2018 Fifa world cup

[Beorn]

Brief thoughts on Brazil - Costa Rica:

Overall a satisfying match.

Happy that Neymar was denied the penalty. My hope for VAR is that will cut down on diving and correct obvious mistakes. There will still be controversial decisions.

The time wasting by Costa Rica was a bit more than you'd expect and I'm happy they got a yellow for it.

I'm no fan of Brazil, but didn't want to see them go down in this game with the way the game was playing out. Once that first goal was scored you could see the second one coming as there was no way that Costa Rica could defend with only 5 back on quick attacks.

Ftr, I'm an England fan (and a british subject by lineage). I was happy to see Argentina go down because my family and my sister-in-law's argentine family are fighting for the soul of my 7 yo nephew. If England moves on and Argentina doesn't it will make it more likely he becomes a more loyal England fan I should think.

 

[Virtual ghost]

^ What if the Serbs have to face the Croats at some stage? I hope not. I don't think it's fair on the players when political pressure affects players on the pitch. Media and sponsors would love it. But its unfair on the players.

I am assuming there is tension between those two nations.

But in that regard Serbs can't play against most nations. They jokingly say Serbia is angry with most of its neighbours .

Didn't like seeing Saudis play the Russians though i was really glad the Russians won. Iran Vs Saudi would be unfair too on the players.

You would be surpised how many here would like to see that "spectacle".

As I said: only our nationalists hate each other, while our leftists are dreaming about remaking of Yugoslavia. (and centrists just don't care)



But it isn't that we don't play various games in various sports against them all the time. Actually since the countries are small we even have/had shared leagues. (but I am not into sports that much, so I don't trace the details)

 

[Riva]

^ wow that's good to hear especially about the shared leagues. Nationalists are nuts anyway in any nation.


Wow the Iceland fans are loud. The Viking clap drowns out every other sound on the ground including that of the commentator.

I loved the Nigerian goal.

Edit - wow the second one was even better.

 

[Beorn]

I loved the Nigerian goal.

It was quite beautiful

 

[Riva]

It was quite beautiful

I wanted to Iceland to win but these goals make me want to see Nigeria win .

It's hard not to support the side that creates the most amount of chances/effort.

I can still remember the Belgium Vs Algeria match in the 2014 world cup. Algeria scored first and was primarily defending from then onwards. Belgium kept fighting back and creating chances it was hard not to be happy when Belgium equalized and then scored again to win the match.

 

[Riva]

Ftr, I'm an England fan (and a british subject by lineage). I was happy to see Argentina go down because my family and my sister-in-law's argentine family are fighting for the soul of my 7 yo nephew. If England moves on and Argentina doesn't it will make it more likely he becomes a more loyal England fan I should think.

How could this kid not fall in love with English Fashion, English food, English culture and English dancing . The south Americans have no chance.

By dancing I assume Waltz/ballroom dancing has an English origin.

 

[Beorn]

How could this kid not fall in love with English Fashion, English food, English culture and English dancing . The south Americans have no chance.

Better than being an egotistical continental-wannabe.

By dancing I assume Waltz/ballroom dancing has an English origin.

I'm pretty sure it's Viennese.

 

[Virtual ghost]

This Croatia-Argentina thing is all over TV for the whole day. Half of news, political talk shows, replay of the game, sports TV shows .......

 

[Beorn]

This Serb-Swiss match has turned into a real war.

 

[Riva]

Loved the last Belgium goal. Love it when a team keeps creating chances and finally scores.

Belgium, Croatia and France are probably the best in-form teams of the tournament?

It would be great to see a new team win this time (Belgium or Croatia) or England.

Germany won the last time and Neymar dives too much (yuk). So please a new team this time.

 

[Riva]

Yes yes Germany yes!!!!

What makes you never give up Germany? This is why people respect you!!!!!

Edit :- 4th minute of the 5 minute extra time. Amazing.

 

[Red Herring]

Yes yes Germany yes!!!!

What makes you never give up Germany? This is why people respect you!!!!!

Desperation?

Seriously, it's a good sign they managed that second goal under this much pressure and with only 10 men but so far it's been far from a good start - to put it mildly. Gotta admit though, I'm relieved.

 

[Kas]

Having fingers crossed for the weaker team this time, I hoped Sweden would manage to have a draw. But Germany deserved to win and after all that happened to them this match : soo many lost situations, needing to change quickly Rudy ( which I think was in the end for the best because Gundogan seemed to be far more useful for the team) and then second yellow card for Boateng (first situation was his stupid mistake tbh) it showed a lot of character.
My observations about weak points of both teams: Sweden could leave one player in the area of half way line or even further, it would keep there at least one , probably even two defenders and made less people create scoring chances; Germany team especially during first part of match was very slow changing positions, they gave plenty of time to the opposite team to come back and also slowly came back themselves to defence often leaving there only 2-3 players- Sweden was much slower, but I think that's what made them lose with Mexico.

I don't remember for the long time a team playing so outrageous way due to fair play rules as Korea. It's one thing to play aggressively or when one player got crazy and even hit someone- but all the team playing by faults and aiming legs of opponents instead of ball, that was embarrassing and could cost someone's career. If I were a judge they would finish game with 7-8 players.

 

[Kas]

Loved the last Belgium goal. Love it when a team keeps creating chances and finally scores.

Belgium, Croatia and France are probably the best in-form teams of the tournament?

It would be great to see a new team win this time (Belgium or Croatia) or England.

I really like Croatia as a team, looking forward to see their next games.
Also interested to see Belgium- England. Belgium is very enjoyable to watch - particularly Hazard and Bruyne.
I think these are two teams I liked most so far during mundial.

When it comes to France, they have good team, but I don't enjoy they style of game, so probably won't cheer them.

 

[Riva]

Yes!!! 5-nil at half time.

I think it's safe to say that England is through to the next round. Unfortunately this means in the match between them and Belgium the players might not flex their muscles.

 

[Deprecator]

Unfortunately this means in the match between them and Belgium the players might not flex their muscles.

Beating Belgium will give the team confidence and it'll also guarantee that they can avoid the likes of spain, france or brazil in the next stage who are also likely to top their groups. Honestly it'll be a real test for England; the likes of lukaku, mertens, de bryune and Hazard are a genuine force to be reckoned with, and it's almost a pity that there isn't a UK national team so that the likes of Ramsey or Bale could be featured alongside Kane and Sterling.

In other news, I like how the 2 Germans that I called out for sub-par performances (ozil and khederia) were the 2 players that were dropped when playing against Sweden after the mexico defeat. Still no ilkay gundogan though, and it seems that his continued omission from the starting lineup might be due to political reasons.

edit: nvm the draws aren't random like they are in the champions league... a loss means a lot less for England than I had initially thought.

 

[Kas]

It was really a good side of watching B group that until last minutes the final result of who is first in the group was unknown. Also Iran and Morocco fought bravely.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Croatia has more points then the rest of the group combined.

Maybe this time we will indeed do something concrete.

 

[Riva]

Nein Nein Nein Nein Nein!!!!!!!

 

[Red Herring]

Nein Nein Nein Nein Nein!!!!!!!

Oh well, this too is a way of writing football history.


We just went shopping and the supermarket was almost empty and so silent you could hear a pin drop.