World Cup 2018

[Husky]

Did nobody hear about the latest WC conspiracy . . .?

Odds out to 33-1 then a flood of money on The Argies. That was an amazing bet, anything can happen in the knock out rounds, France are average at best . . .Jesus! - Much better than putting money on Leicester City, for the Prem, lol.

Edited June 22, 2018 by Husky

[Audax]

NIgeria looked so out of sorts in that last match,  I even had to tell my Nigerian friend they weren't out of it...based on the last game, I would have been difficult to foresee this today.

Yes, originally, they were called the Green Eagles but it sounded odd, now the Super Eagles.

 

[Audax]

Shows you how good Croatia is, took Nigeria out of their game totally, made them look silly.

Croatia may not be the best team there, but there's probably only 2 or 3 teams that might be better.

Euro 2008, Croatia defeated Germany I believe, so, bring on anyone.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 22, 2018 by Audax

[Husky]

After all the huff and puff of the minnows the World cup is already starting to feel very familiar, with the usual suspects (those expected to qualify from the groups) shifting into position . . . .

A Switzerland win tonight and Germany tomorrow and it will look like business as usual. Only the group of death was hard to call from the start -  with just group whipping boys Japan throwing a bit of a fly in the ointment for Colombia. . . helped by the penalty and early sending off.

Not many of the big teams do hit the ground running with amazing performances- notably World Cup Winners Spain losing their first game in 2010 - I even read that Germany (West) won the World Cup back in the day after losing in the group 8-3. Yes EIGHT!

Time to sober up . . .the big boys are all going through. . .

Edited June 22, 2018 by Husky

[philipl]

9 hours ago, arbitro said:

A few of the Baltic states produce real quality players with great desire. I saw Serbia play their first game and they, like Croatia play an exciting brand of football but have a real strength and desire about them. 

Balkan

[islander200]

Benitez should be getting more out of Mitrovic at Newcastle, you can't be telling me that Dwight Gale is a better striker than him.He looks good as do the Serbia team

[Audax]

This is almost a home game to Serbia, that's who will take it..

[speeeeeeedie]

9 hours ago, arbitro said:

A few of the Baltic states produce real quality players with great desire. I saw Serbia play their first game and they, like Croatia play an exciting brand of football but have a real strength and desire about them. 

 

26 minutes ago, philipl said:

Balkan

If Tito would have lasted a bit longer or the former Yugoslav's managed to get along a bit better they could have own a World Cup. Genuine talent everywhere.

Red Star Belgrade won the European Cup. It all fell apart after that.

[DE.]

Incredible strike from Xhaka. Been a good game this.

[islander200]

Enjoyed that game 

[DE.]

Great match, one of the best of the tournament so far. The Swiss had a poor first half but took control in the second half and deserved to win in the end.

[AdamRochina]

Wouldent it be incredible if the Swiss to beat Costa Rica and Serbia scan a 1-0 against Brazil 

[islander200]

Looking forward to the game Wednesday night Brazil v Serbia then Thursday England v Belgium.Gonna be a good week of football 

[Husky]

In many respects a defeat for Serbia wasn't that much worse than a draw, as they would still need to beat Brazil to be sure of progressing.

Though as I said in my previous post, the 'big boys' are continuing their business as expected . . .

Edited June 22, 2018 by Husky

[AJW]

44 minutes ago, AdamRochina said:

Wouldent it be incredible if the Swiss to beat Costa Rica and Serbia scan a 1-0 against Brazil 

Not when I've got to Ronaldo to top score and Brazil to win it at 66/1?

[AdamRochina]

Just now, AJW said:

Not when I've got to Ronaldo to top score and Brazil to win it at 66/1?

But wouldent you love to see neymar cry his heart out? Worth not winning some cash ..I mean I would pay to see neymar cry his heart out ?

[Audax]

2 Serbians were wrestled down cerca the 66th minute on a corner, Serbia should have been rewarded a penalty.  Most announcers seem to agree.

I guess if the 'big boys' means scoring 2 goals after the 90 minute mark against Mighty Costa Rica, then, yes, those must be the big boys.

 

[Butty]

What a bloody handful Mitrovic is. Would love someone like him playing up top for us, no surprise he was so good for Fulham at the back end of this season. He's a loose cannon but when his heads right he's a class player. He'll score goals in the premier league next season if he gets a chance. 

[joey_big_nose]

Nigeria v Argentina and Brazil v Serbia are going to be absolute crackers I think.

[Husky]

21 hours ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Did you not see the penalty that Australia got yesterday? Never a penalty in a million years I'm afraid.  A ball hitting someone's arm is not an automatic penalty. There has to be intent to handle the ball, so how you can intentionally commit hand ball when you have your back to it is beyond me.

There were also the two (arguably three) penalties that England should have had which the VAR officials contrived to deem not fouls. And the blatant push by the Swiss player while scoring the goal against Brazil that was not disallowed by VAR.

So yeah, I think there is 'bad use' of VAR.

 

 

You can almost be certain that England will ultimately get screwed by VAR when it really matters and we'll be able to add it to all the other stuff, hand of God, dodgy sendings off, disallowed goals, moving penalty spots etc.

I've got no confidence in it whatsoever. It seems it's open to 'whoever is behind the curtain' being able to pick and chose incidents in order to influence the outcome of the game.

I also wonder about the camera angles. In the game yesterday when the penalty was rightfully given to Iceland - the view shown to the referee at pitch side wasn't even the most obvious one. I mean come on, at least give him the best angle and close up that we all saw on the TV straight away.

Edited June 23, 2018 by Husky

[Ladyboys of Bank Top]

Belgium cutting through Tunisia at will. Maybe puts our performance in perspective. 

[roversfan99]

Yeah, they are so good going forward, far more clinical than us id suggest.

There are definitely weaknesses there though to be got at.

Been an entertaining first half with Tunisia playing a part in that.

[Husky]

People soon forget that England could have scored 10 against this lot.

Though it is very worrying that the poor man's Heskey can finish much better than our lot. The flat track bully is killing my liver man  . . how will I make the party tonight?

[roversfan99]

Hope Belgium take their foot off the gas, then we thrash Panama and only need a draw on Thursday...

Should be an exciting game on Thursday, 2 of the most exciting attacks.

[roverandout]

Belgium look awesome. Theyre more clinical than us..only difference