The mouth-watering tie of France vs Belgium is the first semi final of the week and it could literally go either way. The French have been working their way through the games showing glimpses of brilliance but still have a peak we have not seen so far. The Mbappe show in Argentina was their best attacking performance so far but also their weakest defensive performance. The best overall 90 minutes was the previous win vs Uruguay where they did not give them a sniff and comfortably made the semi finals. They will need to up it once more I feel if they are to brush aside this Belgian side though and I feel that is too much of an ask for this French side right now who are just missing something for me. Belgium come into this semi final with their squad finally showing the potentially it has, it is arguably the best squad player for player in the world right now and are showing just how good they can be. They had a major slip up in the Japan game where they were on the brink of elimination, but they managed to regroup and dispatch 3 second half goals and make it through to quarterfinals where Brazil awaited. The game we saw vs Brazil was a fantastic game in which both sides were attacking and most defences looking subpar imo. Belgium did eventually show too much but they did have to hang on at the death but now they are within 90 minutes away from a World Cup Final! I would think Belgium are going to have too much offensively here for France and if Mbappe or Greizmann can't get service or serve up some magic themselves it might be tough going so i have to side with Belgium here. Fellaini again might be key with his physical presence and his dominance in the air.
Prediction: France 1-2 Belgium
Wednesday, Jul 11 6:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
The unlikeliest of World Cup Semi Finals for this tournament you would have expected but here it is, Croatia, a team who have struggled in World Cup qualification, having to sack their manager before the playoffs games now find themselves in a World Cup Semi Final. England, not winning a tournament game for 8 years let alone a knock out game (in 12 years!) find themselves here as well after they too have finally lived up to expectations and played the way they should have. Croatia gets here on the back of a very solid group win, spanking the likes of Argentina 3-0 before two penalty shootout victories over Denmark and Russia. They will need to stop giving away goals like they have done in the previous rounds though vs England and really sure up the back for the set piece bombardment England will serve up, but they have the offensive players to hurt any team left. The bring strong Mandzukic upfront is a nightmare for any CB pairing or trio, then adding in the pace of Perisic and Rebic, who get service from two of the best passing midfielders in the game now; Modric & Rakitic. Again i stress they will need to get on the ball, keep it and hurt England by trying to play through them, if they don't keep the ball here they might be in for a tough evening in Moscow. England get here after a Hurricane blew away the first two opponents in the group stage before they slipped to a 1-0 defeat to Belgium to finish second place....tactical or not they now find themselves in the Semi Final of a major tournament for the first time in 28 years! The game vs Colombia was a scrappy, dogged affair in which the world has already had its say on due to how rough and tough it was, but the Sweden quarterfinal was a solid victory to get them to this stage. Harry Kane and set pieces key for England who just look so dangerous. Henderson and Trippier also need to be shown respect as two key men in the offense. Sterling, might not be able to finish but he can do everything else up to that point and really works hard with his movement and again will be key. Can he finally get his goal after Dele Alli scored his in the previous round? This game for me rests in the balance of how well Croatia deal with set pieces, if they can limit England to only a few and defend them well then they have all the chances to hurt England by just playing their way through with the pace of Perisic and the strength of Mandzukic.
Prediction: England 1-1 Croatia
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as a fan of the game i was rooting for Belgium, now im glad they made it through, but more importantly im pretty happy that i sniffed out Brasil wasnt playing at their best and made the correct prediction. even if they eliminated belgium i dont think they had what it takes to make finals, however not getting top4 is even better. when Neymar retires i can go back to rooting for them, i usually like their attacking style.
as for France, pretty solid run. out of all four teams left they would probably be the most deserving winner but fuck that, i want to see an underdog take it (yes that includes England ).
on the other side of bracket, we'll see. Iceland, Denmark and then Russia are 3 very hard games in row where oppo is not exactly looking to score per se, so it will be a breath of fresh air to face attacking-minded team. however english scored 8 out of 11 from set pieces/penalties, and when u add Tunisia and Colombia games on top of that, it makes me wonder a bit what kind of game we'll see. our best game so far was vs Argentina and hopefully we can see a repeat.
i just want to see Croatia team play to their full potential, if brits make the finals i can live with that, but not if we go out cuz manager is pooping his pants and won't let them play how they should. so basically, i want to see Modric and Rakitic in their natural positions and no more of this DM nonsense. just put Brozovic or Badelj in and exploit the middle. sadly it isn't the best tournament for Perisic and even our RB Vrsaljko might be out, and since we don't have a real subtition, loosing one of the CB's (probably Vida) on that position so old Corluka can play in middle might hurt, he has horrible jumping even if he's tall as a mountain, and England are best team in WC from breaks. should be interesting either way.
On July 09 2018 17:27 Laurens wrote: Gogo Belgium, give it your all one last time, and then take the free-win in the finals and the cup
I want to thank the OP for balanced text for Cro vs Eng match although we know he is fabulously optimistic about England winning the World Cup. But I need to add that the mouse over picture with V sign is what Croatia also uses for victory and did during the war here. The man is yours but the symbol means more to us as we had a survival war much more recently than you did
On July 09 2018 19:18 Ansibled wrote: I'm hoping for a France vs England final.
This is what I'd like to see as well, although I think Belgium will win v France, and England/Croatia will go to penalties. Don't blame Pand for not really wanting to call it.
Gogo France - England finals!! And France to win it.
Weakest England squad is not yet ready for the big time. If I'm wrong, Gareth Southgate will be knighted. Redemption after 22 years
France vs Belgium will come down to the GKs. Whoever that can prevent more wonder goals will win the match.
Belgium is the strongest team on paper left and there are still questions with their match temperament. Euros 2020 should be great for them no matter what happens in the semis.
Croatia vs England will come down to who having the better set pieces.
On July 10 2018 00:42 LennX wrote: Gogo France - England finals!! And France to win it.
Weakest England squad is not yet ready for the big time. If I'm wrong, Gareth Southgate will be knighted. Redemption after 22 years
France vs Belgium will come down to the GKs. Whoever that can prevent more wonder goals will win the match.
Belgium is the strongest team on paper left and there are still questions with their match temperament. Euros 2020 should be great for them no matter what happens in the semis.
Croatia vs England will come down to who having the better set pieces.
that's England, best in world cup... or you meant defending set pieces? either way we're not that dangerous from those situations... so lets hope you're wrong xD
On July 10 2018 00:42 LennX wrote: Gogo France - England finals!! And France to win it.
Weakest England squad is not yet ready for the big time. If I'm wrong, Gareth Southgate will be knighted. Redemption after 22 years
France vs Belgium will come down to the GKs. Whoever that can prevent more wonder goals will win the match.
Belgium is the strongest team on paper left and there are still questions with their match temperament. Euros 2020 should be great for them no matter what happens in the semis.
Croatia vs England will come down to who having the better set pieces.
that's England, best in world cup... or you meant defending set pieces? either way we're not that dangerous from those situations... so lets hope you're wrong xD
Both Croatia and England set pieces (offensive and defensive) are good. I rate both higher than France or Belgium. If it's a draw after 120mins, PKs are going to be fun. Croatia have the slight advantage in a shootout. No weight of history there. I can always be wrong. Stats shows I'm wrong 40% of the time for this world
I meant to say "weakest England squad in a generation" but I forgot. England performed way above my expectations. I'm rooting for a France - England finals all because of my troll bet on said finals before the WC started. It is still live unlike my other bet on the defending champion to defend their cup.
Whenever a World Cup is held in year 1958 + positive multiple of 20, a new country has won it.
1958 = Brazil wins it for the 1st time. 1978 = Argentina wins it for the 1st time. 1998 = France wins it for the 1st time. 2018 = Belgium or Croatia wins it for the 1st time?
I like all teams, but in order, england > belgium > croatia > france. so hoping for a group stage rematch as final. (for the first time since 1962, and the third time ever in a WC!)
On July 10 2018 04:55 Liquid`Drone wrote: I like all teams, but in order, england > belgium > croatia > france. so hoping for a group stage rematch as final. (for the first time since 1962, and the third time ever in a WC!)
That's the complete reversal of what I am hoping drone. :D
On July 10 2018 04:55 Liquid`Drone wrote: I like all teams, but in order, england > belgium > croatia > france. so hoping for a group stage rematch as final. (for the first time since 1962, and the third time ever in a WC!)
That's the complete reversal of what I am hoping drone. :D
For me it's anyone but Belgium. I'd love for them to reach the finals, but I don't think I could deal with them winning the world cup before we did. They have to feel the same sorrow we did, at least once.
On July 10 2018 02:52 don_kyuhote wrote: Whenever a World Cup is held in year 1958 + positive multiple of 20, a new country has won it.
1958 = Brazil wins it for the 1st time. 1978 = Argentina wins it for the 1st time. 1998 = France wins it for the 1st time. 2018 = Belgium or Croatia wins it for the 1st time?
Nah, this means nothing. Germany never went out of the world cup in group stages but they did on this one.
On July 10 2018 04:55 Liquid`Drone wrote: I like all teams, but in order, england > belgium > croatia > france. so hoping for a group stage rematch as final. (for the first time since 1962, and the third time ever in a WC!)
That's the complete reversal of what I am hoping drone. :D
For me it's anyone but Belgium. I'd love for them to reach the finals, but I don't think I could deal with them winning the world cup before we did. They have to feel the same sorrow we did, at least once.
Very petty I know
Nah that's totally understandable, as a Belgian I always root against the Dutchies too, we would never hear the end of it if you win.
The last beautiful team remaining against Belgium France.
If I look at facts, I'm confident : -Lukaku and Hazard are no big game players, they barely were decisive against Brazil and Japan -Witsel Chadli and Fellaini against Kanté Pogba and Matuidi, the midfield battle is won already -conceded goals to pretty much everyone except Panama and England B (did they even want to score?) -our defence is rock solid, Umtiti had a brain fart against Australia and Argentina was very succesful -French players are just more accustomed to play big games
But not so much : -Umtiti has been average at best for months -Pavard who? Against Hazard who's in the form of his life and Pavard is guilty from half the goals we conceded -we need Giroud because he gels the team but damn, he never scores when it matters
It's football, we never know, they finally ditched that awful 343 which was ruining KDB, he's the actual best player in the world.
On July 10 2018 04:55 Liquid`Drone wrote: I like all teams, but in order, england > belgium > croatia > france. so hoping for a group stage rematch as final. (for the first time since 1962, and the third time ever in a WC!)
That's the complete reversal of what I am hoping drone. :D
For me it's anyone but Belgium. I'd love for them to reach the finals, but I don't think I could deal with them winning the world cup before we did. They have to feel the same sorrow we did, at least once.
Very petty I know
That would feel so unfair for you, you had many golden generations and Belgium could win the big trophy with their first one.
On July 10 2018 02:52 don_kyuhote wrote: Whenever a World Cup is held in year 1958 + positive multiple of 20, a new country has won it.
1958 = Brazil wins it for the 1st time. 1978 = Argentina wins it for the 1st time. 1998 = France wins it for the 1st time. 2018 = Belgium or Croatia wins it for the 1st time?
Nah, this means nothing. Germany never went out of the world cup in group stages but they did on this one.
On July 10 2018 02:52 don_kyuhote wrote: Whenever a World Cup is held in year 1958 + positive multiple of 20, a new country has won it.
1958 = Brazil wins it for the 1st time. 1978 = Argentina wins it for the 1st time. 1998 = France wins it for the 1st time. 2018 = Belgium or Croatia wins it for the 1st time?
Nah, this means nothing. Germany never went out of the world cup in group stages but they did on this one.
It's because the champion's curse overrode it.
Germany has been a champion more than once and it never overrode it before. Actually the champion curse is a fairly recent thing and it skipped one WC since it appeared. Germany never before failing to get out of its WC group (while being part of almost every WC in the past) is way stronger proof that these statistics mean zero.
-Pavard who? Against Hazard who's in the form of his life and Pavard is guilty from half the goals we conceded
This right here is (one of) our key(s) to victory imo. Hazard had a field day vs Fagner, Pavard should be just as easy to pass.
Well he might be our weak point but he's no Fagner, he's a part of the second best BuLi's defence and he's a central defender, which is very far from a Brazilian fullback who are more deep lying wingers.
-Pavard who? Against Hazard who's in the form of his life and Pavard is guilty from half the goals we conceded
This right here is (one of) our key(s) to victory imo. Hazard had a field day vs Fagner, Pavard should be just as easy to pass.
Well he might be our weak point but he's no Fagner, he's a part of the second best BuLi's defence and he's a central defender, which is very far from a Brazilian fullback who are more deep lying wingers.
Im expecting a France England final as of july 10, 2018 (today) 12:21 edt and croatia and belgium battle for 3rd place. Croatia and Belgium don't really have that great of rosters imo especailly Croatia, belgium is good but has some holes in the midfield with de bruyne who im not sure is as strong as pogba.
On July 10 2018 20:02 nojok wrote: The last beautiful team remaining against Belgium France.
If I look at facts, I'm confident : -Lukaku and Hazard are no big game players, they barely were decisive against Brazil and Japan
Interesting, I thought both Lukaku and Hazard played extremely well against Brazil. But France will probably play more compact than Brazil so less space for them to show their movement skills.
I'm just hoping for a great game today. Gonna be a very interesting tactical battle.
Wow. Two shots from Belgium, both were lethal. Will this be like the Brazil game where they score out of half chances while their opponent screws up playing out opportunity after opportunity?
On July 11 2018 03:20 Acrofales wrote: Wow. Two shots from Belgium, both were lethal. Will this be like the Brazil game where they score out of half chances while their opponent screws up playing out opportunity after opportunity?
France needs to actually attack for this to happen.
Belgium looking really good! Could have scored already.
On July 11 2018 03:25 FueledUpAndReadyToGo wrote: France isnt attacking but they had some close opportunities with counter already. Just because they dont have the ball doesnt mean they are losing.
lol yeah some people make it sound as if Mbappe couldnt have scored already after that Pogba pass... but gj to Belgium ofc
i think u only need email to register, live stream @ HRT2. but it's choppy since 5 min ago. i wonder if the cases are related or just fuckton of ppl watching xD
i think u only need email to register, live stream @ HRT2. but it's choppy since 5 min ago. i wonder if the cases are related or just fuckton of ppl watching xD
i think u only need email to register, live stream @ HRT2. but it's choppy since 5 min ago. i wonder if the cases are related or just fuckton of ppl watching xD
so it's not just me thank god
Apparently the game feed has problems, so could be for other countries as well and not just us. TV feed works fine here in Finland. Well.. at least the Swedish game feed seems to work..
so about what i asked earlier, is it poor def or just really dangerous offense on both sides? so much chances, but poor finishing/great keeping, makes you wonder. props to teams for risking so much 90 minutes away from finals, i dont think we'll see the same from either England or Croatia tomorrow
On July 11 2018 03:49 LennX wrote: Giroud still with 0 shots on target for this WC. @%# Maybe he will score the goal that wins France the WC. His 1 and only shot on target
Is he usually better than this? I don't know him very well and am not very impressed.
On July 11 2018 03:49 LennX wrote: Giroud still with 0 shots on target for this WC. @%# Maybe he will score the goal that wins France the WC. His 1 and only shot on target
Is he usually better than this? I don't know him very well and am not very impressed.
He's normally better. As a striker, he is not outstanding as compared to the very best but he is stable and willing to work for the team
Ive only been able to watch bits and pieces but it seems like Belgium have played around and looked interesting with a whole lot of "nearly" moments and not much else.
On July 11 2018 04:49 Rebs wrote: Ive only been able to watch bits and pieces but it seems like Belgium have played around and looked interesting with a whole lot of "nearly" moments and not much else.
France snuffed out everything pretty well.
Belgium played much better for the first 30-35 minutes, then it was still a little better, but Belgium fell in France trap this whole second half
Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
Yep and despite the obvious time wasting in the +6, the ref did not give out more than one useless yellow and did not add extra time. Great refereeing, encourages this behavior.
France second consecutive final, again as the big favorite ! Equal game imo, both teams had some good chances but Umtiti made the difference. Edit: For people complaining about last minutes, this is really standard behaviour trying to delay as much as possible. And it's not like they didn't make some chances too.
On July 11 2018 04:56 -Archangel- wrote: Except for 15 to 20 minutes this game was pretty bad.. I am very disappointed considering the teams that played it..
first 25 minutes were brilliant mate... i was complimenting teams on their bravery but as soon as first goal went in France went full Italy xD
would have been legit sad if Belgium advanced to the finals. They are just a group of all-stars, they are not a "team". They dont have team spirit likes Croatia and Sweden.
On July 11 2018 04:57 WillyWanker wrote: Calm your tits. Every other team would have done the same. 6mn were far too much to begin with, I don't know what they're smoking this world cup.
There was a French player on the floor waiting for treatment for about 60% of the second half.
On July 11 2018 04:56 Jockmcplop wrote: Nicely done France. Go ahead from a set piece and then dive, cheat, timewaste and act your way to victory.
That one scene from mbappe was retarded, other than that I didn't think it was that bad, at least not worse than your average match (for whatever that's worth).
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
On July 11 2018 04:56 Jockmcplop wrote: Nicely done France. Go ahead from a set piece and then dive, cheat, timewaste and act your way to victory.
That one scene from mbappe was retarded, other than that I didn't think it was that bad, at least not worse than your average match (for whatever that's worth).
I would agree but someone was in here being all high and mighty like France are above that stuff the other day. I had to get a jab in about it.
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
On July 11 2018 04:56 Jockmcplop wrote: Nicely done France. Go ahead from a set piece and then dive, cheat, timewaste and act your way to victory.
That one scene from mbappe was retarded, other than that I didn't think it was that bad, at least not worse than your average match (for whatever that's worth).
I would agree but someone was in here being all high and mighty like France are above that stuff the other day. I had to get a jab in about it.
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused. I thought he was a talented player but that display just made me an anti-fan.
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
I don't need to be amused, i just need to realize is part of the game and some of the problem is belgium being trash at scoring vs France
if France was losing i can assure you that Mbappe would not be doing that, and he lord Hazard would have.
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
A life time chance for getting a WC trophy, five minutes left and it doesnt matter if you get a yellow card.
i dont blame Mbappe at all. Winning a WC as 19 years old will take lots of pressure from him.
On July 11 2018 04:57 WillyWanker wrote: Calm your tits. Every other team would have done the same. 6mn were far too much to begin with, I don't know what they're smoking this world cup.
There was a French player on the floor waiting for treatment for about 60% of the second half.
At least Matuidi was on the floor for a reason, he got bodychecked pretty hard. Although both of these were unlucky clashes I guess.
Also French did it very clever. They wasted time so well, blame Football rules, not France. I laughed when Mbappe got the card, he wasted 20 sec though so I guess it was worth it for France.
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused. I thought he was a talented player but that display just made me an anti-fan.
So unnecessary too. He has the talent to be really great (case in point: game against Argentina), really frustrating so see shit like this. In the previous game as well -_-
On July 11 2018 05:05 sharkie wrote: I havent checked but I hope enough people criticised Martinez for his horrible tactics this game?
Fellaini starting vs France and Mertens on the bench is insane
I thought this during the whole game. France were really really good though so that's always going to make Martinez look bad. Whatever happened to De Bruyne today I don't like it. Also, why did they make Chadli the focus of every attack when they had De Bruyne and Hazard in the team? It makes no sense to me, he can't cross for shit.
idk guys, first half for Belgium was pretty sweet. KDB disappeared later on and Hazard was trying on his own too much, leaving Lukaku without the ball. if free kick was given on 20m who knows what happens, even if you disregard all the chances from before.
all in all both teams played pretty well and if it wasnt for that time wasting after the goal it would be talked about as an amazing semi final game. maybe it still will be even...
On July 11 2018 05:03 virpi wrote: If only the clock was stopped after a whistle. But we can't have that because of tradition / 90 minutes for all eternity / insert yadda here.
"We will be right back after our 10th 2 minute commercial break of the half."
if i heard correctly, our reporter just said russians set off a (false) fire alarm or something during prematch press conference with Cro manager and few of the players xD on top of eliminating them our CB Vida was sending his greetings to Ukraine after the game, it will be fun to watch anthems and who the locals support. can u imagine ruskies on English side? xD that would be nobel peace prize worthy xD
Our captain in 1998, youngest captain ever to lift the champion's league, he's the boss. 8 European finals in his carreer, second world cup final.
Have you seen this team? It's close to club level teamplay. Discipline! Did we miss a single two on one against Hazard? Hell fucking no, two players on him every fucking time. Did you see a slip up in defensive duties? Hell no! It's Deschamps's team and he turned them into freaking monsters.
The wole team was great, the midfield was unbeatable, the cross were cleaned.
The only regret is we could have scored more, Mbappé gave so many good balls : Giroud x2, Matuidi, Pavard, we should have scored more!
On July 11 2018 05:35 sharkie wrote: Alsomatuidi was mvp for me this match. He was evetywhere and was fouled by Belgians so many times
Matuidi was good, but my vote goes to Varane. Lukaku had about 2 difficult headers in the entire game. Even shortly after Mertens came on (took France a while to realise they should stop the crosses coming in), there were tons of crosses but no headers for Belgium.
Good game, I was expecting more clear goal opportunities by both teams, but both played pretty well. I don´t think France did anything wrong in the final minutes, I have the opinion that it´s part of the game and Mbappe was pretty smart actually, clearly getting in some of the belgians heads. I do find it funny how some people were saying how europeans were above this behavior, when they aren´t.
Tomorrow should be a nice game too, hoping for more goals though. I think the final will be close either way.
Time wasting isn't frowned upon so much if your team is vastly inferior. I understand you want to bring down the speed of the match, but to hold up your attacks / go to the corner flag / throw or kick the ball away is just sad. Mbappe had some counters where he was 1v1 vs defender, he could have just tried to go for that second goal, it wouldn't have taken much less time as he was losing the ball trying to hold up anyway.
On July 11 2018 07:14 Rookie6 wrote: Good game, I was expecting more clear goal opportunities by both teams, but both played pretty well. I don´t think France did anything wrong in the final minutes, I have the opinion that it´s part of the game and Mbappe was pretty smart actually, clearly getting in some of the belgians heads. I do find it funny how some people were saying how europeans were above this behavior, when they aren´t.
Tomorrow should be a nice game too, hoping for more goals though. I think the final will be close either way.
Winning time is unsportsmanlike but spending billions draining two other continents from their talents is fair somehow.
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
I don't need to be amused, i just need to realize is part of the game and some of the problem is belgium being trash at scoring vs France
if France was losing i can assure you that Mbappe would not be doing that, and he lord Hazard would have.
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
A life time chance for getting a WC trophy, five minutes left and it doesnt matter if you get a yellow card.
i dont blame Mbappe at all. Winning a WC as 19 years old will take lots of pressure from him.
Neither of these are satisfactory reasons, aka "he did or would do it so I should do it too!". These players some have some class, but it seems I expect too much. Bummer that most seem to be ok with such behaviour. To be clear, I have no issues if the players decide to pass it to each other, even if I think it's not great, but purposely kicking the ball away after the whistle to waste time is disgusting and I'll stand by that.
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
I don't need to be amused, i just need to realize is part of the game and some of the problem is belgium being trash at scoring vs France
if France was losing i can assure you that Mbappe would not be doing that, and he lord Hazard would have.
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
A life time chance for getting a WC trophy, five minutes left and it doesnt matter if you get a yellow card.
i dont blame Mbappe at all. Winning a WC as 19 years old will take lots of pressure from him.
Neither of these are satisfactory reasons, aka "he did or would do it so I should do it too!". These players some have some class, but it seems I expect too much. Bummer that most seem to be ok with such behaviour. To be clear, I have no issues if the players decide to pass it to each other, even if I think it's not great, but purposely kicking the ball away after the whistle to waste time is disgusting and I'll stand by that.
This is not directed at you specifically, but generally to everyone who keeps repeatedly complaining everytime a player goes down.
None of those things are preferable, but given its ingrained nature in the game unless its extremely excessive its something you have to live with unless a larger cultural shift is brought in by the administrators.
Because it is ingrained and fans have limited capacity to effect this (the ones who are even bothered by it in the first place), thats how it will be for now.
I like the game more than I dislike this behavior. That is a subjective choice I make when I spent my time watching.
All games have something people can complain about, thats why some people like some things and others like other games.
If you find this aspect unbearable feel free to skip the final. No ones who really cares about the game has time for people bitching about minor incidents of time wasting. Sure if you want to shit on excessive behavior thats fine. But every time someone displays some gamesmanship and you cant handle it. Please dont remind us for the 1231241412831 time.
There are only two kinds of people who bitch about this all the time.
1) People who dont know jackshit, the once every four years viewer, or that guy who just shows up to tell you why he can never like football because of this, normally American, but ofcourse edgy Europeans will be found doing this aswell (we dont care)
2) People who hypocritically complain when it happens to the team they are supporting.
This is not a justification, its just a reality check.
Sorry, but this is a discussion forum. I'm free to voice my opinion, just like you're free to ignore my post and move on unless my post is causing you some kind of great harm. I already said multiple times that I don't care as much if they passed the ball within each other as a method of time wasting, a bit distasteful but whatever. However, seeing someone purposely kick the ball away to waste time AFTER a ref whistled is just terrible. I'm sure the ref agrees which is why he gave him a yellow card, not that Mbappe gave a damn.
Does this break the game all of a sudden for me? No, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered watching any of the other matches so your suggestion of skipping the finals is denied. I also think that diving and other crap should be more punishable in the game, rather than the referee taking it easy. From my memory, this is one of the few times that I've actually complained about a player because I found their behaviour that bad (Neymar probably being another lol).
Do I think that my one comment will cause some sudden rule change? no, not really since I'm a casual viewer. I only watch soccer every 4 years so I'm not hardcore. However, I also didn't like what I saw so obviously I'm gonna post about it. I'm not from Belgium and have no connections to the country either so I have nothing to gain from this too.
1 penalty (Stupid handball by Umtiti - Australia) 1 Incredibly out of the game shot (Out of this world shot - Argentina) 1 Goal after a corner (Unlucky shot by Messi that hit Mercado - Argentina) 1 Header from a long distance ball (Was the 4-3 and at that point i dont think France was trying that much - Argentina)
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
I don't need to be amused, i just need to realize is part of the game and some of the problem is belgium being trash at scoring vs France
if France was losing i can assure you that Mbappe would not be doing that, and he lord Hazard would have.
On July 11 2018 05:02 Mensol wrote:
On July 11 2018 05:00 BigFan wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:59 Faruko wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:58 BigFan wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
A life time chance for getting a WC trophy, five minutes left and it doesnt matter if you get a yellow card.
i dont blame Mbappe at all. Winning a WC as 19 years old will take lots of pressure from him.
Neither of these are satisfactory reasons, aka "he did or would do it so I should do it too!". These players some have some class, but it seems I expect too much. Bummer that most seem to be ok with such behaviour. To be clear, I have no issues if the players decide to pass it to each other, even if I think it's not great, but purposely kicking the ball away after the whistle to waste time is disgusting and I'll stand by that.
This is not directed at you specifically, but generally to everyone who keeps repeatedly complaining everytime a player goes down.
None of those things are preferable, but given its ingrained nature in the game unless its extremely excessive its something you have to live with unless a larger cultural shift is brought in by the administrators.
Because it is ingrained and fans have limited capacity to effect this (the ones who are even bothered by it in the first place), thats how it will be for now.
I like the game more than I dislike this behavior. That is a subjective choice I make when I spent my time watching.
All games have something people can complain about, thats why some people like some things and others like other games.
If you find this aspect unbearable feel free to skip the final. No ones who really cares about the game has time for people bitching about minor incidents of time wasting. Sure if you want to shit on excessive behavior thats fine. But every time someone displays some gamesmanship and you cant handle it. Please dont remind us for the 1231241412831 time.
There are only two kinds of people who bitch about this all the time.
1) People who dont know jackshit, the once every four years viewer, or that guy who just shows up to tell you why he can never like football because of this, normally American, but ofcourse edgy Europeans will be found doing this aswell (we dont care)
2) People who hypocritically complain when it happens to the team they are supporting.
This is not a justification, its just a reality check.
the exact reason people complain about anything is because they want change. sure ranting on tl isnt the same as talking to the guys at fifa, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion and can voice it wherever they want. disgusting behaviour is disgusting behaviour, and it should be called out on so that eventually its seen as a wider issue.
also i find it hilarious that you call that behaviour "gamesmanship". are you implying that players 20-30 years ago lacked "gamesmanship" because no one rolled around and dived? stop being stupid. the fact is these athletes are grown men playing a fair game and they are choosing to act like 12 yr old girls to exploit the rules and get an advantage. thats just disgraceful no matter how you see it.
your opinion on the two kinds of people is also bullshit, since i know many different kinds of football viewers and not one of them is in favour of seeing more dives, time wasting antics, fake injuries etc. youre not the reality police so get off your high horse. you cant say you are making a subjective choice to watch the game despite all that shit and then call out the ones who actually complain about it like you are some higher authority. talk about hypocritical lol
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
I don't need to be amused, i just need to realize is part of the game and some of the problem is belgium being trash at scoring vs France
if France was losing i can assure you that Mbappe would not be doing that, and he lord Hazard would have.
On July 11 2018 05:02 Mensol wrote:
On July 11 2018 05:00 BigFan wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:59 Faruko wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:58 BigFan wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
A life time chance for getting a WC trophy, five minutes left and it doesnt matter if you get a yellow card.
i dont blame Mbappe at all. Winning a WC as 19 years old will take lots of pressure from him.
Neither of these are satisfactory reasons, aka "he did or would do it so I should do it too!". These players some have some class, but it seems I expect too much. Bummer that most seem to be ok with such behaviour. To be clear, I have no issues if the players decide to pass it to each other, even if I think it's not great, but purposely kicking the ball away after the whistle to waste time is disgusting and I'll stand by that.
This is not directed at you specifically, but generally to everyone who keeps repeatedly complaining everytime a player goes down.
None of those things are preferable, but given its ingrained nature in the game unless its extremely excessive its something you have to live with unless a larger cultural shift is brought in by the administrators.
Because it is ingrained and fans have limited capacity to effect this (the ones who are even bothered by it in the first place), thats how it will be for now.
I like the game more than I dislike this behavior. That is a subjective choice I make when I spent my time watching.
All games have something people can complain about, thats why some people like some things and others like other games.
If you find this aspect unbearable feel free to skip the final. No ones who really cares about the game has time for people bitching about minor incidents of time wasting. Sure if you want to shit on excessive behavior thats fine. But every time someone displays some gamesmanship and you cant handle it. Please dont remind us for the 1231241412831 time.
There are only two kinds of people who bitch about this all the time.
1) People who dont know jackshit, the once every four years viewer, or that guy who just shows up to tell you why he can never like football because of this, normally American, but ofcourse edgy Europeans will be found doing this aswell (we dont care)
2) People who hypocritically complain when it happens to the team they are supporting.
This is not a justification, its just a reality check.
the exact reason people complain about anything is because they want change. sure ranting on tl isnt the same as talking to the guys at fifa, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion and can voice it wherever they want. disgusting behaviour is disgusting behaviour, and it should be called out on so that eventually its seen as a wider issue.
also i find it hilarious that you call that behaviour "gamesmanship". are you implying that players 20-30 years ago lacked "gamesmanship" because no one rolled around and dived? stop being stupid. the fact is these athletes are grown men playing a fair game and they are choosing to act like 12 yr old girls to exploit the rules and get an advantage. thats just disgraceful no matter how you see it.
your opinion on the two kinds of people is also bullshit, since i know many different kinds of football viewers and not one of them is in favour of seeing more dives, time wasting antics, fake injuries etc. youre not the reality police so get off your high horse. you cant say you are making a subjective choice to watch the game despite all that shit and then call out the ones who actually complain about it like you are some higher authority. talk about hypocritical lol
I didnt find anything France did particularly "disgusting" I just watched the game because I wasnt able to catch it properly at work.
You can have an opinion, but repeating it over and over again over minor incidents is a valueless opinion. If you feel like you are contributing good for you. You now get to virtue signal pointlessli. Congratulations internet is won. IF it was so disgusting people wouldnt have disagreed with it.
For example unless you are a blind fan, no one here has ever tried to justify Neymars antics. And yet people found value in disagreeing here. I wonder why if its so black and white? I guess we are just corrupt ourselves and to blame for the state of the game. Boo us.
So really whose being a morality asshat pretending that those people are in favour of cheating ? Yeah...
ok lets see whats the next stupid point.. ahh yes gamesmenship.
Gamesmenship isnt limited to just exaggerating fouls. So I am not implying that. Not sure where you would get that idea.
Now if you really want to get into the the forms gamesmanship 20-30 years ago it was was much much worse if you actually pay attention, go back and watch some games of Garincha or Maradona getting the shit kicked out of them with double feet and scissors. History lesson, the rolling around came after people started getting the shit kicked out of them. Not that its justification but rather a cause to explain the effect that is the culture of exaggerating contact. Obviously its gone in the wrong direction. But its actually dimmed a bit since the amount of exposure. It was actually much worse 10-15 years ago. Enter Simeon, Rivaldo et al..
That kicking and player hunting got phased out, through rules and popular reaction this will aswell eventually if it gets bad enough. The difference is that one physically endangers players and this one upsets peoples sensibilities. Ill let you decide which development is better or worse. Or are you implying that its ok for people to go around diving two footed into each other? + Show Spoiler +
see im dong the same thing you did, so easy to twist words, fake news, sad etc etc
Finally I said there are two kinds of people who "bitch about this all the time". I didn't say people who are "not in favor of of diving" these are two distinct things so I cant help you if you can differentiate between the two.
That would be implying that people who dont bitch about it all the time are in favor of diving. Which again is rather unfair.
And yes its gamesmenship what else would you call it ? All I was really pointing out was that the excessive complaining is annoying and anyone with a sense of understanding the game and who "isnt" sitting on a high horse doesnt care.
I am not policing anyone, not sure where I asked anyone to shutup or not voice their terrible opinions. I just offered my opinion on those useless opinions.
Now instead of engaging my arguments which you kinda tried to do and did an atrocious job off you went and put me on the a hypocritical high horse.
I am not particular fond of horses, especially high ones.
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
I don't need to be amused, i just need to realize is part of the game and some of the problem is belgium being trash at scoring vs France
if France was losing i can assure you that Mbappe would not be doing that, and he lord Hazard would have.
On July 11 2018 05:02 Mensol wrote:
On July 11 2018 05:00 BigFan wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:59 Faruko wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:58 BigFan wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
A life time chance for getting a WC trophy, five minutes left and it doesnt matter if you get a yellow card.
i dont blame Mbappe at all. Winning a WC as 19 years old will take lots of pressure from him.
Neither of these are satisfactory reasons, aka "he did or would do it so I should do it too!". These players some have some class, but it seems I expect too much. Bummer that most seem to be ok with such behaviour. To be clear, I have no issues if the players decide to pass it to each other, even if I think it's not great, but purposely kicking the ball away after the whistle to waste time is disgusting and I'll stand by that.
This is not directed at you specifically, but generally to everyone who keeps repeatedly complaining everytime a player goes down.
None of those things are preferable, but given its ingrained nature in the game unless its extremely excessive its something you have to live with unless a larger cultural shift is brought in by the administrators.
Because it is ingrained and fans have limited capacity to effect this (the ones who are even bothered by it in the first place), thats how it will be for now.
This is the frustrating thing. The behaviour is a disgrace, rolling around screaming like little girls, wasting time and generally cheating. With VAR much of this behaviour could be eradicated very quickly by giving an automatic red card for diving in the box if the VAR spots it. If a player is down injured on the pitch they go off, an then have to spend the same amount of time waiting to get back on the pitch afterwards. These kind of rules could make the game about football instead of being about who's better at cheating.
I like the game more than I dislike this behavior. That is a subjective choice I make when I spent my time watching.
All games have something people can complain about, thats why some people like some things and others like other games.
If you find this aspect unbearable feel free to skip the final. No ones who really cares about the game has time for people bitching about minor incidents of time wasting. Sure if you want to shit on excessive behavior thats fine. But every time someone displays some gamesmanship and you cant handle it. Please dont remind us for the 1231241412831 time.
This is nonsense. If you don't like it don't watch? Some of us like football, and have a right to be annoyed about players who constantly shit on the very idea of football. Its even more frustrating that most of the best players are also massive cheats.
There are only two kinds of people who bitch about this all the time.
1) People who dont know jackshit, the once every four years viewer, or that guy who just shows up to tell you why he can never like football because of this, normally American, but ofcourse edgy Europeans will be found doing this aswell (we dont care)
Actually we should care if people don't watch football because of all the cheating. Its not 'edgy' to think a game should be played by the rules.
2) People who hypocritically complain when it happens to the team they are supporting.
Yeah this happens, which gives people the perfect excuse for losing. For example, we'll never know if Belgium would have won last night without France constantly cheating for the last half an hour. I guess its just one of those things.
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
I don't need to be amused, i just need to realize is part of the game and some of the problem is belgium being trash at scoring vs France
if France was losing i can assure you that Mbappe would not be doing that, and he lord Hazard would have.
On July 11 2018 05:02 Mensol wrote:
On July 11 2018 05:00 BigFan wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:59 Faruko wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:58 BigFan wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
A life time chance for getting a WC trophy, five minutes left and it doesnt matter if you get a yellow card.
i dont blame Mbappe at all. Winning a WC as 19 years old will take lots of pressure from him.
Neither of these are satisfactory reasons, aka "he did or would do it so I should do it too!". These players some have some class, but it seems I expect too much. Bummer that most seem to be ok with such behaviour. To be clear, I have no issues if the players decide to pass it to each other, even if I think it's not great, but purposely kicking the ball away after the whistle to waste time is disgusting and I'll stand by that.
This is not directed at you specifically, but generally to everyone who keeps repeatedly complaining everytime a player goes down.
None of those things are preferable, but given its ingrained nature in the game unless its extremely excessive its something you have to live with unless a larger cultural shift is brought in by the administrators.
Because it is ingrained and fans have limited capacity to effect this (the ones who are even bothered by it in the first place), thats how it will be for now.
This is the frustrating thing. The behaviour is a disgrace, rolling around screaming like little girls, wasting time and generally cheating. With VAR much of this behaviour could be eradicated very quickly by giving an automatic red card for diving in the box if the VAR spots it. If a player is down injured on the pitch they go off, an then have to spend the same amount of time waiting to get back on the pitch afterwards. These kind of rules could make the game about football instead of being about who's better at cheating.
I like the game more than I dislike this behavior. That is a subjective choice I make when I spent my time watching.
All games have something people can complain about, thats why some people like some things and others like other games.
If you find this aspect unbearable feel free to skip the final. No ones who really cares about the game has time for people bitching about minor incidents of time wasting. Sure if you want to shit on excessive behavior thats fine. But every time someone displays some gamesmanship and you cant handle it. Please dont remind us for the 1231241412831 time.
This is nonsense. If you don't like it don't watch? Some of us like football, and have a right to be annoyed about players who constantly shit on the very idea of football. Its even more frustrating that most of the best players are also massive cheats.
There are only two kinds of people who bitch about this all the time.
1) People who dont know jackshit, the once every four years viewer, or that guy who just shows up to tell you why he can never like football because of this, normally American, but ofcourse edgy Europeans will be found doing this aswell (we dont care)
Actually we should care if people don't watch football because of all the cheating. Its not 'edgy' to think a game should be played by the rules.
2) People who hypocritically complain when it happens to the team they are supporting.
Yeah this happens, which gives people the perfect excuse for losing. For example, we'll never know if Belgium would have won last night without France constantly cheating for the last half an hour. I guess its just one of those things.
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
I don't need to be amused, i just need to realize is part of the game and some of the problem is belgium being trash at scoring vs France
if France was losing i can assure you that Mbappe would not be doing that, and he lord Hazard would have.
On July 11 2018 05:02 Mensol wrote:
On July 11 2018 05:00 BigFan wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:59 Faruko wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:58 BigFan wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
A life time chance for getting a WC trophy, five minutes left and it doesnt matter if you get a yellow card.
i dont blame Mbappe at all. Winning a WC as 19 years old will take lots of pressure from him.
Neither of these are satisfactory reasons, aka "he did or would do it so I should do it too!". These players some have some class, but it seems I expect too much. Bummer that most seem to be ok with such behaviour. To be clear, I have no issues if the players decide to pass it to each other, even if I think it's not great, but purposely kicking the ball away after the whistle to waste time is disgusting and I'll stand by that.
This is not directed at you specifically, but generally to everyone who keeps repeatedly complaining everytime a player goes down.
None of those things are preferable, but given its ingrained nature in the game unless its extremely excessive its something you have to live with unless a larger cultural shift is brought in by the administrators.
Because it is ingrained and fans have limited capacity to effect this (the ones who are even bothered by it in the first place), thats how it will be for now.
This is the frustrating thing. The behaviour is a disgrace, rolling around screaming like little girls, wasting time and generally cheating. With VAR much of this behaviour could be eradicated very quickly by giving an automatic red card for diving in the box if the VAR spots it. If a player is down injured on the pitch they go off, an then have to spend the same amount of time waiting to get back on the pitch afterwards. These kind of rules could make the game about football instead of being about who's better at cheating.
I like the game more than I dislike this behavior. That is a subjective choice I make when I spent my time watching.
All games have something people can complain about, thats why some people like some things and others like other games.
If you find this aspect unbearable feel free to skip the final. No ones who really cares about the game has time for people bitching about minor incidents of time wasting. Sure if you want to shit on excessive behavior thats fine. But every time someone displays some gamesmanship and you cant handle it. Please dont remind us for the 1231241412831 time.
This is nonsense. If you don't like it don't watch? Some of us like football, and have a right to be annoyed about players who constantly shit on the very idea of football. Its even more frustrating that most of the best players are also massive cheats.
There are only two kinds of people who bitch about this all the time.
1) People who dont know jackshit, the once every four years viewer, or that guy who just shows up to tell you why he can never like football because of this, normally American, but ofcourse edgy Europeans will be found doing this aswell (we dont care)
Actually we should care if people don't watch football because of all the cheating. Its not 'edgy' to think a game should be played by the rules.
2) People who hypocritically complain when it happens to the team they are supporting.
Yeah this happens, which gives people the perfect excuse for losing. For example, we'll never know if Belgium would have won last night without France constantly cheating for the last half an hour. I guess its just one of those things.
How did France cheat in the last half an hour?
The constant diving, crying, timewasting etc. Deliberate timewasting when the ball is out of play is against the rules.
I'm not saying France are any worse than any other team, they aren't, they're about the same (its also more of a comment on football in general than specifically last night's match). I'm saying this behaviour delegitimises any idea that football is about which team is better at football (if you define football by its rules).
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
I don't need to be amused, i just need to realize is part of the game and some of the problem is belgium being trash at scoring vs France
if France was losing i can assure you that Mbappe would not be doing that, and he lord Hazard would have.
On July 11 2018 05:02 Mensol wrote:
On July 11 2018 05:00 BigFan wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:59 Faruko wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:58 BigFan wrote:
On July 11 2018 04:52 NihiLStarcraft wrote: Yeah this constant play for time, with the acting, the diving, the shooting/punching the ball away... It's making me never want to watch soccer ever again until they finally fix it. Either by making people actually leave the pitch, time penalties or fixed clock or something. This is garbage. The French are overdoing it here, but honestly every team does it to an extent and I can't stand it...
It was obvious as hell especially with Mbappe throwing away the ball and whoever else of the French sat on the ball or w/e else. Disgraceful final x minutes by French. Hope they get destroyed by whoever makes the finals (hopefully Croatia!)
So, if Croatia gets to the final and does the exact same thing for the last 10 minutes
are you going to ask for Croatia to get destroyed too? so who does destroys who?
Sure, I think purposely wasting time is terrible. Even more so when it's obvious as hell. So, let me ask you, you are satisfied with the crap that Mbappe pulled there? I certainly was not amused.
A life time chance for getting a WC trophy, five minutes left and it doesnt matter if you get a yellow card.
i dont blame Mbappe at all. Winning a WC as 19 years old will take lots of pressure from him.
Neither of these are satisfactory reasons, aka "he did or would do it so I should do it too!". These players some have some class, but it seems I expect too much. Bummer that most seem to be ok with such behaviour. To be clear, I have no issues if the players decide to pass it to each other, even if I think it's not great, but purposely kicking the ball away after the whistle to waste time is disgusting and I'll stand by that.
This is not directed at you specifically, but generally to everyone who keeps repeatedly complaining everytime a player goes down.
None of those things are preferable, but given its ingrained nature in the game unless its extremely excessive its something you have to live with unless a larger cultural shift is brought in by the administrators.
Because it is ingrained and fans have limited capacity to effect this (the ones who are even bothered by it in the first place), thats how it will be for now.
This is the frustrating thing. The behaviour is a disgrace, rolling around screaming like little girls, wasting time and generally cheating. With VAR much of this behaviour could be eradicated very quickly by giving an automatic red card for diving in the box if the VAR spots it. If a player is down injured on the pitch they go off, an then have to spend the same amount of time waiting to get back on the pitch afterwards. These kind of rules could make the game about football instead of being about who's better at cheating.
I like the game more than I dislike this behavior. That is a subjective choice I make when I spent my time watching.
All games have something people can complain about, thats why some people like some things and others like other games.
If you find this aspect unbearable feel free to skip the final. No ones who really cares about the game has time for people bitching about minor incidents of time wasting. Sure if you want to shit on excessive behavior thats fine. But every time someone displays some gamesmanship and you cant handle it. Please dont remind us for the 1231241412831 time.
This is nonsense. If you don't like it don't watch? Some of us like football, and have a right to be annoyed about players who constantly shit on the very idea of football. Its even more frustrating that most of the best players are also massive cheats.
There are only two kinds of people who bitch about this all the time.
1) People who dont know jackshit, the once every four years viewer, or that guy who just shows up to tell you why he can never like football because of this, normally American, but ofcourse edgy Europeans will be found doing this aswell (we dont care)
Actually we should care if people don't watch football because of all the cheating. Its not 'edgy' to think a game should be played by the rules.
2) People who hypocritically complain when it happens to the team they are supporting.
Yeah this happens, which gives people the perfect excuse for losing. For example, we'll never know if Belgium would have won last night without France constantly cheating for the last half an hour. I guess its just one of those things.
How did France cheat in the last half an hour?
The constant diving, crying, timewasting etc. Deliberate timewasting when the ball is out of play is against the rules.
I'm not saying France are any worse than any other team, they aren't, they're about the same (its also more of a comment on football in general than specifically last night's match). I'm saying this behaviour delegitimises any idea that football is about which team is better at football (if you define football by its rules).
Timewasting yes, I totally agree with you thats horrible for the game. But there was no diving or crying... The incidents you probably mean were real fouls from Belgium (they had 16 fouls to France's 6). And Matuidi was seriously dizzy after the horrible crash with Hazard. Maybe Belgium should have rather fouled less in the last 30?
I noticed that whenever France got a free kick after a foul they wasted/used 2-3 minutes. It took its toll, Belgium probably shot themselves in the foot by fouling them.
On July 11 2018 16:53 -Archangel- wrote: I noticed that whenever France got a free kick after a foul they wasted/used 2-3 minutes. It took its toll, Belgium probably shot themselves in the foot by fouling them.
But that's normal. Each time a freekick is given players (on both ends) take quite some time to get prepared. That's really nothing dirty, they prolly took 10-20 seconds longer than usual but freekicks are never fast stuff except when they are played fast
I am getting super, super tired of time wasting. It is getting ridicolous. Mbappe was disgusting the last 15 minutes - throwing the ball away, faking things... There are two solutions that I would like to see adopted in Football:
1) The most important one: stop the time when the game is stopped (similar to basketball). This way, all time wasting strategies go to hell. Remove stoppage time and and if 45 or 90 minutes kick in, you continue until the ball goes out (which is basically one last possession for the attackers). 2) Remove substitutions from 80 minutes onwards. It is FUCKING RIDICOLOUS to have players play 2 minutes just to lose some time. Fucking pricks.
On July 11 2018 17:10 SoSexy wrote: I am getting super, super tired of time wasting. It is getting ridicolous. Mbappe was disgusting the last 15 minutes - throwing the ball away, faking things... There are two solutions that I would like to see adopted in Football:
1) The most important one: stop the time when the game is stopped (similar to basketball). This way, all time wasting strategies go to hell. Remove stoppage time and and if 45 or 90 minutes kick in, you continue until the ball goes out (which is basically one last possession for the attackers). 2) Remove substitutions from 80 minutes onwards. It is FUCKING RIDICOLOUS to have players play 2 minutes just to lose some time. Fucking pricks.
I would like to see these done too but then the timing system would be perilously close to the NFL for many Europeans.
And people complained about Brazilians haha, they all were classy in defeat.
Btw, tactical fouls are a much bigger offence than time wasting, it's harming the game a fucking ton more and should result in at least a yellow + 10 minutes suspension. The Belgians abused this disgusting tactic but I don't see anyone complaining.
Explain me how time wasting (with a ref keeping track anyway) is worse than having a clear opportunity denied by a cheap foul?
I would also like to see time stopping when the ball is not in play. 90 min of play and that's it. Also, I'd like to see harsh punishments for un-sportsmanship behavior to be dealt after the game also. If someone was simulating a foul, fine him and his team. Poking fun at Neymar does nothing. He should have been shunned and punished for his actions.
On July 11 2018 17:32 SoSexy wrote: Because the foul is already punished with a free/penalty kick + yellow/red. Wasting time leads to no punishment in 90% of cases.
A free kick in the middle of the pitch worth absolutely nothing at all... Yellows are barely shown unless the guy is at full speed. I stand by my point, tactical fouls are worse for the game than a bit of time wasting. Stop making it sound like Matuidi did not receive a full speed Hazard on his chest. He was our best player on the pitch, it was not a tactical substitution.
On July 11 2018 17:32 SoSexy wrote: Because the foul is already punished with a free/penalty kick + yellow/red. Wasting time leads to no punishment in 90% of cases.
A free kick in the middle of the pitch worth absolutely nothing at all... Yellows are barely shown unless the guy is at full speed. I stand by my point, tactical fouls are worse for the game than a bit of time wasting. Stop making it sound like Matuidi did not receive a full speed Hazard on his chest. He was our best player on the pitch, it was not a tactical substitution.
You've changed your tune since the England vs Columbia game!\ I guess your opinions depend on who's playing.
I think just stopping the clock for any time waste / freekick would be what i would do. Don't let the ref keep time, let him focus on the game and there can be a "timekeeper" job added to 4th official so he just stops clock everytime ball goes dead and then he tells ref when to blow whilst.
I guess maybe a reason they don't do that is because the game is so big how does it work at lower levels.
Oh well, as we kinda discovered every team timewastes. I can show you Man City vs Yanited game where Peps City had the ball in the corner wasting time at the start of the second half and then bringing on midfielders for striker etc. Every manager does it, the will to win is always greater than the need to entertain.
Same way some people don't mind cheese strats in SC2/BW year some people think that is "Low skilled".
On July 11 2018 17:32 SoSexy wrote: Because the foul is already punished with a free/penalty kick + yellow/red. Wasting time leads to no punishment in 90% of cases.
A free kick in the middle of the pitch worth absolutely nothing at all... Yellows are barely shown unless the guy is at full speed. I stand by my point, tactical fouls are worse for the game than a bit of time wasting. Stop making it sound like Matuidi did not receive a full speed Hazard on his chest. He was our best player on the pitch, it was not a tactical substitution.
Hmm let me try to explain my view better. I believe that a perfect, clean game won't ever happen because that is the nature of humans. What we can do is prevent 'bugs' in the system. What are easy, fixable things? As I said, time wasting is very fixable. By stopping the clock, you would solve slow free kicks, goal kicks, stupid substitutions, throwing the ball away and so on.
Tactical fouls are not preventable, because you can't physically remove them from the game nor physically block the players from committing them. I agree that the referees should go harder on the yellow/red card, but the whole idea seems difficult to implement because there would always be troubles defining what a tactical foul is. Is the player using his hand to prevent a goal committing a tactical foul? Also, if we implement tactical foul, what stops us from implementing 'tactical waste of time plays', i.e. when an attacker takes the ball to the corner and tries to defend it there?
All things considered, I think it would be way too difficult to implement a tactical foul rule and the 10 minutes suspension is crazy, to be honest. Referees would have a massive power to change a game by calling a tactical foul and putting you out for 10 minutes. These are my two cents.
On July 11 2018 17:32 SoSexy wrote: Because the foul is already punished with a free/penalty kick + yellow/red. Wasting time leads to no punishment in 90% of cases.
A free kick in the middle of the pitch worth absolutely nothing at all... Yellows are barely shown unless the guy is at full speed. I stand by my point, tactical fouls are worse for the game than a bit of time wasting. Stop making it sound like Matuidi did not receive a full speed Hazard on his chest. He was our best player on the pitch, it was not a tactical substitution.
You've changed your tune since the England vs Columbia game!\ I guess your opinions depend on who's playing.
What? I don't see how it's a different tune. Saying tactical fouls are worse than time wasting does not change the fact Colombia vs England was even when it came to dirty antics. I'm just denying that England was the white knight and that the Colombians were a bunch of criminals which was the narrative following this game.
If you honestly think England were as bad as Colombia in that game i have no idea what game you watched and look forward to when some team does that to a team you support so i can troll you as well. Colombia made 2 3 <<< TWENTY THREE fouls in that game.
On July 11 2018 17:10 SoSexy wrote: I am getting super, super tired of time wasting. It is getting ridicolous. Mbappe was disgusting the last 15 minutes - throwing the ball away, faking things... There are two solutions that I would like to see adopted in Football:
1) The most important one: stop the time when the game is stopped (similar to basketball). This way, all time wasting strategies go to hell. Remove stoppage time and and if 45 or 90 minutes kick in, you continue until the ball goes out (which is basically one last possession for the attackers). 2) Remove substitutions from 80 minutes onwards. It is FUCKING RIDICOLOUS to have players play 2 minutes just to lose some time. Fucking pricks.
I would like to see these done too but then the timing system would be perilously close to the NFL for many Europeans.
If my memory is correct IFAB actually proposed a new timer system which involves stopping the clock. They had two variations:
1) Applying stopping clock in the last 5 minutes of the 1st half and last 10 minutes of the 2nd half; 2) Stopping the clock for the entirely of a match, but half time length is reduced to 30 minutes, for a total of 60 minutes match time, which is close to the average "effective" time of a 90 minute match.
On July 11 2018 17:10 SoSexy wrote: I am getting super, super tired of time wasting. It is getting ridicolous. Mbappe was disgusting the last 15 minutes - throwing the ball away, faking things... There are two solutions that I would like to see adopted in Football:
1) The most important one: stop the time when the game is stopped (similar to basketball). This way, all time wasting strategies go to hell. Remove stoppage time and and if 45 or 90 minutes kick in, you continue until the ball goes out (which is basically one last possession for the attackers). 2) Remove substitutions from 80 minutes onwards. It is FUCKING RIDICOLOUS to have players play 2 minutes just to lose some time. Fucking pricks.
I would like to see these done too but then the timing system would be perilously close to the NFL for many Europeans.
What NFL has to do with it anything here lol
This part here:
American football (NFL): The National Football League requires twenty commercial breaks per game, with ten in each half. (Exceptions to this are overtime periods, which have none.) These breaks run either a minute, or two minutes in length.
Is anyone here actually willing to trade getting rid of time wasting with that?
On July 11 2018 17:10 SoSexy wrote: I am getting super, super tired of time wasting. It is getting ridicolous. Mbappe was disgusting the last 15 minutes - throwing the ball away, faking things... There are two solutions that I would like to see adopted in Football:
1) The most important one: stop the time when the game is stopped (similar to basketball). This way, all time wasting strategies go to hell. Remove stoppage time and and if 45 or 90 minutes kick in, you continue until the ball goes out (which is basically one last possession for the attackers). 2) Remove substitutions from 80 minutes onwards. It is FUCKING RIDICOLOUS to have players play 2 minutes just to lose some time. Fucking pricks.
I would like to see these done too but then the timing system would be perilously close to the NFL for many Europeans.
American football (NFL): The National Football League requires twenty commercial breaks per game, with ten in each half. (Exceptions to this are overtime periods, which have none.) These breaks run either a minute, or two minutes in length.
Is anyone here actually willing to trade getting rid of time wasting with that?
On July 11 2018 18:14 Pandemona wrote: If you honestly think England were as bad as Colombia in that game i have no idea what game you watched and look forward to when some team does that to a team you support so i can troll you as well. Colombia made 2 3 <<< TWENTY THREE fouls in that game.
23 fouls when England did 13
Belgium did 16 fouls when France did 6.
And I would certainly not have complained about fouls if the complaints about time wasting were not exagerated.
On July 11 2018 17:10 SoSexy wrote: I am getting super, super tired of time wasting. It is getting ridicolous. Mbappe was disgusting the last 15 minutes - throwing the ball away, faking things... There are two solutions that I would like to see adopted in Football:
1) The most important one: stop the time when the game is stopped (similar to basketball). This way, all time wasting strategies go to hell. Remove stoppage time and and if 45 or 90 minutes kick in, you continue until the ball goes out (which is basically one last possession for the attackers). 2) Remove substitutions from 80 minutes onwards. It is FUCKING RIDICOLOUS to have players play 2 minutes just to lose some time. Fucking pricks.
I would like to see these done too but then the timing system would be perilously close to the NFL for many Europeans.
American football (NFL): The National Football League requires twenty commercial breaks per game, with ten in each half. (Exceptions to this are overtime periods, which have none.) These breaks run either a minute, or two minutes in length.
Is anyone here actually willing to trade getting rid of time wasting with that?
I dont think stopping the clock automatically means commercial breaks. There are plenty of instances in American sports where the clock stops with no commercial.
Just make it a rule that you can't stop the actual run of play for commercials. They call this a "TV timeout" or "time out on the field" in American sports.
On July 11 2018 17:10 SoSexy wrote: I am getting super, super tired of time wasting. It is getting ridicolous. Mbappe was disgusting the last 15 minutes - throwing the ball away, faking things... There are two solutions that I would like to see adopted in Football:
1) The most important one: stop the time when the game is stopped (similar to basketball). This way, all time wasting strategies go to hell. Remove stoppage time and and if 45 or 90 minutes kick in, you continue until the ball goes out (which is basically one last possession for the attackers). 2) Remove substitutions from 80 minutes onwards. It is FUCKING RIDICOLOUS to have players play 2 minutes just to lose some time. Fucking pricks.
I would like to see these done too but then the timing system would be perilously close to the NFL for many Europeans.
What NFL has to do with it anything here lol
This part here:
American football (NFL): The National Football League requires twenty commercial breaks per game, with ten in each half. (Exceptions to this are overtime periods, which have none.) These breaks run either a minute, or two minutes in length.
Is anyone here actually willing to trade getting rid of time wasting with that?
I don't understand why the trade is necessary.
You think FIFA will add an entirely new opportunity for revenue without it being used?
@stratos: "The actual run of play" ? Technically every throw-in will be a break in play and an opportunity for a commercial.
On July 11 2018 18:14 Pandemona wrote: If you honestly think England were as bad as Colombia in that game i have no idea what game you watched and look forward to when some team does that to a team you support so i can troll you as well. Colombia made 2 3 <<< TWENTY THREE fouls in that game.
23 fouls when England did 13
Belgium did 16 fouls when France did 6.
And I would certainly not have complained about fouls if the complaints about time wasting were not exagerated.
What does Belgium doing 16 fouls have to do with anything. England played an extra 30 minutes and did less in a game which was far more toxic. Also some fouls weren't called on the French side of things so that number could have been higher but even so, Belgium fouls were costing them as most of them were the last 10 minutes and all on mbappe lol. If that was the first half and if Belgian coach was shoving your best player coming off at half time as well then you can mention these two games in same breath!
On July 11 2018 17:10 SoSexy wrote: I am getting super, super tired of time wasting. It is getting ridicolous. Mbappe was disgusting the last 15 minutes - throwing the ball away, faking things... There are two solutions that I would like to see adopted in Football:
1) The most important one: stop the time when the game is stopped (similar to basketball). This way, all time wasting strategies go to hell. Remove stoppage time and and if 45 or 90 minutes kick in, you continue until the ball goes out (which is basically one last possession for the attackers). 2) Remove substitutions from 80 minutes onwards. It is FUCKING RIDICOLOUS to have players play 2 minutes just to lose some time. Fucking pricks.
I would like to see these done too but then the timing system would be perilously close to the NFL for many Europeans.
American football (NFL): The National Football League requires twenty commercial breaks per game, with ten in each half. (Exceptions to this are overtime periods, which have none.) These breaks run either a minute, or two minutes in length.
Is anyone here actually willing to trade getting rid of time wasting with that?
Why would we have to trade here? Poor excuse to let some of the players play time like we've seen this WC. Although, Even commercials would be more interesting than watching a player roll on the ground for 3 solid minutes in "agonizing pain".
On July 11 2018 18:14 Pandemona wrote: If you honestly think England were as bad as Colombia in that game i have no idea what game you watched and look forward to when some team does that to a team you support so i can troll you as well. Colombia made 2 3 <<< TWENTY THREE fouls in that game.
23 fouls when England did 13
Belgium did 16 fouls when France did 6.
And I would certainly not have complained about fouls if the complaints about time wasting were not exagerated.
The severity of the fouls kinda matters too, yesterday's match was pretty tame all around compared to England vs Colombia. Especially Colombia did some rough fouls (except for after the first 75-ish minutes?), and they successfully animated England to do some too.
On July 11 2018 17:10 SoSexy wrote: I am getting super, super tired of time wasting. It is getting ridicolous. Mbappe was disgusting the last 15 minutes - throwing the ball away, faking things... There are two solutions that I would like to see adopted in Football:
1) The most important one: stop the time when the game is stopped (similar to basketball). This way, all time wasting strategies go to hell. Remove stoppage time and and if 45 or 90 minutes kick in, you continue until the ball goes out (which is basically one last possession for the attackers). 2) Remove substitutions from 80 minutes onwards. It is FUCKING RIDICOLOUS to have players play 2 minutes just to lose some time. Fucking pricks.
I would like to see these done too but then the timing system would be perilously close to the NFL for many Europeans.
What NFL has to do with it anything here lol
This part here:
American football (NFL): The National Football League requires twenty commercial breaks per game, with ten in each half. (Exceptions to this are overtime periods, which have none.) These breaks run either a minute, or two minutes in length.
Is anyone here actually willing to trade getting rid of time wasting with that?
Why would we have to trade here? Poor excuse to let some of the players play time like we've seen this WC. Although, Even commercials would be more interesting than watching a player roll on the ground for 3 solid minutes in "agonizing pain".
We would have to trade, because everyone in footy wants to make as much money as possible and there is no way we would get away without timeouts, TV timeouts and commercials once the clock becomes stoppable.
Why can't we just punish time wasters as it is? Just one warning then a yellow card and a 2nd yellow if they are dumb enough to try a 3rd time. Or just make everyone that rolls around on the floor have to be off field for 1/2 minutes.
Just don't destroy the wonderful thing of no commercials, because of one issue that can easily be solved without it.
On July 11 2018 17:10 SoSexy wrote: I am getting super, super tired of time wasting. It is getting ridicolous. Mbappe was disgusting the last 15 minutes - throwing the ball away, faking things... There are two solutions that I would like to see adopted in Football:
1) The most important one: stop the time when the game is stopped (similar to basketball). This way, all time wasting strategies go to hell. Remove stoppage time and and if 45 or 90 minutes kick in, you continue until the ball goes out (which is basically one last possession for the attackers). 2) Remove substitutions from 80 minutes onwards. It is FUCKING RIDICOLOUS to have players play 2 minutes just to lose some time. Fucking pricks.
I would like to see these done too but then the timing system would be perilously close to the NFL for many Europeans.
What NFL has to do with it anything here lol
This part here:
American football (NFL): The National Football League requires twenty commercial breaks per game, with ten in each half. (Exceptions to this are overtime periods, which have none.) These breaks run either a minute, or two minutes in length.
Is anyone here actually willing to trade getting rid of time wasting with that?
Why would we have to trade here? Poor excuse to let some of the players play time like we've seen this WC. Although, Even commercials would be more interesting than watching a player roll on the ground for 3 solid minutes in "agonizing pain".
We would have to trade, because everyone in footy wants to make as much money as possible and there is no way we would get away without timeouts, TV timeouts and commercials once the clock becomes stoppable.
Why can't we just punish time wasters as it is? Just one warning then a yellow card and a 2nd yellow if they are dumb enough to try a 3rd time. Or just make everyone that rolls around on the floor have to be off field for 1/2 minutes.
Just don't destroy the wonderful thing of no commercials, because of one issue that can easily be solved without it.
Mbappé got punished yesterday and didn't care at all. Indeed, more players could've and perhaps should've done the same dirty tactics, since a single yellow card means nothing. Sure, this would help against teams that time waste after leading 1-0 in the half time, but if the game only goes for 10 minutes anymore, yellow card punishments barely help.
2 or 5 min penalties similar to ice hockey would help more.
The yellow card rule which reset in the Semi Final is the reason for this, so many players doing fouls and stupid shit knowing they cannot be banned from Final unless they get a red card. They are ruining it for those who genuinely get a harsh yellow card or the second of the tournament in the Semi Final to miss the final. Would be better to reset yellow cards in the Quarter Final stage, meaning 2 yellow cards from Quarter > Semi = suspended.
On July 11 2018 17:10 SoSexy wrote: I am getting super, super tired of time wasting. It is getting ridicolous. Mbappe was disgusting the last 15 minutes - throwing the ball away, faking things... There are two solutions that I would like to see adopted in Football:
1) The most important one: stop the time when the game is stopped (similar to basketball). This way, all time wasting strategies go to hell. Remove stoppage time and and if 45 or 90 minutes kick in, you continue until the ball goes out (which is basically one last possession for the attackers). 2) Remove substitutions from 80 minutes onwards. It is FUCKING RIDICOLOUS to have players play 2 minutes just to lose some time. Fucking pricks.
I would like to see these done too but then the timing system would be perilously close to the NFL for many Europeans.
What NFL has to do with it anything here lol
This part here:
American football (NFL): The National Football League requires twenty commercial breaks per game, with ten in each half. (Exceptions to this are overtime periods, which have none.) These breaks run either a minute, or two minutes in length.
Is anyone here actually willing to trade getting rid of time wasting with that?
Why would we have to trade here? Poor excuse to let some of the players play time like we've seen this WC. Although, Even commercials would be more interesting than watching a player roll on the ground for 3 solid minutes in "agonizing pain".
We would have to trade, because everyone in footy wants to make as much money as possible and there is no way we would get away without timeouts, TV timeouts and commercials once the clock becomes stoppable.
Why can't we just punish time wasters as it is? Just one warning then a yellow card and a 2nd yellow if they are dumb enough to try a 3rd time. Or just make everyone that rolls around on the floor have to be off field for 1/2 minutes.
Just don't destroy the wonderful thing of no commercials, because of one issue that can easily be solved without it.
Mbappé got punished yesterday and didn't care at all. Indeed, more players could've and perhaps should've done the same dirty tactics, since a single yellow card means nothing. Sure, this would help against teams that time waste after leading 1-0 in the half time, but if the game only goes for 10 minutes anymore, yellow card punishments barely help.
Mbappe got punished and didn't care at all, because he was carded for time wasting after the 5th time he did it and knew that he would never get a 2nd yellow unless he sat on the ball for 10 minutes.
Additionally you could start punishing the team for time wasting. As in not a player gets a yellow card for time wasting, the team gets a yellow card and a player gets sent off for every subsequent card. Also the referee yesterday allowed france to waste 3 minutes of a 6 minute added time and ended the game at exactly 6 minutes instead of continuing for another 3/5/10.
So many options before introducing a stopping clock and all its consequences.
On July 11 2018 20:14 Pandemona wrote: The yellow card rule which reset in the Semi Final is the reason for this, so many players doing fouls and stupid shit knowing they cannot be banned from Final unless they get a red card. They are ruining it for those who genuinely get a harsh yellow card or the second of the tournament in the Semi Final to miss the final. Would be better to reset yellow cards in the Quarter Final stage, meaning 2 yellow cards from Quarter > Semi = suspended.
Exactly. If we want to stop time wasters by handing out cards, then it should have consequences for the next match.
Why not get rid of the resetting yellow cards rule at all? Why should ever a reset happen for things you have done in a previous match (tactical fouls, timewasting, etc.) that probably helped you come this far.
We need to start rewarding clean play or football will require even more VAR or rule changes to adapt to the unfairness of some teams.
I hope all non English are rooting for us today. French don't like English and most people like the underdog more and Croatia is certainly that compared to England that have better results in WCs and Euro Cup and overall are a bigger and richer football country.
On July 11 2018 20:31 sharkie wrote: Why not get rid of the resetting yellow cards rule at all? Why should ever a reset happen for things you have done in a previous match (tactical fouls, timewasting, etc.) that probably helped you come this far.
We need to start rewarding clean play or football will require even more VAR or rule changes to adapt to the unfairness of some teams.
But then you play, 3 group games and 3 knockout games before the final, that is 6 games to avoid a yellow card in which you can get a yellow card for genuine attempts at the ball and being judged a bit late etc. VAR doesn't save you from yellow cards being given wrongly.
I know what your saying but you must be able to see reality is that getting 2 yellows for a 1 game suspension in 6 games is to much at this level? It works out at 1 yellow card in every 7 and half games = you would get banned in a league situation with the 5 yellow card rule there.
Also I need to add that when WC is done English and French will go back to watching good high level football in their own leagues and root for their teams that get to play vs other good teams almost every week. They get to watch good football often. They also get to continue living in rich and well organized countries (even if they don't know it). We in Croatia only have this. When this is over we go back to our black hole of Europe, both in football sense and in quality of life sense. Then we wait for 2 more years until next big tournament to get to see our team play some good football and win some games vs good opponents. During that time just for a short while we are all happy and for a short time ignore where we life and how we live.
On July 11 2018 20:31 sharkie wrote: Why not get rid of the resetting yellow cards rule at all? Why should ever a reset happen for things you have done in a previous match (tactical fouls, timewasting, etc.) that probably helped you come this far.
We need to start rewarding clean play or football will require even more VAR or rule changes to adapt to the unfairness of some teams.
But then you play, 3 group games and 3 knockout games before the final, that is 6 games to avoid a yellow card in which you can get a yellow card for genuine attempts at the ball and being judged a bit late etc. VAR doesn't save you from yellow cards being given wrongly.
I know what your saying but you must be able to see reality is that getting 2 yellows for a 1 game suspension in 6 games is to much at this level? It works out at 1 yellow card in every 7 and half games = you would get banned in a league situation with the 5 yellow card rule there.
That harsh yellow card rule would probably hurt the first tournament it was implemented but then players would be more careful with their actions. No player would dive, foul as easily as they do now if they get punished accordingly. The reason we even have this discussion is because we have reached a point where yellow cards are actually close to meaningless. They are one of the most pointless things in football. How often have you seen players do yellow-card worthy fouls but not getting one BECAUSE they are already on a yellow and the referee doesn't want to send him off? I have seen that tons and tons of times. A yellow card should be something a player should do his best to avoid getting. This would also stop all the meaningless discussions with the referee the players keep having.
Football would only profit from that rule change but then you would miss half the stars the first few games and FIFA and TV stations dont want that. They always want all the star players play no matter what. To hell with integrity!
On July 11 2018 20:53 -Archangel- wrote: Also I need to add that when WC is done English and French will go back to watching good high level football in their own leagues and root for their teams that get to play vs other good teams almost every week. They get to watch good football often. They also get to continue living in rich and well organized countries (even if they don't know it). We in Croatia only have this. When this is over we go back to our black hole of Europe, both in football sense and in quality of life sense. Then we wait for 2 more years until next big tournament to get to see our team play some good football and win some games vs good opponents. During that time just for a short while we are all happy and for a short time ignore where we life and how we live.
Are you literally asking people to support Croatia out of sympathy?
On July 11 2018 20:53 -Archangel- wrote: Also I need to add that when WC is done English and French will go back to watching good high level football in their own leagues and root for their teams that get to play vs other good teams almost every week. They get to watch good football often. They also get to continue living in rich and well organized countries (even if they don't know it). We in Croatia only have this. When this is over we go back to our black hole of Europe, both in football sense and in quality of life sense. Then we wait for 2 more years until next big tournament to get to see our team play some good football and win some games vs good opponents. During that time just for a short while we are all happy and for a short time ignore where we life and how we live.
You still get one more game on Saturday even if you lose to England, its ok you get to live a bit longer no matter what the outcome
On July 11 2018 20:53 -Archangel- wrote: Also I need to add that when WC is done English and French will go back to watching good high level football in their own leagues and root for their teams that get to play vs other good teams almost every week. They get to watch good football often. They also get to continue living in rich and well organized countries (even if they don't know it). We in Croatia only have this. When this is over we go back to our black hole of Europe, both in football sense and in quality of life sense. Then we wait for 2 more years until next big tournament to get to see our team play some good football and win some games vs good opponents. During that time just for a short while we are all happy and for a short time ignore where we life and how we live.
Are you literally asking people to support Croatia out of sympathy?
lol
No, I am just explaining how much of an underdog we are I am not sure people understand this because they see Modric = Real and Rakitic = Barcelona.
On July 11 2018 20:53 -Archangel- wrote: Also I need to add that when WC is done English and French will go back to watching good high level football in their own leagues and root for their teams that get to play vs other good teams almost every week. They get to watch good football often. They also get to continue living in rich and well organized countries (even if they don't know it). We in Croatia only have this. When this is over we go back to our black hole of Europe, both in football sense and in quality of life sense. Then we wait for 2 more years until next big tournament to get to see our team play some good football and win some games vs good opponents. During that time just for a short while we are all happy and for a short time ignore where we life and how we live.
Are you literally asking people to support Croatia out of sympathy?
lol
No, I am just explaining how much of an underdog we are I am not sure people understand this because they see Modric = Real and Rakitic = Barcelona.
Archangel pls, if you want to win the people over, you can point to the obvious fact that English are proper cunts and if it comes home, world will never hear the end of it. xDD
but in all honesty, i just want this side of the bracket to take the bucket now that French made finals. if for nothing else so that clueless people that watch football every 2 to 4 years and just want to see Messi, CR7 or Neymar in every game can finally shut up about "who's good and who's awful"
Well thanks to the Croatian players pissing of Russians with their political messages the local fans will be on our side too so should be hopefully like a home game tonight.
On July 11 2018 21:43 snailz wrote: Archangel pls, if you want to win the people over, you can point to the obvious fact that English are proper cunts and if it comes home, world will never hear the end of it. xDD
but in all honesty, i just want this side of the bracket to take the bucket now that French made finals. if for nothing else so that clueless people that watch football every 2 to 4 years and just want to see Messi, CR7 or Neymar in every game can finally shut up about "who's good and who's awful"
I'm with you on this one, the emphasis on single players in football is embarassing, it really is a team game and the poster boys are all overrated. I thought the Zidane vs Ronaldo debate was terrible and useless because it lasted so long in France but the height reached by Messi vs CR7 made me hate most of the sports medias. Mbappé's carreer has just began and I'm already tired of seeing so many articles about him.
On July 11 2018 21:58 Pandemona wrote: Well thanks to the Croatian players pissing of Russians with their political messages the local fans will be on our side too so should be hopefully like a home game tonight.
I think that's a rsther overly hopeful estimate. Croatia is the underdog, are fellow Slavs, and are, most importantly, not arrogant cunts
On July 11 2018 21:58 Pandemona wrote: Well thanks to the Croatian players pissing of Russians with their political messages the local fans will be on our side too so should be hopefully like a home game tonight.
I think that's a rsther overly hopeful estimate. Croatia is the underdog, are fellow Slavs, and are, most importantly, not arrogant cunts
? There manager got sacked and sent hom for his Pro Ukraine chants and two of their players are wearing/backing Pro Ukraine messages which has caused Putin to go nuts. Just google it and you see lol. I don't like Political stuff in football as it isn't a place for it but to piss off the home crowd by one, beating the home team on penalties and two then celebrating and throwing this into their faces isn't a good idea is it.
On July 11 2018 20:53 -Archangel- wrote: Also I need to add that when WC is done English and French will go back to watching good high level football in their own leagues and root for their teams that get to play vs other good teams almost every week. They get to watch good football often. They also get to continue living in rich and well organized countries (even if they don't know it). We in Croatia only have this. When this is over we go back to our black hole of Europe, both in football sense and in quality of life sense. Then we wait for 2 more years until next big tournament to get to see our team play some good football and win some games vs good opponents. During that time just for a short while we are all happy and for a short time ignore where we life and how we live.
Come on now. It's not that bad. The standard is actually good if you take out the high taxes/loan rates/prices.
On July 11 2018 21:58 Pandemona wrote: Well thanks to the Croatian players pissing of Russians with their political messages the local fans will be on our side too so should be hopefully like a home game tonight.
I think that's a rsther overly hopeful estimate. Croatia is the underdog, are fellow Slavs, and are, most importantly, not arrogant cunts
hehe, idk.
before WC it was already questionable how Russians would greet us considering our relations with the country that sucks up the most to them (Serbia) and/or the fact we're a Catholic nation. now when Vida said "Slava Ukraini" (Glory to Ukraine) they actually might be butt hurt enough to go with England.
without going into politics too much so i don't piss off Pande or some other mod, i just have to say it's funny how "Viva Italia" is okay but "Slava Ukraini" is not. i did my homework on r/ukraine and most people there are very upset it's being propagated as a facist salute, and blame their neighbors for being too good at media manipulation xD and just for context, Domagoj Vida spent 5 years in Dinamo Kiev and was sending his regards. somehow it ended up being politically important. oh well
in conclusion, as i said earlier --->
On July 11 2018 05:14 snailz wrote: if i heard correctly, our reporter just said russians set off a (false) fire alarm or something during prematch press conference with Cro manager and few of the players xD on top of eliminating them our CB Vida was sending his greetings to Ukraine after the game, it will be fun to watch anthems and who the locals support. can u imagine ruskies on English side? xD that would be nobel peace prize worthy xD
On July 11 2018 21:58 Pandemona wrote: Well thanks to the Croatian players pissing of Russians with their political messages the local fans will be on our side too so should be hopefully like a home game tonight.
I think that's a rsther overly hopeful estimate. Croatia is the underdog, are fellow Slavs, and are, most importantly, not arrogant cunts
? There manager got sacked and sent hom for his Pro Ukraine chants and two of their players are wearing/backing Pro Ukraine messages which has caused Putin to go nuts. Just google it and you see lol. I don't like Political stuff in football as it isn't a place for it but to piss off the home crowd by one, beating the home team on penalties and two then celebrating and throwing this into their faces isn't a good idea is it.
That is a known factor. The problem is that England happens to be a whole lot worse. No way anyone will want to cheer for England from the home crowd, lol.
On July 11 2018 21:58 Pandemona wrote: Well thanks to the Croatian players pissing of Russians with their political messages the local fans will be on our side too so should be hopefully like a home game tonight.
I think that's a rsther overly hopeful estimate. Croatia is the underdog, are fellow Slavs, and are, most importantly, not arrogant cunts
? There manager got sacked and sent hom for his Pro Ukraine chants and two of their players are wearing/backing Pro Ukraine messages which has caused Putin to go nuts. Just google it and you see lol. I don't like Political stuff in football as it isn't a place for it but to piss off the home crowd by one, beating the home team on penalties and two then celebrating and throwing this into their faces isn't a good idea is it.
That is a known factor. The problem is that England happens to be a whole lot worse. No way anyone will want to cheer for England from the home crowd, lol.
I don't mind that everyone hates us. It gives us an excuse to keep being cunts.
On July 11 2018 21:58 Pandemona wrote: Well thanks to the Croatian players pissing of Russians with their political messages the local fans will be on our side too so should be hopefully like a home game tonight.
I think that's a rsther overly hopeful estimate. Croatia is the underdog, are fellow Slavs, and are, most importantly, not arrogant cunts
? There manager got sacked and sent hom for his Pro Ukraine chants and two of their players are wearing/backing Pro Ukraine messages which has caused Putin to go nuts. Just google it and you see lol. I don't like Political stuff in football as it isn't a place for it but to piss off the home crowd by one, beating the home team on penalties and two then celebrating and throwing this into their faces isn't a good idea is it.
well, it's not manager, its scout for NT that got sacked. as for wearing pro-Ukraine shirts i have no idea what ur talking about. care to link?
Domagoj Vida, CB: Glory to Ukraine. Ognjen Vukojevic, (now former) scout for the NT: Victory for Dinamo and Ukraine DV: Let's go let's go OV: Greetings from Croats
- both played for Dinamo Kiev - both spoke in Ukrainian and i'm not 100% on the translation but it's kinda similiar to Croatian
second video:
DV: i'm paying when i come (showing drinks). Slava Ukrajini. Belgrade is burning, let's go! Brother, wave, say hi to Caffe Beograd in Kiev, lit the place up. *both sing* DV: Greetings to all. Jovan, brother, kiss everyone, ciao, kisses.
- this time it was in Croatian, to a Serbian owner of caffe in Kiev. - second guy is Ivica Olic, one of the assistant coaches, and didn't say a word except sing 2 lines. still employed.
conclusion: Russians are delicate flowers, and Serbian media made headlines "Vida wants to set Belgrade on fire", which is just rofl and shows how shitty media can be )) also i just realized what the title of 2nd YT video is. lmao, putin is good ))
On July 11 2018 21:58 Pandemona wrote: Well thanks to the Croatian players pissing of Russians with their political messages the local fans will be on our side too so should be hopefully like a home game tonight.
I think that's a rsther overly hopeful estimate. Croatia is the underdog, are fellow Slavs, and are, most importantly, not arrogant cunts
? There manager got sacked and sent hom for his Pro Ukraine chants and two of their players are wearing/backing Pro Ukraine messages which has caused Putin to go nuts. Just google it and you see lol. I don't like Political stuff in football as it isn't a place for it but to piss off the home crowd by one, beating the home team on penalties and two then celebrating and throwing this into their faces isn't a good idea is it.
That is a known factor. The problem is that England happens to be a whole lot worse. No way anyone will want to cheer for England from the home crowd, lol.
I don't mind that everyone hates us. It gives us an excuse to keep being cunts.
‘spose so.
Ah well. I guess the up/downside of two unwanted teams facing each other in an elimination round is that it doesn’t really make a difference who wins, who loses.
On July 11 2018 20:53 -Archangel- wrote: Also I need to add that when WC is done English and French will go back to watching good high level football in their own leagues and root for their teams that get to play vs other good teams almost every week. They get to watch good football often. They also get to continue living in rich and well organized countries (even if they don't know it). We in Croatia only have this. When this is over we go back to our black hole of Europe, both in football sense and in quality of life sense. Then we wait for 2 more years until next big tournament to get to see our team play some good football and win some games vs good opponents. During that time just for a short while we are all happy and for a short time ignore where we life and how we live.
Are you literally asking people to support Croatia out of sympathy?
lol
No, I am just explaining how much of an underdog we are I am not sure people understand this because they see Modric = Real and Rakitic = Barcelona.
How bad is Croatia quality of life?
We are at the bottom of almost every list in EU. I bet all of your think Greece is worst in EU or something, we are way below them. Since EU opened their job market to us, we lost 500 000 people (official and unofficial) out of our 4.5 mil population.. it is that bad. And our Prime Minister proudly proclaimed that % of unemployed people in Croatia is now lower.. so also no hope for the future. Not even refugees want to stay in Croatia :D
On July 11 2018 21:58 Pandemona wrote: Well thanks to the Croatian players pissing of Russians with their political messages the local fans will be on our side too so should be hopefully like a home game tonight.
I think that's a rsther overly hopeful estimate. Croatia is the underdog, are fellow Slavs, and are, most importantly, not arrogant cunts
? There manager got sacked and sent hom for his Pro Ukraine chants and two of their players are wearing/backing Pro Ukraine messages which has caused Putin to go nuts. Just google it and you see lol. I don't like Political stuff in football as it isn't a place for it but to piss off the home crowd by one, beating the home team on penalties and two then celebrating and throwing this into their faces isn't a good idea is it.
One player (who is of questionable intelligence) and one of the assistant coaches did that stupid video. The player got reprimanded for it and assistant coach got sent home (since he is not of questionable intelligence and should have known better). There is no anti Russian climate within the Croatia team.
On July 11 2018 20:53 -Archangel- wrote: Also I need to add that when WC is done English and French will go back to watching good high level football in their own leagues and root for their teams that get to play vs other good teams almost every week. They get to watch good football often. They also get to continue living in rich and well organized countries (even if they don't know it). We in Croatia only have this. When this is over we go back to our black hole of Europe, both in football sense and in quality of life sense. Then we wait for 2 more years until next big tournament to get to see our team play some good football and win some games vs good opponents. During that time just for a short while we are all happy and for a short time ignore where we life and how we live.
Are you literally asking people to support Croatia out of sympathy?
lol
No, I am just explaining how much of an underdog we are I am not sure people understand this because they see Modric = Real and Rakitic = Barcelona.
How bad is Croatia quality of life?
We are at the bottom of almost every list in EU. I bet all of your think Greece is worst in EU or something, we are way below them. Since EU opened their job market to us, we lost 500 000 people (official and unofficial) out of our 4.5 mil population.. it is that bad. And our Prime Minister proudly proclaimed that % of unemployed people in Croatia is now lower.. so also no hope for the future. Not even refugees want to stay in Croatia :D
I have 3 friends who separately went to live in Croatia and are still there. They are all super happy over there. That's not to say anything about the struggles of the Croatian people, I have no idea about that, but it always looked like a good place for a foreigner to go and live.
On July 11 2018 20:53 -Archangel- wrote: Also I need to add that when WC is done English and French will go back to watching good high level football in their own leagues and root for their teams that get to play vs other good teams almost every week. They get to watch good football often. They also get to continue living in rich and well organized countries (even if they don't know it). We in Croatia only have this. When this is over we go back to our black hole of Europe, both in football sense and in quality of life sense. Then we wait for 2 more years until next big tournament to get to see our team play some good football and win some games vs good opponents. During that time just for a short while we are all happy and for a short time ignore where we life and how we live.
Are you literally asking people to support Croatia out of sympathy?
lol
No, I am just explaining how much of an underdog we are I am not sure people understand this because they see Modric = Real and Rakitic = Barcelona.
How bad is Croatia quality of life?
We are at the bottom of almost every list in EU. I bet all of your think Greece is worst in EU or something, we are way below them. Since EU opened their job market to us, we lost 500 000 people (official and unofficial) out of our 4.5 mil population.. it is that bad. And our Prime Minister proudly proclaimed that % of unemployed people in Croatia is now lower.. so also no hope for the future. Not even refugees want to stay in Croatia :D
I have 3 friends who separately went to live in Croatia and are still there. They are all super happy over there. That's not to say anything about the struggles of the Croatian people, I have no idea about that, but it always looked like a good place for a foreigner to go and live.
A retired foreigner that is getting paid from his own country will live well if he can not get irritated easily by corruption at every step. A foreigner that is just working here and getting a regular Croatian level salary will not be happy. I would expect that guy is here because of a Croatian girl, I will admit our average girl is way more beautiful than in many countries. Also more loyal and "old school".
On July 12 2018 00:16 snailz wrote: have a beer Archangel lmao
World Cup 1998-2018 top 4 finishes:
4: Germany 3: Brasil, Netherlands, France 2: Croatia 1: Argentina, Spain, Uruguay, England, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, Belgium, Korea
what a great company to be in.
last top 4 finish for England till Russia: 1990 WC Italy, Croatia wasn't recognized as an independent state at the time.
You are only looking at last 20 years. Also even 1 WC win means more than 50 2nd places.
i'm looking at first WC we were eligible to qualify, and the runs since then. i'm not saying we're better than any of the countries "below" us, but rather pointing out what an achievement that is for country of 4 mil people. by population, only Uruguay is below us from all countries that made top4 in last 20 years.
Yeah, I mostly cheer against the teams whose fans (be it on TL/reddit or in real life bars, thxfully I don't use twitter) bark too loud and you almost make me want to cheer for England, Archangel :o.
Even tho we are probably favorites in the finals whoever wins tonight, it will be a fucking hard fight to grab that 2nd star. Euro 2016 put us in our place and hopefully we won't repeat the same mistake. Pogba seems to be in the right mindset right now
On July 11 2018 20:53 -Archangel- wrote: Also I need to add that when WC is done English and French will go back to watching good high level football in their own leagues and root for their teams that get to play vs other good teams almost every week. They get to watch good football often. They also get to continue living in rich and well organized countries (even if they don't know it). We in Croatia only have this. When this is over we go back to our black hole of Europe, both in football sense and in quality of life sense. Then we wait for 2 more years until next big tournament to get to see our team play some good football and win some games vs good opponents. During that time just for a short while we are all happy and for a short time ignore where we life and how we live.
Are you literally asking people to support Croatia out of sympathy?
lol
No, I am just explaining how much of an underdog we are I am not sure people understand this because they see Modric = Real and Rakitic = Barcelona.
How bad is Croatia quality of life?
We are at the bottom of almost every list in EU. I bet all of your think Greece is worst in EU or something, we are way below them. Since EU opened their job market to us, we lost 500 000 people (official and unofficial) out of our 4.5 mil population.. it is that bad. And our Prime Minister proudly proclaimed that % of unemployed people in Croatia is now lower.. so also no hope for the future. Not even refugees want to stay in Croatia :D
I have 3 friends who separately went to live in Croatia and are still there. They are all super happy over there. That's not to say anything about the struggles of the Croatian people, I have no idea about that, but it always looked like a good place for a foreigner to go and live.
A retired foreigner that is getting paid from his own country will live well if he can not get irritated easily by corruption at every step. A foreigner that is just working here and getting a regular Croatian level salary will not be happy. I would expect that guy is here because of a Croatian girl, I will admit our average girl is way more beautiful than in many countries. Also more loyal and "old school".
The one and only thing which shocked me in Croatia was the amount of couples with a huge age difference, very beautiful young women with old ugly (and I assume rich) men. Is that what you mean by "old shcool"?
On July 11 2018 20:53 -Archangel- wrote: Also I need to add that when WC is done English and French will go back to watching good high level football in their own leagues and root for their teams that get to play vs other good teams almost every week. They get to watch good football often. They also get to continue living in rich and well organized countries (even if they don't know it). We in Croatia only have this. When this is over we go back to our black hole of Europe, both in football sense and in quality of life sense. Then we wait for 2 more years until next big tournament to get to see our team play some good football and win some games vs good opponents. During that time just for a short while we are all happy and for a short time ignore where we life and how we live.
Are you literally asking people to support Croatia out of sympathy?
lol
No, I am just explaining how much of an underdog we are I am not sure people understand this because they see Modric = Real and Rakitic = Barcelona.
How bad is Croatia quality of life?
We are at the bottom of almost every list in EU. I bet all of your think Greece is worst in EU or something, we are way below them. Since EU opened their job market to us, we lost 500 000 people (official and unofficial) out of our 4.5 mil population.. it is that bad. And our Prime Minister proudly proclaimed that % of unemployed people in Croatia is now lower.. so also no hope for the future. Not even refugees want to stay in Croatia :D
I have 3 friends who separately went to live in Croatia and are still there. They are all super happy over there. That's not to say anything about the struggles of the Croatian people, I have no idea about that, but it always looked like a good place for a foreigner to go and live.
A retired foreigner that is getting paid from his own country will live well if he can not get irritated easily by corruption at every step. A foreigner that is just working here and getting a regular Croatian level salary will not be happy. I would expect that guy is here because of a Croatian girl, I will admit our average girl is way more beautiful than in many countries. Also more loyal and "old school".
The one and only thing which shocked me in Croatia was the amount of couples with a huge age difference, very beautiful young women with old ugly (and I assume rich) men. Is that what you mean by "old shcool"?
no, he means women who will cook and clean and actually enjoy it. but there's new age women as well, gold diggers if you will. so basically same as everywhere in europe, except women on average are a bit more traditional.
maybe now we can go back to football xD how bout that Harry Kane vs Dejan Lovren rematch boys?
edit: while we're discussing football fans and pundits, i've heard Rio Ferdinand was talking about what strategy to use vs France in semifinal prematch show ^^
On July 12 2018 00:29 Poopi wrote: Yeah, I mostly cheer against the teams whose fans (be it on TL/reddit or in real life bars, thxfully I don't use twitter) bark too loud and you almost make me want to cheer for England, Archangel :o.
Whoa whoa whoa, even this isn't anywhere close to England fans.
Croatia look jaded af. But England arent making it easy. They are playing really fast. Sterling is playing on the shoulder and Kane is dropping deeper.
Usually they mix it up. This time Sterling hasnt been back to his half yet.
On July 12 2018 03:43 Shellshock wrote: American color commentator doesn’t know anything about Croatia or its players beside “it’s got a small population” Been brought up like 7 times
I watch American TV with the sound down, their commentary is usually quite useless. The choices are quite limited though.
Sometimes you can get coverage from Mexican TV in the US, which is much better. My Spanish is a little rusty though, lol.
How on earth is Lovren on the pitch let alone not booked lol. He takes out Kane as last man and gets no card. Then minutes later he cleans up Sterling in a 1on1 without getting near ball. Has 0 yellow cards, could have even been 2x yellow
Then you have Rebic who rushes back to tackle aggressively after not winning his own freekick and again gets nothing.
Cakir you have to use your yellow cards ffs.
Other than that England playing well but we need to take these chances, Kane being un Kane like with those finishes
On July 12 2018 03:51 Pandemona wrote: How on earth is Lovren on the pitch let alone not booked lol. He takes out Kane as last man and gets no card. Then minutes later he cleans up Sterling in a 1on1 without getting near ball. Has 0 yellow cards, could have even been 2x yellow
Then you have Rebic who rushes back to tackle aggressively after not winning his own freekick and again gets nothing.
Cakir you have to use your yellow cards ffs.
Other than that England playing well but we need to take these chances, Kane being un Kane like with those finishes
COME ON ENGLAND BRING IT HOME!
You could at least mention how you were lucky not to get a penalty
On July 12 2018 03:51 Pandemona wrote: How on earth is Lovren on the pitch let alone not booked lol. He takes out Kane as last man and gets no card. Then minutes later he cleans up Sterling in a 1on1 without getting near ball. Has 0 yellow cards, could have even been 2x yellow
Then you have Rebic who rushes back to tackle aggressively after not winning his own freekick and again gets nothing.
Cakir you have to use your yellow cards ffs.
Other than that England playing well but we need to take these chances, Kane being un Kane like with those finishes
COME ON ENGLAND BRING IT HOME!
You could at least mention how you were lucky not to get a penalty
On July 12 2018 03:51 Pandemona wrote: How on earth is Lovren on the pitch let alone not booked lol. He takes out Kane as last man and gets no card. Then minutes later he cleans up Sterling in a 1on1 without getting near ball. Has 0 yellow cards, could have even been 2x yellow
Then you have Rebic who rushes back to tackle aggressively after not winning his own freekick and again gets nothing.
Cakir you have to use your yellow cards ffs.
Other than that England playing well but we need to take these chances, Kane being un Kane like with those finishes
COME ON ENGLAND BRING IT HOME!
You could at least mention how you were lucky not to get a penalty
What penalty? lol
Lovren was fouled during the last free kick from Croatia
Croatia needs to have another in the box or something. They are not connecting at all so even if they keep making runs, they won't get a goal at this rate before the game is over.
On July 12 2018 04:19 Faruko wrote: England well positioned on the field meaning Croatia has been quite harmless, but maybe too early to get too defensive, still 30 minutes to go
On July 12 2018 04:31 BigFan wrote: England looks pressured now. I think they thought they won when they got that first goal and took it easy.
Not sure, they tried a lot after that but the forwards are having an off day so far for them, should've been 2 or 3-0 at halftime
It's always so interesting how the mental game influences play, suddenly Croatia look way more dangerous after that goal, it's like they didn't believe it before or something.
On July 12 2018 04:31 BigFan wrote: England looks pressured now. I think they thought they won when they got that first goal and took it easy.
Not sure, they tried a lot after that but the forwards are having an off day so far for them, should've been 2 or 3-0 at halftime
It's always so interesting how the mental game influences play, suddenly Croatia look way more dangerous after that goal, it's like they didn't believe it before or something.
They have made a tactical adjustment aswell. They changed formation and thats allowing the wide players to pressure more and forcing Englands midfield players to isolate the forwards on the help defense.
England hasnt gotten an answer to that. And that plays in your head aswell. All of a sudden the things you were donig arent working anymore, Croatia gets their tail up aswell.
Great teams and managers problem solve these things.
On July 12 2018 04:31 BigFan wrote: England looks pressured now. I think they thought they won when they got that first goal and took it easy.
Not sure, they tried a lot after that but the forwards are having an off day so far for them, should've been 2 or 3-0 at halftime
It's always so interesting how the mental game influences play, suddenly Croatia look way more dangerous after that goal, it's like they didn't believe it before or something.
I mean, sure, they kept trying and had some chances but mentally, it felt like they thought they had it in the bag. Croatia looked dead but kept trying. Now they are revived and more dangerous than ever. If they get goal now, it's over.
Lovren has made 5 fouls this game has 0 yellow cards. Cakir is fucking awful, he is either full retard and books for everything or doesn't book at all. Only thing he done is book for dissent. Mandzukic for throwing ball away and Walker for keeping ball and not giving it back.
AWFUL.
Somehow England are level after a first half in which they should have been 3-0 up. They have shot themselves in the foot and allowed the Croatians back into this game by letting them freely cross the ball.
Need hope we can show a bit more energy in extra time and put them to the sword again, there is so much space for us in midfield its unreal.
On July 12 2018 04:52 Pandemona wrote: Lovren has made 5 fouls this game has 0 yellow cards. Cakir is fucking awful, he is either full retard and books for everything or doesn't book at all. Only thing he done is book for dissent. Mandzukic for throwing ball away and Walker for keeping ball and not giving it back.
AWFUL.
Somehow England are level after a first half in which they should have been 3-0 up. They have shot themselves in the foot and allowed the Croatians back into this game by letting them freely cross the ball.
Need hope we can show a bit more energy in extra time and put them to the sword again, there is so much space for us in midfield its unreal.
you forgot the penalty, it would have been 3-1 in the first half
On July 12 2018 04:52 Pandemona wrote: Lovren has made 5 fouls this game has 0 yellow cards. Cakir is fucking awful, he is either full retard and books for everything or doesn't book at all. Only thing he done is book for dissent. Mandzukic for throwing ball away and Walker for keeping ball and not giving it back.
AWFUL.
Somehow England are level after a first half in which they should have been 3-0 up. They have shot themselves in the foot and allowed the Croatians back into this game by letting them freely cross the ball.
Need hope we can show a bit more energy in extra time and put them to the sword again, there is so much space for us in midfield its unreal.
you forgot the penalty, it would have been 3-1 in the first half
they said they checked during half-time and it wasn't a penalty supposedly.
On July 12 2018 04:52 Pandemona wrote: Lovren has made 5 fouls this game has 0 yellow cards. Cakir is fucking awful, he is either full retard and books for everything or doesn't book at all. Only thing he done is book for dissent. Mandzukic for throwing ball away and Walker for keeping ball and not giving it back.
AWFUL.
Somehow England are level after a first half in which they should have been 3-0 up. They have shot themselves in the foot and allowed the Croatians back into this game by letting them freely cross the ball.
Need hope we can show a bit more energy in extra time and put them to the sword again, there is so much space for us in midfield its unreal.
you forgot the penalty, it would have been 3-1 in the first half
There is 0 penalties, VAR even looked at it. Roy Keane himself said it wasn't even anything to look at. Lovren is tugging at Maguire shirt and Maguire is touch tight.
On July 12 2018 04:52 Pandemona wrote: Lovren has made 5 fouls this game has 0 yellow cards. Cakir is fucking awful, he is either full retard and books for everything or doesn't book at all. Only thing he done is book for dissent. Mandzukic for throwing ball away and Walker for keeping ball and not giving it back.
AWFUL.
Somehow England are level after a first half in which they should have been 3-0 up. They have shot themselves in the foot and allowed the Croatians back into this game by letting them freely cross the ball.
Need hope we can show a bit more energy in extra time and put them to the sword again, there is so much space for us in midfield its unreal.
you forgot the penalty, it would have been 3-1 in the first half
they said they checked during half-time and it wasn't a penalty supposedly.
Yeah but VAR has missed things quite a bit in the knockout stages
On July 12 2018 04:52 Pandemona wrote: Lovren has made 5 fouls this game has 0 yellow cards. Cakir is fucking awful, he is either full retard and books for everything or doesn't book at all. Only thing he done is book for dissent. Mandzukic for throwing ball away and Walker for keeping ball and not giving it back.
AWFUL.
Somehow England are level after a first half in which they should have been 3-0 up. They have shot themselves in the foot and allowed the Croatians back into this game by letting them freely cross the ball.
Need hope we can show a bit more energy in extra time and put them to the sword again, there is so much space for us in midfield its unreal.
you forgot the penalty, it would have been 3-1 in the first half
There is 0 penalties, VAR even looked at it. Roy Keane himself said it wasn't even anything to look at. Lovren is tugging at Maguire shirt and Maguire is touch tight.
You guys had lots of opportunities in the first half, might end up regretting it in ET.
On July 12 2018 04:56 Shellshock wrote: Factoid 2: Croatia is the 2nd team to go to 3 straight extra times at the World Cup. The first was 1990 England who lost in the semis
This is the time when the defeat to the Portuguese will be helpful, our players are still salty about it. After seeing this game between Croatia and England they might have become overconfident but they've learnt their lesson well.
Also how the hell England disappeared after the equaliser? I thought they would be mentally stronger than that.
On July 12 2018 04:57 nojok wrote: This is the time when the defeat to the Portuguese will be helpful, our players are still salty about it. After seeing this game between Croatia and England they might have become overconfident but they've learnt their lesson well.
Also how the hell England disappeared after the equaliser? I thought they would be mentally stronger than that.
my guess are massive expectations, much like Brazil's team was feeling it. Croatia on the other hand has made their highest appearance again in WC history so if they make it further, it's icing on the cake, aka less pressure.
I'm proud of England they played well for kids but Croatia really showed our weaknesses as a team. Watch out at the Euros though we're only gonna get better.
There's a betting pool going on where I work. I put money down on France and Croatia to win it all. Guess who's walking away with money regardless of the end result?
On July 12 2018 05:43 sharkie wrote: 7-1 goal shots, england never deserved to go through
While I agree, England was the better side until the goal at 68 min mark, with Croatia not making a single chance. Croatia have the better players but they didn't show it for 70 minutes. England had some big chances, especially in 1st half
Experienced showed, they didn't know how to handle a referee who refused to give freekicks for fouls or book players for constantly fouling. The amount of shoving and what not as well it just a referee not in control. He also has an ego, refs with egos are awful, just look at Mike Dean. Lovren makes 3 clear fouls, one a push to stop Kane when he was technically last man no yellow which its a yellow every day of week. Then 5 minutes later he just pushes Sterling off the ball when they were one on one. He then fouls after that in second half. When his side gave a freekick away he runs and pushes Lindgard in the back off the ball when its dead, again no yellow card lol. Rebic made 6 fouls, got 1 yellow at the end. Vrsaljko the right back 4 fouls 0 yellows, ref just didn't want to book anyone...why? Again a team with 23 fouls against us and 2 yellow cards were issued, one for dissent haha laughable!
We can't do much when our centre in Walker is doing stuff like that to concede as well just throwing a leg at the ball is suicide, if he comes out and tries to head it its not a goal but instead he swings a boot at it and yes Croatia get lucky with bounce but that is so niaive defending.
But i'll point to the Spurs lads again doing what they do best, get close to winning something and choking. Kane worst performance, in a semi final again! Alli, irrelevant all game and still on pitch as well! We need some midfielders coming in and unless Henderson was injured that was the worst sub of all time, let alone the not taking Trippier off before he died on the pitch even though he had been injured since 75th minute lol.
On July 12 2018 05:49 Seeker wrote: There's a betting pool going on where I work. I put money down on France and Croatia to win it all. Guess who's walking away with money regardless of the end result?
Same. I had Croatia and France in top 4. With Spain and Germany lol
France have been tactically very solid and have some insane individual quality. But Croatia showed more passion and still have some top quality players in there. I think 70/30 for France.
Will be the easiest win for France, Croatia were awful defensively and their midfield is shot and on its legs. England midfield of a Winger (Lindgard) Dele Alli who needs 2 runners around him at spurs and Henderson who is the only one doing a 3 person job, dominated the Croatian midfield in the first half and had so much space. Imagine what Kante and Pogba will do to that haha. Be most one sided world cup final since 1970/1998
On July 12 2018 05:51 Poopi wrote: Fuck yeah! Two best teams of this World Cup meet in the finals.
It will be difficult but they should be more tired than us!
Lol no Croatia has been very weak, all teams of the upper bracket were stronger.
They trashed Argentina.
In which France should have done the same thing too but herp derped a bit as Argentina actually showed a glimpse of fightback. Vs Croatia they were like Panama level.
On July 12 2018 05:51 Poopi wrote: Fuck yeah! Two best teams of this World Cup meet in the finals.
It will be difficult but they should be more tired than us!
Lol no Croatia has been very weak, all teams of the upper bracket were stronger.
They trashed Argentina.
One huge gift and a last second goal when Argentina litterally stopped playing. And yeah as pointed, Argentina is trash, they were extremely lucky against France.
edit : Well maybe better than Argentina and Japan but I would not bet on them against Portugal or Uruguay.
On July 12 2018 05:43 sharkie wrote: 7-1 goal shots, england never deserved to go through
While I agree, England was the better side until the goal at 68 min mark, with Croatia not making a single chance. Croatia have the better players but they didn't show it for 70 minutes. England had some big chances, especially in 1st half
I wouldn't say it was intentional from Croatia to tire England, but we've seen it so many times. The team that goes berserk with the pressing in the 1st half and failing to end the game quickly not being able to handle it after 60mins.
There were some comments at the end of the 1st half saying Croatia is falling apart but it was only a matter of time until England's pressing fell off, physically impossible to keep that up for 90.
On July 12 2018 05:50 Pandemona wrote: Experienced showed, they didn't know how to handle a referee who refused to give freekicks for fouls or book players for constantly fouling. The amount of shoving and what not as well it just a referee not in control. He also has an ego, refs with egos are awful, just look at Mike Dean. Lovren makes 3 clear fouls, one a push to stop Kane when he was technically last man no yellow which its a yellow every day of week. Then 5 minutes later he just pushes Sterling off the ball when they were one on one. He then fouls after that in second half. When his side gave a freekick away he runs and pushes Lindgard in the back off the ball when its dead, again no yellow card lol. Rebic made 6 fouls, got 1 yellow at the end. Vrsaljko the right back 4 fouls 0 yellows, ref just didn't want to book anyone...why? Again a team with 23 fouls against us and 2 yellow cards were issued, one for dissent haha laughable!
We can't do much when our centre in Walker is doing stuff like that to concede as well just throwing a leg at the ball is suicide, if he comes out and tries to head it its not a goal but instead he swings a boot at it and yes Croatia get lucky with bounce but that is so niaive defending.
But i'll point to the Spurs lads again doing what they do best, get close to winning something and choking. Kane worst performance, in a semi final again! Alli, irrelevant all game and still on pitch as well! We need some midfielders coming in and unless Henderson was injured that was the worst sub of all time, let alone the not taking Trippier off before he died on the pitch even though he had been injured since 75th minute lol.
Guys please keep saying France has a sure win. Please keep saying Croatia is tired and cannot play. Please do that every day. Argentina did and England did. See you on Sunday
On July 12 2018 06:02 sharkie wrote: Henderson was totally alone in the midfield of England. Dont the English have some midfielders? Its defenders and forwards only
Lampard Gerrard Scholes in one generation, into a generation of nothing else is an issue indeed. We were screaming out for 10s at one point and still haven't got those. Now we have players like Henderson who is ok but needs a good player alongside him. We are desperate for a new Lampard/Gerrard midfield player or a proper Cesc Fabregas type player.
On July 12 2018 06:02 sharkie wrote: Henderson was totally alone in the midfield of England. Dont the English have some midfielders? Its defenders and forwards only
Lampard Gerrard Scholes in one generation, into a generation of nothing else is an issue indeed. We were screaming out for 10s at one point and still haven't got those. Now we have players like Henderson who is ok but needs a good player alongside him. We are desperate for a new Lampard/Gerrard midfield player or a proper Cesc Fabregas type player.
On July 12 2018 06:02 sharkie wrote: Henderson was totally alone in the midfield of England. Dont the English have some midfielders? Its defenders and forwards only
Lampard Gerrard Scholes in one generation, into a generation of nothing else is an issue indeed. We were screaming out for 10s at one point and still haven't got those. Now we have players like Henderson who is ok but needs a good player alongside him. We are desperate for a new Lampard/Gerrard midfield player or a proper Cesc Fabregas type player.
Wilshere is definitely a good enough midfielder for world cup level. Not worldclass but way better than anyone you had in your squad
On July 12 2018 06:09 Pandemona wrote: Wilshire coming off bench maybe yeah, but again he isn't that elite level player, not having him in squad is questionable for sure.
Wilshere wouldnt have done shit. There has been no evidence from his play this season that he was better than any midfielder in the Squad, cept maybe Loftus Cheek
On July 12 2018 06:03 -Archangel- wrote: Guys please keep saying France has a sure win. Please keep saying Croatia is tired and cannot play. Please do that every day. Argentina did and England did. See you on Sunday
1958 - Brazil wins 1st title 1978 - Argentina wins 1st title 1998 - France wins 1st title 2018 - Croatia wins 1st title
People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Pretty good game. Croatia, much like against Russia, started being weaker and it felt like they were too nervous or something. But they really found into the game later in the 2nd half and after that were completely dominating except some in the first extra time.
We were the better side, England caught us by surprise, but a tactical adjustment after half time produced results and England couldn't cope with it, probably due to inexperience. Ref was awful though.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
The only ones writing Croatia ever off were the English. No one else thought that England would steamroll over Croatia
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Oh, and i think this England with a few key pieces (a CM/AM) a proper CF (Kane is sick but if he keeps disappearing when needed England definitely needs another top tier forward), a bit more mature and they can win next Euro with a little luck
On July 12 2018 06:28 Faruko wrote: Oh, and i think this England with a few key pieces (a CM/AM) a proper CF (Kane is sick but if he keeps disappearing when needed England definitely needs another top tier forward), a bit more mature and they can win next Euro with a little luck
I agree, this England is sure to win something in the future. We are already going to be facing them again in Euro League this autumn and I expect they win this time. Our players are not going to be very motivated and they will want to take their revenge on us.
Good, England is not in the finals, such untalented team that lost to get a better bracket should not go that far. Hopefully they lose again to Belgium.
Croatia managed to win 4 overtimes(3 pk), they should be exhausted now, right?
On July 12 2018 07:03 ivancype wrote: Good, England is not in the finals, such untalented team that lost to get a better bracket should not go that far. Hopefully they lose again to Belgium.
Croatia managed to win 4 overtimes(3 pk), they should be exhausted now, right?
3 overtimes and 2 pk.
And they are not exhausted, they are being powered by belief, grit and rocks instead of balls. When Mbappe sees them on the field he will immediately poop into his diapers.
I am proud of England, most didn't think they'd come this far but they did. Seemed like Croatia just wanted it more than England with the way they played.
On July 12 2018 06:28 Faruko wrote: Oh, and i think this England with a few key pieces (a CM/AM) a proper CF (Kane is sick but if he keeps disappearing when needed England definitely needs another top tier forward), a bit more mature and they can win next Euro with a little luck
I agree, this England is sure to win something in the future. We are already going to be facing them again in Euro League this autumn and I expect they win this time. Our players are not going to be very motivated and they will want to take their revenge on us.
england youth teams won the u-20 and u-17 last few years ago, so it'd be a shock (gasp) if they didn't win anything major within the next decade.
About half the teams had this weird misunderstanding about the kickoff rule in this tournament. All those teams doing those "one lone guy must stay in the opponents half, while the rest goes to the town for party" goal celebrations were showing it. And when asked they all cited a not existing rule.
And England weren't the first one either to try to 'exploit' the other team not following this stupid shit. Other teams did this before this WC. Yo, surprise.... There is no such imaginary rule and it always gets called off.
In short: kickoff is allowed when the ref whistles it and all players are in their own half. The rule is not "you can kickoff as soon as no player is in your half (like them being at the stands celebrating)".
I would say this is one of the rare tournament that england played with some sort of a plan. However that plan did not include knowing how to score from open play. They definitely need someone more creative in midfield.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Good news is england doesn't have a talented squad XD so that works for him!
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Good news is england doesn't have a talented squad XD so that works for him!
Well at the current rate of English clubs spending money on importing expensive players, I'm concerned the local talents won't have room to grow. Their whatever 17s or 20s will probably spending their time on the bench for 1 or 2 seasons before going out on loan to have their career at a lower tier league.
Spain and Germany have been successful internationally because their top clubs support the growth of local talent.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Good news is england doesn't have a talented squad XD so that works for him!
Well at the current rate of English clubs spending money on importing expensive players, I'm concerned the local talents won't have room to grow. Their whatever 17s or 20s will probably spending their time on the bench for 1 or 2 seasons before going out on loan to have their career at a lower tier league.
Spain and Germany have been successful internationally because their top clubs support the growth of local talent.
I just want to add that besides this year Liverpool reaching finals English team is for the last what 4-5 years done nothing in CL which again shows even when importing expensive players they lack the base to play on par with Spain/Germany/Italy and its been like that right after the Ferguson MU years.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Good news is england doesn't have a talented squad XD so that works for him!
Well at the current rate of English clubs spending money on importing expensive players, I'm concerned the local talents won't have room to grow. Their whatever 17s or 20s will probably spending their time on the bench for 1 or 2 seasons before going out on loan to have their career at a lower tier league.
Spain and Germany have been successful internationally because their top clubs support the growth of local talent.
I just want to add that besides this year Liverpool reaching finals English team is for the last what 4-5 years done nothing in CL which again shows even when importing expensive players they lack the base to play on par with Spain/Germany/Italy and its been like that right after the Ferguson MU years.
i think despite CL results, teams will continue doing so because it attracts viewers and viewers bring money to the league business wise it's working pretty good but yea I get your point
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Good news is england doesn't have a talented squad XD so that works for him!
Well at the current rate of English clubs spending money on importing expensive players, I'm concerned the local talents won't have room to grow. Their whatever 17s or 20s will probably spending their time on the bench for 1 or 2 seasons before going out on loan to have their career at a lower tier league.
Spain and Germany have been successful internationally because their top clubs support the growth of local talent.
I just want to add that besides this year Liverpool reaching finals English team is for the last what 4-5 years done nothing in CL which again shows even when importing expensive players they lack the base to play on par with Spain/Germany/Italy and its been like that right after the Ferguson MU years.
i think despite CL results, teams will continue doing so because it attracts viewers and viewers bring money to the league business wise it's working pretty good but yea I get your point
The best part for those English guys is the exposure they got from this WC and some of them will for sure get good deals and maybe join better teams.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Wow, just wow.. your only worthy win was vs Belgium and mostly because your team played like pussies whole second half and stole time wherever you could. Argentina that we destroyed scored 3 goal against you. This amount of hubris beats even English fansnewspapers...
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
The thing is the bracket was uneven and this was due to teams like Germany and Argentina who were in the finals 4 years ago under performing which made this situation. Imagine of Argentina went first and Germany first in the groups they participated, we would watch 1/2 final Argentina vs Germany not Croatia vs England but its all or nothing with no loser brackets so your opinion is valid in theory but in reality France will play as favorite again in a final same as 2 years ago and we know how that went down dont we.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Wow, just wow.. your only worth win was vs Belgium and mostly because your team played like pussies whole second half and stole time wherever you could. Argentina that we destroyed scored 3 goal against you. This amount of hubris beats even English fansnewspapers...
He thinks France are amazing cos they scored a set piece against Belgium and then wasted the last 40 minutes of the game pretending to be hurt taking 5 minutes over every throw in. I hope you guys destroy France and show them for the arrogant players they are. Croatia deserve the win so much more.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Are you fucking kidding me. Portugal failed to win a single game in the group stages and then got the easiest possible way to the finals.
I think in this world cup we can safely say that the best teams of both upper and lower bracket got into the finals. Obviously the strength of the two brackets is massively unbalanced but France was the best team IN THIS TOURNAMENT of the UPPER bracket and Croatia was the best team IN THIS TOURNAMENT of the LOWER bracket.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Are you fucking kidding me. Portugal failed to win a single game in the group stages and then got the easiest possible way to the finals.
Croatia at least went 9/9 in groups.
Easiest? Portugal beat us on the way to finals And we played better than them for most of that game. And in Euro 2016 we also played very good, we destroyed Spain in our group.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Wow, just wow.. your only worthy win was vs Belgium and mostly because your team played like pussies whole second half and stole time wherever you could. Argentina that we destroyed scored 3 goal against you. This amount of hubris beats even English fansnewspapers...
It's blatant your team is weak, the whole tournament is weak, it's a joke, we've missed at least 4 good teams for it to be a good tournament. It's euro 2016 all over again. The second part of the bracket was atrocious.
The story telling of big names falling made it entertaining but once we look at the level of play it's the weakest world cup I've ever seen.
Do you think this Croatian team would stand a chance against Argentina 2014, Netherlands 2010, France 2006, Germany 2002? No they wouldn't.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Wow, just wow.. your only worthy win was vs Belgium and mostly because your team played like pussies whole second half and stole time wherever you could. Argentina that we destroyed scored 3 goal against you. This amount of hubris beats even English fansnewspapers...
It's blatant your team is weak, the whole tournament is weak, it's a joke, we've missed at least 4 good teams for it to be a good tournament. It's euro 2016 all over again. The second part of the bracket was atrocious.
The story telling of big names falling made it entertaining but once we look at the level of play it's the weakest world cup I've ever seen.
Do you think this Croatian team would stand a chance against Argentina 2014, Netherlands 2010, France 2006, Germany 2002? No they wouldn't.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Wow, just wow.. your only worthy win was vs Belgium and mostly because your team played like pussies whole second half and stole time wherever you could. Argentina that we destroyed scored 3 goal against you. This amount of hubris beats even English fansnewspapers...
It's blatant your team is weak, the whole tournament is weak, it's a joke, we've missed at least 4 good teams for it to be a good tournament. It's euro 2016 all over again. The second part of the bracket was atrocious.
The story telling of big names falling made it entertaining but once we look at the level of play it's the weakest world cup I've ever seen.
Do you think this Croatian team would stand a chance against Argentina 2014, Netherlands 2010, France 2006, Germany 2002? No they wouldn't.
This Croatian team is on par with Argentina 2014, weaker than Netherlands 2010, weaker than France 2006 and stronger than Germany 2002. So there is nothing atrocious about this world cup.
Personally I enjoyed this world cup very much. The knockout games with Sweden were the worst games though
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Wow, just wow.. your only worthy win was vs Belgium and mostly because your team played like pussies whole second half and stole time wherever you could. Argentina that we destroyed scored 3 goal against you. This amount of hubris beats even English fansnewspapers...
It's blatant your team is weak, the whole tournament is weak, it's a joke, we've missed at least 4 good teams for it to be a good tournament. It's euro 2016 all over again. The second part of the bracket was atrocious.
The story telling of big names falling made it entertaining but once we look at the level of play it's the weakest world cup I've ever seen.
Do you think this Croatian team would stand a chance against Argentina 2014, Netherlands 2010, France 2006, Germany 2002? No they wouldn't.
This Croatian team is on par with Argentina 2014, weaker than Netherlands 2010, weaker than France 2006 and stronger than Germany 2002. So there is nothing atrocious about this world cup.
Personally I enjoyed this world cup very much. The knockout games with Sweden were the worst games though
I've really enjoyed it too. I'd rather a slight dip in quality if it means more entertaining games. I watch for entertainment not because I'm measuring the quality. Its the tactical battles, storylines, upsets and mistakes that make football interesting.
On July 12 2018 17:12 Artisreal wrote: This tournament has some serious quality of play issues.
I think it had good quality for being a worldcup. Worlcups usually are less tactical and less trained and prepared than this worldcup. It is not beautiful to see (posession or attacking teams were eliminated soon) but I think it is a worldcup with more quality and high level play than others that I remember. Obviously less than Club football as always, but not so bad.
Kick and rush was more entertaining than this do-nothing-make-a-break-and-score style of games we've had. Semi finals were a rare alternative to that but looking at the minimal shots on the goal is rather telling for this WC. Some teams play well until the box and then cant break through the 8 man defense line. This is incredibly boring to watch.
I seem to have missed every good game this WC though so I might be rather biased.
Let's hope for a good finals and a decent sportsmanship from both teams.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
I was about to type my lengthy response but I realised that you must be trolling ...
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Wow, just wow.. your only worthy win was vs Belgium and mostly because your team played like pussies whole second half and stole time wherever you could. Argentina that we destroyed scored 3 goal against you. This amount of hubris beats even English fansnewspapers...
It's blatant your team is weak, the whole tournament is weak, it's a joke, we've missed at least 4 good teams for it to be a good tournament. It's euro 2016 all over again. The second part of the bracket was atrocious.
The story telling of big names falling made it entertaining but once we look at the level of play it's the weakest world cup I've ever seen.
Do you think this Croatian team would stand a chance against Argentina 2014, Netherlands 2010, France 2006, Germany 2002? No they wouldn't.
Germany 2002? Really? The only thing good about that team was Kahn. But it sounds like you are mostly in this to bait croatians, anyway.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Wow, just wow.. your only worthy win was vs Belgium and mostly because your team played like pussies whole second half and stole time wherever you could. Argentina that we destroyed scored 3 goal against you. This amount of hubris beats even English fansnewspapers...
It's blatant your team is weak, the whole tournament is weak, it's a joke, we've missed at least 4 good teams for it to be a good tournament. It's euro 2016 all over again. The second part of the bracket was atrocious.
The story telling of big names falling made it entertaining but once we look at the level of play it's the weakest world cup I've ever seen.
Do you think this Croatian team would stand a chance against Argentina 2014, Netherlands 2010, France 2006, Germany 2002? No they wouldn't.
I'm embarassed to be french now. Good job. (Or were your trolling your last 2 posts ?)
I kinda hope croatia scores first. This way we might have a chance to watch a great football game. If France scores first, it will be France-Belgium on repeat...
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
I was about to type my lengthy response but I realised that you must be trolling ...
Yeah a team which got draws against Denmark and Russia is the top team, wow, hype. None of you seem to realise the quality France showed against Belgium and Uruguay, it was no basic park the bus like the Koreans and Mexicans did against Germany or Belgium against Brazil. It was top notch discipline, organisation, similar to Italians all time best sides or 20th century Germany.
It's so easy to dismisss what does not fit your narrative with "it must be trolling".
I'm salty, the final is spoiled. For once we show up with a good team, we face almost nobody. It will be slapped in our face every time we mention this win.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
I was about to type my lengthy response but I realised that you must be trolling ...
Yeah a team which got draws against Denmark and Russia is the top team, wow, hype. None of you seem to realise the quality France showed against Belgium and Uruguay, it was no basic park the bus like the Koreans and Mexicans did against Germany or Belgium against Brazil. It was top notch discipline, organisation, similar to Italians all time best sides or 20th century Germany.
It's so easy to dismisss what does not fit your narrative with "it must be trolling".
I'm salty, the final is spoiled. For once we show up with a good team, we face almost nobody. It will be slapped in our face every time we mention this win.
I hope you lose. So much more each time you post, and your confidence is a no win situation for you.
All this talk about "oh they are in finals cuz brackets, pen, gifts, etc." is irrelevant. They didn't choke when everyone else did and thats why they are in the finals. All it will take for Croatia to win it is another Umtiti slam dunk so I'd be worried if i were you.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
I was about to type my lengthy response but I realised that you must be trolling ...
Yeah a team which got draws against Denmark and Russia is the top team, wow, hype. None of you seem to realise the quality France showed against Belgium and Uruguay, it was no basic park the bus like the Koreans and Mexicans did against Germany or Belgium against Brazil. It was top notch discipline, organisation, similar to Italians all time best sides or 20th century Germany.
It's so easy to dismisss what does not fit your narrative with "it must be trolling".
I'm salty, the final is spoiled. For once we show up with a good team, we face almost nobody. It will be slapped in our face every time we mention this win.
Following your logic, France is weak because they almost got taken down by Argentina (4-3), but Croatia beat Argentina 3-0, so Croatia is better than France.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
I was about to type my lengthy response but I realised that you must be trolling ...
Yeah a team which got draws against Denmark and Russia is the top team, wow, hype. None of you seem to realise the quality France showed against Belgium and Uruguay, it was no basic park the bus like the Koreans and Mexicans did against Germany or Belgium against Brazil. It was top notch discipline, organisation, similar to Italians all time best sides or 20th century Germany.
It's so easy to dismisss what does not fit your narrative with "it must be trolling".
I'm salty, the final is spoiled. For once we show up with a good team, we face almost nobody. It will be slapped in our face every time we mention this win.
I hope you lose. So much more each time you post, and your confidence is a no win situation for you.
The worst thing is he was really pessimistic at the start of the tournament, hell, even for france vs uruguay he thought france would lose. So i don't get why he got so arrogant now.
I mean one could argue Seed, Sniper, roro etc they weren't quality winners but so what they still have a Code S and people like Taeja, mkp and leenock don't.
The hilarious part is that Panama tried this vs England and got a load of shit for it (and rightfully so). Then England goes and does the same.
Also hilarious apparently English fan reddit mods kept deleting this highlight and banning people for posting it on /r/soccer for a while before caving to the backlash
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
I was about to type my lengthy response but I realised that you must be trolling ...
Yeah a team which got draws against Denmark and Russia is the top team, wow, hype. None of you seem to realise the quality France showed against Belgium and Uruguay, it was no basic park the bus like the Koreans and Mexicans did against Germany or Belgium against Brazil. It was top notch discipline, organisation, similar to Italians all time best sides or 20th century Germany.
It's so easy to dismisss what does not fit your narrative with "it must be trolling".
I'm salty, the final is spoiled. For once we show up with a good team, we face almost nobody. It will be slapped in our face every time we mention this win.
wow if you are serious then you must be living under a rock ...
By being dominated, do you mean Croatia had more possession and more attempts/on-target attempts than every other opponent they've faced so far, with the only exception against Argentina which they won it comfortably anyway.
What quality football that France has delivered so far which made them better than Croatia?
A penalty and a lucky deflection goal against a shitty Australia team? Or the big 1-0 win against the South America powerhouse PERU (which funnily enough had a better possession and passing accuracy that game)? Or the quality snooze-fest against Denmark? I guess it's discipline and top notch quality when you guys scored less than Croatia (despite having 1 more penalty), worse at possession and passing accuracy, less attempts/on-target attempts. France has played some decent football no doubt but saying that's another level over Croatia is laughable at best.
Keep sipping that cool-aid man it's some good shit you got there
The hilarious part is that Panama tried this vs England and got a load of shit for it (and rightfully so). Then England goes and does the same.
Also hilarious apparently English fan reddit mods kept deleting this highlight and banning people for posting it on /r/soccer for a while before caving to the backlash
It was offside to boot, highlights the incompetence of it even more.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
I was about to type my lengthy response but I realised that you must be trolling ...
Yeah a team which got draws against Denmark and Russia is the top team, wow, hype. None of you seem to realise the quality France showed against Belgium and Uruguay, it was no basic park the bus like the Koreans and Mexicans did against Germany or Belgium against Brazil. It was top notch discipline, organisation, similar to Italians all time best sides or 20th century Germany.
It's so easy to dismisss what does not fit your narrative with "it must be trolling".
I'm salty, the final is spoiled. For once we show up with a good team, we face almost nobody. It will be slapped in our face every time we mention this win.
I don't feel like arguing with nojok anymore. I have all respect for his team and how they played. If he really thinks Croatia is terrible and got lucky all the way to the finals that is his right.
But I guess that also means that any French victory that is less than 2 goals difference proves that he was just talking shit.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Wow, just wow.. your only worth win was vs Belgium and mostly because your team played like pussies whole second half and stole time wherever you could. Argentina that we destroyed scored 3 goal against you. This amount of hubris beats even English fansnewspapers...
He thinks France are amazing cos they scored a set piece against Belgium and then wasted the last 40 minutes of the game pretending to be hurt taking 5 minutes over every throw in. I hope you guys destroy France and show them for the arrogant players they are. Croatia deserve the win so much more.
Pretty funny considering the behavior you demonstrated during the semi with this moronic attempt to score a goal during the prolongation, you can shit as you want on mbappe but your whole team is the worst by far. (And his lack of mental fortitude after the equalization is ridiculous) Or the boderline racist comments coming from english footballers/personnalities toward the colombians or your "it's coming home" shit. Damn, and you still open your mouth after that... Btw you just over exagerate so much the "pretending to be hurt" haha. Too bad your side was so shitty they lost against another you already played two prolongation, it would have been great seeing the 3 lions getting destroyed in finals cuz u know, you're so arrogant.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Wow, just wow.. your only worth win was vs Belgium and mostly because your team played like pussies whole second half and stole time wherever you could. Argentina that we destroyed scored 3 goal against you. This amount of hubris beats even English fansnewspapers...
He thinks France are amazing cos they scored a set piece against Belgium and then wasted the last 40 minutes of the game pretending to be hurt taking 5 minutes over every throw in. I hope you guys destroy France and show them for the arrogant players they are. Croatia deserve the win so much more.
Pretty funny considering the behavior you demonstrated during the semi with this moronic attempt to score a goal during the prolongation, you can shit as you want on mbappe but your whole team is the worst by far. (And his lack of mental fortitude after the equalization is ridiculous) Or the boderline racist comments coming from english footballers/personnalities toward the colombians or your "it's coming home" shit. Damn, and you still open your mouth after that... Btw you just over exagerate so much the "pretending to be hurt" haha. Too bad your side was so shitty they lost against another you already played two prolongation, it would have been great seeing the 3 lions getting destroyed in finals.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Wow, just wow.. your only worth win was vs Belgium and mostly because your team played like pussies whole second half and stole time wherever you could. Argentina that we destroyed scored 3 goal against you. This amount of hubris beats even English fansnewspapers...
He thinks France are amazing cos they scored a set piece against Belgium and then wasted the last 40 minutes of the game pretending to be hurt taking 5 minutes over every throw in. I hope you guys destroy France and show them for the arrogant players they are. Croatia deserve the win so much more.
Pretty funny considering the behavior you demonstrated during the semi with this moronic attempt to score a goal during the prolongation, you can shit as you want on mbappe but your whole team is the worst by far. (And his lack of mental fortitude after the equalization is ridiculous) Or the boderline racist comments coming from english footballers/personnalities toward the colombians or your "it's coming home" shit. Damn, and you still open your mouth after that... Btw you just over exagerate so much the "pretending to be hurt" haha. Too bad your side was so shitty they lost against another you already played two prolongation, it would have been great seeing the 3 lions getting destroyed in finals.
can't believe so many people don't realize that nojok is being sarcastic. as soon as you read this...
They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
...it should have been clear, if you legit follow football at all. further more...
Do you think this Croatian team would stand a chance against Argentina 2014, Netherlands 2010, France 2006, Germany 2002? No they wouldn't.
...he's literally listing all the finalists who played bunch of 1-0, 2-1 or ET/pens games and nobody seemed to mind because they were big names / had football posterboys in squad like Messi etc. all of them also lost finals which is a nice little hidden jab xD for example:
- Argentina 2014 literally made finals without ever scoring more than one up against likes of Bosnia, Iran, Nigeria etc. - Netherlands 2010 only +2 vs Denmark, rest all +1 games vs Japan, Cameroon, Slovakia etc. - France 2006 two draws vs Switzerland and South Korea, passed the group by 2-0ing Togo. convincing win vs Spain and then bunch of 1-0's again till the end - Germany 2002 dint take full 9 pts from group with S.Arabia, Cameroon & Ireland. 1-0ed all the games till finals (Paraguay, USA, S.Korea)
either way, even if you dont follow football, this was a dead give away from all the memes...
it was no basic park the bus. It was top notch discipline, organisation, similar to Italians all time best sides.
after all, it's the same guy who wrote this earlier:
On July 11 2018 21:43 snailz wrote: Archangel pls, if you want to win the people over, you can point to the obvious fact that English are proper cunts and if it comes home, world will never hear the end of it. xDD
but in all honesty, i just want this side of the bracket to take the bucket now that French made finals. if for nothing else so that clueless people that watch football every 2 to 4 years and just want to see Messi, CR7 or Neymar in every game can finally shut up about "who's good and who's awful"
I'm with you on this one, the emphasis on single players in football is embarassing, it really is a team game and the poster boys are all overrated. I thought the Zidane vs Ronaldo debate was terrible and useless because it lasted so long in France but the height reached by Messi vs CR7 made me hate most of the sports medias. Mbappé's carreer has just began and I'm already tired of seeing so many articles about him.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Wow, just wow.. your only worth win was vs Belgium and mostly because your team played like pussies whole second half and stole time wherever you could. Argentina that we destroyed scored 3 goal against you. This amount of hubris beats even English fansnewspapers...
He thinks France are amazing cos they scored a set piece against Belgium and then wasted the last 40 minutes of the game pretending to be hurt taking 5 minutes over every throw in. I hope you guys destroy France and show them for the arrogant players they are. Croatia deserve the win so much more.
Pretty funny considering the behavior you demonstrated during the semi with this moronic attempt to score a goal during the prolongation, you can shit as you want on mbappe but your whole team is the worst by far. (And his lack of mental fortitude after the equalization is ridiculous) Or the boderline racist comments coming from english footballers/personnalities toward the colombians or your "it's coming home" shit. Damn, and you still open your mouth after that... Btw you just over exagerate so much the "pretending to be hurt" haha. Too bad your side was so shitty they lost against another you already played two prolongation, it would have been great seeing the 3 lions getting destroyed in finals cuz u know, you're so arrogant.
Rage at me all you want, Nojok is making all French fans look bad with his awful posting, baiting and trolling. I'm happy with how England did, I don't need you to tell me our weaknesses, or that our pundits are morons, we were saying the same thing in my house before the game yesterday. Croatia deserved that win. For Nojok to start saying how its terrible that France don't get to walk all over someone better than Croatia is the absolute height of arrogance. If you take his side you are just confirming what I've been thinking, that French fans are falling into the exact same trap as English pundits, assuming they will win when they probably won't.
England should be happy with their semi-final finish. They had a relatively easy run and played well enough to get there but got outplayed by a better Croatian team. The future is looking bright for England though, by the next world cup many of these players will have more experience and be at the peak of their careers.
Do you think this Croatian team would stand a chance against Argentina 2014, Netherlands 2010, France 2006, Germany 2002? No they wouldn't.
...he's literally listing all the finalists who played bunch of 1-0, 2-1 or ET/pens games and nobody seemed to mind because they were big names / had football posterboys in squad like Messi etc. all of them also lost finals which is a nice little hidden jab xD for example:
- Argentina 2014 literally made finals without ever scoring more than one up against likes of Bosnia, Iran, Nigeria etc. - Netherlands 2010 only +2 vs Denmark, rest all +1 games vs Japan, Cameroon, Slovakia etc. - France 2006 two draws vs Switzerland and South Korea, passed the group by 2-0ing Togo. convincing win vs Spain and then bunch of 1-0's again till the end - Germany 2002 dint take full 9 pts from group with S.Arabia, Cameroon & Ireland. 1-0ed all the games till finals (Paraguay, USA, S.Korea)
either way, even if you dont follow football, this was a dead give away from all the memes...
On July 11 2018 21:43 snailz wrote: Archangel pls, if you want to win the people over, you can point to the obvious fact that English are proper cunts and if it comes home, world will never hear the end of it. xDD
but in all honesty, i just want this side of the bracket to take the bucket now that French made finals. if for nothing else so that clueless people that watch football every 2 to 4 years and just want to see Messi, CR7 or Neymar in every game can finally shut up about "who's good and who's awful"
I'm with you on this one, the emphasis on single players in football is embarassing, it really is a team game and the poster boys are all overrated. I thought the Zidane vs Ronaldo debate was terrible and useless because it lasted so long in France but the height reached by Messi vs CR7 made me hate most of the sports medias. Mbappé's carreer has just began and I'm already tired of seeing so many articles about him.
2006 France run was fucking impressive. Don't belittle it.
On July 12 2018 22:21 snailz wrote: can't believe so many people don't realize that nojok is being sarcastic. as soon as you read this...
They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
...it should have been clear, if you legit follow football at all. further more...
Do you think this Croatian team would stand a chance against Argentina 2014, Netherlands 2010, France 2006, Germany 2002? No they wouldn't.
...he's literally listing all the finalists who played bunch of 1-0, 2-1 or ET/pens games and nobody seemed to mind because they were big names / had football posterboys in squad like Messi etc. all of them also lost finals which is a nice little hidden jab xD for example:
- Argentina 2014 literally made finals without ever scoring more than one up against likes of Bosnia, Iran, Nigeria etc. - Netherlands 2010 only +2 vs Denmark, rest all +1 games vs Japan, Cameroon, Slovakia etc. - France 2006 two draws vs Switzerland and South Korea, passed the group by 2-0ing Togo. convincing win vs Spain and then bunch of 1-0's again till the end - Germany 2002 dint take full 9 pts from group with S.Arabia, Cameroon & Ireland. 1-0ed all the games till finals (Paraguay, USA, S.Korea)
either way, even if you dont follow football, this was a dead give away from all the memes...
it was no basic park the bus. It was top notch discipline, organisation, similar to Italians all time best sides.
after all, it's the same guy who wrote this earlier:
On July 11 2018 22:19 nojok wrote:
On July 11 2018 21:43 snailz wrote: Archangel pls, if you want to win the people over, you can point to the obvious fact that English are proper cunts and if it comes home, world will never hear the end of it. xDD
but in all honesty, i just want this side of the bracket to take the bucket now that French made finals. if for nothing else so that clueless people that watch football every 2 to 4 years and just want to see Messi, CR7 or Neymar in every game can finally shut up about "who's good and who's awful"
I'm with you on this one, the emphasis on single players in football is embarassing, it really is a team game and the poster boys are all overrated. I thought the Zidane vs Ronaldo debate was terrible and useless because it lasted so long in France but the height reached by Messi vs CR7 made me hate most of the sports medias. Mbappé's carreer has just began and I'm already tired of seeing so many articles about him.
2006 France run was fucking impressive. Don't belittle it.
i think he (not me) included it because they barely got out alive from group that had S. Korea, Switzerland and Togo. I agree that Spain-Brasil-Portugal to eventual loss to Italy is rather nice run for any KO stage, even if the results were bunch of 1-0's. same goes for Dutch and arguably Argentina, even if you discount the red cards and such.
if i was him i would only joke with Germany 2002 but then it would be harder to paint the picture he wanted. a lot of people fell for it so hats off still xD
edit: i do however think he's enjoying the England defeat a little too much. i mean cmon, he's not even German xD
edit2: the sigil of Dalmatia has 3 leopards, not lions btw. the confusion stems from St.Marco the protector of Venice, whose coat of arms had a lion and was a major powerhouse in Dalmatia and Mediterranean in general at the time...
So has anyone comes up with an answer on England try to score a goal with a ball that not only wasn't in play but while the Croatia team was celebrating?
On July 12 2018 22:38 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: So has anyone comes up with an answer on England try to score a goal with a ball that not only wasn't in play but while the Croatia team was celebrating?
On July 12 2018 22:38 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: So has anyone comes up with an answer on England try to score a goal with a ball that not only wasn't in play but while the Croatia team was celebrating?
As I said earlier, it is from a (at this WC) very common misunderstanding of the kickoff rule. Most teams somehow believed this hoax, as could be seen with them telling a player to stay in the opponents half while the rest went celebrating. This happened in a large number of games in the group stages.
About half the teams had this weird misunderstanding about the kickoff rule in this tournament. All those teams doing those "one lone guy must stay in the opponents half, while the rest goes to the town for party" goal celebrations were showing it. And when asked they all cited a not existing rule.
And England weren't the first one either to try to 'exploit' the other team not following this stupid shit. Other teams did this before this WC. Yo, surprise.... There is no such imaginary rule and it always gets called off.
In short: kickoff is allowed when the ref whistles it and all players are in their own half. The rule is not "you can kickoff as soon as no player is in your half (like them being at the stands celebrating)".
Don't pay attention at comments like Nojok's. That's you're average french football fan that has no objectivity whatsoever, arrogant and blind. The 1st one to say the other nations are trash and always with the good excuses for bad performance.
I just hope that the finals will show us a better quality of game than what the overall WC has shown us, because so far it's a real disappointement
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Wow, just wow.. your only worth win was vs Belgium and mostly because your team played like pussies whole second half and stole time wherever you could. Argentina that we destroyed scored 3 goal against you. This amount of hubris beats even English fansnewspapers...
He thinks France are amazing cos they scored a set piece against Belgium and then wasted the last 40 minutes of the game pretending to be hurt taking 5 minutes over every throw in. I hope you guys destroy France and show them for the arrogant players they are. Croatia deserve the win so much more.
Pretty funny considering the behavior you demonstrated during the semi with this moronic attempt to score a goal during the prolongation, you can shit as you want on mbappe but your whole team is the worst by far. (And his lack of mental fortitude after the equalization is ridiculous) Or the boderline racist comments coming from english footballers/personnalities toward the colombians or your "it's coming home" shit. Damn, and you still open your mouth after that... Btw you just over exagerate so much the "pretending to be hurt" haha. Too bad your side was so shitty they lost against another you already played two prolongation, it would have been great seeing the 3 lions getting destroyed in finals cuz u know, you're so arrogant.
First Nojok, now you, can we get a break from the hate/arrogance ? Our reputation is already not so good, could we try to be better and humble ?
Well Croatia is not like a top team, but this England getting the finals would have been a very big reward for a bad team, England used to have great teams but this one is far from those.
I think France has been quite impressive, i like their football
"Lyrical football" (as we meme here in SA) is not the only way to play it, not every team needs to do 500 passes to be considered "football", seems like Guardiola made everyone forget that yes, teams can play different and is still our beautiful game
This France is all about being effective, great defense and a midfield that controls the tempo of the game, with Pogba distributing the ball around, Kante recovering and cutting plays, being the first pass and Griezmann giving the orders and orchestrating how to attack, Hernandez and Mbappe being fast and incisive.
Deschamps has no problems whatsoever taking out the 9 and putting another defender if the game needs it and call me an asshole or something, but time wasting is part of the game and if i needed i would do it.
Defenders are as importants as forwards and they can shine too, people forget that, balon d´or being only for forwards all the time doesn't help either (not that i'm against the choices besides Messi instead of Iniesta in 2010)
Even at 10 I wouldnt bet for Croatia, France is way too strong atm, they have top tier players at every spots and in wayyy better shape. And Croatia is exactly the type of team France is the most comfortable playing against. Croatia winning is close to zero.
On July 13 2018 02:42 ppp87 wrote: Even at 10 I wouldnt bet for Croatia, France is way too strong atm, they have top tier players at every spots and in wayyy better shape. And Croatia is exactly the type of team France is the most comfortable playing against. Croatia winning is close to zero.
I agree tha Croatia is very comfortable to play against for France, its style just fits.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Wow, just wow.. your only worth win was vs Belgium and mostly because your team played like pussies whole second half and stole time wherever you could. Argentina that we destroyed scored 3 goal against you. This amount of hubris beats even English fansnewspapers...
He thinks France are amazing cos they scored a set piece against Belgium and then wasted the last 40 minutes of the game pretending to be hurt taking 5 minutes over every throw in. I hope you guys destroy France and show them for the arrogant players they are. Croatia deserve the win so much more.
Pretty funny considering the behavior you demonstrated during the semi with this moronic attempt to score a goal during the prolongation, you can shit as you want on mbappe but your whole team is the worst by far. (And his lack of mental fortitude after the equalization is ridiculous) Or the boderline racist comments coming from english footballers/personnalities toward the colombians or your "it's coming home" shit. Damn, and you still open your mouth after that... Btw you just over exagerate so much the "pretending to be hurt" haha. Too bad your side was so shitty they lost against another you already played two prolongation, it would have been great seeing the 3 lions getting destroyed in finals cuz u know, you're so arrogant.
First Nojok, now you, can we get a break from the hate/arrogance ? Our reputation is already not so good, could we try to be better and humble ?
Could "we"... I don't want to be include with a guy who only cares about our "reputation" when I am responding to another who constantly shits on our team while his side is not pretty either. You like being insulted, fine but not me. Btw, I didn't even talk about Croatia except their win would not bother me that much as they are outsiders with really great players, get off your high horse.
On July 12 2018 06:18 BigFan wrote: People keep writing Croatia off and Croatia keeps delivering. My only wish is that they show the same level of play they did past the 60ish minute mark (after that goal) all game long, but I feel like that would actually work against them somehow. Congrats to Croatian fans! Game was really exciting once they really started finding their groove (and England slipping in their defense haha).
Who thought Croatia was off? For once everyone thought they were pretty strong and considering their path they should have achieved SF, and they did
vs England, lots of us thought they were """"""""""""""underdogs""""""""""""""" but it wasn't really clear at all, like maybe 60/40 or something
Besides not winning anything and being their first finals, i don't consider Croatia underdogs or even a surprise overall
IMO, finals are always 50/50 between 2 good teams, even if one of those seems better, it's 1 game and anything can happen, a shitty day can decide anything
Croatia has been showing that they were top 2/4 contenders ever since the group stage. They weren't the underdog against Argentina (anyone who though otherwise is really silly imo) and thus they shouldn't be considered underdog against England either.
To be completely fair, this England team has made it this far due to the following factors: - Smart and intelligent tactic used which fully utilised the strength of a group of average players (barring Kane). - Arguably easier group stage and knock-out opponents all the way to the semi.
However I think they severely lack the depth required to win a major tournament. Finding more than one way to reliably score is what they should work on. I don't think they can do it with the current squad though.
Putting the lack of talents issue aside, as much as I think Southgate deserves at least 70% credit for this World Cup's success (yes, making to the semi should be an achievement for this England squad), I'm not convinced he's the right man for the job, if you want to go on and win titles. His approach to the game works at the youth level (which was where he came from), and is perfect to make an average squad look better collectively, but I don't think it's suitable for a more talented squad which desires to win stuffs.
Croatia is a decent team but nowhere near world cup final level. They were dominated by Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina, England and Russia. It took an autogoal and a penalty against Nigeria, a gift from Argentina, the total lack of mental strength from the English who disappeared for no reason whatsoever. Even Iceland pushed them to the last minute.
This is the worst run to a final ever. It would be an embarassment for football to see a team this poor win the world cup. They're far from showing the qualities Greece showed in 2004 or even Portugal in 2016.
Saying they've showed they were top4 contenders shows an absolutely lack of understanding of football. This world cup will give us a sad low cost star on the jersey.
Wow, just wow.. your only worth win was vs Belgium and mostly because your team played like pussies whole second half and stole time wherever you could. Argentina that we destroyed scored 3 goal against you. This amount of hubris beats even English fansnewspapers...
He thinks France are amazing cos they scored a set piece against Belgium and then wasted the last 40 minutes of the game pretending to be hurt taking 5 minutes over every throw in. I hope you guys destroy France and show them for the arrogant players they are. Croatia deserve the win so much more.
Pretty funny considering the behavior you demonstrated during the semi with this moronic attempt to score a goal during the prolongation, you can shit as you want on mbappe but your whole team is the worst by far. (And his lack of mental fortitude after the equalization is ridiculous) Or the boderline racist comments coming from english footballers/personnalities toward the colombians or your "it's coming home" shit. Damn, and you still open your mouth after that... Btw you just over exagerate so much the "pretending to be hurt" haha. Too bad your side was so shitty they lost against another you already played two prolongation, it would have been great seeing the 3 lions getting destroyed in finals cuz u know, you're so arrogant.
First Nojok, now you, can we get a break from the hate/arrogance ? Our reputation is already not so good, could we try to be better and humble ?
Could "we"... I don't want to be include with a guy who only cares about our "reputation" when I am responding to another who constantly shits on our team while his side is not pretty either. You like being insulted, fine but not me. Btw, I didn't even talk about Croatia except their win would not bother me that much as they are outsiders with really great players, get off your high horse.
I'm only shitting on your team cos of that guy. Its just a bit of banter that started because he's been dissing england since day one. Don't take it personally lulz. Also I never said England were good or would win anything, we're pretty bad but worked well as a team given our ability. I still want Croatia to win because of Nojok though (and I hope they win ugly because of a shitty refereeing decision or something cos that'll really piss him off).
sharkie dude, sorry but can't I just carry on trolling the French until this tournaments over? I know you want peace and love or something but I'm just a lonely old football fan with nothing to do except revel in my own bitterness at having exited in the sf.
Kind of odd that the press is remembering Thierry Henry and Didier Deschamps. When they were last together they won the WC. Except Henry is with Belgium so I don't think that works this time around.
On July 13 2018 02:42 ppp87 wrote: Even at 10 I wouldnt bet for Croatia, France is way too strong atm, they have top tier players at every spots and in wayyy better shape. And Croatia is exactly the type of team France is the most comfortable playing against. Croatia winning is close to zero.
I agree tha Croatia is very comfortable to play against for France, its style just fits.
On July 13 2018 02:42 ppp87 wrote: Even at 10 I wouldnt bet for Croatia, France is way too strong atm, they have top tier players at every spots and in wayyy better shape. And Croatia is exactly the type of team France is the most comfortable playing against. Croatia winning is close to zero.
I agree tha Croatia is very comfortable to play against for France, its style just fits.
Could you guys elaborate on why you think so?
cuz france played on counters and breaks a lot of time this tournament. croatia wont play like russia and park the bus. french wingers will get their space...
On July 13 2018 02:42 ppp87 wrote: Even at 10 I wouldnt bet for Croatia, France is way too strong atm, they have top tier players at every spots and in wayyy better shape. And Croatia is exactly the type of team France is the most comfortable playing against. Croatia winning is close to zero.
I agree tha Croatia is very comfortable to play against for France, its style just fits.
Could you guys elaborate on why you think so?
cuz france played on counters and breaks a lot of time this tournament. croatia wont play like russia and park the bus. french wingers will get their space...
Croatia have shown themselves to be fairly adaptable. I think this might be their strength over everyone else so far, they manage to adapt and hold on when things are going badly. I don't really think this gives them an advantage over France, but its probably going to be a close game.
On July 12 2018 22:12 sharkie wrote: Could we please stop with all the hate towards each other?
not until you and Rebs kiss and make up ...
Over what :O ?
Reading some of the comments from Nojok this past month has Kinda turned me off France aswell and I really think they are the best team at this tournament and set to be really dominant for the coming decade unless some other teams start showing more promise.
I think they are the better team and should win, but I dont really care who wins.
Maybe slightly siding with Croatia because under, Modric, a new winner, the fact that this is probably the last chance for the best Croatian core since 98 and Croatia is unlikely to be this good again for a while when they lose some of their cores.
Can't really root for France if you know any french people to be honest. Most stereotypes of french people are dumb but ohmygod were they annoying with this last time around.
To continue my pre semi rant about what this means to us. If we win, Monday will probably be a non working day in Croatia. At least all the government employed people will get a free day and our Prime Minister has asked private companies to also let their employees leave work earlier so they can celebrate with the team that is getting a huge celebration on Monday when they get back to Croatia. This celebration is happening no matter what happens on Sunday, the free day might depend on us winning :D
That's very nice, but I don't understand the sympathy offensive. How much it means to you doesn't really change any opinions on the teams or the match...but GL anyway.
On July 13 2018 00:36 Faruko wrote: I think France has been quite impressive, i like their football
"Lyrical football" (as we meme here in SA) is not the only way to play it, not every team needs to do 500 passes to be considered "football", seems like Guardiola made everyone forget that yes, teams can play different and is still our beautiful game
This France is all about being effective, great defense and a midfield that controls the tempo of the game, with Pogba distributing the ball around, Kante recovering and cutting plays, being the first pass and Griezmann giving the orders and orchestrating how to attack, Hernandez and Mbappe being fast and incisive.
Deschamps has no problems whatsoever taking out the 9 and putting another defender if the game needs it and call me an asshole or something, but time wasting is part of the game and if i needed i would do it.
Defenders are as importants as forwards and they can shine too, people forget that, balon d´or being only for forwards all the time doesn't help either (not that i'm against the choices besides Messi instead of Iniesta in 2010)