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
CSS: FO-nTTaX Graphics: Sneirac Awesomeness: Panda
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.