***Official 2018 FIFA World Cup thread*** | Page 5 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

***Official 2018 FIFA World Cup thread***

Too much class from Belgium over Panama . . . Panama played pretty decently until the world class strike from Mertens.
Gotta give it to Panama. They are playing with heart. If they would have more killer instinct they'd give Belgium more trouble.
First game ever at a WC, They don't even have appropriate soccer facilities in Panama: dried out grass fields, dirt fields and a couple of artificially fields (German commentators give really good info :laugh).

It was a very brave effort.
 
And England just lucked out as well. :laugh
Some weird start to the WC. Very weird.

Yea I think England was clearly the more quality side and probably deserved the result . . . .but I think Tunisia surprised me with how much quality they had in the midfield and keeping possession while stringing together passes.

But good lord they were dreadful in the back on set pieces (killed them on both goals) and in typical fashion for the world’s lesser teams they gotta put the ball in the back of the net to have a shot. You can’t compete if you show no quality in the final third.

This group is clearly coming down to Belgium/England in match 3.
 
Who are the guys doing the Colombia/Japan game. I heard them before but lordy, that one guy sounds like a teenage boy during his voice change in puberty. So annoying.
This must be the worst crew. No background info, nothing. Just babbling the game and just repeating what we are seeing.
 
Who are the guys doing the Colombia/Japan game. I heard them before but lordy, that one guy sounds like a teenage boy during his voice change in puberty. So annoying.
This must be the worst crew. No background info, nothing. Just babbling the game and just repeating what we are seeing.
Did this one guy just called the Japanese players "little Samurai". :laugh
Holly smokes.
 
It does have its boring moments
I was thinking about it today and as a soccer fan there was not really a boring game like in the past. Even the little guys do show some will to actually win one in a while. In the past you really had some woeful snoozers.

So far I have seen great games, OK games and game which were so so.
 
Colombia and Poland losing their games today which is a stunner. Both face each other in the next game and the loser could be out (if Senegal and Japan play to a tie). Someone has to explain to me why you would commit a handball like that in the first 10 minutes of game. The one-player disadvantage hurt Colombia big time.

Russia won today and if Uruguay gets at least a point tomorrow against Saudi Arabia will be the first team to qualify. If Uruguay wins both teams advance and the last game will be for first place in the group.
I am a little disappointed in Egypt though. I expect a little more from them. When the 1-0 fell I knew they were in trouble. Just like the other not so great teams they rely on counters but once you go down by a goal your deficiencies are exposed. The goal itself was a series of defensive problems beginning with the goalie using his fists rather than catching the ball. And as Oliver Kahn said after the game if your are that incompetent to catch the easy ball you better make sure that you deflect the ball over the roof of the stadium. Second error was that one player was behind the goalie eliminating a possible offside on the subsequent pass and the defender who committed the own goal was completely in the wrong position. You always cover a forward to the inside not standing in front of him.

That goal pretty much was the decision in that game. Too bad for Salah who was left pretty much alone in the game.

On the other hand you have to hand it to Russia for maximizing their chances and keeping Russia interested in the WC. Scoring 8 goals in two games is pretty darn good regardless of the competition belonging to the bottom tier in soccer.

Tomorrows games:
Group A:
Uruguay vs Saudi Arabia
Uruguay should win that one and send Russia and Uruguay to the round of 16.

Group B:
After tieing each other Portugal (vs Morocco) and Spain (vs Iran) will begin their long distance competition for goal differential which will decide the group winner eventually.
 
Unless something changes in the next 5 minutes, this will be a game where Portugal was severely outplayed by Morocco but managed to come away with the win.
 
Unless something changes in the next 5 minutes, this will be a game where Portugal was severely outplayed by Morocco but managed to come away with the win.
As I stated in the beginning of that thread Portugal is not a very good team. The entire game is geared towards Ronaldo.
It reminds me of my first high school team I played on in Berlin. I was a young kid, my first year, and as such you really only compete for a substitute role. The first team was usually compromised of the older and more experienced kids. The age difference between youngster like me and the older players especially those close to graduation was 4-5 years. We had a player on the team everybody called "Litti". What a player. He was the team. The coache's tactic was 'everybody give "Litti" the ball'. We were a mediocre team and a lot of wins were 'because of "Litti" '. Every pass, every corner kick went to "Litti". Every penalty kick, every free kick was done by "Litti". If "Litti" would have had the speed of the Flash the coach would have said "Litti, you pass to yourself and score". :laugh
That is in a nutshell Portugal. The German broadcasts are always insightful and they mentioned that Ronaldo's accuracy is actually quite pitiful. Only 20% lifetime. His tremendous amount of goals is a result of him being made the center of the game, catered to him.
You take out Ronaldo (which you can do) and Portugal is exposed.

You have to give Morocco a lot of credit. They played a really good game and should have had at least tied the game. I am still a little bit peeved that the handball was not called, not even a review. Second game they dominated the game and lost by a goal.

Oh, BTW, "Litti" turned out to be Pierre Littbarski. After my first year he graduated and went to play for Cologne professionally. He won the World Cup with the German team in 1990.
 
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