No Irish, No Yanks, No Clogs - FIFA World Cup 2018

oh boy

Surely a penalty.

vvvvvaaaRRRRRRRRR

now then..

if Egypt manages to tie this one by some miracle, expect them to try and score 7 goals against SAudi

Never thought I'd say this, like really, never, but Russia up till now are the WCs best playing team. They're actually playing exciting, attacking football. I don't know what took them so long (last time was before the fall of the Soviet empire iirc, EC '88 runners up was a curse, not a blessing or acievement), maybe shame or a false sense of self-worthlessness, but they are showing up right now.

Gotta pour it on for the hometown crowd.

It's more than that Ned! They've been atrocious for decades. This really is something else.

(maybe you are right and it is just that, still though)

I think a lot of it is playing with no expectations behind them. The pressure is totally off. Everyone, in Russia and abroad, had written them off as hopeless.

xpost No I know they've been rotten, but first they got an even rottener team to beat, then they got a side with a recovering star, plus some good luck to start their goal run. It all helps.

You are both otm, Shari Vari and Ned.

Football wise, Russia for me is the surprise of the WC so far. They're really sinking their teeth into this, in an attacking way.

Dzyuba was excellent

Russia up till now are the WCs best playing team

you fancy them to win it then?

Enjoying the extent to which the BBC are blatantly willing Egypt to win this.

If anything is designed to get you supporting Russia...

No chance, they'll collapse sooner rather than later. But they *have* been playing the (imo) best, most attacking football. xp

ya but they played saudi arabia and egypt

Argentina played Iceland
Germany played Mexico
Brazil played Suisse

Point being?

A Brazil 2014 scenario where they get all the way to the semis and then annihilated in front of Putin would be sweet.

russia have played against saudi arabia and egypt on the counter and taken their chances

yeah, didn't see today but first game was least convincing 5-0 i can ever remember.

just saw the 2nd SEN goal a second time and larfed non-stop all over again

Argentina, Brazil, Ingerland, hell even Belgium all should have 5-0's in their first matches. But they didn't. Lame to discredit Russia bcz "KSA & Egypt" tbh.

You do know that I have played in these games right? https://t.co/dyzvsH9Olp

— Alan Shearer (@alanshearer) June 18, 2018

fuck me, when you are supposed take sides with complete cunt over another complete cunt!

If Shearer's involved, it's not that hard. Shearer is the cunt.

argentina couldn't really create any chances against an absurdly densely-packed iceland team, lots of other good teams have dominated possession and squandered lots of chances against better opposition. russia have exceeded extremely low expectations and look to have the best morale in the tournament, but in terms of the football they've played there's no reason to think russia would have done better in any of those games

Argentina, Brazil, Ingerland, hell even Belgium all should have 5-0's in their first matches. But they didn't. Lame to discredit Russia bcz "KSA & Egypt" tbh.

― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), 19. juni 2018 22:09 (twenty-three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I can agree that Russia is better than all these teams, but low bar.

Low bar, but low bar is quintessential WC.

Three epics from Pat Nevin during the 5Live commentary on that last game, all Salah rated.

When Russia went three up, he insisted Egypt take Salah off immediately because they weren't going to score 4 so "out of respect for Liverpool" they should do everything to avoid further injury to him.

Egypt's penalty "clearly was outside of the box so should have only been a free kick" BUT Salah is such a talented player when fit that "morally it was the right thing to do and that's why the referee gave it."

He then suggested Salah was hiding behind his 'injury' (his scare quotes) to mask a sudden drop in form because "I played against the CIS once with a broken leg, so professionals just grit their teeth and get on with it."

He then got in an argument with Mark Chapman, insisting Russia were actually shit (and not a team that had scored 8 goals) because no EPL team were linked with Dzyuba yet and he couldn't predict any that would be.

Pat Nevin is just so bad!! I really need to know his ILM sock name before I die!

It definitely rankles with these clowns that so many of the Russian players not only still play in Russian but don't show much interest in playing in England.

One of these twats the other day seemed incredulous that some of Brazil's players had progressed beyond pissing about on a beach in flip-flops. Some of these arseholes actually get paid as well.

I quoted that one upthread, couldn't believe it

When Russia went three up, he insisted Egypt take Salah off immediately because they weren't going to score 4 so "out of respect for Liverpool" they should do everything to avoid further injury to him.

tbf i had a similar, selfish thought

xp i think i meant the opposite of immutable earlier lol. maybe malleable was what i meant. like, built of a de facto cultural rather than a consistent logic applied to situations throughout.

@daragh: i am not a kyle walker or england fan. i thought they were extremely hard done by on the decisions yesterday. i don't think they are particularly good at all, as minutes 45-80 showed yesterday, but i thought their last 5/10 minutes yesterday was commendable; compare with Russia/Slovakia/Iceland 2016, Algeria/USA 2010, entire 2014 campaign

looking forward to actually be able to watch more midweek games now

fair enough. the kane wrestling was a shocker def

srsly tho how bad must egypt be when not even mo salah can drag them any higher than 3rd

°=°

Has anyone in this thread made any straight up calls as to who is going to win this thing yet?

Think it’s time for people to put up now

......
......

france

je regrette tous

je pense que je regrette spelling it with an s nest-ce que pas trevorre

after the first round I'm sticking with my pre tournament rankings at least for the top 10 or so, so: spain

yeah I’m feeling spain too tbh, though a belgium win would be great and not beyond the bounds of possibility

Denmark

Such bias

Well, y'know, with a little bit of luck...

Brazil will actually win but willing to bet on BEL

Spain ftw