I'm a lot less convinced of that first part than you, but the second ... nailed it. At least Suarez avoided biting anybody this time. And since he spent his day dueling with Pepe, that's saying something.
2018 World Cup Thread
- Thread starter jeffbear
- Start date
I'm a lot less convinced of that first part than you, but the second ... nailed it. At least Suarez avoided biting anybody this time. And since he spent his day dueling with Pepe, that's saying something.
VinatieriDefinesClutch
Active member
He in no way tried to play the ball. The Portuguese player knocked the ball by him and then was hip checked to the ground. Anywhere else on the field and that's a foul. I hate that you're often allowed to block off a player in the box, but not anywhere else on the field.
See ya Spain. Russia knocked out Spain on PKs in the morning match today, and the last of the great pretenders is gone. There was absolutely nothing inventive from Spain today ... tica, tacka, jacka it in the box to nobody. And frankly, they've looked bland all tournament, so ... adios.
Yesterday was a dud. The second game wasn't any better than the first, although it had a bright start. Croatia barely survived a bland Danish side after looking like one of the better teams in the tournament in groups. I mean, yeah ... the shootout was more entertaining but for me that's grasping at straws.
Hopefully Monday will deliver ... Brazil vs Mexico and Belgium vs Japan
Hopefully Monday will deliver ... Brazil vs Mexico and Belgium vs Japan
El Tri has to be kicking themselves for pissing away the group with their loss to Sweden.
Belgium-Japan gave us a great 2nd half. Japan jumped out to a 2-0 lead with the goals coming 4 minutes apart. Belgium pulled one back with a looping header from Vertonghen after Japan didn’t clear a corner. Fellaini leveled 5 minutes later with a typical Fellaini goal, outjumping the defender on a a sublime cross from Hazard. And then Chadli wins it at the death on a counter attack that started with a Courtois save, up the middle to DeBruyne, wide to Meunier, a dummy by Lukaku and Chadli had a wide open goal to finish.
StormChaserBH
Well-known member
Beautiful game... almost yelled out loud when Chadli scored the winner!
That would have been bad, as I was watching on my tablet on the guest wifi at my 'open landscape' office.
I thought JP Dellacamera was going to come out of his seat and fall out of the booth describing the counterattack.
Here is the tactical view of the game winner.
https://mobile.twitter.com/BillyM_91/status/1013875932485115904
https://mobile.twitter.com/BillyM_91/status/1013875932485115904
England beats Colombia on penalties, erasing the sting of so many previous losses, including England boss Garett Southgqte at the 1996 Euros. Harry Kane put the 3 Lions ahead on a well taken penalty only to see Colombia tie at in 2nd half injury time. This game may be most remenevered for American ref Mark Geiger losing control of the match and only barely getting it back. Colombia drew 6 yellows and England 2.
England has a pretty clear path to the final. Sweden first, then the winner of Russia/Croatia. Of course, this is the chaos World Cup, so we could just as easily see a Uruguay/Croatia final.
Yeah, this one has been different, hasn't it? Fairly well officiated for starters ... up until yesterday at least. VAR actually had a positive impact, which I'm not sure many were expecting. Also, things in the streets have been fairly calm. How much of that has to do with draconian security measures on the part of the Russian government and how much if it is juts down to better behavior ... who knows. But it's been fairly incident free, which again I'm not sure people were expecting. Then the results ... so many favorites down early, so many stereotypes busted. I gotta admit. It's been a really fun tournament to watch.
From here ... predictions because why not? Caveat ... if you're betting, 100% you should bet the opposite of my predictions.
Uruguay takes the fizz out of France. Everybody seems to be enjoying the "arrival" of this French team, but I remember what they looked like under pressure early. Uruguay will put you under pressure and are a much tougher nut to crack than that weird dysfunctional debacle of an Argentina team. Uruguay 2 France 1
Brazil will figure out how to beat Belgium. The Belgian D is better in that back 3 formation, but still weak down the edges and prone to getting stretched out of shape. And relying on two purely offensive midfielders in what are normally marking roles? Oh, Roberto. Don't do that. Japan did a number on them, but lacked quality on the finish. Brazil do not. Brazil 3 Belgium 2
Sweden are the conundrum of the tournament. By all rights, they just aren't good enough to have survived this far, as they really only have one top class offensive player. I feel like they're playing the role that the US normally plays and at this point the US would fold up their table and go home. But ... England have not "done an England" yet and no matter how many demons they exorcized yesterday there are some tropes that refuse to die. Here's the stinger ... Sweden beat England in PKs.
Croatia will snap Russia out of their home court dream tournament, I think. They're just too good and are also capable of playing the physical game that Russia prefers. Class will tell ... Croatia 2 Russia 0
I think we're probably looking at a Croatia vs Brazil final, but ...
From here ... predictions because why not? Caveat ... if you're betting, 100% you should bet the opposite of my predictions.
Uruguay takes the fizz out of France. Everybody seems to be enjoying the "arrival" of this French team, but I remember what they looked like under pressure early. Uruguay will put you under pressure and are a much tougher nut to crack than that weird dysfunctional debacle of an Argentina team. Uruguay 2 France 1
Brazil will figure out how to beat Belgium. The Belgian D is better in that back 3 formation, but still weak down the edges and prone to getting stretched out of shape. And relying on two purely offensive midfielders in what are normally marking roles? Oh, Roberto. Don't do that. Japan did a number on them, but lacked quality on the finish. Brazil do not. Brazil 3 Belgium 2
Sweden are the conundrum of the tournament. By all rights, they just aren't good enough to have survived this far, as they really only have one top class offensive player. I feel like they're playing the role that the US normally plays and at this point the US would fold up their table and go home. But ... England have not "done an England" yet and no matter how many demons they exorcized yesterday there are some tropes that refuse to die. Here's the stinger ... Sweden beat England in PKs.
Croatia will snap Russia out of their home court dream tournament, I think. They're just too good and are also capable of playing the physical game that Russia prefers. Class will tell ... Croatia 2 Russia 0
I think we're probably looking at a Croatia vs Brazil final, but ...
VinatieriDefinesClutch
Active member
I thought the refereeing in the England vs Colombia match was fine. It wasn't perfect, by any means, but it wasn't a joke like the Portugal vs Uruguay match. It's a tough situation for a referee when one of the teams decides they are going to try to ruin the game. You could argue that he could have sent someone off on Colombia early, and Barrios should have been sent off for the headbutt, but that's on the VAR official since the match official had his back turned when it happened. On the other hand, if Barrios got sent off, we wouldn't have gotten to see the image of him putting back on his shin guard which had pictures of himself on them and that was magical.
Yeah ... I get all that, but I've seen Geiger take control of MLS and CONCACAF games with at least as much horsecrap going on and he just wasn't the same decisive guy in that situation. Maybe if I didn't know what he was capable of, I wouldn't be judging him so harshly.