Author Topic: The World Cup 2018  (Read 4472 times)

Offline Zoologic

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Re: The World Cup 2018
« Reply #15 on: 26-06-2018, 17:06:17 »
Good god! France and Denmark is super boring to watch, a waste of 12 billion dollar for Denmark to park the bus and France lacking of creativity just like in Waterloo 1815 or Maginot 1940. Any soccer coach whose gameplan is copying Mourinho should shut up in front of media about the result.

France not convincing at all that they have a good team rather than super good individuals. I hope we will never see this Denmark team again, they should let team like Cape Verde or Micronesia instead of these bunch of emasculated vikings.

Offline Jimi Hendrix

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Re: The World Cup 2018
« Reply #16 on: 26-06-2018, 18:06:23 »
Good god! France and Denmark is super boring to watch, a waste of 12 billion dollar for Denmark to park the bus and France lacking of creativity just like in Waterloo 1815 or Maginot 1940. Any soccer coach whose gameplan is copying Mourinho should shut up in front of media about the result.

France not convincing at all that they have a good team rather than super good individuals. I hope we will never see this Denmark team again, they should let team like Cape Verde or Micronesia instead of these bunch of emasculated vikings.

 :D



Offline Torenico

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Re: The World Cup 2018
« Reply #17 on: 27-06-2018, 00:06:27 »
We made it! phew, disaster avoided!


With a very effective Messi, scoring a fantastic goal and almost making it double with a great free kick. Still, there are problems like a very inaccurate Mascherano and some defensive problems. A last minute goal by Rojo, someone I would avoid having in my team to secure our match against France.

That's gonna be a real tough one.


Offline Captain Pyjama Shark

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Re: The World Cup 2018
« Reply #18 on: 27-06-2018, 03:06:33 »
We made it! phew, disaster avoided!


With a very effective Messi, scoring a fantastic goal and almost making it double with a great free kick. Still, there are problems like a very inaccurate Mascherano and some defensive problems. A last minute goal by Rojo, someone I would avoid having in my team to secure our match against France.

That's gonna be a real tough one.

Hell yeah, that was a game. A last minute goal by Rojo on his weak foot, of all things. I can't believe it but I really wanted Argentina to win  ;D The Nigerians played well but they did not deserve it, and I even think their penalty was a little soft.

Hopefully the game against France should be interesting. They have been pretty boring and their match today was absolutely dire as Zoo said. I can see Argentina keeping up the momentum. I'm not sure if Mascherano had a good game or a horrible one; at one point he gave away two passes within like five seconds but then made a great tackle to save his own ass.

Tomorrow: watching Germany beat the hell out of poor South Korean defenders (or watching South Koreans practice their Taekwondo moves on the Germans as they did on the Mexicans).  :P

Final thoughts: what do you all make of the VAR? There have been tons of penalties, nearly one a game it feels like. And some very dodgy calls using it today and yesterday. It really does not seem to have made things anymore clear, although it has made them much more dramatic.

Edit: Final final thoughts: Is Maradona ok?
« Last Edit: 27-06-2018, 03:06:46 by Captain Pyjama Shark »

Offline Zoologic

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Re: The World Cup 2018
« Reply #19 on: 27-06-2018, 05:06:13 »
VAR is not used effectively. The decision is the problem. Players can be seen protesting, even after VAR.

Players wrestled to the ground? Well, that didn't prevent Tunisia players to protest every decision, weakening the referee's resolve. This is what makes football difficult to get new fans.

I am pretty sure it was Nigerian penalty, and I am quite sure that Ronaldo did use his elbow deliberately. It makes the game fairer, but not entirely. Players from poorer countries are usually very dishonest and often use the referees' indecisiveness and reliance on VAR against them. I am glad that a few countries are less bothered about refereeing and put more attention on playing, such as the English team.

Offline Zoologic

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Re: The World Cup 2018
« Reply #20 on: 27-06-2018, 18:06:43 »
Auf Wiedersehen Germany! Never seen before since 1938. Like World War 2, they were driven out of Russia, it wasn't in winter, it wasn't even in Volgograd / Stalingrad.

When they got the ball, they didn't attack well. They looked reluctant and waited until South Korean players already gathered in their position and form up the parking bus. Loew should have reiterated what Hitler told to his generals: to attack! Not to wait. You needed to win. To win, you need to score goal. To increase chance on scoring goal, you need to attack aggressively like they did through the Ardennes, before the defenders could rush in.

Das war ein BEFEHL!
« Last Edit: 27-06-2018, 18:06:41 by Zoologic »

Offline Jimi Hendrix

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Re: The World Cup 2018
« Reply #21 on: 27-06-2018, 19:06:35 »
Germany - Sweden:

Entertaining. Sweden did not get a penalty, but got a deserved goal instead some minutes later. First half flew by. Second half a much more effective Germany attacked and got an early goal. Germany totally dominated after that, but just could not get the ball in the net. A well deserved, beautiful goal in the end. I do not know what Löw said to Die Mannschaft in the break, but it obviously worked. Are they good enough to win the cup? I don't know. We'll see vs South Korea.

Sweden does not belong in World Cup when they cant even pass and hold the ball for more than 10s. Ultra-defensive football should and can not win you matches at this level in the long-run.

Sweden would be extremly embassered if they meet Brazil in Round of 16.

Well Sweden just beat S. Korea 3-0, so i guess they are not too bad.

I still like Belgium to win it.

 8)



Offline Slayer

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Re: The World Cup 2018
« Reply #22 on: 27-06-2018, 20:06:18 »
Sweden just beat Mexico,  not South Korea.

I'm amazed by the German failure, but also by the inability to play like they can, something other teams are suffering ftom too: Spain, France and Argentina are all struggling. The France-Denmark game was a 0-0 deal so they could both proceed.

Belgium and England haven't had any real opponents, so not sure what they can do in the knockout phase.

A WC full of surprises,  that's for sure.

Offline Torenico

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Re: The World Cup 2018
« Reply #23 on: 28-06-2018, 00:06:54 »
You can't lose a Final to Germany... if there is no Germany!

I kinda feel bad for them, I like Germany after all, Löw is such a great manager but it all ended in ruins. I dunno, we may celebrate now, but the Germans will come back... angrier.




Offline Zoologic

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Re: The World Cup 2018
« Reply #24 on: 28-06-2018, 17:06:36 »
Brazil was classic last night. A lot of show and adequate result, not too much, not too little. They also allow an opening for the opponent to effectively push them to see their defenders' mettle. As a serious "tournament team" (according to the Germans), such play is risky, but I enjoy seeing Brazil defenders doing risky clearances by dribbling tricks past the opponent strikers or acrobatic overhead kick stunts to bring the ball into safe zones. However, that one guy Neymar Jr., despite his relatively good performance, still needs to show his theatrics and ability to perform extra moves when fouled.

My favourite so far has done pretty well, Brazil, England, and Belgium.

From "the other end": Croatia is my best hope to bring interesting game. Then, we have Portugal if they are still lucky. France if they are lucky enough to face opponents with lower individual skills. Spain, who plays better against team who doesn't park the bus.

Offline Jimi Hendrix

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Re: The World Cup 2018
« Reply #25 on: 28-06-2018, 18:06:31 »
Sweden just beat Mexico,  not South Korea.




Offline Zoologic

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Re: The World Cup 2018
« Reply #26 on: 28-06-2018, 21:06:55 »
As always, England blew up the chance at easy path to Quarterfinals. They became the usual complacent English team. I am not entirely confident that they could clear out Colombia that easily. Colombia has a good chance to send them home when James Rodríguez fully recovered. They will be quite a menacing threat to the still shaky England.

The "easy path to quarterfinals" is now Belgium's, who will grease down Romelu Lukaku's chance at winning golden boot by trumping Japan. It will be a walk in the park for the much stronger Belgium

Offline Torenico

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Re: The World Cup 2018
« Reply #27 on: 29-06-2018, 02:06:58 »
If this World Cup taught us anything is that anything can happen. Belgium can lose to Japan...

But still Belgium got the hardest matches up ahead. If they beat Japan they'll most likely face Brazil, then probably Uruguay (always a tough match in WCs), Portugal (which is kinda meh tbh), France or Argentina... while England will have to face a rather weak Colombia, Sweden or Switzerland (Two very known rivals) and then very likely Spain.

England will face their first big team at the semi finals, while Belgium would face one right after their Japan match.


I'd say England got the "easiest" one.. however, this has been a wild WC so far...


Offline Zoologic

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Re: The World Cup 2018
« Reply #28 on: 29-06-2018, 04:06:23 »
It is a possibility that Japan might win against Belgium. But, I trust my hunch, the one that predicted the unlikely Portugal winning the Euro 2016. We used to gauge a team's strength by looking up their history, their squad lineups, and recent performance. But, I think, seeing how they play in the tournament and changing your views on them are rarely done. Is Mexico defeating Germany means they are good? Well, they follow that "park the bus" routine, and got so many wasted chances (6 from Layun, none were on target) because apparently Germany only played 2 defenders. Back in Euro 2016, I saw the talent-laced French squad unconvincing and their unexplainable penchant for placing the then extremely lazy Giroud (he is quite hardworking now). They killed the individually inferior Germany by 1-on-1 dueling each of them.

Belgium is a team's team despite its celebrity star player lineups, because they have no reputation too big to handle. Everyone will play their best, and I am sure that they have all the requirements to reach the final. England, however, is a player's team: they can have the best manager in the universe, but it all are down to the player's mentality. They are a wildcard at best. How they will handle Colombia is entirely up to them and little with Southgate's plan.

Colombia was caught on hasty defense by the lucky Japanese at early minutes, and one of their defender have to commit a handball to safe the goal. He was shown a red card. Going against 10 men proved to be quite difficult for Japan, who couldn't convert their numerous chances into goals. They couldn't win against full powered big team like this. Their only scenario to win is to park the bus (their defenders and goalie are good enough to stall even Belgium I suppose), and get a plucky counter attack dash that somehow is able to defeat the still solid Courtois, which is unlikely given how Osako, Honda, and friends love to fumble chances.

Can Argentina still win? I don't know, they are definitely solid. But their guns are small and reluctant, just like a Tiger tank with the 88 mm cannon deleted, and retain only its MG34. The Tiger is solid, but it will less likely kill anyone, because the enemy know its imposing presence, yet it can only do little with the 7.92 machine gun to harm them.

The only reliable team in this tourney so far is Croatia. They are just like the 1998 Boban-Suker era Croatia, only to be stopped by a lucky French defender who scored twice. This Modric-Mandzukic Croatia could be destined to be the champion as well if we took the irrelevant team history and prestige out of the equation.

Offline Torenico

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Re: The World Cup 2018
« Reply #29 on: 30-06-2018, 18:06:21 »
It's over.


France was a team, Argentina relies on miracles and superstitions.


France had Mbappé, we had "Faith".

France had Griezmann, we had "The Spirit of 1986"

France had Pogba, we had "But we beat France two times in world cups, this should be easy"...


Our coach thought it was a great idea to face a well established team without a center forward, to ignore having someone like Dybala (who sat on the bench for most of the WC) and having the "first option" a guy named Meza, who is there for dubious reasons...


A real fucking shame for Messi, he will most likely not make it to 2022, not because he can't, but because he is probably not willing to.


The score is a lie, Argentina was really bad for most of the game.



Great fucking job France, they played incredibly well.