2018 FIFA World Cup

[jalimon]

Haha I so much agree with you Sam. After Neymar the greatest actor on the pitch is Ronaldo himself.

It's think it's pretty good this whole drama about neymar at this WC. It will be, in my opinion, the beginning of the end of sissy players.

And finally now that we have video replay it gives an extra edge to the referee to double check many fouls and soon I am sure they will penalized over reacting players. These things go fast. You get caught once and get penalized in an important moment and there you go you put an end to these silly acting players.

Cheers,

 

[cloudsurf]

I will go on record for the second time. On paper they are far from the best.....but this season is full of surprises.

The final will be Uruguay against Russia with Russia winning the Cup.

Bets anyone?

Hey if Vegas can get into the Stanley cup finals then anything is possible.

 

[EagerBeaver]

It would be very bad stylistically for the sport of soccer if Russia won playing the totally bastardized, crude, barbaric style they play, which is to do nothing, relentlessly foul the opponent, and play for PKs. If this style works and results in a Cup victory it will change the sport for the worse.

 

[jalimon]

Russia won't pull 2 more games like that. They will get scored so they will have to open up their game to equalize. Which opens up the possibility to get scored more too. Hopefully they loose the next one.

 

[EagerBeaver]

One of my clients is Uruguayan and is in Russia for the World Cup matches, although he is scheduled to fly back this weekend, so he obviously didn’t think Uruguay would make it past the quarters. I can only imagine he was crushed by the Cavani injury.

I would really like a France-England “Battle of Waterloo rematch” championship game to remain in play, although a France-Russia final, improbable though it may seem, would likely invite Russians nationwide to play that very famous Tchaikovsky composition (I forget the name of it- classical music fans step to the plate) about the Napoleonic invasion of Russia in 1812. Of course neither that excursion, nor Waterloo, though historically significant military battles, were very positive memories for France, so they will hope for a better rematch outcome in either case.

 

[Meta not Meta]

It would be very bad stylistically for the sport of soccer if Russia won playing the totally bastardized, crude, barbaric style they play, which is to do nothing, relentlessly foul the opponent, and play for PKs. If this style works and results in a Cup victory it will change the sport for the worse.

A bit harsh & OTT, they do what talent-challenged squads have always done, especially at home. You're right about the fouls, they've committed more than any other team, yet have received only an average # of yellow cards, an indicator of friendly referring, IMO:

https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/statistics/teams/disciplinary

 

[Meta not Meta]

An historical analogy, very apt with Russsia ... draw the opposition into your territory and wait for them to get bogged down and give up hope .... the Spain game in a nutshell.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Meta,

I believe Russia against Spain had a game strategy of pushing the envelope on the fouling to see how far they could go and to go farther and farther if allowed. This is no different than, for example, a baseball pitcher pitching just off the outside corner of the plate, if the umpire gives him one inch off the plate, the next pitch will be two inches and he will go further and further outside or inside until the umpire stops calling strikes. This is exactly what Russia did with the fouls- they were told if you don’t get a yellow card, foul more and foul harder, keep going more and more aggressive until the refs stop you. And the Russians kept fouling and were not punished so they kept fouling. It was an excellent if barbaric strategy.

 

[Meta not Meta]

England/Colombia, 2nd half, now that was "barbaric," well ... close, anyway, lol ... 2 headbutts, at least one stamp ... It looked like the ref had lost control.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Do you guys really believe that Putin did not receive assurances about the “quality” of refereeing for games involving Russia? There is no way any red card gets called on them short of someone being decapitated. Look at the fouls they have amassed vs. the yellow cards. While you guys have not looked at those stats, Putin has. And smiled.

It’s now a strategy, which may work if they play like they did against Spain.

 

[Meta not Meta]

They foul a lot, but on a per game basis, Russia have fouled less than South Korea and Morocco ... against Spain, they were above the norm; but more importantly, mostly just sat back and let Spain pass the ball back and forth to no useful effect.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Exactly and that is why Spain became the first team in World Cup history to execute 1,000 passes in a game. And all were meaningless passes.

 

[jalimon]

Exactly and that is why Spain became the first team in World Cup history to execute 1,000 passes in a game. And all were meaningless passes.

Spain won the WC with that style of play. It's Spain tiki taka style. They wanted to monopolized the ball to counter the roughness of other team. As any style of play in sports, it does not always work as there is only one winner in every matches. And nobody wins them all.

Cheers,

 

[EagerBeaver]

The experts like France, Brazil, Croatia and England to advance:

https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/wo...ts-by-cbs-sports-experts/?ftag=SPM-16-10abi8e

 

[sharkman]

EB, I think you are getting paranoid with soccer...you should stick to "American béisbol"...go to a Yankees game and have "setenta y cuatro hot-dogs in diez minutos"!

 

[Meta not Meta]

Spain won the WC with that style of play. It's Spain tiki taka style. They wanted to monopolized the ball to counter the roughness of other team. As any style of play in sports, it does not always work as there is only one winner in every matches. And nobody wins them all.

Cheers,

Yeah, and two Euros on either side of it; but they they need to change it up now--and don't forget, they failed to even get out of their group in '14. Likely they just don't have the players for that kind of incisive-possession game now. That tikitaka success was built on Guardiola's Barcelona, where Iniesta was important, but Xavi even more so ....

 

[Meta not Meta]

The experts like France, Brazil, Croatia and England to advance:

https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/wo...ts-by-cbs-sports-experts/?ftag=SPM-16-10abi8e

In that case, we are experts, too ... lol.

 

[sharkman]

Spain wasn't missing much...it's a fine line in their style of play...they were missing some finish / a consistent scorer up front!

 

[EagerBeaver]

Meta,

You make a very interesting point which is that often when teams win in sports, regardless of the sport, coaches and fans fall in love with a style of play and forget that it is important to have the right players to execute that style or strategy of play. In basketball the Golden State Warriors, for example, playing without any true center and no traditional low post players, have popularized "small ball", with a trickle down effect into the college game in the USA. The problem with "small ball" is that unless you have Hall of Fame perimeter players who shoot lights out like the Warriors do, you get crushed in the crucial rebounding department of basketball playing 4 guards and a forward. In soccer you need to have some guys who can create and generate a few high quality scoring opportunities consistently every game, and if you do not have those guys you will be exposed against the better teams unless you are really really good defensively like Italy was in 2006, although I still felt France should have beaten them and would have beaten them if Zidane had kept his cool. The Italians deliberately and aggressively antagonized and provoked Zidane and it worked. It was a great strategy.

 

[Mohamed]

I like Brazil's chance. The defense is solid.