World Cup 2018

[Silas]

1 hour ago, matt83 said:

 

Also great World Cup? More fortunate draw I’d say. Could potentially have lost our 3rd match by close of play today in this great World Cup. 

We no doubt will lose our 3rd match today. Great is maybe wrong word, but out of 32 teams there are only 4 left playing this weekend, and no-one would have predicted us being one of them.

"Fortunate draw" - maybe, but you take what you're given.

Strange how I never hear any of us Rover's fans mention our "fortunate draw" in 2001/2002. We never speak of how we only really played one Prem team on route to final in Middlesbrough. 

None of us can stop banging on about how Wenger made 9 changes to his team leaving out the likes of: Henry, Ljungberg, Ashley Cole, Bergkamp, Pires,  Vieira etc. 

We're like a bunch of broken record players right?! Oh no, that's right, we never mention it, because it's irrelevant. They made a choice,  we beat them, and went on to win the cup.

We ain't winning a cup this time, but we're here on final weekend. That's a plus for me. Don't care how we got here, so I'll leave it to other people to have selective memories when it comes to fortunate runs in cups. 

[joey_big_nose]

Both teams playing close to strongest side. Very pleased about that! Should be a cracker.

 

[Ewood Ace]

Sterling officially undroppable.

[matt83]

23 minutes ago, Silas said:

We no doubt will lose our 3rd match today. Great is maybe wrong word, but out of 32 teams there are only 4 left playing this weekend, and no-one would have predicted us being one of them.

"Fortunate draw" - maybe, but you take what you're given.

Strange how I never hear any of us Rover's fans mention our "fortunate draw" in 2001/2002. We never speak of how we only really played one Prem team on route to final in Middlesbrough. 

None of us can stop banging on about how Wenger made 9 changes to his team leaving out the likes of: Henry, Ljungberg, Ashley Cole, Bergkamp, Pires,  Vieira etc. 

We're like a bunch of broken record players right?! Oh no, that's right, we never mention it, because it's irrelevant. They made a choice,  we beat them, and went on to win the cup.

We ain't winning a cup this time, but we're here on final weekend. That's a plus for me. Don't care how we got here, so I'll leave it to other people to have selective memories when it comes to fortunate runs in cups. 

Good analogy with league cup and had England won the World Cup it would not be mentioned. In the same way if rovers had been beaten in the semi by sheff Wednesday it would have been a big opportunity missed and anything but great.  

[AllRoverAsia]

11 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Both teams playing close to strongest side. Very pleased about that! Should be a cracker.

 

I did not think that we would. Pleased that we are, it's raining heavy here so hope my internet copes ok. It's a bit iffy now.

[Husky]

19 minutes ago, Ewood Ace said:

Sterling officially undroppable.

He doesn't go missing I'll give him that. Unlike that Ali guy.

[Husky]

Nadal v Djokovic is a really good game guys. 7-7 final set . .

[bazza]

England are pathetic. Absolutely hopeless. It's like watching paint dry.

[Husky]

They've changed their tune on ITV.

From 'it's coming home' to 'they are playing a testimonial'.

[Husky]

Loftus Cheek the best player . . for England.

[Audax]

13 hours ago, Baz said:

3rd 4th place play-off is a pointless game really..

Made only to fill tv schedules, and determine a position no one really wants anyway - could be done on results, goal diff etc.

It should be a celebration of football, and a lead up to the final. Maybe it needs to be a player of the tournament team vs a rest of the world team, north vs hemisphere, or something similar to get fans excited and maybe bring in players that play for small / lesser nations that otherwise wouldn't get a game at the world cup? Just something to add a bit of competition in there? Even a guaranteed spot at the next w/c? 

It's been around since at least, 1934. TV was not common then.

It's modeled I'm sure, after the Olympic system, to give out a bronze (3rd place) medal.

https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/belgium-vs-england-6-fifa-world-cup-3rd-place-games-that-were-hugely-entertaining-including-a-9-goal-thriller-ss

"Six entertaining 3rd place games", the article says Germany has won it 4 times... hey, it must be okay then.

I'd think this is true too:

" The FIFA World Cup features a third place playoff, usually on the day before the final. It is often there to provide a spectacle as there is often a gap of a few days between the semi-finals and the final. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_place_playoff#FIFA_World_Cup_and_other_association_football_tournaments

This is probably what you might have meant. Early on, I'll bet even radio coverage was limited. Probably really didn't come into its own until the 1950s as far as media coverage goes.

Edited July 14, 2018 by Audax

[AdamRochina]

As proud as we can be about England we must be brutally Frank. 

We are poor .. really poor and have been extremely fortunate to get this far into the cup.. we don't create nothing from open play at all take the Panama game out and even sadia Arabia created more chances from open play then us.. we are near the bottom of that specific table 

Tunisia we started well but after it went 1-1 we barley created anything just had possession and took a set piece in the dying seconds to win.  Panama we dominated granted as they are a semi pro side. Then lost to Belgium reserved as we played ours

Then come the knock outs . We had the easiest route yes. But against Columbia we had one shot in 120 minutes of football and needed a penalty to score ..although even with that we were the better side and did deserve to go through .

Against Sweden this is the game I thought we were really good in and showed alot if promise..we were professional about the game and killed it off without having to create much 

Then come the game against Croatia and yet again a set piece goal and apart from that we created nothing for 120 minutes apart from Jones header off the line. They completely dominated us in midfield and shown up our weaknesses.

All in all I thought we were very fortunate to get to where we was in the cup as we barley had a creative force and relied heavily in set pieces or penaltys BUT it's a foundation to build on 

[Husky]

What's up with Kane?

[AdamRochina]

Just now, Husky said:

What's up with Kane?

Nothing They just saying he might have a knock to excuse the fact he's been atrocious for the past few games 

Golden boot and it's penaltys and a lucky goal that bounced off him 

[Audax]

Dier, that was very nice, unfortunate to not score... Belgian player stopped the goal.

[Husky]

Can't finish again. The reason we aren't playing tomorrow.

Jones is such a pub player, lol.  Man Ure could start getting a reputation for ruining young England players.

[AdamRochina]

Not being funny but loftus cheek has done more in this game and looked more creative then Alli and lingard all cup.  He's been great today 

 

That move from Belgium is something that's missing from England that one touch lovley creative football beautifull stuff that 

Edited July 14, 2018 by AdamRochina
Added

[Husky]

Just now, AdamRochina said:

Nothing They just saying he might have a knock to excuse the fact he's been atrocious for the past few games 

Golden boot and it's penaltys and a lucky goal that bounced off him 

It's well past Kane time now. Get Welbeck on ?

[AdamRochina]

4th place it is then and I agree husky kane should of been off ages ago .. he's undropable cos he's the golden boy captain lol 

Belgium picked us off then 

[Audax]

Belgium get another, Belgium might even be more disappointed than England in this World Cup; this was a World Cup, they had a very good shot at. They could do nothing against France.

[Ewood Ace]

A bit of a reality check for England in the last 2 games as we've played good sides and looked second best.

[Tom]

Glad we never had to play these in a proper game.

And Phil Jones should never ever player for England again

[Blow-in]

Just now, Audax said:

Belgium get another, Belgium might even be more disappointed than England in this World Cup; this was a World Cup, they had a very good shot at. They could do nothing against France.

In fairness the France Belgium game, even at the time was clearly the final either team would have crushed England or Croatia. I expect the final tomorrow to be a 1:0 or 2:0 stroll for France. 

[roversfan99]

14 minutes ago, AdamRochina said:

As proud as we can be about England we must be brutally Frank. 

We are poor .. really poor and have been extremely fortunate to get this far into the cup.. we don't create nothing from open play at all take the Panama game out and even sadia Arabia created more chances from open play then us.. we are near the bottom of that specific table 

Tunisia we started well but after it went 1-1 we barley created anything just had possession and took a set piece in the dying seconds to win.  Panama we dominated granted as they are a semi pro side. Then lost to Belgium reserved as we played ours

Then come the knock outs . We had the easiest route yes. But against Columbia we had one shot in 120 minutes of football and needed a penalty to score ..although even with that we were the better side and did deserve to go through .

Against Sweden this is the game I thought we were really good in and showed alot if promise..we were professional about the game and killed it off without having to create much 

Then come the game against Croatia and yet again a set piece goal and apart from that we created nothing for 120 minutes apart from Jones header off the line. They completely dominated us in midfield and shown up our weaknesses.

All in all I thought we were very fortunate to get to where we was in the cup as we barley had a creative force and relied heavily in set pieces or penaltys BUT it's a foundation to build on 

Whilst you are right about the draw, and the lack of chances in open play, to say we are "very poor" and "fortunate" (in anything bar the draw) is a big overreaction.

[AdamRochina]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

Whilst you are right about the draw, and the lack of chances in open play, to say we are "very poor" and "fortunate" (in anything bar the draw) is a big overreaction.

It's not though is it mate? Truthfully? We are a very slow pedastrian team .. we created nothing against Columbia and Croatia ..Sweden yes we were great .. but I think overall weve been very poor .. look at Japan against Belgium and then look at us today .  We are slow boring and uncreative and because we got to the semi final all the media and experts are sugar coating it all