Monzanator

1 minute ago, LDOG said:

Yes, i was going to say that. In theory Croatia plays better but England has younger legs and are much more rested. As things are now (let's see the injuries of croatian players), I'm betting for England.

If Sterling keeps missing sitters like he did all tournament, Croatia does have a chance. Thankfully none of the Croatians will be suspended.

Now let's see if Russian can do anything on offense. I suspect not.

Perisic did everything right. There were six Russians behind the ball including the keeper.

Russia barely hanging in there. I think penalties are their only hope again. Maybe a fluke set-piece.

It doesn't matter as long as their offense is clicking. Tunisia also scored twice vs this Belgium defense and it's completely irrelevant now. De Bruyne waking up is the best news for Belgium.

1 minute ago, OlympicsFan said:

I would be very surprised if Mina wouldn't end up at a top club after this tournament. In today's game set pieces become more and more important and he is a deadly weapon when it comes to that.

Apparently he only had 3 shots on goal in this tournament and all of them were in ...

I hope that Colombia wins, i want to see what they can do with James back.

He's a Barcelona player already

3 minutes ago, bestmen said:

and this is own goal hahaha

 

It's not. Ball has heading on target so no own goal.

33 minutes ago, LDOG said:

How does France have more quality than Brazil?

 

- the goalkeepers are pretty much the same level.

-Brazil has better and more secure CBs.

-in full backs is even but only because the best from Brazil are injured.

-Kante is a bit better than Casemiro and Fernandinho, but they are probably the best and second best in the world of that position.

-Paulinho and Coutinho are much better than Matuidi/Pogba.

-Neymar is better than Griezmann but Mbappe is better than William.

-Both Jesus and Firmino are leagues above Giroud.

 

All considered it's very similar with an slight advantage to Brazil in quality.

It's about having a TEAM, not the best 11 individuals.

Brazil have often fallen because they couldn't build a team from otherwise superior players.

5 minutes ago, vinipereira said:

 

Probably. My guess is that Brazil will finally start with some significant changes (we also don't know about the Marcelo/Filipe Luis situation).

 

Firmino as Willian replacement sounds the only logical choice. Neymar/Coutinho are untouchable.

Polish commentators said that Marcelo was rested here on medical team's advice so I guess it's not that bad? It was reported as a mere back spasm?

If Brazil scored the second goal sooner, he'd have reacted quicker IMO.

So, is Fernandinho replacing Casemiro for QF?

Spain made their own bed. A gazzilion passes led to absolutely nothing during 120 mins other than an own goal.

4 hours ago, OlympicsFan said:

Better than Portugal vs. Spain?

Yes, because of the KO factor.

Best game of the World Cup!

Three of Messi's six WC goals have been scored vs Nigeria

54 minutes ago, hckosice said:

Neutrality non-aggression pact between DEN and FRA today

If Iceland beat Nigeria the other day, I'd expect the same in tonight's ICE vs CRO game

I'm not sad that it will be Portugal which plays Uruguay now...

KSA deserved that. Egypt looks awful without Salah's influence and he can't make any difference whatsoever playing with these mugs. This ain't Liverpool!

27 minutes ago, LDOG said:

Poland has a similar problem as us, they have players that are reaching the down curve of their career or other players that didn't have great season + others that were injured a lot lately. Even Lewandowski didn't have such a great season for has standards. 

I think this World cup came one year too late for Poland.

Piszczek and Blaszczykowski should go after this World Cup. They're simply too old to make a difference at this stage anymore. Milik has returned from his second ACL injury and was out of form this season. Kownacki and Bereszynski aren't the difference makers yet but they should replace Piszczek and Blaszczykowski for years to come. And above all else, we're too reliant on Lewandowski. It works against teams like Romania and Armenia but not at this level.

2 hours ago, Майкл said:

 

Well it's useless - especially compared to the hawk-eye and challenge systems in tennis and volleyball :shrug:

 

Tennis and volleyball are much faster games, you can't directly compare the players influence on the video system. Plus hawkeye rarely decides the outcome of the game since there are too many points played. Besides, we see enough bullshit video challenges on match point in volleyball when teams seek invisible touches.

2 hours ago, heywoodu said:

Crying wolf scenario or not, Neymaring his way through the game or not, that moment where two Swiss players pulled him down as if their lives depended on it was a very clear penalty and that's exactly the kind of thing VAR should take care of. 

 

Yet another reason why, in my opinion, using the VAR should be partially in the hands of the teams. As in, give both teams 1-2 uses of the VAR per match/half, which they get to keep if they are right and they lose if they're wrong. Much like in hockey.

This will disturb the flow of the game. We have enough delays with all the time wasting and fake injuries to add more confusion. I'm sure coaches would find a way to bullshit the challenge system if they had such power. I can see a ton of players claiming they were elbowed in the face so video review is warranted while that would only steal time and give their defense a breather or something.

People need to lay off on VAR. It's the new punchbag for any team that loses a game. Fans blamed refs before now they blame refs AND VAR.

Our commentators said that Mitrovic's playing style was his undoing and I agree. He looked for so many cheap folus that when he actually got fouled, ref had none of it. That's a classic crying wolf scenario here.

8 hours ago, Nate River said:

Argentina really didn’t deserve to be seeded...

Why? They reached last WC final AND two Copa America finals. Plus the Copa America winner didn't even qualify....

Speaking of Mortal Kombat, this is fatality mode now...