World Cup 2018

its a fix they all stood still

russias no 10 is never seeing his family again.......

same with no2

these pens have been shite how did Modrics go in....

putins gonna be pissed.....

off to the salt mines for that team

Can we actually beat Croatia ?

I wasn’t that impressed with Croatia. Injuries, suspensions and exhaustion should play into our hands. Both teams were dead on their feet at the end of that match.

Two very poor teams yet again. Wimbledon AFC could beat Russia.
A stadium full of painted Russian porn models every 3 minutes it would seem.. is this how modern football is televised ? Give it a rest.

Croatia played an extra half hour and frankly struggled I know nothing is given but Im feeling confident for the semis.
As for saying the tournament has been poor I'd disagree there have been some cracking games and admittedly some shite buuuutt I think rose tinted spectacles are well in play here. The group stages of most tourneys are dire with most teams playing just not to lose. What this WC has been good for is drama with the big teams going out one after another and that makes it interesting.
Hopefully this can change the mindset of the fans we play much better without all the weight of doom that people seem to carry around with them, if you can't enjoy a WC maybe try Wimbledon.

Earwegoagain wrote:

I think rose tinted spectacles are well in play here.

Absolutely. I've watched a fair bit of the old stuff on youtube recently and the overall standard is laughable compared to the modern game although I concede that ball, pitch and fitness need to be factored in, as for the 30k flat cappers furiously toking on their capstans, ahh.....those were the days

croatia will be a testing game they will be up for england unlike russia. However, there is no real reason why we cant reach the final if we approach the game in the right way. france or belgium in the final i think will be one step to far for England.

Every WC is different largely depending on where hosted, this one is high on drama but low on footballing magic, given some of the best teams and players are on a global stage. By all accounts the Russians have hosted a very efficient tournament, and all the stadiums look very individual and interesting.
Great to see rival fans sitting with each other and obviously everyone are enjoying themselves, but the footballing excellence has been marred by poor refereeing, VAR inconsistency and cheating players. Although yesterday both games were low on quality, all four teams refrained from the play acting and Neymar style antics which was to be applauded.
Looking forward to the game on Wednesday, the positive psychology in the England camp is there for all to see. So four teams left and all European, two have won once before and two never, so the final will be more unpredictable - excellent.

England finalists possibly, but winners - not a snowballs chance in hell. Still they done good getting this far.

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If you have the need to rate the England players.

Croatia first but no reason why we can't beat France or Belgium, we are improving and despite their danger players I don't think either of them have a complete team, best chance since '66 go for it.

Its coming home Bheys, Englands gonna do it!

Belgium have 2 or 3 players that would even get in the Cruyff Dutch total football team. Not a chance of beating them, but should that game actually transpire, I am confident Southgate's England will actually attack the better team, and that sort of attitude has to be applauded. Dire defensive moribund footy is on the way out apart from the odd hardcore nutters. As for the quality though, yes, it's way down, but then that's the nature of the modern game where athleticism and pace is more the rage than ever. There's even what can only be described as set piece 50 metre dash competititions.

If Belgium get past France they will be exhausted after the trials and tribulations of getting past Japan, Brazil and a semi final. I think they are a better side than France but the pressure on them if they reach the final will be huge. France have had a reasonably easy route to the semi and they wouldn’t be overawed by a final. I didn’t think much of Croatia so I think we could be seeing an England France final. I can’t see us beating France unless we have the game of our lives (or just cheat a lot)

Frank Bullitt wrote:

If Belgium get past France they will be exhausted after the trials and tribulations of getting past Japan, Brazil and a semi final. I think they are a better side than France but the pressure on them if they reach the final will be huge. France have had a reasonably easy route to the semi and they wouldn’t be overawed by a final. I didn’t think much of Croatia so I think we could be seeing an England France final. I can’t see us beating France unless we have the game of our lives (or just cheat a lot)

Croatia will be gassed after yesterday, It won't be easy , We shouldn't count them out, one game at a time lets see where we stand after wednesday,

Frank Bullitt wrote:

If Belgium get past France they will be exhausted after the trials and tribulations of getting past Japan, Brazil and a semi final. I think they are a better side than France but the pressure on them if they reach the final will be huge. France have had a reasonably easy route to the semi and they wouldn’t be overawed by a final. I didn’t think much of Croatia so I think we could be seeing an England France final. I can’t see us beating France unless we have the game of our lives (or just cheat a lot)

Or some luck. Anything could happen on the day, their goalie could scoop the ball into his own net under no pressure, then there's always the back pass OG, the underhit pass in the box, someone falling over, deflections and referees decisions can go against you as well. If we got into to the final I think I'd really enjoy it as all the fans will. As we have already overachieved there is no pressure on us whatsoever. I persoanlly think we can beat either of them depends who shows up on the day.

Any team are beatable on the day, e.g Russia v Spain. Deffo a good chance against Croatia on current form.

Modric looks like a skeleton. Is he still alive ?
Very happy for Southgate and his team aand am warming to his astute tactics. Maybe also reaping reward from being with these guys in young england things. If there are any real future world class players somewhere in the England set up, they won't fluff the lines on Wednesday. If they do fluff, nothing lost, not good enough. The best players always turn up when needed. Pele was 17 when he stormed the stage. Rooney was better at 18 than 28. Now or never for some. that's what I would be telling them, this opportunity won't happen so easily again. You can only beat who's in front of you, even if they are crap.
Hopefully, that Russian manager (that was Brazilian ?) will be the start of the end for the super manager thing. He produced a hopeless Russia team and looked an angry plonker moaning at the Russian better orf in the crowd who were only there for the occasion and a night out. Expecting them to act like oiks was rather naive.

sufferedsince 68 wrote:

Its coming home Bheys, Englands gonna do it!

I am not getting carried away just yet, if they beat Croatia (and the game provides England with decent opposition), then it will be a different story and I will raise the level a tad.

France should beat Belgium.

Really?