Scott7

Depends. If we’re hanging on to a single goal lead which is nut unusual, the answer is no. If we’re pushing for an equaliser, yes. The sensible answer, however, is that it must be done to overcome the ridiculous amount of time-wasting that goes n.

I don’t think England will ever have a better chance. Beat the frogs and it’s theirs. I believe they’ll do it and good luck to the team and all English football supporters. NB Supporters, not fans. There’s a difference. As for the journos. Perhaps the Lord will strike them dumb.

As you ran back to the centre circle to get on with the game. Can you see Willie Rae boogieing at the corner flag while McColl and Woodburn shower him with kisses, compo? Me neither.

They will. The Follies’ numbers didn’t go on so long.

Japan were the better side and more likely to score in the ninety minutes and extra time. Their striker from an SP club that plays in Glasgow looks a lot better than the useless nobody everyone assured us he would be. Borna spent the entire match looking bewildered. He doesn’t position himself well to defend and can’t tackle. Fell down a lot. Put in a couple of decent crosses but that’s a terrific luxury for a team to carry. With regard to penalties, see the earlier topic. The only Croat to miss was the one who tried the clever dick approach.

An interesting discussion elsewhere about Rangers captains. Shaw and Young were the captains of my early days with Cox and IMcColl deputising occasionally. Then it was Caldow and Shearer. Greig is succeeded by the likes of Butcher, Gough, Barry Ferguson and Amoruso. Who’s the greatest? You could say that a lot of them had it easy in teams that didn’t need leadership. I go for Greig. He didn’t just lead teams, he carried some of them.

See this hoppitty-skippitty stuff from Lewandowski and Bruno Fernandez - leave it to the rabbits. OK, now and then the ‘Keeper is mesmerised but more often it’s the kicker himself who gets confused. Johnny Hubbard wrote the book on penalty taking. Low and hard to the corner of the net. Not all penalty takers are confident or skilful enough to do that so just blast the ball. The ‘Keeper may get lucky but not often. In penalty shootouts that’s what the lower order does and it appears to work. The frontline “craftsmen” seem more likely to miss or be saved. No doubt some statto can tell me this is nonsense. The top order take more penalties so they are bound to miss more often and other factors. If so just shut up. This is my theory and I’m sticking to it. NOTE: The only Croat to fail in the penalty shootout against Japan was the one who tried to be clever and demonstrated how to beat the ‘keeper but hit he post NOTE 2: Bloody Neymar.

They are the weak links, right enough but otherwise England are more efficient than the rest. Some of the rest, though, have the capability of occasional brilliance which might be enough to undo them and the opposition so far hasn’t been up to much.

You make two very good points, 26th. We can expect visits from the Alban Polis. You for promoting hatred against Spiers and I for agreeing with you.

That was the cry before yellow cards were introduced and old guys don’t rid themselves of their old ways. But I wasn’t on my feet yelling that this afternoon when the Pole, Matty Cash got booked. Cash and a Frenchman were on converging courses after the ball when Cash made a lunge for it, possibly a fraction too soon and the players collided shoulder to shoulder both falling to the ground. No foul in my humble opinion but Cash got the card. The incident was only replayed twice before the free kick was taken and not revisited thereafter so I suppose there was no great fuss made. (I had the sound off) In a previous match, a French defender was running back shepherding the ball towards his goalkeeper. An opposing attacker was racing up towards the ball. The defender, not in control of the ball and making no attempt to get it, watched him coming and when the attacker was about a yard off stepped out of his line into the attacker’s line of approach, dropped his shoulder and dunted the attacker out of the way. “Send him off” I shout. On reflection a hysterical over-reaction but at least an indirect free kick, surely. The commentary team, on the other hand, enthused over the Frenchman’s clever defending. I suppose it’s a different game nowadays. Using hands and arms against an opponent is fine but properly applied upper body strength gets you a yellow.

Ah, Frasie. Like all good Lossie wingers, signed for Elgin with vast success.

Cheaper to take her to Ibrox.

What’s the score? Broch couldn’t beat Keith yeterday. Never been to a match at Arbroath but it seems to be popularly accepted as the worst. The Broch is freezing in July but my coldest ninety minutes was at Lossie.

I thought the very same. There was a twenty minute spell in the second half when it was vintage Ian McMillan. Just the way he could bend away from his markers and be clear with the ball in two strides. You can’t coach that.

Or if they must bring it, get somebody with a sense of rhythm to bang it.

Young Reyna on as a sub for USA. Watch the Dutch two goal lead vanish.

In the Daily Telegraph online now.

Uruguay gone. They play a lot of neat football but they are consistently the meanest of the South Americans. Brazil were dull. Cameroon were wildly inefficient but quite exciting. Their ‘keeper had a butter-fingered twenty minutes in the second half but Brazil kept hitting shots high and wide. England could win this with Germany out of the way.

Allocated blocks perhaps.

I expect the claim will be for loss of profit. I have no clue about the mechanics of the tournament but I wonder if every ticket above, say, 20,000 is profit. @onevisionabove makes a valid point about Rangers’ fans refusing to attend. Another compromise payout looms.

The Club’s fine. Some of it’s followers, though ……

Croatia have a lot of players who can take the ball in tight spaces, control it and do something with it. If they had a finisher they would have been out of sight against Belgium early in the second half. As it was, Lukaku missed three sitters. Well, they looked like sitters until you saw the closeup replay. Not a lot more he could have done with the ball coming to him fast and awkwardly.

Headguards as used by amateurs, maybe.

Patagonia is full of Welshmen.

Watched a full ninety + minutes Argentina v Poland. Some old-style, intricate and high speed Argentine footwork in and around the penalty area. Should have scored five or six. The “foul” on Messi was never a penalty. Justice done when the ‘keeper saved it. Apart from that, I don’t know what Poland were doing. If the strategy were to avoid yellow cards, it worked. Formation back pedalling with almost zero engagement. Opening goal scored by a chap with the traditional Gaucho name of Mac Allister. Shades of Babbington and Houseman of old.