[!@#$%!]

right? the pinball machine lucky for denmark, whatever (oh, but thanks for the ruined clean sheet)

what i dont get is why croatia has not secured the game yet.

this points i think at 2 weak spots looking forward (assuming they make it through and not throw this away lol)

1. sure their midfielders can shoot, and people in the wings, but what pure strikers do they have besides mandzu?

2. are they vulnerable on defense??

wish they had put this game away already. maybe they’re just pacing themselves for the 2nd half to avoid intensity and exhaustion. but okay.

okay...

—

winner of this plays the rus’ yeah?

[!@#$%!]

if denmark wins on penalties i will eat my shoe

[demonrail666]

After Spain going out, if Croatia joins them my squad is completely fucked going into the quarter finals.

[h8kurdt]

Absolute dirge of a game. Worst thing is the possibility of extra time.

[!@#$%!]

can someone please explain to me the cause of croatia’s impotence? is it formation? mandzukic lost in the woods? wtf is it?

[h8kurdt]

I blame the weather

[!@#$%!]

same weather for both teams!

croatia “no ideas” some dude said on my teevee a while ago

sure but that can mean tons of things

ps-i already fell asleep twice

[demonrail666]

I give up

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

I give up

“we” (lol) just made it man

live to fight another day

[demonrail666]

That Modric penalty miss had me calling him names that'd probably qualify as a hate crime.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

That Modric penalty miss had me calling him names that'd probably qualify as a hate crime.

you too got 0 points from him huh?

[_tunic_]

I missed both matches today. Guess I didn't miss so much gamewise. Too bad Spain is out instead of Russia
I only scored a mere 7 points today ....

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

you too got 0 points from him huh?

Yep. Big fat zero.

Anyway, right ...

No foregone conclusions but ... England against Colombia ... we get past them then it's Sweden or Switzerland in the quarters, then Russia or Croatia in the semis. Then ok we'll worry about the final when we get there but whoever it is, this is on now. I really believe it.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Yep. Big fat zero.

Anyway, right ...

No foregone conclusions but ... England against Colombia ... we get past them then it's Sweden or Switzerland in the quarters, then Russia or Croatia in the semis. Then ok we'll worry about the final when we get there but whoever it is, this is on now. I really believe it.

a warning though. i dont wanna be a party shitter but i’m not feeling england and i’ll explain why.

i like the team. they’re decent up and down and have a natural goalscorer up top. they all play in the prem, which is a good thing. i had some players in my fantasquad previously. i had kane for this round but decided to get suarez instead because after i bungled the max bench i decided to roll the dice all the way—might as well. but anyway, this is just to say it’s got a lot of promise.

only problem i see with england is: they’ve had no real trial by fire this world cup. tunisia, then panama, then a discreet tactical loss against belgium— they have not been tested.

other teams have been tested already and survived.

is that good because they’re not tired yet? is that bad because they haven’t performed together under pressue yet?

i don’t know. i haven’t seen them in qualifiers so i dont know how much practice together and how many obstacles they’ve faced.

but anyway i think that’s one element to consider besides the obvious good squad. how much of a team are they as a team? this world cup seems to be consistently breaking in favor of teams over stars.

i think denmark actually was a team today. they don’t have a lot of talent but they had decent cohesion and good fitness, and aaaaaaaaaaaaalmost beat the croatian stars. uruguay is a team, they beat cronaldo. france? brilliant players but i am not sure of their collective plan. belgium? we’ll see some day i guess—another untested so far. sweden? i did not get a chance to see them much, but looks like they might be a team given their silent but deadly (lol) record. england? i don’t know but they gotta show up on tuesday *as a team* or else.

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

a warning though. i dont wanna be a party shitter but i’m not feeling england and i’ll explain why.

i like the team. they’re decent up and down and have a natural goalscorer up top. i had some players in my squad previously.

only problem i see is: they’ve had no real trial by fire this world cup. tunisia, then panama, then a discreet tactical loss against belgium— they have not been tested.

other teams have been tested already and survived.

is that good because they’re not tired yet? is that bad because they haven’t performed together under pressue yet?

i don’t know. i haven’t seen them in qualifiers so i dont know how much practice together and how many obstacles they’ve faced.

but anyway i think that’s one element to consider besides the obvious good squad. how much of a team are they as a team?

i think denmark actually was a team today. they don’t have a lot of talent but they had decent cohesion and good. uruguay is a team. france? great players but i am not sure. belgium? we’ll see some day i guess—another untested. sweden? i did not get a chance to see them much but looks like they might be given their record. england? i don’t know but they gotta show up on tuesday or else.

Colombia ... probably no James, but even with him, I've seen nothing so far to think they're objectively better than England.
Switzerland, Sweden, Russia ... how many of their 1st 11 would get into England's?
Croatia ... OK they've got Modric but in a single game I'd still take our XI over theirs. I would.

The final's obviously a different matter. Brazil, Uruguay, Belgium, France. They all worry me, but the teams we'd face getting to them don't.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Colombia ... probably no James, but even with him, I've seen nothing so far to think they're objectively better than England.
Switzerland, Sweden, Russia ... how many of their 1st 11 would get into England's?
Croatia ... OK they've got Modric but in a single game I'd still take our XI over theirs. I would.

The final's obviously a different matter. Brazil, Uruguay, Belgium, France. They all worry me, but the teams we'd face getting to them don't.

i know what you mean on paper, which is why i commented. on paper spain beat russia 5-0 and on paper croatia was gonna wipe the floor with denmark.

here’s the thing: colombia survived having a man thrown out on minute 3, then gave their overrated group head a 3-0 drubbing, then had a good contest with senegal whose team is not shabby at all. you have kane, but senegal had mané. poland had lewandowski—but ok poland sucked. compare vs. facing tunisia—and panama which is such trash.

colombia has struggled to get here. the question about struggle though is— does it consolidate a team? or does it fatigue it?

my issue with england is not with the players on paper— on paper they’re awesome. but their easy qualifier group (per the questions above) was either not enough challenge or was a great way to train together and stay fresh.

it’s a question, not a declaration that “this is this way”. i don’t have answers but i think it’s a true factor here. how will it play out? i’m lacking a proof so i can’t tell either way.

as for colombia: i don’t think james is that vital to be frank. sure he’s creative but ultimately a bit of a pussy. his year at bayern was sorta meh, at least what i saw (the last half), in the champions, which is the only real test bayern faces these days. maybe he was already injured—apparently it’s an ongoing thing with him. which is a pity. but colombia can cope. he’s not indispensable.

colombia are a team. cuadrado, quintero, mina are more important to the squad i think, as is ospina. this is probably the most difficult opponent in this bracket after what we’ve seen. spain gone lololol.

then again if they’re fatigued and unfit it should be a cakewalk for a fresh-legged england to beat them.

but they don’t concede easily and have mega-huevos (except maybe james who apologizes for scoring and cries a lot).

https://www.balls.ie/football/james-...i-final-388077

[demonrail666]

OK, all true. But all I'm saying is this. If all the teams England might face on the way to the final play as well as I think they're capable of, including England, I'd make England favourites against all of them. That's not a guarantee of anything but it's a very unusual position for England to be in. Had you asked me before the tournament how far I thought they'd get, I'd have said probably to the final 16, maybe the quarters, and that's it. That may well still be the case but I look at who we're facing now and I think the final doesn't look anywhere near as off-limits as it did.

The final itself is a different matter. Not saying we couldn't win it but even if we played as well as I think we're capable of, it would still require Brazil, France, Belgium, and to a lesser degree Uruguay, to underperform.

[!@#$%!]

yes on paper the road looks awesome.

plus the thing about the final is that it’s just one game. in just one game anything can happen. to wit: russia-spain.

even if you were “worse” than say france or belgium you could russia them in the final (yes that’s a verb now lol).

so here’s some info you can help me with cuz i really don’t know and the internet is so much bullshit— when is the last time that this team had a real test? not a friendly but a battle. qualifiers? vs. who?

southgate almost 2 years already yes?

[!@#$%!]

not trolling i swear but i found that for this cup you had to beat: malta scotland lithuania slovakia & slovenia

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gare...Q6&trainer_id=

that’s it?

i have to found out who killed italy.

anyway conmebol plays a home + away round robin with all 10 members. 18 matchdays! it’s quite a thing.

btw in qualifiers argentina suffered the same problems as here— basically sucky defense etc. and messi saved them. it’s been ongoing! ultimately no suprise there.

colombia started great then sank a bit as i recall, so there’s that.

brazil killed all and per that record should be the real contender for champ.

let me link the final table.... ok better yet the wikipedia page

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018...ion_(CONMEBOL)

forged in blood, no joke. then again the forge did not save the argies or peru

[demonrail666]

The final's just one game but then so is every match from now until then. And yes, obviously, anything can happen in any of them.

England qualified for the tournament unbeaten but against teams they'd usually expect to beat. That's just how the UEFA seeding works, though.

I'm not saying England are getting to the final, but a couple of weeks ago I'd have laughed at anyone who thought they even might. Now I'm starting to think we actually have a very decent chance. No more than that, but no less than that, either.