The Official World Cup 2018 Thread

Started by Ball Hopper, November 16, 2017, 05:14:36 AM

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Milltown Row2

A dark horse is simply a team that is not your usual suspects, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Argentina and France.. are fancied teams most years

Teams that are Dark horses some years are Holland, Belgium, Portugal, and dare I say it England, the fancied teams mainly because they have been there and done it, either recently or in the past on a number of occasions..

Whereas the dark horses ony have a team every so often, Belgium are that team this year for sure, providing they keep the first 11 fit..

I think most people would like to see a unfancied team win, well except the time Greece won the Euros! that was muck
None of us are getting out of here alive, so please stop treating yourself like an after thought. Ea

magpie seanie

Watching last night I found it hard to cheer against England for once. There's no one on the team I really dislike and a few players I cheer for every week. The manager is as middle of the road and the exact centre of the white line in the middle of the road! Thought they started well but it took a set piece to break the deadlock. They then fluffed more chances and gave up a silly penalty which enegised Tunisia (who weren't all that bad to be fair). After that England played with more doubt and fear and Tunisia grew into the match. England were still dominant but nervy. Think they just about deserved their win as they we denied a couple of clear penalties (I'm convinced FIFA do not want VAR and are determined to make it fail).

As mentioned above, that balance of their team is wrong. I personally thought Alli and Sterling - great players at club level - were poor last night. Cannot understand how Rashford is not an automatic starter in that side. Someone criticised Lingard who missed a lot of chances but he's usually a good finisher and seems to have a knack for getting into the right place at the right time. Defensively though they look like an accident waiting to happen. Maguire is big and strong but looks ready to have his pocket picked all the time and there's no way Walker can play as part of a 3 at the back based on last night. Doesn't have the positional sense or awareness. Young is a stop gap full back. He'll give you 6 or 7 out of 10 and some good deliveries at times but he's not a natural defender and it shows at times. Trippier though was impressive.  Henderson is ho-hum but that's what he's supposed to be in this team to be fair.....him or Dier will do fine.

I don't think they're contenders but their recent record is good, they seem unusually devoid of egos, have a brilliant goalscorer and some excellent attackers. Can they sort the defence out especially for games where they'll be under more pressure/have less of the ball?

manfromdelmonte

problem for Belgium is their manager
completely out of his depth and thinks he knows it all.
who in their right mind would play three at the back when playing Panama?

JPGJOHNNYG

Quote from: Milltown Row2 on June 19, 2018, 09:24:19 AM
A dark horse is simply a team that is not your usual suspects, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Argentina and France.. are fancied teams most years

Teams that are Dark horses some years are Holland, Belgium, Portugal, and dare I say it England, the fancied teams mainly because they have been there and done it, either recently or in the past on a number of occasions..

Whereas the dark horses ony have a team every so often, Belgium are that team this year for sure, providing they keep the first 11 fit..

I think most people would like to see a unfancied team win, well except the time Greece won the Euros! that was muck

Greece winning was great because they were as limited as Ireland and it showed that with a bit of luck Ireland could go far too. Our big chance was 2002 and Spain did everything possible to hand us the match and we still couldnt take it.
England aren't great but the good news for them is there are not many good international teams about so if the draw opens up they could find themselves in a SF and then you never know.

laoislad

Quote from: magpie seanie on June 19, 2018, 09:32:45 AM
Watching last night I found it hard to cheer against England for once. There's no one on the team I really dislike and a few players I cheer for every week. The manager is as middle of the road and the exact centre of the white line in the middle of the road!
I had myself convinced I wouldn't mind seeing England do well this year. Like yourself I don't mind most of their players and Southgate is a likeable sort of chap.
Yet when they scored the winner in injury time I found myself shouting obscenities and the TV. So maybe I don't really want them to do well after all  ;D
When you think you're fucked you're only about 40% fucked.

BennyCake

Quote from: JPGJOHNNYG on June 19, 2018, 09:56:42 AM
Quote from: Milltown Row2 on June 19, 2018, 09:24:19 AM
A dark horse is simply a team that is not your usual suspects, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Argentina and France.. are fancied teams most years

Teams that are Dark horses some years are Holland, Belgium, Portugal, and dare I say it England, the fancied teams mainly because they have been there and done it, either recently or in the past on a number of occasions..

Whereas the dark horses ony have a team every so often, Belgium are that team this year for sure, providing they keep the first 11 fit..

I think most people would like to see a unfancied team win, well except the time Greece won the Euros! that was muck

Greece winning was great because they were as limited as Ireland and it showed that with a bit of luck Ireland could go far too. Our big chance was 2002 and Spain did everything possible to hand us the match and we still couldnt take it.
England aren't great but the good news for them is there are not many good international teams about so if the draw opens up they could find themselves in a SF and then you never know.

I agree with that last bit. Worryingly.

BennyCake

Quote from: laoislad on June 19, 2018, 10:53:57 AM
Quote from: magpie seanie on June 19, 2018, 09:32:45 AM
Watching last night I found it hard to cheer against England for once. There's no one on the team I really dislike and a few players I cheer for every week. The manager is as middle of the road and the exact centre of the white line in the middle of the road!
I had myself convinced I wouldn't mind seeing England do well this year. Like yourself I don't mind most of their players and Southgate is a likeable sort of chap.
Yet when they scored the winner in injury time I found myself shouting obscenities and the TV. So maybe I don't really want them to do well after all  ;D

I can't believe you actually doubted yourself  :o

sid waddell

#397
Quote from: Syferus on June 19, 2018, 01:14:14 AM
Quote from: sid waddell on June 19, 2018, 12:29:07 AM
Quote from: Syferus on June 19, 2018, 12:22:52 AM
Quote from: sid waddell on June 19, 2018, 12:19:43 AM
Second would be a great place for England to end up in this group.

There's a real chance of the draw opening up for them.

They should be able to stroll through the rest of the group without much pressure and a draw against Belgium for a second place finish would do them fine.

There's nothing particularly intimidating in Group H as regards possible last 16 ties.

Colombia would be tricky opponents but they're beatable. I'd fancy England against Poland or Senegal. If Mexico win Group F, there's a big chance England could reach a semi-final by going that route.

They have what a lot of teams in the tournament don't have - an out and out striker who is in-form.

Brazil, France, Spain, Portugal and Belgium have that too.

Who is Brazil's in form out and out striker? Jesus is not in form and doesn't look up to it. Firmino is not currently first choice, is not an out and out striker and is at his best by doing the donkey work to create space for others.

As for Belgium's, he folds when the going gets tough.

Has Harry Kane even won any trophies?
What trophies had Maradona won before 1986?

Or, if you want to make a more pertinent comparison, what trophies had Gary Lineker won before 1986?

Kurtz

Quote from: laoislad on June 19, 2018, 10:53:57 AM
Quote from: magpie seanie on June 19, 2018, 09:32:45 AM
Watching last night I found it hard to cheer against England for once. There's no one on the team I really dislike and a few players I cheer for every week. The manager is as middle of the road and the exact centre of the white line in the middle of the road!
I had myself convinced I wouldn't mind seeing England do well this year. Like yourself I don't mind most of their players and Southgate is a likeable sort of chap.
Yet when they scored the winner in injury time I found myself shouting obscenities and the TV. So maybe I don't really want them to do well after all  ;D

My friends were trolling England on Twitter by the 70th min
wayyy too soon which was hilarious
The look on their faces
I actually think that England team may fair better against likes of Belgium
Teams like Tunisia that park the bus seem to cause them problems

sid waddell

Quote from: Kurtz on June 19, 2018, 11:29:29 AM
Quote from: laoislad on June 19, 2018, 10:53:57 AM
Quote from: magpie seanie on June 19, 2018, 09:32:45 AM
Watching last night I found it hard to cheer against England for once. There's no one on the team I really dislike and a few players I cheer for every week. The manager is as middle of the road and the exact centre of the white line in the middle of the road!
I had myself convinced I wouldn't mind seeing England do well this year. Like yourself I don't mind most of their players and Southgate is a likeable sort of chap.
Yet when they scored the winner in injury time I found myself shouting obscenities and the TV. So maybe I don't really want them to do well after all  ;D

My friends were trolling England on Twitter by the 70th min
wayyy too soon which was hilarious
The look on their faces
I actually think that England team may fair better against likes of Belgium
Teams like Tunisia that park the bus seem to cause them problems
Teams that park the bus at international level will almost always cause serious problems for their opponents, no matter who they are, even the very best.

Spain lost to Switzerland in 2010 despite the Swiss barely attacking in the whole game, and they then had to labouriously grind out four late 1-0 wins in the knockout stages.

brokencrossbar1

History has shown us that only 8 teams have won the World Cup. Of those 8 3 teams won it once. Of those 3 France and England were the home nations. Spain were the other team and had the Golden Age team. Uruguay won it twice as did Argentina and both were Home nation in one of them.  Argentina's other win was the 1986 Maradona inspired team. Italy won it 4 times and are not there. So that leaves Germany with 4 and Brazil with 5. A 'dark horse' never wins it. Never. Ever. One may push on and get to the semis but history and logic would suggest that either of Brazil or Germany will win it. Perhaps France. Outside of that I wouldn't be betting on anyone else.

sid waddell

Quote from: brokencrossbar1 on June 19, 2018, 12:38:02 PM
History has shown us that only 8 teams have won the World Cup. Of those 8 3 teams won it once. Of those 3 France and England were the home nations. Spain were the other team and had the Golden Age team. Uruguay won it twice as did Argentina and both were Home nation in one of them.  Argentina's other win was the 1986 Maradona inspired team. Italy won it 4 times and are not there. So that leaves Germany with 4 and Brazil with 5. A 'dark horse' never wins it. Never. Ever. One may push on and get to the semis but history and logic would suggest that either of Brazil or Germany will win it. Perhaps France. Outside of that I wouldn't be betting on anyone else.
Plenty of dark horses have won the European Championship.

Until 1998 history showed us that only six teams won the World Cup.

A "dark horse" will never win the World Cup, until it happens, which it will, sometime.

It's cup football.


trailer

Only 2 teams have won a World cup outside of their own continent. Brazil and Spain (South Africa 2010)
Brazil don't look like a team that can do it. So it will be a European team. My money is on the Ze Germans. Or Belgium. Or England. No sorry definitely not England. 

Keyser soze

Quote from: brokencrossbar1 on June 19, 2018, 12:38:02 PM
History has shown us that only 8 teams have won the World Cup. Of those 8 3 teams won it once. Of those 3 France and England were the home nations. Spain were the other team and had the Golden Age team. Uruguay won it twice as did Argentina and both were Home nation in one of them.  Argentina's other win was the 1986 Maradona inspired team. Italy won it 4 times and are not there. So that leaves Germany with 4 and Brazil with 5. A 'dark horse' never wins it. Never. Ever. One may push on and get to the semis but history and logic would suggest that either of Brazil or Germany will win it. Perhaps France. Outside of that I wouldn't be betting on anyone else.

That would be the smart bet.

seafoid

Quote from: trailer on June 19, 2018, 12:56:59 PM
Only 2 teams have won a World cup outside of their own continent. Brazil and Spain (South Africa 2010)
Brazil don't look like a team that can do it. So it will be a European team. My money is on the Ze Germans. Or Belgium. Or England. No sorry definitely not England.
Germany 2014 too
"f**k it, just score"- Donaghy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbxG2WwVRjU