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2018 FIFA World Cup Thread [W:87]

So everyone

Best player?
Biggest surprise player?
Best game?
Best moment?

Pogba
Trippier
Japanvs belgium
England burying the penalty ghost vs Colombia
 
Andalublue said:
I disagree. It looked to me he was trying to bring his arm into his body, the opposite of spreading. I notice that I am in agreement with Alan Shearer on this, so that's a first!

Still, it's all a little academic since France have won, and not by just that penalty goal. I can't help imagining it might have been different had they come out even at the break, but that's footie.

What a great WC it has been. Thanks to everyone who's contributed to the thread. I've really enjoyed having mates to chat with during and after every game.

Now then, the Community Shield is 3 weeks from today, Chelsea-City. I guess we need a new EPL 2018/19 thread starting. Thank goodness football's coming home!
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Can't say that penalty had me brimming with enthusiasm either. But as you say, France won it and that's that.

I disagree on the quality of this WC. All it showed is that we have to wait some more for football to undergo some sort of evolution that might give a wow effect. Like, for instance, when Spain for the first time overcme the Barca-Real enmity years back and put together a team and then actually enchanted everyone with their Tiquitaca as well. Or, for that matter, France winning the championship for the first time in 1998.

This here overall was boring as hell for the most part (exceptions confirming the rule), standards (set pieces) and goals from those are on the increase instead of decrease and new ideas for actual play sorely lacking. It's not just in the cup here, one can see it everywhere and fighting spirit, stamina and courage (like the Croatians showed today) find less reward than safety first tactics and kill-game strategies.

No slight on the French, Mbappe and Pogba were fun to watch today but Griezmann was, well.....errrh..........Griezmann.

But yeah, the thread was enjoyable and actually brought me back from a months long DP sabbatical, so thanks to all.

Even where it aroused in me the irresistible temptation to participate again in some of the insane crap ranting of other forums, so I'll have to work on self-discipline in order leave again.
 
Chagos said:
Can't say that penalty had me brimming with enthusiasm either. But as you say, France won it and that's that.

I disagree on the quality of this WC. All it showed is that we have to wait some more for football to undergo some sort of evolution that might give a wow effect. Like, for instance, when Spain for the first time overcme the Barca-Real enmity years back and put together a team and then actually enchanted everyone with their Tiquitaca as well. Or, for that matter, France winning the championship for the first time in 1998.

This here overall was boring as hell for the most part (exceptions confirming the rule), standards (set pieces) and goals from those are on the increase instead of decrease and new ideas for actual play sorely lacking. It's not just in the cup here, one can see it everywhere and fighting spirit, stamina and courage (like the Croatians showed today) find less reward than safety first tactics and kill-game strategies.

No slight on the French, Mbappe and Pogba were fun to watch today but Griezmann was, well.....errrh..........Griezmann.

But yeah, the thread was enjoyable and actually brought me back from a months long DP sabbatical, so thanks to all.

Even where it aroused in me the irresistible temptation to participate again in some of the insane crap ranting of other forums, so I'll have to work on self-discipline in order leave again.
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Intentional or not he slapped the ball down with his hand, it it hadn’t been given and Croatia had won it would still be a talking point.
 
Andalublue said:
I'm not sure anyone should be worried about facing Spain at the moment.
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I reckon one can include Germany in that verdict, by all accounts they're all so busy (from players to coach to functionary flunkies) with finding someone to blame, they'll never get to the real reasons for their fiasco here. Which everybody else knows to be the players, the coach and the functionary flunkies.
 
Higgins86 said:
Intentional or not he slapped the ball down with his hand, it it hadn’t been given and Croatia had won it would still be a talking point.
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As I said earlier, it was 50:50 in my book (which accounts for nothing) so giving it was as okay as not having given it would have been. Ref looked at it again and decided and that's that.
 
France's player chant N'Golo Kante's name all night after the final.


Chagos said:
~ Kidding, kidding, kidding ;)
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I know, Lovren wiping out his own player makes everything right for me. Nothing anyone can say would ruin the result.

I know Croatia played a more physical game but I find it strange people got uptight about how Columbia got away with body slams and similar but several Croatian players are OK doing it both to England and then France. We can say the second half really slammed home France's advantage but firstly they were resilient against Croatia throughout and rarely looked under pressure.

We could say the referee's impact had an impact in the first half but for some strange reason N'golo Kante's substitution (for me) totally rammed home France's domination. Footie commentators expected Croatia to run rampant in midfield once he'd gone but Croatia couldn't - Pogba and N’Zonzi still dominated and snuffed out Croatia's efforts to long range shots.

Higgins86 said:
~ Best player?
Biggest surprise player?
Best game?
Best moment?
Click to expand...

Kante. Not for nothing were the France players chanting his name all last night on the way back to the hotel.
Trippier or Maguire - these two were great.
France vs Croatia
Eric Dier stepping up for England's last penalty. My partner and I just couldn't understand why Jamie Vardy hadn't stepped up instead. Right up till the ball crossed the line, I thought he didn't put enough into the shot.
 
Chagos said:
As I said earlier, it was 50:50 in my book (which accounts for nothing) so giving it was as okay as not having given it would have been. Ref looked at it again and decided and that's that.
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The penalty was at least debateable. The dive from Griezmann to win the free kick for the first goal should have received a yellow card. That was the ref's worst mistake, and he didn't even refer it to VAR.
 
Andalublue said:
The penalty was at least debateable. The dive from Griezmann to win the free kick for the first goal should have received a yellow card. That was the ref's worst mistake, and he didn't even refer it to VAR.
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Can't refer it VAR unless it is in a penalty situation... which it was not.

Sendt fra min SM-N9005 med Tapatalk
 
PeteEU said:
Can't refer it VAR unless it is in a penalty situation... which it was not.
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Fair point. I very much doubt he'll be invited to preside over another big match. He was very poor in the first half, and that free kick award was a horrible mistake; Griezmann duped him like a giddy kipper.
 
Higgins86 said:
So everyone

Best player?
Biggest surprise player?
Best game?
Best moment?

Pogba
Trippier
Japanvs belgium
England burying the penalty ghost vs Colombia
Click to expand...

Best player... Pickford. He saved Englands bacon so many times and frankly was the reason they made it so far.. yes England had a very bad tendency to score and then fade away and that is where Pickford came in. Yea could have chosen a French or Croatian guy.. but why? They were expected to perform after all.

Biggest surprise player... Pickford.

Best game... Portugal vs Spain.

Best moment... Batshuayi kicking the ball in his own head.
 
PeteEU said:
Ever heard of not poking a wounded bear? :)
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Spain's more of a lame hamster at the moment. I hope to see some improvement under Luis Enrique but honestly, they have an ageing squad of great players past their best and a set of younger players coming through, but of inferior quality. Ramos, Pique, Busquets and even the great Silva should retire from international duty; their time has passed. Time to start again and hope that some better new talent emerges than those newbies we saw in Russia.
 
Andalublue said:
Spain's more of a lame hamster at the moment. I hope to see some improvement under Luis Enrique but honestly, they have an ageing squad of great players past their best and a set of younger players coming through, but of inferior quality. Ramos, Pique, Busquets and even the great Silva should retire from international duty; their time has passed. Time to start again and hope that some better new talent emerges than those newbies we saw in Russia.
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Yea Koke, Saul, Thiago, Asensio, Isco are all bad players. Only place I would maybe agree Spain have a problem is in attack, but else I dont see a problem. So much talent around and it is talent that actually plays in top leagues. No doubt that Spain is in a generational change, but dismissing them outright pft..
 
Riots in Paris left 2 dead and over 500 injured and yet people were angrier about some English fans jumping on beds in Ikea.
 
PeteEU said:
Yea Koke, Saul, Thiago, Asensio, Isco are all bad players. Only place I would maybe agree Spain have a problem is in attack, but else I dont see a problem. So much talent around and it is talent that actually plays in top leagues. No doubt that Spain is in a generational change, but dismissing them outright pft..
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Don't rate Saúl and Thiago very highly and certainly didn't perform well in Russia. I ain't dismissing them, I'm just saying they are in a transitional phase where it is far from certain they will emerge as strongly as they were between 2006 and 2012.
 
Andalublue said:
Don't rate Saúl and Thiago very highly and certainly didn't perform well in Russia. I ain't dismissing them, I'm just saying they are in a transitional phase where it is far from certain they will emerge as strongly as they were between 2006 and 2012
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Aside from 2010, Spain have been perennial underachievers at the World Cup
 
Desert Storm said:
Aside from 2010, Spain have been perennial underachievers at the World Cup
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That golden generation won two Euros and a World Cup in succession. They were an awesome outfit. Spain now has one of, if not THE most successful football league in the world and the number of home-grown players playing at the highest level is much higher than in the EPL or the Calcio. They will be a power in world football for the foreseeable future. The bad old days of Spanish persistent under-performance are over. Will they uncover a new golden generation? Well, that's the question. I suspect in the longer term they will, but the current situation is not ideal.
 
Andalublue said:
That golden generation won two Euros and a World Cup in succession. They were an awesome outfit. Spain now has one of, if not THE most successful football league in the world and the number of home-grown players playing at the highest level is much higher than in the EPL or the Calcio. They will be a power in world football for the foreseeable future. The bad old days of Spanish persistent under-performance are over. Will they uncover a new golden generation? Well, that's the question. I suspect in the longer term they will, but the current situation is not ideal
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Yeah, I'm not taking anything away from your golden generation, you guys beat us fair and square.
But I think it might be a while before your next golden generation arrives. At least a decade or two IMO
 
Desert Storm said:
Yeah, I'm not taking anything away from your golden generation, you guys beat us fair and square.
But I think it might be a while before your next golden generation arrives. At least a decade or two IMO
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A decade might do it, perhaps sooner. I hope to be a Spanish citizen by then, so I can then forget to get upset at England's failures. :)
 
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