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

Yeah Belgium will crush Japan and then probably come unstuck against the winners of Mexico Brazil in the next round

Portugal have got Cron but not much else so I think Uruguay will turn them over

Spain have been tepid in the tournament so far.

― . (Michael B), Friday, 29 June 2018 08:39 (eighteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

gazpaccio

i think arg are gonna grow into this until a final defeat that will leave them as fucked back home as going out this week wouldve

Argentina losing to Brazil in the semi-final seems like something that should've happened more at World Cups.

Also judging by the Serbia game this Brazil XI looks like a reasonably solid defensive unit, which can't always be said about them to say the least.

England do have every chance of beating Colombia. Even if Colombia are a significantly better side then they have say around a 60% chance to win? It’s the beauty of football that the stronger team doesn’t win a fair amount of the time, unlike sports such as tennis where the better player nearly always wins.

wait is there really no football today? bah, wtf

No football today and Brazil Mexico on at 3pm on Monday :(

France are the team which has played most within themselves, but Argentina should wake them up. Bench Giroud and go for speed boys. Unleash Poggers. Make Messi realise he'll never win the world cup while watching Griezmann's deliciously lame Fortnite dances.

Uruguay-Portugal is wonderful. I expect lots of yellows and no flowing play whatsoever, but rather the sort of petty, whining foulfest that really makes a world cup. I am fully behind Luis & the boys (and really besides him what's so objectionable abt Uruguay?) but if Cron starts doing his death stare again all bets are off.

Spain have played a lot of football, but Germany played a lot of football too. I still think they're as good a shout as anyone though and I expect them to tighten up as it progresses. Russia might suit Costa but I wld like to see more of Aspas. It would be hilarious if Russia won but as a big lame I give them no credit and wish them obliteration.

Modric vs Eriksen is intriguing, probably cagey. Croatia have been an oddly harmonious mixture of silky passing and cynical scrappy filth. Denmark are quite a sleepy team, not sure if this will deliver as a spectacle. Hoping for some long range golazo.

I didn't see the Sweden game, which has raised doubts (do they just suck at set pieces?), but I think Mexico are the sort of team Brazil will struggle against. Not sure they're a good enough version of that team, but their fans deserve some luck and everyone wants to see them make Neymar cry again.

Japan have been robust but despite Inui being the greatest fantasy football bargain going they've been frustrating in the final third and Belgium should punish them. Kagawa has been quite poor and Honda can seemingly only play for half an hour. otoh they probably deserve a drubbing for the Poland game.

Sweden are the outstanding over-performers of the tournament. They've kept it v tidy so far and Berg, Toivonen and Forsberg seem like canny lads. Switzerland have greater fire-power, seem up for it in a way that is winning me over and ofc I love Shaqiri and am always ready for him to pull off a righteous strike. This could be the tightest game of the round.

Colombia have been stop-start, shown some snide gamesmanship, look like they have a meltdown in them, and their best player's a doubt. Both defenses have occasionally looked shaky, but Colombia can break beautifully and England have swarmed forward v pleasingly at times. Dier is going to need a good game against Quintero and James. I think it's v nicely balanced, worst case scenario is Colombia get ahead early and slow the game w/ stoppages. As ever, hoping for drama.

The "speed boys" were rubbish in the first game

Colombia are doomed if they do that thing teams often do against England of confusing a Great Footballing Nation with a Great Football Team, and so end up piddling about instead of going straight for the jugular. If they go in with EPL stars in their eyes.

Argentina's defense is literally worse than Australia's, and I think they're too proud to sit so deep for long. They have no proper fullbacks and are constantly getting hernias and forgetting where they are. They're going to be left shaking their fists at the impertinent whippersnappers after they make them fall over and spill their werthers originals all over the pitch.

Talking of defences, are Uruguay the only team in the competition yet to concede?

Yep, groovypanda

Colombia are doomed if they do that thing teams often do against England of confusing a Great Footballing Nation with a Great Football Team

For sure, although I think latin america might be the region of the world least prone to being starry eyed about the EPL.

Is that a thing that happens often? Their record in knockout games would suggest otherwise

I definitely think England's reputation proceeds them, they generally breeze through qualification and their team is always stuffed full of players everyone else knows and probably watches, week in, week out. They usually get found out eventually.

we all get found out eventually

ppl watched wayne rooney wiwo for fifteen years cunt still getting a game

tom d doling out some very received wisdom here but I think England will not only beat Colombia but that it'll be a good thing even in footballing terms

538 has england with a 60% chance to win, with a no doubt bulletproof method i have not troubled myself to investigate further
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2018-world-cup-predictions/bracket/

also brazil at 83% to beat mexico, france and portugal both favoured

i've enjoyed experimental361s percentiles, which has england at a similar 56%

Here's how the #WorldCup probabilities look for the quarter-finals onwards, updated after tonight's games.

If #ENG can get past #COL, then it's #SWE or #SUI in the quarter-finals and probably #ESP or #CRO in the semis. pic.twitter.com/msgdBlbF5B

— Ben Mayhew (@experimental361) June 28, 2018

Brazil likeliest to take it all, eh? Can’t say I’m convinced.

Who has been better than them so far given the quality of opposition they've faced? Not saying they're perfect but I can't really dispute them being favourites.

I was impressed with the way Croatia powered through a tough group. But yeah no team has the aura of invincibility yet, it's open and exciting this year. Wouldn't bet against Spain- Brazil final.

Uruguay-Portugal is wonderful. I expect lots of yellows and no flowing play whatsoever, but rather the sort of petty, whining foulfest that really makes a world cup.

this is what everyone is saying, but no team had fewer yellow cards than uruguay in the group stage. maybe their group was so shit they didn't need to turn it on?

Always feels like a big advantage in these situations to have a settled & stingy centre back partnership who are used to each other from club level* so quite fancy Uruguay to go deep from now on (allowing for Ronaldo magic ofc)

*not that this has worked out brilliantly for Italy or Germany this year

granted I've not seen much of mex, but I've seen about 180 mins of brazil and they don't seem that convincing. beat serbia (utterly uninspiring); costa rica (lol); and drew with switzerland (who are at best 'resilient'.) they probably do have the 'character' and 'experience' and the superior H2H record and that will /probably/ take them through but don't think them beating mexico is nailed on

uru-por is tie of the round. totally uncallable and could just turn into a massive shithouse-off/heel-off

col-eng is a banger too

i count 4 excellent matches in the 1/8 finals. more than expected. It's hard to call Belgium favorites, but they have a great game, and seemingly a working game plan. (though this hasn't been tested to good opposition yet) (i mean England weren't bothered)

Brazil is like Germany, they'll certainly grind past Mexico, but Belgium aha!

ARG
POR
BRA
BEL
SPA
CRO
SWE
COL

same reasons as everyone above and i also want/am maybe ready to predict a BEL-CRO final (i'll be wrong)

BEL-CRO final would be fantastic imo

sounds like a sticky one

lol!

No world cup final is gonna be fantastic ud have to be fucking methuselah to remember a watchable world cup final

but I've seen about 180 mins of brazil and they don't seem that convincing. beat serbia (utterly uninspiring); costa rica (lol);

why costa rica lol? Seems like unpleasant eurocentrism & goldfish like ignorance tbh

Colombia are doomed if they do that thing teams often do against England of confusing a Great Footballing Nation with a Great Football Team

Has this ever happened?

Brazil won a tough group reasonably comfortably in the end. I like the look of the Swiss, unusual to think of them as a 'flair team' but they will be against Sweden. Which inevitably means they'll lose.

Before we started, I'd have said Mexico wd have a decent chance against Brazil in the second round... now, I worry they'll be totally deflated by the last group game, and shamefacedly having to be bailed out by Korea. Otoh, perhaps they'll prefer to play Brazil, who will probably try and impose their own game, perhaps allowing for lethal counters, rather than Switzerland, who would surely set out to stifle them as Sweden did.

No world cup final is gonna be fantastic ud have to be fucking methuselah to remember a watchable world cup final

― Neuer write off the germans (Bananaman Begins), Friday, 29 June 2018 22:40 (yesterday)

78, 82 and 86 all great. Since, not so much. 98 memorable for the wrong reasons, 06 also.

Costa Rica played with 11 men behind the ball for pretty much the whole game, they were extremely organised and difficult to break down. Suspect a lot of other teams would have drawn that one 0-0.

1966 was good

yr pal,
methu$elah

(i didn't realise i'd watched it till years later, when i asked my mum -- we didn't have a TV then. she said "yes, the whole watched it, on the staff TV -- but you read a book the whole time")

obviously germany was robbed

FRA-ARG: 2-1aet
URY-PRT: 3-1
BRA-MEX: 1-1, MEX pens
BEL-JPN: 4-1
ESP-RUS: 3-2
HRV-DNK: 1-0
SWE-CHE: 1-1, SWE pens
COL-ENG: 1-3

FRA-URY 1-2
MEX-BEL 0-2
ESP-HRV 0-1aet
SWE-ENG 0-1aet

URY-BEL 2-3
HRV-ENG 1-3aet

(URY-HRV 3-4)

BEL 3-1 ENG (0-1 on 85min, then Stones (og), Pickford fumbles De Bruyne daisy-cutter, Batshuayi in off post DYS)

Golden Boot: Kane (9); Lukaku (8) subbed on 75min in F

(ISO3166-1 forever, except "England/ENG" doesn't exist)

Jeez guy

If all that happens then we'll presumably nuke Brussels

Also, have two nations ever played each other twice at a World Cup before?