World Cup
- Thread starter Willcampbell
- Start date
he was solid at a young age when he was playing for Club America. I was frustrated in 2010 when Mexico benched him for Cesar “El Conejo aka Rabbit” Perez during th 2010 World Cup. During 2010 Ochoa was already one of the better goal keepers in the world and had appeared in many commercials and was on the cover of many FIFA video games only to be benched by a 5’5’, 40 year old goalkeeper SMH!!!!
Colombia wins the group... they could be a formidable opponent for Belgium or England. Perhaps we'll see a real game out of those two.
I think this is very unlikely to happen, but I would love to see Portugal and Argentina both win on Saturday. That would create a Ronaldo/Messi must-see tv matchup for the Quarterfinals.
I think this is very unlikely to happen, but I would love to see Portugal and Argentina both win on Saturday. That would create a Ronaldo/Messi must-see tv matchup for the Quarterfinals.
Colombia vs. Belgium/England will probably be the best game in the Round of 16.
And France is awfully good on the other side. To me, they've had the look of a team that was coasting so far. Not in a bad way, like Germany, where they expected the opponent to roll over and die. Fr has been coasting in a "good" way in that they have played as well as needed, and nothing more, keeping their powder dry for the knockout rounds.
Pretty lackluster game between Belgium and England,both teams rested a lot of their starters.I guess they were both content with whoever they matched up with in the knockout round.Belgium has a little easier game against Japan,but if England can get by Columbia,they have an easier path to the semi finals..I think both will win their games,but neither is a cake walk.
What an effing strike by Pavard. That was insane. That is incredibly difficult to hit that well with the outside of your foot. That was nuts.
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Argentina are the Cleveland Cavs - one great player trying to pull other good players along....but cant unfortunately. Argentina is soft at the back and that will be their downfall. Some great strikes in this game though and Mbappe showing the world who the next superstar of world football is going to be!
VAR is turning out to be a shambles. Blatant holding on two Spanish players and they rule its ok?!
Russia defended for 120 mins and win...Spains golden era of players is over, new set coming in I'm sure. That side of the draw is now embarassingly worse than the other. Croatia is the best team still on that side
Russia defended for 120 mins and win...Spains golden era of players is over, new set coming in I'm sure. That side of the draw is now embarassingly worse than the other. Croatia is the best team still on that side
Yesterday was a bad day for Futbol fans. One boring game, and one sloppy game. Yes, the shootouts are fun, but the 120 mins it took to get to each one were awful.
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Spain's "deliberate" passing has been deconstructed at this point. Croatia and Denmark were just mentally down after the group stage. Denmark snuck in to the knockout round, and Croatia was just waiting for them to die while Demark tried to muck up the game.
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A shootout after 120 mins in a game where each team plays aggressive while scoring 2+ goals is great. But after two snoozefests like yesterday, even the shootout seems anticlimactic.
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Spain's "deliberate" passing has been deconstructed at this point. Croatia and Denmark were just mentally down after the group stage. Denmark snuck in to the knockout round, and Croatia was just waiting for them to die while Demark tried to muck up the game.
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A shootout after 120 mins in a game where each team plays aggressive while scoring 2+ goals is great. But after two snoozefests like yesterday, even the shootout seems anticlimactic.
Belgium is probably wishing they had completely tanked the game against England... the right side of the bracket is wide open. Croatia might be the team to beat on that half. It's gonna be kind of weird seeing a team like Croatia, or Colombia, or even England in the Finals. Since 1970, there have only been 7 countries qualify for the World Cup Final:
Germany- 6
Brazil- 4
Italy- 4
Argentina- 4
Netherlands- 3
France- 2
Spain- 1
Germany- 6
Brazil- 4
Italy- 4
Argentina- 4
Netherlands- 3
France- 2
Spain- 1
England has to be laser focused on Colombia, probably the weakest of the SA (traditional powers) in the WC this year. Get past them, and the finals are a real chance.
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That said, England has some of the shortest turnarounds. If you are Belgium, or anyone really, you might want as much time between games as possible when facing Brazil. The deeper in the tourney we get, the less time there is. If I had to pick a team to play on short rest (after the taxing games before that, no less), I'd take one of Eng, Columbia, Swe, Switz, Rus, or Croatia INSTEAD of Brazil.
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There is always the hope that someone else will take Brazil out, but if you are going to have to do it yourself, do it ASAP.
Not sure I would trust England to win the next 3 games, I'm kind of thinking Croatia is the team to beat on the right side of the bracket, but it's kind of interesting that they have a fairly manageable path after defeating only lowly teams like Tunisia and Panama.
Eh. I get it. Frankly, given modern technological achievments, I'm not sure why any broadcaster would send anyone on location to call a game. Why does Jay Bilas need to be at CIS to call the game. He can do it just as well from Bristol CT. And ESPN can get sideline reporting from the ABC affiliate (sort of a loaner from a partner of their corp parent, aka The Mouse).
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Especially in Russia (or the USA/Canada) wherein the games are incredibly distant geographically.
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Seems like a smart and fiscally responsible policy.
Probably Croatia for me as well. But, and I said this earlier in the thread, after listening to this England team, I firmly believe they are too dumb to succumb to the outside pressure or whatever and fail. They just aren't smart enough to truly feel the magnitude of the pressure at this point.
Very happy for England getting that win on penalties. Would love to see them in the final.
Finally get to see England win a penalty shoot-out...its been a while. Not a great performance from either side with a lot of ugliness sprinkled in. Sterling needs to sit, he hasnt scored in nearly 3 years in an England jersey. Put Rashford in or Vardy to change it up against the Swedes. If EVER there was a draw where we can win the WC again ( last was 1966) this is it....but I still dont have 100% confidence they can do it...or even make the final.
The Fox coverage is painful...both the game/color commentators and the studio crew. Today we had the term restraining line used multiple times ...I've played for 40+ years, coached for 30 and have never heard that term before in a game!
The Fox coverage is painful...both the game/color commentators and the studio crew. Today we had the term restraining line used multiple times ...I've played for 40+ years, coached for 30 and have never heard that term before in a game!
The game really started to get nasty,the ref did a great job keeping his composure,really glad England won,on to the qtr finals..Sweden plays good defense so expect another low scoring affair...As far as the announcers go,here in Canada all the games are picked up from the FIFA feed which uses only British announcers who are by far the best in the business
Derek Rae has always been my favorite commentator and I'm excited he's doing so many games.
3 of the 4 teams that advanced in the right side of the bracket won on penalties. And Sweden scored on a lone goal by Forsberg, but you easily could have counted that as an own-goal. I can't ever remember a World Cup bracket being this unbalanced. Really wish Belgium was on the weaker side. I think I might have to root for Brazil in the quaterfinals, though, because I'd rather not see 4 European nations in the semifinals. I can't see Uruguay beating France without Cavani.
I'm not sure Ur could beat Fr WITH Cavani. Fr has looked good IMO. Not great, but I feel like they are peaking and getting their ish together, and god knows they are talented.
Fr vs Bra/Bel winner is the de facto title game. For once, I might be looking forward to the third place game. Could get chippy.
Qtr Finals start today who ya got??
I like France over Uruguay
Croatia over Russia
England over Sweden
and my big upset Belgium over Brazil,yes you heard it here first!
I like France over Uruguay
Croatia over Russia
England over Sweden
and my big upset Belgium over Brazil,yes you heard it here first!
I’m thinking this will be the best day of the whole thing.
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