2018 Semi Finals - FRA vs BEL & ENG vs CRO

[Consigliere]

France managed that 2nd half really well. Pogba and Kante are working so well together in midfield and Mbappe was good again tonight. Varane and Umtiti were solid at the back as well and Lloris made a couple of good saves. Very controlled and professional performance by the French.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Feel like Belgium got screwed a bit there in the end with the no call on the Hazard foul.

[polishgenius]

Seen it pointed out that Pogba spent much of that second half marking Fellaini and Hazard simultaneously while also being the main threat in getting the ball out to Mbappe on the break. That we can't regularly get performances of that quality out of him is proof positive that Mourinho should FUCK RIGHT OFF.

[Mme Erzulie]

Here's to Mourinho's continued stifling of Pogba 

This game was always likely to be decided by the first goal. Both teams have got such pace and skill on the counter.

This could/should have been the final.

[Daemon the Leaner]

Martinez fucked it up. Vertonghen as LB was dull from the begining. Hated Mertens as RW then. Couldn't do anything against Hernandez but crossing some gifts to Lloris. Hated Feillaini as LW too, it's not even conceivable that he found himself playing there in this game.

OTOH, we were solid and conceded very few real chances to Belgium. Not a shiny way to qualify (Mbappé in particular was very irritating in the end), but that's the Deschamps way. We are used to it by now: the most important is that "we are in final".

[polishgenius]

I do want to point out that, while I did defend Chadli earlier, if England do get to the final and France give Trippier as much space as they gave Chadli they're gonna have real trouble.

[mormont]

50 minutes ago, Ancalagon El Pistolero said:

Congrats to France for making sure that Martinez will never be known s a World Cup winning manager!

Sad!

Well done to France. The better side on the night, but it was a good match (for a semi-final particularly).

[Tijgy]

France probably played smarter and Belgium used all their good luck up during the match Brazil-Belgium. 

Mbappe is most overrated player ever. But I must grant it to him. He is a better actor than Neymar. 

Hazard is my hero: "I prefer to lose with Belgium than win with France. We play more beautiful"  

[Tijgy]

I root for Croatia to get to the finale but I do prefer a Croatia-Belgium game. 

[Consigliere]

I don't consider Mbappe to be overrated at all. Kid is only 19 with bags of talent and plays with the maturity of a seasoned pro. Unless he seriously plateaus or regresses in his development, he is going to be world class. I'd even go as far as saying that he is the best player under the age of 23 in the world right now. 

[Tijgy]

35 minutes ago, Prince Onyinye W. Ndidi said:

I don't consider Mbappe to be overrated at all. Kid is only 19 with bags of talent and plays with the maturity of a seasoned pro. Unless he seriously plateaus or regresses in his development, he is going to be world class. I'd even go as far as saying that he is the best player under the age of 23 in the world right now. 

Talent? Yes. Maturity? No

Go Axel! And Kompany going: calm down. 

[Corvinus85]

Solid game. France was very well organized. Wish it had been Belgium, though. De Bruyne didn't have a good night.

[polishgenius]

5 hours ago, Tijgy said:

Talent? Yes. Maturity? No

Oh come on. It was a dickish move but a really low-grade one and something that's completely standard in that situation - nothing to do with maturity.

Witsel on the other hand (who otherwise had his best game of the tournament by a distance) just managed to waste even more time - and some refs would have found it in themselves to send him off for that. He did exactly what Mbappe wanted so out of the two of them who showed a lack of maturity?

[Tijgy]

Acting in that way isn't mature. And it isn't the first match he is acting like that. He also acted in a similar way during Uruguay. 

 

[Iskaral Pust]

France deserved it for good game management.  That doesn’t sound very sexy but semi-finals rarely are, unfortunately.  Belgium had a great first 30 minutes and if they had scored first then they would have had a very high likelihood here, even with their unbalanced team.  Hazard was great for Belgium, despite his frustrated clatter into Matuidi late on.  But DeBruyne was mostly quiet, Lukaku did nothing all night, Dembele was abysmal (I apologize for all my prior calls for him to play) and Belgium went from tactical novelty (KDB and Fellaini as two advanced MFs ahead of Witsel and Dembele) to tactical disarray.  The game was lost once Belgium abandoned the left wing and piled everyone into the center, allowing Pogba, Matuidi and Kante to cluster narrow ahead of Varane and Umtiti.  Suddenly France could get more outballs to Griezmann to set up attacks. 

It was a pretty cheap goal to win the game, and both teams lacked some sharpness with their chances, especially Giroud.  Mbappe is such an exciting talent but indulging in more play-acting as the tournament goes on.   Both keepers made good saves, with Courtois making more of the difficult ones.  Narrow margins in the end but France was better balanced, better organized and able to withstand pressure while still offering a threat.  They don’t have to compromise one aspect of their game. 

My biggest complaint for the entire tournament is how tactical fouls get whistled but generally not carded.  It may save players from suspensions but it kills the attacking football.  Defenders and midfielders are free to stop attacks early so that the game rarely gets stretched.  We’ve had plenty of penalties and set piece goals but this is the main reason we’ve seen so few goals from open play.  It’s a glaring flaw in this tournament and unfortunately reduced the quality of play. 

[lmanion]

Must say havent been impressed by france so far but they got the job done against a very good belgium side. Will be interesting if england do england things against croatia or actually make it through

[mormont]

Say what you lie about Mbappe but surely now he's a stick-on for player of the tournament. He'd have to moon the crowd in the final to lose it.

As for Dembele, see my earlier point: Dembele's a better player than Fellaini yet Fellaini plays himself into teams and Dembele plays himself out of them.

[Dolorous Gabe]

2 hours ago, Iskaral Putsch said:

My biggest complaint for the entire tournament is how tactical fouls get whistled but generally not carded.  It may save players from suspensions but it kills the attacking football.  Defenders and midfielders are free to stop attacks early so that the game rarely gets stretched.  We’ve had plenty of penalties and set piece goals but this is the main reason we’ve seen so few goals from open play.  It’s a glaring flaw in this tournament and unfortunately reduced the quality of play. 

Very very much this! Many dead cert yellows were not given.

On a note of considerably less importance, it has bothered me somewhat that everyone has been getting away with many of the most blatant foul-throws I've ever seen!

[baxus]

3 hours ago, Iskaral Putsch said:

My biggest complaint for the entire tournament is how tactical fouls get whistled but generally not carded.  It may save players from suspensions but it kills the attacking football.  Defenders and midfielders are free to stop attacks early so that the game rarely gets stretched.  We’ve had plenty of penalties and set piece goals but this is the main reason we’ve seen so few goals from open play.  It’s a glaring flaw in this tournament and unfortunately reduced the quality of play. 

This, and the fact that I haven't seen a single player booked for diving. I admit I haven't seen all the matches, but I have seen some diving that went on unpunished and I have seen some penalties that weren't given.

Wasn't the point of VAR to help with such situations? Stop the play, review the footage and award the penalty or give a card.

I really hate diving and was really hopeful VAR would fight it a lot more than it does at the moment.

[Davrum]

22 hours ago, Jo498 said:

I still do remember that Orange mascot from 1982 and the extremely exciting match Germany vs. France. The rest of that WC was rather disappointing and overall lackluster.

Noooooooo, 1982 was effing brill.

The magnificent Brazil of Socrates, Eder, Serginho, Zico and Falcao were ACTUAL LITERAL POETRY. The last true Jogo Bonito side - a pure joy to watch every time they did their thing.

Plus we had stuff like Bryan Robson with the 27 second goal against France, Northern Ireland defeating their Spain hosts, Teen Maradona getting sent off, the wonderfully odd second round being another group stage.

And one of the best finals for a long, long time, including the greatest goal celebration in the history of football.

 

21 hours ago, Corvinus of Teranga said:

I, for one, don't have the time to devote to regularly watching football that matters (i.e. UEFA stuff) on a weekly basis, so devoting the time I have to watching the WC is a treat. Not disappointed at all.

It's funny you say the club stuff is what matters given how many players and former players have been saying over the course of the tournament that for them nothing tops/topped representing their nation. 

The country/corporate divide always fascinates me when it comes to the fan viewpoint.

ETA: The commentator's viewpoint too. It always seems like a waste to me when a World Cup commentator mentions a player's employer instead of something which means something so much more to them as they carry out the highest honour in the sport. "Now here's Paul Pogba who grew up in the commune of Lagny-sur-Marne in the eastern suburbs of Paris" is waaaaaaay more evocative - not to mention accurate - than "Now here's Paul Pogba from Manchester United."