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Fifa World Cup Russia 2018

Mrs. Peter Quinn said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44676893

So much cringe. Shearer is right to talk about our arrogance. We're not paying much heed to columbia as opposition despite being eliminated by weaker opponents last time. And especially the sides who've been eliminated already. Oh yeah, I forgot we beat Panama so we're now world beaters. This said, I've enjoyed watching the first two games and we've clearly made progress.

I don't think you can blame weaker sides for playing for penalties. Should Russia really go all out attack and lose 6 0 in glorious fasion? They've got national pressure on them too.
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What's to cringe at? The article points out that England haven't beaten a top tier nation (didn't know that was a thing in football) since 1966 and have only won two knockout games since 1990 (both of which are quite scary facts). However, particularly after Croatia's pretty average showing last night, surely England would start as 120 minute favourites against any other side in the bottom half of the draw, so what's wrong with saying that they have a great opportunity to make the final?

This course of events just goes to show how big a dose of luck goes in to football World Cups to me. If you go back to 1990, for 85 minutes, Argentina were a goal and a parked bus away from winning the tournament despite only having won two games up until that point!
 
RedruthRFC said:
What's to cringe at? The article points out that England haven't beaten a top tier nation (didn't know that was a thing in football) since 1966 and have only won two knockout games since 1990 (both of which are quite scary facts). However, particularly after Croatia's pretty average showing last night, surely England would start as 120 minute favourites against any other side in the bottom half of the draw, so what's wrong with saying that they have a great opportunity to make the final?

This course of events just goes to show how big a dose of luck goes in to football World Cups to me. If you go back to 1990, for 85 minutes, Argentina were a goal and a parked bus away from winning the tournament despite only having won two games up until that point!
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England is doing very well, if you judge them by the performances in their matches up until now. In terms of results I would say that they are currently on par, for their squad. If they progress further then you can really start applauding this team, that's not to say they don't deserve applause now. I know Panama is not a great football side but if they were expected to beat them by far then they surely met expectations so far.

There are a few big teams remaining and I would say they rank in this order
1. Brazil
2. Belgium
3. France
4. Croatia
5.Uruguay
6. Colombia (Don't know why people are writing them off)
7. England
8. Mexico
9. Switzerland
10. Russia (Home advantage pushes them up on this list)
11. Sweden
12. Japan

So Kane and co have impressed me so far tbh but one cant be too pessimistic in terms of past results in evaluating your team. You have to judge this England team based pm what we have seen of this specific crop especially in the world cup so far and its actually looking good for them so far. No I don't think they have it in them to beat either a Belgium, Brazil or France (Unless they efficiently park the Bus) but certainly they can beat Colombia and if they do then you would have to say that England has exceeded expectations for the world cup so far. and who knows if they beat a strong Colombia side with guys like Cuadrado, Rodriquez and Falcao they might just prove that they have a real shot of winning this cup.

Lastly I just want to mention, dont judge them based on their history of choking at world cups and then write them off based on that, if you do id like you to go research the case of Spain leading up to the 2010 world cup. Spain was considered the biggest chokers in world football before that 2010 soccer world cup tournament. Then they went with an amazing squad and lost their first group game, Choke the media printed. We all know the dominance that followed.
 
Good assessment unrated. I bow to your greater knowledge on how you rank the remaining teams. I don't follow the sport closely enough to base my opinion on what the bookies say as my knowledge is nowhere near in depth enough to offer than kind of ranking you have provided. As England are still a slightly shorter price than Croatia, despite Croatia having one less game to win than England, I am assuming that England will be deserving favourites should the two meet. I understand that weight of money can affect this, but as markets are worldwide these days, I don't imagine that patriotic pounds have forced the price in all that far. Similarly, England are roughly 1/2 to qualify against Columbia, so if you stand by your assessment that Columbia are the better side, it's time for a big bet!

I agree with what you say about tournament form by and large, I think that these kind of things get massively overstated. In English terms, they're a different squad under a different manager. The only question mark for me is with regard to penalty shootouts. Unlike previous failures, it sounds like England are well prepared for penalties, but I still have to wonder what effect history has on the players should it come to it.
 
I can take or leave Football and when I see Neymar's theatrics I decide to leave it, embarrassing.
 
unrated said:
England is doing very well, if you judge them by the performances in their matches up until now. In terms of results I would say that they are currently on par, for their squad. If they progress further then you can really start applauding this team, that's not to say they don't deserve applause now. I know Panama is not a great football side but if they were expected to beat them by far then they surely met expectations so far.

There are a few big teams remaining and I would say they rank in this order
1. Brazil
2. Belgium
3. France
4. Croatia
5.Uruguay
6. Colombia (Don't know why people are writing them off)
7. England
8. Mexico
9. Switzerland
10. Russia (Home advantage pushes them up on this list)
11. Sweden
12. Japan

So Kane and co have impressed me so far tbh but one cant be too pessimistic in terms of past results in evaluating your team. You have to judge this England team based pm what we have seen of this specific crop especially in the world cup so far and its actually looking good for them so far. No I don't think they have it in them to beat either a Belgium, Brazil or France (Unless they efficiently park the Bus) but certainly they can beat Colombia and if they do then you would have to say that England has exceeded expectations for the world cup so far. and who knows if they beat a strong Colombia side with guys like Cuadrado, Rodriquez and Falcao they might just prove that they have a real shot of winning this cup.

Lastly I just want to mention, dont judge them based on their history of choking at world cups and then write them off based on that, if you do id like you to go research the case of Spain leading up to the 2010 world cup. Spain was considered the biggest chokers in world football before that 2010 soccer world cup tournament. Then they went with an amazing squad and lost their first group game, Choke the media printed. We all know the dominance that followed.
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Man, belgiun above france is brave given France's performances. Also, Sweden beat mexico 3 - 0, deserved to not be below them there! Croatia are also not better than Uruguay.
 
It's turning into a v good world cup as wendyball goes.

Full of drama and the unexpected. Which if I'm honest RWCs largely lack.

If England win tomorrow, the public, led by the tabloids, are going to go into hyperdrive.
 
And then we will come crashing back down in the quarter finals. The Belgium game with us showed that when we come up against more serious opposition we just falter. If our opponents don't foul us all the time, we get stuck once the game gets into their half.

However should we win through some miracle I will definitely be getting drunk and blaring 3 lions and Vindaloo like a good English yob.
 
My 2c re how to rank the teams: I defer to 538.

Interesting point: every game is a tossup (each team had 33%+ chance) except potentially Brazil vs Uruguay (SF) and the final, if Brazil are there and England are not.

By Team strength:
  1. Brazil (plus Spain, Germany)
  2. Belgium
  3. France (plus Argentina)
  4. England (plus Portugal)
  5. Croatia/Uruguay
  6. Croatia/Uruguay
  7. Colombia
  8. Switzerland
  9. Sweden (plus 8 more teams)
  10. Russia
Chances to make the final, factoring in the draw:
*with 2 round of 16 games left to go. If they reach the QFs, England rise to 2nd, Colombia rise to 3rd, and Switzerland or Sweden rise to 5th.
  1. Brazil (43%)
  2. Croatia
  3. France
  4. *England (22%)
  5. Belgium
  6. Russia
  7. Uruguay
  8. *Switzerland
  9. *Colombia
  10. *Sweden (10%)
For a ranking system similar to World Rugby Rankings, these guys seem to be doing that.

1. Brazil
2. France
3= Belgium (plus Spain)
5. Uruguay (plus Germany)
7. Croatia
8. England (plus Portugal)
10. Colombia
11. Switzerland (plus Netherlands, Denmark, Argentina, Italy, Peru)
17. Sweden (plus 23 more teams)
41. Russia
 
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Loving these next two weeks what with WC and Wimbledon on.

As for tonight's game - cautiously optimistic. Not giving the balk away cheaply, which has always been England's problem at the big tournaments will be key - too much energy wasted chasing after the ball.
 
RedruthRFC said:
I bow to your greater knowledge on how you rank the remaining teams. I don't follow the sport closely enough to base my opinion on what the bookies say as my knowledge is nowhere near in depth enough to offer than kind of ranking you have provided. As
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This sounds slightly sarcastic... I dont claim to be an oracle or pundit in the field of Football rankings or prediction, this is merely just my opinion. Last nights game between Japan and Belgium is testament to the fact that my rankings aren't foolproof. But if i had to redo them i would still place Japan 12th and Belgium Second. Because if i look at their squads and consider these players for their clubs then it reinforces my current subjective view.

I do however believe that Croatia is a better side than England. On talent alone England wins. They do have an all round team, guys like Stones i especially admire in defense and we all know they have some creative players upfront. Croatia basically has Rakitic and Modric who i believe is both better than any other player in the England squad, but honestly did you see what Croatia did to Argentina? Argentina has been underperforming but they really announced themselves as dark horses for this years cup.
 
unrated said:
On talent alone England wins.
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Can't say I'd agree with that. Better goalie, slightly better if equally error prone defenders, a vastly superior midfield and while Mandzukic isn't as good as Kane, he's an excellent striker who's been operating at the top level for a very long time. They've got tone massive favourites to make the final from this side of the draw now imo especially given that they've already had a poor performance against Denmark and they came through.

This world cup has been greart, despite Neymar's nonsense and the obsessive focus on Messi/Ronaldo/Neymar. I don't love soccer but I do love the world cup and the rugby equivalent is a poor competition in comparison in my opinion.
 
Agree with commentators if head on head if this were rugby a contact sport he'd be seeing red and a lengthy ban.
 

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