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Football World Cup 2018 Discussions


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Anything less than a win for Germany today is a disaster. If they draw with Sweden and Mexico take at least a point against South Korea then they may as well pack their bags. If we go into the final game with Sweden and Mexico knowing they can just play out 90 minutes for a draw and both go through would make for a snooze fest but both would probably rather not take the chance of losing so won’t really be going all out for the win.

 

Belgium should take care of Tunisia quite easily. By the end of match 2 in this group both Belgium and England should be on 6 points each and the final game deciding who wins the group.

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I also thought it should have been a penalty but everyone I was with seemed to disagree. Sweden should have added a second though with a nice counter attack, one of those that the commentators love to talk about as the missed chance comes back to haunt them. Germany don’t look like a team that can go all the way at this stage but then who out of the pre tournament favourites have looked that impressive?

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saw Japan/Senegal match before I went to work, that's all i saw today er yesterday.

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Great win for England, it was against Panama but still. Uruguay has been silently impressive in a very weak group and i think Mexico has had a solid WC, playing above expectations. The Belgium vs England game will probably be against the 2 best teams at the group stage (the other being Portugal vs Spain).

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So far it has definitely felt like a World Cup that could give us a shock winner. I’ve been more impressed with the teams you wouldn’t expect to win it than the ones you would. I’d be genuinely happy to see the likes of Mexico, Croatia, Uruguay etc. win the whole thing. That would be pretty cool.

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Today could be quite interesting. Obviously the big game is Argentina/Nigeria but in Group C there is actually a fairly reasonable chance Australia can go through ahead of Denmark. If they can beat Peru and France beat Denmark then it’s down to goal difference. Those results wouldn’t be the most surprising really. In saying that, the way this World Cup has been we could easily see the opposite!

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Well, Argentina left that a little late didn’t they? I wasn’t convinced they were going to grab the winner but in the end they did what was needed.

 

Something that amused me was the subtitles on the BBC here in the UK. I was watching the game at the gym so the subtitles were on and when the commentator said “and Di Maria is through” the subtitles said “Andy Murray is through”. So that’s why he has been out for 11 months, he’s been training with Argentina the whole time!

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Well, Argentina left that a little late didn’t they? I wasn’t convinced they were going to grab the winner but in the end they did what was needed.

 

Something that amused me was the subtitles on the BBC here in the UK. I was watching the game at the gym so the subtitles were on and when the commentator said “and Di Maria is through” the subtitles said “Andy Murray is through”. So that’s why he has been out for 11 months, he’s been training with Argentina the whole time!

As the husband of a deaf woman I find myself reading subtitles quite a bit. There is always good comedy in watching them on live stuff.

 

Argentina now gets the unlucky draw of France in the Knock out stage. Croatia gets Denmark so I think they will have a great shot to get to the final 8.

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Judging by their performances in this tournament they won’t be missed! A team that you would think would get to at least the semi finals without too much to worry about has finished bottom of their group! Well done to South Korea who would probably have been considered a guaranteed 3 points for all 3 teams going in. Beating the World Champions and finishing above them is a great result.

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Out of the World Cup due to yellow cards, that is gutting! Disappointed to see the way Japan/Poland saw out the game, it would have been hilarious if Senegal equalised.

 

Also the English pundits acting smug about the fact Germany are out was cringeworthy. 2 wins over nobodies in world football at this tournament so far is all they have. They would be clever to lose this game against Belgium to get themselves on the easier end of the bracket.

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Out of the World Cup due to yellow cards, that is gutting! Disappointed to see the way Japan/Poland saw out the game, it would have been hilarious if Senegal equalised.

 

Also the English pundits acting smug about the fact Germany are out was cringeworthy. 2 wins over nobodies in world football at this tournament so far is all they have. They would be clever to lose this game against Belgium to get themselves on the easier end of the bracket.

Looks like England indeed took that route. And the knock out ran is finalized. Looking forward to these match-ups.

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Looks like England indeed took that route. And the knock out ran is finalized. Looking forward to these match-ups.

Although it is the easier route there will still be some tough games. Colombia won’t be an easy task and I think people are underestimating them because of today. Thing is, they won despite not looking at their best. The opening game they lost but were a man down after 3 minutes or something. Game 2 they dismantled Poland without much fuss. Today they beat a good looking Senegal team that are only out because of bookings!

 

Beyond that Sweden have been good and really should have won all 3 games, they should have had the Germany game sewn up before half time in my opinion. Or Switzerland who are unbeaten and if Shaqiri is on his game they can take anybody out. Then you are probably looking at Spain or Croatia in the semi final? Maybe not but that’s what I would see happening. Easier but not easy I would say.

 

The fact is that all these teams are here on merit. It may be a nicer draw than they could have got but at the same time their opponents will look at them and think that the one difficult game they had was a defeat, albeit not a full strength line up but then neither was Belgium. I think everyone they face will have the same idea, stop Kane and you beat England!

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England got lucky with that loss because now they have a relatively easy path to the finals (easy i mean in comparison to the other side of the bracket). I mean Columbia is beatable, Switzerland or Sweden are as well. They will have one tough game against either Croatia or Spain (most likely), but all in all i think they can do it. Spain was not too impressive in the group stages in my opinion, i expected they to be better, i still think Spain have the better chance to make it to the finals though. The other side of the bracket is brutal though, basically any team with the exception of Japan is worthy of making it to the finals.

 

Frankly i think they should have a different way for the knock out rounds, they should have 2 pots, the first place teams and the 2nd place teams. All first placed teams should get seeded based on points and goal differences (cards if necessary) and the 2nd placed teams should be seeded as well, so the draws are seeded, not predefined. This will make every game and goal meaningful in the group stages (so we wont have games like the Belgium vs England game) and the second round will make more sense as well.

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