Consigliere Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Croatia have looked vulnerable on crosses. I'm sure Southgate would have taken note of that and England have looked dangerous from set-piece crosses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disturber of Peace Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Four teams that rested players in the third group game are now in the semifinal. Not saying it helped or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philokles Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Croatia by far the better side on the night. They barely gave away a chance in regular time, but looked more vulnerable in extra time when they were clearly tiring. Not a perfect performance going forward - for too long they were reliant on their wide men and Perisic had a poor game by his standards - but had it finished 2-0 with Cheryshev’s effort missing and Perisic’s rebounding in then Russia could have had no complaints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Will be interesting to see how back-to-back extra time will affect Croatia. Their side is experienced but not all that young. A few players might be really feeling it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GallowKnight Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Well I am certainly glad that I'm not a Croat with a heart-problem. Good game, ended up way more exciting than I though it would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tijgy Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 1 hour ago, GallowKnight said: Well I am certainly glad that I'm not a Croat with a heart-problem. In Belgium, yesterday, we created a little earthquake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xray the Enforcer Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 thank the gods Croatia won. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winterfell is Burning Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Every WC set in Europe had either 3 or 4 Europeans in the semifinals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davrum Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 10 hours ago, Davrum said: Job done! Hopefully the late game goes to extra time and saps England's opponent for the semi. THE GODS WERE LISTENING!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Another very good day of football. England took care of business with a minimum of fuss and no self-destruction. Who are these players!? Sweden were poor though: far too passive for most of the time and looked all at sea as they conceded two headed goals with plenty of defenders in close proximity. Sterling’s movement was great and was the main attacking impetus for England, but his finishing and final ball are still so poor. His only good shot or cross in the entire match caught Delph so much by surprise he shinned it and then he and Sterling confused each other (even though Sterling was obviously offside and should not have gone for it). Alli was generally quite poor but took his headed goal very well. He’s basically the opposite of Sterling today. Maguire’s header was great and pretty much guaranteed a win from that point. Pickford made two good saves (although the first was pretty routine), and Henderson helped him by blocking the follow-up to the second one. Lingard did lots of simple things really well without doing much special, until he did a Henderson(TM) angled cross to Alli. Kane played a bit like Giroud and was effective without causing any goal threat. Still a concern that they aren’t creating much from open play but they scored two against a previously well organized Swedish defense and next they face a fatigued Croatia that has limped through its last two games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 I’m glad Russia are out. That seems harsh after their plucky endeavor won the hearts of the previously cynical home crowd, after Cheryshev hit a wonder goal, and even after they came back late in ET to force an equalizer. But this is a dirty team and the 25 fouls called against them could have been double but for some very indulgent refereeing once again. In the opening thirty minutes the ref was whistling for fewer than one in three fouls by them, and sometimes they had to take repeated kicks at a player (usually Rakitic or Modric) before the whistle sounded. Plus this is almost surely a team benefiting from years of state organized doping, which has been noticeable in their distance run and late game energy throughout the competition. It’s just too difficult to give them the benefit of the doubt. So I’m glad they won some pride for the host nation, and no doubt will feature prominently in Putin’s propaganda for a while, but I couldn’t stomach any further taint from their participation. Croatia literally and figuratively limped through. They looked tired and they were further hobbled by a bizarre decision to drop Brozovic and keep Modric and Rakitic deeper. Rebic looked their only threat until Mandzukic and Kramaric popped up with a very well worked and taken goal. They improved in the second half, mainly when Brozovic was restored, but they need to decide on their MF shale for next game. Harshly awarded a disproportionate share of yellow cards tonight, I haven’t heard that they have any suspensions for the semi-final (despite plenty of accumulated yellow cards beforehand), but they’ll have plenty of problems with fatigue and related injuries. They faded badly in ET, especially against Russia’s suspicious energy levels. Now they need to pick themselves back up to face an English team who will be younger and fresher. Right now it feels like they peaked against Argentina and have been declining since, whereas England probably just had their best game, weighted for quality of opposition. Both semi finals look like very competitive ties. I hope they’re fun to watch too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seli Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 11 hours ago, Triskjavikson said: So we not only have four European teams but more-or-less have three English Channel teams. Also three more or less Habsburg teams. Which is the important predictor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maltaran Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 14 hours ago, Bern is Burning said: Every WC set in Europe had either 3 or 4 Europeans in the semifinals. But this is the first one since 1930 where neither Brazil or Germany are there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tijgy Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Sigh, the French are busy with a psychological warfare... complaining about Thiery Henry (nobody prevented you from hiring him )... Eden Hazard is almost French... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Yeah, Belgium actually doesn't exist. It's a made up team consisting of French and Dutch players. By extension Dutch is basically just a German dialect anyway, so Germany's in the semi-final afterall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tijgy Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Flemish people are not by definition Dutch, nor are they Germans. We said goodbye to the Netherlands in 1832 and the final goodbye to Germany in 1945 with the aid of the Americans. And Belgium does (still) exist as a country. Maybe not every person with the Belgian nationality wants that, but it will keep existing at least until May 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 3 hours ago, Tijgy said: Flemish people are not by definition Dutch, nor are they Germans. We said goodbye to the Netherlands in 1832 and the final goodbye to Germany in 1945 with the aid of the Americans. While the British and the Canadians stood around doing nothing, presumably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tijgy Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 1 minute ago, Hereward said: While the British and the Canadians stood around doing nothing, presumably. They were there too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winterfell is Burning Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 5 hours ago, Notone said: Yeah, Belgium actually doesn't exist. It's a made up team consisting of French and Dutch players. By extension Dutch is basically just a German dialect anyway, so Germany's in the semi-final afterall. Also, England doesn't exist as a country, it's just part of the UK. You know what's also part of the UK? Scotland. Therefore, Scotland is in the semifinals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 4 minutes ago, Bern is Burning said: Also, England doesn't exist as a country, it's just part of the UK. You know what's also part of the UK? Scotland. Therefore, Scotland is in the semifinals. At least somebody got the absurdity of the argument, and went with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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