asking a lot for a commentator to see that in real time without benefit of VAR tbf
― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, 16 July 2018 11:13 (five years ago) link
Also fine here imo.
The politics around Pussy Riot are so complex and divisive at this stage idk what proportion of Russian activists would necessarily be thrilled about them getting much more.
― Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Monday, 16 July 2018 11:13 (five years ago) link
sv nextlevving the shit out of the commentary commentariat
― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, 16 July 2018 11:15 (five years ago) link
it's not like i care as such it's just jarring to be reminded of yr own complicity in the circus
― Jules Rimet still leaving (Noodle Vague), Monday, 16 July 2018 11:17 (five years ago) link
we are all co-commenspirators
― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, 16 July 2018 11:18 (five years ago) link
2022 is gonna be a laugh innit
― Number None, Monday, 16 July 2018 11:46 (five years ago) link
Honestly, I think it will probably be fine from a fan perspective.
― Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Monday, 16 July 2018 11:49 (five years ago) link
Russia was
― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, 16 July 2018 11:51 (five years ago) link
the move to nov/dec has rescued it, but that'll be an unbearable circus itself when the time comes
― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 16 July 2018 13:01 (five years ago) link
Never want to see a head of government on the pitch again.
― shaqiri tip (nashwan), Monday, 16 July 2018 13:06 (five years ago) link
a literal head maybe
― Jules Rimet still leaving (Noodle Vague), Monday, 16 July 2018 13:19 (five years ago) link
It'll be fine until European clubs/leagues suddenly clock what it means for them and then there will probably be a few hissy fits.
― Matt DC, Monday, 16 July 2018 13:21 (five years ago) link
predict it will be the best World Cup ever until the 2034 one on the moon
― Jules Rimet still leaving (Noodle Vague), Monday, 16 July 2018 13:25 (five years ago) link
call me a stick in the mud but world cup shd stay on the world imo
― Neuer write off the germans (Bananaman Begins), Monday, 16 July 2018 13:27 (five years ago) link
sick of this small earth mentality
― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 16 July 2018 13:29 (five years ago) link
if football is ever going to expand its popularity the World Cup needs to be staged in exciting new markets like Qatar and the Moon
― Jules Rimet still leaving (Noodle Vague), Monday, 16 July 2018 13:33 (five years ago) link
British Virgin Islands 2038 should be a corker too
― Jules Rimet still leaving (Noodle Vague), Monday, 16 July 2018 13:37 (five years ago) link
wcexit
― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, 16 July 2018 13:37 (five years ago) link
feel like usa/canada/mexico is paving the way for uk/scotland/ireland in the next world cup after that tho
― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 16 July 2018 13:42 (five years ago) link
jorge valdano w/ an annoyingly overstated but broadly otm summary of the shifts in tactics this wc https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/16/russia-2018-claustrophobic-football-crowded-tiki-taka-world-cup?CMP=twt_gu
― ogmor, Monday, 16 July 2018 13:45 (five years ago) link
The thought of the World Cup in croke Park has me a little torn but I’d actually love to see if.
― gyac, Monday, 16 July 2018 13:49 (five years ago) link
All six nations seeded, every single group is a clusterfuck.
― Matt DC, Monday, 16 July 2018 13:51 (five years ago) link
Three world cups in a row have taken place in BRICS countries (hey, remember that term?) but they've all been won by countries from western europe. This is my geopolitical macroanalysis of the last eight years of football.
― Frederik B, Monday, 16 July 2018 13:52 (five years ago) link
valdano piece was v good, if purple. love "the bat", haven't heard that before.
― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 16 July 2018 13:55 (five years ago) link
lol @ literal bros being least offensively bro-ish ppl on brooklyn podcastsphere left
― Neuer write off the germans (Bananaman Begins), Monday, 16 July 2018 14:01 (five years ago) link
ach wrong thread
Unsure that France deserved to win, except that I know that people think there is no such thing as deserving to win. If there is, then I'm not sure they did.
Part of their quality seemed to be 'having a lot in reserve' and 'never unleashing their full power'. But if you go through a whole tournament keeping it in reserve (except a few minutes against Argentina and maybe yesterday) ... then ... that full power might as well not exist?
Put another way - it must be a long time since a beaten finalist played as well as Croatia.
The politicians on the pitch all seemed to me dreadful.
Politicians have sometimes tried to make a bit of capital from it before - like Chirac at the final in 1998 - but this took it to a whole other level which was sinister and dangerous. It's as though Putin dragged the others into his own way of operating (and they were happy to do it - Macron as culpable as anyone).
Possibly the best tournament ever, though.
― the pinefox, Monday, 16 July 2018 14:01 (five years ago) link
france were all round the best team by a considerable margin, dunno if that = deserved to win but it works for me
― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 16 July 2018 14:05 (five years ago) link
"love "the bat""
is that a reference to gabs batitstuta?
― calzino, Monday, 16 July 2018 14:16 (five years ago) link
Who was better than France over the course of the tournament? Only team that didn't seem flawed in one significant way or another.
I think the best team does tend to win the WC - the only one you can perhaps argue with is Italy in 2006. *Maybe* Brazil might have beaten France in 98 with Ronaldo fully fit, but that was an extremely good team in any case.
― Matt DC, Monday, 16 July 2018 14:17 (five years ago) link
Can't decide if, had England reached the final, I'd liked to have seen May there getting drenched. As has been pointed out her apparent disinterest in football might be one of her more redeeming features.
― shaqiri tip (nashwan), Monday, 16 July 2018 14:18 (five years ago) link
heh
Maintenant parlons de Giroud qui, une fois le match terminé, rate un but SANS GARDIEN pic.twitter.com/95dtqrUjtt— colman 🇨🇵 (@ColmanLegrand) July 15, 2018
― Number None, Monday, 16 July 2018 14:57 (five years ago) link
It's as though Putin dragged the others into his own way of operating (and they were happy to do it - Macron as culpable as anyone).
Putin most dignified of the bunch tbh
― Neuer write off the germans (Bananaman Begins), Monday, 16 July 2018 15:01 (five years ago) link
So he did finish the tournament with 1 shot on target
― Jules Rimet still leaving (Noodle Vague), Monday, 16 July 2018 15:02 (five years ago) link
he missed!
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Monday, 16 July 2018 15:10 (five years ago) link
Was looking on my phone, it was small. Lol Giroud.
― Jules Rimet still leaving (Noodle Vague), Monday, 16 July 2018 15:24 (five years ago) link
Yes I was thinking more of whether FRA deserved to win the match, on the day, given how well CRO played.
Over the tournament, it is true that FRA overcame significant opposition - blasting away ARG, dispatching a very dangerous URU (albeit with no Cavani - I didn't see that match anyway) and a superb BEL - and getting past a terrific CRO. So on that basis, they do appear to have achieved it the hard way.
I still think I never saw them play that impressively except vs ARG, maybe a very brief spell with the 2nd-half goals yesterday, and also vs BEL where I thought they looked better than other people seem to have thought.
FRA were very lame for most of their matches against AUS and PER, and it's said that the DEN match was a non-event. So they certainly hadn't given much notice of greatness prior to knockout stages.
BEL lost to FRA but are they a significantly flawed team? You might think: Martinez - poor defence. But they only shipped the one header to FRA - there's no general evidence of defensive frailty in the BEL team. I still think they were maybe the most all-round exciting team of the tournament, with some of the outstanding individuals (Courtois, Vertonghen, Hazard).
I couldn't say CRO looked flawed either at the end - but then they did look limited vs DEN and RUS and for 40 minutes vs ENG. Yesterday may have been their best performance of the tournament.
What this FRA seem to have most is strength in depth - a sense of gears they're not using.
― the pinefox, Monday, 16 July 2018 15:40 (five years ago) link
> feel like usa/canada/mexico is paving the way for uk/scotland/ireland in the next world cup after that tho
the next euros will be partially in the uk - it's being spread all around europe, no single host country
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2020
― koogs, Monday, 16 July 2018 15:44 (five years ago) link
xp i think we all judge france vs some perception of what we suspect they may have left in a tank of potential, not that they havent won deservedly against each opponent in turn but that nonetheless they havent hit 80% for anything more than a ten minute spell here or there (and may never given Deschamps' preferred method)
this is contrasted to croatia squeezing every last ounce out of their team, whereas ive not really been too impressed with their actual play bar (similar to france) a few minutes here and there since the knockout stages
― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, 16 July 2018 15:47 (five years ago) link
Even if France only played well for very short periods (which is a very big if - what you do off the ball matters as much as what you do on it) those short periods were some of the most devastatingly effective I've ever seen. They conserved energy in the group stages while doing everything they needed to do, but I don't think any team in the world would have been able to deal with those Kante/Pogba -> Mbappe rapid counters.
― Matt DC, Monday, 16 July 2018 15:50 (five years ago) link
You have to go back to 1958 for the last time a side scored four goals in 90mins of a World Cup Final.
― Matt DC, Monday, 16 July 2018 15:55 (five years ago) link
croatia got a lot of mileage out of their midfield being better than everyone else's, until they met france and it wasn't
― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 16 July 2018 15:56 (five years ago) link
(xp) Brazil did it in 1970. The second time that final's been overlooked on this thread in the last few days!
― Alan Alba (Tom D.), Monday, 16 July 2018 15:58 (five years ago) link
yeah they were fairly comprehensively outplayed in the end, and tactically questionable in the way they went after France and allowed them to play their counter
― Jules Rimet still leaving (Noodle Vague), Monday, 16 July 2018 15:59 (five years ago) link
4 goals is a great achievement, but most people seem to think one of them was a pen that shouldn't have been given.
Many people also seem to doubt the free kick, though I don't see the problem with that.
I think the doubt cast over those two important goals is a factor in judging the performance. If they were all clearly valid and not poor refereeing decisions then it would be inarguable.
The last two French goals were very good. Pogba's slightly similar to the superb Japanese goal in following such good hold-up play. It would have been more spectacular if he'd scored from his first shot, yet I find it more impressive, in a way, that he could immediately shoot effectively with the other foot.
Of course one of CRO's goals was simply from a dreadful error. Perisic's, though it looked a tremendous strike, seems to have been affected by a big deflection.
― the pinefox, Monday, 16 July 2018 16:10 (five years ago) link
One of Cro's goals emanated from a free kick they earned where the player clearly flopped too
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Monday, 16 July 2018 16:11 (five years ago) link
dont say flop
― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, 16 July 2018 16:17 (five years ago) link
the ref decisions were good
if not, then perfect refereeing sees croatia out against england after a mountain of yellows
but happily they were good decisions and croatia conceded two goals that counted
― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, 16 July 2018 16:18 (five years ago) link
Scoring from a free kick that might not have been a free kick, who cares?
― Alan Alba (Tom D.), Monday, 16 July 2018 16:21 (five years ago) link
No-one remembers those.
― Alan Alba (Tom D.), Monday, 16 July 2018 16:23 (five years ago) link