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

yeah the media treatment of Sterling was enraging, but there seems to be plenty of similar players to him in top half Champo/lower half prem squads, who have no end product/ability to do much damage in the final 3rd.

Like you'd expect an unfancied team to reach the SFs (Turkey and S Korea in '02, Croatia '98 and Sweden '94 are some examples) but it just doesn't feel like England have earnt anything

Turkey and South Korea were excellent in 2002 and that late 90s Croatia team was magnificent. If England, being uncharitable, parallel with anything it's Germany 2002, who made it to the final despite not being that good and having a stupidly easy route there.

Also 'anyone can survive a kicking' is transparent guff coming from an Arsenal fan.

i agree re: Sterling and the media tbh, but as you say his decision making is abysmal and his over-dependence on his right foot must make him an easy job for quality defenders. i can't see either of those things improving much over time.

calz are you saying Sterling is the English VLP :D

I think the answer to the Sterling question is that Pep has worked out how to get him to play the right pass (and play really well) and no one else has. There's a reason he's in the squad and, say, Theo Walcott isn't.

xp exactly, lol!

VLP has wiped all Town related stuff of his instagram and posted an enigmatic pic of himself in his granite bath tub, he must be off to Barca!

Even that German '02 side had Ballack and Kahn in the team and Ballack was suspended for the final.

Agreed on Turkey, South korea and Croatia - what I mean is like England they were not expected to make it to the latter stages pre-tounament (certainly not the first two). I just don't quite see what England have done to get here. Very pedestrian, just some energy due to the average age of the squad, organisation and playing opposition where a playmaker is injured or Sweden who are just very bad (that's the draw for you - if only fucking Argentina had won the group they could've been playing Eng now ffs).

And Matt I remember the George Graham years.

Really wanted Argentina in the group back when they did the draw - England never did get to face Messi (in any condition).

Worth pointing out again that the tournament has felt ridiculously unbalanced from the get go. That's largely down to Russia and Poland being seeded - the latter for no apparent reason. As a result you got some ridiculously hard groups and others (Group A lol) that turned out to be a complete piece of piss.

That's before you got the big teams underperforming obviously, but it's debatable whether that would have happened to the same extent had the draw been more balanced in the first place.

Argentina are an excellent example of why energy and organisation are important. They have one or two footballers who are better than most of England's lot put together but at no point in the World Cup did they remotely make sense as a TEAM.

the seedings are based on the world rankings and Poland are somehow ranked 8th in the world

the hosts always go in Pot 1 I think

actually Poland were 6th when the draw was made

I think the answer to the Sterling question is that Pep has worked out how to get him to play the right pass (and play really well) and no one else has. There's a reason he's in the squad and, say, Theo Walcott isn't.

― Matt DC, Sunday, 8 July 2018 12:05 (thirty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

all poch did with walker was stop him ever kicking the ball or rackling the opponent, voila 55m

sterling no different. shit footballer good athlete, good option in many systems

rosh rot a rackle raggy

And of course Spain and Germany (and Argentina) are at the end of their cycles too - they would all been knocking about but the wc defnitely shows you up. You could say Russia earned their seeding by beating Spain - as for Poland its pure FIFA rankings nonsense but that system has been around and confusing the world for a long time.

Argies were badly managed. Certainly not putting organisation down. It would've been totally fine if England showed something more than that. Guess its the combination of seeing the pedestrian getting away with it, and then people blocking that out (lj's inventive system or what have you - they are tidy, no more). No sense or perspective.

Tough ask, I know.

none of that says anything more than england were readier than usual to exploit opposition disarray as opposed to being one of the disarrayed

which is a rubbish criticism

Everyone knows that England haven't played like Brazil 1970 and that they haven't faced world class opposition. Literally every fucker in the country deep down knows it. Right now that only really matters if you're Gareth Southgate or an opponent or are paid to have an opinion about football.

Basically it comes down to whether you'd rather be one of the people having fun or the guy telling them why they're all wrong to be doing so.

Like I don't want to be that guy and most ppl aren't inventing a fantasy. But in Italia '90 (this is at the very back of my memory now) Eng at least beat Cameroon who were a good side. Or Platt's goal against Belgium is a memory or what have you.

Just show something. Is it too much to ask?

England in WC2018 can be the Portugal of Euro 2016 (which put to rest the idea that it is the best team that wins a cup tournament)

I can remember a load of pumped on booze + coke thuggish idiots racially abusing the one black guy present at someones house when Cameroon went ahead against England in '90. And then afterwards making embarrassed apols - "it wasn't personal, mate ... honest" etc...

england will do croatia at a canter

there's been some standout performances (colombia against poland, japan against belgium) but only france have looked anything like being a good_team in the round. even then only it's only in fits in starts. would expect them to do england in the final, if they can get past belgium. if belgium beat france, then england win the world cup and heaven help us

These England criticisms are getting ever more desperate and ridiculous.

who last won a tournament without criticisms of their play

brazil? wasnt germany, spain, portugal.

oh I definitely criticised that Brazil team

Italy 06 got to the semis without a real challenge, although you could say they laboured with luck against Australia. Then they put in their best performance against Germany and were solid enough in the final. Liked that team a lot though.

yesterday it occurred to me that fifa '19 is going to need to incorporate all the fortnite celebrations if it wants to retain even a veneer of verisimilitude - at which point fortnite could sue fifa for copyright infringement? wheels within wheels

sons update: i pulled them up on declaring maguire "dead" and they responded that they had been talking about his haircut

Croatian blood pudding usually has rice in it. That’s not necessarily bad but it’s an approach that hasn’t proved effective at this wc.

http://time.com/5332548/uk-soccer-its-coming-home/

After its 2-0 victory over Sweden on Saturday, the U.K. is advancing to the World Cup semifinals for the first time since 1990.

it's the UK's only remaining team in the competition, maybe that's what they meant? (probably not) :-)

I would like to apologize for offering any thoughts on the way a football team plays on the world cup thread and will restrict myself to posting slurs on Neymar's masculinity and fanfic about Harry Maguire from here on in.

I'd absolutely forgotten about Baddiel hilariously blackfacing up on that dross tv show. Fuck knows how got away with that, it shows the so called rise of the 90's PC Brigade is a complete fallacy.

After its 2-0 victory over Sweden on Saturday, the U.K. is advancing to the World Cup semifinals for the first time since 1990.

LOL Americans.

isn't part of the fun of modern World Cup that each team is flawed so ~endless opportunities~ for surprise?

Germany 2014 were largely fantastic throughout, no one has looked that good this time round, let alone as good as Spain 2010.

If we were really doing the blood sausage World Cup then Spain every time.

BLACK PUDDING'S COMING HOME >:(

will be interesting to see what happens if england concede earlyish, have yet to be behind in a game that counts. also have scored in every game that counts too i suppose.

lol

https://sputniknews.com/worldcup-2018-archive/201807061066103613-colombia-england-world-cup-petition/

(xp) Yes. Also if Croatia can defend set pieces, one of those footballing basics that seems to have fallen by the wayside in this WC, along with crossing a ball.

with this utter failure of self examination after a major defeat, you might wonder if the colombians didn't just lose the us presidential election #politics #satire #topical

probable clash between the start of the final and the men's singles final at Wimbledon is gonna be delish for fans of BBC politics

colombian remoaners taking it badly

Labour moderates already berating Corbyn for failing to demand a rematch

Harry Kane has all the goals, but Raheem Sterling has been England's best attacking player in the World Cup. He plays a vital role progressing the ball so Eng can get all those corners and FKs.

He's also NOT a bad finisher, just a bit unlucky in the WC so far. pic.twitter.com/CFBwjDdeSn

— Ted Knutson (@mixedknuts) July 8, 2018

Hah.

https://youtu.be/kcHslKK0VMQ

This is very good as well.

Can't believe the best line from that Time article wasn't c&p'd itt already

"England’s underdog team is set to face Croatia on Wednesday, July 11"

Germany 2014 were largely fantastic throughout, no one has looked that good this time round, let alone as good as Spain 2010.

ah yes, Spain, losing their first match, and narrowly winning all of their knock out matches 1-0. Paraguay missed a penalty in the 1/8's against them. etc.

the point is.. hardly at any World Cup a team is truly great, that's what makes it so much fun. Like this year, to me it seems all 4 are perfectly possible to win it. France, decent overall, Belgium, great counter attacks, Croatia, bit like France + Modric, England, set pieces. :P