World Cup Russia 2018 Thread

Nice first half.

Half time Belgium France. My first time watching this World Cup. Stunning skills and thrill a minute. Champagne football. Love it.

Now this was a football show. Congrats to France, well done Belgium.

Nature called in the second half. I said to my son, I bet someone scores whilst I am in the WC, or words to that effect.

Bingo!

Well done France!

Great game.

The French - I put a cheeky bet on them to win before the start of the tournament - look incredibly strong in every department. Mbappé's pace and skill is terrifying, the defence rock solid, Deschamps' tactics astute.

They will make incredibly tough opponents for either England or Croatia.

France deserved their victory this evening, showing great discipline and organisation.  That said, given the creativity and attacking talent they have, I was a little disappointed how they shut-up shop once they had taken the lead.  There was little French swagger this evening, but then that may come from their manager who was once labelled as  'the water-carrier' by Cantona.    

France prevailed this evening, but, in truth, either side would have counted themselves unlucky to lose.

A great demonstration of football, one for the connoisseur, and France were simply able to dig in, with most of their star players,

Pogba, in particular, playing well .............. and much sympathy with Hazard, who worked his socks off, yet ended up on the losing side.

Still, should Ingerland manage to beat Croatia tomorrow, I have to say that I still believe that they stand a better chance against France,

rather than Belgium .................. if they can deal with Mbappe, of course.

Kiwi cat posted:

Nature called in the second half. I said to my son, I bet someone scores whilst I am in the WC, or words to that effect.

Bingo!

Well done France!

Just make sure you time it right tomorrow night, or the blames on you.

Yes it was a great encounter last night again I was a little bit dissapointed in Mbappe's antics at the end but he is still very young he will come to realise that when you are that good you don't need the time wasting, the show boating and the play acting.

I agree that I would still prefer to play France rather than Belgium if we can beat Croatia if whoever plays France in the final can score first they will have a great chance.

I think conceeding three against Argentina shows that when France go all out attack they are left vunerable at the back and that is why Dechamps chose the tactics he did against Belgium.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Conversely, they have just kept a clean sheet against an attack consisting of Hazard, Lukaku and deBruyne which was something Brasil, Japan and England couldn't do so I think their defence is good.

Deschamps has them all getting behind the ball when the opposition are in possession, England do the same. I think their weakness is the offensive play of Giroud who couldn't hit a cows arse with a bango and whose link up play baffles his fellow forwards.

Very tactically astute so far Gareth Southgate needs to get it right tonight because Croatia have an exceptional midfield that will punish any mistakes, in Modric and Rakitic Croatia have the creative midfields of both Real Madrid and Barcelona to call on and make no mistake this is the biggest game of their careers too and winning the World Cup will also turn them into immortals back home.

Mario Mandzukic is not the player he once was and isn't having a great World Cup but he only needs to return to form for 30 seconds to really hurt us but we have the inform striker and possible Golden Boot winner up front in Harry Kane.

Raheem Sterling needs to show everyone tonight the player he really is if he keeps running at the Croatian defence he will scare them everytime he gets the ball and create space for Kane to exploit.

The three Yorkshire lads at the back Walker, Stones and Maguire need to be really switched on tonight so that England can get Trippier and Young stretching the Croatians down both flanks and of course whipping those crosses in.

This will be Jesse Lingard's and Dele Ali's biggest test to date and they need a match winning display tonight that will live long in the memory of all England fans.

Croatia and England both have great keepers in Pickford and Subatic who will both be very hard to beat tonight and both sets of strikers will need to be at their best to beat them.

Set pieces will again play a huge role in tonights game we have Trippier and Cole and they have Luka Modric to put quality balls into the box so giving away free kicks in and around the box could prove costly.

The England team have excelled in this World Cup but anything other than winning should now be seen as a dissapointment and a failure both Croatia and France are beatable and we have the momentum and the players to do so.

C'mon England!

thebigfredc posted:

Conversely, they have just kept a clean sheet against an attack consisting of Hazard, Lukaku and deBruyne which was something Brasil, Japan and England couldn't do so I think their defence is good.

Deschamps has them all getting behind the ball when the opposition are in possession, England do the same. I think their weakness is the offensive play of Giroud who couldn't hit a cows arse with a bango and whose link up play baffles his fellow forwards.

They are very capable at defending they proved that last night but I think that they are not a truly great team in that they cannot maintain that class of defence whilst also attacking,  like for instance the great Spanish side of recent years or the great German sides.  

They are vulnerable in defence whilst in all out attack mode as they all love to get forward and that is when a team set up correctly could hurt them.

T'was a very good game last night and I think explained why the last 4 is filled with European teams, who have generally strong defensive structures and are highly disciplined. As Brazil found against Belgium, you only need to go walkabout for 30 seconds or so and you concede. 

Once again, I thought the ref was good last night albeit generous in not penalising some situations and giving a few more cards. Unquestionably, such games are helped where you have 2 teams wanting to play football without the histrionics.

Happy Listener posted:

T'was a very good game last night and I think explained why the last 4 is filled with European teams, who have generally strong defensive structures and are highly disciplined. As Brazil found against Belgium, you only need to go walkabout for 30 seconds or so and you concede. 

The very good game last night does not explain why the last 4 is filled with European teams. What explains it is the large discrepancy between the two brackets and the South American teams being slotted in the much stronger one. Personally, I felt the the weakest team in their bracket, Uruguay, was probably better than any of the four of the other side. Despite their wins, I don't think that Belgium dominated their games against Japan nor Brazil and were lucky to come on top.

A hypothetical question: if you had a choice who would you rather have England play in the semi final, the European Croatia or the non-European Brazil (less strong in defensive structure and not as highly disciplined according to you)?

Good luck with the game today.

Haim - I think Croatia and Brazil offer differing challenges. I accept the latter have tremendous talent and creativity but with that comes a fragility at the back, as the Germans exploited at the last WC, and let's not forget Belgium beat them 2-1 at this tournament and IMV they weren't lucky in achieving this result. 

I accept the England team has had a beneficial draw of the fixtures in this tournament - and the dead rubber against Belgium was a bit of a let down in not seeing England facing a stiffer challenge with both sides at full strength but that's tournament football for you. Going back to 1974, to many/most the Dutch team were the best by a margin, yet they got beaten by the German team in the final. Isn't sport wonderful in offering up such things.

I will take the opportunity to wish England good luck, and hope for a good match.

A little fun "clip" on the road.....???????????????? 

https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbc...2e08&oe=5B466A9A

/Peder???? 

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Not a bad start for the chaps.

Should settle some nerves (though not mine )

England bossed the first half. Could have had more than a one-goal lead to show for it but, hey, I'm pleased with it so far. 

Croatia look a bit ragged and tired.. 

Looks like the last 2 matches have gotten to them

England look sharp.. 

1:1

They may be ragged but look rugged ????

Fair play to Croatia. In the second half they have come back strongly, bossed it and deserved their equaliser. Extra time will be a test of stamina, where England ought to have the edge, but Croatian players have the bigger-game experience. Edge-of-seat stuff.   

I am bemused by the real-time contributions to the thread amidst all the excitement...

Croatia's Antic is Semantic 

Hope u get the pun ????