World Cup 2018 — Page 4

Was an enjoyable game the Brazil vs Belgium match - thought Belgium snuffed Brazil out and nullified them well - opening up counter-attacks and space for themselves. Lukaku had a good intelligent game - and Hazard worked for the team rather than his natural more ‘expressive’ game.

France vs Belgium in the Semi should be very intriguing - and a quality attacking game too.

England did enough to beat Sweden - though it was a slow start and not a great game overall - nerves and caution seemed to be in abundance (as well as Sterling’s end product not being there at all).

Still - they got the job done, and were playing for each other as a proper team, something that has held them back in previous tournaments with trying to force as many ‘big names’ into an XI - rather than have balance and that team framework and ethic.
 

Should be interesting to see how Russia-Croatia goes later tonight… my gut says Croatia, Putin says Russia… home crowd, pressured refs… Russian ‘politics’… you never know… 😉
 

Cheers man - good luck vs the French - I hope so too 😃

Tuesday : France vs Belgium - 7pm ko (UK time), live on BBC1

Wednesday : England vs Croatia - 7pm ko (UK time), live on ITV1
 

‘The Best of the Quarter-Finals!’ video, from FIFA…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXuP661DSCo

I’d like to compliment the camera operators at the World Cup so far - some great shots of the crowd enjoying themselves - thankfully usually shown when the ball is not in play! 😃

Not just of erm… attractive women, but also images like this…

Good luck to the Red Devils! 😃

Unlucky ZigZig - I thought Belgium deserved to take that to extra-time or penalties, and created enough chances to do so. Wasn’t a big fan of France’s somewhat negative outlook/tactics at times (though unfortunately many teams seem to do it to ‘manage’ or ‘break-up’ the game), though that’s just me.

(I still naively pine for players like Socrates, and teams playing like Brazil in '82 - https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5eeb4p)

Some build-up for the England vs Croatia game tonight:-

https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2018/jul/11/world-cup-2018-france-into-the-final-plus-croatia-v-england-buildup-live

(I think this may well go to extra-time and likely penalties…)

Cpt. Darling sums it up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1iC7SzZ4N8

Croatia edged it for me - we stopped playing, dropped too deep - which gave Croatia space to play - and then couldn’t get back into the game - nor could we form an effective counter-attack.

Superb cross for their 1st goal, and nice bit of movement/anticipation from Mandzukic for the 2nd.
 

We’ll have the 3rd/4th Place Play-Off to look forward to ZigZig. Doh!

TM2YC sums it up well (I knew it’d be that scene before clicking on the link 😃).
 

Good luck to Croatia on Sunday.

Where’s my diary…
 

Edit - 26.5 million (40% of the UK population) tune in to watch England’s World Cup 2018 semi-final heartbreak on ITV - with many more watching at public venues etc

Croatia winning the WC in Moscow would be pretty cool.

Disappointing. Yes southgate has taken us further than ever since Italia 90 but I expected more from this england team because that second half is not how we have played throughout the tournament.

What happened to our passing and calm possession based play? Croatia’s midfield left us in tatters the second half because we lacked any kind of holding midfielder Henderson just wasn’t up to it. And we lost our composure.

We were scrappy with sloppy passes and long balls in the second half and Harry Kane seemed tired perhaps maybe even injured. England vs France would of been a so much more entertaining game in the final because I fully believe France will crush a tired and spent Croatia now.

We should of killed that game off early, it should of been at least 3 nill by half time.

Build on this team southgate in the next two years.

Final thoughts…

Trippier really announced himself at this tournament as a great player and deadball expert.

Magguire shone for someone who went to Euro 2016 as a fan.

Pickford was good most games, probably won’t see him at Everton again when seasons back.

We need a better midfield. Lack of a holding midfielder and going forward someone to support Kane and also to step up when Kane isn’t on his A game like last night. We never had a plan B.

Rashford, Welbeck and even Sterling underperformed. And I was expecting sterling to finally break through last night but like always this tournament he’s only shown his pace and nothing else, first touch always letting him down.

Would like to see Croatia get a star on their shirts but I don’t see it.

‘The roads to Moscow – a World Cup photo essay’…

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/13/the-roads-to-moscow-a-world-cup-photo-essay

A snippet… ‘All roads led to Moscow, with almost all air, rail and road travel between the cities easiest through the capital. This meant Moscow became a fan hub, packed not only with fans awaiting games in the city but those stopping over for a day or two between the football. It was the World Cup of Google Translate and of Tinder, with thousands of friendships and relationships springing up between locals and fans.’
 

Hopefully something like a 4-4 scoreline, followed by a high-scoring penalty shootout - with goalkeepers taking the deciding pens, will do for me 😃 Good luck to you too, mate.

A couple of quality beers at the ready 😃

‘5 of the Most Spectacular Third Place Playoff Games in World Cup History’:-

https://www.90min.com/posts/6116583-5-of-the-most-spectacular-third-place-playoff-games-in-world-cup-history

^ Here’s hoping it’ll be 6 after today’s game…