Tywin et al. Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 10 minutes ago, el tío de Vale(ncia) said: Yes. But for that they need to win against Croatia. For which, see my first point. If I’m Croatia, I’d let Iceland win. I’d rather get them or Nigeria in rather than allow Argentina to have a path. They aren’t playing well, but they’re still the most dangerous of the three other teams in their group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 3 minutes ago, chiKanery et al. said: If I’m Croatia, I’d let Iceland win. I’d rather get them or Nigeria in rather than allow Argentina to have a path. They aren’t playing well, but they’re still the most dangerous of the three other teams in their group. They’d only play whoever comes second in the group again if they get to the final. It’s not exactly a big concern, if Croatia get all the way to the final and they’re playing a team as bad as this Argentina side it’s worked out pretty well for them. Given Croatia are generally fairly inconsistent they’re probably better off trying to keep winning to go into the knockouts on the back of a win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 A glimmer of hope. It was a poor 1st half. Nigeria had more possession but looked completely toothless. Improved nicely in the 2nd half though and got the job done. Pretty pleased that my assigned team are still in with a decent chance of qualifying. Most had written them off already, including myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Croatia won't want to lose 1st place though and meet France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disturber of Peace Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Croatia can only lose the first place if Nigeria beats Argentina by 3 and Iceland beats them by 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davrum Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Navas was immense but, like Schmeichel against Peru, aided by an opposition who seemed intent on firing directly at him on far too many occasions. Brazil should have had it settled by halfway through the second half but forgot to bring their finishing boots until stoppage time. I'm of two minds about the Neymar situation. On the one hand, obviously he went to the ground too easily for that penalty shout. On the other hand, for all the dramatics he genuinely gets the shit booted out of him more than any other player and for the good of the game he and other quick skillful players should have more protection from officials. This is the dude who literally had his fucking BACK BROKEN in the last tournament after all. It's not that I don't love to see athletes winning by kicking and grappling opponents, it's that I love to see that stuff in a cage or ring where it belongs. That stuff should be the domain of the Demetrious Johnsons and the Daniel Cormiers of the world, not the Dejan Lovrens and Douglas Costas. And I say this as someone who, as one of the bigger (slower) lads on the football pitch over the years, used my hands to play other players PLENTY, and who counts notorious bastards like Roy Keane, Dunga and Jaap Stam as some of my all-time favourites. Hell, I even enjoy that villainous fiend Sergio Ramos. None of what I say means a motherfucker shouldn't tackle hard or use muscle in shoulder-shoulder challenges, just that the game really only reaches its full potential when dudes aren't putting any hands on each other or flying in with their studs up. Leave that malarkey to Conor McGregor and Jonny "Bones" Jones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Antony Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 What a start! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The guy from the Vale Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Switzerland slowly clawing into the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seli Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Shame about Iceland. But Serbia is looking strong!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Serbia could have a bit of a problem with all three midfielders on a booking. This is a good game. Both sides playing well and creating chances. 1 hour ago, Davrum said: <snip> Agree that Neymar is fouled a lot but his tendency to go down very easily doesn't help him sometimes. Also agree that the refs have been a bit too lenient in this WC. Flair players have been getting lumps kicked out of them and there has been a lot of niggling tackles and dirty play which is certainly a factor why we've had so many dull games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 That’s not a bad goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The guy from the Vale Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 XHAKA ZULU! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Croatia certainly have played some of the best football thus far but I'd never count out Germany and Brazil at a major tournament. Spain are also loaded with big game players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The guy from the Vale Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Also, Portugal and France haven't always shown the most beautiful football, but they've been very efficient while still being successful. Pacing is also an important part of WC success. Those six (Brazil, Spain, Germany, France, Portugal and Croatia) are my main favorites to win the tournament at this stage though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philokles Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 The way the ball got stuck in the net for a moment made it twice as good. Then the double headed eagle celebration... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philokles Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Nothing new for Croatia. They were the best team in the groups at Euro 2016 too. A few other times since 1998 that they have gone into the tournament as a dark horse but never done anything beyond the groups. Euro 2008 especially comes to mind. Mitrovic just got Kaned. I thought holding by defenders was supposed to be clamped down on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 2 minutes ago, Triskjavikson said: It kind of stands out to me that this list (and it's a good list) is sort of "the usual suspects" but for Croatia. They've really earned some attention. Everyone else is here kind of by default especially with "meh" performances from Brazil and Germany so far. In fairness Brazil beat Croatia about 2 weeks ago. Croatia have played well but Nigeria aren’t particularly good and Argentina were dire. The reality is they’ve got a couple of really good players in midfield in Modric and Rakitic and other than that they’ve got an ok but not great defence and an ok but not great attack. At some point I’d expect them to meet one of the more talented teams who’ve hit their stride and they’ll probably struggle. Rugby tackles in the box seem to be ok this World Cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 10 minutes ago, Triskjavikson said: France is interesting in that they've won both matches but lots of commentary suggests they didn't play all too well in either. France sometimes receive unfair amounts of criticism. Their squad is so stacked with talent that the vocal critics expect them to dominate every game and win by 3, 4 or 5 goals. They didn't play well against Australia but I thought they did much better against Peru and were always well in control of that game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Great counter. Switzerland have been very impressive in this half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The guy from the Vale Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Shaqiri, you genius of an idiot... great goal, but why on earth pull off your shirt so needlessly when you can do so in three minutes anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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