World Cup 2018

[jim mk2]

Belgium had hard work of that, and all credit to Japan, but class showed in the end. Fancy them to beat Brazil. 

[Mike E]

30 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I really don't know mate. He can talk the talk but that's about it. Evertonians called him Soft Shoe Martinez.

I think he just walked the walk...

[Pedro]

The Japanese keeper was at fault for palming the ball around when he should have caught it. Prior to Belgium's third, Courtois shows any aspiring keeper how it should be done.

[roverandout]

7 minutes ago, S8 & Blue said:

Are we?

This World Cup proves that heart, guile and belief means at least as much as wage packet and exposure.

It’s a one off game.

Prepare the rubber underwear.

 

Good to see positivity  ?

[Admiral Nelsen]

Just now, S8 & Blue said:

Are we?

This World Cup proves that heart, guile and belief means at least as much as wage packet and exposure.

It’s a one off game.

Prepare the rubber underwear.

 

I reckon so, on paper at least. Expect a tight one tomorrow in any case.

A good performance and win tomorrow and any pretence of expectation management will be straight in the bin as the country goes mad! Seems a fair away away from here though.

[AllRoverAsia]

Just now, jim mk2 said:

Belgium had hard work of that, and all credit to Japan, but class showed in the end. Fancy them to beat Brazil. 

A fluke goal and then height and then Japanese tiredness and being naive won it for Belgium. Nothing to do with class, the Japanese did not know how to close the game down.

Well done though to Japan, a credit to Asian football.

[Husky]

Just now, Mike E said:

I think he just walked the walk...

He at least does have some 3rd division mentality to fall back on. Spain just continued passy passy passy that continued to fail, but they would have been better to try a bit of Plan B hoofball.

I wonder what Southgate's Plan B is . . . .

[joey_big_nose]

Fabulous performance by Japan. Totally gutted for them. Belgium ultimately won that not by being better footballers, but just by being bigger and faster.

I think Colombia will have watched that game and Denmark Vs Croatia and concluded the way forward against wing backs is to come out very aggressively and pin our wide players.

Ulimately Belgium needed to find a plan B (bring Fellanni on). We don't have a plan B I think. So let's hope plan A works

 

[SBlue]

Just now, roverandout said:

Good to see positivity  ?

100% defence mechanism.

I hate England for making me hope.

[Husky]

Can anyone help out. I need to change the line "We can dance Nobby's dance, We can dance it in France". I'm struggling with Russia. Shoot . . . . . .

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 minute ago, joey_big_nose said:

Fabulous performance by Japan. Totally gutted for them. Belgium ultimately won that not by being better footballers, but just by being bigger and faster.

I think Colombia will have watched that game and Denmark Vs Croatia and concluded the way forward against wing backs is to come out very aggressively and pin our wide players.

Ulimately Belgium needed to find a plan B (bring Fellanni on). We don't have a plan B I think. So let's hope plan A works

 

" bigger and faster " and not as stupid. That was a classic example of dumb football. Matty Derbyshire would be proud of them.

[SBlue]

You’ve got a good druggie pusher, if you think we’ll win it in Russia...

[Stuart]

32 minutes ago, Husky said:

Japan really showing their rank naivity there. Absolutely ridiculous to try lobbing those high corners in. They got what they deserved in the end.

They went for it and were a breath of fresh air.

Nothing but respect for them and their manager.

Martinez on the other hand. Got very very lucky this evening.

[Mike E]

Just now, Husky said:

Can anyone help out. I need to change the line "We can dance Nobby's dance, We can dance it in France". I'm struggling with Russia. Shoot . . . . . .

Don't you mean Novichok?

[Audax]

Size comes up again. I really don't care and I don't know where one draws the line at being "short" and ma;ybe the times have changed,  Maradona certainly wasn't tall, Pele was not too tall either.

Pele 1.73 M https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelé

Maradona 1.65 M https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Maradona

So, though I recognize the tall and big advantage, being small has to have some advantages, being lighter on the feet though, it certainly does not pan out in international football.  Could it? You'd have to say, Japan certainly made a go at it. Maybe they are lacking in other places rather than just a simplistic analysis.

 

[DE.]

Japan had been going short with their corners most of the game, presumably because they knew they weren't going to win headers against the Belgians. Why they then decided to cross it in like that at the end I'm not sure - it had disaster written all over it. Naivety I suppose, although realistically I don't think Japan would have held back Belgium for another 30 minutes. They were spent. Belgium needed to cross more often as they had the beating of Japan in the air practically every time. Bringing on Fellaini obviously helped in that regard.

Brazil/Belgium should be very interesting.

[bazza]

This time tomorrow night I'll be packing away my "England: World Cup Campaign" shirt again. I bought it 8 years ago. I think I've worn it  about 7 times, if that.

Belgium brought me down to earth when we played them. All their players are technically better than ours. We haven't anyone who is comfortable on the ball and can take on an opponent, the old fashioned dribbling, except for Rashford and, to a lesser extent, Rose.

Don't call me a pessimist. I'm a realist.

[DE.]

Just now, bazza said:

This time tomorrow night I'll be packing away my "England: World Cup Campaign" shirt again. I bought it 8 years ago. I think I've worn it  about 7 times, if that.

Belgium brought me down to earth when we played them. All their players are technically better than ours. We haven't anyone who is comfortable on the ball and can take on an opponent, the old fashioned dribbling, except for Rashford and, to a lesser extent, Rose.

Don't call me a pessimist. I'm a realist.

I wouldn't analyse the game with Belgium to that extent. It was two completely reshuffled teams contesting the match largely like a friendly as neither particularly wanted to win. 

That said Colombia will be our first proper test in this tournament, imo. We'll see tomorrow whether the hype can be justified.

[LDRover]

Might not be a popular opinion on here but I give huge credit to Martinez for that. His 2 subs bag a goal apiece and change the game - fair play to him. Not many on here would've brought Chadli on but he goes and bags the winner.

[roverandout]

1 hour ago, S8 & Blue said:

100% defence mechanism.

I hate England for making me hope.

Me too..you just know they will let us down

[roverandout]

30 minutes ago, bazza said:

This time tomorrow night I'll be packing away my "England: World Cup Campaign" shirt again. I bought it 8 years ago. I think I've worn it  about 7 times, if that.

Belgium brought me down to earth when we played them. All their players are technically better than ours. We haven't anyone who is comfortable on the ball and can take on an opponent, the old fashioned dribbling, except for Rashford and, to a lesser extent, Rose.

Don't call me a pessimist. I'm a realist.

We have plenty coming through..sessingnon..sancho..foden..gomes...and some exciting young players already in the squad...belgium have peaked now..after this generation they wont have anyone else anywhere near this level..our chances should be judged in 4 years..no kneejerk reactions..let southgate keep bringing these young lads through and in a few years i believe we will be genuine challengers

 

Ps..italy dont produce great dribblers and they have been to plenty of major finals

Edited July 2, 2018 by roverandout

[jim mk2]

7 minutes ago, roverandout said:

We have plenty coming through..sessingnon..sancho..foden..gomes...and some exciting young players already in the squad...belgium have peaked now..after this generation they wont have anyone else anywhere near this level..our chances should be judged in 4 years..no kneejerk reactions..let southgate keep bringing these young lads through and in a few years i believe we will be genuine challengers

 

Ps..italy dont produce great dribblers and they have been to plenty of major finals

 

Seen it all before....young talent, planning ahead, new generation,  it'll be better next time, jam tomorrow etc etc. Apart from 1990 (when a good England team was very unlucky)  and the 1996 Euros (which we should have won), it's been one catastrophic failure after another.

Some of us have been waiting since 1966 for the ship to come in. Time for England to deliver

[Tom]

Everybody seems to know the score, they’ve seen it all before, they just know, they’re so sure that Englands gonna throw it away.....

 

I think the most talented player on the pitch tomorrow will be James Rodriguez but our strength is as a team playing for each other without arrogance or the egos we’ve had in the past.

A lot of people seem to think win this one and we are in the final but you can’t expect any game to be easy as the likes of Switzerland or Sweden would fancy their chances as well.

Absolutely fascinating World Cup!

[SBlue]

Delighted to see Courtois beaten twice with relatively low shots. 

Mouth.

[roverandout]

9 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

 

Seen it all before....young talent, planning ahead, new generation,  it'll be better next time, jam tomorrow etc etc. Apart from 1990 (when a good England team was very unlucky)  and the 1996 Euros (which we should have won), it's been one catastrophic failure after another.

Some of us have been waiting since 1966 for the ship to come in. Time for England to deliver

I agree..tomorrow is the day