechnyan 'reception' they had. At the very least he's an idiot for getting himself caught up in that. I wonder how Liverpool LGBT groups will feel about his 'medal'.

FourFourRED

From BBC:

Switzerland pair Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri face two-match bans for their goal celebrations in their side's World Cup victory over Serbia.

Football's world governing body Fifa is investigating whether they broke rules on political and offensive messages.

Both players are ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, where a Serbian crackdown on the Albanian population only ended with Nato military intervention in 1999.

They made 'double eagle' gestures after scoring, symbolising the Albanian flag.

So nothing confirmed yet.

adox

Delighted to see Panama losing. I’m usually all for shouting for the minnows but they’ve been a horrible team. A combination of rough hand tactics along with constant cheating,diving and moaning at the ref. The sooner they are out the better. Horrible team.

blueser

Ironic that the Panamanians were complaining about the length of time the England celebrations were taking, given the blatant attempts at trying to delay the taking of the penalty. They may be "minnows"™, but they're no strangers to some of the dark arts.

Trigger

adox wrote: »

Delighted to see Panama losing. I’m usually all for shouting for the minnows but they’ve been a horrible team. A combination of rough hand tactics along with constant cheating,diving and moaning at the ref. The sooner they are out the better. Horrible team.

Their shothousing at the penalty was a low point for them.. match is so start stoppy it’s awful to watch

Blazer

Corholio wrote: »

Just saw about Salah and the Chechnyan 'reception' they had. At the very least he's an idiot for getting himself caught up in that. I wonder how Liverpool LGBT groups will feel about his 'medal'.

ah jesus he probably hasn't a clue what he was getting into.
Footballers barely know what price a loaf of bread is but are expected to know every war criminal alive?
If I was in Russia I'd probably just accept it and once I figure out what all the fuss is about just refuse to go back there afterwards.

Gbear

Blazer wrote: »

ah jesus he probably hasn't a clue what he was getting into.
Footballers barely know what price a loaf of bread is but are expected to know every war criminal alive?
If I was in Russia I'd probably just accept it and once I figure out what all the fuss is about just refuse to go back there afterwards.

I think more to the point is it'd take a brave man to tell a lunatic like Khadyrov to **** off and there may well have been pressure from the Egyptian FA or Egyptian government to make nice.

His agent has come out today on twitter and made a few pro LGBT posts, so it seems like they understand the broader picture of what legitimising this guy means.

The Talking Bread

England. are. contenders.

Getting kicked around yet still playing football

FourFourRED

Great goal from Lingard

Will I Am Not

Lovely finish from Jesse.

razorblunt

Lingard does a fortnite celebration. Colour me suprised.

Corholio

Blazer wrote: »

ah jesus he probably hasn't a clue what he was getting into.
Footballers barely know what price a loaf of bread is but are expected to know every war criminal alive?
If I was in Russia I'd probably just accept it and once I figure out what all the fuss is about just refuse to go back there afterwards.

Well he should know considering he already had a photo taken with him a few weeks ago and apologised for it, now he's accepting this medal from him. I very much like Salah, but if it was flavour of the month villain Neymar or Ronaldo, people would be enraged.

Will I Am Not

Stones on a hat trick :pac:

adox

Sterling can’t finish his dinner for England.

razorblunt

That's a well worked goal. Love when training ground moves pay off.

FourFourRED

Another deserved penalty. When will Panama learn? Probably never.

This could finish 7 or 8 nil.