oliverclaude
General Morden's Aide
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But what will Sweden do? Count on another own goal like with the Swiss? It's like you said, there's enough Harrys to shoot England to the final against France, presumably.
World Cup 2018... OFFICIAL THREAD....
- Thread starter Rot
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General Morden's Aide
But what will Sweden do? Count on another own goal like with the Swiss? It's like you said, there's enough Harrys to shoot England to the final against France, presumably.
Rot
Calvin & Hobbes, ,
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Neither am I Chaz man...
It's brown pants time...
xROTx
PS. If England Lose... i am afraid... we may lose Oliverclaude
...ACCIDENTS do happen...
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Raheem Sterling is the Niklas Bendtner of England. He can't score, but he has some strange curse that makes everyone else around him score.
Take him off for Rashford? Hmmn... not sure. Rashford has better finishing, but Sterling is cursed to make everyone around him score.
hard decision.
Take him off for Rashford? Hmmn... not sure. Rashford has better finishing, but Sterling is cursed to make everyone around him score.
hard decision.
Rot
Calvin & Hobbes, ,
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I THINK what it boils down to... is the opposition teams keep thinking.... "Z'OMG... Sterling is due a good match... follow that guy Mr. Defenders!"...
Little do they know this isn't likely to happen so it's some sort of Gamblers mentality... where some poor fuckwit always bets on Black on the roultette table... not understanding that your chances of it landing on Black or Red are EXACTLY the same after each spin...
xROTx
Rot
Calvin & Hobbes, ,
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I'd suggest he buys his own Hexaganol Key... the ones they give with those flat pack boxes are shit...
xROTx
oliverclaude
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No Larsson, no luck, no goal... but as far as I'm concerned, no Putin either, so this was a very enjoyable game. Now, enter the antithesis.
Edit: My heart is with Croatia, but my money's on Putin. It's safer that way
.
Edit: My heart is with Croatia, but my money's on Putin. It's safer that way
.
Last edited:
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Always Harry Potter, too.
oliverclaude
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Puh, that was close. It wasn't football, but it was worth it.
sr20det510
Krizalids Fashion Designer
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Game was very exciting, and the players were exhausted after the 120 minutes.
I would love to see a Belgium Vs. Croatia final.
France and England can battle for third place.
I would love to see a Belgium Vs. Croatia final.
France and England can battle for third place.
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Good luck to Croatia. Hamstring injuries don’t heal that fast. Their goalkeeper’s extra time heroics (because honestly that first goal was a joke) will have to take a break and make way for the backup now.
It looked like Mandzukic was in extreme pain. I hope they pulled Perisic only to keep him fresh for England. They will need his swashbuckling runs.
That said, I think Croatia can pose a threat still just with Ante Rebic, Perisic, Modric, Rakitic, and maybe Mandzukic if he can rest enough.
England are going to be 100% though. Not an even fight.
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Yeah, I agree not a fair fight indeed but hats off to England for losing to Belgium. It really made the difference for them. Not throwing low blows but not having to face Brazil or France and instead playing Columbia and Sweden is huge.
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Watched both games today, I think England’s form is currently better than Croatia. I’m feeling it’s likely we will have a rerun of England vs Belgium in the Final - but with both teams full force rather than presenting their B teams.
oliverclaude
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Great! I'd love to see that final. France was already close to win the last EC and England has finally a good coach. It can't get more exiting than these two playing against each other. What will win: England's dignified old school or the fast paced counter-football France provided? But first things, first.
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How will France handle that trident of Big Lu, KDB, and Hazard? In the box I can see Tree terrorizing them on set pieces. France won’t have it easy.
Taking it a step further, France is the only team left that was getting off easy on yellows. Their behavior will catch up eventually. It did for all the other bad actors.
Taking it a step further, France is the only team left that was getting off easy on yellows. Their behavior will catch up eventually. It did for all the other bad actors.
oliverclaude
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France won't have it easy, indeed. These are very similar teams: France is the thinking man's Brazil, whereas Belgium carries on the Benelux style of play with a decisive update on their Tottenham-made defense. In my opinion, less obvious things will decide this game.
Things like choosing Lloris, a goal keeper, for Captain, which is a better choice, than having a moody forward like Hazard be bothered with this duty. Or like allowing Kanté's wizardry to remain invisible, instead of creating attention, thus putting too much pressure on another mood-swinger like De Bruyne, who, moreover, had an exhausting season with PL's #1 this season.
There's also the clever system of "rotating attention", which France developed. Instead of one Lukaku carrying goal responsibilities, Les Bleus shift attention from game to game. One time it's Mbappé's speed, another time it's Griezmann's apathy and the next time it's Giroud's self-conceit that scores/assists.
Finally, there's Deschamps' Word Cup experience, which far outmatches that of Martínez, in fact, the latter is a nobody within international tourneys and a quasi wild card within Belgium's national team, which by the way never won a WC or an EC before.
One could probably parry all of the above assumptions and give similar to the benefit of the Duivels, but to make tl;dr short, if luck won't decide this game, I think France will.
Burgers5750
Kabuki Klasher
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It's getting close now, my arse is twitching. Croatia will be a tough game tomorrow, 2 evenly matched teams.
Croatia were a good outside bet before the tournament with their midfield and keeper but they're an ageing team and the tournament seems to be grinding a few of their key players down, Modric aside. They struggled to get through extra time against Russia and there were quite a few players cramping up and I believe their keeper is out now with a hamstring injury hopefully.
Southgate will go with the same 11 that got us this far and I think thats the right thing to do. We haven't had any midfield creativity this tournament but have blasted teams away on set pieces which have looked amazing. You can tell a lot of work has gone into drilling the players on the training pitch. Besides, players have stepped up in other area's going forward, especially Trippier who's been amazing.
I'm feeling optimistic but nervous as it's a huge game for England as a team and a country. We'll never have a better chance of winning it and I think we might. We've got a great team spirit and I think we could do a Leicester on the rest of the world.
It's coming home!
Croatia were a good outside bet before the tournament with their midfield and keeper but they're an ageing team and the tournament seems to be grinding a few of their key players down, Modric aside. They struggled to get through extra time against Russia and there were quite a few players cramping up and I believe their keeper is out now with a hamstring injury hopefully.
Southgate will go with the same 11 that got us this far and I think thats the right thing to do. We haven't had any midfield creativity this tournament but have blasted teams away on set pieces which have looked amazing. You can tell a lot of work has gone into drilling the players on the training pitch. Besides, players have stepped up in other area's going forward, especially Trippier who's been amazing.
I'm feeling optimistic but nervous as it's a huge game for England as a team and a country. We'll never have a better chance of winning it and I think we might. We've got a great team spirit and I think we could do a Leicester on the rest of the world.
It's coming home!
Rot
Calvin & Hobbes, ,
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You invited Sylvie around to watch the match?... That's just WRONG on so many levels...
xROTx
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I think the game will be decided on whether or not Matuidi plays on the wing, as the formation says, or if he takes a role behind Kante, letting Pogba play a Attacking Mid position behind Giroud. Pogba playing an advanced role is much more deadly, and no clue why Matuidi is listed on the left wing.
oliverclaude
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Nice!
Another strange moment: Henry opposing Deschamps. An asset for sure, but for which team?