Super OT : World Cup 2018

[tomamars]

So we are playing against England in semifinals...

[Chickenboy]

I'm already on the record about picking France vs. Belgium for the finals. Then again, I'm not very good at predicting these sorts of things. [:D]

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: Encircled

Its coming home [;)]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rZIGnzv8Vs

Hold your horses... [8D]


Leo "Apollo11"

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Apollo11

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: Encircled

Its coming home [;)]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rZIGnzv8Vs

Hold your horses... [8D]


Leo "Apollo11"

Who will you be rooting for, Leo? [:D]

[Jorge_Stanbury]

I have nothing against Croatia, but I don't believe a team that keeps winning by penalty kicks lottery deserves the world cup

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Apollo11

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: Encircled

Its coming home [;)]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rZIGnzv8Vs

Hold your horses... [8D]

Leo "Apollo11"

warspite1

Indeed Leo. I was rooting for Russia because I really don't fancy playing the Croatians. That is going to be one difficult game for us and I just can't see us containing the Croatians who are due a good performance.

I said after the group stage that either Spain or Croatia was guaranteed a final place, and then Spain lost to Russia so....

Belgium vs Croatia will be the final on 15th July.

[Yaab]

Croatia and Belgium have been the two most consistent teams so far ( won all their games), though Belgium provides a better entertainment value.

I don't want England to reach the final. They are a good team, but had a lucky draw (easy group, and both Colombia and Sweden were dire in the knock-outs). They are young and have plenty of time to excel at EURO 2020, though they still can beat the tired Croats in the semis.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Yaab

I don't want England to reach the final. They are a good team, but had a lucky draw (easy group, and both Colombia and Sweden were dire in the knock-outs).

warspite1

Funny, when Brazil won the World Cup in 2002 no one beat up on them that they only had to play Turkey, Costa Rica, China, Belgium – before they became good again – perennial underachievers England and Turkey again to reach the final. No one slaughtered Germany when their route to the final was: Republic of Ireland, Cameroon, Saudi Arabia, Paraguay, United States and South Korea.

A team can only get who they get. And they still have to beat whoever they get.

And as a football fan you must know full well that there are two sides to the story. Was a team dire because they are dire or because they were made to look bad by the quality of the opposition? Colombia came through a very competitive South American qualifying group that saw Chile fail to qualify and Sweden overcame Holland and then Italy in the play-offs. Both got out of competitive groups, so I don't think either team are dire. In both games overall England were the better side and I think England deserve more credit for being the better team in both games than simply saying the opposition was dire.

And as for consistency. Whilst I fear truly Croatia because they have some great technically gifted players (Modric is capable of game changing flashes of genius) if you saw them against Denmark they really were awful - absolutely awful.

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

I'm already on the record about picking France vs. Belgium for the finals. Then again, I'm not very good at predicting these sorts of things. [:D]

It will be a miracle of the final is France vs. Belgium since they meet in one of the semi-finals. Only one of them can reach the final. [:D]

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: Yaab

Croatia and Belgium have been the two most consistent teams so far ( won all their games), though Belgium provides a better entertainment value.

I don't want England to reach the final. They are a good team, but had a lucky draw (easy group, and both Colombia and Sweden were dire in the knock-outs). They are young and have plenty of time to excel at EURO 2020, though they still can beat the tired Croats in the semis.

Croatia has had a fairly easy task getting to the semi-finals. And still they had to rely on penalties, twice, to get there. And Croatia even had, in my humble opinion, a fairly easy qualifying group to get the world cup. Not even impressed with the opposition in the play-offs to get to the World Cup. With that said it was a impressive win against Argentina.

I think all the teams that are in the semi-finals have proven their mettle and are worthy.

[warspite1]

I think one of the really annoying things about people saying England don't deserve to be in the semis because they got an 'easy draw' is that that comment simply fails to understand how the draw works. The whole point of seeding and pots is to try and ensure that all the good teams don't knock each other out early. There are the same number of Group Winners and Group Runners up in each half. Group Winners get the advantage of playing second place finishers in the round of 16.

If every team had performed as per their seedings* and expectation then England - who by the way were not expected to win their group (Belgium, quite rightly, were the seeded team) - would have faced Poland in the last 16, Germany in the Quarter Final and then Portugal/Spain or Argentina in the Semi-Final - the former both number one seeds in their respective groups and the latter number one seeds in theirs. It is NOT England's FAULT that they finished second in their group as the world rankings and world cup seedings predicted they would and Germany, Portugal/Spain and Argentina all failed to perform as they were expected to.

*The seedings can be strange at times and there is no doubt that, based on performance, Poland should not have been seeded 1. That would have been lucky for England.
I've also assumed that either Spain or Portugal were no. 1 seeds (Portugal were the ranked team but it could be argued Spain should have been).
I've also swapped Uruguay and Russia (Russia were seeded one as hosts but not even expected to get out of their group) - but that does not effect England.

So, Poland aside, England's side of the draw should have been very difficult but other fancied nations didn't perform or didn't perform as expected and so was not as difficult (no - not easy) as it might have been.

[BBfanboy]

There is a saying about sports: "On any given Sunday, any team could beat any other team". IOW, predictions might hold for long term results but in individual matches, anything can happen. Kinda like war.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Orm

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

I'm already on the record about picking France vs. Belgium for the finals. Then again, I'm not very good at predicting these sorts of things. [:D]

It will be a miracle of the final is France vs. Belgium since they meet in one of the semi-finals. Only one of them can reach the final. [:D]

I told you I wasn't very good at predicting these sorts of things. [;)]

[Chickenboy]

England don't deserve to be in the semis because they got an 'easy draw'.

[Encircled]

First, the "its coming home" has always been, and probably always been, an English way of seriously managing expectations. Its not meant to be taken seriously, though we did put our best performance of the tournament in yesterday.

Whoever wins it from here will deserve to win it, and my money (not that I bet like!) is on the French.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Encircled

First, the "its coming home" has always been, and probably always been, an English way of seriously managing expectations. Its not meant to be taken seriously, though we did put our best performance of the tournament in yesterday.

Whoever wins it from here will deserve to win it, and my money (not that I bet like!) is on the French.

This tournament is rigged! The English are betting on the French - how much more proof do you need![;)]
(Although I was surprised that the Russians were eliminated already in spite of their home field and chemical advantages.) [:-]

[Anachro]

I don't really care who wins as long as it's not France.

However, in a time of Brexit and terrible governmental leadership regardless of which side of that issue you sit on, it might do some good for the English to win it. So I guess you could say I'm softly rooting for them.[:)]

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

I don't really care who wins as long as it's not France.

However, in a time of Brexit and terrible governmental leadership regardless of which side of that issue you sit on, it might do some good for the English to win it. So I guess you could say I'm softly rooting for them.[:)]

What would Charles de Gaulle say about that?

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

What would Charles de Gaulle say about that?

I though he had passed away. [&:]



[;)]

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: Orm

ORIGINAL: Zorch

What would Charles de Gaulle say about that?

I though he had passed away. [&:]



[;)]

A great statesman like 'Chuck' is not gonna let that stop him.