World cup 2018

[Don Pablo]

I won 5 quid thanks to Russias win.   

[Etherealicer]

Croatian strategy... slow down the game until Denmark is favorite, then hope Denmark gets the "Curse of the Favorite"

[Fuzzbucket]

I won 5 quid thanks to Russias win.   

Excellent 


... That'll pay for the Jaffas you owe me and Mags! 

[Billy Ruffian]

Gotta say, I have really enjoyed this World Cup so far, there have been some really great games and performances. A few highlights for me up to this point:

Spain v Portugal 3-3 was a classic. Spain had a 20-minute period where they’d have blown any other team away, but Portugal hung on, backed themselves, played their own game and took on Spain head-on.

Columbia turning it on against Poland. Falcao razor sharp again after his terrible injury, James Rodriguez different gravy with his passing.

Croatia making a very talented Argentina side look very ordinary.

England keeping their heads for once when time was running out in the Tunisia game and kept on probing & passing, not just lumping it into the box.

Today’s matches not so good to watch, but interesting to see two limited sides in Russia and Denmark putting the squeeze on Spain and Croatia.

And the video reviews seem to be working pretty well.

[Billy Ruffian]

Oh and I left off my list Suarez and Cavani absolutely running their nuts off in yesterday’s match, just great to see fantastic, talented players putting in that kind of graft, it must inspire their team mates.

[Fuzzbucket]

PENALTIES!!! 

[Etherealicer]

Croatian strategy... slow down the game until Denmark is favorite, then hope Denmark gets the "Curse of the Favorite"

And it worked...  by missing the penalty Denmark became favorite for the penalties and Croatia won

Also, good job from the Swiss player keeping the nerves

[Fuzzbucket]

I think Croatia probably deserved the win in the end. Good effort from Denmark though.

[Nix]

Fun game. Seemed to flow back and forth nicely.

Impressive performance by both goalies.

[Fuzzbucket]

Fun game. Seemed to flow back and forth nicely.

Impressive performance by both goalies.

Yes - absolutely! 

[pfrsantos]

Oh and I left off my list Suarez and Cavani absolutely running their nuts off in yesterday’s match, just great to see fantastic, talented players putting in that kind of graft, it must inspire their team mates.

The best game Portugal played. The second goal from Uruguay was awesome! I think Portugal deserved the chance to at least have an overtime. It was at least some satisfaction to see the powerful uruguay having 11 men defending against Portugal.

 

[pfrsantos]

A small note to say the portuguese team had hundreds of supporters waiting at the airport in Lisbon when they arrived. They lost but they're not losers!

Well done, guys!

[styx]

Fun game. Seemed to flow back and forth nicely.

Impressive performance by both goalies.

Yes - absolutely! 

Fun game. Seemed to flow back and forth nicely.

Impressive performance by both goalies.

Croatian strategy... slow down the game until Denmark is favorite, then hope Denmark gets the "Curse of the Favorite"

And it worked...  by missing the penalty Denmark became favorite for the penalties and Croatia won

Also, good job from the Swiss player keeping the nerves

now if i could just get my voice and hearing back for the next game it would be great. had only three beers, tried to throw only 27 bottles (7 at the tv and 20 at hipsters). when did i become so civilized.
but yes the second half they played, i don't know what but it wasn't football. now i'm wondering if FIFA in its infinite wisdom will appoint Danish refs for the Russia game. that ref did us no favors

[Etherealicer]

now if i could just get my voice and hearing back for the next game it would be great. had only three beers, tried to throw only 27 bottles (7 at the tv and 20 at hipsters). when did i become so civilized.
but yes the second half they played, i don't know what but it wasn't football. now i'm wondering if FIFA in its infinite wisdom will appoint Danish refs for the Russia game. that ref did us no favors

That bad huh? I was a bit disappointed in the Croatian team but they pulled through... still hope to see them in the final.

Poor hipsters, now they don't just look like homeless, they also smell like them. They probably consider that a fashion statement.

[dks]

.

[Fuzzbucket]

Some quite despicable behaviour from Columbia in the first half! 

[Syncop8r]

If only it were more like basketball......

[styx]

now if i could just get my voice and hearing back for the next game it would be great. had only three beers, tried to throw only 27 bottles (7 at the tv and 20 at hipsters). when did i become so civilized.
but yes the second half they played, i don't know what but it wasn't football. now i'm wondering if FIFA in its infinite wisdom will appoint Danish refs for the Russia game. that ref did us no favors

That bad huh? I was a bit disappointed in the Croatian team but they pulled through... still hope to see them in the final.

Poor hipsters, now they don't just look like homeless, they also smell like them. They probably consider that a fashion statement.

yea it was that bad. now I'm wondering if this tournament is favouring defensive teams that use quick counters rather than more agile and open teams. spain and switzerland didn't do well against russia and sweden, we barely pulled through

[Fuzzbucket]

PENALTIES!!! 

[Fuzzbucket]

[Don Pablo]

Oi! That gif’s not tall enough!

[Fuzzbucket]

That gif's soooooo me!

[Don Pablo]

So you’re a discretion shot?

[Fuzzbucket]

I am... if I knew what that meant?

[styx]

so 3 games ended with penalties

[Etherealicer]

now if i could just get my voice and hearing back for the next game it would be great. had only three beers, tried to throw only 27 bottles (7 at the tv and 20 at hipsters). when did i become so civilized.
but yes the second half they played, i don't know what but it wasn't football. now i'm wondering if FIFA in its infinite wisdom will appoint Danish refs for the Russia game. that ref did us no favors

That bad huh? I was a bit disappointed in the Croatian team but they pulled through... still hope to see them in the final.

Poor hipsters, now they don't just look like homeless, they also smell like them. They probably consider that a fashion statement.

yea it was that bad. now I'm wondering if this tournament is favouring defensive teams that use quick counters rather than more agile and open teams. spain and switzerland didn't do well against russia and sweden, we barely pulled through

Greece 2004 yawn... not what we want to see...

Sadly, I sometimes get the feeling that those attacking teams do not really want to go for the goal, they seem to be more hoping for a corner or a foul resulting in a free-kick/penalty.

[Billy Ruffian]

“Sadly, I sometimes get the feeling that those attacking teams do not really want to go for the goal, they seem to be more hoping for a corner or a foul resulting in a free-kick/penalty”

Yeah there’s something in that. I read an article on Spain after they lost to Russia the other day, ‘Sterile Possession’ it was called; Spain had a period of more than 40 minutes with overwhelming possession but not a single shot on target, which is remarkable. If a team have an attempt on goal but do not score, then possession goes back to the other side, I think Spain in particular have got too obsessed with possession at all costs, above everything else, even above trying to score a goal because they see it as a risk to losing the ball, however briefly?

Even in 2010 when they won, they did so with four consecutive 1-0 wins (I think) in the knockout stages. They won through dominating possession, not through blitzing the other teams with chance after chance.

Spain are / were the most extreme example of that approach - and they were supremely successful with it, totally dominant in 08, 10 and 12, but I wonder if this lack of adventure, reluctance to take a risk in order to score, has become a problem.

[Whoey]

The "tiki taka" of Spain is not a bad thing, their failure was that it wasn't in movement as the past, only static passes and entirely too many minor ball corrections and that was their downfall since the opponents had loads of time to set up a defensive perimeter, preventing any chances of a clear shot. I honestly feel like this was coming anyways as Spain have always just scraped by with minimum goals, even when they won.

Firing the head coach who spent the last 2 years building the squad 2 days before the tournament started was also not the brightest of ideas.

[dks]

I missed a few days of matches but those I watched were interesting. A decade ago they were a lot more boring.

[pfrsantos]

I missed a few days of matches but those I watched were interesting. A decade ago they were a lot more boring.

A decade ago you were an impatient young lad...