World Cup Russia 2018 Thread

Not really sure who I would prefer to win the final? just a great game of football would be ok.... 

With the benefit of hindsight England looked more exhausted then Crotia, maybe we need to address fitness levels..?

Romi posted:

With the benefit of hindsight England looked more exhausted then Crotia, maybe we need to address fitness levels..?

Funny, thought the same thing. Luka Modric is 32 years old and he was like the Energizer bunny.

Agree with those posters who say that the battle was lost in midfield. We are sorely lacking in creativity and firepower there (as Croatia demonstrated) and this is something Southgate needs to look at moving forward.

Also he needs to be smarter with his substitutions - Alli and Sterling should have been subbed in half time. Still, it's been a good tournament afor England nd there is plenty to build on for Euro 2020 and Qatar 2022.

Will the Belgium v England match tomorrow be a repeat of the game a few weeks ago? or are they intending to play their A teams?

Not sure whether to stay in and watch as it is a 3:00 pm KO in the UK.

TK421 posted:

Will the Belgium v England match tomorrow be a repeat of the game a few weeks ago? or are they intending to play their A teams?

Not sure whether to stay in and watch as it is a 3:00 pm KO in the UK.

It will be two full strength teams....

Thanks Wenger.

I would prefer to see Rashford, Vardy and perhaps Loftus-Cheek start. You all know instead of whom.

TK421 posted:

Thanks Wenger.

I would prefer to see Rashford, Vardy and perhaps Loftus-Cheek start. You all know instead of whom.

That is a real possibility, Kane will obviously start because of the possibility of winning the  golden boot.

The media our reporting minimal changes for England,  and suggesting Belgium are very keen to end up in thrid spot, so a full strength team for them

Interesting about Kane as a chap in work mentioned yesterday that he had heard a rumour/suspicion that Kane is actually injured or at least carrying some form of injury.

I cannot remember from where he picked up this nugget of information.

wenger2015 posted:

TK421 posted:

Will the Belgium v England match tomorrow be a repeat of the game a few weeks ago? or are they intending to play their A teams?

Not sure whether to stay in and watch as it is a 3:00 pm KO in the UK.

It will be two full strength teams....

WTF do the media know. I reckon Southgate will start with all those who haven't kicked a ball in anger..Welbeck, Jones, Cahill .... plus those with not much game time....Dier, Rose, LC, Vardy.

Romi posted:

With the benefit of hindsight England looked more exhausted then Crotia, maybe we need to address fitness levels..?

I remember playing Squash in my early twenties against a work friend in his fifties.I was really fit back then, he was bald, old looking.

During the game I know I was knackered whilst he was barely puffing.It was of course because he was a good squash player with great technique whilst I was. Newbee. Same thing with football....Croatian midfield bossed the second half controlling the ball whilst we ran around in despair. So not down to fitness rather technique,

Kevin-W posted:

Agree with those posters who say that the battle was lost in midfield. We are sorely lacking in creativity and firepower there (as Croatia demonstrated) and this is something Southgate needs to look at moving forward.

Also he needs to be smarter with his substitutions - Alli and Sterling should have been subbed in half time. Still, it's been a good tournament afor England nd there is plenty to build on for Euro 2020 and Qatar 2022.

There are hardly any good English midfielders in the PL, OxChamberlin maybe, Southgate knows this which is why he adopted the 3-5-2 which allowed for more . 

Bob the Builder posted:

wenger2015 posted:

Unfortunately football won’t be coming home, it’s probably going to be lost in France.....

The very small silver lining in going out against Croatia is that we cannot be beaten in the Final by the French now.

I have a sneaking suspicion our chances of beating the French would have been slim to non-existent, and feel it would have been even more heart breaking to have fallen at the last hurdle, so definitely agree with your sentiments Bob (I’m far from knowledgeable in the footie field, so these are only my uninformed gut feelings!).

Modric was fantastic, he’s my player of the tournament, makes the beautiful game look so simple. 

England could have put the game beyond Crotia, with 2 excellent chances in the first half but that would have flattered to deceive.

However I feel at best they were a good quarter final team who got lucky with the draw. 

But they were a team and there is a great basis to build on. 

Could be a great final. It will be interesting to see how both midfields contend with each other. 

.sjb

Engerland will beat Belgium today to secure our best finish on foreign soil - quite an achievement for a team without a single world class player.

Croatia only managed to scrape through against Denmark and Russia on penalties, they very fortunate with some of their penalties as well.

Aganist England they managed to raise their game in the second half, probably because they were chasing the game...

England were the thickness of the goalpost away from a two nil lead, which Croatia probably would not have recovered from.

I think England’s achievements should not be underestimated.....and  I don’t think Croatia are that special. 

The final could well be a really good game, all it needs is an early goal from either team and a quality referee, both teams have a cynical side to them which needs to be stamped out by the officials early doors.

lets just hope football is the winner in the final and not the team that gets away with cynical play

thebigfredc posted:

Engerland will beat Belgium today to secure our best finish on foreign soil - quite an achievement for a team without a single world class player.

Well we’ll soon know, I expect Belgium to win easily, emphasising the gulf between the 2 halves of the draw. 

.sjb

Belgians very good, England slightly hopeless I thought.

Belgians just wanted the win more they were not actually that much better. 

England had a very good second half, very nearly equalised, they only lost the second goal due to chasing the game.....

Bit that said, well done Belgium, I would have preferred to see them in the final rather than France.

England looked better in the second half and might have nicked an equaliser but I thought our build-up play was slow and lacking incisiveness. If we had equalised I think Belgium would have upped the pace and would still have won it.  Pickford again emerged with much credit, as did McGuire.  

Southgate has lots of work to do to get England to a higher qualitative level and he has a good base from which to build, including the growing capability and achievements at England junior levels. He also has huge public and media good-will which, hopefully, will give him time and allow him the occasional setback or two.  One test I think he will need to pass is a willingness to show some steel with those younger players that he has so far supported but who don't move quickly enough to up their game. He's shown some steel with the old guard but he owes no personal loyalty to the likes of Rooney etc.  It will feel different and more personal when he has drawn a young player into the team, given them enough time to show their capability and then he has to say 'sorry, I know I brought you in but you haven't been good enough'.     

If Belgium had lost their first game against England they would probably be playing in the championship game tomorrow. On the other hand, it is unrealistic to expect such a competitive team to loose a match purposely.

Belgium is the only team that ended with the exact world ranking (#3) they had before the Mondial was played.

It is nothing to get down about as expectations were so very low but beating Tunisia, Panama, Colombia and Sweden but losing to Croatia and Belgium is exactly were we sit in the world game. 

No doubt some of the older players will go and be replaced by younger players. I think it was a great shame Alex Oxlade Chamberlain was inured as he would have given us a bit more edge. 

But if we don’t get over excited and start piling on the pressure this young team could move up a few notches and perhaps challenge more convincingly. J

it was good to feel good about an England football team again so well done to Gareth Southgate for that. 

I’ll be watching the final in Calpe, Spain tonight and will find a nice bar with a Tv.   It’s funny I’m right back where I started with this World Cup just a football fan enjoying the beautiful game. 

I actually booked this trip to coincide with the final so convinced was I that Spain would win we were here when they one in 2010 and the atmosphere was incredible. 

But it wasn’t to be for Spain or England but am sure it will be a great final tonight but really hope Croatia win. 

Its 64 years since a country with a small population won the WC (Uruguay '54). Holland nearly did it in the 70s twice of course, so my hunch is for France even with Giroud.