The 2018 World Cup Superthread

NIMAN

If we want England stopped, I'd prefer Croatia through.
Plus Denmark play a more negative game.

martyos121

eagle eye wrote: »

People here seem to be ruling out Denmark already.
Denmark kept France scoreless in their group. They didn't look bad against them either. They didn't set the world alight but they are well set up and with Eriksen they always have a real chance.

France needed to do absolutely feck all against Denmark to top the group, they just had to not lose. Denmark holding them to a 0-0 draw under those circumstances isn’t an achievement of any sort.

eagle eye

martyos121 wrote:

France needed to do absolutely feck all against Denmark to top the group, they just had to not lose. Denmark holding them to a 0-0 draw under those circumstances isn’t an achievement of any sort.

Did you watch the game? France were trying hard but not having any success.

NIMAN

IncognitoMan wrote: »

No harm to see the back of Spain. Their football can be unbelievably boring to watch as a neutral

Spain have taken quality football, tika-taka and possession so far that its actually gone full circle and is now considered anti-football again!

They put so few crosses into the box, which is a number one tactic for nearly every football team on the planet. Instead they'd rather hold possession by passing it around aimlessly. There was times they were on the wings today in positions for crosses but the ball ended up back in their own half with Pique/Ramos. Pointless.

Its a mentality of possession is better than trying to score. I just don't get it.

IncognitoMan

eagle eye wrote: »

People here seem to be ruling out Denmark already.
Denmark kept France scoreless in their group. They didn't look bad against them either. They didn't set the world alight but they are well set up and with Eriksen they always have a real chance.

They did but also were both teams giving 100% in that match? I don't know, but Croatia should have too much quality for them.

Having said that, yeah you can't rule out a bit of Eirksen magic. Should be a good game anyway hopefully better than this one.

The Talking Bread

eagle eye wrote: »

They were fantastic to watch in 2010, the skill on display is probably unmatched in World Cup history. Xavier, Iniesta, Villa, the master that was Puyol at the back. They had a magnificent full back who went on to become a great centre back who goes by the name Sergio Ramos.
If you call that team boring then I'd hate to see what you call exciting because it certainly would t be up to that standard.

They were one of the most talented teams to win the WC and played beautiful football but that doesn't mean some of the matches weren't that exciting to watch.

8 goals in 7 games (1 in ET)

I don't the condescending tone that comes from some when they say they found that Spanish team hard to watch, as a spectacle.

NIMAN

A friend of mine actually stopped watching Spain play after that WC..

He refuses to watch any game they are in. Thats how boring he finds them.

IncognitoMan

NIMAN wrote: »

Spain have taken quality football, tika-taka and possession so far that its actually gone full circle and is now considered anti-football again!

They put so few crosses into the box, which is a number one tactic for nearly every football team on the planet. Instead they'd rather hold possession by passing it around aimlessly. There was times they were on the wings today in positions for crosses but the ball ended up back in their own half with Pique/Ramos. Pointless.

Its a mentality of possession is better than trying to score. I just don't get it.

Yeah look when it works it's amazing to see but when everything isn't right you end up with these matches where Spain have 70%+ of the ball and have 2 or 3 chances total.

Like you said it's just passing around doing nothing. Hit a cross every now and again and it would at least make teams defending them have to think about something else. Also Costa isn't too bad in the air like.

martyos121

eagle eye wrote: »

Did you watch the game? France were trying hard but not having any success.

I did, France were not overly exerting themselves. If they needed a win to top the group, I’m not so sure the result would’ve been the same. I don’t think Denmark are bad at all, just that Croatia are better in every area and should be too much for them to handle.

circadian

raiders11 wrote: »

Croatia, real live contenders now....

I've been saying this since they beat Argentina. They've scored 7 and conceded 1, a penalty. This is in a half decent group too.

corny

IncognitoMan wrote: »

Yeah look when it works it's amazing to see but when everything isn't right you end up with these matches where Spain have 70%+ of the ball and have 2 or 3 chances total.

Like you said it's just passing around doing nothing. Hit a cross every now and again and it would at least make teams defending them have to think about something else. Also Costa isn't too bad in the air like.

The worst is when they win back the ball in midfield. You'd think attacking at pace to exploit the open space would be a priority. Instead they slow it down, pass it backwards and wait to build their 'attack'. Its like they want to play against 11 men behind the ball. Its baffling.

FixdePitchmark

Two teams hard to like - with Russia team most likely part a state supported fitness program - they have done it in every other sport.

I think every one has fallen out of love with Spain - diving , intimidating the ref asking for cards.
Ramos etc.

Was noticeable how slow Spain were at everything - throw ins etc.

I don't like Spain - but I don't trust Russia.

But hosts still in offers something to the event.

NIMAN

Russia were dead on their feet from about the 50 min mark today, not sure how everyone just assumes they are all doping.

StringerBell

eagle eye wrote: »

Did you watch the game? France were trying hard but not having any success.

What? That was until today the most boring game in the tournament so far. The only people actually tried we're the subs for France when they came on. It was a training kick about, horrible game of ball.

citytillidie

Ramos hooking a players arm again VAR in now to stop him cheating

nice_guy80

citytillidie wrote: »

Ramos hooking a players arm again VAR in now to stop him cheating

Did he do that before?

gormdubhgorm

ERG89 wrote: »

If you don't know who Ciro Ferrara is I assume you only started watching football in 2005

He was uncapped in the first season Napoli won the league though, in fairness.

FixdePitchmark

NIMAN wrote: »

Russia were dead on their feet from about the 50 min mark today, not sure how everyone just assumes they are all doping.

Well we assumed all of Russia were doping in other sports - and they were. How would soccer players avoid a state program in a country like Russia run by a totalitarian leader ?

They paid for the world cup.

They kill people for anything against the state.

The eye is on them - is there a chance they have had to stop taking drugs / transfusions ?

With their record - the onus of responsibility is on Russia and Fifa and they are not providing testing records - why

StringerBell

citytillidie wrote: »

Ramos hooking a players arm again VAR in now to stop him cheating

Great penalty by him today, chap is just a winner. Shame the attacking members of the squad don't have his drive and determination. The fire to up the pace and put a team like Russia to the sword

Stephen15

Last couple of major tournaments Spain haven't really bothered since the 2014 World Cup. In Euro 2016 they looked happy to down 2-0 to Italy for example and after todays loss on penos they didn't exactly look distraught. They played without any real sense of urgency, passion or desire.

After they scored they should have really tried to kill the game off with a second but they just looked to casually stroll with most of the possesion around for the best part of 120 mins never really testing either the defence or the keeper.

NIMAN

I was surprised at how the Spanish players looked afterwards.

A lot of them didn't appear too upset to be out.

FixdePitchmark

NIMAN wrote: »

I was surprised at how the Spanish players looked afterwards.

A lot of them didn't appear too upset to be out.

Agree with this - if you contrast it with likes of Columbia - Uruguay, in the case of Columbia pace and passion - Uruguay - would kill for their jersey.

Spanish lads around a long time - loaded and have won everything have model girlfriends and mansions - hard to be up for it , except likes of Ramos.

Rossi IRL

Well that wasn't in the plans

citytillidie

More excitement in 4 mins than in 120mins in the last game

IncognitoMan

What a start

adox

This is more like it.

citytillidie

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Did he do that before?

Yep did it in the Champions League Final V Juve and was booked for it

Trigger

Decent start to this game

Sprinter Sacre

https://twitter.com/RobV96/status/1013422113586339840

StringerBell

Just vitamin injections sure, nothing to see here *shifts eyes left and right*

Corholio

Croatia giving up some decent chances, a better team would have been ahead by now.

Trigger

That knudsen on the left? Twice he’s after trying backheels now and both times the ball went straight out of play :pac:

blueser

Christ; that's one hell of a throw-in that Danish fella has. Like Rory Delap on speed!

The Golden Miller

eagle eye wrote: »

People here seem to be ruling out Denmark already.
Denmark kept France scoreless in their group. They didn't look bad against them either. They didn't set the world alight but they are well set up and with Eriksen they always have a real chance.

I backed Denmark just for the price, it's a 50/50 game imo. Croatia are being talked up alot by those who think they are being shrewd, they are an average enough team

Ultimate Seduction

eagle eye wrote: »

They were fantastic to watch in 2010, the skill on display is probably unmatched in World Cup history. Xavier, Iniesta, Villa, the master that was Puyol at the back. They had a magnificent full back who went on to become a great centre back who goes by the name Sergio Ramos.
If you call that team boring then I'd hate to see what you call exciting because it certainly would t be up to that standard.

The lowest scoring world cup winners in history. I don't find the ball being passed side to side an back to the keeper exciting at all.

Ultimate Seduction

Just lumped on Uruguay. Probably more than I can afford but I'm confident now.

eagle eye

One thing I don't understand is why Badelj doesn't get a game. He is a class act and showed it with a MoM performance in the third group game. They seem to prefer Kovacovic off the bench though.

bantee

eagle eye wrote: »

One thing I don't understand is why Badelj doesn't get a game. He is a class act and showed it with a MoM performance in the third group game. They seem to prefer Kovacovic off the bench though.

It's because his name doesn't end in "ic"

NIMAN

After much early promise, another poor game.

An Ciarraioch

At times like this, you just wish they could go straight to spot-kicks.

blueser

Fair play to him, but why didn't Knudsen go down a few minutes ago? The defender got nothing of the ball, it would have been a penalty, in my opinion.

FixdePitchmark

Have Denmark in a sweep - but would rather them lose than win on that.

Croatia offer something to the event. Denmark are boring.

FixdePitchmark

why on earth can players talk to ref

we need to get that out of our gamw

bantee

How the hell was it not a red though?

Wheeliebin30

Sending off surely???

So was about to score in an open goal and all they get is a penalty and a yellow card.

Loafing Oaf

What exactly is the rule with that sort of tackle? Even if you get the ball first it's a foul?

Loafing Oaf

Wonder will Modric take a pen in the shootout. He'll have to surely...

Quazzie

That simply HAS to be a red card.

Corholio

Isn't the rule if it's last man and a penalty is given it's only a yellow, so as to not double punish them?

Wheeliebin30

They have to feel hard done by when he was through on an open goal.