Julius Posted June 17, 2018 Author Posted June 17, 2018 Mexico were very shaky those last ten minutes or so. Going to be interesting to see if they can stave off the German bombardment.
Hero-of-Time Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 These wasted chances could end up costing Mexico....
Hero-of-Time Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 Big upset right there. Massive result for Mexico. It just wasn't the Germany I like to watch play. They were really flat and lacked creativity.
Julius Posted June 17, 2018 Author Posted June 17, 2018 Well done Mexico, what an excellent performance. It’ll be interesting to see how Germany bounce back next Saturday against Sweden. That match has the makings of a tough fixture, too.
Fierce_LiNk Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 Did not see that coming at all. It's been a fantastic World Cup, so far. Best competition in the world.
drahkon Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 Just now, Hero-of-Time said: They were really flat and lacked creativity. Straight to the point. Horrible performance. Two wins are a must now. I'm not very optimistic, though.
Julius Posted June 17, 2018 Author Posted June 17, 2018 (edited) Out of all of the teams that could realistically stand a chance at winning the tournament, or at the very least are expected to top their groups, only France and Uruguay so far have a win. The former required an unhealthy amount of VAR and was a serious struggle for France, and the latter saw a last minute winner. Brazil v. Switzerland in one hour. There’s no chance of an upset in that one...right? Edited June 17, 2018 by Julius Caesar
drahkon Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 2 minutes ago, Julius Caesar said: Brazil v. Switzerland in one hour. There’s no chance of an upset in that one...right? Shouldn't be, but man...that would be awesome
Fierce_LiNk Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 2 minutes ago, Julius Caesar said: Out of all of the teams that could realistically stand a chance at winning the tournament, or at the very least art expected to top their groups, only France and Uruguay so far have a win. The latter required an unhealthy amount of VAR and was a serious struggle for France, and the latter saw a last minute winner. Brazil v. Switzerland in one hour. There’s no chance of an upset in that one...right? I would be very surprised if it's anything but a comfortable Brazil win. I still fully expect Germany to get through the group stages. Oh my, imagine the scenes if they didn't!
Hero-of-Time Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 3 minutes ago, drahkon said: What a goal. Baffles me why players give him space in that area. He constantly scored for us in that same position doing that same kind of shot.
Fierce_LiNk Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 Uhh, what is happening? Could this end up a draw?!
Jonnas Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 22 hours ago, Julius Caesar said: Ronaldo fits so well as a leader for the Portugal national team because the rest of the squad is fairly shaky, they’re often considered underdogs against the big national teams, his manager is relaxed about him controlling the dressing room, and thus he can improve all of their performances with his own leadership and determination. (...) Ronaldo being a leader is a plus for him, but it’s not a minus for Messi — some people just aren’t born to be leaders, and while others can grow into the role, he just hasn’t. Just a quick "correction" (it's more of an opinion), Ronaldo took ages to grow into the role of captain of Portugal's team. Back in 2006 when Figo retired, Cristiano was woefully unprepared for the role, and I'd say he only truly became a proper captain/leader in 2012. Before then, his leadership was pretty poor, and I dare say Portugal would play better without him before 2012. Since those days, he definitely learned how to be a leader, but he definitely wasn't a natural fit at first. 1
Hero-of-Time Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 This World Cup continues to deliver the crazy results. Brazil looked the stronger team of the two but they weren't able to string a decent amount of attacks together. I think once they scored they took the gas off the pedal and went into counter attack mode. Its certainly been a fantastic tournament so far. More of the same, please!
Fierce_LiNk Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 Didn't see that result coming either. It's looking like a tournament where the top teams are getting frustrated. Brazil should be winning games like this. Didn't really seem to be motivated enough to go for the kill. A bit disappointing really!
Julius Posted June 17, 2018 Author Posted June 17, 2018 1 hour ago, Jonnas said: Just a quick "correction" (it's more of an opinion), Ronaldo took ages to grow into the role of captain of Portugal's team. Back in 2006 when Figo retired, Cristiano was woefully unprepared for the role, and I'd say he only truly became a proper captain/leader in 2012. Before then, his leadership was pretty poor, and I dare say Portugal would play better without him before 2012. Since those days, he definitely learned how to be a leader, but he definitely wasn't a natural fit at first. Oh yeah, I totally agree. When I said “he” in that final line of your quote, I was actually referring to Messi not being a natural fit as a leader, and his inability to grow into one, not Ronaldo I think Ronaldo’s transformed in a lot of ways since 2006 - his playing style, his physique, etc. - which has allowed him to change and grow into a strong leader. Messi, on the other hand, hasn’t gone through such a growth, in my opinion, and thus hasn’t given himself the opportunity to grow into the role of captain/leader. 1
Julius Posted June 18, 2018 Author Posted June 18, 2018 Typical English display against a much weaker side: dominate the opening 20 minutes, make a silly mistake, and go missing until the end of the match to pop in with a winner. We were very, very lucky to win tonight (and maybe equally unlucky to not have a penalty or two). Hopefully the nerves will have gone by Saturday so that we can sustain a strong performance against Panama.
bob Posted June 18, 2018 Posted June 18, 2018 Anyone else tried the BBC vr app? It's quite good fun! Couldn't really see the ball most of the time, but it works well as a proof of concept.
Mr-Paul Posted June 18, 2018 Posted June 18, 2018 It's partly that I really don't like Harry Kane (Arsenal bias) but I really can't get behind him as captain. It really pissed me off seeing the BBC/media saying he put in a "captain's performance". No he didn't. He shows no real leadership qualities. He did his job as a striker - scored goals. That has nothing to do with captaincy. Most of the game, he was completely anonymous. Cahill or Henderson should be captain. Regardless of what team they're from, I really don't rate forwards as captains. There should have been two penalties given to him though. Terrible refereeing, and Tunisia's pen was never a pen. Typical England though. Show some drive for the first 10/20 minutes, uninspiring after that. Completely wrong team selection - I get picking players on form, but we seem to completely change our side from qualifying to the competition every single time, which can't help. There's no real experience in the side. It's our worst squad in our lifetime, and Gareth Southgate has no real clue as a manager. Real improvement needed for our next two games.
Julius Posted June 18, 2018 Author Posted June 18, 2018 (edited) 39 minutes ago, Mr-Paul said: It's partly that I really don't like Harry Kane (Arsenal bias) but I really can't get behind him as captain. It really pissed me off seeing the BBC/media saying he put in a "captain's performance". No he didn't. He shows no real leadership qualities. He did his job as a striker - scored goals. That has nothing to do with captaincy. Most of the game, he was completely anonymous. Cahill or Henderson should be captain. Regardless of what team they're from, I really don't rate forwards as captains. There should have been two penalties given to him though. Terrible refereeing, and Tunisia's pen was never a pen. Typical England though. Show some drive for the first 10/20 minutes, uninspiring after that. Completely wrong team selection - I get picking players on form, but we seem to completely change our side from qualifying to the competition every single time, which can't help. There's no real experience in the side. It's our worst squad in our lifetime, and Gareth Southgate has no real clue as a manager. Real improvement needed for our next two games. Agree with Kane not being a suitable fit for captain. He might be the best traditional No. 9 in football at the moment, but all that means is that he is good at putting the ball in the back of the net, not leading a team, as you rightly said. Some might argue that players like Ronaldo captain a nation, so why can’t Kane? Well, as selfish as Ronaldo might sometimes be at club level, he puts the team well beyond his ego when it comes to international football, and drops back deep plenty of times, playing in a free-roaming role as opposed to as an out-and-out striker. He’s also ridiculously fit, and thus can be a striker who drops deep and still outruns half of the opposition. Kane looked very sloppy tired tonight when he wasn’t scoring goals. As for the penalty given, I do think that it was a penalty. There’s not much to it, but it’s very clumsy of Walker: there is no reason why he should be raising his arm at that angle in that particular situation, seeing as he really should be jumping for the ball, and he was clearly obstructing the opposition player from attacking the ball. That being said, the two penalties not given to us makes me wonder if referees (on the pitch and off it) — or maybe just this one in particular — are becoming somewhat reluctant to award more penalties with VAR, especially after the amount that we’ve already seen awarded in the opening round of the group stage and after having awarded one earlier in the match, because those were very clear penalties from the replays that we got to see. I don’t think that Brazil’s argument against the Switzerland goal last night was particularly strong, but that was another case of the referee seemingly brushing off (judging from body language and his reaction) players’ requests to at least take another look at the situation. Maybe a challenge system like the one in tennis is needed for situations like these, but instead of having a limited amount for the whole game, like three in a whole set in that sport, you have three opportunities to have a challenge proven wrong. If you have three challenges proven to be wrong, then you can no longer challenge for the remainder of the game. Or something like that. Hey, I’m not a corrupt FIFA official, so I don’t know Anyways, back to tonight’s game: the formation has me concerned going forwards. Tunisia and Panama were always going to be our easier games, so an attacking, 3-5-2 seems warranted, but, by the time Belgium comes around in our final group game, the players will already be accustomed to a formation which would surely need to be changed when against the bigger teams, such as Belgium. Makes me concerned that Southgate has completely overlooked how dominant other major teams’ attacks are, and just how weak our defence is. Edited June 18, 2018 by Julius Caesar
Hero-of-Time Posted June 19, 2018 Posted June 19, 2018 I said before the finals started that Kane shouldn't have been appointed captain and last night proved that. He didn't rally the team and bark orders at them to get their fingers out during the second half. He just kinda potted about the pitch. He's not a leader. Awful display from England last night. The amount of chances that went to waste were shocking. Had we been playing a better team we would have been destroyed. The only player I was impressed with was Trippier. Also, what the hell was Alli doing on the pitch for so long? He was clearly injured in the first half and should never have started the second. He looked sluggish throughout the game. Lastly, Sterling shouldn't start the next game. He had a couple of chances that he wasted, kept playing out of position and wasn't making the runs that needed to be made. The pen given was fair in my eyes. You can put your body between the ball and the opposition but you can't go swinging your arms back, which is exactly what Walker done. We were certainly robbed in terms of decisions, though. We had 2 clear pens waved away. Both times Kane was dragged to the floor. In the first incident Kane was practically speared. Shocking calls. What's annoying about this victory is the way the English media is harping on about it as if it was so great victory and a full deserved win. It was nothing of the sort and the team and manager should be called out on such a performance. We were VERY lucky to get all 3 points and if we play like that against Belgium then we will be decimated.
Emerald Emblem Posted June 19, 2018 Posted June 19, 2018 What on Earth are Poland playing at!? Just gifted Senegal the insurance goal, have not turned up in this first 60 minutes.
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