Board 8 > World Cup 2018 discussion

(+) Yeah! (+)

Well nobody thinks we're particularly good

But probably
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Argentina
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Kane saves England from disaster
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Tunisia was trying to survive for dear life there

"Oh"
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African 2018 curse was greater it seems.
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Loftus-Cheek has been incredible since he came on
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Of the teams with World Class players, I wanna say Harry Kane is more valuable to England, than Neymar and Messi are to their countries.

I'd say it's him and Ronaldo at this world cup who can carry the teams on their back when it matters.
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You can hold or give
But do it at the right time
You can be slow or fast but you must get to the line
They'll always hit you and hurt you
Defend and attack
There's only one way to beat them
Get round the back
Catch me if you can
'Cause I'm the England man
And what you're looking at
Is the master plan
We ain't no hooligans
This ain't a football song
Three lions on my chest
I know we can't go wrong
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England won, what an upset

davidponte posted...

If this score holds, is this the most disappointing result so far? The Germany, Argentina, and Brazil results, although less so with the latter, were not what anyone was expecting, but this is literally Tunisia.

Tunisia are ranked 21st in the world and up until recently were higher ranked than England. Granted world rankings are usually garbage but Tunisia aren't the joke team they once were.

That being said, we should have had 4 or 5 in that game if we just converted some of our chances. Pretty annoying that they were continuously allowed to wrestle Kane to the ground on set pieces too.

It felt really weird going mental about a Harry Kane goal but

we'll take it.

Come on England.
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If they can't beat Panama on Sunday, then they deserve every piece of Back-Page Literary Sodomy!
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handsomeboy2012 posted...

England won, what an upset

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Honestly, it may be in England's best interests to finish 2nd in the group given other results. Granted it's early and that can change but right now with Germany stumbling, the group winner potentially walks into that Germany/Brazil bloodbath in the quarters . The runner up gets a relatively easy ride to the semi finals (ok, not easy but a lot easier than any alternative route looks)

Obviously it's still early though and a lot can change

I seen this on Reddit the other day, but assuming Germany and Argentina finish second in their group, with France, Brazil, and Belgium finishing first, you'll have all the heavy hitters on one side of the bracket with England and one of Portugal/Spain on the other.

This might be the Euros all over again for Portugal if they can manage to beat out Spain on goal differential.
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England losing to Portugal would be absolute best
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ShatteredElysium posted...

Honestly, it may be in England's best interests to finish 2nd in the group given other results. Granted it's early and that can change but right now with Germany stumbling, the group winner potentially walks into that Germany/Brazil bloodbath in the quarters . The runner up gets a relatively easy ride to the semi finals (ok, not easy but a lot easier than any alternative route looks)

Obviously it's still early though and a lot can change

Winner/runner up of Group G will face the Group F/E winner/runner-up either way after Poland/Colombia/Japan/Senegal.
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That's the last 16. I'm talking about the quarter finals

Thought the same thing

Presuming Belgium beat us and we finish second it's likely a Colombia/Mexico path to the semis. That's suddenly a lot more manageable. That would be getting carried away though
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Yeah I mean I'm sure Belgium thought the same at the Euros before getting dumped out by Wales

We also don't even need to lose to Belgium. They have a 3-0 behind them. So even if we draw with them we probably finish 2nd.

SmartMuffin posted...

England losing to Portugal would be absolute best

Yes but we all know regardless England aren't even making the semis so not to worry
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Oh don't get me wrong, I make Colombia favourites in round 2. But if we get through it...I saw QFs as the ceiling because of Germany/Brazil but Mexico are less of a frightening prospect

We could still fuck up the group though so
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I think England would be favored against both Colombia and Mexico. Whether they win is another matter

Portugal can get fucked if we meet them. Not a single time they beat us in my lifetime were they the better team.

Obviously haven't seen Colombia play yet but Mexico didn't beat Germany on a fluke...
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XIII_rocks posted...

Oh don't get me wrong, I make Colombia favourites in round 2. But if we get through it...I saw QFs as the ceiling because of Germany/Brazil but Mexico are less of a frightening prospect

We could still fuck up the group though so

It's actually pretty hard for us to do now unless several games goes against betting odds.

Not saying it isn't possible but the 2 ways I can think of it happening are Panama beats us + Tunisia and we lose to Belgium. Or Tunisia beats Belgium (and Panama) with us losing to Belgium and not beating Panama

RyoCaliente posted...

Obviously haven't seen Colombia play yet but Mexico didn't beat Germany on a fluke...

They didn't but it was also the anomaly amongst their recent results too. So we will see if they keep playing like that

For as good as Mexico were, Germany were also pretty bad that game as well

ShatteredElysium posted...

I think England would be favored against both Colombia and Mexico. Whether they win is another matter

Portugal can get fucked if we meet them. Not a single time they beat us in my lifetime were they the better team.

Colombia probably, Mexico, I'm not sure.

SmartMuffin posted...

England losing to Portugal would be absolute best

Fuck that result. Sick and Tired of seeing it.
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The year is 2018. Portugal have just beaten England in the World Cup after Ronaldo managed to get Harry Kane sent off. He winked at his bench after doing it.
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2004 was where we had a winning goal disallowed for bullshit reasons at the end of the game

metaIslug posted...

Yea I do remember England dominating most of the match. But failing to actually score. I remember that match well cause people in Portugal went crazy for it. The keeper was idolized from that point on. It's pretty much the Daigo parry of Portugal soccer

I remember this, it was 2006.
My neighbors were Portuguese and I was rooting for them that year. Their goalie was on fire the whole tournament (Until Germany where the team as a whole fell apart) and stone cold killed it on the penalties against England with 3 saves (and a hand on the other).
Good times.
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Well Portugal eliminated England on penalties in both 2004 and 2006.

2006 is the one where Ronaldo got Rooney sent off and Beckham went off injured earlier in the game. Even with 10 men England were arguably the better team too (actually England seemed to play better once they went down to 10 men iirc)

The Swiss ref copped all of the heat for that.

In one of my local cafes the cops HAD to be called after that.
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That's kinda why for all the bad rep the England 'golden generation' gets, people sometimes forget just how many times they got screwed over by penalties and/or bad referee decisions. There was certainly bad performances in there like Euro 2000 and not qualifying for Euro 2008 but most big tournament defeats were marred by red cards, disallowed goals and/or penalties

Euro 96 - Lost on Penalties. Game winning goal disallowed
WC 98 - Lost on Penalties. Beckham red card
WC 02 - Wonder goal. This one hurt the most as England deserved to win and had a man advantage, just weren't clinical.
Euro 04 - Lost on Penalties. Had a goal disallowed
WC 06 - Lost on Penalties. Rooney red card

Everything after that is kind of a disappointment and a declining team. There was the Lampard goal that crossed the line in 2010 yet wasn't given causing England to implode afterwards but it's hard to argue with a 4-1 scoreline even if the 'goal' would have tied things up. Plus if we had taken care of business like we were supposed to in the group stage, we would have had a far easier path. Not sure we beat Holland in the semi's in that alternate reality though as they won every game in qualifying and won all their game in the World Cup up to that point

There was the penalty loss to Italy in 2012 too but we were so thoroughly outplayed in normal time that game that if we had won on penalties, it would have been a robbery.

That Lampard goal came at 2-1 down at a period when we were clearly the better team

We shouldn't have been 2-0 down at all and the tactics and defending were really poor but that decision was absolutely pivotal to the outcome I think.

And 2012 was fine imo. Hodgson knew they were better and played defensively. It was realistic management of the situation. They missed chances, sure, and it wasn't perfect, but we went out of our way to do a job on them and it nearly worked. Contrast the way we played against Italy - frustrating them - compared to what happened to Germany against Italy in the next round.

Always thought the narrative that it would have been a travesty is a little unfair. We played defensively, challenged them to break us down, and they didn't. Had Tunisia kept us out yesterday they'd have been praised for their organisation.
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Oh, I have no problem with how we played in 2012. It's just you can't really blame a penalty loss when you played for penalties.

I think the narrative is always going to be that way because we are England and regardless of the players at our disposal the media is going to spin it into we are a big team so shouldn't play like that

I'm willing to block our 2014 campaign from memory.
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Its soccer time!
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This is already on fire!
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Go, Japan!
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Japan! Banzai! Ngoooooooool
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This early in the game, you should probably just let the ball go in rather than handball it.
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This ref has had enough of the diving
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Regarding the heavy side of the bracket thing, Argentina are still favorites to win the group unlike Germany.

Colombia will probably win this, but fun having Japan ahead for halv an hour.
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I take that back, Japan is clearly the better team right now.
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Lmao, seconds after I posted that Japan scores.
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Ya go my Japan
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