World Cup 2018

keef32 said:
Call it £10? (I've a wedding to pay for haha).
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Tenner it is, got carried away there and forgot I have retired now.

Hope you win, at least a charity gets a few quid whatever and thanks for being a good sport
 
Thinks England are crap and them offers a bet on them not to win the tournament at even odds? Wow. You should have been prepared to offer 20 to 1 at least.
 
StewartR said:
Thinks England are crap and them offers a bet on them not to win the tournament at even odds? Wow. You should have been prepared to offer 20 to 1 at least.
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I got 16/1 at the end of Tunisia game, betfair have them now at 15/2, same odds as france and very narrowly longer than Belgium (13/2). Croatia are 12/1 -
 
Hard to work out what to make of that!

Half the pub cheered when Belgium scored. Both teams played a reserve team, both teams had good chances, we were not outplayed. We get a harder game next round but potentially easier QF.
 
One thing that occurred to me about the England Belgium match, which none of the commentators or analysts picked up on: Both teams had a bunch of guys on the pitch who were trying to prove to their managers that they deserve a place in the starting XI. Surely that pretty much guaranteed that both teams would be playing for a win, regardless of the stupid media speculation that they might prefer to lose.

Unfortunately I don't think tonight's showing will have created too many quandaries for Southgate:
* Alexander-Arnold had a good game, but Trippier has had two good games at right back.
* Rashford may have done enough to start instead of Sterling.
* Loftus-Cheek looked good at times, but not good enough to start ahead of a fit Alli.
* I don't think anyone else had a good enough game to challenge for a starting place.
 
StewartR said:
One thing that occurred to me about the England Belgium match, which none of the commentators or analysts picked up on: Both teams had a bunch of guys on the pitch who were trying to prove to their managers that they deserve a place in the starting XI. Surely that pretty much guaranteed that both teams would be playing for a win, regardless of the stupid media speculation that they might prefer to lose.

Unfortunately I don't think tonight's showing will have created too many quandaries for Southgate:
* Alexander-Arnold had a good game, but Trippier has had two good games at right back.
* Rashford may have done enough to start instead of Sterling.
* Loftus-Cheek looked good at times, but not good enough to start ahead of a fit Alli.
* I don't think anyone else had a good enough game to challenge for a starting place.
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Thought Arnold was poor, mainly his set pieces, no threat. Would rather see a front 4 of Kane, Lingard, Ali and Loftus-Cheek
 
It amuses me how the British, well actually English seem to take great pleasure in slating and criticising our national teams. I'm not sure if this is just an English thing.. In my opinion, we aren't going to win the cup, but we have got a half decent team and they do actually seem to want to win. Time will tell I guess, and at some point no doubt the haters will be able to say "I told you we wouldn't win" :)
 
IMG_2117.jpg

Made me chuckle anyway.

I don’t think any team so far has looked worthy of the title of World Champions.
 
rick448 said:
It amuses me how the British, well actually English seem to take great pleasure in slating and criticising our national teams. I'm not sure if this is just an English thing.. In my opinion, we aren't going to win the cup, but we have got a half decent team and they do actually seem to want to win. Time will tell I guess, and at some point no doubt the haters will be able to say "I told you we wouldn't win" :)
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I think it’s driven by the press and media really. Gareth southgate was welcomed as a really ordinary appointment at the time and a ‘safe’ pair of hands that wouldn’t get much done.

A week ago, the press were telling us all how brilliant he is and now having lost a game they’re telling us to question his tactics and that he got stuff wrong.

At the end of the day, he’s done an OK job in my opinion and is definitely building for the future - I’ve never thought we’d win this WC, but the potential is definitely there with this team and his vision to be contenders in the near future.
 
Great game, wonderful goals and a new star impresses. If the French keep playing like that then it could be 1998 all over again - Allez les bleues!
 
Now that's what I call football, France played a bit like when they won it back in 98.
If they carry on like that I won't complain, well worth watching, that fourth goal was superb
 
A question for those who might know. While I have little to no interest in soccer, I haven't been able to avoid it completely so I'm aware that England and Belgium went into their final group game level pegging - equal points and an identical goal difference. My question is, what would have happened had the result of the final match been a draw? Would the winner of the group have been decided by the toss of a coin or somehow else?
 
Nod said:
A question for those who might know. While I have little to no interest in soccer, I haven't been able to avoid it completely so I'm aware that England and Belgium went into their final group game level pegging - equal points and an identical goal difference. My question is, what would have happened had the result of the final match been a draw? Would the winner of the group have been decided by the toss of a coin or somehow else?
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It would have gone to ‘fair play’ ie red or yellow cards. And then drawn lots.
 
Thanks for the answer. Who would have taken it based on the other games in the group or were they level on that basis as well?
 
Nod said:
Thanks for the answer. Who would have taken it based on the other games in the group or were they level on that basis as well?
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It would have been England going into the game, on IIRC 3 yellow cards against 4
 
Ta.
 
Nod said:
I'm aware that England and Belgium went into their final group game level pegging - equal points and an identical goal difference. My question is, what would have happened had the result of the final match been a draw? Would the winner of the group have been decided by the toss of a coin or somehow else?
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The full list of ranking criteria in the group stage is as follows:
  1. Points obtained in all group matches;
  2. Goal difference in all group matches;
  3. Number of goals scored in all group matches;
  4. Points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
  5. Goal difference in the matches played between the teams in question;
  6. Number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
  7. Fair play points in all group matches;
  8. Drawing of lots.
You might think that criteria 5 and 6 are unnecessary, given the existence of criterion 4, but they are there to cater for the possibility that 3 teams are tied.

Criterion 7 was actually used this week to separate Japan from Senegal in Group H. The circumstances were farcical. Japan were playing Poland, and with 15 minutes to go they were losing 0-1. The other game, Senegal vs Colombia, was stuck at 0-0 and as things stood Senegal were topping the group and Colombia were edging out Japan in second place on goal difference. So obviously Japan were pressing for an equaliser. But then Colombia scored. Suddenly Colombia were topping the group, and Japan were in second place over Senegal by virtue of fair play points (fewer bookings and sendings off). The Japanese coach and players realised this, and they decided that their best option was to play the last 15 minutes to maintain the status quo, which meant not risking getting booked. So basically they didn't play football. When they had the ball they didn't go near the Polish players, and if a Pole got too close they punted the ball away to Poland and then didn't bother to try to get it back. Meanwhile Poland were quite happy because they were winning 1-0. You can see the awful consequences here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44649668 . And ironically it worked for Japan and they went though on "fair play" points. Disgraceful.
 
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I wasn't able to watch Portugal vs Uruguay yesterday, but I kept in touch with it on onefootball.com, and in the second half there were two absolutely glorious examples of the Commentator's Curse.

Firstly there was this:
onefootball.com said:
54minutes - Uruguay look like they could defend their goal for hours on end without conceding. Portugal are still yet to craft a clear-cut chance in front of goal.
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onefootball.com said:
55minutes - GOOOOAL! 1-1! Portugal go short from a corner and Guerreiro whips a cross into the middle, where Pepe has skinned his marker and heads past Muslera. It is the first goal Uruguay have conceded at this World Cup.
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And then less than 10 minutes later:
onefootball.com said:
61minutes - Portugal look much better since the break and Uruguay have not managed to create any meaningful attacks of their own since the interval.
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onefootball.com said:
62minutes - GOOOOOOOAL! 2-1! Uruguay restore their lead! A superb break sees Bentancur feed the ball across to Cavani, who curls superbly into the far corner of the net to give Patricio no chance.
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Russia have been playing for penalties since kick off!
 
If, in the FA cup a team from the lower leagues, wished to beat Man Utd, what would they do?
Russia did just this against Spain and won.
 
Saturday matches good, yesterday matches poor

Just hope the winners play to win with attacking football rather than spoiling tactics.
Hard to beat=bore you rigid
 
How was that not a red card? Tackle in last 5 mins of Croatia game???
 
cambsno said:
How was that not a red card? Tackle in last 5 mins of Croatia game???
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Exactly what I said to the missus as we were watching it.
Glad they lost, that was a cynical foul to stop a goal being scored, if he had handballed it on the line would have been straight off
 
cambsno said:
How was that not a red card? Tackle in last 5 mins of Croatia game???
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Apparently the rule has recently changed. If the defender makes a genuine attempt to get the ball, it's only a yellow.
 
Marc said:
Apparently the rule has recently changed. If the defender makes a genuine attempt to get the ball, it's only a yellow.
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Not sure that was very genuine though
 
tijuana taxi said:
Not sure that was very genuine though
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Agree. The guy was 8yds out and had already started to shoot. Chance of making a successful fair tackle are slim. He did the right thing for the team but it was a red or should have been.
 
As a Leicester City supporter I am rather proud to see 10 different city players have so far played in these finals. :)

Your ‘gagging’ to know who they are, arn’t you ?

Harry Maguire & Jamie Vardy

Adrien Silva & Ricardo Pereira - Portugal

Kasper Schmeichel - Denmark

Wilfred Ndidi, Kelechi Iheanacho & Ahmed Musa - Nigeria ( Musa currently on loan to CSKA Moscow)

Shinji Okazaki - Japan

Yohan Benalouane - Tunisia
 
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badlywornroy said:
As a Leicester City supporter I am rather proud to see 10 different city players have so far played in these finals. :)

Your ‘gagging’ to know who they are, arn’t you ?

Harry Maguire & Jamie Vardy

Adrien Silva & Ricardo Pereira - Portugal

Kasper Schmeichel - Denmark

Wilfred Ndidi, Kelechi Iheanacho & Ahmed Musa - Nigeria ( Musa currently on loan to CSKA Moscow)

Shinji Okazaki - Japan

Yohan Benalouane - Tunisia
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Not many left now though
 
badlywornroy said:
No, after England I’m supporting Japan.

Which you reckon is my best bet ?
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50/50 I reckon, maybe 60/40 for England, can't see the winner coming from the side of the draw England are in.
Very harsh with Brazil, France, Belgium and Uruguay in the same half.
 
tijuana taxi said:
50/50 I reckon, maybe 60/40 for England, can't see the winner coming from the side of the draw England are in.
Very harsh with Brazil, France, Belgium and Uruguay in the same half.
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But, only one of those teams will make it to the final. Who knows which it will be, or even if the likes of Mexico surprise everyone and go all the way! For all teams in our half, games are winnable. The likes of Sweden or Croatia will probably prefer to play us than the likes of Brazil or France, and same for us. Then whether its us or anyone else, it is just 1 game in which anything can happen.

Am tempted to partly cash out my bet! Have £5 at 16/1 on England to win world cup. £85 return if it happens. Or I could cash out now for £11.07, or partly cash out which means I get my £5 back and still get £46 if it happens!
 
I think it's been a good tournament so far - and if nothing else certainly looks like backing up the idea that there are no 'easy' draws. Big names have gone out. Poor play combined with over-confidence.

Of the teams left, only Brazil, France, Uruguay and England have won it before, so if we don't win it, I'd love to see some new blood (it's surprising how little deviation there's been over the years).

If not, England, then I'd love to see Croatia do it.
 
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