World Cup 2018 - Russia

The Meunier suspension is hurting us, Chadli's crosses are subpar. This game could still go both ways, hopefully the half-time pep talk mixes things up a little.

dejanzie wrote:

The Meunier suspension is hurting us, Chadli's crosses are subpar. This game could still go both ways, hopefully the half-time pep talk mixes things up a little.

I noticed the same about Chadli. You'll be happy to know that I'm aboard the Belgium train today.

Wow solid corner.

I hadn't seen France play yet, and didn't realise they are a really defensive side. Some pressure from Belgium now, thanks to the sub Mertens. We will need a touch of luck.

Clear error and yellow on Hazard.

We deserve the equalizer by now. French cowards. * mumble mumble inappropriate world war joke *

It's over... I now officially hate the French. Playing like this when you have such a talent pool, ugh.

Ugh. France so much talent. So little reason to like them.

Come on Croatia!

Man, Mbappé learned some things from Neymar. Just don't.
That was some top class waste time management performed by the Frenchmen. Just helps me hating them even more.
Kevin improved a bit, but it was too late to help. Hazard was great. Pogba was fantastic.
I think France deserved to win this, overall, as much as this pains me to say it.

Now I have no choice but to fully support Croatia, even though like half their country is against them. England should probably be more fit, unfortunately.

We're not that bad. Are we?

Sorbicol wrote:

We're not that bad. Are we?

I'm still pulling for England!

That was a shame.
Save us all Croatia. Or burn for not losing to Denmark. One of those.

France V Belgium was mostly a snoozer. Nothing much happened in the first half. The lack of urgency from Belgium was just so disappointing. Lukaku never got involved and the build up from the back was so slow. Sometimes you just need to send a long ball a few times and let your striker make something happen. Hazard was the only one from Belgium that had a good game.

Tomorrow should hopefully a faster paced game.

ranalin wrote:
Sorbicol wrote:

We're not that bad. Are we?

I'm still pulling for England!

Based on a random draw pool at work, I win money if England makes the finals (and more if they win the finals), so I am with you. Belgian was my heart choice, however.

Sorbicol wrote:

We're not that bad. Are we?

Not very likeable tbh.

You can just see how some of the players act they have brought the worse type of petulance from the EPL to Russia.

England has time to win. The youth teams are doing well + they can go actually get a manager in the future.

Considering that I know I'll have to deal with a better England team in the future. Hoping to spare myself them winning anything now.

ranalin wrote:
Sorbicol wrote:

We're not that bad. Are we?

I'm still pulling for England!

And my axe!

That game would've been much more fun with worse goalies.

Prederick wrote:

That game would've been much more fun with worse goalies.

So true. They were both excellent.

You could hear the air leaking out of an otherwise phenomenal World Cup with that match today. What a drab, conservative affair.

At one point shortly after France scored, I swear I saw six French players across the back and four in front, for a 6-4-0 formation.

Well that was an interesting match and the better team went through. Belgium getting out-shot 19-9 when they were chasing the match for 40 minutes isn't good enough.

As with all refs this one didn't use give enough yellow cards for tactical fouls (at least until the goal was scored). I was happy to see Dembélé used in his best position in the middle of the park but can't help but believe Belgium would have been better off with a more creative player than Fellaini on the pitch. France would have been so much more dangerous on the counter if they had a striker with legs - they had a bunch of opportunities throughout the match, even when it was nil-nil, that didn't come to much.

Hazard again flattered to deceive. Did a great job of transporting the ball into the final third but as is usually the case with him he didn't create much when he got there. Rich man's Ayoze Perez but with inflated goal totals because he's the primary penalty taker for his club.

Roke wrote:

Hazard again flattered to deceive. Did a great job of transporting the ball into the final third but as is usually the case with him he didn't create much when he got there. Rich man's Ayoze Perez but with inflated goal totals because he's the primary penalty taker for his club.

IMAGE(https://media.giphy.com/media/6z8PVQqhOooN2/giphy.gif)

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/krTuRGgl.jpg)

Just one more reason to not support England.

Like you need the help.

1-0! The Empire Strikes First! IT'S COMING HOME!

15 minutes in and the Croatian players are looking so tired that they're actually making England look like a good team.

I feel like Neo in the matrix. I’m beginning to believe.....

England have shut down Modric so far.

Youtube TV crashed nationwide at about the 30min mark. Had to scramble to get it up on fox.com and missed a few shots by England.

Medmey wrote:

Youtube TV crashed nationwide at about the 30min mark. Had to scramble to get it up on fox.com and missed a few shots by England.

There's always reddit soccer streams for the desperate.

Well, when you hang around the goal long enough...