Russia 2018

[WaspInWales]

Get in!!!

[WaspInWales]

2 fine poaching goals...but who cares how they come?!?

[Galfon]

about 'kin time..'kin 'kane!...
Maguire has seemed positive throughout.
HK cleverly lying low for most of match to pounce at the death..
2-1 at FT.
should do The Hats and progress.

[rowan]

Just caught the end of that and the winning goal, which really came as no surprise. Idiotic play by the Tunisians, dribbling around near their own goal, giving the ball away time and again, or else losing control of it and presenting England with corners and throw-ins. 3 straight losses for the North Africans, two of them in injury time and the other a late strike also. They need to wise up on their tactics and learn to play for a draw when the chips are down.

So a clean sweep for the Europeans today. England 2-1 v Tunisia, Sweden beats Korea 1-0 and Belgium hammered Panama 3-0. I think the non-European teams are now on 7 goals from 15 matches. That tells the story.

[twitchy]

The best tweet of the night. Fucking hilarious how one of the ten var refs could watch the replay and think "hmm yes that seems within the laws of the game".

[rowan]

So the opening games conclude today with Colombia playing Japan and Senegal up against Poland. It has been disappointed from the non-European teams so far, with the notable exception of Mexico. True, opening games don't count for much in the final analysis, but this is often the best opportunity for non-European teams to surprise their opponents and cause an upset. Perhaps Senegal can do that against Poland today. In fact, I'm not sure that would be regarded as an upset, but it would certainly be a welcome result after watching the previous 4 African teams blunder their way to demoralizing losses. As for Colombia - Japan, I'm hoping the South Americans have a great tournament after disappointing so often in the past and put a few goals away, but if Japan can pull off an upset there I'll be happy with that as well. Anything but a draw! At lastly today the second round of games will commence with Russia playing Egypt in the late game. Presumably Salah will be on the pitch, but I doubt that will be enough against the home-team.

[rowan]

Should be able to catch most of the Colombia - Japan match but won't see the others today.

[twitchy]

[Numbers]

A good result for a nervous looking England team last night, I can't remember watching an International game and seeing so many miskicks when players were shooting, Stones, Sterling and Rashford all spring to mind, I think England may be best served leaving Sterling on the bench for the next game and playing Vardy instead.

[WaspInWales]

The best tweet of the night. Fucking hilarious how one of the ten var refs could watch the replay and think "hmm yes that seems within the laws of the game".

Fucking shambles.

There have been quite a few penalties awarded so far in this world cup, a few of them as a result of VAR, but the 2 assaults on Kane were the most stonewall of the lot.

[rowan]

Stand-out teams in the first round so far have been Portugal, Mexico, Spain, Russia, Belgium and Croatia, in that order (and that's allowing for standard of opoosition), while Denmark & Serbia might also cause some problems for their opponents when it comes to the knock-out rounds. Hopefully I'll be able to add a couple of non-European names to that list by the end of today. Colombia v Japan about to kickoff. I'll see most of this but miss the next 2 games.

[rowan]

Stand-out teams in the first round so far have been Portugal, Mexico, Spain, Russia, Belgium and Croatia, in that order (and that's allowing for standard of opoosition), while Denmark & Serbia might also cause some problems for their opponents when it comes to the knock-out rounds. Hopefully I'll be able to add a couple of non-European names to that list by the end of today. Colombia v Japan about to kickoff. I'll see most of this but miss the next 2 games.

Didn't see the Senegal game so don't know but Japan have a case for being included in this group if they play the way they did in the second half against Colombia; not the first.

[rowan]

Fully expecting Morocco and Saudi to follow Egypt out of the tournament (mathematically there is still a very remote chance) with losses to Portugal and Uruguay today, but both are capable of playing to a draw if the opposition has an off-day and that would at least provide a life-line. Iran are also likely to lose heavily to Spain, but having beaten Morocco in the first round of games they'll still get to take on Portugal in the third with a place in the knock-rounds at stake. In fact, I'm expecting one of the 'Islamic' teams to hang on for a draw today. Could be Morocco, because they're actually a decent team and are also desperate; Saudi, because I don't think Uruguay is that great; and Iran, because they just seem to be a team that punches above their weight at World Cup tournaments. So that's as far as I'll go. 2 of the 'Islamic' teams will lose today and one will hang on for a meritorious draw. Inshallah!

[rowan]

Automation and industrialisation will always beat cocaine-slinging druglords, BITCHES!

Yes, well done Mexico!

[rowan]

Morocco are the African champions, btw. I think they've got an outsider's chance against Portugal. A lot of criticism has been directed at Spain for not putting away their neighbors in the opening round, but Ronaldo just had a very special game - and the Spanish did well to avoid defeat that day. He's not going to do that every time, and Portugal didn't seem to have an awful lot besides Ronaldo. So a lot will depend on the reigning World Player of the Year. They might even bring him off early to avoid the possibility of injury.

[rowan]

First round stats:

Europe 7 wins, 3 draws, 2 losses, 25 goals for, 12 goals against
Asia 2 wins, 2 losses, 4 goals for, 8 goals against
SAmerica 1 win, 2 draws, 2 losses, 4 goals for, 5 against
NAmerica 1 win, 2 losses, 3 goals for, 4 goals against
Africa 1 win, 4 losses, 3 goals for, 7 goals against

[rowan]

Should be a bit more interesting tomorrow. Argentina v Croatia should be a cracker. Can Messi turn it on? Denmark v Australia ought to be a fairly even contest as well. Remember Mourinho tipped the Aussies to follow France out of this group. & the French will be looking to secure their place in the KO rounds and eliminate Peru, but I think the South Americans might just hang on for a desperate draw to keep their hopes alive with the Aussies to come. In fact, 3 draws might be a good bet for tomorrow - not that I've managed to get much right so far

[Galfon]

Iran's cunning ploy late on when chasing the equaliser just didn't quite get the result...

[WaspInWales]

Iran's cunning ploy late on when chasing the equaliser just didn't quite get the result...

Bet the boss loved that.

[rowan]

Yes, I saw that and awaited the spectacular culmination, but I think the referee hadn't given the green light for the somersault throw to go ahead just yet

[Galfon]

Iceland / Croatia may just have to play out a draw in the last game to put the RG's out...won't be a re-run of the 'Disgrace of Gijon' 1982 but might not bring any surprise.
Shocking from Arg. given the talent available...too many big-time charlies perhaps.

[rowan]

Iceland / Croatia may just have to play out a draw in the last game to put the RG's out...won't be a re-run of the 'Disgrace of Gijon' 1982 but might not bring any surprise.
Shocking from Arg. given the talent available...too many big-time charlies perhaps.

Only if Iceland beat Nigeria, of course. If Iceland draw with Nigeria, they will need to beat Croatia. If Nigeria wins, they should just need a draw with Argentina to get through. & Argentina could still get through if they thump Nigeria and Croatia downs Iceland - but only if Iceland does not beat Nigeria. So it's going to be an interesting finale.

Yes, the Disgrace of Gijon kept one of the great African sides out. In fact, 1982 was where they really exploded onto the scene, with Cameroon going unbeaten in a group that included the subsequent champions and 3rd-place-getters, and Algeria beating Germany and Chile but going down 0-1 to Austria, from memory, but turned out Germany and Austria only needed to play out a draw for them both to progress from the group, and that's precisely what they did - quite deliberately. That's when FIFA changed the scoring from 2-1-0 to 3-1-0 and also brought in simultaneous final round matches. I think it's also when I began to support the non-European teams (which hasn't been much fun since about 2002).

The problem I perceive in Russia is that a few of the European teams will be playing their final round matches against one another and could yet conspire against the non-Europeans. It would be better to have European teams in the same group playing each other in the first or second round of games, to avoid another disgrace. Of course, non-European teams could do the same thing, but I don't think there's any history of them doing so.

[rowan]

Then support an Asian team or a non-traditional European team like Iceland.

Nigeria beating Iceland is a big if, quite frankly, because for all the talk about Iceland's relatively small population and "part-time" nature of their players (which isn't actually as true as you'd think - Halldorsson has worked as a filmmaker and has even shot Iceland's Eurovision entry in 2012, but he's been playing fulltime pro-football for a while now), what people don't seem to want to acknowledge for whatever reason, is that they're a fucking excellent team.

Great respect for Iceland after they knocked England out of the Euros and qualified for Russia, even if they are a little too defense-oriented for my liking. But supporting the non-European teams just keeps it interesting for me, and that includes the Asian teams, of course. It's mostly about supporting the underdog and wanting to see some progress in terms of the world game - which seemed to reach its apogee in 2002 and begin a gradual downhill slide thereafter, notwithstanding Ghana's heroics in 2010 - cruelly brought to a halt by one of the worst examples of poor sportsmanship in the history of the tournament.

But I also include the South American giants because, let's face it, they're the only non-European teams who can win it, and they're also such a joy to watch when they're at their best. Brazil are still to play their second game, of course, and despite the result against Switzerland, I thought they looked fairly ominous, dominating throughout with their rhythmic passing and lightning quick breaks. But the strike force is not what it used to be, and Neymar still seems a bit of an airhead. He's no Ronaldo; that's for sure. Nonetheless, Brazil have a fairly easy group and I expect to see them in the round of 16 and beyond, even if they're unlikely to win it.

[Stom]

Iceland / Croatia may just have to play out a draw in the last game to put the RG's out...won't be a re-run of the 'Disgrace of Gijon' 1982 but might not bring any surprise.
Shocking from Arg. given the talent available...too many big-time charlies perhaps.

Nah, really, in this case, the manager did not help at all. Consider the fact that the rest of Group D had set formations and combinations, with clear game plans and styles of play tailored for them, and the consider that Sampaoli would never stop tinkering and kept changing the formation from game to game to game to game (he used 4 or 5 different formations and combinations around the field all the way through qualifying and in the pre-tournament friendlies where they got battered) and it's clear that no amount of star players will be able to overcome that sort of handicap.

For all his talk about building a squad around Messi, when it came down to it, Sampaoli had no fucking clue what he was doing, and ended up hobbling the poor guy. You can basically put a lot of this at the AFA's feet for appointing a succession of coaches that are clearly not fit for purpose, who have wasted away another generation of talent. There really needs to be a top-to-bottom inquiry on just what the fuck is going on with the coaching.

And if, IF, this omnishambles of a team somehow undersevedly limps into the quarterfinals, they are going to go up against France (probably) or Denmark (possibly), where they'll get their shit pushed in on a Mineirazo-scale dicking. Which, quite frankly, they would deserve.

I often use the internationals to highlight the difference between Messi and Ronaldo. Without Ronaldo, Portugal rarely look like scoring. He's at the heart of every attack and he just pulls a pretty mediocre team up to his level. But for Argentina, when the team just cannot perform, Messi has no way to lift them up. That's no comment on natural ability, as Messi has that in spades, probably a lot more than Ronaldo. But it is a comment on pure strength of character, of charisma and of leadership. And if you put all of those together and add in physical and technical ability, you have the perfect player.

And before you say it: forwards should be selfish bastards.

[Stom]

Nah, really, in this case, the manager did not help at all. Consider the fact that the rest of Group D had set formations and combinations, with clear game plans and styles of play tailored for them, and the consider that Sampaoli would never stop tinkering and kept changing the formation from game to game to game to game (he used 4 or 5 different formations and combinations around the field all the way through qualifying and in the pre-tournament friendlies where they got battered) and it's clear that no amount of star players will be able to overcome that sort of handicap.

For all his talk about building a squad around Messi, when it came down to it, Sampaoli had no fucking clue what he was doing, and ended up hobbling the poor guy. You can basically put a lot of this at the AFA's feet for appointing a succession of coaches that are clearly not fit for purpose, who have wasted away another generation of talent. There really needs to be a top-to-bottom inquiry on just what the fuck is going on with the coaching.

And if, IF, this omnishambles of a team somehow undersevedly limps into the quarterfinals, they are going to go up against France (probably) or Denmark (possibly), where they'll get their shit pushed in on a Mineirazo-scale dicking. Which, quite frankly, they would deserve.

I often use the internationals to highlight the difference between Messi and Ronaldo. Without Ronaldo, Portugal rarely look like scoring. He's at the heart of every attack and he just pulls a pretty mediocre team up to his level. But for Argentina, when the team just cannot perform, Messi has no way to lift them up. That's no comment on natural ability, as Messi has that in spades, probably a lot more than Ronaldo. But it is a comment on pure strength of character, of charisma and of leadership. And if you put all of those together and add in physical and technical ability, you have the perfect player.

And before you say it: forwards should be selfish bastards.

Hell, when Ronaldo got injured and limped off of the Euro 2016 final, he stayed on the sidelines and yelled at his team until they won. Can't say I can see Messi doing that.

Yeah, for sure. I used to think he was a complete dick, but he's really grown, I feel. He's become a real leader as well as technically and physically gifted, and while he may not run as much as others, he works harder than any teammate in training, by all reports.