2018 Football World Cup
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@bovidae said in 2018 Football World Cup:
If you believe in the FIFA rankings:
Belgium - 4
France - 7
England - 12
Croatia - 20So England have yet to play a team ranked above them in the knocokout stages.
FIFA rankings are so useless that no serious argument can be raised from them. It's not like the "difficult" side of the draw wasn't full of lowly ranked sides.
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@jegga said in 2018 Football World Cup:
Still keeping my seat on the English bandwagon , wc success would draw plenty of kids away from playing rugby for a generation and in a few years their team will resemble Woodward’s final year in charge again,
Don’t underestimate the ability to find an English grandmother even in generations to come....
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@crucial said in 2018 Football World Cup:
I hope we never ever get to the stage where we celebrate an All Blacks win in a quarterfinal well into the night and crowd the streets to sing moronic songs.
It's a bit like the AB's winning the RWC in 2011 after 28 years?
Though, to be fair to England, their soccer team hasn't been rated no. 1 for most of that same period of time
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@victor-meldrew said in 2018 Football World Cup:
@crucial said in 2018 Football World Cup:
I hope we never ever get to the stage where we celebrate an All Blacks win in a quarterfinal well into the night and crowd the streets to sing moronic songs.
It's a bit like the AB's winning the RWC in 2011 after 28 years?
Umm, no. You don't win a prize for winning a quarterfinal.
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Also, while the English fans are enjoying their win, I imagine that most would have accepted a loss with forbearance.
Meanwhile if the ABs were to lose in a quarterfinal it might lead to months and years of nasty recriminations and despair, and possibly deliberate memory loss. Lucky it has never happened then
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@crucial True. But after all the under-performing previous England teams, people can't quite believe how well Southgate's team has done, and to get to the semis is a victory of sorts
That, and the warm weather, has resulted in party-time. The irony is that for the last few weeks there's a CO2 shortage which is affecting beer supplies......
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@crucial said in 2018 Football World Cup:
I hope we never ever get to the stage where we celebrate an All Blacks win in a quarterfinal well into the night and crowd the streets to sing moronic songs.
If the RWC becomes a 32 team competition where teams of the football equivalent of Italy don't even make it - and if we haven't made one in 28 years - then I will happily sing moronic songs in the street all night about the All Blacks making a semifinal
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@crucial said in 2018 Football World Cup:
I hope we never ever get to the stage where we celebrate an All Blacks win in a quarterfinal well into the night and crowd the streets to sing moronic songs.
Although after a quarterfinal loss AB fans were posting well into the night (and years later) about a forward pass....
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@act-crusader said in 2018 Football World Cup:
@crucial said in 2018 Football World Cup:
I hope we never ever get to the stage where we celebrate an All Blacks win in a quarterfinal well into the night and crowd the streets to sing moronic songs.
Although after a quarterfinal loss AB fans were posting well into the night (and years later) about a forward pass....
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@act-crusader said in 2018 Football World Cup:
@crucial said in 2018 Football World Cup:
I hope we never ever get to the stage where we celebrate an All Blacks win in a quarterfinal well into the night and crowd the streets to sing moronic songs.
Although after a quarterfinal loss AB fans were posting well into the night (and years later) about a forward pass....
Fake news! Never happened.
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@donsteppa said in 2018 Football World Cup:
@crucial said in 2018 Football World Cup:
I hope we never ever get to the stage where we celebrate an All Blacks win in a quarterfinal well into the night and crowd the streets to sing moronic songs.
If the RWC becomes a 32 team competition where teams of the football equivalent of Italy don't even make it - and if we haven't made one in 28 years - then I will happily sing moronic songs in the street all night about the All Blacks making a semifinal
That’s my point. I said I hope we never see that happen. It would only come from years and years of terrible performances.
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@victor-meldrew said in 2018 Football World Cup:
AB's winning the RWC in 2011 after 28 years
Definitely fake news and somebody needs some maths revision (or is exaggerating).
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@billy-tell said in 2018 Football World Cup:
Can subbed players take penalties? I think no.
The ones subbed off can't but the ones subbed on can.
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@crucial said in 2018 Football World Cup:
@donsteppa said in 2018 Football World Cup:
@crucial said in 2018 Football World Cup:
I hope we never ever get to the stage where we celebrate an All Blacks win in a quarterfinal well into the night and crowd the streets to sing moronic songs.
If the RWC becomes a 32 team competition where teams of the football equivalent of Italy don't even make it - and if we haven't made one in 28 years - then I will happily sing moronic songs in the street all night about the All Blacks making a semifinal
That’s my point. I said I hope we never see that happen. It would only come from years and years of terrible performances.
Or - from rugby becoming a 'truly' strong global game like Football. The Netherlands and Italy not being there looks to me like a rugby equivalent of the Springboks and the Wallabies failing to qualify for the final 32. I don't think there's any shame in England's FWC performances over the years, just room for a lot of comedy and masochism from the supporters.
I'd probably choose rugby staying as it is and the All Blacks winning most of the time... I guess we can't have it all ways - dammit
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Recapping on the weekend's games.
Kevin de B's goal is my new goal of the tournament. Great run by Lukaku to drive into the heart of the Brazilian midfield, Kevin sees the bottom corner and hits the ball as true as a ball can be hit. It's one thing to pick a spot and quite another to execute it so expertly.
Martinez may actually be given some credit at last. He made the call to change the system and it worked - keeping Lukaku and Hazard forward with Kevin not far away meant Brazil could never truly lay siege to their goal without worrying about losing the ball. For Brazil, Willian is an odd player - devastating one day and totally average the next. Douglas Costa showed what Willian should have been doing in the first half.
France are looking very solid - again Deschamps may actually be given some credit.
England won in a similar way to France, all important first goal from a setpiece and the opposition without enough craft to come back. Southgate has the team playing to their strengths and to their potential and without a star like Gerrard or Rooney where the system had to be tweaked to allow for them. Now it comes down to whether they are good enough.
Croatia's players looked absolutely buggered at the end of the Russian game. Not sure they will be able to recover in 4 days given they have had 2 extra times in a row. They should have done the job before the end of 90 or before the end of 120. Solid team, plenty of class, a bit toothless in attack.
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@kiwipie said in 2018 Football World Cup:
Martinez may actually be given some credit at last. He made the call to change the system and it worked -
Fellaini deserves plenty of credit too as he along with Witsel protected back 3 perfectly allowing De Bruyne to play further up the field.
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@donsteppa said in 2018 Football World Cup:
@crucial said in 2018 Football World Cup:
@donsteppa said in 2018 Football World Cup:
@crucial said in 2018 Football World Cup:
I hope we never ever get to the stage where we celebrate an All Blacks win in a quarterfinal well into the night and crowd the streets to sing moronic songs.
If the RWC becomes a 32 team competition where teams of the football equivalent of Italy don't even make it - and if we haven't made one in 28 years - then I will happily sing moronic songs in the street all night about the All Blacks making a semifinal
That’s my point. I said I hope we never see that happen. It would only come from years and years of terrible performances.
Or - from rugby becoming a 'truly' strong global game like Football. The Netherlands and Italy not being there looks to me like a rugby equivalent of the Springboks and the Wallabies failing to qualify for the final 32. I don't think there's any shame in England's FWC performances over the years, just room for a lot of comedy and masochism from the supporters.
I'd probably choose rugby staying as it is and the All Blacks winning most of the time... I guess we can't have it all ways - dammit
I think it's that there's been nothing to get truely excited about in Major tournaments for England fans since 1966?
In that they've lost absolutely every knockout game they've played for 50 years when they meet a better or equal team.
Their football world cup history is like what Ireland's RWC history has become (never getting past a Quarter Final, therefore losing every knockout match they've played)
England football haven't lost every knockout for 50 years, because they have a round of 16, and their runs in 86 and 90. But in 86 England beat Paraguay in round of 16, in 90 they beat Belgium then Cameroon on way to semi.
I don't think beating Colombia then Sweden particularly changes that history.
Beating Croatia would be beating a peer in a knockout game. To win the final would be beating a superior.
England have had some good games when they've been knocked out but put up a good show. 1970 1/4 final v W Germany , 1986 1/4 final v Argentina, 1990 semi v W Germany, 1998 round of 16 v Argentina.
But their history is meet good opponent, lose.
Their World Cup history is really, really poor IMO. Way underachieve compared to their peer France for example who have won just as many world cups, but have a record of making finals or semis, knocking out favourites etc. actually I'd say Spain and England are very comparable. 1 good tournament then an entire history of tripping at the first slightly difficult hurdle. Although Spain managed to bookend their World Cup generation with 2 x Euros.
I do actually support England. Despite my contempt for their history and record above..
