World Cup Chat

[buster. 5,093]

7 hours ago, JFK-1 said:

Granted but he had better quality to do it with.

The key to the counter-attacking game is to have quality middle to front otherwise it becomes a constant matter of hanging on by your fingernails for 0-0 (see UEFA Cup run 2008).

 

Mexico did it brilliantly for 75 metres then ran out of quality decsion-making and precision...but got up th field so many times that one did come off.

 

In the 1st half against Spain, Portugal (with Ronaldo) had more quality and looked more likely to score.

 

When we had Laudrup, he could go past the Celtic defence by himself.

 

[craig 5,199]

4 hours ago, Rousseau said:

England were quite impressive in that first half, then seemed to wilt under the mental pressure in the second. 

Much like Russia in the opening game it is difficult to properly assess England given the opposition.  Tunisia are poor.  England looked very good in the opening 25 minutes but was that because they were excellent or because Tunisia froze ?  Their real test will come against Belgium and any team where they don't have the lions share of possession.

[Franc Ergs 1,629]

Japan are doing really well, that Honda has a decent engine on him. 

[buster. 5,093]

Eight goals and six points 

 

Brazil, Germany, Spain,....No

 

The bottom ranked nation of the 32,....Russia.

 

Good to see the hosts get through but they'll almost certainly be playing Spain or Portugal in the last 16.

[buster. 5,093]

17 hours ago, craig said:

Much like Russia in the opening game it is difficult to properly assess England given the opposition.  Tunisia are poor.  England looked very good in the opening 25 minutes but was that because they were excellent or because Tunisia froze ?  Their real test will come against Belgium and any team where they don't have the lions share of possession.

The Belguim game will give us a much better idea but both will have already qualified and there will be relatively little to play for. Finishing top of the group may or may not be an advantage. 

 

IMO the real test will come in the KO rounds.

The last 16 round : As it stands Senegal and Japan are in the places that England and Belguim will be paired with although that may well change. 

The quarters are where England (and Belguim) are 'scheduled' to come up against either Germany or Brazil but both 'WC Giants' have their work cut-out, if they want to win their groups.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 20, 2018 by buster.

[cooponthewing 1,139]

22 hours ago, Franc Ergs said:

Japan are doing really well, that Honda has a decent engine on him. 

I’m reaching for the bottle.....

[buster. 5,093]

Morocco look like they have a goal or two in them.

 

I reckon Portugal will need to score again if they want the 3 points.

[Rousseau 10,489]

Like their first game, Morocco look very good without having that cutting edge. 

 

Portugal are not great, just solid, see it out, and capitalise on a chance or two through Ronaldo. It's how they won the Euro. 

[buster. 5,093]

11 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

Like their first game, Morocco look very good without having that cutting edge. 

 

Portugal are not great, just solid, see it out, and capitalise on a chance or two through Ronaldo. It's how they won the Euro. 

As ateam, they were better middle to front in th Euros, Ronaldo didn't do that much.

 

Now they seem to be relying more on Ronaldo to make things happen.

 

What happened to Renato Sanchez ?

[Rousseau 10,489]

4 minutes ago, buster. said:

As ateam, they were better middle to front in th Euros, Ronaldo didn't do that much.

 

Now they seem to be relying more on Ronaldo to make things happen.

 

What happened to Renato Sanchez ?

It's the same team.

 

Sanches is a strange one: Won Golden... something at the Euro, got his move to Bayern for £30M, then went off the boil. He was on loan at Swansea last season and he looked awful; truly awful. It's inexplicable how far he's regressed.