World Cup 2018

What teams have been 'stand out'?
?

Dunno about stand out but I think France, Spain, Portugal, Uruguay won’t be far away.

Hopefully we won’t be either but I’m reserving judgement until we’ve played someone half decent, ie Belgium.
 
Neither team we have played has seriously tested our defence, unknown quantity for now.
Will be interested to see what happens if we play a Belgium team that takes the game seriously.
Somehow don't think they will, so will have to wait until the knockout games for its first proper test.

Bit concerned yesterday when Panama scored Stones was standing still with his arm raised for offside.
They also fashioned a great chance just before that and they were hardly an accomplished team.

Yep. I agree. Although they can only play the team in front of them.
 
Yep. I agree. Although they can only play the team in front of them.

Very true, but would have been nice to see the defence tested before the knock out started.
Senegal and Columbia both look good going forward, plenty of pace and good movement.
 
Dunno about stand out but I think France, Spain, Portugal, Uruguay won’t be far away.

Hopefully we won’t be either but I’m reserving judgement until we’ve played someone half decent, ie Belgium.

Uruguay are a threat, but Spain look poor, currently trailing Morocco 2-1 with 5 mins to go. If Morocco can beat them then sure as hell we can and should not be scared of them.
 
Uruguay are a threat, but Spain look poor, currently trailing Morocco 2-1 with 5 mins to go. If Morocco can beat them then sure as hell we can and should not be scared of them.

Spain haven't turned yet, which is worrying :D For a team in such good form before the World Cup, I'd be worried if I was a Spain fan. Got out of jail last night, but then all the big teams have that in them.
 
How often does the team that started well end up winning a tournament.
Look how well we have done in qualifying in previous years, Poland this time is another example.

Lets see what happens in the knockout stage, France seem to be getting forgotten, they too have a fine goalscorer.
 
Looking at the remaining games, this is too close to call. Apart from the obvious big teams which have looked good - France, Portugal, Spain (apart from last night), Uruguay, others which have impressed me are - Colombia, Senegal, Nigeria, Mexico, Croatia and of course, Belgium and England.
Senegal v Columbia could be an exciting match, and I think that the Serbia v Brazil match could kick off big time. Nigeria v Argentina could be a very hard match, very physical.
 
Looking at the remaining games, this is too close to call. Apart from the obvious big teams which have looked good - France, Portugal, Spain (apart from last night), Uruguay, others which have impressed me are - Colombia, Senegal, Nigeria, Mexico, Croatia and of course, Belgium and England.
Senegal v Columbia could be an exciting match, and I think that the Serbia v Brazil match could kick off big time. Nigeria v Argentina could be a very hard match, very physical.

Agree. No stand out teams, pretty much anyone could win it, which is why I think we have a great chance. Depending on draw I could easily see us, Uruguay and Croatia in the semis. Possibly Spain or Germany too.
 
Prior to the Panama game, did anybody notice the headline of the BBC article?

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How often does the team that started well end up winning a tournament.
Look how well we have done in qualifying in previous years, Poland this time is another example.

Lets see what happens in the knockout stage, France seem to be getting forgotten, they too have a fine goalscorer.

Really? Even John stones had more goals in this World Cup than any French striker
 
Really? Even John stones had more goals in this World Cup than any French striker

I think Griezmann is widely accepted as a decent striker, so yes really.
Just hope two goal Stones is equally adept at defending if we play France
 
Well, the Argentina v Nigeria game was entertaining. Messi had a great game, superb two footed control for the first goal. Nigeria never gave up, sadly missed a few good chances. They are a young team, definitely one to watch.
 
Well, the Argentina v Nigeria game was entertaining. Messi had a great game, superb two footed control for the first goal. Nigeria never gave up, sadly missed a few good chances. They are a young team, definitely one to watch.

Gutted, was really hoping Argentina would go out. That said, the Maradona celebration was priceless!!
 
Enjoyed the Argentina - Nigeria game. I have a sneaky feeling the Argentinians are just getting going! Pleased for Messi, just a shame the histrionics of his fellow countryman sat in the stands are broadcast...
 
Enjoyable game and thought the referee used the VAR sensibly, much better than the previous evening game.

Not a bad tournament so far, don't mind who wins it, but hope whoever does plays exciting and skilful football.
Think we sometimes forget its a form of entertainment and hopefully a chance to see what the worlds best players can do
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Gobsmacked!! Germany were awful! Worse than we were at the last World Cup, or against Iceland. No ideas. No urgency.

Gutted as pre tournament the 11/10 I got on them to reach the quarterfinals looked like a dead cert!!!

Would not be surprised if Brazil go the same way later.
 
After dropping Khedira and Ozil then winning, why on earth did he bring them back today?
Was it politically motivated to recall the Erdogan supporters after allegedly dropping them because of media and fan pressure.

Seems to be unrest in the camp, something more usually associated with the Netherlands and France.
 
So we don't have to worry about when we could face Germany then.

If we win the group, we'll be in the half of the draw with Spain & Argentina (& poss Brazil). If we finish 2nd, we're in with Portugal (& poss Brazil) so all the talk of whether they will WANT to finish 1st or 2nd is b*****ks and I'm sure it hasn't entered players' or manager's head, there's no easy route!
 
After dropping Khedira and Ozil then winning, why on earth did he bring them back today?
Was it politically motivated to recall the Erdogan supporters after allegedly dropping them because of media and fan pressure.

Seems to be unrest in the camp, something more usually associated with the Netherlands and France.

I think it’s more to do with the fact they may not actually have anyone better. Werner for example was hopeless all tournament. If German, welbeck would probably have been no1 striker and even the oldies crouch and Defoe would have done better!! Rooney would have been a huge improvement!
 
So we don't have to worry about when we could face Germany then.

If we win the group, we'll be in the half of the draw with Spain & Argentina (& poss Brazil). If we finish 2nd, we're in with Portugal (& poss Brazil) so all the talk of whether they will WANT to finish 1st or 2nd is b*****ks and I'm sure it hasn't entered players' or manager's head, there's no easy route!

Maybe but hand on heart, I am not scared of anyone in the tournament. France have the players and squad but have trouble finding the net. Spain struggled against Morocco and Iran, Portugal too and they are a one man team. Argentina look poor. Brazil have struggled too so far. Uruguay looked poor but are dangerous and Croatia will be a threat.
 
Maybe but hand on heart, I am not scared of anyone in the tournament. France have the players and squad but have trouble finding the net. Spain struggled against Morocco and Iran, Portugal too and they are a one man team. Argentina look poor. Brazil have struggled too so far. Uruguay looked poor but are dangerous and Croatia will be a threat.

I don't necessarily disagree but form shown in group games is seldom an indicator for the knockout stages, underestimate any of those teams at your peril.
 
I think it’s more to do with the fact they may not actually have anyone better. Werner for example was hopeless all tournament. If German, welbeck would probably have been no1 striker and even the oldies crouch and Defoe would have done better!! Rooney would have been a huge improvement!


Just remembered one of their players went off with a broken nose in the last game, could also be a reason.
Seemed strange to change a winning team, but yes they were poor, never expected that from them.

Not sure they were desperate enough to play Welbeck though, Klose at forty would be a better bet

Sweden looked decent today, great character after that last minute loss to Germany.
Always hard to beat, seem to recall we have struggled against them in the past
(mind you who haven't we struggled against over the years)
 
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Am I right in thinking Brazil & Switzerland both only need draws to progress and Serbia need a win? If so, Brazil v Serbia should be good as Serbia need to go for it.
 
Well the Germany squad will be in their homes long before the customised Adidas trainers in the Germany colours I ordered will be in my home!
My allegiance now moves on to my second choice, La Roja!
 
Amazed Germany went out - wish I’d have a punt on them not getting out of the group. A Talksport presenter was telling us before the World Cup starting to lump on Germany not getting out of the group - bet the odds would have been good.

Doesn’t look like Brazil will be going the same way!
 
I'm not a big fan of football but I will watch all the England world cup games and some of the others.
Just after the first game a friend of mine (who also only watches the world cup) said England could be in with a chance to which I laughed and said no chance.
Tonight in the car a sports reporter on the radio was talking about Germany being knocked out also said this could be Englands chance.
What do your regular football fans think?
 
I'm not a big fan of football but I will watch all the England world cup games and some of the others.
Just after the first game a friend of mine (who also only watches the world cup) said England could be in with a chance to which I laughed and said no chance.
Tonight in the car a sports reporter on the radio was talking about Germany being knocked out also said this could be Englands chance.
What do your regular football fans think?
Well after seeing a few of the games I think we could have half a chance. The thing is we haven't been tested yet, and won't be tomorrow either. It's a nothing game for both teams, the first KO game will be telling. `We seem vulnerable in defence, but decent up front, and if yo score more than you concede, then all is good!

From what i've seen so far the best teams are:

England
Belgium
Uruguay
Croatia

Brazil will always be in it, but they are more show that anything else, but would more than likely stuff us... I think the lack of expectation, and even more o the lack of individual prima donna's has helped. The team see to be genuinely playing as a team, which is the first time i can remember seeing that. Whatever happens the guys have done well, and Southgate seems a decent bloke too.
 
Well after seeing a few of the games I think we could have half a chance. The thing is we haven't been tested yet, and won't be tomorrow either. It's a nothing game for both teams, the first KO game will be telling. `We seem vulnerable in defence, but decent up front, and if yo score more than you concede, then all is good!

From what i've seen so far the best teams are:

England
Belgium
Uruguay
Croatia

Brazil will always be in it, but they are more show that anything else, but would more than likely stuff us... I think the lack of expectation, and even more o the lack of individual prima donna's has helped. The team see to be genuinely playing as a team, which is the first time i can remember seeing that. Whatever happens the guys have done well, and Southgate seems a decent bloke too.

Much has been made of us not being tested, but I think much of that is down to playing well. The FIFA rankings are not perfect but Panama (55th) are ranked ahead of Japan (who top their group currently) and Sth Korea who beat Germany today. They are not too far behind Egypt (who were poor) and Morocco who played well against Spain and Portugal. So while they are a weak team, other teams around them are no mugs. Tunisia are ranked just below Croatia who have been excellent, and better than Iceland who drew with Argentina, Costa Rica who got to 90 mins at 0-0 v Brazil and Sweden who topped Germanys group. My point is other teams have struggled against teams they shouldn't have yet we have been good. Ok, we may look defensively vulnerable but others look vulnerable in attack. That said, Poland are ranked 8th and am still waiting for them to turn up in the tournament!
 
I have always thought that the FIFA rankings are divorced from reality. How Poland can be ranked 8th is totally beyond me, and for some reason they were ranked 5th in 2017 - words fail me! They were ranked 76th in 2013.
The three top scoring teams so far are - England, Belgium and Russia, all on 8 goals, closely followed by the dark horses Croatia on 7 goals.
 
I have always thought that the FIFA rankings are divorced from reality. How Poland can be ranked 8th is totally beyond me, and for some reason they were ranked 5th in 2017 - words fail me! They were ranked 76th in 2013.
I'm not going to argue that FIFA rankings are credible.

But still, in the 4 calendar years 2014-15-16-17, Poland's record in all matches was P39 W21 D13 L5. That would be 76 points from 39 games, and that level of performance in the Premier League would get you a Champions League qualification place. They qualified for Euro 2016 with only one defeat, and were unbeaten in Euro 2016. (They were knocked out on penalties in their QF against Portugal.) They qualified for World Cup 2018 with only one defeat. All in all that's a record in competitive matches of P23 W16 D5 L2, which is better than their record in friendlies over the period, and the FIFA rankings give a higher weight to competitive matches. So I can see why their ranking would have shot up over this period.
 
I have taken every known historical statistic into consideration which leads me to the conclusion that England are crap.

Would like to be surprised, but not expecting it, still watch though as I have done since 1966
Even wasted my time and money travelling to some of the matches, too old now for the great smell of tear gas
 
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I have taken every known historical statistic into consideration which leads me to the conclusion that England are crap.

Would like to be surprised, but not expecting it, still watch though as I have done since 1966
Even wasted my time and money travelling to some of the matches, too old now for the great smell of tear gas

Well, we are now better than Germany!
 
Well, we are now better than Germany!

Seem to recall we finished above them in a euro group where neither team qualified.
How did it go from there at the World Cup?

Germany- Runners up, 3rd, 3rd, Winners

England- q/f, q/f, last 16, group stage

I can understand patriotism, but we are just not very good and would rather be surprised than disappointed yet again
 
Well, we are now better than Germany!

And Poland.

The "major" teams in Europe had it pretty easy in the qualifying stages. Compare them to the guys in South America, a harsh qualifying process to be sure. All these teams can play.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_(CONMEBOL)

Our European groups generally comprise six teams. When Belgium qualified they scored 43 goals, shared between 12 players, with Lukaku scoring 11.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_–_UEFA_Group_H

Germany qualified well, winning all 10 games and scoring 43 goals as well, but the goals were shared between 21 players. Maybe that just adds confusion as to team choices?
In contrast, England scored 18 goals in the 10 games (8 wins, 2 draws), Kane scoring 5, Lallana and Sturridge getting 2 each, and top striker not used enough by England IMO, Jermain Defoe getting the vital only goal against Lithuania. Only 8 other scorers in the qualifiers for England.
 
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