phins_4_ever
E12 FH Tailgate Gang
England went through a war with Colombia and was ready today. Croatia will be ready as well. 4 days is plenty of time for players to recover these days.
The real final is played in the other semifinal anyways.
***Official 2018 FIFA World Cup thread***
- Thread starter phins_4_ever
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The real final is played in the other semifinal anyways.
phins_4_ever
E12 FH Tailgate Gang
Not picking one between Croatia and England. They will probably go to penalty kicks.
Belgium is my guess to win the WC now. France will win it all if they manage to beat Belgium.
im far from an expert on any sport. i enjoy your predictions lol
phins_4_ever
E12 FH Tailgate Gang
It's a freezing spray. It freezes skin and muscle tissue and therefore numbs the area of pain.
No. Sometimes it's nothing (just water), but most times it's a chloroethane numbing spray. It temporarily "freezes" the area. So, temporarily magical. (Ed: Whoops, too late again).
Phinglander
Active Roster
Used to be a magic sponge when I was a kid. Which was basically just a wet sponge that somehow miraculously cured anything less than a broken leg. They must have upgraded it to a spray when diving and feigning injuries started being a regular occurrence.
The one Croatian who looked like he could've kept going was Luka Modric. That guy is something. England has no real answer for a midfielder who can pull the strings like that.
But I agree, France vs Belgium is the game. The talent and styles are very similar. Classic historical rivalry. The only thing I would say is that apart from a few moments against Argentina, France has not really been troubled in this tournament. Belgium has gone through some pretty deep waters. We'll see if that matters at all.
phins_4_ever
E12 FH Tailgate Gang
You never played soccer did you? While I agree that diving and feigning injuries is at an all time high but that spray exists before I started playing soccer at the tender age of 6 and that was in the early 70s.
There is a lot of little bumps and bruises in soccer and that spray overcomes short term pain until you walked it off.
Phinglander
Active Roster
I'm English, I spent my childhood playing football (sorry can't call it soccer)!! Yeah was not a serious post by me, just got me thinking about the 'magic sponge' they used to use when I first started going to games in the 80's. Was literally a sponge and a bucket of water but healed 95% of injuries! Different breed of footballer back then tho, just got on with it
Phinglander
Active Roster
Modric and Rakitic in midfield are the big worry, especially up against Henderson (who's had a decent tournament to be fair). Wouldn't be a massive surprise if we change things slightly and play two defensive midfielders for that one
It is part of the game and let’s not kid ourselves most of these “flops” are fouls, but like the NBA you can’t just call every bump and nick or you just wouldn’t be very productive on the field and it really makes for boring soccer.
The injury is exaggerated as strategy to stop play because usually the possession is lost by the fouled player and the dramatic fall will usually stop the counter and award a free kick.
But like with any sport, the term “let em play” applies as a refereeing style . . . .as long as he is consistent.
In the Brazil/Belgium game . . . . The ref clearly was aware of Neymar’s antics and towards the end I feel he became a little biast with how he called the game, especially when Hazard was on the ball. Hazard would take small contact, yell loudly, be awarded a free kick and then get up celebrating like nothing happened. Meanwhile Vincent Kompany is making wreckless tackles in the box and Neymar was taking much harder bumps with no foul called.
But that is soccer, you cry wolf long enough, eventually the ref will stop listening.
phins_4_ever
E12 FH Tailgate Gang
Neymar is not the first player going down this path but he is one of the most gifted once going down this path. There will be times that refs will deny him free kicks or PKs because of his prior antics. I don't know why he went down this path but his acting has cost him his reputation. Every ref will have their doubts now.
If he would have just played Brazil may still have been in the tournament. He is now damaged goods. One of my favorite places down here is Brazilian owned though staff and patrons are from everywhere. Even Brazilians are fed up with him. He is slowly losing his god-status in a soccer crazed nation.
The reason why I enjoy Neymar is because he is like Lebron James on the pitch. He’ll do his best to involve his team but when you absolutely need him he will attack, attack and attack . . . .certainly a lot of the attacking is ambitious but I just love a player who goes fearless into the defense with that confidence and skill and ability to finish.
After watching some pre Cup friendlies and the first game, I was rather pissed with how teams were abusing him when he was on the ball. Refs were not doing enough to protect him and teams continued to foul him with no worries of more than a simple foul being called.
But as the tournament progressed he really enhanced that flopping bullshit and I got annoyed with it as well as did the refs. He is too good to be doing that stuff and talented enough to finish on target, instead of intentionally trying to get fouled inside the box.
I won’t go as far as to say it cost them vs. Belgium to the point they would of won the game, but it definitely put the pressure on finishing opportunities, which Brazil did not do.
Hopefully we get to see him in 4 years without that mentality, but the way Brazil pushes out strikers and wingers you can never guarantee a player, especially one who will be 30 at the next Cup.
After watching some pre Cup friendlies and the first game, I was rather pissed with how teams were abusing him when he was on the ball. Refs were not doing enough to protect him and teams continued to foul him with no worries of more than a simple foul being called.
But as the tournament progressed he really enhanced that flopping bullshit and I got annoyed with it as well as did the refs. He is too good to be doing that stuff and talented enough to finish on target, instead of intentionally trying to get fouled inside the box.
I won’t go as far as to say it cost them vs. Belgium to the point they would of won the game, but it definitely put the pressure on finishing opportunities, which Brazil did not do.
Hopefully we get to see him in 4 years without that mentality, but the way Brazil pushes out strikers and wingers you can never guarantee a player, especially one who will be 30 at the next Cup.