Russia World Cup 2018 Thread

Dh2i6baU8AE3WlB.jpg
 
Chuny said:
It seems the Visible Fatigue feature hasn't been implemented in this build - For Croatia...
Click to expand...

95+ mentality negating much of the fatigue ... oh, but was that just Konami's vision from the glory days or something real in football?

P.S. Holy crap, what a turnover!!
 
Yeah. What a World Cup! Oh my... I repeat myself. Everything seems possible!

What a comeback!! Nearly unreal if they can pull off another 90/120 minutes with a day short on recovery! We’ll see. Oh boy.
 
When you play with 3 in the centre and only one of them is a DMF (Henderson) and the other two are AMF's (Alli and Lingard who is more of a winger actually) against MODRIC (what a fucking player!) ,Rakitic and Brozovic,what do you expect?
And what solutions you have from the bench?Dier(lol!),Loftus-Cheek and Delph who's actually more of a LB lately..
I think Shelvey could have a spot in this selection..It's not that England has many more better passers or playmakers..
1 shoot on target in 120 minutes..That's just bad..And with a more tired opponent..There's no excusses.
The truth is that they were an average team who had a convenient program and because of that they managed to progress until semi final.With the first really good opponent they couldn't do anything.
Nearly all of the goals they scored were from set pieces.In normal play they just couldn't create much.
But i guess after many years no one will remember all these but only that they went to the semi final so well done nonetheless lol.It's still a big achievement if you consider how many teams who are considered great went out early.
I think France won't have an easy night..Croatians proved they're dogs of war with great stamina and if they manage to win it will be truly incredible.
 
It's so surreal to see Croatia in a WC Final. Nobody would've have nominated them as a sensible pick for the final before the Tournament began. Dark horses? Sure but they certainly wouldn't have been the first team to come into anyone's minds when predicting a final.

France deserve to be there too, what a difference from MD1 against Australia to now. If anything this WC has taught us, it's that no team is safe and anything can happen, it's been a pretty balanced tournament.

Pretty exciting to thing we could have a new World Champion in Croatia. In modern football, these kinds of teams in the WC are unprecedented. It's not the first time it's happened in Continental tournaments such as Euro's and Copa America but on the World Stage, Croatia could break that trend.
 
Absolutely gutted.

Up to this point I've been convinced that, looking back in a years' time, my first thought would be "what an effort that was, they did so well" - but now I worry that it'll be "what a chance they had to get to a World Cup final"...

...but then, if we HAD won, then lost to France (which we 100% would have done), I'd have been looking back and saying the same thing anyway - "what a chance they had to win the World Cup"... Which just goes to show how stupid us football fans are. Never truly satisfied.

James Richardson's Totally Football Show (podcast) made me feel better on the way to work this morning, talking about the class and the experience of a few key Croatia players (Modric, Rakitic, Mandzukic). England just don't have that, and when you factor that into it, you come back to the realisation that England's World Cup was much more "lower league team get to FA Cup semi-final" than "Premier League team fail to reach FA Cup final". And that's okay, because they're young, and it's a hell of an achievement.

Here's hoping the likes of Pickford, Trippier*, Maguire and the like get the experience over the coming years to develop and become as important as those Croatian players in the future. Sprinkle some creative midfield players in there too (totally agree with @Dennis_87 regarding Shelvey) and we'll have a realistic hope, if not a realistic chance.

*My new favourite England player.

But it's nice to be proud to be English again. Even if just for a fleeting moment.

Here's hoping for a fantastic final.
 
You'd have thought we were the one's who'd had two extra time games beforehand. There'a a general feeling of happiness at getting this far and that we can progress from this but without wanting to spoil the mood, ultimately it was the same as usual. We met a half decent team without their best player (Colombia) and almost went out then we met a decent team in Croatia and went out.

I honestly thought in that second half that Croatia wanted it more, I couldn't believe they could keep that effort up and carry it on into extra time. Perisic was non stop and I thought the one that hit the post was going in. Is it just me or did we tail off in almost all our games? Hope they can win the final now, but it seems a step to far against that French side.

We supposedly have a lot of young talent coming through, I just hope one of them is the creative midfielder we badly miss to glue this team together. Oh to have a Modric.
 
i just heard... Trippier beeing the first in the national team to scrore from a direct free kick (after david beckham)!? holy moly... what a statistic! :THINK:

take it easy brits, your guys did well (for what their current level is)! :RSCARF:
 
Was hoping for Belgium v Croatia final, but wasn't to be.

I hope Croatia do it but they've been pretty ropey since coming out of the group stage and think France will win it easy, probably a easy 2-0.

FD
 
PRO_TOO said:
i just heard... Trippier beeing the first in the national team to scrore from a direct free kick (after david beckham)!? holy moly... what a statistic! :THINK:

take it easy brits, your guys did well (for what their current level is)! :RSCARF:
Click to expand...

So many things wrong in this post.
 
PRO_TOO said:
so help me out please! i dont want to spread rumors! whats wrong?
they had this info on sky sport news hd GER! hm...
Click to expand...

Since Beckham's last freekick goal for England and before Trippier's freekick last night Leighton Baines, Wayne Rooney and Eric Dier all scored freekicks for England.

I guess the statistic was just for World Cup finals? But that's too many matches really. Although it is fitting that he was being labelled the new Beckham and he scored a freekick. :)
 
Thanks for the information!
Must have been for WC only then, as u guessed.

I will look those free kicks up now... want to see them. :)

edit: rooney vs Estonia free kick i found. Dier vs Russia i found. That Baines one i couldn't!
 
Last edited:
Chris Davies said:
Absolutely gutted.

Up to this point I've been convinced that, looking back in a years' time, my first thought would be "what an effort that was, they did so well" - but now I worry that it'll be "what a chance they had to get to a World Cup final"...

...but then, if we HAD won, then lost to France (which we 100% would have done), I'd have been looking back and saying the same thing anyway - "what a chance they had to win the World Cup"... Which just goes to show how stupid us football fans are. Never truly satisfied.

James Richardson's Totally Football Show (podcast) made me feel better on the way to work this morning, talking about the class and the experience of a few key Croatia players (Modric, Rakitic, Mandzukic). England just don't have that, and when you factor that into it, you come back to the realisation that England's World Cup was much more "lower league team get to FA Cup semi-final" than "Premier League team fail to reach FA Cup final". And that's okay, because they're young, and it's a hell of an achievement.

Here's hoping the likes of Pickford, Trippier*, Maguire and the like get the experience over the coming years to develop and become as important as those Croatian players in the future. Sprinkle some creative midfield players in there too (totally agree with @Dennis_87 regarding Shelvey) and we'll have a realistic hope, if not a realistic chance.

*My new favourite England player.

But it's nice to be proud to be English again. Even if just for a fleeting moment.

Here's hoping for a fantastic final.
Click to expand...


Well, that's kind of what we were talking about yesterday, isn't it?. The "What IFs..." and how emotions get in the way of football.

If Kane had score the 2-0 reaching the end of the first half that probably would have been it for Croatia.
I think England had it under control for probably 55 minutes or so. But then they stopped wanting the ball.
Also, you gotta hand it to Croatia, those guys and how they fight until the very last second, never giving up, always with an extra pair of legs, determined and fierce.

France may have a better football (not by a long mile though) but Croatia definitely have the heart. It's going to be a great match.
 
mattmid said:
You'd have thought we were the one's who'd had two extra time games beforehand. There'a a general feeling of happiness at getting this far and that we can progress from this but without wanting to spoil the mood, ultimately it was the same as usual. We met a half decent team without their best player (Colombia) and almost went out then we met a decent team in Croatia and went out.

I honestly thought in that second half that Croatia wanted it more, I couldn't believe they could keep that effort up and carry it on into extra time. Perisic was non stop and I thought the one that hit the post was going in. Is it just me or did we tail off in almost all our games? Hope they can win the final now, but it seems a step to far against that French side.

We supposedly have a lot of young talent coming through, I just hope one of them is the creative midfielder we badly miss to glue this team together. Oh to have a Modric.
Click to expand...

@mattmid , matters mate, as ever thoughtful and insightful, and to add more question marks about an optimistic future for England. Just think of how much easier, if possible, England's Euro and World Cup qualification groups will be with their higher FIFA rank after a run to the semi-finals ?

That will only increase the unrealistic expectations and false impression of England's strength in world football terms. And as for an "english Modric", we both know that the creative talent in the Premier League is always imported: De Bruyne, Eriksen and Fabregas, as any England creative midfielder has usually been loaned out a dozen times to lower league clubs by their mid-twenties and never get a chance for a long spell at a top club. Premier League. :R1:R1:R1
 
I never get the tattoo guys. If you want to get one after the tournament, fine - what does it matter that you did it before? Do you think it's going to make the team play better when the papers report "local knobhead gets stupid tattoo"?
 
@WhoAteMeDinner You only have to look at how long it's taken Loftus-Cheek to get a first team chance. It was nice to see Guardiola giving Foden a few games at the end of the season, but with new signings will he get pushed down the pecking order again?


@Chris Davies It's their Andy Warhol moment isn't it. Their fifteen minutes of fame, even if it's being famous for being a twat.
 
How will England's deep run in the World Cup impact what teams they will face in upcoming qualfication campaigns ? Is it possible to get even smaller football minnows drawn against them ?
:THINK::THINK::THINK:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom