World Cup Russia 2018 Thread

I think the refereeing has been exceptionally good up to this point, I don’t normally like to criticise the officials but with this game they have had a shocker.

Two clear penalties on Kane, considerable gamesmanship by the Tunisians which was not punished.

So a well deserved win which should provide a lot of confidence going forward....

FYI chaps the draw is in two halves, like Wimbeldon, the tennis tournament not the footie team.

The good news is that our traditional nemesis of Portugal and Argentina are in the other half, so we could only meet them in the final.

The bad news is that Brazil and Germany are in our half.

I thought it was a pretty solid England performance, excepting the poor finishing in the 1st half. But they played with speed, aggression and created countless opportunities. Once Tunisia equalised, they parked the bus which of course zapps the energy out of any match . England still managed a few opportunities in the 2nd half (why oh why did Rashford not strike that ball in the box), persevered and got the deserved late goal.

Well done !!

Bob the Builder posted:

Our national team have underachieved too much in the past especially in the last two tournaments for me personally to get too excited over that performance,  slightly encouraged and very pleased to have got off with a win which is the main thing but forgive me if I'm not jumping up and down with excitement just yet.

I think that expression works for me too, BtB.

SamS posted:

I thought it was a pretty solid England performance, excepting the poor finishing in the 1st half. But they played with speed, aggression and created countless opportunities. Once Tunisia equalised, they parked the bus which of course zapps the energy out of any match . England still managed a few opportunities in the 2nd half (why oh why did Rashford not strike that ball in the box), persevered and got the deserved late goal.

Well done !!

 

A well measured overview which considers how modern football is now played.

SamS posted:

I thought it was a pretty solid England performance, excepting the poor finishing in the 1st half. But they played with speed, aggression and created countless opportunities. Once Tunisia equalised, they parked the bus which of course zapps the energy out of any match . England still managed a few opportunities in the 2nd half (why oh why did Rashford not strike that ball in the box), persevered and got the deserved late goal.

Well done !!

 

You have been lucky that the team was not punished for being so reckless with it’s chances in the first half. A better team will not let that happen.

I thought Gary Lineker's over exuberance a bit much and the commentaters line  "Watch out Ronaldo there's a Harry Kane about" also a little bit OTT this was Tunisia not Spain, not Brazil, not Germany, not France, not even Belgium or Switzerland who are ranked 6th in the world by fifa and held Brazil to a draw so let's all calm down a bit. 

The lack of pressure put upon this team by the fans and the media and by us has given them a bit of freedom let's not weigh them down again with all of the above nonsense.

Bert Schurink posted:

SamS posted:

I thought it was a pretty solid England performance, excepting the poor finishing in the 1st half. But they played with speed, aggression and created countless opportunities. Once Tunisia equalised, they parked the bus which of course zapps the energy out of any match . England still managed a few opportunities in the 2nd half (why oh why did Rashford not strike that ball in the box), persevered and got the deserved late goal.

Well done !!

 

You have been lucky that the team was not punished for being so reckless with it’s chances in the first half. A better team will not let that happen.

Thanks for that Burt. 

BTW how did Germany get on?

Bert Schurink posted:

You have been lucky that the team was not punished for being so reckless with it’s chances in the first half. A better team will not let that happen.

Fair point Burt, but if this young team go down playing like they did last night, I for one won't be complaining.

Could England players not also hurl themselves to the ground when assaulted? It might attract the attention of the VAR guys. Works for other teams.

I thought the team looked pretty one-dimensional and confidence just flowed away as the game progressed. Subs helped (not least because Dele Ali played almost an hour with an injury) but in general a pretty mediocre bunch. Henderson seems to play facing the wrong way too much of the time?

Anyway at least they stuck to it.

I think a neutral will have been very underwhelmed by a game spoiled by niggle, gamesmanship and some pretty poor football.

Bruce

PS What were Belgium and Panama like?

The experts on BBC were really quite complimentary about England's performance and were emotional when we got the late winner because they new how much easier progress will be after winning the first game. The pressure is now on Belgium to beat Tunisia otherwise we will be in the boss seat providing we beat Pananma of course.

Ray

Carravaggio,

This is the team from Belgium - each player has more creativity than England in total - and I mean not only the English team:

I'm much looking forward to England - Belgium.

England won.Win helps win,that's it.

thebigfredc posted:

Win on Sunday against Panama, the lowest ranked team at the finals, and we are in the last sixteen against a team from the weak Group H maybe Poland or Columbia. Simples. 

Ammendment:

make that maybe Japan or Senegal.

Best team in he tournament for me so far.......Spain.

Ray

Ardbeg10y posted:

Carravaggio,

This is the team from Belgium - each player has more creativity than England in total - and I mean not only the English team:

I'm much looking forward to England - Belgium.

But are they really a team.

My observation is, most of them like playing with themselves.

I would never have credited it as a possibility in the run up to the tournament but credit Russia, they deserved their victory tonight. They look a team of high confidence and energy. I feel for Salah in the way his season has ended but at least he got a goal.   

Yes, congratulations to Russia, well deserved.

The officials did well, good VAR decision for the penalty.

The best start from a host Nation in World Cup history.... impressive 

England did well to win, two goals from Kane, lets hope his streak carries on through the tournament.  England played an aggressive game and eventually won. There is one aspect of our football which England is suspect for me and that is the natural passing attacking football, Portugal, Germany, Spain, Senegal and Brazil have shown this style.  However Russia played solid aggressive game and so far it has been very effective.  My biggest applause goes to the the Swiss manager who created a template for his squad to manage the Brazillians. During the whole match the Swiss team kept their shape, never once did I notice any gaps on their side.  They defended well with a lot of players in the right position and when they attacked with a lot of their players in the correct positions. I would imagine they trained extra hard to keep this formation and the Swiss players did their bit to carry out this template created by the manager.  Netherless England have got some good effective attacking players who can take on the otherside, with speed and agility, very useful trait to have on one side.

fatcat posted:

Ardbeg10y posted:

Carravaggio,

This is the team from Belgium - each player has more creativity than England in total - and I mean not only the English team:

I'm much looking forward to England - Belgium.

But are they really a team.

My observation is, most of them like playing with themselves.

 

 

????????????

Yes well done to Russia their final group match against Uruguay should be good.  

It's always good to see the hosts do well in the World Cup it seems they are thriving on the added pressure where as it crippled Brazil last time around although they (Russia) have only played Saudi Arabia and Egypt though who they would have expected to beat but good luck to them though.

Another huge plus for the Russians is so far they seemed to have curbed the perceived large hooligan threat........

And in a Gulag far far far away sit.........

Why have the beeb imposed such appalling theme music at the start of each MOTD ?

The hideous baritone bawling coming from the young drunken karaoke singer sounds as much Russian as i'm his Chinese Aunt.

Shirley, the beeb could have come up with something more culturally viable!  

Debs

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Below:  just one tasty treat of what could of been...

Well Ronaldo’s Portugal have all but qualified with another goal from the great man. 

Im looking forward to Spain v Iran tonight as they will be one of the main contenders for the World title again next month. 

I never like watching Portugal. Too many tricks, especially from that great man.

Ardbeg10y posted:

I never like watching Portugal. Too many tricks, especially from that great man.

The only time I didn't enjoy watching Ronaldo was he played against Arsenal.  I saw him play several times when he was at Man U once against Fulham at Craven Cottage where you are quite close to the pitch I was quite shocked at what a big man he is and how powerful in the air he was a fantastic player.